California becoming post-industrial hell

The Golden State is a little less golden these days, thanks to the recession. And economists at California Lutheran University Center for Economic Research and Forecasting have the proof.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to center director Bill Watkins, "California is fast becoming a post-industrial hell." He added, that's true "for almost everyone except the gentry class, their best servants and the public sector."

Watkins pointed out some key statistics. 

-California's unemployment rate remains at a high 12 percent, higher than the national average, and climbing. 

-The poverty rate is a whopping 16.1 percent also higher than the national average, and if adjusted for the cost of living, it is actually 10 points higher. 

-The cities of Fresno and San Bernardino are numbered among the 10 poorest large cities in the US, with more than one third of their people living in poverty. 

-San Bernardino is the second poorest US city just behind infamous Detroit.

-The value of the average California home has dropped by nearly $100,000. 

-Approximately 3 percent of all California home mortgages are in foreclosure. 

-And although California does a good job educating 150,000 students per year handing out new college degrees, only about 50,000 jobs are being created for those graduates.

"Domestic migration has been negative for a decade," he said. Middle-class people are leaving the state and fewer illegal immigrants are settling in California.

Watkins also mentioned problems with the state schools and highways. The heavy traffic and the reliability of the water supply were also mentioned as factors that are turning California into a "post-industrial hell."

Watkins wrote, "California's future is pretty grim, until Sacramento takes off the blinders."
California has long been a land of contrasts. It's stunning natural beauty and varied landscape is periodically racked with strong earthquakes and savage droughts. Wildfires sweep through parts of the state on a semi-regular basis.

Still, some people continue to be lured to California. The California dream remains vibrant for many people. Whether coming to visit or to settle, the hopeful keep pouring in. As former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger once remarked, "No matter where you go in the world, people still want to come to California. There is no one screaming, like, 'I can't wait to get to Iowa.' That I can guarantee you. They want to come here to California."

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