Consider this another chapter in COTTonLINE's continuing series on the decline (and eventual fall?) of California, the once-Golden State. The Los Angeles Times has an article containing a half dozen mini case studies of educated young people who've left SoCal and moved to Las Vegas and elsewhere for economic reasons.
The basic issue: housing costs - outrageous home prices and exorbitant rents. The alternative being up to a 2 hour each way commute from an area with lower prices. None of these conditions apply in Nevada.
An indifferently maintained 1200 sq, ft. CA bungalow with 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, built 70 years ago might sell for half a million, depending on location. Scarcity creates apparent value - brutal conditions and ridiculous prices the result of nimby regulations and punitive fees on new construction.
When my father's people moved to SoCal before World War One, it must have been glorious. I wish I could have seen it. I really dislike the greater Los Angeles of today and avoid it whenever possible. San Francisco is no better. High population density is a bitch.
Later ... California reporter extraordinaire Dan Walters writes in San Jose's Mercury News that Federal data shows the state may already have set foot down the slippery slope of its next recession, one somewhat overdue by historical standards. When it arrives a recession is likely to raise anew many questions about whether CA's blue state high tax model is long-term viable.
