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Why is liberal California the poverty capital of America?

Metuo Accipiter

Metuo Accipiter

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Sep 15, 2003
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Guess which state has the highest poverty rate in the country? Not Mississippi, New Mexico, or West Virginia, but California, where nearly one out of five residents is poor. That’s according to the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, which factors in the cost of housing, food, utilities and clothing, and which includes noncash government assistance as a form of income.

Given robust job growth and the prosperity generated by several industries, it’s worth asking why California has fallen behind, especially when the state’s per-capita GDP increased approximately twice as much as the U.S. average over the five years ending in 2016 (12.5%, compared with 6.27%).

It’s not as though California policymakers have neglected to wage war on poverty. Sacramento and local governments have spent massive amounts in the cause. Several state and municipal benefit programs overlap with one another; in some cases, individuals with incomes 200% above the poverty line receive benefits. California state and local governments spent nearly $958 billion from 1992 through 2015 on public welfare programs, including cash-assistance payments, vendor payments and “other public welfare,” according to the Census Bureau. California, with 12% of the American population, is home today to about one in three of the nation’s welfare recipients.

The generous spending, then, has not only failed to decrease poverty; it actually seems to have made it worse....

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-jackson-california-poverty-20180114-story.html
 
Why Does California Have The Nation's Highest Poverty Rate?

.......While it doesn’t count in the granting of government assistance, five years ago the U.S. Census Bureau developed the Supplemental Poverty Measure to address many of the shortcomings in the long-used poverty measure. Census’ latest Supplemental Poverty Measure report was issued on September 13.

Unlike the traditional poverty calculation in use for 50-plus years, the U.S. Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure accounts for many of the costs incurred by poor families, such as rent, employment-related childcare expenses, and payroll taxes, but not food, clothing, or other costs not directly related to employment. The Supplemental Poverty Measure also accounts for the value of noncash benefits, such as housing vouchers and food assistance.

The nation’s poverty map changes significantly between the Official and Supplemental measures, with poverty migrating from the low-cost South to high-cost California and New York.

And, what makes California, New York, and other high-cost areas high cost? Mostly land-use restrictions that create artificial scarcity in the housing market by preventing builders from bringing the sorts of houses and apartments to market when and where people want them.

Lastly, a word on demographics. Demographers say that America will be a minority-majority nation by 2055. Today, four states are already there: California, Hawaii, New Mexico and Texas. Of these four states, Texas has by far the lowest Supplemental Poverty Measure, 14.9 percent. This compares to 16.8 percent in Hawaii, 17.1 percent in New Mexico, and 20.6 percent in California. Proportionately, California’s Supplemental poverty rate is 38 percent higher than Texas’—something that should be a source of embarrassment for the home of Hollywood, the Silicon Valley and the nation’s highest marginal income tax rate.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckd...-nations-highest-poverty-rate/2/#37d2d1d52bc0
 
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Metuo Accipiter said:
And, what makes California, New York, and other high-cost areas high cost? Mostly land-use restrictions that create artificial scarcity in the housing market by preventing builders from bringing the sorts of houses and apartments to market when and where people want them.
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What nonsense. Lack of housing in la and bay area is due to build out, there's nothing artificial about it. Unless you want your house on an active landslide.
 
BelemNole said:
What nonsense. Lack of housing in la and bay area is due to build out, there's nothing artificial about it. Unless you want your house on an active landslide.
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....The New York Times asked in an article this week, "Why Does It Cost So Much to Live in California?" It parsed data from a paper by two economists, Ed Glaeser and Joe Gyourko, that found that in coastal metropolitan areas (including San Francisco), that most projects proposed for housing drag on for years because of the state's onerous regulatory framework.

"As the chart shows, the worst discrepancy is the San Francisco metropolitan area, where a standard house should cost about $300,000 — but in reality is more like $800,000 (based on 2013 figures)," the Times reports. "Next comes cities and counties in coastal Southern California — basically a band of overpriced housing that stretches downward from Ventura to the San Diego border."

That research paper, "The Economic Implications of Housing Supply," argues that once a project has gone through years of environmental reviews and restrictive state and local regulatory hurdles, the housing it then puts on the market is vastly overpriced.

"The result is overpayment on a grand scale for the few homes that do get built. Their figures are theoretical, and people are sure to disagree with them," the Times reports.

"The broader point — which isn’t remotely controversial — is that California cities have some of the most restrictive building laws in the nation, and this is a big reason why the state’s per capita home supply is 49th out of 50 states, and why it costs so much to live here."

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https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfran...housing-crisis-restrictive-building-laws.html
 
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Are the numbers in the OP incorrect? We ought to be able to discuss them.

California has had tremendous growth in sectors that likely benefit the highly educated and affluent, do they have more inequality than other states?

Is it better to be impoverished in California than Mississippi and Alabama?
 
How high are California’s state and local taxes? What do their state business regulations look like?

Plenty of wealth in CA to make things go as long as govt doesn’t get too intrusive.
 
unIowa said:
How high are California’s state and local taxes? What do their state business regulations look like?

Plenty of wealth in CA to make things go as long as govt doesn’t get too intrusive.
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....Aside from housing, it can’t be ignored that, in addition to having one of the largest economies in the world, California also happens to have some of the highest tax rates in the country, and some of the least business-friendly policies on top of that.

In a recent WalletHub report on overall tax burdens, California ranked 10th-worst in the country. Meanwhile, the Tax Foundation ranked California 48th in its 2017 State Business Tax Climate Index due to California’s distinction of having some of the highest income, sales and corporate tax rates in the nation.

Unsurprisingly, California is perennially ranked as one of the worst states in the country in terms of perceived business friendliness. This year, the state again ranked dead last — as it has for the past 13 years — in a survey of hundreds of CEOs by Chief Executive magazine on measures of business friendliness, with the state ranked the worst in the taxation and regulation category.

Taken together, California’s barriers to business will, in turn, harm the poor the most. If California wants to seriously address its high levels of poverty and factors aggravating it, like high housing costs, it must relinquish its commitment to excessive taxation and regulation.
https://www.dailynews.com/2017/09/25/california-leads-the-nation-in-poverty/
 
Mo people, mo problems.

Also, homeless people flock to warmer climates for obvious reasons.

California proactively welcomes people who cannot support themselves and many can't get help from government until they get their forged docs that the state won't check the legitimacy of.

All of this equals lots of poors even though it's one of the world's largest economies as a state.
 
joelbc1 said:
Yet folks keep moving there in droves....or do you believe folks are moving to 'bama and Mississippi and Arkie for their piece of the (American) pie? Knee-jerk right wing drivvel from Muteo...
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Roughly 5 million people left California in the last decade. See where they went.

An unprecedented number of Californians left for other states during the last decade, according to new tax return data from the Internal Revenue Service.

About 5 million Californians left between 2004 and 2013. Roughly 3.9 million people came here from other states during that period, for a net population loss of more than 1 million people.

The trend resulted in a net loss of about $26 billion in annual income.

About 600,000 California residents left for Texas, which drew more Californians than any other state. Roughly 350,000 people came from Texas to California.

The housing boom, recession and housing bust, which hit California harder than most states, likely played a role in the trend. The greatest net population losses occurred during the housing boom, the IRS data show, when many Californians were priced out of the market. The subsequent recession saw many people lose their homes and jobs and go to states with lower unemployment. Conservative analyst and Hoover Institute Fellow Carson Bruno also blames the state's high cost of living and tax structure.

Based on tax returns, the IRS migration data is considered the gold standard for measuring population shifts, though it lags two to three years behind the current date. The latest, separate estimates from the state Department of Finance showed net domestic migration losses slowing, but not ending, in 2014.

Despite the loss of residents to other states, California continued to grow during the last decade because of natural increase - more births than deaths - and foreign migration


http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/databases/article32679753.html
 
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Metuo Accipiter said:
unIowa said:
How high are California’s state and local taxes? What do their state business regulations look like?

Plenty of wealth in CA to make things go as long as govt doesn’t get too intrusive.
Click to expand...

....Aside from housing, it can’t be ignored that, in addition to having one of the largest economies in the world, California also happens to have some of the highest tax rates in the country, and some of the least business-friendly policies on top of that.

In a recent WalletHub report on overall tax burdens, California ranked 10th-worst in the country. Meanwhile, the Tax Foundation ranked California 48th in its 2017 State Business Tax Climate Index due to California’s distinction of having some of the highest income, sales and corporate tax rates in the nation.

Unsurprisingly, California is perennially ranked as one of the worst states in the country in terms of perceived business friendliness. This year, the state again ranked dead last — as it has for the past 13 years — in a survey of hundreds of CEOs by Chief Executive magazine on measures of business friendliness, with the state ranked the worst in the taxation and regulation category.

Taken together, California’s barriers to business will, in turn, harm the poor the most. If California wants to seriously address its high levels of poverty and factors aggravating it, like high housing costs, it must relinquish its commitment to excessive taxation and regulation.
https://www.dailynews.com/2017/09/25/california-leads-the-nation-in-poverty/
Click to expand...

Well folks...there is your answer.

Thanks for the post as I wasn’t going to hunt that stuff down.
 
Who gives a f^&* about the poverty or the cost of living in California?????? This entire thread smacks of jealousy. Jealous that you can't afford to live in California! Jealous that the most prosperous economic state in the Union is a Blue state. You guys are embarrassing yourselves.
 
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Muteo.....Housing ain't overpriced as long as folks are willing to pay the freight. Folks like living in San Fran, most of LA, San Diego and northern coastal areas of Cali....Must be something there that rural 'bama, Mississippi and Arkie don't have.
 
joelbc1 said:
Muteo.....Housing ain't overpriced as long as folks are willing to pay the freight. Folks like living in San Fran, most of LA, San Diego and northern coastal areas of Cali....Must be something there that rural 'bama, Mississippi and Arkie don't have.
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Then I guess you are against all affordable housing programs?
 
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ScoutRefugee said:
Who gives a f^&* about the poverty or the cost of living in California?????? This entire thread smacks of jealousy. Jealous that you can't afford to live in California! Jealous that the most prosperous economic state in the Union is a Blue state. You guys are embarrassing yourselves.
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California is a great state, I am visiting wine country in March, pretty excited (was supposed to go in Oct but it was burning then). Also spent some time in San Diego and Lagoon Beach...great areas.

It also is a tremendously wealthy state with what is being pointed out as a very big and widening wealth gap. My guess was that they had high taxes and high barriers of entry in terms of business regulations and that was contributing to the problem. Big intrusive govt usually works better for the wealthy than it does the poor and weak, that has been proven throughout history. It appears some of that is holding back the poor in California...just wish others could see it.
 
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unIowa said:
California is a great state, I am visiting wine country in March, pretty excited (was supposed to go in Oct but it was burning then). Also spent some time in San Diego and Lagoon Beach...great areas.

It also is a tremendously wealthy state with what is being pointed out as a very big and widening wealth gap. My guess was that they had high taxes and high barriers of entry in terms of business regulations and that was contributing to the problem. Big intrusive govt usually works better for the wealthy than it does the poor and weak, that has been proven throughout history. It appears some of that is holding back the poor in California...just wish others could see it.
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I used to live there. It's a great place to visit. I'd never live there again. The people are crazy. Crazier than most.
 
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It's very easy to be poor in California. By that I mean there are tons of government programs to help you be poor. The government steps in and helps remove your incentive to not be poor. And you're not likely to freeze to death.
 
BubsFinn said:
It's very easy to be poor in California. By that I mean there are tons of government programs to help you be poor. The government steps in and helps remove your incentive to not be poor. And you're not likely to freeze to death.
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That'll just be your little secret.
 
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