Right now it doesn’t rank very high! The State of California is on the verge of bankruptcy. Plagued by financial stress to the point where state workers had their wages cut by 15% for a year and a half, and it was approved on July 1, 2010 to reduce State workers salaries to minimum wage until a new budget goes into effect. Even increased taxation has not helped. The current tax rate is 10.75%! The jobless rate is up, the housing market down. People are leaving by the droves because the cost of living is too high. State programs are sagging to the point of breaking under the burden of providing services to an ever increasing number of citizens and non-citizens: unemployment, disability, SSI, drug rehabilitation programs, homeless services etc.
Indeed, it may well be California’s legacy as the compassionate state has led to it’s current economic condition. Known as a State that believes there’s place for everyone, California is now filled with people who took them up on their generoisity, but gave nothing in return. Then there’s the Governor’s prison plan. Sure, creating a prison state generates lots of income from housing prisoners from other states, which in turn creates jobs. But what happens when those prisoners are paroled? You now have a situation where thousands of people are released with no income, no place to live, no way to get home so what happens? Many become burdens on the State as recipients of social services of one kind or another.
For California to reach it’s former glory as one of the top states in the USA and the world they’ll need more than money. They need serious evaluation and reform of social programs. They will also have to address the immigrant issue. Illegal immigrants put a serious drain on California’s resources. Not only in terms of education, medical and social services, but perhaps most importantly lost revenue. There are millions of illegal immigrant working in California, receiving wages, receving services, but not paying taxes, which fund programs they are beneficiaries of. That lost revenue would go a long way toward California returning to the State it was vs remaining the state it is economically.