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> Why is this, and how do we get it fixed? Not to get political on HN, but, well, California is now in the grips of a truly demented ideology. Due to having o

> Why is this, and how do we get it fixed? Not to get political on HN, but, well, California is now in the grips of a truly demented ideology. Due to having overwhelming majority everywhere, they can pretty much do as they wish. It's as close to a corrupt third world government as I hope we are ever going to get. For example, our roads are in terrible shape. They have squandered or diverted funds that were specifically allocated to road maintenance. By that I mean: We voted to pass measures to collect additional taxes to fix the roads and they stole the money. Another interesting one: They pushed and passed a law taxing any square foot of land that does not allow a drop of rain water to directly make contact with dirt. The tax is $0.025 per square foot. This means that your home, driveway, patio, patio cover, etc. are counted as part of this. Think of places like your local mall, Home Depot or strip malls, where 95% of the dirt is covered. This is huge. I could go on. Like the high speed train to nowhere that we approved at a cost of $10 billion that is now near or past $100 billion. It goes nowhere, it isn't finished and nobody is gong to use it. And yet they don't stop. I would not be surprised if this becomes a half billion dollar project. The ROI on these things is so upside-down a fifth-grader could figure out it's a bad deal. And, of course, there's this: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidblackmon/2019/10/10/californias-high-gasoline-prices-are-no-accident/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidblackmon/2019/10/10/califo... And this: https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2019/10/22/now-california-can-assess-taxes-no-matter-where-you-livereally/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2019/10/22/now-calif...

CamperBob2 7y ago
Which is why it's so important for the, er, loyal opposition party to clean its own house. If the party in question poisons its brand to an extent that keeps them out of power for generations -- which is what they've already done in California and are busy trying to do everywhere else -- we will all end up worse off for it. The only thing worse than a two-party system is a de facto one-party system.
ranDOMscripts 7y ago
re the rain tax: if that means the mall owner has to open up some of those acres of asphalt to reduce stormwater runoff or landlords end up jackhammering the cement slabs covering the front and backyards (because spraying herbicide a couple times a year is way cheaper/easier than regular gardening service) then I fail to see the problem. Your giant slabs of cementitious landscaping are contributing to my heat island effect so the tax is a small reminder to rip the unnecessary bits out and plant a couple trees instead.
qtplatypus 7y ago
The rain tax thing makes sense to me. Storm water has to go somewhere. If it hits the ground then some of the water will soak into it. Covering the ground with a solid surface increases runoff. Which in turn increases the amount of infer structure needed needed to deal with the water and prevent flooding. Covering the ground creates an externalised cost, basically someone else is being made to pay for the economic cost of that persons decision. Without a proper price signal externalised costs result in a net loss of wealth. This is not a new thing. Laws dealing with the fact that rain water flows from property to property are in some of the oldest recorded regulations.

CamperBob2 7y ago

Which is why it's so important for the, er, loyal opposition party to clean its own house. If the party in question poisons its brand to an extent that keeps them out of power for generations -- which is what they've already done in California and are busy trying to do everywhere else -- we will all end up worse off for it. The only thing worse than a two-party system is a de facto one-party system.

ranDOMscripts 7y ago

re the rain tax: if that means the mall owner has to open up some of those acres of asphalt to reduce stormwater runoff or landlords end up jackhammering the cement slabs covering the front and backyards (because spraying herbicide a couple times a year is way cheaper/easier than regular gardening service) then I fail to see the problem. Your giant slabs of cementitious landscaping are contributing to my heat island effect so the tax is a small reminder to rip the unnecessary bits out and plant a couple trees instead.

qtplatypus 7y ago

The rain tax thing makes sense to me. Storm water has to go somewhere. If it hits the ground then some of the water will soak into it. Covering the ground with a solid surface increases runoff. Which in turn increases the amount of infer structure needed needed to deal with the water and prevent flooding. Covering the ground creates an externalised cost, basically someone else is being made to pay for the economic cost of that persons decision. Without a proper price signal externalised costs result in a net loss of wealth. This is not a new thing. Laws dealing with the fact that rain water flows from property to property are in some of the oldest recorded regulations.