So Goes the Nation

The old saying is that as California goes, so goes the nation.

The above linked article is a rough look at what "progressive" policies have wrought for the middle class of the state.

The new progressives were as unenthusiastic about welcoming business as about building infrastructure. Fundamentally indifferent or even hostile to the existing private sector, they embraced two peculiar notions about what could sustain California’s economy in its place. The first of these was California’s inherent creativity—a delusion held not only by liberal Democrats. David Crane, Governor Schwarzenegger’s top economic advisor, once told me that California could easily afford to give up blue-collar jobs in warehousing, manufacturing, or even business services because the state’s vaunted “creative economy” would find ways to replace the lost employment and income. California would always come out ahead, he said, because it represented “ground zero for creative destruction.”
Graph by Alberto Mena.

The second engine that could supposedly keep California humming was the so-called green economy. Michael Grunwald recently wrote in Time, for example, that venture capital, high tech, and, above all, “green” technology were already laying the foundation of a miraculous economic turnaround in California. Though there are certainly opportunities in new energy-saving technologies, this is an enthusiasm that requires some serious curbing. One recent study hailing the new industry found that California was creating some 10,000 green jobs annually before the recession. But that won’t heal a state that has lost 700,000 jobs since then.

If you are at all interested in California and why our state is currently ungovernable, this is a must read. It is tragic, really. California is blessed with incredible natural resources, natural beauty, and at one time, had a great infrastructure - schools, roads, power grid, etc. Now - over the course of a generation, we have ceded power to public employee unions who are bankrupting the state and moonbat green-environmentalists. The result - decay. And a dying middle class.

Also, can some politician be brave enough to stand up and say that this whole notion of a green economy is freaking bullshit nonsense? I mean, honestly, people just throw this term around as if there is no cost and only benefit. What the f--- is a green job - can someone explain that to me? Just give me one example of a green job or a green product? Recycled paper? I've been recycling since I was born - what the hell is new about that? There is a cost to listening to bullshit like this - we invest our hard earned treasure into flakey nonsensical businesses - and then wonder where it all goes. If the stupid fucking hippies really believe in the "green" economy and solar powered cars, they can invest their own money into building one, but not my tax dollars. Why does it have to be tax dollars? Can someone explain that as well?