CA as Poverty Magnet

Various publications (City Journal, LA Times) have been commenting on an apparent contradiction. California has generous welfare benefits yet, despite all this help, still has the nation’s highest percent living in poverty.

Writing at American Thinker, Rick Moran seems to have gotten a handle on explaining that contradiction, coming straight out of Skinnerian psychology.

The reason California is the poverty capital of America is that the state subsidizes poverty. When you subsidize something, you get more of it.

There it is, in a nutshell. You get more of what you reward, and less of what you make unpleasant. And Moran does a good job of looking at all the contributing factors.

If he leaves out one, it is that if you’re stuck being poor (or find work unattractive), why not do so where the weather is nice? I’m in SoCal as I write this and we’re experiencing 70℉ weather in mid-January.

In this era of free long distance calling via cellphone, did you imagine the poor don’t communicate cross-country? Effectively, CA has hung out a sign with the slogan, “Come for the weather, stay for the handouts.” The poor have come in droves, being a sanctuary state has only made it worse.