The last three weeks I have traveled about, taking the pulse of the more forgotten areas of central California. I wanted to witness, even if superficially, what is happening to a state that has the highest sales and income taxes, the most lavish entitlements, the near-worst public schools (based on federal test scores), and the largest number of illegal aliens in the nation, along with an overregulated private sector, a stagnant and shrinking manufacturing base, and an elite environmental ethos that restricts commerce and productivity without curbing consumption.
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We hear about the tough small-business regulations that have driven residents out of the state, at the rate of 2,000 to 3,000 a week. But from my unscientific observations these past weeks, it seems rather easy to open a small business in California without any oversight at all, or at least what I might call a “counter business.” I counted eleven mobile hot-kitchen trucks that simply park by the side of the road, spread about some plastic chairs, pull down a tarp canopy, and, presto, become mini-restaurants. There are no “facilities” such as toilets or washrooms.
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Makes more sense than anything else I've ever read about the subject. Apparently, these guys are closer to our original American values than most of the rest of us.
1 comment:
I think VDH paints a picture that's somewhat worse than it is. I work (some of the time) in the same area that he's describing, and there is one area that's as badly devastated as he describes. But that area lost its water rights (to some 3 inch long fish) so thousands of acres of farms shut down and all the jobs went "poof", just like that. The rest of the central valley isn't nearly as bad.
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