California is the canary in the coal mine of American economics, politics and social engineering. A perfect blueprint for what not to do!
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Guest: Chriss Street is an este authority in the realms of geo-economics and global competitiveness, and his insights are actively sought by international government and business circles. Chriss is an internationally recognized radio talk show host and author; has led significant operational turnarounds a Chairman and CEO of NYYSE-listed corporations; and testified to Congress as as subject matter expert regarding the credit rating of the United States. Chriss Street is also the Co-founder and CEO of the New California State that has organized 400,00 followers in a movement to Constitutionally divide Old California into a predominantly urban and a predominantly rural/suburban state.
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One of the hardest lessons to learn from Keynesian Economics is to turn off the money spigot before you flood the whole house. Even Keynes understood there was a limit to how much funny money could be pumped into an economy by free spending politicians before they destroyed the whole system. Keynes, a Fabian socialist, admitted that increased government spending was only a short-term solution to repairable economic ills.
Politicians by their nature want to play Santa Claus and be loved by the voters. To avoid economic consequences for stupid economic decisions, they kick the can down the road, passing accountability to future generations.
That is the long term problem that Keynes never adequately addressed. Under Lyndon Johnson we turned up the government spending spigot 60 years ago and to avoid the consequences of loose monetary policy, never turned it off.
California is a perfect example of how economic and political evolution follows the familiar G. Michael Hopf quote “Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.” Evolving from California Governors Ronald Reagan to Gavin Newsome has certainly proved that point.
We have gone full circle and are about to see the worst of “hard times” from generations of can kicking, economic binging, and transformation from a culture of rugged individualists, innovators and entrepreneurs to a society of spoiled, expectant, and entitled consumers.
The California model has foreshadowed our national economic and political climate since California was transitioned from a solidly Republican state. What happened in California set the trend for the rest of the nation, always ahead by two or three years. Guess what; it's DeJa'Vu all over again and three generations of free spending California chickens have come home to roost.
California of the 50s, 60s and 70s was heaven on earth: an ideal climate, abundant natural resources, agriculturally productive soils, limitless economic opportunities, visionary thinking and conservative traditional American values; the very best of America….or so we thought.
As the state with virtually unlimited natural resources and an ideal climate for growing just about any crop, it became the breadbasket for the nation and for much of the developed world.
However, just beneath the surface, Marxist radicals were hard at work reshaping the political and societal culture in subtle yet destructive ways.
Since 5 of the top 10 most respected U.S. Universities called California home, it was natural that Frankfurt School trained Marxist professors and practitioners flocked to the state, especially when it afforded an ideal climate and unlimited human resources to build their new socialist utopia.
California's abudance has also been it's undoing. It propelled the wealth production of that magnificent state into the 5th richest economy in the world, creating the perception that whatever they did, the money spigot would just keep flowing forever.
Much like a malignant cancer, the collectivists gradually took over academics, the entertainment industry, manufacturing, state and local government, and finally high technology & Silicon Valley. And, although this happened over only a 60 year period, few people saw the warning signs or really cared until it is now too late.
The tipping point for California occurred during the Clinton Administration, but accelerated with the Bush & Obama push for open borders, deindustrialization, Chinese communist cooperation, and WTO/NAFTA global trade treaties.
Sustainable development became the newspeak buzzwords for communist programs instituting top down government control of all human activity. This all but destroyed the California natural resource industries and sent family farming and ranching into a death spiral.
As entrenched bureaucrats and political lap dogs became the willing tools of radical environmentalists under the cloak of sustainability, non governmental organizations (NGOs) and unelected councils of government (COGs) increasingly took larger roles in the California political process.
This made local elected leadership less involved, feckless, and consequently less accountable to the voters. A new form of corporate fascism called public/private partnerships quickly grabbed the reins of power, and although ANTIFA groups claim to be anti-fascist, they disingenuously pander to corporate sponsors as their financial backers while attacking individualism and personal responsibility.
Authoritarianism is the new springboard of Californian liberalism with individual income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, licenses and fees combining for one of the highest tax rates in the world, including many militantly socialist countries.
Regulations and entangling rules have made the state one of the most costly and difficult places in the world to do business, which is workable for international corporations and monopolies that can afford teams of tax lawyers and accountants, but not so great for medium and small businesses, now fleeing the state in record numbers.
A fiscal trainwreck for the California Treasury has evolved before our eyes…
Meanwhile, senseless immigration and liberal social programs are overwhelming the school, hospital, prison systems and social service sectors.
Governor Newsome's answer of course is to release more criminals back into civil society, legalize/normalize drugs, raise taxes, cut police funding, reduce infrastructure spending, and make housing less affordable for average Californians through inflation and increased government regulation.
I wonder if that might have anything to do with cities being filled with drug addicted, mentally disturbed homeless populations taking over the citiy streets?
And, speaking of stupid programs, did I mention the brilliant move to outlaw internal combustion engines and move into an all electric transportation system by 2030 as they destroy hydro-electric, natural gas, nuclear and “non-renewable” power generation statewide?
Add to this nightmare scenario trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities and pensions and you have the perfect formula for economic and social disaster.
China Joe Obiden and virtually the entire Democrat Party has emulated the California model as the perfect utopian blueprint for a fully socialist America. And while the establishment Republican Party has played the fool, they in fact only differ in the form of socialism they prefer.
We are facing national insolvency, but wasn't that inevitable with the socialist economic policies followed since the Federal Reserve Act was forced upon the American people? We are about to face the day of retribution that should have happened decades earlier.
But maybe, just maybe, the California Model is the perfect blueprint for what we must never allow this country to follow ever again!
