Too many ticks will eventually kill the dog.

CA is also getting in bad shape. The deficit is growing and all the signs of further reduction in revenue are there.
Declining house prices, declining retail sales, declining gas sales, etc. It will be interesting to see what the deficit finally is.
We have several friends who have become part time Californians to avoid state taxes..become residents in states with no state income tax or do not tax retirement income. The burden of the illegals and the welfare state has just gotten too big.

Yes, and those “ticks” that are killing this dog are the illegal aliens whose use of city services, WIC (food stamps) and free medical care—as they send the illegally-earned money back to Mexico instead of spending it in the community. The Bay Area—while it’s number of illegals is vastly lower than the Invaded L.A. County to the South—still holds millions of illegals from Mexico, China, Vietnam, Pakistan and Afghanistan and many other countries. Vallejo is but one card in the deck that is falling. Other local cities will follow. These citie only hope? Something they refuse to consider—calling on ICE to rid their community of illegal aliens. Until these freeloaders are gone, local communities will suffer.

The function of token Republicans in the SF Bay area is to take the blame for these things. Only there are no Republicans left. It's one party rule with nobody to pin the blame on.

Two party rule is bad enough. What is needed are laws to somehow incubate 4 or more political parties to break up the socialist monopoly.

Loosing MINSY didn’t help their economy either. That had to be a major hit.

... and laid off 16 city workers

wow, what guts.

What is needed are laws to somehow incubate 4 or more political parties to break up the socialist monopoly.

Well, you can't really do that with a law because that would require legislating into existence four different points of view on government spending and management. And even at the Federal level we only have one. ;)

It's not just consumers, illegals & low income natives alike, of government benefits; it's the dispensers (ie middle men) of our hard earned tax dollars.

Vallejo is in the tank because of civil service unions, including police & fire. Calif's various state/county/district governmental entities have thousands of very highly paid individuals, along with hundreds of thousands of well paid people, all collecting generous salaries, benefits & PENSIONS.

Of course, none of this can stand - it will eventually (sooner than later) collapse. The people who thought government employment was the way to gain riches are in for an unpleasant surprise.

As Calif lurches forward as a 3rd world state, it will further reflect a true 3rd world environment: the rich at the top, with a huge pool of impoverished masses, along with very poor social/gov't services manned by individuals who will have to supplement their meager earnings via graft.

More parties won’t help the state of california is operated like chicago only more crooks.

Declining house prices, declining retail sales, declining gas sales, etc. It will be interesting to see what the deficit finally is.

My sister is trying to sell her house in Castro Valley. Last year, it was appraised at 800K. A realtor told her last week she'll be lucky to get 650K. I'm sure she's still paying property taxes on the 800K.

As I see it, the bubble in California has popped. Your average productive citizen stuck it out in California, knowing their house would continue to appreciate at 10% or more annually. Take that away, and all you have left is the decent weather.

I've been told by many that my 2500sf house in Valley Ranch would be worth about 700K in California. Houses in our neck of the woods are going for $100-$120 per sf.

At the federal level what I think is particularly deadly to fiscal restraint is the feds always say to the local governments: we'll give you this $300 million dollars of your people's tax money back if you match it with $300 million of additional taxes on your people. It creates a vicious feedback loop of wild spending. I would love to see a law that bans this practice. A law might say governments must fund all projects from a single source of taxes. There should be no taxation match deals.

Add to this the growing and unfunded retirement pension and health care package and the writing is on the wall for most major cities in the state as well as the state itself. I’m surprised the state is able to sell any bonds at all.

And those “deals” always come with strings attached such as Prevailing Wage, enviro regs etc

CA is also getting in bad shape. The deficit is growing and all the signs of further reduction in revenue are there.
Declining house prices, declining retail sales, declining gas sales, etc. It will be interesting to see what the deficit finally is.

The 900-pound gorilla in the closet is still not mentioned: That our idiot legislators continue spending like drunken sailors, oblivious to that side of the equation.

And the education lobby continues doing their thing, insisting that they have the final word, and that class size is sacrosanct, and that their bosses, the taxpayer, better just shut up and continue paying....

... totally ignorant of the fact that the majority of us taxpayers were educated quite nicely, thankyouverymuch in class sizes typically of 40 students...
Yeah. Like that "for the children" gambit is gonna fly.