River_Dog wrote:My Lord, what a frigging mess! The state has a budget deficit estimated at $78 billion, people are moving out in droves as the cost of living is much greater than in red states like Texas and Florida, they've taxed the crap out of the wealthy and businesses forcing them to move out, they have 1/3 of all the homeless people in the country, they have an unemployment rate twice that of the rest of the country, 7 out of the 12 largest insurance companies have decided not to offer and/or cancel home owners insurance policies, rampant crime is forcing businesses to leave the cities, and yet there's talk that their governor might run for POTUS someday.
Now, their governments are grasping for straws. San Francisco is talking about passing a law that any grocery store gives 6 months' notice of a closure, and the state wants to levy an exit tax on the millionaires who are moving out, a proposal which sounds to me to be unconstitutional. Boy, that's sure going to attract businesses.
Is it any wonder why a narcissistic moron like Donald Trump resonates with so many people when this type of politics is the alternative?
MackStrongIsMyHero wrote:Add the $20.00/hr minimum wage on top of all that.
It definitely helps Trump resonate with people, but I also say it makes it hard for the left to resonate with people.
To the main point about California, it's a real shame what's becoming of it. It's one of the most abundant states in the Union with all it has going for it. It's natural resources, geographic location, and climate make it an economic dream. Now they're loading up too much into the cart and the cart pullers don't want any part of it.
The $20.00 minimum wage for fast food workers is absurd. They've made so many exceptions, the one that got Newsom into hot water, ie baking their own bread on site being one, that if there are less than X number of franchises nationwide, being another, that it's destroyed any moral justification for enacting the law. If the reason they're doing this is because they're so concerned about workers not making a livable wage, what's the difference if you work in a mom-and-pop burger stand or McDonald's or Panera Bread? And why just fast-food restaurants? Poor is poor, is it not?
One of the things that came to my mind was Teddy Roosevelt and his Fair Deal program that busted up the trusts, ie railroads, oil companies, etc. He said that the fact that they were large wasn't what he was concerned about, rather it was the uneven playing field they created that gave them a competitive advantage over the little guy, tactics like cutting prices below cost and take a loss knowing that they could outlast the little guy, force him to go out of business and get rid of their competition. I wondered what he would say if he saw how CA is targeting big companies with punitive wage requirements, penalizing them simply because they're big.