History can teach us a lot on what to do, and what not to do; it’s too bad Democrats slept through class. California could’ve learned from the mistakes of Emperor Diocletian. His “reforms” are said to have wiped out the middle-class and instituted Europe’s feudal system. I’ll be damned, that’s exactly what’s happening in the Golden State.
Serfdom began with a promise of security in exchange for freedom. That was a bad bargain. When Diocletian’s reforms were instituted, the heavy regulations and taxes fell upon the poor and middle-class. Many packed up their bags and left for greener pastures, until laws were passed that checked peasant mobility. These unfortunates had no other choice but to work in the fields and factories of well-connected patrons, who knew how to work the tax code. Today’s serfs simply don’t have the money to leave California’s paradise.
You wouldn’t know it from all of the hype, but, California is the poorest state in the union. Nineteen percent of its citizens live below the poverty line, far exceeding the nations average of 14%. Their state government professes to be the patron of the poor and dispossessed. However, it is their taxation and regulation policies that are the root cause for this disparity. Here is an excerpt from the Hill.com. This whole article is worth a read:
Traditional left wing prescriptions simply have not worked in the state, which an opinion column in the Los Angeles Times dubbed the “poverty capital” of the United States. Housing vouchers increase the cost of living. The number of those with no health insurance in California fell by more than half after the state expanded Medicaid, yet poverty remains near historic highs. California spends the third most per capita on welfare programs, yet its economy continues to fail the poor and middle class.
Despite having just 12 percent of the national population, California represents nearly a third of all Americans on welfare. Federal taxpayers shell out more than half of the $6.7 billion in the California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids program. In Texas, 6 percent of families in poverty receive welfare. In California, the figure is 66 percent. Can you guess where the poverty rate is lower? Not California.
What’s that saying? As California goes, so goes the country. God forbid.
Source:
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/412928-middle-class-is-disappearing-in-california-as-wealth-gap-grows
https://fee.org/articles/the-roman-road-to-feudal-serfdom/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckdevore/2018/08/06/california-passed-15-an-hour-two-years-ago-hows-it-working/#6a8a801b4fa4
