[p2p-research] Post-Depression first: Americans get more money from government than they give back | csmonitor.com

[J. Andrew Rogers]

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 6:05 PM, Ryan Lanham <rlanham1963 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 7:10 PM, J. Andrew Rogers <reality.miner at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> The other current reality is that States like California are not
>> inherently bankrupt, they are just fantastically wasteful, corrupt,
>> and incompetent. That kind of deadweight loss is tolerable in a strong
>> growth economy, but it becomes a dead albatross during less prosperous
>> times. California is a good example of a state that has been
>> completely captured by a power structure that uses the government as
>> its personal money tree.
>
> That sort of argument feels very old now...like very 1983.


Sadly true in this case, the growth in spending has significantly
exceeded the growth of the economy for a long time. There is
absolutely nothing to show for the massive spending increases. It is
mostly spent on things like lavish pay for bureaucrats, the unions for
which have completely captured the government for decades. Something
is not right when the State that has metropolitan areas like Silicon
Valley has government workers that make 10-15% more than the average
individual in the private sector.

The state is a disaster, and the state government is largely immune to
accountability. For projects that span adjacent state borders,
California will frequently pay more than 10x for the same bit that is
on their side of the border as the adjacent states.

Other states may have better excuses, but California is simply a
matter of corruption and gross fiscal mismanagement.


-- 
J. Andrew Rogers
realityminer.blogspot.com