this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2023
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California has progressive taxes. That means the wealthy pay a higher tax rate than the middle class. The wealthy have gotten taxes raised on the middle class and lowered on the wealthy in most red states. So they continue to pay for a disinformation campaign that rails on California taxes.
But CA continues to carry the US in GDP. It has a tropical weather, that allows outdoor activities nearly year round, not found anywhere else in the US. It also has a lot of support for lower and middle class (this shows up in places like infant mortality rates).
But like almost everywhere else in the world, except countries like Japan and China that have addressed planning at a federal level, they have not built houses near fast enough to keep up with demand. So the cost of living is high (They have changed laws recently to try to partially address it). But if you make enough to live there it is a wonderful place to live.
The winter months are too cool for tropical, they are below 18ยฐC average. Most of the parts that aren't desert or mountain actually fall into the Mediterranean classification.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_California#/media/File:K%C3%B6ppen_Climate_Types_California.png
California has a multitude of climates. You can take a tram from Palm Springs desert to Idyllwild and play in the snow. Or drive from the beach through the farmlands and wine region to the Sequoias. What we don't have is reliable rainfall, especially in the regions that need it most. There are very few years when we get the "average annual precipitation," instead it's either drought or flood. Some of the worst corruption historically has been about managing floods or stealing water. Very recently we have started trying to do a better job of capturing and storing it for later use and replenishing the groundwater.