California’s setting sun

Once the "golden" state of opportunity, California attracted ambitious people dreaming of prosperity. Now, according to real estate analysts, the only thing preventing the current outflow from being worse is that homeowners cannot sell their residences in order to move.

So writes Joel Kotkin, a presidential fellow at Chapman University, in an essay that tracks the decline of California. You can read it here.

"As recently as the 1980s, Californians generally got richer faster than other Americans did. Now, median household income growth trails the national average while the already large divide between the social classes -- often bemoaned by the state's political left -- grows faster than in the rest of the country."

The Complete Las Vegan recommends Joel's piece as a reminder to Nevadans that there is a penalty for 20 years of the soft-headed, higher-taxes public policy in California. Sadly, current California residents are getting ready to pay it. One of the best ways to chart the difficult times that Nevada faces is to look at California's path ... and run as fast as we can in the other direction.