Still, experts say the most populous U.S. state and the world's eighth-largest economy is well placed to rise again and that this crisis could spur major changes in the economy that will pay dividends in the long term.
Abundant natural resources (like the fact they have no drinking water), big ports (that are falling apart), access to the Pacific Rim, a large, relatively young work force (of gang-bangers, under-educated, self-entitled, lazy juvenile delinquents), entrepreneurial draw (marijuana dispensaries) and tech-oriented industries augur well for the future, economists and historians say.
"The prophets of doom and gloom are just not looking at the reality of California," said Jerry Nickelsburg, senior economist at the UCLA Anderson Forecast.
"The government has created kind of a mess and that's a problem to be solved, but the negatives are actually fairly small. I think you can expect a lot of good out of California," he said.
Yeah, the negatives are fairly small if you're living in the ivory tower surrounded by people who create their own rosy realities to keep their business of idealism alive.
California is fucked. Just imagine how bad it would get if a major earthquake hits in the next ten years, the reservoirs go completely dry, the Colorado is damned up, or an a-bomb goes off in one of their ports? (all of which are probable)
Then again, what do I know? I'm one of the many teachers that left the state and are leaving at this very moment. If the public school students are the future of California, then the future isn't too bright. That's another major problem-the gigantic chasm between the rich and the poor both economically and educationally in California.
Well, I hope you the best of luck Cali. You'll need it and so will the rest of the country. People can talk all they want about the history of California and the history of America, but that doesn't change the present and the future. America is different now and so are its people. We don't have as much land or resources to exploit or the hard work and innovation that defined our ancestors. We're a bunch of intellectually lazy, fat, self-entitled slobs/snobs born into a garbage culture. And for some reason we expect everything to work out because we're "the best" and things worked out in the past, thus they will work out in the future. PIPE DREAMS. Keep smoking, Cali.