It’s the public unions, stupid. That’s certainly the big problem in California, and I think that there’s rebellion brewing here as well.
…the CEO of a manufacturing company in suburban Los Angeles told a Times reporter that his business suffered less from California’s high taxes than from its ineffectual services. As a result, the company pays “a fortune” to educate its employees, many of whom graduated from California public schools, “on basic things like writing and math skills.” According to a report issued earlier this year by McKinsey & Company, Texas students “are, on average, one to two years of learning ahead of California students of the same age,” though expenditures per public school student are 12 percent higher in California.
State and local government expenditures as a whole were 46.8 percent higher in California than in Texas in 2005–06—$10,070 per person compared with $6,858. And Texas not only spends its citizens’ dollars more effectively; it emphasizes priorities that are more broadly beneficial. In 2005–06, per-capita spending on transportation was 5.9 percent lower in California than in Texas, and highway expenditures in particular were 9.5 percent lower, a discovery both plausible and infuriating to any Los Angeles commuter losing the will to live while sitting in yet another freeway traffic jam. With tax revenues scarce and voters strongly opposed to surrendering more of their income, Texas officials devote a large share of their expenditures to basic services that benefit the most people. In California, by contrast, more and more spending consists of either transfer payments to government dependents (as in welfare, health, housing, and community development programs) or generous payments to government employees and contractors (reflected in administrative costs, pensions, and general expenditures). Both kinds of spending weaken California’s appeal to consumer-voters, the first because redistributive transfer payments are the least publicly beneficial type of public good, and the second because the dues paid to Club California purchase benefits that, increasingly, are enjoyed by the staff instead of the members.
Californians have the best possible reason to believe that the state’s public sector is not holding up its end of the bargain: clear evidence that it used to do a better job. Bill Watkins, executive director of the Economic Forecast Project at the University of California at Santa Barbara, has calculated that once you adjust for population growth and inflation, the state government spent 26 percent more in 2007–08 than in 1997–98. Back then, “California had teachers. Prisoners were in jail. Health care was provided for those with the least resources.” Today, Watkins asks, “Are the roads 26 percent better? Are schools 26 percent better? What is 26 percent better?”
What I’d love is California’s geography with Texas’ electorate.
Let me sum up the main problem with goverment. Wne it bloats, it bloats in the worst possible way. It adds layers of management instead of worker bees.
Excessive management acts as impediments to them movement of information and effective communication.
Excessive management, especially in HR, comes up with ways to justify their existance that hinders the productivity of Wroker Bees. Every year accountability increases and productivity decreases.
They argue every little intrusion into your time is just a little bit but it ends up being death by a thousand cuts. They rarely have to live under their one size fits all rules and do not understand the worker bees and how they are impacting their productivity.
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. I now understand what this means.
I say this as a worker bee.
At least now we know why football is so revered and well-funded in Texas. The electorate actually has some money left over after paying all of their taxes to support sports booster programs. 🙂
Assuming, of course, that the football teams in Texas are solely supported by sports boosters. If the per-student figures INCLUDE sports programs, then the California’s school spending looks even more atrocious by comparison.
Rand,
[[[What I’d love is California’s geography with Texas’ electorate.]]]
I agree 110%.
I remember when I taught in Texas in the 1990’s some fool state representative floated the idea of a state income tax. No one ever heard of him again…
Its also why I now live in Nevada. I got tired of California taking 10%+ of my income for teaching online for schools in Texas, New Hampshire and Florida just because I happen to live in California. So I have moved to tax free Nevada. Its great living in frontier America again.
I find its incredible that entrepreneurs, especially space entrepreneurs, still cluster in Silicon Valley and Mojave when Reno and the open deserts of tax free Nevada await them with open arms….
Someone (perhaps someone whose initials are AKH) should rewrite Neil Young’s “Alabama” as “California.”
God bless Texas.
There are many reasons for Texas’ efficiency in governing but the primary reason in my opinion is the fact that the legislature meets once every two years for 140 calendar days and with salaries of just $7200 per year. It keeps them focused on continuing to support themselves rather than scheming to spend taxpayer’s money.
There’s actually a movement in CA to make the legislature part time.
Anything more than 30 minutes/year would be too much
Monty,
The Nevada Legislature also meets only once in two years. The number of members are capped at 75 by the state constitution although currently there are only 63 members. They also have strict term limits.
The Nevada Constitution requires that all business is completed with 120 days of the start of the biannual session, anything done after it automatically void unless its in a special session called by the Governor.
However the legislators only get paid for the first 60 days of the session ($130/day $7800 total salary for 2 year term). They receive no money for the last 60 days of the session so they not only need to earn a living at a real job but also have a strong incentive to finish their business early which means there is less time to get into mischief.
If the Governor calls a special session they only get paid for the first 20 days of it and may only work on the issue it was called for.
In short its really a citizens legislature not one of professionals as in California. The members really need earn their living at other professions. And since most of the provisions are determined by the Nevada Constitution only the voters may change them.
http://leg.state.nv.us/General/General_Short.cfm
Is it a wonder why Nevada, like Texas, is so business friendly? Yes, this model would be a good start to reforming California. Not to mention the U.S. Congress 🙂
What I’d love is California’s geography with Texas’ electorate.
You mean Texas with earthquakes???
But without hurricanes.
Comments here suggest that CA is fixable. CA needs to change it’s constitution to be more like NV or TX. A professional legislature is an abomination. Of course, it goes beyond that in that most laws governing our lives come from unelected officials.
CA prop. 13 was back in the late seventies (I lost an internship to JPL because of it, so I remember it well.)
Actually, we’ve come close to hurricanes this week. The winds with the rain were at least tropical storm force.
I went to Texas A&M, and the prof in my govt class bemoaned the fact that the Texas governor is really pretty weak by state exectuive standards, and he also bemoaned the part-time legislature. I remembered thinking at the time (more than 30 years ago) that having a weak executive and part time legislature were not such a bad thing, and that was before I began to think about politics.
As a resident of Texas – we are made strong by the adverse conditions! Between heat, humidity, fire ants, deadly mosquitoes, cold winters, chiggers, ticks, more humidity, etc – we are forged in the fire.
Government is inefficient since they don’t have an Up Or Out policy. If 100 people start on the same day, as they gain experience there are not 100 manager positions. But the people expect increased salary and responsibility with increased years of experience. So you have a manager and a Deputy, and a Special Assistant. Maybe 90 of those people will stay around for retirement, and you can’t have all of them rise to management. You can’t keep adding programs so that they all have a slot to be promoted to.
I know civil servants that are still plugging away as GS-13s, wanting to be promoted, but there are no positions. They have to wait, like Prince Charles over in England, for their supervisors to depart and for their chance to lead.
Let me sum up the main problem with goverment. Wne it bloats, it bloats in the worst possible way. It adds layers of management instead of worker bees.
What you’re describing is known as Parkinson’s Law.
The current form of the law is not that which Parkinson refers to by that name in the article. Rather, he assigns to the term a mathematical equation describing the rate at which bureaucracies expand over time. Much of the essay is dedicated to a summary of purportedly scientific observations supporting his law, such as the increase in the number of employees at the Colonial Office while Great Britain’s overseas empire declined (indeed, he shows that the Colonial Office had its greatest number of staff at the point when it was folded into the Foreign Office because of a lack of colonies to administer). He explains this growth by two forces: (1) “An official wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals” and (2) “Officials make work for each other.” He notes in particular that the total of those employed inside a bureaucracy rose by 5-7% per year “irrespective of any variation in the amount of work (if any) to be done.”
In 1986, Alessandro Natta complained about the swelling bureaucracy in Italy. Mikhail Gorbachev responded that “‘Parkinson’s Law works everywhere.”
I find its incredible that entrepreneurs, especially space entrepreneurs, still cluster in Silicon Valley and Mojave when Reno and the open deserts of tax free Nevada await them with open arms….
I guess you’ve never dealt with the Reno airport manager or the Wassau County tax department.
We are in Mojave because of the unique air space. And Kern County government actually tries to shield us from some of the more egregiously dumb stuff coming from Sacramento. As one resident put it, “This is Mojave. California starts on the other side of the railroad tracks.”
Ed,
Reno is not the only airport in the state. And its not in the frontier counties either. Plus airport managers don’t last forever 🙂
Sacramento didn’t get the hint Tuesday:
Aleta,
Nevada has unique air space as well, Groom Lake, etc. which was why the state was pursuing a spaceport a few years back. And Kistler was actually plotting orbital launch routes with very few people below from the proposed spaceport site.
Also its not unusual to be passed by a military aircraft on the deck when driving along the route to Elko. In fact many of the roads have signs warning about low flying aircraft. And if I recall many of the X-15 flights were actually started (dropped) outside of Ely.
But Edwards does have an old test flight tradition and is a lot warmer then Nevada. And it is hard to relocate an industry which is why I suspect there is no rush yet to Spaceport America. Really the inertia of relocation is the only thing keeping California business alive at the moment.
Tom
T. Matula,
I remember that TX State Rep, and I know what happened to him. He used to live near me down there.
After he got beat up politically, he told me he had a plan to re-invent himself. He had a fake birth certificate and some crazy story to go along with it, about his single mom, his absentee dad who was a big inspiration, and he was moving to IL, to become a “community organizer”, whatever that means…after that I lost contact with him.
People like that usually come to bad ends in my experience, and most often by their own deeds, or because of them.
Having lived in Texas for over 20 years, I have noticed they hate asking for help but love offering it to those who look in need of it. Now, put people in charge with an attitude like that and entitlement growth will be pretty slim.
Also, about infrastructure, it’s over 800 miles from Beaumont to El Paso. It’s 750 miles from El Paso to LA.
That’s why I stay on this side of the state. Doubles my distance from California. 🙂
Rand, you might want to tour all of Texas before writing off our geography. It’s a big state. Could be there’s a spot or two you’d be comfortable in.
I’ve seen a lot of Texas, and there are parts of it that I’d prefer to, say, Florida (e.g., the Hill Country). But it’s not California, in climate or geography.
Reno is not the only airport in the state. And its not in the frontier counties either.
I didn’t say it was — but you said “Reno awaits them.” (I’m assuming you meant Stead Field and not Reno Tahoe, which isn’t even worth discussing.)
Why the sudden interest in Nevada? I can see frontier counties addressing some of the “limited markets” you generally snear at, but how do they fit into your vision of a $1.3 trillion “Lunar Development Corporation”? Are you actually acknowledging that less-grandiose schemes might have some merit?
I’ve seen a lot of Texas, and there are parts of it that I’d prefer to, say, Florida (e.g., the Hill Country). But it’s not California, in climate or geography.
The climate of California varies considerably, of course. If you mean the stereotypical Southern California climate, try the Rio Grand Valley. It’s even got a citrus industry. (Meyer lemons come almost exclusively from Texas.)
Also, Tom, I think you’re forgetting that Bigelow Aerospace is in Nevada.
I’m referring to the Mediterranean climate at the southern California beach. No place in Texas like that. And I’m only a short drive from alpine mountains, desert and beautiful rocky shores and scenery.
I’m referring to the Mediterranean climate at the southern California beach. No place in Texas like that.
South Padre Island?
Nope. That’s tropical. Miserable hot and humid in the summer, very similar to what I just escaped in south Florida. And no sunsets over the ocean.
Galveston, then?
Most people in South Padre migrate north during the summer.
And you can get sunrises over the Gulf.
Galveston, then?
That’s a joke, right?
Most people in South Padre migrate north during the summer.
So they can go from the seventh to the sixth circle of Hell? I’ve been to Galveston in the summer. It’s like south FL, except even more humid.
Ed, no place in Texas has a climate like the LA South Bay or Orange County beaches.
I’m referring to the Mediterranean climate at the southern California beach. No place in Texas like that. And I’m only a short drive from alpine mountains, desert and beautiful rocky shores and scenery.
Yup, the Gulf of Mexico is as warm as bath water most of the year. There’s no doubt that California has a lot of beautiful scenery, and closer together, too. Tropical beaches, white water rivers, deserts, plains, forests, hills, and even some mountains we got, but not at all close together near the coast like California. And no skiing at all.
If y’all get your government sorted out let me know…
Sacramento didn’t get the hint Tuesday:
With federal health care reform on life support, California Democrats this morning quietly moved to resurrect a state-based single-payer health insurance system with an estimated $200 billion annual price tag.
*sigh* I’d say “good luck with that” but they’d probably miss the sarcasm. Where do they think they’re going to get the money for that, like the last time around went so swimmingly for them.
Maybe the state Dems can have Obama come over and say a few good words?
I’ve been to Galveston in the summer. It’s like south FL, except even more humid.
No, no. I was suggesting Galveston for the winter, since you said South Padre was too “tropical.”
People in South Padre don’t go to Galveston in the summer. They go to some place like Chicago or New Jersey or Flint, Michigan. I’m not quite sure where, but there must be a map of Yankee migration patterns somewhere. 🙂
And no skiing at all.
Texas has both kinds — water and snow.
http://gotexas.about.com/od/watersports/Texas_Water_Sports_Tubing_to_Surfing.htm
http://www.bearfireresort.com/
People in South Padre don’t go to Galveston in the summer. They go to some place like Chicago or New Jersey or Flint, Michigan. I’m not quite sure where, but there must be a map of Yankee migration patterns somewhere. 🙂
My experience with that, is that they pick a nice spot for the winter home, like the edge of the Rockies in Colorado or the southern Appalachians.