CALIFORNIA, HERE I...ON SECOND THOUGHT, I WON'T BE COMING – AT 8:23 A.M. ET:  The whole image of California used to conjure up images of optimism, good weather, movie stars, and aircraft plants that actually made things.   Consider California today:

The federal Bureau of Economic Analysis said personal incomes of Golden State workers fell by that amount in 2009 compared with the previous year – the state's first year-to-year decline since World War II. In the Sacramento region, income was off about $800 million.

The bureau said 2009 income statewide totaled $1.56 trillion, down about 2.5 percent from $1.6 trillion in 2008. The 2009 level also came in just under the 2007 total.

California's decline was a third more than the national 1.8 percent personal income drop, reflecting the relative intensity of the state's recession.

COMMENT:  And the fact is that there's nothing on the horizon that will save California.  One of the state's greatest burdens, illegal immigration, does not look as if it's going to be fixed soon. 

Oh, and by the way, where are California's colleges and universities in all this mess?  Are there no practical ideas coming out of those great centers of dissent and obnoxia? 

They used to say that what happened in California would soon sweep across the country.  I hope it's no longer true, but I fear that it might be.

August 11, 2010