More money, more problems – California Globe

California is often praised by its leaders as the 5th largest state in the world^vol the world’s largest economy in the face of criticism from a progressive government. To this I say that California has grown despite government policies, not because of them. California thrives on technology, finance and agriculture, thinkers and workers who sweat in one way or another to fight for the California dream. For more than half a century, California was a shining city on a hill. Currently, our population is decreasing and having homes for young people is simply unattainable. Politicians vow to save those stuck in a cycle of poverty and the struggling middle class that is struggling to survive in an unstable economy run rampant by inflation. The ever-repeating theme from Sacramento is “just give us more money and we will solve the problem.”

Instead, government aid programs intended to help those most affected appear to subsidize nonprofit boards, the private sector, and labor unions more than the population in need. Pick an area in need and you’ll see how the government’s reckless spending of taxpayer dollars has been swallowed up by greed or burdensome regulations. Spending $24 billion on homelessness over the past five years has resulted in a 30% increase in the number of unhoused people in California. You only have to go to a major city in California to see the results of homelessness policies, and reports from Los Angeles put the cost of a single tent in a city-sponsored village at $44,000.

When it comes to housing, regulatory burdens on new construction have added $200,000 to the cost of the average home. Two recent examples of new government-subsidized and local government-sponsored low-income housing exceeded $600,000 per unit, bringing the total cost of the latest individual projects to approximately $70 million. The increase in costs occurred DESPITE the government prioritizing economic growth and investment. So what influences these costs?

The irony of government spending is that the apparent inefficiency of sometimes multi-billion-dollar investments is often hampered by government regulation itself. Delays are costly, and regulatory hurdles lead to costly lawsuits or a vicious cycle of evolving regulations. When one circle of regulatory hell ends, another emerges or design requirements change. In the competition for government grants and subsidies, the newest and greenest projects that meet costly environmental standards become a requirement, not a preference. A one-month delay can increase the total project cost by 1%. Work is also a major contributing factor; competition for these taxpayer subsidies involves the use of union labor, which increases the price by an average of 25% compared to non-EU projects.

Anecdotal housing costs can be related to many other sectors that are generally publicly financed and sought by local governments. Building a park? Not without union work. Are you building a new highway or viaduct? Good luck getting approval from the myriad state agencies and state-required mitigation actions. With each delay and regulatory hurdle, local governments face rising costs and changing regulations.

At every step, the state is shooting itself in the foot and tying the hands of local governments. Then they go back to the taxpayers and what? They demand an increase in taxes in the form of sales taxes, real estate fees and deferred tax in the form of bonds. In a state with an annual budget of about $300 billion, debt payments now total $6 billion and total debt exceeds $100 billion. In the face of a tax-wary population, politicians are ditching bonds on almost every priority. This year alone, the Legislature has issued more than $80 billion in bonds, expressing its fiscal imprudence. Every time lawmakers turn to taxpayers for bonds, they burden future generations with even more debt. Instead of increasing taxes or passing bonds that will trap future generations; Cutting regulations and reducing bloated government agencies will allow all Californians to prosper again.