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[Jenne]

Also, all of the CA cities except for San Bernardino, Santa Cruz, and Redding have one major thing in common aside from their unemployment rates, and that is an undiversified economy based on a single industry that is highly susceptible to market conditions. Combine that with the resulting housing bubble and this was a statistic that has been a long time in the making.

San Bernardino's actually got a large farming community, and if I don't miss my guess, SC has a bit of that, too.  SB also has some industrial and manufacturing as well.

And  no, I can blame Teh Governator for his handling at the ONSET of this crisis as well as its inception and follow-through, KTHXBYEEEEE.  Analysts WARNED the whole kit and kaboodle CA was going to get hit hard, and no one paid any fucking attention.   Slash-slash went the taxes for big corporations, and pinch, pinch went the pennies on the infrastructure.

[East Coast Hustle]

Oh, you're absolutely right about all of that, I'm just pointing out that which empty head is sitting in the governor's office wouldn't have made a shit's worth of difference. Your state's economy and government have been carefully managed by a handful of oligarchs since white people started moving there in significant numbers.

FACT: Timothy Dick and David Freeman wield far more political power in CA than any governor ever will. They are, respectively, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the MWD and the CEO/GM of the LADWP.

[Cramulus]

what do those stand for?

[East Coast Hustle]

Municipal Water District (covers 17 million people in parts of Ventura, LA, Orange, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties) and LA Department of Water and Power (one of the largest landowners in the state, with alot of fingers in alot of pies).

California is like The Universe, if water were spice.

[Kai]

Municipal Water District (covers 17 million people in parts of Ventura, LA, Orange, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties) and LA Department of Water and Power (one of the largest landowners in the state, with alot of fingers in alot of pies).

California is like The Universe, if water were spice.

Tru dat.

[Rococo Modem Basilisk]

an undiversified economy based on a single industry that is highly susceptible to market conditions

The tech sector? (I'm terrible at geography)

[East Coast Hustle]

[Jenne]

We now have an initiative on the ballot, called Prop 16, backed to the tune of $35m, by PG&E (think Erin Brockavich), which would require local governments to have a 2/3 majority vote in order to establish their own electric companies. It's an unpleasant ballot initiative, and looks like many counties are suing to get it off the ballot.

PG&E is a STRONG fucking company in CA, and not very well loved, except by the legislative assholes who get their lunches and dinners and Laker games bankrolled by them.  Anyone checked out how HP, one of the leading companies in CA, fired one of the Republicans who's running for governor?  I laugh a lot watching both GOP candidates trying to one-up the other in how un-GOPlike the other one is.

[Jenne]

Oh, you're absolutely right about all of that, I'm just pointing out that which empty head is sitting in the governor's office wouldn't have made a shit's worth of difference. Your state's economy and government have been carefully managed by a handful of oligarchs since white people started moving there in significant numbers.

FACT: Timothy Dick and David Freeman wield far more political power in CA than any governor ever will. They are, respectively, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the MWD and the CEO/GM of the LADWP.

Har har, you forgot CDC.  The most powerful lobby in the state.