Why is liberal California the poverty capital of America?

[Anti Federalist]

Why is liberal California the poverty capital of America?

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-jackson-california-poverty-20180114-story.html

Guess which state has the highest poverty rate in the country? Not Mississippi, New Mexico, or West Virginia, but California, where nearly one out of five residents is poor. That’s according to the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, which factors in the cost of housing, food, utilities and clothing, and which includes noncash government assistance as a form of income.

Given robust job growth and the prosperity generated by several industries, it’s worth asking why California has fallen behind, especially when the state’s per-capita GDP increased approximately twice as much as the U.S. average over the five years ending in 2016 (12.5%, compared with 6.27%).

It’s not as though California policymakers have neglected to wage war on poverty. Sacramento and local governments have spent massive amounts in the cause. Several state and municipal benefit programs overlap with one another; in some cases, individuals with incomes 200% above the poverty line receive benefits. California state and local governments spent nearly $958 billion from 1992 through 2015 on public welfare programs, including cash-assistance payments, vendor payments and “other public welfare,” according to the Census Bureau. California, with 12% of the American population, is home today to about one in three of the nation’s welfare recipients.

California Democrats have long been free to indulge blue-state ideology while paying little or no political price.

The generous spending, then, has not only failed to decrease poverty; it actually seems to have made it worse.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, some states — principally Wisconsin, Michigan, and Virginia — initiated welfare reform, as did the federal government under President Clinton and a Republican Congress. Tied together by a common thread of strong work requirements, these overhauls were a big success: Welfare rolls plummeted and millions of former aid recipients entered the labor force.

The state and local bureaucracies that implement California’s antipoverty programs, however, resisted pro-work reforms. In fact, California recipients of state aid receive a disproportionately large share of it in no-strings-attached cash disbursements. It’s as though welfare reform passed California by, leaving a dependency trap in place. Immigrants are falling into it: 55% of immigrant families in the state get some kind of means-tested benefits, compared with just 30% of natives.

Self-interest in the social-services community may be at fault. As economist William A. Niskanen explained back in 1971, public agencies seek to maximize their budgets, through which they acquire increased power, status, comfort and security. To keep growing its budget, and hence its power, a welfare bureaucracy has an incentive to expand its “customer” base. With 883,000 full-time-equivalent state and local employees in 2014, California has an enormous bureaucracy. Many work in social services, and many would lose their jobs if the typical welfare client were to move off the welfare rolls.

Further contributing to the poverty problem is California’s housing crisis. More than four in 10 households spent more than 30% of their income on housing in 2015. A shortage of available units has driven prices ever higher, far above income increases. And that shortage is a direct outgrowth of misguided policies.

“Counties and local governments have imposed restrictive land-use regulations that drove up the price of land and dwellings,” explains analyst Wendell Cox. “Middle-income households have been forced to accept lower standards of living while the less fortunate have been driven into poverty by the high cost of housing.” The California Environmental Quality Act, passed in 1971, is one example; it can add $1 million to the cost of completing a housing development, says Todd Williams, an Oakland attorney who chairs the Wendel Rosen Black & Dean land-use group. CEQA costs have been known to shut down entire homebuilding projects. CEQA reform would help increase housing supply, but there’s no real movement to change the law.

Extensive environmental regulations aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions make energy more expensive, also hurting the poor. By some estimates, California energy costs are as much as 50% higher than the national average. Jonathan A. Lesser of Continental Economics, author of a 2015 Manhattan Institute study, “Less Carbon, Higher Prices,” found that “in 2012, nearly 1 million California households faced … energy expenditures exceeding 10% of household income. In certain California counties, the rate of energy poverty was as high as 15% of all households.” A Pacific Research Institute study by Wayne Winegarden found that the rate could exceed 17% of median income in some areas.

Looking to help poor and low-income residents, California lawmakers recently passed a measure raising the minimum wage from $10 an hour to $15 an hour by 2022 — but a higher minimum wage will do nothing for the 60% of Californians who live in poverty and don’t have jobs. And research indicates that it could cause many who do have jobs to lose them. A Harvard University study found evidence that “higher minimum wages increase overall exit rates for restaurants” in the Bay Area, where more than a dozen cities and counties, including San Francisco, have changed their minimum-wage ordinances in the last five years. “Estimates suggest that a one-dollar increase in the minimum wage leads to a 14% increase in the likelihood of exit for a 3.5-star restaurant (which is the median rating),” the report says. These restaurants are a significant source of employment for low-skilled and entry-level workers.

Apparently content with futile poverty policies, Sacramento lawmakers can turn their attention to what historian Victor Davis Hanson aptly describes as a fixation on “remaking the world.” The political class wants to build a costly and needless high-speed rail system; talks of secession from a United States presided over by Donald Trump; hired former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. to “resist” Trump’s agenda; enacted the first state-level cap-and-trade regime; established California as a “sanctuary state” for illegal immigrants; banned plastic bags, threatening the jobs of thousands of workers involved in their manufacture; and is consumed by its dedication to “California values.” All this only reinforces the rest of America’s perception of an out-of-touch Left Coast, to the disservice of millions of Californians whose values are more traditional, including many of the state’s poor residents.

With a permanent majority in the state Senate and the Assembly, a prolonged dominance in the executive branch and a weak opposition, California Democrats have long been free to indulge blue-state ideology while paying little or no political price. The state’s poverty problem is unlikely to improve while policymakers remain unwilling to unleash the engines of economic prosperity that drove California to its golden years.

Kerry Jackson is the Pacific Research Institute’s fellow in California studies. This essay was adapted from the winter issue of City Journal.

[timosman]

What Happens When Democrats Run Your State? http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?518432-What-Happens-When-Democrats-Run-Your-State

[Brian4Liberty]

which factors in the cost of housing, food, utilities and clothing,

In one word, there is the most important factor. Housing. The law of supply and demand can not be erased by edict, legislation, government spending or wishful thinking. And the demand side of the equation is made much worse by immigration and the lure of leftist handouts.

Simple analogy: bleeding heart leftists in California complain about having a headache, and no matter how much harder and how much more often they hit themselves in the head with a hammer, the headache won't go away.

[Krugminator2]

I have posted about this a number of times for a long time. I am glad to see this is being covered in the news. California is a failed mess. This should be brought constantly. I think I hit all the points that author did. She must be reading my highly astute Ron Paul Forums posts.



When you adjust for cost of living, 23.8% of people in California live in poverty. To put that in perspective states that are typically considered poor have much lower poverty rate. Kentucky 13.6%, Alabama 13.5 Mississippi- 16.1% https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_poverty_rate

California's "compassion" for the poor with their highest in the country top tax rate and "concern" for the Mother Earth has resulted in the highest poverty rate in the nation. California is what you get when you have smug people who make policy in the name of the public good but really act in their own crony interests. They say they are protecting the environment by restricting housing development but are really just keeping supply low to drive home prices up.

[fisharmor]

In one word, there is the most important factor. Housing. The law of supply and demand can not be erased by edict, legislation, government spending or wishful thinking. And the demand side of the equation is made much worse by immigration and the lure of leftist handouts.


The market can take care of housing demands just fine. The problem here isn't that they're trying to erase supply and demand by edict. The trouble is that they're making it increasingly difficult, by edict, to fulfill the demands, so the supply is much lower than market forces would dictate.

We have a similar situation around DC: in DC there is a fatwa regarding building height that has been in place for more than a century, so very little of this area is properly urbanized. As a result all the jobs are in town and all the people who work them live well outside the city.

LA has a bigger issue in that on top of ridiculous hurdles to building anything, they also have natural disasters to contend with. I think if both DC and LA both eliminated all building codes tomorrow, LA would soon take the trophy as the most expensive place to live, and would remain the most congested. It would likely be much, much better, but we have to remember that it sure seems like God really doesn't want that many people to live there.

[seapilot]

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/55-reasons-why-california-is-the-worst-state-in-america

Support Calexit!



1. One survey of business executives has ranked California as the worst state in America to do business for 8 years in a row.

2. In 2011, the state of California ranked 50th out of all 50 states in new business creation.

3. According to one recent study, California is the worst-governed state in the entire country.

4. Thanks to Proposition 30, California now boasts the highest state income tax rate in the nation.

5. Even though California just raised taxes dramatically on the wealthy, state revenues are falling like a rock. State revenue for November 2012 was 10.8 percent below projections.

6. California has the highest sales tax rate in the United States.

7. California has the 8th highest corporate income tax rate in the country.

8. California has the highest “minimum corporate tax” in the country. Each corporation must pay at least $800 to the state even if a corporation does not make a single dollar of profit.

9. California is tied with New York for the highest gasoline tax rate in the country.

10. California is the only state in America that taxes carbon emissions.

11. The state of California issues some of the most expensive traffic tickets in the nation. This is another form of taxation.

12. As of October, only Nevada and Rhode Island had higher unemployment rates than California.

13. The unemployment rate in California is more than 20 percent higher than the overall unemployment rate for the rest of the nation.

14. The state of California requires licenses for 177 different occupations (the most in the nation). The national average is only 92.

15. California teachers are the highest paid in the nation, but California students rank 48th in math and 49th in reading.

16. California accounts for 12 percent of the U.S. population, but a whopping 33 percent of Americans that receive TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) live there.

17. Only the state of Illinois has a lower bond rating than the state of California does.

18. Including unfunded pension liabilities, the state of California has more than twice as much debt as any other state does.

19. Average pay for California state workers has risen by more than 100 percent since 2005. That is good news for those state employees, but it is bad news for the taxpayers that have to pay their salaries.

20. More than 5,000 California state troopers made more than $100,000 last year.

21. One highway patrol officer ended up bringing home almost $484,000 in 2011.

22. One state psychiatrist in California was paid $822,000 in 2011.

23. Since 2007, the number of children living in poverty in the state of California has increased by 30 percent.

24. Sadly, an astounding 60 percent of all students attending California public schools now qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches.

25. The American Tort Reform Association has ranked the state of California as the worst “judicial hellhole” in America.

26. Businesses all over the state of California are being absolutely suffocated to death by ridiculous regulations.

27. According to the Milken Institute, operating costs for California businesses are 23 percent higher than the national average.

28. According to CNN, the state of California had the worst “small business failure rate” in America in 2010. It was 69 percent higher than the national average.

29. The number of people unemployed in the state of California is roughly equivalent to the populations of Nevada, New Hampshire and Vermont combined.

30. Residential customers in California pay about 29 percent more for electricity than the national average.

31. So many poor people and illegal aliens have taken advantage of the “free” healthcare at emergency rooms that many of them have been forced to shut down in California. As a result, the state of California now ranks dead last out of all 50 states in the number of emergency rooms per million people.

32. Political correctness is totally out of control in California.

33. One California town is actually considering making it illegal to smoke in your own backyard.

34. The traffic around the big cities is horrific.

35. Los Angeles

36. San Francisco

37. Oakland

38. Stockton

39. Sacramento

40. The rampant gang activity in the state gets even worse with each passing year.

41. Crime continues to rise all over the state.

42. Just recently, the city attorney of San Bernardino, California told citizens to “lock their doors and load their guns” because there is not enough money to pay for adequate police protection any longer.

43. The murder rate in San Bernardino is up 50 percent this year.

44. In Oakland, burglaries are up 43 percent so far this year.

45. Today, Oakland is considered the 5th most violent city in the United States.

46. There have been more than 250 gold chain robberies in Stockton, California just since the month of April.

47. In Stockton, the police budget cuts got so bad that the police union put up a billboard at one point with the following message: “Welcome to the 2nd most dangerous city in California. Stop laying off cops.”

48. Jerry Brown.

49. The absolutely insane California state legislature.

50. Wildfires.

51. Mudslides.

52. The state of California lies directly along the infamous “Ring of Fire“. Approximately 90 percent of all the earthquakes in the entire world happen along the Ring of Fire and the “Big One” could hit the state at any moment.

53. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 100,000 more people moved out of the state of California in 2011 than moved into it.

54. During 2011, more than 58,000 people moved from California to the state of Texas.

55. Overall, the state of California has experienced a net loss of about four million residents to other states over the past 20 years.

[Swordsmyth]

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/55-reasons-why-california-is-the-worst-state-in-america

Support Calexit!

+Rep

[oyarde]

CalExit now .

[juleswin]

I wonder the %age of those people living in poverty in CA are out of staters? I remember watching one of those late night MSNBC documentaries about the homeless people in CA and I was surprised to see that virtually all of them interviewed were transplants from other less prosperous states who failed in their attempt of making it in CA. They started using drugs, got comfortable with the welfare and got stuck there because even the shitty lives in CA was better than what they had back home.

I seriously wonder if they would be in a better shape if they had a better border control along with other regulation and welfare reforms.

[oyarde]

I wonder the %age of those people living in poverty in CA are out of staters? I remember watching one of those late night MSNBC documentaries about the homeless people in CA and I was surprised to see that virtually all of them interviewed were transplants from other less prosperous states who failed in their attempt of making it in CA. They started using drugs, got comfortable with the welfare and got stuck there because even the shitty lives in CA was better than what they had back home.

I seriously wonder if they would be in a better shape if they had a better border control along with other regulation and welfare reforms.

Considering LA County is near a 25 percent welfare rate , uh , yes they would be better off with zero welfare .

[oyarde]

California had a population of about 90K when it became a state ( 1850) . By 1900 , nearing 1.5 million . 1930 about 5 1/2 million . 1950 10 million . Since these times it has gone on and on and the poor land and resources are not meant to sustain the 30 million ( 1990) and 39 million ( 2015) or estimated , current 40 million . It will continue to have problems . The final solution is to exclude it from the union .

[juleswin]

Considering LA County is near a 25 percent welfare rate , uh , yes they would be better off with zero welfare .

Very true but my question is this. Would CA be an even better state if it had the ability to control its border more than it has the ability to do now. Imagine if it could deport unproductive citizens and non citizens to whatever shytehole they came from.

Not sure if she wants to do that but imagine if she could and has the desire to do so. It would be the greatest state ever:)

[oyarde]

Sometimes you have to be wise enough to step back and see destiny . California is destined to fail and become worse . They will continue to double down on the fail until they get there .

[DamianTV]

Simply put: Wealth Redistribution always flows to the top and away from the bottom. They just play with the numbers to make it look like its going the other way.

[timosman]

Simply put: Wealth Redistribution always flows to the top and away from the bottom. They just play with the numbers to make it look like its going the other way.

Not according to postmodern cultural marxists - http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?518553-Postmodernism-and-Cultural-Marxism-Jordan-B-Peterson
They were so close to getting it right this time. :cool:

[Krugminator2]

Simply put: Wealth Redistribution always flows to the top and away from the bottom. They just play with the numbers to make it look like its going the other way.

What wealth is flowing away from the bottom? The bottom doesn't produce wealth. A better statement would be wealth flows from the middle to the bottom and to the politically connected top.

[DamianTV]

Middle class is all but gone. And for the record, it is those at the bottom (bottom 90%, which includes both middle and lower class) that always produced true value. True value is something of actual benefit to society such as goods or services. Those at the bottom are the ones that do the physical work to grow crops, fix cars, build apartments, houses and roads, make our smartphones (yes, mostly done in China or overseas), create our clothing, furniture, and every object and item that lasts both short term and long term. The people at the top produce nothing except policies that benefit themselves at the expense of everyone else lower than themselves on the food chain.

It is the ones at the top that do produce one thing, a thing that is exceptionally destructive to any society as a whole, and that thing is DEBT. They do NOT loan us money they have, the make us BORROW that DEBT from nothing that existed before into existence and we are expected to repay something they never had to begin with. They have paywalled knowledge and wisdom and almost all information. We are dependent on them for everything we consume and produce even though we are the ones doing the work to create those things of actual value. We are also the ones that do the work to move it all around in a way that we have no power to negotiate prices. They have set up a system that if we produce something, we owe them even more than what we produced.

This idea of "Wealth Redistribution", which is exactly what IS happening in California and HAS happened in other cities like DETROIT MICHIGAN causes the system to become so top heavy that eventually it will collapse under its own weight. So why is Liberal California the Poverty Capital of America? Because Wealth Redistribution and Socialist Programs always turn out the exact same way, those at the top benefit at the expense of the bottom. California is simply Detroit Michigan on a state wide scale. Perhaps it is a more fair question to ask how Liberal Policies are ANYTHING BUT Wealth Redistribution to benefit those at the top?

Wealth Redistribution has ALWAYS benefitted those at the top at the expense of the poor, and has had many names. Even in the USSR, Communist Russia, people would be paid the same if you were a Farmer or Doctor, despite the most extreme polar opposites of necessary skills to do both jobs. Wealth Redistribution and a Fiat Currency took down the USSR, just as our Socialist loving Liberal policies destroyed Detroit, it WILL destroy California. It doesnt come as much of a surprise to me that California is splitting down the middle with the MSM push of New California (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?518500-New-California-Declares-Independence-From-Rest-Of-State).

[Krugminator2]

And for the record, it is those at the bottom (bottom 90%, which includes both middle and lower class) that always produced true value. True value is something of actual benefit to society such as goods or services. Those at the bottom are the ones that do the physical work to grow crops, fix cars, build apartments, houses and roads, make our smartphones (yes, mostly done in China or overseas), create our clothing, furniture, and every object and item that lasts both short term and long term. The people at the top produce nothing except policies that benefit themselves at the expense of everyone else lower than themselves on the food chain.



Nothing about that entire paragraph is correct.

Wealth is a product of the mind. Wealth comes from people who develop ways to make products better, cheaper, and faster. People 10000 years ago worked hard physically but had primitive standards of living. Most of the population farmed 200 years ago and the country was very poor. Now very few people farm because of technological innovation. A relatively small minority of people have created almost all of the wealth that we enjoy today.

Or to put it more bluntly, here is what Ludwig von Mises wrote to Ayn Rand "You have the courage to tell the masses what no politician told them: you are inferior and all the improvements in your conditions which you simply take for granted you owe to the effort of men who are better than you."

[DamianTV]

Q: Whats the difference between a Philosopher and a Pizza?
A: A Pizza can feed a family for a night.

[Anti Federalist]

Or to put it more bluntly, here is what Ludwig von Mises wrote to Ayn Rand "You have the courage to tell the masses what no politician told them: you are inferior and all the improvements in your conditions which you simply take for granted you owe to the effort of men who are better than you."

http://i.imgur.com/wo1HQL3.png

[timosman]

Or to put it more bluntly, here is what Ludwig von Mises wrote to Ayn Rand "You have the courage to tell the masses what no politician told them: you are inferior and all the improvements in your conditions which you simply take for granted you owe to the effort of men who are better than you."

All of this could be accomplished without making the lives of the masses a living hell.:cool:

[Swordsmyth]

Nothing about that entire paragraph is correct.

Wealth is a product of the mind. Wealth comes from people who develop ways to make products better, cheaper, and faster. People 10000 years ago worked hard physically but had primitive standards of living. Most of the population farmed 200 years ago and the country was very poor. Now very few people farm because of technological innovation. A relatively small minority of people have created almost all of the wealth that we enjoy today.

Or to put it more bluntly, here is what Ludwig von Mises wrote to Ayn Rand "You have the courage to tell the masses what no politician told them: you are inferior and all the improvements in your conditions which you simply take for granted you owe to the effort of men who are better than you."

There is a difference between the 1% most of whom produce wealth and the 0.1% most of whom do nothing but rob and tyrannize everyone below them.

[Krugminator2]

There is a difference between the 1% most of whom produce wealth and the 0.1% most of whom do nothing but rob and tyrannize everyone below them.

Let's take a look at at the top .1%

Who is Bill Gates robbing? I am very happy with Windows 10 as I type this. The employees at Microsoft (as far as a I know) make outstanding livings.

Who is Charles Koch robbing? Koch Industries makes great products and employs 70,000 people in the US at high paying jobs. They employ a number people at some of the best jobs in the small town I grew up in.

Jeff Bezos is the wealthiest person in the world. I have purchased a dozen books or so in the last couple of weeks from Amazon many of which I will read on a Amazon Kindle.

I just went to Wal-Mart today. I bought some delicious Snapple that my more expensive local grocer doesn't carry. The Walton family isn't stealing from me. I thank them.

[Swordsmyth]

Let's take a look at at the top .1%

Who is Bill Gates robbing? I am very happy with Windows 10 as I type this. The employees at Microsoft (as far as a I know) make outstanding livings.

Who is Charles Koch robbing? Koch Industries makes great products and employs 70,000 people in the US at high paying jobs. They employ a number people at some of the best jobs in the small town I grew up in.

Jeff Bezos is the wealthiest person in the world. I have purchased a dozen books or so in the last couple of weeks from Amazon many of which I will read on a Amazon Kindle.

I just went to Wal-Mart today. I bought some delicious Snapple that my more expensive local grocer doesn't carry. The Walton family isn't stealing from me. I thank them.

Their corrupt relationships with government have NOTHING to do with their wealth?

Sorry buddy but most of the 0.1% rob and tyrannize everyone below them.

[Krugminator2]

Their corrupt relationships with government have NOTHING to do with their wealth?



No. What corrupt relationship do the Koch's have? They get no special favors from government.

Bill Gates became the wealthiest in the world without government. His distance from government is what lead the government to go after him in an antitrust case.

What did government do for Sam Walton when he was building his business? What did the government do for Jeff Bezos?

My life is much better off from the people I listed either because I use their products or in the case of the Koch's because they funded people like Murray Rothbard and FA Hayek.

[timosman]

Let's take a look at at the top .1%

Who is Bill Gates robbing? I am very happy with Windows 10 as I type this. The employees at Microsoft (as far as a I know) make outstanding livings.

Who is Charles Koch robbing? Koch Industries makes great products and employs 70,000 people in the US at high paying jobs. They employ a number people at some of the best jobs in the small town I grew up in.

Jeff Bezos is the wealthiest person in the world. I have purchased a dozen books or so in the last couple of weeks from Amazon many of which I will read on a Amazon Kindle.

I just went to Wal-Mart today. I bought some delicious Snapple that my more expensive local grocer doesn't carry. The Walton family isn't stealing from me. I thank them.

Is this an attempt at humor?:cool:

[timosman]

Bill Gates became the wealthiest in the world without government.

It was mostly his mom sitting on IBM board at the time - Mary Gates, 64; Helped Her Son Start Microsoft
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/11/obituaries/mary-gates-64-helped-her-son-start-microsoft.html

[Swordsmyth]

No. What corrupt relationship do the Koch's have? They get no special favors from government.

Bill Gates became the wealthiest in the world without government. His distance from government is what lead the government to go after him in an antitrust case.

What did government do for Sam Walton when he was building his business? What did the government do for Jeff Bezos?

My life is much better off from the people I listed either because I use their products or in the case of the Koch's because they funded people like Murray Rothbard and FA Hayek.

I don't know about the Koch's or Walton but Bezos and Gates are creations of the deep state despite any phony "fights" they may pretend to have withe the government from time to time.
I keep leaving room for some 0.1%ers to be honest but almost all of them rob us and tyrannize us.

[Krugminator2]

It was mostly his mom sitting on IBM board at the time - Mary Gates, 64; Helped Her Son Start Microsoft
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/11/obituaries/mary-gates-64-helped-her-son-start-microsoft.html

So? What does have to do with government or producing good products?

[Swordsmyth]

So? What does have to do with government or producing good products?

IBM is deepstate, without the deepstate connection Gates would never have gone anywhere, they gave us Microsoft so they could spy on us.

[DamianTV]

No. What corrupt relationship do the Koch's have? They get no special favors from government.

Bill Gates became the wealthiest in the world without government. His distance from government is what lead the government to go after him in an antitrust case.

What did government do for Sam Walton when he was building his business? What did the government do for Jeff Bezos?

My life is much better off from the people I listed either because I use their products or in the case of the Koch's because they funded people like Murray Rothbard and FA Hayek.

Walmart (Sam Walton) and Bezos (Amazon) both get Federal Subsidies indirectly. Those low low prices you get are done so by employee exploitation. How many at Walmart do you know that work FULL TIME? They dont. Amazon? Almost exclusively Temp Labor that is hired by Integrity Staffing, who is owned by Amazon, but shields Amazon from lawsuits. The Federal assistance they get comes from Welfare, that the people get when they dont earn enough money to make ends meet. How bout Medicaid? Neither of those companies offer most of their employees insurance. A few get insurance, but most do not. Especially not the temp labor.

Now, the one thing that eludes most people is how this is paid for. We always hear that "we" have to pay for this, but Ive never gotten a bill for someone elses welfare or medicaid. And heres the TRICK. We all pay for it, thru the Hidden Tax of Inflation. Govt "just borrows" the money into existence to pay its bills while looking like the "good guy" because no ones taxes go up. We're still paying for it, and its that price manipulation thru the inflation of money that made the Koch brothers their riches.

Microsoft did get started by making a product. Thing is, when Bill Gates originally made his sales pitch to sell DOS, he did NOT have legal rights to DOS. He bought it off a guy with the money he made thru that first sales pitch. After that, their business practices have been nothing but anti competitive. Dont get me wrong, the diversity of Windows has allowed some great achievements in the tech field, but they have had some stumbling blocks as well. I like Windows 7, but can not stand the spyware heavy Windows 10 always online know everything you do horseshit. Im sure that Bill Gates never used his money to influence votes, or even have a personal army of Lobbyists ready to twist the arms of every politician in the District of Criminals, a.k.a. Washington D.C. for those that didnt get that part of the joke.

Seriously dude, usually youre way more aware than this. I really expected you to have taken a much more libertarian attitude. What is up with this new Zippy level of monopoly worship, or are you playing my game of Devils Advocate? (to which I do admit that I occasionally do...)

-----

Addendum unrelated to Krug's post

California's Homeless Problem Revealed In One "Incredible" Video
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-17/californias-homeless-problem-revealed-one-incredible-video

https://youtu.be/zvCGtxeknSg
https://youtu.be/zvCGtxeknSg

[AZJoe]

Cruising the California bike path in Anaheim


https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=26&v=zvCGtxeknSg

[AZJoe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=214&v=NqN_UPE3jTE

[timosman]

bump

[Anti Federalist]

Cruising the California bike path in Anaheim


https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=26&v=zvCGtxeknSg

So, after watching this, some questions come to mind...

Why does it appear to be all or mostly white people?

Whites are a minority in California, so why would all these homeless be, apparently, white people?

Have California whites been the only demographic turned into bums and idiots and meth heads?

Or is this what the "disenfranchisement" and "displacement" of white people that I hear the diversity hustlers and colored people talking about, looks like?

The result of being shut out of hiring, handouts and help?

They say that's the future of whites in AmeriKa, colored members of Congress say I am right to "be afraid" of them...is this why?

Is that the future for my children and their children?

And apropos of nothing, why does everybody say California is so pretty and full of natural beauty?

Much of what I have seen of it looks uglier than the dark side of the moon.

[acptulsa]

The rumor here in the foothills of the Ozarks is, Sam Walton got his start by hijacking a truck full of goods headed to an existing drug store. I'd hardly credit him with inventing anything; he just built his imitation KMarts in small towns instead of cities (at first).


So? What does have to do with government or producing good products?

And what does government have to do with producing good products? Do you have the slightest idea what sort of car could be produced with today's technology if it could be designed by engineers, not regulations?

[Krugminator2]

The rumor here in the foothills of the Ozarks is, Sam Walton got his start by hijacking a truck full of goods headed to an existing drug store. I'd hardly credit him with inventing anything; he just built his imitation KMarts in small towns instead of cities (at first).



Last time I checked K-Mart is bankrupt. Wal-Mart isn't. I think I last stepped into a K-Mart when I was about 5 years old. Clearly Sam Walton did something right. Sam Walton is one of the greatest (if not the greatest) entrepreneurs in history.


Do you have the slightest idea what sort of car could be produced with today's technology if it could be designed by engineers, not regulations?

How does that apply to what I said? It doesn't seem at all related to government handing out subsidies.

[Anti Globalist]

Because California is filled with a bunch of idiots who think socialism works and the people don't believe in liberty and freedom.

[acptulsa]

So? What does have to do with government or producing good products?
And what does government have to do with producing good products? Do you have the slightest idea what sort of car could be produced with today's technology if it could be designed by engineers, not regulations?

How does that apply to what I said? It doesn't seem at all related to government handing out subsidies.

In what way does it not apply to what you said (which was nothing containing the word subsidy)?

In any case, the tax tick class generally make more than the people on various assembly lines and in various construction trades, so clearly it applies to the discussion.

[Krugminator2]

In what way does it not apply to what you said (which was nothing containing the word subsidy)?



Well.. You started talking about the regulations on cars when my post was asking what handouts Bill Gates got? I fail to see how what you said relates in any possible way.

[acptulsa]

Well.. You started talking about the regulations on cars when my post was asking what handouts Bill Gates got? I fail to see how what you said relates in any possible way.

Either way, Washington produces nothing of any value to anyone.

Seeing you talk about Sam Walton and Bill Gates makes me wonder if you think either of them ever turned actual raw materials into actual products.

It reminds me of the Hitchhiker's Guide series (perhaps Goodbye and Thanks for All the Fish) where a society packed all its middlemen into a spaceship and shot them off into space. Those people kept the line workers and cooks and even the janitors. It takes more than the person with the slick idea to create wealth.

[Krugminator2]

Seeing you talk about Sam Walton and Bill Gates makes me wonder if you think either of them ever turned actual raw materials into actual products.

It reminds me of the Hitchhiker's Guide series (perhaps Goodbye and Thanks for All the Fish) where a society packed all its middlemen into a spaceship and shot them off into space. Those people kept the line workers and cooks and even the janitors. It takes more than the person with the slick idea to create wealth.

So Bill Gates and Sam Walton have created more wealth than just about any two people in world history.

Turning raw materials in physical products is not necessary to producing wealth. Doing something more efficiently and cheaper creates wealth. In Bill Gates' case marketing software that improves lives creates wealth.

Middlemen also create wealth. It is cool that the Hitchhiker's Guide has stories about about middleman aren't worthwhile. I'll stick to economics textbooks that point out how important middleman and speculators are for creating a properly functioning economy.

[acptulsa]

Turning raw materials in physical products is not necessary to producing wealth. Doing something more efficiently and cheaper creates wealth. In Bill Gates' case marketing software that improves lives creates wealth.

Turning raw materials into products does not create wealth, but turning raw materials into products more efficiently today than it was done yesterday does create wealth?

I suggest you burn those textbooks and get some that make sense. Finding a way to inflate stock prices is not exactly what "creating wealth" means.

[Krugminator2]

I suggest you burn those textbooks and get some that make sense. Finding a way to inflate stock prices is not exactly what "creating wealth" means.

The only people who would agree with you are probably Marxist economists.

Mises spends a lot of time in Human Action ripping arguments like yours to shreds.

[Schifference]

So, after watching this, some questions come to mind...

Why does it appear to be all or mostly white people?

Whites are a minority in California, so why would all these homeless be, apparently, white people?

Have California whites been the only demographic turned into bums and idiots and meth heads?

Or is this what the "disenfranchisement" and "displacement" of white people that I hear the diversity hustlers and colored people talking about, looks like?

The result of being shut out of hiring, handouts and help?

They say that's the future of whites in AmeriKa, colored members of Congress say I am right to "be afraid" of them...is this why?

Is that the future for my children and their children?

And apropos of nothing, why does everybody say California is so pretty and full of natural beauty?

Much of what I have seen of it looks uglier than the dark side of the moon.

I see a lot of fences and barricades. I wonder why?
I think there are a couple of reasons why white people being on the streets. One reason is that it is harder for a white male to get entitlements. A non white woman with kids no problem. If the weather is not too bad, it is kind of like homesteading on a poor level. Stake your claim to your square footage of property and fight to keep it. If you make friends with your neighbors you can protect each other's person and property. In a lot of ways homeless people might experience freedom at a more practical level than everyone that answers to the man.

[acptulsa]

The only people who would agree with you are probably Marxist economists.

Mises spends a lot of time in Human Action ripping arguments like yours to shreds.

It's all right. You figure Bill Gates created wealth because he enabled Joe Day Trader to buy a Ferrari, which is wealth. Meanwhile, the craftsmen who built the actual Ferrari also enabled Joe to buy the Ferrari, but that's not wealth. Even though it's the same Ferrari.

No problem. You can think Mises would agree with that to your heart's content.

[Ender]

I wonder the %age of those people living in poverty in CA are out of staters? I remember watching one of those late night MSNBC documentaries about the homeless people in CA and I was surprised to see that virtually all of them interviewed were transplants from other less prosperous states who failed in their attempt of making it in CA. They started using drugs, got comfortable with the welfare and got stuck there because even the $#@!ty lives in CA was better than what they had back home.

I seriously wonder if they would be in a better shape if they had a better border control along with other regulation and welfare reforms.

A lot of homeless people come to California because of the weather- you can live under a pier or in a woodland in S. California w/o freezing to death, plus the weather is pretty good all year long. This something that many don't take into account when they are talking about homeless stats.

[Krugminator2]

It's all right. You figure Bill Gates created wealth because he enabled Joe Day Trader to buy a Ferrari, which is wealth. Meanwhile, the craftsmen who built the actual Ferrari also enabled Joe to buy the Ferrari, but that's not wealth. Even though it's the same Ferrari.

No problem. You can think Mises would agree with that to your heart's content.


I didn't say anything remotely similar to that. Not even close.

But yes. Mises would agree that entrepreneurs who deliver products better and cheaper create wealth. Day traders create wealth. Bill Gates creates wealth. People who build Ferrari's create wealth. And middlemen create wealth. You seem have this notion that only physical goods are wealth and services aren't wealth. That would be wrong.

[Stratovarious]

The California Symbol of the Bear is being replaced with :
A handicapped parking sticker.

[Anti Federalist]

///

[juleswin]

///

Watch any skidrow documentary and you will see a trend with the people they interview. That trend being that most of em are out of staters. The gold rush didn't end when the gold mines were cleaned out. People still come to California to make it big.

[Zippyjuan]

Last time I checked K-Mart is bankrupt. Wal-Mart isn't. I think I last stepped into a K-Mart when I was about 5 years old. Clearly Sam Walton did something right. Sam Walton is one of the greatest (if not the greatest) entrepreneurs in history.



How does that apply to what I said? It doesn't seem at all related to government handing out subsidies.

He built his empire with government subsidies. He would get a city/ county/ state to put up the land for a store and huge tax breaks if they located there. Local Mom and Pop stores had a hard time competing against that.

[brushfire]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9pgh5EO6lw

[Zippyjuan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9pgh5EO6lw

He says build more buildings to solve the homeless problem but during his interview, he notes that most of the people on the street in San Francisco don't want to move into a building. They like the freedom of the streets.

[Swordsmyth]

He says build more buildings to solve the homeless problem but during his interview, he notes that most of the people on the street in San Francisco don't want to move into a building. They like the freedom of the streets.
Because they get government handouts.

[Zippyjuan]

Because they get government handouts.

They said it was for the freedom. What would you be willing to give up for $70 a month?

[Swordsmyth]

They said it was for the freedom. What would you be willing to give up for $70 a month?
Liberals claim government handouts are freedom.
They wouldn't do it without the handouts.

[Zippyjuan]

Liberals claim government handouts are freedom.
They wouldn't do it without the handouts.

There have always been homeless- even without handouts. Your cliche talking point doesn't hold up.

[Swordsmyth]

There have always been homeless- even without handouts.
Not nearly so many and most of them were only temporarily homeless, when you subsidize something you get more of it and when you penalize having a home you get less of it.

[brushfire]

He says build more buildings to solve the homeless problem but during his interview, he notes that most of the people on the street in San Francisco don't want to move into a building. They like the freedom of the streets.

To be more direct and to the point, law enforcement aren't enforcing their laws - he's covering the full spectrum of government. The smash and grabs, the tents on the sidewalks, and using the police union to shut out private competition. He's not trying to say the homeless in tents would be housed in affordable housing.

The cost of living is so very high in SF, because they have more demand than supply (a product of regulation and the will of the residents) - a certain class of people can only afford to live there. Stossel points this out to demonstrate the hypocrisy of those who live in SF - they dont want other people living there, and they dont want more "affordable housing", even if it caters to just the upper/middle class. The irony being that these same people, and their elected officials, claim to care about the homeless - their actions suggest otherwise.

I'm surprised that Stossel didnt pick up on ungated rail crossings - how even 1 ungated crossing exists at all in a place like SF is beyond me. When I was there, I was shocked by this - and the human sh!t on the sidewalks. Again, the government has more revenue than probably anywhere else in the US, yet they still prove to be undependable.

[acptulsa]

Not nearly so many and most of them were only temporarily homeless, when you subsidize something you get more of it and when you penalize having a home you get less of it.

Either that or the MSM, in their undying effort to federalize everything, ragged on every failure of county mental asylums until the liberals demanded they be shut down and their patients be thrown out to fend for themselves.

I can never remember which it was. The closing of the hospitals? Or the bribing people to become homeless? Which was it? Hmmm...

[Swordsmyth]

Either that or the MSM, in their undying effort to federalize everything, ragged on every failure of county mental asylums until the liberals demanded they be shut down and their patients be thrown out to fend for themselves.

I can never remember which it was. The closing of the hospitals? Or the bribing people to become homeless? Which was it? Hmmm...
I'll take both for $200.

[Zippyjuan]

To be more direct and to the point, law enforcement aren't enforcing their laws - he's covering the full spectrum of government. The smash and grabs, the tents on the sidewalks, and using the police union to shut out private competition. He's not trying to say the homeless in tents would be housed in affordable housing.

The cost of living is so very high in SF, because they have more demand than supply (a product of regulation and the will of the residents) - a certain class of people can only afford to live there. Stossel points this out to demonstrate the hypocrisy of those who live in SF - they dont want other people living there, and they dont want more "affordable housing", even if it caters to just the upper/middle class. The irony being that these same people, and their elected officials, claim to care about the homeless - their actions suggest otherwise.

I'm surprised that Stossel didnt pick up on ungated rail crossings - how even 1 ungated crossing exists at all in a place like SF is beyond me. When I was there, I was shocked by this - and the human sh!t on the sidewalks. Again, the government has more revenue than probably anywhere else in the US, yet they still prove to be undependable.

Limited physical space and too many high paying jobs attracting more people to the area. More government on one hand (police) and less government on the other hand (zoning laws).

[Swordsmyth]

Limited physical space and too many high paying jobs attracting more people to the area.
LOL

There is plenty of space where they won't let you build including straight up, they limit how high the buildings can be.
How are the homeless attracted to high paying jobs that they don't qualify or apply for?

[Zippyjuan]

LOL

There is plenty of space where they won't let you build including straight up, they limit how high the buildings can be.
How are the homeless attracted to high paying jobs that they don't qualify or apply for?

What attracts homeless people to Mumbay or Calcutta where jobs are low paying? Why does Phoenix have so many? Freebies does not explain it.

[Zippyjuan]

https://amp.businessinsider.com/images/5bf31471da27f8094852b46b-1920-960.jpg

[Occam's Banana]

It reminds me of the Hitchhiker's Guide series (perhaps Goodbye and Thanks for All the Fish) where a society packed all its middlemen into a spaceship and shot them off into space. Those people kept the line workers and cooks and even the janitors.

Actually, the correct title of the book you mentioned is So Long and Thanks for All the Fish. It was the fourth book in the series.

The part of the story you are referring to appeared in the second book, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. The "useless middlemen" who were sent off on Golgafrincham Ark Ship B were people like TV producers, insurance salesmen, security guards, hairdressers, telephone sanitizers and management consultants. They eventually arrived at and colonized Earth, becoming our ancestors. Meanwhile, back on Golgafrincham, the entire remaining population of leaders, scientists, artists and people who "made things and did things" was wiped out by a virulent disease contracted from a dirty telephone ...

[brushfire]

Limited physical space and too many high paying jobs attracting more people to the area.

This is an accurate statement - but the "limited space" problem is a product of regulation, and a reflection of the hypocrisy of those who are getting the high paying jobs. In my mind, its made worse by the fact that SF seems to be the heart of these egalitarian minds - pushing their big government views on everyone else. Yet when you get down to it, their big government sucks, and they aren't willing to tolerate the consequences of the politics they advocate.

What really blows my mind is what SF does with all of its revenue? Where the fk is it going, if not for building railroad crossings? I mean, they're here for the safety of the public, right?

[Zippyjuan]

This is an accurate statement - but the "limited space" problem is a product of regulation, and a reflection of the hypocrisy of those who are getting the high paying jobs. In my mind, its made worse by the fact that SF seems to be the heart of these egalitarian minds - pushing their big government views on everyone else. Yet when you get down to it, their big government sucks, and they aren't willing to tolerate the consequences of the politics they advocate.

What really blows my mind is what SF does with all of its revenue? Where the fk is it going, if not for building railroad crossings? I mean, they're here for the safety of the public, right?

Like this?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNUz_ObK7jg

[Swordsmyth]

What attracts homeless people to Mumbay or Calcutta where jobs are low paying?
They were born there?
Badly managed private charity that produces the same incentives as government handouts?
Government handouts?

I don't have to explain that, you are the one who claimed high paying jobs caused homelessness which is nonsense.


Why does Phoenix have so many? Freebies does not explain it.
Phoenix has handouts too.

[Zippyjuan]

They were born there?
Badly managed private charity that produces the same incentives as government handouts?
Government handouts?

I don't have to explain that, you are the one who claimed high paying jobs caused homelessness which is nonsense.


Phoenix has handouts too.

The homeless problem always existed. Nothing will ever eliminate it completely. The housing cost problem arose from those high paying jobs.

[Swordsmyth]

The homeless problem always existed. Nothing will ever eliminate it completely.
Nobody said it could be but it could be reduced massively.



The housing cost problem arose from those high paying jobs.
It arose from government edicts that warped the market place and government property taxes.

[brushfire]

Like this?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNUz_ObK7jg


No, like this - these are "Passive Rail Crossings" - I know there are more. You can probably call BART and get a list of them, if you dont believe me.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jACP8NOqF1E/maxresdefault.jpg


And this


https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iCYeuYrnMxw/maxresdefault.jpg

[Zippyjuan]

No, like this - these are "Passive Rail Crossings" - I know there are more. You can probably call BART and get a list of them, if you dont believe me.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jACP8NOqF1E/maxresdefault.jpg


And this


https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iCYeuYrnMxw/maxresdefault.jpg

First one is in Sacramento. There are gates on one side of the crossing.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jACP8NOqF1E

That second one is in New Jersey- also not San Francisco.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCYeuYrnMxw

[brushfire]

First one is in Sacramento. There are gates on one side of the crossing.

That second one is in New Jersey- also not San Francisco.



Ok - sorry for my carelessness. Here's one:

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7463635,-122.3871315,3a,75y,1.07h,89.6t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sLuYLppkGMAPIh-pKGOyQwA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

There are more, I know - I'll have to ask a coworker the Thai food place we'd go to, cause there is one near by that too.

[Brian4Liberty]

bump

Why?


So, after watching this, some questions come to mind...

Why does it appear to be all or mostly white people?

Whites are a minority in California, so why would all these homeless be, apparently, white people?

Have California whites been the only demographic turned into bums and idiots and meth heads?

Or is this what the "disenfranchisement" and "displacement" of white people that I hear the diversity hustlers and colored people talking about, looks like?

The result of being shut out of hiring, handouts and help?

They say that's the future of whites in AmeriKa, colored members of Congress say I am right to "be afraid" of them...is this why?

Is that the future for my children and their children?

And apropos of nothing, why does everybody say California is so pretty and full of natural beauty?

Much of what I have seen of it looks uglier than the dark side of the moon.

Good question. More white schizophrenics? White people refuse to take public assistance?


I see a lot of fences and barricades. I wonder why?
I think there are a couple of reasons why white people being on the streets. One reason is that it is harder for a white male to get entitlements. A non white woman with kids no problem. If the weather is not too bad, it is kind of like homesteading on a poor level. Stake your claim to your square footage of property and fight to keep it. If you make friends with your neighbors you can protect each other's person and property. In a lot of ways homeless people might experience freedom at a more practical level than everyone that answers to the man.

Rejected from public assistance? You never know.