Scanning Lucianne.com this morning, I see two items definitely worth noting in our “decline and fall of California” track. First, SFGate reports via msn.com that The Gap’s large Old Navy store on Market St. in downtown San Francisco is closing.
It’s the latest San Francisco retailer to announce its departure, joining a list of businesses that includes Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack, Saks Off 5th, Anthropologie, Coco Republic and grocery chain Whole Foods.
The second item involved giant insurer State Farm. The Daily Mail (U.K.) reports as follows.
America's biggest home insurance company has announced it will no longer insure houses in California, saying that the risk from wildfires was too great and the cost of rebuilding too high. State Farm, the nation's biggest car and home insurer by premium volume, said existing customers would not be affected. But from Saturday, no new home insurance policies will be issued. The company will continue offering auto insurance.
State Farm's move follows the decision last year by American International Group to end the insurance policies taken out on thousands of expensive properties. The group notified their high-net-worth clients in California that their policies would not renew.
At some point the CA death spiral becomes irreversible. Echoing the impatient children in the back seat, I ask “Are we there yet?”
