10 Things I Learned About California

Anthony Pignataro:

The following is taken from the new Legislative Analyst’s Office report Cal Facts, which you can read for yourself here. Some of  the report offers good — indeed, fantastic — news, while other portions are, well, pretty depressing:

1. Somehow, amidst all the state’s jobs and economic woes, California is the eighth largest economy in the world (behind Italy, ahead of Brazil);

2. Personal income declined nearly two and a half percent in 2009, the first such drop since 1938;

3. “The state should see more than a 50 percent increase of the population over the age 65 during the next decade… [while] the 18-24 age group should see a modest decline during the 2010s”;

4. “California’s tax burden was higher than that of all neighboring states. Of other major states, only New York’s tax burden was considerably higher”;

5. “Statewide, redevelopment agencies received 12 percent of property taxes paid by property owners, but this percentage varies significantly at the local level. The City of Fontana’s redevelopment agency receives more than 75 percent of property taxes paid in the city”;

6.  “Over the past four decades, personal income tax revenues to the General Fund have increased dramatically — rising from 27 percent to 51 percent of General Fund revenues”;

7. “Two-thirds of State General Fund salary costs (excluding universities) are for corrections and rehabilitation employees”;

8. “[T]he adult obesity has more than doubled, from 10 percent in 1989 to nearly 25 percent in 2009. A majority of California adults are overweight or obese”;

9. “California’s crime rate has declined each year since 2003, reaching its lowest level in the past 50 years. This trend is similar to declines in crime patterns in the rest of the United States”;

10. “Renewable energy development in the state, while growing, has not kept pace with the 16 percent increase in the state’s energy demand betwen 1997 and 2009. Thus, renewable resources, as a percentage of total supply, have actually declined in recent years.”

JAN. 5, 2011