again: california is the richest state in the union if we go by the metrics they love to point out all the time. this is not just a paper fiction (except in the sense that every economic valuation is): california can indeed flex a lot of wealth, and this is a large part on why silicon valley still exists there. but no small part of this wealth is due to these kinds of policies not just cutting corners around their functions, but also on trying to game federal support, grants, middlemanning (being rich because you sit on a bunch of ports is no different than rentseeking, something the same types that pride themselves on californian wealth usually blast as a great evil). even conservative residents, using my father as an example, who supposedly hate the state government, still live there both in service of its wealth (they pay taxes) and intent to profit from california's wealth in some way. it is like student loan shit again if even a quarter of the rrat about state responsibility for the fires is true, then any cent sent to them is more mercy than they deserve. it's ironic i'm going to pull this out after the dialectical thing last thread, but a lot of the guys attacking freeloaders rhetorically on the internet are more freeloader than they care to admit - but as long as there's layers of abstraction, warped "social contracts," indirect culpabilities, they feel confident it doesn't indict them, as if that somehow shields the hardwork purity ethic they appeal to it's understandable people's situations are complex, people live in areas for many reasons, some things go back further than current generation, and i get some people have family, friends, or are just bleeding hearts and expect or are glad to give aid. i'm on the east coast, it has little personal value to me - but if we want to discuss large political scale shit, like so many decrying the west's decline as everyone's problem, i'm not tolerating this presumption of innocence that i know is false
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