California: Paradise Lost

[barryqwalsh]

Historian Adam Smith discovers how the Golden State has long been shaped by conflicting visions of paradise - and what this can tell us about America.

AUDIO
BBC Radio 4 - California Paradise Lost

 

[longknife]

How in the hell can a Brit determine the situation in the Golden State without actually living there?

California was NEVER a "paradise lost." I was an ideal place for Stone Age natives to live but was never meant to be a modern, industrial area.

 

[SassyIrishLass]

Give it to the Mexicans...but they are on their own, no freebies

 

[Moonglow]

California is a good example of American greed....

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Was born, raised, an ejookated (hehe) in California. SF bay area the whole time. It was far from paradise, but paradise was a short BART and bus ride away.

 

[Dogmaphobe]

I have cousins who do live in Paradise right there in good, old California.

It is just east of Chico.

 

[mudwhistle]

Was born, raised, an ejookated (hehe) in California. SF bay area the whole time. It was far from paradise, but paradise was a short BART and bus ride away.

SF is a dirty, nasty, yet sometimes beautiful place.

Coldest winter I ever spent in California was Spring next to the bay.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Was born, raised, an ejookated (hehe) in California. SF bay area the whole time. It was far from paradise, but paradise was a short BART and bus ride away.

SF is a dirty, nasty, yet sometimes beautiful place.

Coldest winter I ever spent in California was Spring next to the bay.

It's very beautiful if you're far away. Up close it's just a dirty city like every other.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

...Come to think of it, I'm very pretty only from far away too.

 

[NoTeaPartyPleez]

Give it to the Mexicans...but they are on their own, no freebies

Give the 8th largest economy in the world to a 3rd world country.....Righties are so uneducated. Very sad that they can vote.

California regains ranking as world's eighth largest economy
Tech construction drive California s worldwide GDP gains - Sacramento Business Journal

 

[DigitalDrifter]

I remember my folks telling me how wonderful it was back in the '40's and '50's.

 

[Stephanie]

I lived there throughout the 90's. What their government has done to the state makes me ill

Now they call it, COMMIEfornia which is fitting

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

California is on course to become a banana republic with a growing majority population that is impoverished and uneducated and a minority 1% with all the wealth who control the state affairs. The middle class is being squeezed out of that state at a rapid pace. That's one of the factors driving population growth in other western states.

The progressives love this because that's what their true agenda is. They are shills for the rich and powerful while preaching social justice to the idiots who lap it up.

 

[Stephanie]

California is on course to become a banana republic with a growing majority population that is impoverished and uneducated and a minority 1% with all the wealth who control the state affairs. The middle class is being squeezed out of that state at a rapid pace. That's one of the factors driving population growth in other western states.

The progressives love this because that's what their true agenda is. They are shills for the rich and powerful while preaching social justice to the idiots who lap it up.

good post
that is the cold hard facts. it's sickening to hear and witness

 

[NoTeaPartyPleez]

I lived there throughout the 90's. What their government has done to the state makes me ill

Now they call it, COMMIEfornia which is fitting

Who is "they"? I lived there, too. I loved it. From the Mojave to the red woods, visited every spot.
If it's so bad why isn't there a mass exodus? Exxon is moving their HQ to Houston and I bet all those being transferred are absolutely "ill" about it.

 

[NoTeaPartyPleez]

California is on course to become a banana republic with a growing majority population that is impoverished and uneducated and a minority 1% with all the wealth who control the state affairs. The middle class is being squeezed out of that state at a rapid pace. That's one of the factors driving population growth in other western states.

The progressives love this because that's what their true agenda is. They are shills for the rich and powerful while preaching social justice to the idiots who lap it up.

California's biggest problem is not what you state, its not progressive shills for "rich and powerful" who, in California are actually Republicans, but rather climate change which has created record drought. If people actually start to leave it's because there's no water.

California staves off water crisis with $1bn emergency drought relief
California staves off water crisis with 1bn emergency drought relief RT USA

Folsom Lake, just north of Sacramento, California (#13 on map below).

 

[longknife]

I've visited every part of California south of the Sonoma valley - never got north of Fort Ross and don't know why,

It used to be one of the most beautiful places in the world.

 

[NoTeaPartyPleez]

I've visited every part of California south of the Sonoma valley - never got north of Fort Ross and don't know why,

It used to be one of the most beautiful places in the world.

I haven't seen any images lately of the redwoods in the far north, but looks like as of summer 2014 they have been gravely affected. They require very high levels of humidity to exist.