[Bruce_the_vii]

Just as an aside economists describe the Canadian economy as "an attached economy" to the United States. This is similar to Austria's relation with Germany. Everyone is for diversification but Canadians and the Americans will continue to be blood brothers.

[Pseudonym]

California's politicians have been making a mess for years. They simply can't maintain their level of entitlements and big spending at current revenue levels. It's the story of our times.

I hope they can get their fiscal house in order, and I wish them luck.

[Arctic_Menace]

RUEZ RUEZ:

The world will suffer if the U.S. suffers. Doesn't matter if we are completely diversified, we will feel the pain.

But we'll feel less pain if we're less integrated. That's my main point. For sure we'll still feel pain, but the less of it the better.

[BartSimpson]

A couple things...

1. Proposition 13, which limited property tax increases to no more than 2% per year, saved a lot of poor people from having to sell their homes. My mom's cousin, Brendan, had bought a small home with an orchard in 1964 for about $5000 and in the early 1970's his neighborhood, Montecito, went from being a rural backwater to being the target of upper class mansion development. By 1978 Brendan was being taxed at an assessed valuation of $500,000 - a hundred fold increase in taxation in just 14 years! Prop 13 rolled his assessed value back to a more reasonable level and it saved him his home. Prop 13 did the same for a lot of other people, as well.

2. California's budget has what is called a 'Structural Deficit'. This means that for every dollar in tax revenue the state is obligated to spend $1.08 to $1.13 dependiong on who crunches the numbers. Raising taxes and/or a Federal bailout will not address this problem.

3. Californians pay taxes in more ways than just income and sales tax. We pay it out in some of the highest housing costs in the USA. A $300,000 home in Sacramento, for instance, includes about $130,000 in development taxes. We also pay sales tax on fuel and utility taxes. We pay annual property taxes on our vehicles. We pay all sorts of fees and etc. in lists you would not believe. In short, we do pay one hell of a lot of money in taxes. And the government diverts the lions' share of that revenue to state employee payroll and pensions.

[Dragom]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

A couple things...

1. Proposition 13, which limited property tax increases to no more than 2% per year, saved a lot of poor people from having to sell their homes. My mom's cousin, Brendan, had bought a small home with an orchard in 1964 for about $5000 and in the early 1970's his neighborhood, Montecito, went from being a rural backwater to being the target of upper class mansion development. By 1978 Brendan was being taxed at an assessed valuation of $500,000 - a hundred fold increase in taxation in just 14 years! Prop 13 rolled his assessed value back to a more reasonable level and it saved him his home. Prop 13 did the same for a lot of other people, as well.

Thank god, he was saved from having to make a 49,900% Profit on his investment.

I too have been offered amounts of $495,000 as I was walking down the street and have had to politely turn down these offers, only to be chased and hounded down the street relentlessly and eventually forced to accept this money.

Thank god he managed to dodge that bullet, and bless the Government that has helped to protect him from this hardship.