About 80 percent of the revenue generated by Prop. 30, which was pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown (D), will come from higher taxes on high-income earners. But the revenue is temporary, lasting only five years, Mr. Klowden and others point out. And so the state’s income generation is not permanently changed.
“We are by no means out of the woods, but the ship is slowly turning and gathering momentum to positive growth,” says David McCuan, a professor of political science at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, Calif.
He notes upticks in the high-tech sector and a record-breaking box office over Thanksgiving. “When you throw in the engine of Silicon Valley, the power of Hollywood, and an economic tailwind, the state will look a lot much closer to that thing called The American Dream and a lot less like Greece,” says Professor McCuan via e-mail.
