Last rant was on America. I would like to bring this one closer to home. Please put on some Beach Boys and anything from Napa Valley. (I prefer the Stag’s Leap region.) For a snack you might want to add some raisins and almonds. This should get you in the mood for the topic:
Dear California:
What happened? You used to be the jewel of the nation. EVERYONE wanted to live in California. We are home to the US movie industry, Silicon Valley and one of the greatest agricultural regions of the world. Cisco, Yahoo and Google were all created and built in this state. We have fantastic beaches, ski resorts and wilderness areas. We have Redwoods, Yosemite, Napa and Valley and Pebble Beach. The states GDP makes us the 8 or 9th largest country if we seceded. And yet, we are running a 20 billion annual deficit and looking more and more each day like Greece.
Our system of government is dysfunctional. I and 180,000 of my friends can get a measure placed on the next ballot. If we have enough money we can get it passed. The assembly protects the groups that vote them instead of doing what is right. We have the third highest unemployment rate in the nation. Ours schools rank in the bottom quartile in performance and dollars spent per pupil in the nation. Our tax rates are the third highest in the nation and yet we still run a 20 billion annual deficit.
So what do we do… Well, we need to educate the electorate to the systematic problems with our tax code, the excessive public pensions and our education systems. Then the populace needs to take back the assembly so that it serves the interests of all Californians instead of the public servants. This means we will spread the pain of taxes throughout the populace. Our public servants may have to contribute to their own retirement and heath care plans like the rest of us do. We may need to spend less on our prisons and more on our schools.
So California, get off the beach, slopes or golf course and find someone (please note I did not use the word politician) that will vote with common sense in our state legislature. Let’s make the hard choices, fix the problem for our children and us. Then the shine will return to our state and we can proud to say we are from California.
Enjoy the fruit and nuts.
Jeff Kane's Blog 
in case you don’t know, we already pay 5% of our pay in for our retirement; now we will pay 10% if our union agrees, mine did. We also pay for our health care if we choose a plan more than the minimum HMO or PPO. My husband and i pay over 800 dollars a month out of the 1600 bill. The increase in contribution for retirement is OK with me but the real thing that needs to be changed is the age to retire and the time to work to retire. Except for fire and law enforcement (at risk possitions only) we should have to work longer and to an older age. However, the downside is that professions like doctors, psychologists, etc will be harder to find and there is already a shortage because of the egregious working conditions and horrible, incompetent management too often present. But, all in all, fair is fair and we had it too easy as far as retirement goes. PS, I retire soon as a doctor working for the state.
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