California has become unaffordable for many

Orange County Register:
California continues to grow increasingly unaffordable as Californians continue to bear rising costs of everyday necessities — such as water, housing, food and energy. In the Central Valley, we hear story after story about how expensive it is living and working in our state as family budgets are getting squeezed.

This cannot continue. When it comes to energy costs, it certainly doesn’t have to be this way.

California is blessed with seemingly boundless natural resources and innovative outside-the-box thinking, yet our citizens suffer energy costs that are two times higher than the U.S. national average. Affordability is the most significant issue facing California, yet onerous regulations and red tape only worsen this problem for so many California families.

Here is how dire the situation is becoming:

• When considering cost-of-living, California has the highest poverty rate in the entire nation.

• In the last year alone, homelessness soared by 23 percent in Los Angeles County.

• California has the highest average gas prices in the continental United States.

• Over the last year, California resident ratepayers paid $4.8 billion more than the average ratepayer elsewhere in the U.S. using the same amount of energy.
...
... Almost all of the proposed policies and regulations have only exacerbated the high price of energy. Residents in the inland areas of the state know all too well the shock of seeing their monthly energy bills skyrocket during this warm summer season when we have no choice but to keep the air conditioner running.
...
So what does California do to deal with the affordability problem?  It raises the gas tax.   And it is not like they are going to use the money to fix the roads that are in disrepair.  They are going to have to use to keep their overly generous state pension plans somewhat solvent while they also waste money on their bullet train to bankruptcy.

Why this once rich state keeps electing Democrats expecting a different result is a mystery.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Should Republicans go ahead and add Supreme Court Justices to head off Democrats

29 % of companies say they are unlikely to keep insurance after Obamacare

Bin Laden's concern about Zarqawi's remains