Poverty, California Style

Here are some fun facts for today, from the Gateway Pundit (via Maggie’s Farm). It turns out that California, home to Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi and Jerry Brown is leading the nation is… you guessed it: poverty.

One notes that California is also the home to the tech oligarchs-- you know who they are-- who take themselves to be denizens of the radical political left. And who are gnashing their teeth over the notion that the rest of America might be rejecting California policies. Do they really want to turn the rest of the country into a larger California?

The Sacramento Bee has the story:

Newly released federal estimates show California’s poverty rate remained the highest in the nation, despite a modest fall, and the state’s falling uninsured rate slowed for the first time since before Medicaid expansion.

According to the Census Bureau, the share of Californians in poverty fell to 19 percent — a 1.4 percent decrease from last year. However, policy experts warned that in spite of the good news more than 7 million people still struggle to get by in the state.

The poverty figures released Wednesday are said to paint the best picture of life for California’s working poor since it encompasses income from government programs and factors in the high cost of living in some corners of the state.

Although California has a vigorous economy and a number of safety net programs to aid needy residents, it’s often not enough to forestall economic hardship for one out of every five residents, the data show.

The high cost of living, primarily in housing, is a strong counterweight to many of the state’s efforts, said Caroline Danielson, policy director at the Public Policy Institute of California.

It’s a tale of two states. One, phenomenally wealthy. The other, deeply impoverished. Might it have something to do with immigration, with making California a province of Mexico? Might it have something to do with California's sanctuary cities and its being a sanctuary state?

It’s good to show that California’s social safety net has helped set up disgusting homeless encampments in once-great cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles. It's good to show the human feces and used needles littering once-great cities. Bad policy has done this, but unfettered immigration has also played a part.

As has been noted, more and more middle class Californians are now exiting the state, heading for places where taxes are low and the cost of living is within reason.