About 4 1/2 years ago, I posted a blog titled "California Screaming," commenting on how illegal immigration, high taxes, and a tangle of nanny state regulations were destroying the Golden State. Long-term drought was worsened by environmental regulations that created severe water shortages among farmers. Homelessness and poverty were worsening.
Well, things haven't improved at all since 2015. In fact, they've grown worse. Taxes have continued to rise, and gasoline prices have spiked, in large part due to strict EPA regulations. Sanctuary cities were bad enough, but a few years ago, former Gov. Jerry Brown pushed through legislation making California a sanctuary state! Talk about bad policy on steroids. The homelessness, crime, drug abuse and rising housing prices that had been most pronounced in larger cities have spread to other areas of the state.
But California's woes go far beyond the feces and heroin syringes littering San Francisco streets, and the homeless encampments near downtown Los Angeles where typhoid fever, typhus and tuberculosis are thriving due to deplorable conditions including human and rat feces, and rodents running wild.
Wildfires and the aging infrastructure of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) have not only destroyed entire communities (See Paradise, Calif. Camp Fire of November 2018, which killed 85 people); now the state's residents must deal with deliberate power blackouts not unlike what Venezuelans endure under the criminal and corrupt Nicolas Maduro regime.
It's been proven that numerous wildfires, including the Camp Fire, were started when high winds blew down PG&E power lines, igniting nearby dry brush and branches. The deliberate power outages are a precaution to prevent such fires -- and also a safeguard against additional liability lawsuits. Swamped by such lawsuits filed by homeowners and businesses devastated by wildfires, the utility already has filed for bankruptcy protection.
PG&E, because it serves one of our nation's largest states (geographically as well as population-wise), owns a vast network of aging infrastructure. Just because the population density in northern California is sparse doesn't mean the utility can avoid the high cost of running electrical lines hundreds of miles over challenging mountainous terrain to serve far-flung communities.
In some cases, PG&E transmission poles and related equipment are literally a century old. You see, the utility has spent so much time and money complying with progressive mandates on diversity, renewable energy and electric vehicle charging stations, it has shortchanged vital upkeep and maintenance of the power grid. Taking care of infrastructure also includes trimming encroaching branches that are a fire hazard. Too, the state of California has mismanaged its forests, and concern for wildlife habitat seems to supersede practical clear cutting or controlled burns of deadwood that could prevent large-scale, destructive fires.
In the wake of recent wildfires, tens of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate parts of California. As a result of the blackouts, businesses including stores, restaurants and wineries have lost thousands of dollars worth of meat and other refrigerated foods that spoiled. Other businesses lost considerable revenue simply because they had to close down for several days.
The execrable and insufferable progressive governor, Gavin Newsom, has bashed PG&E for greed and mismanagement. (Progressives never acknowledge that many of their own policies cause problems -- it's so much easier to flog the corporate bogeyman.)
“It is infuriating beyond words to live in a state as innovative and extraordinarily entrepreneurial and capable as…California…where we are seeing this kind of disruption,” Newsom told the Wall Street Journal.
No, Gavin, what's infuriating beyond words is the chaos, havoc, destruction and suffering wrought by progressive policies created by naive dreamers who often don't understand what it means to run a business or how the private sector economy works.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Left to its own devices, California will eventually become Venezuela. Meantime, there's a whole lotta sufferin' goin' on.
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