California not a Mess

The state of California is today widely considered an ungovernable mess(I'm a Californian). What could be a POD that would prevent such an unfortunate state of affairs from coming about? No Prop 13 perhaps? Something else?
 
No people's democracy, and no "white flight". That means a strong conservative movement in the state and a 1950s POD.
 
they would also have to have erected some type of serious border fence after the 80's amnesty. the immense number of first generation undocumented workers strains the local economic structure and lowers wages... not counting the drain on state tax payer funded social services. having them nix that gasoline tax would help too
 
You have to somehow get rid of Prop. 13, IMHO. With it in place, budgetary policy becomes nearly impossible, as we see today.
 
Some suggestions:

A) California Republicans don't deregulate its energy industry allowing Enron to bankrupt the state in 2000-2002,....

B) Overturning Proposition 13

C) No recall of Governor Gray Davis in 2002; Arnold Schwarzenegger only served to make the economy worse by trying to serve corporate donors...
 
they would also have to have erected some type of serious border fence after the 80's amnesty. the immense number of first generation undocumented workers strains the local economic structure and lowers wages... not counting the drain on state tax payer funded social services.

Uh, you do realize so called "amnesty" only affects those who've already been here for a specific number of years? Nothing to do with those who will come here.

Border fences are generally failures, just shifts them to the desert where they're more likely to die. And if you want to see people dying just for breaking a law that's the equivalent of driving without a license...I hope no one would be that callous.

If you want to stop immigrants from coming, it's simple: Punish those who hire them, and just as importantly, recruit them. Companies routinely fill the local papers in Latin America with job offers. I remember a lecture from historian Andres Tijerina where he documented how they sent recruiters with incredibly specific instructions, in essence, "Hop the train going to city X, walk down street Y, come to the back door, ask for supervisor Z and we'll start you at work."

For the most part the notion that they are a drain on services is a myth. No one would stop building schools or hiring teachers or manning emergency rooms if they didn't come. You're talking mostly about it affecting matters like class size, or wait time in hospitals.

Companies recruiting immigrants certainly does drive down wages. The way to stop that is simple: Enforce the labor laws. Make fines at least as big as the savings they get from hiring immigrants without papers. Again, target the puppet masters, not the puppets.

As a general rule immigrants boost an economy. Scapegoating them wouldn't change California's political future, except spark an even bigger backlash like the one that deservedly threw Pete Wilson out on his keyster. S
 
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Uh, you do realize so called "amnesty" only affects those who've already been here for a specific number of years? Nothing to do with those who will come here.

Border fences are generally failures, just shifts them to the desert where they're more likely to die. And if you want to see people dying just for breaking a law that's the equivalent of driving without a license...I hope no one would be that callous.

If you want to stop immigrants from coming, it's simple: Punish those who hire them, and just as importantly, recruit them. Companies routinely fill the local papers in Latin America with job offers. I remember a lecture from historian Andres Tijerina where he documented how they sent recruiters with incredibly specific instructions, in essence, "Hop the train going to city X, walk down street Y, come to the back door, ask for supervisor Z and we'll start you at work."

For the most part the notion that they are a drain on services is a myth. No one would stop building schools or hiring teachers or manning emergency rooms if they didn't come. You're talking mostly about it affecting matters like class size, or wait time in hospitals.

Companies recruiting immigrants certainly does drive down wages. The way to stop that is simple: Enforce the labor laws. Make fines at least as big as the savings they get from hiring immigrants without papers. Again, target the puppet masters, not the puppets.

As a general rule immigrants boost an economy. Scapegoating them wouldn't change California's political future, except spark an even bigger backlash like the one that deservedly threw Pete Wilson out on his keyster. S

i wasn't trying to get into the politics of illegal immigration... i was merely saying that california struggles because of them (and many other reasons). i genuinely accept that there are better things that could be done to integrate them into society but california in particular takes in more than they can possibly handle or assimilate straining an allready struggling economy
 

FDW

Banned
Get rid of Reagan and the Neo-con's in the Early 60's before they get a chance to fuck up the state, that gets rid of a lot of problems right there.
 

FDW

Banned

The Neo-Con's played a big role in inflamming the tax revolt in the 1970's, getting rid of Reagan takes away the neo-con's best weapon, which also butterflies away Prop. 13, which should probably go down as one of the most stupid laws relating to finances that I have ever seen, due to the way that it wrecked budget after budget, and sent this states once glorious school system down the drain.
 
Er, it's about the REFERENDA.

Arrange for more of the progressive-era reformers to've read their Federalist Papers or Athenian history, and so understood that ever good government needs checks and balances. CA's problem isn't so much that the referendum system as that it's too powerful - every referendum passed becomes a constitutional amendment. California now shares the honor with Southern states of having the longest constitutions - ours because they were messed up after Reconstruction and now need constant amendment. But at least we can pass basic budgets, unlike CA.

It didn't help that most CA governors were hopeless chickens about launching counterreferenda of the worst referenda.
 
get rid of term limits, anyone who knows anything can't run for re-election. also any opportunity to axe Reagan is a plus.:D but seriously the referenda system y'all got is insane, take it from the Minnesotan;)
 
Get rid of Reagan and the Neo-con's in the Early 60's before they get a chance to fuck up the state, that gets rid of a lot of problems right there.
Well, to be fair to the man Reagan didn't actually support Prop 13 until it was a fait accompli (in fact, he was against it before he was for it, IIRC).

A better POD would be for the LA County Tax Assessor's data not come out until after the Prop 13 election. The publishing of the Assessor's Report outraged a the critical mass needed to pass the proposition.

Doing that may well butterfly some of the Reagan Administration's more radical anti-tax rhetoric, meaning that his Admin would probably focus more on the Kulturkampf.
 
i wasn't trying to get into the politics of illegal immigration... i was merely saying that california struggles because of them (and many other reasons). i genuinely accept that there are better things that could be done to integrate them into society but california in particular takes in more than they can possibly handle or assimilate straining an allready struggling economy
Who will do the farm labor jobs? Or even other menial tasks? I have spoken with a friend who was an employer in southern California and even at $35/h no Americans signed up for his Landscaping business (this was several years ago). It's changing now because the bubble bursting hit California really hard but.... getting a handle on immigration early is not be simply awesome for the economy.
 
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