Comments on: San Francisco: Progressive Paradise or Bankrupt Banana Republic?

By: GU

GU — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:26:04 +0000

“but my oh my, what a place it must have been right up to 1965 or so.”

Yep, as someone who lives in CA now (but grew up elsewhere), I describe it as paradise lost.

By: spots

spots — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:20:49 +0000

epobirs, you’re right, it is simple. has a large corporation ever polluted the resources of non-customers? has a too-huge-to-fail multinational corp ever endangered the whole economy for the rest of us? i don’t deny that government cannot control what it claims to control. but your bromide of an answer to my question about business is a little weak.

By: roger the shrubber

roger the shrubber — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:12:36 +0000

i believe the eagles wrote the best epitaph for california: “call a place a paradise, kiss it goodbye.” but my oh my, what a place it must have been right up to 1965 or so. take someone from the ted williams era: can you imagine how much fun it must have been to grow up in san diego in the ’20′s and ’30′s? a san diego with a population of (maybe) 50 or 60 thousand people? shoooot. god would have rented out heaven and lived in california.

then the word got out, and it all went to hell in a coupla decades.

they’re working on idaho and montana now.

By: David Y

David Y — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:13:55 +0000

And bankrupt Conservative/Libertarian nightmare. Again, the land of compulsion–oh, and expect vandalism if you put a conservative candidate’s sign in your yard/on your car. The ‘tolerant Left’, as they say…

By: David Y

David Y — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:05:39 +0000

Mesa Econoguy-
The state appears that way to the outside world. I have no doubt that 80+ percent of the state by area is arguably extremely conservative–but the population centers of LA/Bay Area/Sac’to control the state’s legislation. I’d like to carve these areas into a new state!
Culturally, a huge portion of the Latino vote is conservative–but the Dems have somehow locked up the majority.

By: Ian Random

Ian Random — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:33:55 +0000

I’ll never understand why liberals aren’t holding up their bastions as models for everywhere else. Do they know something is wrong on some level? Or is it like Michigan, the decline is blamed on the private employers? Shouldn’t liberal policies attract untold amounts of business, maybe with a side dish of light rail?

By: Mesa Econoguy

Mesa Econoguy — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:14:57 +0000

Bankrupt liberal haven.

The entire state.

By: David Y

David Y — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:11:30 +0000

We left SF in 2002. The city is not only a model for waste, but compulsion–citizens are forced to think, act and especially pay in ways determined by the city. My work keeps me in contact with many folks who still live there–and the intolerance and utter hatred the majority exhibit for anything remotely resembling freedom or conservatism is startling. The people there between the ages of 24 and 34 view it like a college campus–they stay for 4 years, then move when it’s time to start a family. Hmmm. Come to think of it, it’s run like a college campus. Beautiful place in many ways, but in hindsight better to visit than live there. Fantastic windsurfing though…

By: epobirs

epobirs — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:36:14 +0000

Spots,

It’s really very simple. When a business screws up, it only affects itself and its customers. And those customers are free to go with the competition any time they like.

With government, if they screw up, it gets EVERYBODY and there is nowhere else to go. They’re the only game in town.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:53:44 +0000

“San Francisco: Progressive Paradise or Bankrupt Banana Republic?”

I wasn’t aware the two were ever mutually exclusive.