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California's New Feudalism
h/t Instapundit...As late as the 80s, California was democratic in a fundamental sense, a place for outsiders and, increasingly, immigrants--roughly 60 percent of the population was considered middle class. Now, instead of a land of opportunity, California has become increasingly feudal. According to recent census estimates, the state suffers some of the highest levels of inequality in the country. By some estimates, the state’s level of inequality compares with that of such global models as the Dominican Republic, Gambia, and the Republic of the Congo. ...Much of this has to do with the changing nature of California’s increasingly elite-driven economy. Back in the 80s and even the 90s, the state’s tech sector produced industrial jobs that sparked prosperity not only in places like Palo Alto, but also in the more hardscrabble areas in San Jose and even inland cities such as Sacramento. The once huge California aerospace industry, centered in Los Angeles, employed hundreds of thousands, not only engineers but skilled technicians, assemblers, and administrators. This picture has changed over the past decade. California’s tech manufacturing sector has shrunk, and those employed in Silicon Valley are increasingly well-compensated programmers, engineers and marketers. There has been little growth in good-paying blue collar or even middle management jobs. Since 2001 state production of "middle skill" jobs--those that generally require two years of training after high-school--have grown roughly half as quickly as the national average and one-tenth as fast as similar jobs in arch-rival Texas. Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2017-07-11 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=492368 |