California’s got the beaches… but that’s about it. The days of ‘California Girls’ by the Beach Boys is long gone. Want attractive women? Go to Texas instead. Unless you have a thing for blue hair and the scent of rats, I guess. Let’s take a walk through the modern day reality of The California Socialist Republic and discover 50 Reasons Why California Sucks!
If it isn’t enough to be surrounded by hostile politicians and communists, you also have the luxury of dealing with all of these issues discussed below.
(*Side-note: I originally got the idea for this article from an TheEconomicCollapse article by Michael Snyder. That article was written in 2012, and many of the facts are no longer accurate [such as some unemployment metrics] – so I felt such a legendary article deserved an update. This is the modernized version for 2017. I have continually update this throughout 2018-2019 and will keep going so long as it stays popular!)
50 Reasons Why California Sucks
1. California ranked dead last in Chief Executive magazine’s annual Best and Worst States for Business survey in 2016. Oh, and it also was ranked dead last for every other year that the survey has been conducted.
2. In 2015, the state of California ranked 50th out of all 50 states in new business creation.
3. According to a recent study, California is the worst-governed state in the entire country for two years in a row!
4. Even after Proposition 30, California still boasts the highest state income tax rate in the nation.
5. Even though California continually (Prop 55) raises taxes dramatically on the wealthy, state revenues are falling like a rock and debt is still adding up.
6. California has the highest sales tax rate in the United States.
7. California has the 9th highest corporate income tax rate in the country.
8. California has the highest “minimum corporate tax” in the country. It is the only state where a corporation must pay money to the state even if a corporation does not make a single dollar of profit.
9. California has the 2nd highest gas tax in the country. And don’t worry – if you drive an electric car they’ll still charge you a $100 annual fee for “offsetting your gas taxes”.
10. California is the only state in America that taxes carbon emissions.
11. The state of California issues some of the most expensive traffic tickets in the nation. It is actually the highest when you count in the insurance premium hit.
12. California has historically had the third highest unemployment rate of any state, and has the highest under-employment rate.
13. California scored 45th on “The Nation’s Report Card” for public school test scores, indicating significantly sub-par scores on Math and Reading and generally poorly educated students.
14. The state of California requires licenses for 198 different occupations (the most in the nation). The national average is only 96.
15. California teachers are the 5th highest paid in the nation, but California students rank 46th in math and 49th in reading.
16. California accounts for 12.15% percent of the U.S. population, but a whopping 30% percent of Americans that receive TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) and MOE live there. This amounts to almost 7 billion dollars per year.
17. California now has the lowest credit/bond rating in the entire country (Yes, it even surpassed Illinois).
18. Including unfunded pension liabilities, the state of California has more than twice as much debt as any other state does. Their total state debt (w/o unfunded pension liabilities) is second only to New York.
19. Average pay for California state workers has risen by 100 percent from 2005 to 2012, and 120 percent from 2012-2015. That is awesome news for those state employees, but it is terrible news for the taxpayers that have to pay their salaries and their pensions (Which we already have mentioned are currently unfunded).
20. California has the worst healthcare system in the country. This occurred because of illegals using the healthcare and not paying for insurance or services, hospitals closing down, and increased costs on providers.
21. Since 2007, the number of children living in poverty in the state of California has been steadily increasing.
22. Sadly, an astounding 58.6 percent of all students attending California public schools now qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches. To qualify, the family income must fall below 185% of the poverty line.
23. The American Tort Reform Association has ranked the state of California as the second worst “judicial hellhole” in America, and the worst state-wide “judicial hellhole”.
24. Absurd regulations in California have been increasing in number and scope, while also becoming significantly more problematic for operating businesses within CA.
25. According to the Milken Institute, operating costs for California businesses are 23 percent higher than the national average.
26. The state of California had the worst “small business failure rate” in America in 2010. It was 69 percent higher than the national average. They also have 4 out of the 5 cities in the category of “Top 5 Worst Places For Small Businesses“.
27. California has the third highest homelessness rate (Number of people homeless: 367 per 100,000).
28. Residential customers in California pay about 50 percent more for electricity than the national average.
29. The State of California has the lowest number of emergency departments per capita of any state (6.7 per 1 million people). They scored an F on the “Access to Emergency Care” Report Card.
30. Insane political correctness.
31. One California town is actually considering making it illegal to smoke in your own backyard.
32. The traffic around certain big cities in CA is ranked as the 1st and 3rd worst in the nation.
33. Los Angeles. (Do I really even need to explain?)
34. San Francisco.
35. Oakland.
36. Frivolous spending on unnecessary government services.
38. The rampant gang activity in the state gets even worse with each passing year. (Los Angeles is deemed “Gang Capital of America”).
39. California’s violent crime rate is the 13th highest in the nation.
40. Back in 2010, the city attorney of San Bernardino, California told citizens to “lock their doors and load their guns” because there is not enough money to pay for adequate police protection any longer.
41. California is incredibly lawsuit happy, coming in as one of the Top 5 “Lawsuit Climate” states.
42. They have three of the top 10 most violent cities in the US.
43. In Stockton, the police budget cuts got so bad that the police union put up a billboard at one point with the following message: “Welcome to the 2nd most dangerous city in California. Stop laying off cops.”
44. California doesn’t respect the rights of parents. (Sound like socialist utopia yet?).
45. The absolutely insane California state legislature. Oh, and Jerry Brown.
46. Wildfires, mudslides, and impending giant earthquake.
47. 1.5 out of 10 drivers in the state do not have car insurance. California also has one of the lowest minimum coverage rates. This led California to being ranked #1 in the “Top 5 Riskiest States For Drivers“.
48. In the past decade, over 5 million people left California with only 3.9 million moving in. This has created a loss of over 1 million people, and a budget reduction of 26 billion in annual income.
49. Illegals control the state. Double-digit billions of dollars go to illegal immigrant aid-related expenses (such as housing, K-12 schooling, English supplementation courses, free college for the “undocumented”, healthcare, etc). This is after accounting for tax revenue they contribute.
50. California has the highest school system revenue of any state, but one of the Top 10 Lowest Per Pupil Spending.
Bonus Reasons Why California Sucks:
(Got more? Leave them in the comments!)
51. Two fault lines in California have actually been discovered to be one mega fault line, that was labelled “locked, loaded, and ready to go“.
52. BIG UPDATE: California has surpassed Mississippi in the Poverty Capital of the United States in early 2018. California now has the highest poverty rate in the entire nation. Great job, guys!
53. Prop 47 has resulted in a virtual get out of jail free card. Police are forced to “catch and release” people that are caught with heroin, meth, crack, etc. This includes people with 13 + drug charges. This has dis-incentivized treatments, because it is a lot easier to just take a ticket than 18 months of rehab. Numerous drug treatment programs and courts have closed in high usage areas, and crimes have increased because criminals realize that they won’t actually face any punishment.
54. California’s Police Use of Force Policy does not allow officers to use deadly force when the offender’s only weapon is a vehicle. So if someone is mowing down innocent people or trying to run over police, LEO’s are not authorized to shoot them.
55. Even the criminals think the California laws are ridiculous. Because of (Again, Prop 47) California laws, any theft under $900 is also a required “catch and release”. There was a the known gang member near Palm Springs who had been caught with a stolen gun valued at $625 and then reacted incredulously when the arresting officer explained that he would not be taken to jail but instead written a citation. “But I had a gun. What is wrong with this country?” the offender said, according to the police report.
56. They were rated as one of the “Top 5 Worst States For Gun Owners” for being exhaustively restrictive on 2nd amendment rights. (Yet still has the 13th highest gun murder rate per capita and the 9th lowest gun ownership as % of population).
57. You have to pay to not license your vehicle. (Courtesy of Guest Comment).
58. All dog bite cases are to be reported by the hospital to Animal Control. And if your own dog bites you, you will be fined. (Courtesy of Guest Comment).
59. California has gone so overboard on global warming/climate change that they have regulated cow farts. No, seriously.
60. California reduced KNOWINGLY transmitting HIV/AIDS to another person to just a “misdemeanor”. So be careful sleeping with anyone in Cali, they could give you AIDS and just get a slap on the wrist.
61. Hollywood sexual victimization.
62. The drug problem is so bad that state officials say things like this: “Many of the city’s intravenous drug users inject openly in public places such as parks and public transit stations, leaving dirty needles strewn about.” So what is their solution? To create “Safe Injection Sites” where drug users can go to shoot up, hang out, then leave. Maybe the drug problem wouldn’t be so bad without point #53, but Californian legislature is too stupid to figure that out.
63. When looking at Americans burdened by housing costs – California has 7 of the top 20 ‘Cost Burdened %‘ metropolitan areas for renters, including #2 on the list – LA. It also has 9 out of 20 of the worst metro locations when looking at owners of houses.
64. California was ranked dead last (#50 out of 50 states) in “Quality of Life” by a U.S. News Study published this year.
65. The state has handed out over a million drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. (Which is all you need to vote).
66. Cali’s gun laws are constantly changing and are incredibly difficult to follow. And if you try in good faith to follow them, you may get raided by SWAT and hit with 12 felonies.
67. Cali also has the 3rd lowest average IQ in the entire nation (ranked by McDaniel’s Estimated Average IQ Score on all 50 US states)
68. Santa Barbara, CA recently imposed fines for establishments that provide plastic straws. Yes, seriously. And not a small fine, either. Offenses range from $1,000 to 6 months jail time for EACH plastic straw provided. Councilman Jason Dominguez had this to say about it: “we can’t always count on common sense,” and therefore, “we have to regulate every aspect of people’s lives”. The definition of totalitarianism: “Totalitarianism is a political concept where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to control every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible“. Dude literally just said the definition of totalitarianism is their policy.
69. Three parts to this one (source for all 3):
- California has 8 out of 10 of the most polluted cities by Ozone (even despite their insane regulations)
- It also has 7 out of 10 of the most polluted cities by ‘Year Round Particle Pollution’
- And it has 7 out of 10 of the most polluted cities by ‘By Short-Term Particle Pollution’
70. California also holds the record for most wildfires by state since 2002 at a whooping 87,742, over 20,000 more than the next state in the list. This placed them at the top of the 2017 list for most wildfire prone states and ‘households at high or extreme risk of wildfire‘ (by households).
71. Cali is ranked 48th in “Overall Freedom” by Cato in FI5 (2018) which analyzes states by the policies that shape personal and economic freedom. The Golden State received the lovely title of “most cronyist state in the union“
72. This lovely state is the first in trying to normalize pedophilia by encouraging child sex play and telling parents to let their kids watch porn.
73. The State of California has now spent over $5 billion on its long-delayed high-speed rail project — roughly the same amount of money that Democrats are refusing to provide President Donald Trump for his border wall proposal. They killed 73% of the bullet train, but are keeping 100% of the taxes. Expense for this ‘train to nowhere’ has increased from $33 billion to $98.1 billion. Remember: this is for a train. That’s $189 MILLION per mile.
74. Cali decided that it is offensive to have American flags on police cars. Yeah, they actually had complaints to the police department just because the cops wanted to put the flag of their country on the police cars.
75. The Bubonic Plague itself is likely already in California. Why? Well, due to the mounds and mounds of trash and overabundance of rats, obviously. (Also, woohoo! We hit 75! Keep the recommendations coming folks!)
76. Rats. In fact, LA is now known as the “City of Rats” as its nickname.
77. San Francisco is ranked Number 1 in property crime in the entire United States.
78. Skid Row
79. The utility companies in California have to shutoff power to hundreds of thousands of people to stop wildfires because the state’s infrastructure is so horrible.
80. Cali implemented a zero-bail policy amid COVID-19 which has worked out how you would expect: one California man was arrested three times over the course of just 12 hours, including for leading officers on a pursuit, and only given citations and released due to the new policy.
That’s all for now! Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll have more soon. California has been no stranger to keeping this list growing over the years.
Read Next: 55 Reasons Why Socialism Sucks
Keep up with us on Facebook and Twitter
I need your support to keep making awesome content. If you liked this article, please consider supporting your local neighborhood content creator.
You can sign up for my free newsletter here. Give us a bookmark and check back often.
You can also donate on SubscribeStar here or toss me some coffee money through PayPal!