The Golden Years of California is Behind Them

A chart I'm very proud of is the "generational RGDP growth" I put together for the nation which shows the 20 year average real economic growth rate of the nation going from 4.5% to 2.25%. The ramifications which of course shows we're slowing down and are incapable of producing the economic production necessary to tax and pay for all the government goodies we've promised ourselves. However, I decided to do the same for the state of California with it's Gross State Product. The reason why is multifold;

1. The brilliant election of Jerry Brown, Barbara Boxer and others show the citizens of California are still incomprehensibly ignorant when it comes to basic economics let alone their own state's historical finances.

2. I tire rather quickly of hearing people from California tell me how "everything" is created and made in California and that their economy is booming and why you're just a red-neck hick in a fly over state that doesn't understand how truly economically and culturally awesome we are.

3. California, much like the banks, is going to need a bailout at the expense of the other states in the Union, which is why (when that time comes) I advocate turning California back into a territory.

4. Californians dismissing all their economic woes by saying, "but the weather is really nice" which is the same that could be said of Cuba and Haiti.

5. Citing Silicon Valley as some kind of super economic savior when in reality that was what it was 10 years ago and has since been shipped out to India.

6. The nazis in San Francisco find it their place to tell parents how to feed their kids and have banned toys from Happy Meals.

All of these things (and much more) do NOT help bring about economic growth, but rather impede it.

So to see if my economic spidey senses were correct and to see if California is once again the economic juggernaut all pro-California people claim it is, I pulled its year to year RGSP growth rates and then averaged them over 20 years to see what the general trend it.



Once booming and a genuinely golden era of economic progress, California touted a VERY impressive 10% annual economic growth rate during the 60's and 70's.

It's now half that.

Again, I don't know how they're going to pay for all they promised their citizens and government employees (well I do know, they're going to come to other states for a bailout), but it seems with their economic growth rate cut in half, they certainly won't be growing their way out of their problems.

(statistical note, this does not include 2009 or soon to be 2010 GSP which I'm sure would only reinforce the trend).

Enjoy the decline! (or move to Arizona)