California can be seen as a lab experiment that has produced negative results, i.e., it has proved what is NOT true, and what does NOT work, as explained in a somewhat lengthy but very enlightening article titled Lessons from California’s Laboratory. Here’s the introduction. Click the link for the full text.
California is facing serious economic and political problems. How we deal with these problems will affect both California and the nation.
In this first essay of our Advice to the Governor public policy series, the Claremont Institute’s William Voegeli explains that we must strictly limit spending, and we must do it repeatedly rather than just enough to get us through the next budget or election cycle. The path forward is simple but not easy. Ballot measures that seek to restrain budgets and revenues are unlikely to provide lasting solutions unless our legislature and governor are committed to fiscal rectitude. In this long-building crisis, we have great opportunities. As Voegeli puts it, we are likely to see not a teachable moment but a “teachable decade.” The time to act is now, for we cannot escape the inescapable any longer.
As Rahm Emmanuel famously said, it’s a shame to let a crisis go to waste. Pray that California’s new government (really, the same old government) will recognize this, and act accordingly to take this opportunity to make tough decisions and stick to them, even if they are politically unpopular with some.
In the meantime, list your house for sale and start looking for a job in Texas.
