California's economy is now the 5th-biggest in the world, and has overtaken the United Kingdom

BipolarFuk

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New economic data puts the California economy at $2.747 trillion — bigger than most nations.

The ranking puts in fifth in the world, just ahead of the United Kingdom, which is on $2.625 trillion.

The difference is striking given California's population of 40 million to the UK's 66 million.

California's economy is so large, and has grown so quickly, that it is now the fifth-biggest in the world all by itself, according to US government data.

Figures released on Friday by the US Department of Commerce put California's effective GDP from 2017 at around $2.747 trillion. It said the state's economy grew by 3.4% in the past year.

That growth puts it ahead of the United Kingdom, which has a GDP of $2.625 trillion, according to data published last month by the International Monetary Fund.

Here is how the 15 largest world economies look if you also include US states (in bold) as separate entities:

1. United States $19.391 trillion
2. China $12.015 trillion
3. Japan $4.872 trillion
4. Germany $3.685 trillion
5. California $2.747 trillion
6. United Kingdom $2.625 trillion
7. India $2.611 trillion
8. France $2.584 trillion
9. Brazil $2.055 trillion
10. Italy $1.938 trillion
11. Texas $1.696 trillion
12. Canada $1.652 trillion
13. New York $1.547 trillion
14. South Korea $1.538 trillion
15. Russia $1.527 trillion

According to the Associated Press, California's boom has been especially pronounced because of its thriving tech, entertainment and agricultural industries.

The difference is even more stark in light of the respective economies' populations: Britain has around 66 million inhabitants, compared to California's 40 million.

The United Kingdom has experienced sluggish growth in the past year and many consider its future economic prospects in peril because of its impending exit from the European Union, characterised by fraught negotiations.

It also highlighted currency fluctuations which helped increase the US dollar figure for California's economy at the expense of Britain's.
 

L.T. Fan

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New economic data puts the California economy at $2.747 trillion — bigger than most nations.

The ranking puts in fifth in the world, just ahead of the United Kingdom, which is on $2.625 trillion.

The difference is striking given California's population of 40 million to the UK's 66 million.

California's economy is so large, and has grown so quickly, that it is now the fifth-biggest in the world all by itself, according to US government data.

Figures released on Friday by the US Department of Commerce put California's effective GDP from 2017 at around $2.747 trillion. It said the state's economy grew by 3.4% in the past year.

That growth puts it ahead of the United Kingdom, which has a GDP of $2.625 trillion, according to data published last month by the International Monetary Fund.

Here is how the 15 largest world economies look if you also include US states (in bold) as separate entities:

1. United States $19.391 trillion
2. China $12.015 trillion
3. Japan $4.872 trillion
4. Germany $3.685 trillion
5. California $2.747 trillion
6. United Kingdom $2.625 trillion
7. India $2.611 trillion
8. France $2.584 trillion
9. Brazil $2.055 trillion
10. Italy $1.938 trillion
11. Texas $1.696 trillion
12. Canada $1.652 trillion
13. New York $1.547 trillion
14. South Korea $1.538 trillion
15. Russia $1.527 trillion

According to the Associated Press, California's boom has been especially pronounced because of its thriving tech, entertainment and agricultural industries.

The difference is even more stark in light of the respective economies' populations: Britain has around 66 million inhabitants, compared to California's 40 million.

The United Kingdom has experienced sluggish growth in the past year and many consider its future economic prospects in peril because of its impending exit from the European Union, characterised by fraught negotiations.

It also highlighted currency fluctuations which helped increase the US dollar figure for California's economy at the expense of Britain's.
I have issues with this. California is overtaxed and their budget is more than strained. Businesses are leaving the state by droves andreal estate is past thr saturation level in overvaluation.
 

BipolarFuk

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Messages
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Noticing More Neighbors? California Population Nears 40 Million

Noticing More Neighbors? California Population Nears 40 Million

If you've been feeling more cramped in California lately, a new report will answer why.

The Golden State added approximately 309,000 new residents last year, according to new numbers released by the California Department of Finance. The year-to-year 0.78 percent bump in population growth means that an estimated 39,810,000 people call California home as of Jan. 1, 2018.

Los Angeles is far and away California's most populous city with an estimated 4,054,400 residents, according to the report. San Diego follows with 1,419,845 residents. San Jose checks in as the third-most populated city with 1,051,316 residents.

San Francisco (883,963 residents) and Oakland (428,827 residents) were the only other Bay Area cities among the 10 most populated cities in the state, according to the latest numbers.

When it comes to growth, Chino Hills led the way with a 4.6 percent increase in population surge this past year, according to the report. Dublin, which now features a population of 63,241 people, was labeled as the second-fastest growing city in the state. Newark — now home to 47,467 residents — was third with a 3.9 percent hike in population.

California as a whole in 2017 added roughly 85,000 housing units to shelter the swelling population, according to the report.

Los Angeles beat out all other cities by adding 13,852 housing units. San Diego (5,961 units), San Francisco (4,464 units), Irvine (3,798 units) and San Jose (2,590 units) followed suit, respectively.
 

BipolarFuk

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Apr 7, 2013
Messages
11,464
The United States is on track to achieve the second-longest economic expansion in its history. Unemployment is at a 17-year low. And California’s state budget has a multibillion-dollar surplus.

So why is its longtime governor, Jerry Brown, issuing prophecies of doom?

“What’s out there is darkness, uncertainty, decline and recession,” Mr. Brown said recently after presenting his final budget to legislators.

California has accounted for about 20 percent of the nation’s economic growth since 2010, significantly more than its share of the population or overall output. But Mr. Brown, in his final year in office, has raised the question on the minds of those paid to think about the economy: How long can this last?

For California and the nation, there is a long list of things that could go wrong. A surging budget deficit could stoke higher interest rates. And if the recent upheaval in stocks signals a longer-term decline, it would hurt California in particular because its budget relies heavily on high earners whose incomes rise and fall with the market. President Trump’s moves to upend longstanding trade arrangements could be a setback for the state, home of the country’s biggest port complex. And because the growth of the technology industry has played a huge role in California’s recent boom, a drop in company valuations or in venture capital investments would reverberate swiftly through the state’s economy and tax receipts.

“I don’t think there’s any reason to believe we are going to have a recession this year or the next year,” said Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of Beacon Economics, a consulting firm in Los Angeles, referring to Mr. Brown’s grim forecast. “He’s just pointing out the obvious, which is that things feel good now but there is going to come a time when all hell is going to break loose — and we better be ready for it.”

Mr. Brown’s statements highlight California’s distinction as a state of high highs and low lows. From the recession of the early 1990s to the 2001 dot-com crash to the housing collapse of a decade ago, downturns often end up being more pronounced in the state than elsewhere. The next recession, whenever it comes, will almost certainly land harder here than it does in the rest of the country. And that boom-bust pattern is especially tough on California’s budget — something that Mr. Brown, who was first elected governor more than four decades ago, knows well.

In 2009, as the last recession took hold, California state revenue fell 19 percent, versus 8 percent for state revenues nationwide, according to Moody’s Analytics. There has been a strong rebound since then, but the gains are unlikely to last. That is because California’s government relies on a heavily progressive income tax that generates most of its revenue from a relatively small number of wealthy taxpayers whose incomes are erratic.

Even a blip in the stock market can punch holes in the state’s budget. And because stock prices have more than doubled during Mr. Brown’s term, it seems like a good bet that whoever succeeds him will face challenges. If and when that day comes, any proposal to increase taxes will probably be unpopular. Mr. Brown already raised income taxes to address the state’s last budget mess, and California taxpayers took a further hit as a result of the new tax bill, which curbed the deductibility of state and local taxes on federal returns.

“His successor gets a world in which revenues are more volatile,” without the option of raising taxes, said David Crane, a lecturer in public policy at Stanford University and a former adviser to Mr. Brown’s predecessor, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. “That’s a really tough world to operate in.”

A recession would also further expose problems that have festered for decades. Across California, cities and school districts are having trouble keeping up with ballooning pension obligations, squeezing teacher salaries and state services. In warning about budget troubles to come, Mr. Brown was making a case for adding more of today’s surplus to the state’s rainy day fund to cushion the blow of the next downturn.

Mr. Brown’s final State of the State speech also included plenty of optimistic notes and pushes for big spending in the future on items mostly outside the state’s general fund. He talked about “setting the pace for the entire nation” and embracing big infrastructure projects like a high-speed rail line despite doubts about its viability as costs mount.

“You have all of these projects that he wants to do,” said Stephen Levy, the director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, an independent research organization. “He’s saying, this year may be rosy, but watch out, it ain’t going to continue. And I agree.”

Even in prosperity, California has plenty of problems. The bulk of its recent gains have flowed to wealthier coastal cities, leaving inland areas behind, and a severe housing shortage has led to punishing rent increases and rising homelessness.

Still, economists generally agree that the state’s long-term prospects are bright. It is home to many of the world’s most valuable and innovative companies, and it attracts an outsize portion of the skilled work force and venture capital financing, helping it create new industries as old ones slow down or fade away.

And recession forecasting is a tough business even for those whose livelihoods depend on it, like Ed Del Beccaro, a senior managing director in the Walnut Creek office of Transwestern, a commercial real estate brokerage. He manages a team of brokers and travels around the Bay Area giving speeches and forecasts to chambers of commerce and other business groups.

“Two years ago I was predicting a recession in September of 2017, and in October I said we were going to have a recession at the end of 2018,” he said. “Today I think that unless we get bombed by North Korea, we will have a pretty amazing two years of growth.”

With a sudden spurt in demand for office space, Mr. Del Beccaro said, he is hiring new workers and spending more on marketing to prospective clients. “I was just authorized to go out and get more brokers and offer them incentives to hopefully get them to switch over from other companies,” he said.

But winter will come eventually, and when it does, Mr. Brown’s counsel about planning ahead may help shape how California weathers it.
 

L.T. Fan

I'm Easy If You Are
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
21,689
If you've been feeling more cramped in California lately, a new report will answer why.

The Golden State added approximately 309,000 new residents last year, according to new numbers released by the California Department of Finance. The year-to-year 0.78 percent bump in population growth means that an estimated 39,810,000 people call California home as of Jan. 1, 2018.

Los Angeles is far and away California's most populous city with an estimated 4,054,400 residents, according to the report. San Diego follows with 1,419,845 residents. San Jose checks in as the third-most populated city with 1,051,316 residents.

San Francisco (883,963 residents) and Oakland (428,827 residents) were the only other Bay Area cities among the 10 most populated cities in the state, according to the latest numbers.

When it comes to growth, Chino Hills led the way with a 4.6 percent increase in population surge this past year, according to the report. Dublin, which now features a population of 63,241 people, was labeled as the second-fastest growing city in the state. Newark — now home to 47,467 residents — was third with a 3.9 percent hike in population.

California as a whole in 2017 added roughly 85,000 housing units to shelter the swelling population, according to the report.

Los Angeles beat out all other cities by adding 13,852 housing units. San Diego (5,961 units), San Francisco (4,464 units), Irvine (3,798 units) and San Jose (2,590 units) followed suit, respectively.
Mostly border jumpers into sanctuary status.
 

L.T. Fan

I'm Easy If You Are
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
21,689
The United States is on track to achieve the second-longest economic expansion in its history. Unemployment is at a 17-year low. And California’s state budget has a multibillion-dollar surplus.

So why is its longtime governor, Jerry Brown, issuing prophecies of doom?

“What’s out there is darkness, uncertainty, decline and recession,” Mr. Brown said recently after presenting his final budget to legislators.

California has accounted for about 20 percent of the nation’s economic growth since 2010, significantly more than its share of the population or overall output. But Mr. Brown, in his final year in office, has raised the question on the minds of those paid to think about the economy: How long can this last?

For California and the nation, there is a long list of things that could go wrong. A surging budget deficit could stoke higher interest rates. And if the recent upheaval in stocks signals a longer-term decline, it would hurt California in particular because its budget relies heavily on high earners whose incomes rise and fall with the market. President Trump’s moves to upend longstanding trade arrangements could be a setback for the state, home of the country’s biggest port complex. And because the growth of the technology industry has played a huge role in California’s recent boom, a drop in company valuations or in venture capital investments would reverberate swiftly through the state’s economy and tax receipts.

“I don’t think there’s any reason to believe we are going to have a recession this year or the next year,” said Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of Beacon Economics, a consulting firm in Los Angeles, referring to Mr. Brown’s grim forecast. “He’s just pointing out the obvious, which is that things feel good n;now but there is going to come a time when all hell is going to break loose — and we better be ready for it.”

Mr. Brown’s statements highlight California’s distinction as a state of high highs and low lows. From the recession of the early 1990s to the 2001 dot-com crash to the housing collapse of a decade ago, downturns often end up being more pronounced in the state than elsewhere. The next recession, whenever it comes, will almost certainly land harder here than it does in the rest of the country. And that boom-bust pattern is especially tough on California’s budget — something that Mr. Brown, who was first elected governor more than four decades ago, knows well.

In 2009, as the last recession took hold, California state revenue fell 19 percent, versus 8 percent for state revenues nationwide, according to Moody’s Analytics. There has been a strong rebound since then, but the gains are unlikely to last. That is because California’s government relies on a heavily progressive income tax that generates most of its revenue from a relatively small number of wealthy taxpayers whose incomes are erratic.

Even a blip in the stock market can punch holes in the state’s budget. And because stock prices have more than doubled during Mr. Brown’s term, it seems like a good bet that whoever succeeds him will face challenges. If and when that day comes, any proposal to increase taxes will probably be unpopular. Mr. Brown already raised income taxes to address the state’s last budget mess, and California taxpayers took a further hit as a result of the new tax bill, which curbed the deductibility of state and local taxes on federal returns.

“His successor gets a world in which revenues are more volatile,” without the option of raising taxes, said David Crane, a lecturer in public policy at Stanford University and a former adviser to Mr. Brown’s predecessor, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. “That’s a really tough world to operate in.”

A recession would also further expose problems that have festered for decades. Across California, cities and school districts are having trouble keeping up with ballooning pension obligations, squeezing teacher salaries and state services. In warning about budget troubles to come, Mr. Brown was making a case for adding more of today’s surplus to the state’s rainy day fund to cushion the blow of the next downturn.

Mr. Brown’s final State of the State speech also included plenty of optimistic notes and pushes for big spending in the future on items mostly outside the state’s general fund. He talked about “setting the pace for the entire nation” and embracing big infrastructure projects like a high-speed rail line despite doubts about its viability as costs mount.

“You have all of these projects that he wants to do,” said Stephen Levy, the director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, an independent research organization. “He’s saying, this year may be rosy, but watch out, it ain’t going to continue. And I agree.”

Even in prosperity, California has plenty of problems. The bulk of its recent gains have flowed to wealthier coastal cities, leaving inland areas behind, and a severe housing shortage has led to punishing rent increases and rising homelessness.

Still, economists generally agree that the state’s long-term prospects are bright. It is home to many of the world’s most valuable and innovative companies, and it attracts an outsize portion of the skilled work force and venture capital financing, helping it create new industries as old ones slow down or fade away.

And recession forecasting is a tough business even for those whose livelihoods depend on it, like Ed Del Beccaro, a senior managing director in the Walnut Creek office of Transwestern, a commercial real estate brokerage. He manages a team of brokers and travels around the Bay Area giving speeches and forecasts to chambers of commerce and other business groups.

“Two years ago I was predicting a recession in September of 2017, and in October I said we were going to have a recession at the end of 2018,” he said. “Today I think that unless we get bombed by North Korea, we will have a pretty amazing two years of growth.”

With a sudden spurt in demand for office space, Mr. Del Beccaro said, he is hiring new workers and spending more on marketing to prospective clients. “I was just authorized to go out and get more brokers and offer them incentives to hopefully get them to switch over from other companies,” he said.

But winter will come eventually, and when it does, Mr. Brown’s counsel about planning ahead may help shape how California weathers it.
You used this article to prove a point? Did you even read it?
 
Last edited:

fortsbest

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https://www.ocregister.com/2017/06/24/what-citizen-taxpayers-should-know-about-the-california-budget/

OPINION
What citizen taxpayers should know about the California budget
ap_17131664352319
AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli Gov. Jerry Brown gestures to a chart show balanced budgets are followed by large budget deficits while discussing his $124 billion revised state budget plan, Thursday, May 11, 2017, in Sacramento, Calif.
5 COMMENTS
By JON COUPAL |
June 24, 2017 at 12:04 am
California voters are pretty good at figuring out what is going in the state capital when it hits them directly. For example, recent polling shows that citizen awareness of the $5.2 billion annual gas and car tax is very high and, incidentally, very negative.

But the same can’t be said when it comes to the more complicated and arcane actions of our state politicians such as the annual California state budget process. While Californians are painfully aware that taxes are very high (they’ve been watching their friends and neighbors moving out of state at record pace) they typically have little comprehension of where their tax dollars go. That’s not surprising since California ranks dead last in budget transparency according to a recent study by U.S. News & World Report.

Nonetheless, here are the main takeaways that every California taxpayer should know.

First, the budget is huge – over $125 billion in general fund spending – by far the largest budget in California history. Since the recovery began after the great recession, taxpayers have infused California’s General Fund with $41 billion and special funds by $28 billion. That translates into a 63 percent increase since 2010. And property owners have done their part as well. With real estate values fully recovered (and then some) property tax revenues are up 72 percent. This is where our schools get the lion’s share of their money.

Second, the budget is only balanced if you ignore debt. The majority party is practically breaking their arms trying to pat themselves on the back for a “balanced budget.” This is like a family celebrating the fact that they paid all their bills this month but ignoring the fact that they have a mortgage that is way beyond their means over the long term. California’s pension debt is, by some measurements, close to a trillion dollars.

Third, the budget is, as usual, full of tricks and questionable accounting. One of the more dubious ploys involves borrowing from special funds. This year, there’s a proposal to borrow $6 billion (with a “b”) from the state’s Surplus Money Investment Fund to reduce the unfunded liability of the state’s pension fund, PERS. While there is agreement that appropriating more money to PERS now helps to reduce unfunded liability in the future, that payment should come from current revenue, not a special account designed to cover ongoing operating expenses. Let’s call this for what it is: Paying your Visa bill with your MasterCard.

The budget is being praised for adding a couple billion more to the state’s rainy day fund (technically called the Budget Stabilization Account) bringing it to over $8.4 billion. But recall during the last recession, the budget shortfall was many times that amount. Thus, while it seems like a lot of money, the state’s reserve funds remain woefully inadequate. You can’t save a penny a day for a couple of years and think it will be enough to fix the roof when it collapses.

Other trickery includes several dozen so-called “trailer bills.” These are supposed to be budget related bills – many are not – that can pass with a simple majority vote and are not subject to citizen referendum. Because they can be jammed through on short notice without citizen recourse, they are a favorite tool of the majority party to effectuate big policy changes. Two examples of this are the gutting of the California Board of Equalization – one of the few state tax agencies in America actually accountable to voters – and a blatantly political power grab by changing the law as it relates to recall elections designed solely to throw a lifeline to a tax-and-spend democrat who cast the deciding vote on the gas and car tax hike.

Bottom line? The majority party has adopted laws and policies which will unquestionably push state spending permanently higher by expanding programs, increasing welfare costs and giving their political funders – labor unions – higher compensation via costly collective bargaining agreements. Our elected leadership is driving California right off the cliff. Thelma & Louise would be proud.
 

L.T. Fan

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Don’t let BiPo see this. He will think it’s a very positive addition to his earlier post.
 

jsmith6919

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Yes California is a liberal paradise....
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San Francisco Is Suffering From The Excesses Of Its Own Liberalism
The astounding level of mismanagement and general deterioration of public decency will continue to plague the city until reasonable measures are taken to combat vagrancy.

About two years ago, I moved to San Francisco from Manhattan in order to pursue a position in economic research at the Hoover Institution. I had originally been working in finance, but welcomed with a special eagerness the opportunity to enter the realm of public policy.

My only interaction with California had been limited to a week in the Piedmont-area of Oakland, California during my junior year of college. Over the course of that first visit, I experienced the “quintessential” San Francisco that characterizes most people’s expectations of the city. I bought colorful groceries at a quaint farmer’s market. I ate an In-N-Out burger with the “special sauce” and donned the silly hat as I scarfed it down. I gawked at the sheer amount of tie-dye I witnessed in Haight-Ashbury. I even braved the earthquake simulation at the California Academy of the Sciences. In short, I developed a quick affection for the city that was only to be challenged severely upon my move.

Between receiving a job offer and my first day of work, I had precisely three weeks to relocate to the Bay Area. Despite my scant knowledge of the region beyond my short stint in Oakland, I managed to secure a decent apartment within my budget and within an hour or so of my work. From my estimations, the neighborhood seemed adequately safe, though perhaps slightly less cared for than my old neighborhood on the Upper East Side. Still, it was a home, and I was appreciative. The afterglow of my moving victory, however, was short-lived.

The Sidewalks Glitter With Glass From Smashed Up Car Windows
Within a few days of moving to San Francisco, I immediately noticed something I had not been accustomed to seeing in New York — a preponderance of glittering sidewalks. Every few blocks, it would not be uncommon to see shards of glass strewn across the pavement, and I quickly learned that my new city was notorious for car break-ins. One of the first pieces of advice I received from a friend upon moving to San Francisco was that I should empty my car each night and never leave anything in my vehicle—not even a tissue box. After staring incredulously at my friend for a moment, she quickly responded by explaining that theft from vehicles was a common occurrence in the city and that to leave items in my car was simply “asking for it.”

Her reasoning, while dystopian, was depressingly pragmatic. In 2017, San Francisco experienced 31,322 thefts from vehicles alone — that is, 85 thefts from vehicles per day — while an arrest was made in only 2 percent of reported break-ins. Most of the break-ins are attributed to organized gangs and often committed by those with prior felony convictions.

In addition to dangerous patches of broken glass, the sidewalks in San Francisco are often accompanied by truly staggering amounts of trash. I didn’t understand initially from where all this trash was originating, until I witnessed someone breaking open a public trash bin in order to sift through the items. Amongst the trash that lines the many sidewalks of San Francisco, there are often used needles and more than occasionally, human feces.

Public Defecation Is A Serious Problem
In November of 2017 alone, 6,211 needles were collected while via the 311 App (the “concerned citizen” reporting app set up by recently deceased San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee), 1,498 requests were made to clean up human feces. The public defecation problem has become so intolerable in San Francisco that private citizens have built an online map to track the concentrations of poop in the city, so that pedestrians may know to avoid certain areas.

And it’s not just poop. The overwhelming smell of urine on parts of Mission Street and Market Street would make your nose bleed. I recall the first time I rode BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit, San Francisco’s subway system) and was nearly knocked over by the sheer stench of the station. I was surprised to learn that exiting the station supplied little to no relief — the urine smell hangs heavy in the more populated areas of the city and is nearly inescapable. In a dark twist of humor, the city has had to replace numerous different street poles due to urine eroding the foundation.

What drives a large part of the human waste issue is San Francisco’s homeless population. The homeless epidemic in San Francisco is tragic and frightening — in a 47-square mile city, we have around 7,500 homeless people, meaning there are approximately 160 homeless people per square mile. Unsurprisingly, it’s not uncommon to see frequented streets downtown blocked by what people dismally have coined “tent cities,” large enclaves of tents that homeless people have set up with little to no pushback from local authorities. What makes the homeless problem particularly alarming is that a variety of tents are often juxtaposed next to $4,000-per-month apartments. In a region where the median income is just under $100,000 and where the economic growth — fueled by brilliantly innovative minds — has been nothing short of astounding, there is some of the country’s most abject and abysmal poverty.

The Underbelly Is Seemingly Everywhere
In addition to experiencing the foibles of day-to-day life for San Franciscans, I’ve also been wholly disheartened by the relative frequency of crime I’ve encountered. While my car has yet to suffer from smashed windows — I practice gratitude each morning when I find it intact — I have had no shortage of interactions with San Francisco’s underbelly. Within the first two months of living in San Francisco, I was a bystander in a drive-by shooting outside a restaurant where I was purchasing food — I was forced to hide in the kitchen of the restaurant after shots rang out.

Over the course of the last two years, I’ve reached out to the cops about hearing gun shots on my street at least five to six times. I once came home from work to spot three fire trucks outside my house, after a fight had broken out next to my front door and the situation had escalated to such a degree that the cops and the fire department were both called.

About half a year after that, my next-door neighbor’s car was stolen off of our block. It was eventually recovered by the cops, but heavily damaged, with its rims missing, its lights removed, and its sides dented. And to top it all off, we even found a crack pipe in the door of the driver’s side.

Despite the dismal nature of these events, there is an occasional Chekhovian instance of laughter through tears. Just last month, a man attempted to break into my apartment around 3 a.m. After about five minutes of banging on my door and fidgeting with the handle, he scampered off as I screamed the cops were coming. Upon peering outside, I noticed the would-be robber left his small Chihuahua-Papillion mix behind, which I happily took for the night until I could locate her owners. I remember darkly chuckling to myself that only San Francisco could produce such miserable absurdity.

Stuck In Mismanagement And Deterioration Of Human Decency
I would love to believe my experiences in San Francisco are unique in their dreadfulness, but after speaking with others, I have learned I am not alone. I live in a reasonably decent section of San Francisco, and from what I gathered in speaking to many others, everyone has had his or her version of San Franciscan traumas. San Francisco, one of the richest cities in the country and home to a booming center of intellectual capital, has suffered from the excesses of its own liberalism. Bloated and inefficient spending, combined with a gross shortage of housing only worsened by rent-control antics and a fat city bureaucracy, has left a city in utter disrepair.

As part of my attempt to gain perspective on my own experiences, I invited those on social media to share with me some of their experiences, good or bad, of living in California cities (always a questionable decision, but I don’t regret it one bit). Within an hour, my inbox was flooded with stories from those who had been living either in LA or in the Bay Area.

Some had been residents for just a few years; others, for their entire lives. What struck me about each person’s messages were the sense of hopelessness and frustration with both local and state authorities. The relative “coronation” of Democrats each election on the local and state level has led to a general erosion of performance from the reigning party, which rarely feels the pressure to perform, given the absence of a legitimately competitive rival party. Some of the messages alluded to the astronomical cost of living, particularly in San Francisco. Others bemoaned the general level of lawlessness and lack of punishment for a variety of crimes. Almost all, however, described the homelessness as simply “out of control.”

One woman, whose story was particularly disturbing, described her walk to work in the following manner:

People are yelling nonsense while wandering into the middle of the street, people are curled up sleeping on almost every block, people have their pants down and are publicly peeing, people simply have their pants down and aren’t peeing at all … The list goes on … My most harrowing encounter was walking to work at 9 a.m. on a sunny Saturday afternoon when a stranger (I don’t think he was homeless) was tailing me on the sidewalk and grabbed my butt at a red light. I stopped walking around with headphones in after that, regardless of the time of day or how busy my surroundings are, because I feel that I need to have my wits about me at all times. My mom actually chastised me for having my headphones in at all when I told her about that encounter — imagine a city where the median income is nearly six figures, yet women feel compelled to walk around on guard all the time. That city is San Francisco.

Only an hour drive south of Napa and three hours southwest of Tahoe, the Bay Area offers its residents a mixture of urban living and vacation-style escape. But when we discuss the “great cities” of the West, I don’t believe San Francisco belongs in that category. The astounding level of mismanagement and general deterioration of public decency will continue to plague the city until reasonable measures are taken to combat vagrancy, including harsher punishment of petty crime and the construction of more affordable housing. Similarly, until there is a greater deterrent for property crime, theft rates likely won’t decrease at any point soon.

Most San Franciscans love this city. But the amount of denial it might take to approach that mindset is not an activity in which I’m willing to engage. Tony Bennett sang whimsically about leaving his heart in San Francisco. When I depart from this city, I will most likely be taking mine with me.

http://thefederalist.com/2018/03/16/san-francisco-is-suffering-from-the-excesses-of-its-own-liberalism/
 

jsmith6919

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:lol

Not saying this article is false or she's even embellishing, but it's not representative of the average Bay Area resident. With three weeks to relocate, she likely didn't know where to go/avoid. The knight from Indiana Jones says "she chose...poorly." I'm guessing she lives in the Tenderloin or mid-Market. If she were to live in other neighborhoods like Hayes Valley, Inner/Outer Richmond, or Bernal Heights, she'd have a better experience.

It's like saying she lives in Vickery Meadow (in Dallas) and generalized all of Dallas like that.

But, still, yes, SF is friendly to homeless and mental-ill folks and they are out in the streets for all of the public to enjoy. I further agree that those areas in SF probably have significantly more feces than Vickery Meadow. Avoid those batshit crazy areas, for sure, but, I wouldn't say SF is 'suffering' as the title indicates because these batshit crazy areas are shrinking, not taking over and spreading throughout California.
Bro, yalls town is so fucked up someone actually made a poop map...
 

jsmith6919

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:lol

Not saying this article is false or she's even embellishing, but it's not representative of the average Bay Area resident. With three weeks to relocate, she likely didn't know where to go/avoid. The knight from Indiana Jones says "she chose...poorly." I'm guessing she lives in the Tenderloin or mid-Market. If she were to live in other neighborhoods like Hayes Valley, Inner/Outer Richmond, or Bernal Heights, she'd have a better experience.

It's like saying she lives in Vickery Meadow (in Dallas) and generalized all of Dallas like that.

But, still, yes, SF is friendly to homeless and mental-ill folks and they are out in the streets for all of the public to enjoy. I further agree that those areas in SF probably have significantly more feces than Vickery Meadow. Avoid those batshit crazy areas, for sure, but, I wouldn't say SF is 'suffering' as the title indicates because these batshit crazy areas are shrinking, not taking over and spreading throughout California.
 

jsmith6919

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You know her? Is that text screenshot in response to my comment about Hayes Valley, Inner/Outer Richmond, Bernal Heights?

...and, no, joke's not on me. Wonder why she would think that.

Back to her, there's nothing funny about living somewhere you hate. Hope she moves up or moves out.
Yes, I know her and that was her response to your response, also I do agree she needs to move since she can't stand the area. I've been trying to sell her on Texas but in her field she pretty much has to be in a coastal area(California/ DC/ NY)
 

Cowboysrock55

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You know her? Is that text screenshot in response to my comment about Hayes Valley, Inner/Outer Richmond, Bernal Heights?

...and, no, joke's not on me. Wonder why she would think that.

Back to her, there's nothing funny about living somewhere you hate. Hope she moves up or moves out.


:unsure:tippytoe
 

jsmith6919

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She says she moved from Manhattan, so I imagine she enjoys the city life. If SF City proper is so dead to her and she must stay in the Bay Area, try San Mateo downtown, Campbell, Mountain View, Burlingame. If she works at/near Stanford University (Hoover Institution), her commute will be cut in half, too.

Otherwise, move to San Diego or Orange County. SoCal is much, much different than SF Bay Area.
I'll pass this along
 

jsmith6919

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skidadl

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New Braunfels police take the homeless people the next town over and dump them off like any compassionate place should.
 

L.T. Fan

I'm Easy If You Are
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If California's economy busts, is this good for the rest of the USA? Is this something Americans should root for?
No but the government of the state seems hell bent on forcing the citizens of the state into excessive taxation to support programs that are abuusive of federal laws and extracting funds from to federal budget to support non citizens of the US. The citizens should revolt and vote out the liberal leadership and take control of the own destiny but they fail to do so year after year. The seem to prefer the control by ultra liberal ideology than controlling their representation of conservative ideals.
 

Cotton

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New Braunfels police take the homeless people the next town over and dump them off like any compassionate place should.
Lubbock has actually started a Homeless Outreach Team to help assist the homeless. I know this because I donate bikes to them every year to provide the homeless with some form of transportation. It's a great program. Cool story over, bro.
 

Cotton

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Out of curiosity, what is her reaction to moving to Texas? While Texas streets are cleaner, is it big-city enough for her?

While she may like Manhattan more than SF, is she a thumbs up or down on Manhattan as well?
Have you ever been to Houston? :lol
 
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