<p>I Still love Greece. Santorini is amazing. </p>
<p>Vespas: important.</p>
<p>Vespers too but I digress.</p>
<p>like I said, Tex. Rome: important. ;)</p>
<p>“Now, I will say that the wine industry in California is very important.”</p>
<p>Hey, now you’re talking!</p>
<p>Maybe what you meant to say was not that California wasn’t important, but that Californians think they are more important than the rest of us peons? Of course, if you own a winery or are producing chocolate, I’ll agree that you are definitely more important than most of us.</p>
<p>Here are some articles on the future of California.</p>
<p>[Bankrupt</a> California: No money for crumbling roads, but billions for high-speed rail - Victor Davis Hanson - National Review Online - October 9, 2012](<a href=“http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/329772/bankrupt-california-victor-davis-hanson]Bankrupt”>http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/329772/bankrupt-california-victor-davis-hanson)</p>
<p>[California</a>, Here We Stay: Reasons not to flee an imploding state by Victor Davis Hanson, City Journal Autumn 2012](<a href=“http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_4_california.html]California”>http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_4_california.html)</p>
<p>[California’s</a> Demographic Revolution by Heather Mac Donald, City Journal Winter 2012](<a href=“http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_1_california-demographics.html]California’s”>http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_1_california-demographics.html)
</p>
<p>We’ve known Hispanics would be the majority pop in CA for decades. Not all that different than many cities or areas being influenced by certain cultures, to me. And, not to go out on a limb, but “real Americans” is about more than superficials. You have to be in a city, be of that city or area, crawl around it, live its triumphs as well as its burdens, to see plusses as well as minuses. </p>
<p>Shrinkrap, I love the agricultural areas of CA, the extraordinary beauty- and seeing where my lettuce or strawberries are grown. The economy, sheer size and geog variation imposes certain parameters. Hard to stereotype CA or Californians.</p>
<p>Texas, too.</p>
<p>Bay, my brother from CA goes back west with appreciation for those congested freeways after getting caught in NYC traffic.</p>
<p>I haven’t been to California in many years, but we lived in Oakland from 1980 - 1987 (Sold our house in 1992). If I could afford to live in Ca we probably would be there. The SF bay area is the most beautiful place by far I have ever lived. Lake Tahoe is one of my favorite places on earth. The Yosemite Valley is incomparable. A quick trip to Mr Google would give you plenty of info about the size and diverse nature of the CA economy. (Did anyone mention agriculture?) Sure there are a lot of nuts out there. I think the entire country is a bit tilted in that direction so the nuts roll downhill and end up in CA.</p>
<p>San Diego, The Bay Area, Monterey, Lake Tahoe, Humboldt County . . . aaahhhh . . .</p>
<p>Add a vote for midcoast and southern CA, the beaches, the hills, the canyons.</p>
<p>I think part of California’s problem is that when one party (either party) controls all of a local government with nothing to pull back toward the center at all, the worst and most extreme of that party’s (either party) impulses come to fruition.</p>
<p>cpt,
I have driven in NYC traffic, and I’ll grant you it can be horrifying. However, in NYC one has the option of leaving the car at home and utilizing an efficient public transportation system, not to mention residing close enough to one’s job and/or services to walk. We don’t have that option in most parts of CA; we have no option but to drive.</p>
<p>Beliavsky - from the third story in your post -
"From 2000 to 2010, the state’s Hispanic population grew 28 percent, to reach 37.6 percent of all residents, almost equal to the shrinking white population’s 40 percent. "</p>
<p>I was checking demographics earlier to see if the claim of California losing people is correct and found that California population in fact grew by 10% but have not lost or added a single house seat.</p>
<p>Is it fair to say that California is losing people in the middle income demographic and replacing them with lower income demographic?</p>
<p>California needs to improve their mass transit, for sure. We were happy to see BART expand its reach in the years we lived in the Bay Area. More needs to be done, however.</p>
<p>and CA got great surf</p>
<p>can’t believe I moved away from Santa Cruz . . .</p>
<p>katliamom and deboraT, before the thread gets closed, please accept my apologies if my funning on california offended you. I know people can get attached to their hometowns and I actually think that is a good thing.</p>
<p>California is a really beautiful state in many places, and I have enjoyed the time I have spent there, with the exception of LA.</p>
<p>How many people moved out of California? I want to know. How many? Bay, what does the inventory of houses look like these days where you live?</p>
<p>Did you read the thead, dstark? I and someone else already posted info about people moving out. Here is one:[California’s</a> Population Is Moving Out, Census Report Shows | NBC Southern California](<a href=“California’s Population Is Moving Out, Census Report Shows – NBC Los Angeles”>California’s Population Is Moving Out, Census Report Shows – NBC Los Angeles) 100,000 more moved out than moved in in 2011. The top 3 reasons for moving out (in another article already posted twice) are lack of jobs, population density, and taxes.</p>
<p>Ah, right now this New Yorker could use a bit of California weather. I am going to freeze today when I have to go out. </p>
<p>I’ll add before what I think will be the inevitable closing of this thread because people are getting a bit hot (and not because of the weather) that the GOP in CA will be back when they find another movie star to take the helm.like Reagan and Schwartzennegger. Heck they got Reagan to go national!</p>
<p>And Dstark, the inventory of houses in my brother’s area is crazy in terms of trying to buy anything for under a million bucks. He’s in a little ranch that would go for more than that. The housing crash did not hit the Silicon Valley area. But CA is a big state, and generalites will not hold. But I wish my neighborhood were as hot as his in terms of the housing market.</p>
<p>poetgrl, gracious apology accepted, although I wasn’t offended. Just dismayed by the stubborn lack of logic in dismissing a major global economy as “unimportant” in a discussion about… economics. That’s like saying that the US economy is “unimportant” in a discussion of world economics.</p>