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53 sats \ 7 replies \ @CliffBadger 19h \ on: What makes California so economically successful? econ
The shithole picture is correct. The GDP number comes from having a large population, and if you're a limosine leftist who can afford armed guards then California isn't so bad. The huge taxes don't apply to the film industry and other pet projects. It's the working class that gets driven into poverty to the point where they can't afford to move out. The birth tourism from wealthier immigrants probably helps with the economic stats also, because that means money is still getting spent even though it wasn't earned within the state.
Limousine leftist might be my new favourite insult
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I don't consider myself a limousine leftist but even us normal middle class people are paying for private security. Our neighborhood pays for a private patrol car to roam the streets due to a rash of breakins
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sounds a bit South Africa-esque
How are your feelings about the city in general?
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It's just home now. We have strong community ties. To me those are more important than politics. Life isn't so intolerable for us, but we're also one of the lucky ones who were able to buy into housing when it was on sale after the 2008 crash.
If we were a younger family with no housing and no community bonds, I'd probably have sought to leave already
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makes sense, although everywhere is a bit cooked on the housing front for young families i think
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Wow, seriously! That's hard core. Is it a large neighborhood, with minimal costs per household, or is it pretty pricy?
Do you think the security is effective?
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It's pretty affordable. Not minimally cheap, more than Netflix, but less than our utilities bill.
To be honest, I am not sure how effective it is, as that's something really hard to measure. But they drive around and if they see something suspicious they will come out and investigate, and they have the authority to perform an arrest of something in the act of a crime (though they are not police).
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