5 ms·

If California secedes, it will no longer be in the US' best interest to give them water for free. Who knows what the price will be!

• ohwello 10y ago
  They stop giving us water, we stop giving them food. Agriculture is 2% of the state GDP, 20% of the US food supply, and 80% of state water use.
  • Turing_Machine 10y ago
    20% in terms of dollars, perhaps. Not in terms of calories. The rest of the US could live just fine without out-of-season artichokes or whatever. Water is rather more important. You can live a long time on a plain diet (especially if you have vitamins available). Without the water, things in California would get very, very ugly, very, very quickly. ] Also: what are you planning to do if (or maybe "when" would be better) Mexico decides that it wants to take back its former territory (i.e., all of California)?
    • ohwello 10y ago
      Even in drought, California has a lot of water. Imported water is only necessary so long as we irrigate the central valley. We wouldn't need it just for residential use. I think an independent California would have a good relationship with Mexico. Though I'm interested in why you think we wouldn't.
      • dllthomas 10y ago
        Desirable land, no longer defended by the US military, and a fair number of their citizens here. I'm not sure I agree that it'd happen, but I can see some reasons.
  • mjfl 10y ago
    Oh no, the US will starve relying on the enormous strip of super fertile land between Texas and Idaho.
    • ohwello 10y ago
      Point is, the US needs to consume the food more than we need to grow it. The water is not that great a threat.
      • DamnYuppie 10y ago
        Actually if California stopped producing food we would still be fine. Most of what is produced is fruits. Most likely the US could halt 1/2 of its food production and still have plenty of food. We have no shortage of arable land, we have a greater shortage of people actually wanting to be farmers/ranchers :(
• grizzles 10y ago
  The savings from not having to pay federal taxes would go a pretty long way to paying for water.
  • msandford 10y ago
    Until California creates even more generous welfare programs and state taxes go higher than federal ones. It's not as though Medicare, social security, Medicaid, the military, copyright enforcement, etc will all still be funded by the remaining 49 states for California's benefit.
    • mejari 10y ago
      Doesn't California, alongside most other "blue" states, contribute more to those welfare programs than they take in?
      • msandford 10y ago
        I'm not sure about that. But remember that once CA is its own government there's little to stand in the way of ever more generous programs. There's no telling what could get passed. But seeing the basic income debates rage here on HN it doesn't seem implausible that a huge BI experiment might take place. That could easily cost double the programs it's ostensibly replacing and or augmenting.
        • mejari 10y ago
          >But remember that once CA is its own government there's little to stand in the way of ever more generous programs There's nothing standing in the way of that now. Colorado just had the opportunity to vote in a single-payer healthcare system. You're saying "what if a government spent more than they had", but that's hardly unique to a seceded California. I don't see how it's at all relevant.
          • msandford 10y ago
            A state having the option to design new programs from the ground up, while simultaneously also needing to implement something to replace federal programs is literally unprecedented in the US. Yes of course the programs could end up being very stingy. I strongly suspect (though I can't prove) that a politically progressive CA would end up passing some politically progressive social programs. Would there be an obstructionist state legislature that actually managed to oppose effectively? Maybe, I don't know. I don't live in CA. My suspicion is no, however.
• johansch 10y ago
  Sounds like a suitable problem for Musk to address after he's done with cars, space and solar.
• tintor 10y ago
  California will be fine. California economy is on the order of France and UK. Country like Israel, with much less people and smaller economy, manages to desalinate and recycle its water in the middle of desert, surrounded by hostile neighbors.
  • maxerickson 10y ago
    Of course, the angriest neighbor of California might install an energy blockade rather than providing California with resources, Israel may not be instructive.
• thescribe 10y ago
  There's no way Colorado is keeping the water rights as is, the whole state hates that California has them.