"Californians are so productive that every year they send billions of dollars in surplus dollars to the rest of America. Year after year they have sent vastly more in federal taxes than they ever get back in federal spending."
So many seemingly educated Americans can't tell - or artfully avoid telling - the difference between state and federal taxation and spending. Also, here's the dirty secret: people in other states don't really "get back" any of that federal money unless they work at federal facilities, including military bases, common in the states accused of getting more federal money than they give. If they're really lucky, they might get that money at a remove or two if they work in lower-end service jobs near a military base.
But then, that whole thing is a strawman. Some random idiot might be saying Californians are all lazy good-fer-nuthin's, but everyone else isn't talking about Californians, but an unsustainable state government.
"California’s a basket case? The state has one of the highest living standards in the country..."
I'm rather horribly reminded of global warming "skeptics" who hoot every time it snows.
"Also, here's the dirty secret: people in other states don't really "get back" any of that federal money unless they work at federal facilities,..."
People in these states don't drive on federally-funded roads, or have anything to do with anything else that receives federal dollars? Right-wingers are keen on talking about trickle-down when it comes to tax cuts, but mention nothing of the multiplier effect of the spending habits of the people who earn money which comes directly from the federal government. So yes, people in those states "get back" big from federal spending!
"People in these states don't drive on federally-funded roads"
They don't pay federal gas taxes, either? You might do better picking something better than federal road spending when trying to defend California, incidentally.
But that's the problem you face when you try to reduce distinctly different things like federal and state spending to "But California really has a surplus, honest!"
"Right-wingers are keen on talking about trickle-down"
So? They're also big on "starve the beast" deficit spending, but that hasn't worked in California, either.
ETA: Suggestion - disengage from your partisan reflexes. Think. Remember than the Republican Party in California has been as much of a contributor to the problem as the Democratic one, at least in proportion to how much power they have had, if that helps.
California's in trouble. It'll certainly survive and improve, but the spending cuts and tax hikes that they'll have to have this time (or if they sweat and bluff it through a few more years, the next time there's an economic downturn) will be far from fun.
I'm pretty sure the reason you hear 'skeptics' hoot every time it snows is because 'alarmists' hoot every time it gets hot. The celebration of colder weather is probably equal parts mocking sarcasm and genuine belief that cold weather means the end of global warming.
To me, it's always been a way of saying 'you can't have it both ways'. But then, I don't know what people are thinking when they say these things, so that's just my opinion showing through.
So many seemingly educated Americans can't tell - or artfully avoid telling - the difference between state and federal taxation and spending. Also, here's the dirty secret: people in other states don't really "get back" any of that federal money unless they work at federal facilities, including military bases, common in the states accused of getting more federal money than they give. If they're really lucky, they might get that money at a remove or two if they work in lower-end service jobs near a military base.
But then, that whole thing is a strawman. Some random idiot might be saying Californians are all lazy good-fer-nuthin's, but everyone else isn't talking about Californians, but an unsustainable state government.
"California’s a basket case? The state has one of the highest living standards in the country..."
I'm rather horribly reminded of global warming "skeptics" who hoot every time it snows.