California, Still Working Hard To Run As Many People Out Of The State As Possible

[quote] A new law to base electricity bills on personal income,

Unsurprising for the People's Republic of California

WTH?!

My Township just instituted a Water Run-off Tax, based on drone photographs of our properties and the amount of hard surfaces they have (driveways, patios, the like). Who knew, when we were building? But whattaya gonna do?

Madness

Move to Texas you cunts. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

OP is Bill Maher.

People bitch about California, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic being expensive yet ignore the higher salaries, higher minimum wage and overall better standards of living, better efficient the opportunities they provide. The South, Midwest and rural West are cheaper because they have lower standards of living, poor education, more corruption, more pervasive crime (MAGATs ignore the most violent cities are in the South and Midwest) and far less job opportunity which makes the housing market less competitive thus cheaper. Also most Southern cities like Atlanta, Houston, Austin, Richmond, Orlando and Raleigh are getting expensive now anyway (since everyone is moving there).

In the 21st century, California and New York will fall.

Texas and Florida will rise and then some.

"Texas and Florida will rise and then some."

Hopefully the cesspools that have been created in these two mega MAGAt shitholes will rise to overflowing and inundate the nasty creatures who fester there.

R7 Nope because of global warming. Florida and Texas are getting way too hot to survive in. I'd say Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado, Utah and many Mountain and Prairie states have a better shot.

I'm still waiting for the ice age they promised me. I bought new mittens.

R7, Florida wishes it could rise.

In 100 years some totally random states will have risen to become the new powerhouse states. This will be due to factors even Jean Dixon couldn't have predicted. I'm thinking Rhode Island and Nebraska. Maybe Wyoming.

R12 Those make more sense to me. Texas and Florida are not rising, they are deeply corrupt failed states. People are just moving there because it's cheap but it's not gonna be cheap much longer and the heat is getting worse. Florida attracts old people not young people who can contribute to diversifying the economy there which is still dependent on tourism. And with Texas, the whole snowstorm fiasco, gun violence, racism and anti-abortion law turned off a lot of educated professionals from coming. If these states aren't reforming the laws, investing in a more diversified economy, improving their living standards and trying to fix the huge corruption and income inequality then how are they rising?

" I think a fairer way to do it would be to charge the fixed fees based on the size of your home."

Or on, you know, energy usage/consumption.

R12, We've got a caller on the line. Go ahead, Shamokin!

Well, well, well, another Maggat-sponsored topic. The electric companies COULD pull an Arizona-type deal and just charge you for just the privilege of having electricity come to your house but instead decided to make it more palatable to California sensibilities by charging those who have more, more.

I see on my Edison bill the usual, transmission, distribution, nuclear decommissioning, conservation credit (which by the way makes my electricity free for two to three months every year), public purpose programs, and new system generation charges.

Just spitballing here, but they could be like Arizona that just doles out rate increases like crack to APS and Salt River Project and charge the same charges as Edison. But Arizona, being Arizona lets the utilities charge all the same type charges as Edison but add on, what is it now, a 25 buck a month, "you are a customer charge". Just because.

Hope this helps. My electric bill for me here in California is a FRACTION of what it was in Phoenix.

It's a progressive stance. Only pay what you can afford. Honestly 128 a month is only 28 dollars more than I pay now. How can you be mad that people who make 30K a year cannot afford 128 a month for electricity? If it is a fixed cost, based on what you earn, like taxes then it's fair. Now, is it feasible if everyone drives electric cars? That I dunno.

My sister and her family are republicans. She is moving from the Northeast and decided against Florida - not because of book bans, anti LGBTQ, racism but because it is “filled with old people” and “old people are a pain in the ass and want to mooch off the system. They want great stuff (meaning local services) but once they get old and don’t need schools anymore they argue against paying for anything” She chose Arizona instead. I don’t think she believes the water crisis there is real.

[quote] Move to Texas you cunts.

Moving does allow the innocent to flee. I like that those who support the regime who remain have to pay.

Imagine unironically using words like "the innocent" and "regime" when it comes to something as innocuous as progressive electric bills. MAGAts are completely fucking delusional and as someone who grew up in one, I wish we could just airdrop them all into an actual totalitarian regime.

R6

Median list price in Austin is now $700k.

I read that State Farm and Allstate are no longer issuing new home insurance policies in California. Is that the eventual solution to affordability? Few insurance options thus making people very hesitant to move to or within CA and therefore lower prices?

No, R22, the solution to affordability is to build more housing stock (you know, when supply outpaces demand prices fall). The insurance thing is more a result of the fact that insurers didn't want to pay on policies they'd written and suffered losses due to negligent utility practices, and since we allow any private company declare bankruptcy and dump their liabilities on the state, there's no upside for the state to allow insurance companies to write policies and make enormous profits only to have them renege on their obligations. The insurance companies do not like the fact that the state is holding them to their obligations, and are doing the corporate equivalent of saying if we won't play by their rules they're taking their toys and going home.

Insurance companies are not going to like it when the state steps in and insures property at a lower cost to the property owner, higher payouts, and better overall efficiency. Won't somebody think of insurance company profits?

Sounds like a good idea, IMO. Lower-income people are paying a larger percentage of their income on basics like energy, food, rent, etc.

I'm not sure about this exact law, though.

Instead of based on house size, maybe the energy cost should be based on house cost.

[quote] It's a progressive stance. Only pay what you can afford.

Hi, Boris!

Or, they could just charge based on actual usage.

I've solved the problem of large energy bills and gas bills by simply using less. I drive less often and don't waste electricity. I use a fan, rather than AC when I can.

Easy peasy.

It’s just hilarious watching progressive bullshit destroy this once great state. They got what they voted for. Enjoy.

Congrats R7; you digested 5 years of rightwing storylines and pretend you thought of them yourself

I live in beautiful California. I'll pay whatever they require to go right on living here.

I love my life and I love where I live. Let the MAGATs go fry themselves in Texas and Florida.

Buh-bye.

[quote]I live in beautiful California. I'll pay whatever they require to go right on living here. I love my life and I love where I live.

Someday, people who are well off like you will be forced to pay your fair share, and not just in California. That hasn't happened yet.

R30 = The Amazing Kreskin

Most Californians aren't rich. But if you get an education and live outside of the super expensive Bay Area, there's affordable options and many resources and help from the government. I'm a New Jerseyan who comes from a pretty blue collar family and my state is expensive too but I went to a four-year school. I can find work that pays me well and our state has a lot of resources to help people. I sought out financial aid and government assistance with no shame when things got rough. A lot of people actually aren't educated on these resources and don't take advantage of them. I also know many people from Red States who came to NJ for college and never returned home, the opportunities here, good public schools, public transit and proximity to NY and Philly makes it worth it for many people. I think it's way worse being poor in a Red State due to the how isolated and spread out things are and the lack of public resources.

It's rich or middle class Republican Californians leaving for Texas. The poor can't afford to pack up and go. Also many poor people would prefer to be in a state with higher minimum wage and social benefits. California gets more people coming in than leaving and many of those people are from Red States. It's not just Hollywood or Bay Area. But just young people who want to go a good state college or young professionals with degrees who want a higher salary. People want to live there. MAGATs can't accept reality.

[quote] But if you get an education and live outside of the super expensive Bay Area, there's affordable options and many resources and help from the government. I'm a New Jerseyan

The SF Bay Area is not the only expensive part of California. What are the "many resources and help from the government" that you're talking about?

R34 ummm California is actually cheaper than many Northeastern states. And those resources are welfare, financial aid, good public education, public resources like free clinics, libraries, food drives and other things. You know what the government is supposed to do. Someone born in California thus is more set up for success. Red states take all the money and it's pocketed by the the tiny majority of the wealthy. So you have horrific poverty, poorly staffed and mismanaged schools, poor infrastructure, lack of good medical care, serious issues with food deserts, etc. That's one reason Southerners and Midwesterners are so religious because they have to rely more on their church for help than the local governments.

MAGATs are so brainwashed. The way they talk about California and NYC you'd think they were Russia and China. Idiots need a scapegoat to hate on. California is a wealthy state and it pisses so many people off for some reason. You never hear them hate on Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Georgia and Mississippi with their horrific poverty and very high crime rates, blatant homophobia, anti-abortion laws and high police brutality and incarceration rates that target black people. Oh because they don't care about America at all. Just "owning libs."

[quote]Idiots need a scapegoat to hate on. California is a wealthy state and it pisses so many people off for some reason. You never hear them hate on Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Georgia and Mississippi

Maybe they think they don't need to add to the extreme hate expressed against those states and their residents by people from California and other blue states using them as a scapegoat.

R37 I think that's in their heads. Most people in blue states rarely mention these states. Nobody bashes the South. In fact many people in blue states visit the South and love Southern culture, food and hospitality and country music. The main criticism is religious fundamentalism, anti-gay and anti-abortion laws which naturally make the news. And why are you pretending Southerners don't make fun of the North and West all the time and consider us "less American" and spread lies about us? Stop acting like red states are innocent and victims.

And red states rely on blue states for federal assistance. How many Northerners visit Myrtle Beach, Virginia Beach, Orlando, New Orleans, etc every year that helps those state economies? Many older people retire to North Carolina, Florida and Texas nowadays. Conservatives have a victim mentality and think everyone hates them. The main criticism red states has to do with their corrupt local governments and racist and religious fundies who hold a disproportionate amount of power and try to keep poor whites, blacks and other minorities down plus attacking gay and women's rights. While the conservative of red states blame blue states for everything wrong with this country despite not doing anything bad except wanting to enter the 21st century and make society less unequal.

And let's not forget the Tenneessee Valley Authority, initially a federally funded agency specifically designed to assist third world like shitholes like Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia out of poverty.

Now the inbred descendents of this trash is constantly complaining about getting the Federal Government off their collective ingrateful asses.

R36, Hear the "whoosh!" over your head? Not an exhaustive, but a sufficient, translation:

"California" = "Rapist Illegal Immigrants, Hollywood Pedophiles, Liberal Commies, Gays."

"New York" = "Blacks, Welfare Queens, Crime, Fake News."

Does that greasy-haired governor still dream of running for President?

Seems like a good idea. Always thought they should do income based tickes. Rich people catching tickets with 50 dollar fines. Nah, charge them ppl 1,000 an infraction

The land of fruits and nuts

[quote] Only pay what you can afford. Honestly 128 a month is only 28 dollars more than I pay now.

Some of you clearly didn't even read the article. The $128.00 (or whatever fee you have to pay) is assessed in addition to what you pay for your actual utility usage.

[quote] You never hear them hate on Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Georgia and Mississippi

I do beg your pardon! Are you new here?

I am the OP of this thread. I am a lifelong liberal democrat. I have never and will never vote for a putrid republican. But even I see this as completely unfair.