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California Now World's 5th Largest Economy, Surpassing UK

nytimes.com

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Re: California Now World's 5th Largest Economy, Surpassing UK

#32
post #30
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a NIMBY myself, but most of them would claim that preserving quality of life for existing residents is more important than maximizing GDP or making space for newcomers. If you want to improve housing policies then you'll have to find a way to counteract those objections.

How about existing residents who rent in CA cities? Your argument doesn't stand.

Very few of the hard-core NIMBYs are renters. My argument still stands.

Re: California Now World's 5th Largest Economy, Surpassing UK

#33
post #32
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about existing residents who rent in CA cities? Your argument doesn't stand.

Very few of the hard-core NIMBYs are renters. My argument still stands.

Homeowners and renters are affected by these policies differently, often in opposite ways. That's the point. Obviously these NIMBYs are homeowners because their position grossly favors existing homeowners. Mortgage payments are not affected by a constant influx of new people but rent prices are. Stalling is a win for one side only. Anybody can wish for "preserving quality of life." But while they are wishing homeowners are reaping all of the benefits and renters are getting screwed.

Re: California Now World's 5th Largest Economy, Surpassing UK

#34
post #27
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California has a high amount of debt, particularly per household, when compared to (some) other U.S. states. However, the last few years under governor Brown have led to a budget surplus for those years, which is commonly attributed to the tax hikes of Proposition 30, among better spending decisions. We're looking at a pretty substantial surplus for this year's budget, which will be finalized in June, and lawmakers h…

the last few years under governor Brown have led to a budget surplus for those years no, it wasn't a surplus. 2017 showed a $1.6 Billion deficit [0]. [0] http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-jerry-brown-budge...

[deleted]

Re: California Now World's 5th Largest Economy, Surpassing UK

#35
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very few of the hard-core NIMBYs are renters. My argument still stands.

Homeowners and renters are affected by these policies differently, often in opposite ways. That's the point. Obviously these NIMBYs are homeowners because their position grossly favors existing homeowners. Mortgage payments are not affected by a constant influx of new people but rent prices are. Stalling is a win for one side only. Anybody can wish for "preserving quality of life." But while they are wishing homeowne…

I would be very surprised if there were more homeowners than renters in cities, and if there were---then what we have is democracy at work.

Consequently, I believe that many renters simply aren't participating in the political process or are strangely voting against their obvious interests.

The YIMBY platform will work because the majority of people will benefit from it, but need organization to actually get to the polling booths and participate in lobbying.

Re: California Now World's 5th Largest Economy, Surpassing UK

#36
post #26
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your data is a bit out of date. California has a surplus now. There is an underfunded pension but the payments aren't due for many years in the future.

California has a surplus now. What budget year are you talking about, where an actual surplus was evident when the budget year closed? Projections are just projections and can be seriously wrong. A projected $2.8 billion surplus[0] quickly changed to being a $1.6 billion deficit [1]. [0] https://www.scpr.org/news/2016/11/17/66216/california-analys... [1] http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-jerry-brown-budge...

Your links are from Jan 2017. Those were projections. 2017-2018 was $6bn budget surplus on top a $8bn rainy day fund. Here's the WSJ link from Jan 2018

https://www.wsj.com/articles/jerry-browns-legacy-a-6-1-billi...

Re: California Now World's 5th Largest Economy, Surpassing UK

#37
post #21

The question is what is CA going to do when its municipalities indirectly cap GDP via their terrible housing policies. The entire state is under a slow boil by NIMBYism that will eventually choke its otherwise impressive economy.

I'm not a NIMBY myself, but most of them would claim that preserving quality of life for existing residents is more important than maximizing GDP or making space for newcomers. If you want to improve housing policies then you'll have to find a way to counteract those objections.

Counterpoint: as a gay Californian (and a SF homeowner to boot), I strongly identify as a YIMBY.

Aside from selfishly wanting room for more local colleagues at my startup, it's my mission in life to preserve California as a refuge for persecuted LGBT people across the country. The best way to do that is to build more housing and stabilize rents, not to block sorely-needed high-density housing because there used be a historic gay bar there 50 years ago that few will remember.

Re: California Now World's 5th Largest Economy, Surpassing UK

#38
post #27
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California has a high amount of debt, particularly per household, when compared to (some) other U.S. states. However, the last few years under governor Brown have led to a budget surplus for those years, which is commonly attributed to the tax hikes of Proposition 30, among better spending decisions. We're looking at a pretty substantial surplus for this year's budget, which will be finalized in June, and lawmakers h…

the last few years under governor Brown have led to a budget surplus for those years no, it wasn't a surplus. 2017 showed a $1.6 Billion deficit [0]. [0] http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-jerry-brown-budge...

You're right -- due to some (must-have-been-pretty-awful) miscalculations about the cost of a certain program that pushed it into deficit territory. My mistake! I was also considering 2017 as this year since a budget spans two years.

For completeness, CA roughly carried a deficit from '02-'03 to '12-'13, and then roughly a surplus from '13-'14 onwards, except for 2017.

Re: California Now World's 5th Largest Economy, Surpassing UK

#39

How's wealth and welfare distribution around the state though?

This was the same question I had. According to the recent Federal Data, California had a GDP $2.747 trillion[0]. In 2016, Los Angeles' GDP was a little over 1 trillion by itself[1].

A quick search revealed this too[2] (because I was curious about the impact "Hollywood" has on the economy):

> According to a recent report by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, motion picture and sound recording jobs accounted for just 2.4 percent of the private sector labor force in the city of L.A. in 2015.

(Note: I couldn't quickly find total Hollywood revenue, plus there's the "creative accounting" issue[3] too)

It's certainly a rabbit hole of data analysis.

[0] http://www.businessinsider.com/california-economy-ranks-5th-...

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/183822/gdp-of-the-los-an...

[2] http://www.laweekly.com/news/how-much-does-hollywood-contrib...

[3] https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hollywood+creative+accounting&ia=w...

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