Mummy in the foothills

Thats my problem too But who wants to live in the thick of all the empty homes and crime.

chartreuse

You ladies are right, of course....

But this lady makes a very good point too.

It's tricky. The solution is probably an affluent area near, but not in, a big city, but that requires mucho dineros...

scrubbedexpat097

I live about 35 miles south of Houston. Very very small country town, not expensive to live and still close enough to have jobs and (shoot guns)

scrubbedexpat091

California state government is yes, however the state economy is still larger then most countries which is what I said.

Despite the current conditions of the state government, the economy is still larger then most of the worlds countries, still the largest state economy in the US.

chartreuse

Yet they keep getting elected...

Anyhoo, I've pretty much come to the conclusion that you've got to be somebody's cousin to get a job round here. That's not good, as SWMBO refuses to move to any other part of TX, on the grounds that the only reason she's live in the state is to be near her folks.

Which pretty much means I've got to figure out a way of selling the house (in which process I'll probably get fscked in the ass by the local realtors so one of their kin can get a bargain) in order to move to one of the coasts, where there's a realistic prospect of employment.

BritishGuy36

Yeah same here....it's irritating to the point of madness.

There are fools in $50k IT jobs around here who don't know their arse from their elbow.....cos they know someone else at the company.

scrubbedexpat091

Politicians come and go, and deficits and poor state government come and go.

Can't expect not to have a deficit in a recession when the voting public cries foul when services are cut to balance a budget.

Tax revenue drops not much the state can do, they cannot print money.

chartreuse

Rubbish. Individual politicians may come and go, but the politician class, the bureaucrats and poor state government came and stayed.

More rubbish. The public cry foul because the axe always falls on cops and firemen, not PR bastards and "diversity coordinators".

And yet they do. Both nationally and in CA (with your IOUs).

Giantaxe

When you have an initiative process that requires a simple majority to mandate new spending but a two-thirds supermajority to raise taxes, it's pretty much inevitable you end up in a financial mire. As for politicians getting re-elected, the two main parties have connived in gross gerrymandering to ensure that elections in most districts are not competitive.

chartreuse

I was not aware of that. It explains a lot - the old voting largesse from the public purse thing.

That, I had heard. It's something that's far too common in many places, not just CA.