Just because you don't like Arnold, doesn't mean you can blame him. Its like kanye saying bush dont care about black people LOL. But seriously, our smog and smug situations and all that other emissions bs in california, thats arnolds fault too right? Not backing up the guy, just need to find a better reason to impose on your "scapegoats".

 

Uhhh I'm not quite sure you understand how the budget and propositions are made in California. The ca congress makes the budget, Arnold would only veto or sign a budget into effect. As a matter of fact arnold vetoed many of the budgets given to him because they were not balanced. The laws and the way propositions can be added tO ballots in this state are retarded and it's part of what has gotten us in this mess.

 

Yep, and in case anyone wasn't paying attention, Arnold came into office because Gray Davis was RECALLED; aka fired.

 

I already know we pay to live in this state. We pay a lot. Everybody wants the sunshine and the beaches close and the mountains close, you gotta pay for it. The Gov't knows it to, so they can take advantage. This just takes it that much further.

For comparision, I was single making $42,000/year. I would have been able to afford an apartment, but not a house. My friend and his wife in Tennessee where making the same amount. The had a large house with a lot of property and 2 kids. They both got promotions, making $60,000 now, had a custom home built for themselves with a 2100 sq ft first floor and a 2000 sq ft finished basement. My wife and I make a little over $90,000 and we have a house but we aren't able to take numerous vacations and have to live 30 to 50 miles away from our jobs.

There is nothing in Tennessee to pay for. You get obscene heat, snow/ice, tornadoes, and generally flat areas with not much to do. But there comes a time when a Gov't has mismanaged funds to long and overpaid their top tier managers and people that something has to happen. You can't keep forcing it on the people and expecting them to take it.

 

Wow i currently drive about 600 miles a week (SF to SJ) so this would be a HUGE deal. Let's say they charge 10cents per mile, i calculate this to be $260/month for me.. that's alot WTF!

 

Yes, California will always be on the high side of what people pay to live in this country. It's pretty much always been that way and always will. But when expense out ways value you start to drive people away.

California is all I know and for most of my life I would have said no way in hell would I ever leave it. But now... Oregon, Co and Vancouver Island are all starting to look pretty good. LOL.

I know people up in Oregon that live in reasonable houses, have reasonable cars and get to do all sorts of cool stuff and making WAY less than what Megan and I make combined.

Living in California is awesome but when the middle class is struggling to survive it doesn't speak well on california's future. Driving businesses out means less jobs. Less jobs means less money. The balance is all out of whack right now.

Take Santa Cruz for example. If you want to live in the nicer area's of SC/Aptos you're talking $650k minimum for a house. Now you take in to account how few jobs there are in the area and the wages offered. Around here they figure... hey you live and work in S.C. so that's a benefit. We don't have to pay you as much as you would make over the hill. So a job in San Francisco you'd make... say $75k for... you're lucky to get $55k for in Santa Cruz.

But somehow they think that people have the money to afford over inflated costs for EVERYTHING

That's pretty much the entire state right now.

More for gas. More for milk. More for food. More for fast food. More for cars. More for houses. Etc. It used to be o.k. because there were jobs and the earnings where there. Now they're not.

California has to lead the way back to reality for this entire country.

 

Yeah. I consider my commute relatively short.. but if you take in to account mine and my wife's commute you're talking about... 500 miles a week. Now you add in the fact that EVERYTHING is at least 10 miles from my house... now you're talking about 650 miles a week on average for grocery trips, target for diapers.... etc.

Even at 5 cents a mile you're talking about adding like $1700 a year on to my expenses? And where is that going? Is it going to go in to building better public transo? Doesn't matter as it won't benefit anyone in my family as I really don't see any trains being built to get people from watsonville to salinas or santa cruz. So what... it's going to maintain the wages of the politicians. Sounds fair to me. I bet they'll be except from this tax.

 

Whoever blamed Ronald Reagan for this states problems, was 100% right.
He was the single most destructive force this state ever saw.

 

This is why if anyone can afford a house, then now is the time. Even if you have to commute. In a few years, you're home should appreciate if you buy now, you can then sell that house for a profit and take that profit to another state, but a house possibly bigger and nicer with that profit and be able to afford to work near where you live. I'd consider Oregon, Washington, Colorado or even Canada. I wouldn't even be opposed to Wisconsin. I've visited there several times and other than some humidity in the summer, it's a nice area if you aren't in the city centers.

 

I had a long talk at work yesterday with my buddy about just dropping all the bs we deal with in bay area / Cali and moving up to Oregon or Washington... Then I remembered I've been to Seattle and its literally a town built on a pile of poop. Pros and cons I suppose :P

 

 

Oregon has my name written all over it but my wife would hate it. We've talked about moving south but my family is here and we want to stay close to them.

 

Hopefully we'll be able to figure out how to buy a house in the next year. I'm going to talk to my work about getting me on as an official 5 day a week employee so I don't have to stress about getting cut to 4 days when things get slow and talk about a small raise.

If we can get into something reasonable and figure out how to get megan through a couple more years of school things could get a LOT easier for us financially. She could literally make $40k more than she's making now with a couple more years of school.

If I finish school I could probably do the same but not as quickly and not as easily. But she's not sure if that's what she wants to do anymore. If she doesn't decide soon, I'm going back to school. With a BA under my belt with my experience and skill level I could demand quite a bit if I went back to the bay. I don't think I'd take less than 90.

 

Honestly, just merry a nurse. They make ****ing bank and those unions are so strong they are set for life.

 

Hence me wanting to get my wife through a few more years of school. LOL! She's a VERY good M.A. and has most of her pre-req's done to start a nursing program. Main bummer is that Cabrillo has a nearly 4 year wait list. But to tell you the truth I'd love to see her become a PA. She's really damned smart and very good at what she does. I think she'd rip at it.

She's pretty solid where she's at but she's about topped out without either moving up to management or getting more schooling and going a different path. I'd like to see her do the schooling and get to practice more medicine. I think she'd go crazy in management.