Gorilladrums
Did you know that a good Marxist is a dead one? Now you know.
Shinzo Abe was a great man. We need more people like him.
Okay, let’s take a look at the first claim:
on a per capita basis, california households ranked 50th in the country for likelihood of moving out of the state
The source linked in this Reddit comment is a Reddit post that links to a local newspaper that links a summary on the UC website which links to a 2020 study by UCLA. After looking at that study, it turns that study ONLY looked at the migration data between the years of 2019 and 2020 to see if there was an exodus in California during the pandemic… when there were lockdowns and restrictions. Shockingly, the study found that a lot people chose to hold tight while the virus was ravaging the country so there was a slight dip in people moving out. Despite this, the study found that there was still an exodus, however it was happening within California where people were fleeing the big cities (mostly SF) to go to cheaper inland counties. So the way the Reddit comment was using this study is misleading at best.
However, that’s not all because the data post pandemic does actually show there was in fact a big ass exodus. According to this ABC article from 6 months ago that explains that U.S. Postal Service has been publicly posting the change of address data annually starting in 2018. This data shows mobility across zip codes by counting how many address changes go in and out of those zip codes. According to this data, from the beginning of 2018 to the end of 2022, California has lost around 500,000 people, mostl y after the pandemic. That means California’s population has been shrinking:
Keep in mind, this data was available when the comment you linked was written. So not only was the notion false, the conclusion they made from the study was misleading, but they’re clearly trying craft a narrative considering how they’re ignoring data that was available at the time. This was just one point, the other points are equally as disingenuous, misleading, or false. From the GDP claims to the tax bracket claims to the life expectancy claims. You wanted facts? Well, here you go.
There are better metrics to measure quality of life. Like for example, the Better Life Index by OECD. This index takes a look at housing, income, jobs, community, education, environment, civic engagement, health, life satisfaction, safety, and work life balance and gives a much more comprehensive view of a country’s performance than just GDP. Countries like China have very high GDP and countries like Qatar have very high GDP per capita, yet neither of these places are good places to live in or offer a good quality of life to the average citizen, but the GDP figures don’t show this. That’s why I don’t take these figures seriously. We need something like the Better Life Index for the individual states here to really get an idea of how things are going. I have a feeling that states like Maine, Vermont, or Utah which have low GDP and GDP per capita offer a much better quality of life to their average residents than states with high GDP and GDP per capital like Massachusetts, New York, or California.
It’s pretty bad. There’s shit all over the sidewalks, there’s drug addicts on every street corner, there’s so much theft that stores are closing left and right, car theft has gone through the roof, so many mentally ill homeless people, and there’s nobody that seems to be doing anything about any of it.