Saturday, May 17, 2014

Tick, Tick, Tick....

The Fresno Bee reports Pratt & Whitney is closing its defense plant in San Diego, CA. The work is moving to plants in TX, FL, and GA. Job loss = 530. Sadly, this isn't unusual.

The green gentry celebrates the exodus of ugly manufacturing jobs. One day soon all that remains in CA will be vacation and retirement homes of the affluent, and the poor communities where those who provide them services dwell: gardeners, pool boys, beauticians, food services folks, medical helpers, etc.

The remnant CA middle class will consist almost entirely of government employees: public safety, prison guards, teachers, and bureaucrats. Plus a relative handful of highly paid service providers: physicians, architects, attorneys, etc.

Unexplained is the fate of those inland portions of the state which are insufficiently scenic or climatically too extreme to be nice retirement communities. In particular, CA's great central valleys which are world-class farmland IF enough water remains after the coastal elite have watered their lawns and filled their pools.