Taking a different tack
Yes, yes, yes. I know. Hundreds of articles already written about the recent fires in California and I’ve read a few of them and seen how the news explains or interprets the ramifications. It’s basically the same thing time after time. 1000 words on all the destruction and how bad insurance companies are (that part to a degree could be true) but very little on that which was done or not done that allowed the devastation to happen in the first place. What were the root causes behind all these fires? Who do we point fingers at? More-so, when it comes to Californians, does it really matter? To many, it doesn’t. Point all the fingers you want, just get that bailout rolling.
This will be the focus of this (again) long but hopefully thought provoking article so please indulge me.
While California claims to be the fifth largest economy in the world, you have to ask the question. Why are they constantly billions upon billions of dollars in debt? During Covid-19 (if I remember correctly,) California was somewhere around 60 billion in debt which fortunately for them, was pretty much wiped clean by Federal Government Covid-19 money they received. Afterwards, they go on to boast of 100 billion surplus but as usual, that doesn’t last too long.
Now? They’re back to a 73 billion budget deficit for 2024-25. Imagine that. Not to mention the 23 billion they’ve somehow lost trying to save the homeless which ended up doing little to nothing in putting a dent in it. Think about it, 23 billion for a few dozen so-called programs and they can’t even tell you how the money was spent. And California’s response? “Oh well, shit happens.” as everyone goes on about their day. Why? Because as usual, they get bailed out. And they know it. So why change their practices? On top of which, you have to wonder— how many of their residents realized for decades, it’s pretty much the only reason California has been able to stave off complete bankruptcy or an unlivable increase of their taxes? (Although they’re getting so close to that now, people are escaping the state in droves.) Still, nothing changes. Why? No consequences. Same reason why crime has soared. Not just in urban California cities but in just about every urban city or sate controlled by democrats. The old elitist adage of “unless it doesn’t affect you personally, you don’t give anything a second thought.” Not this time, for this affected them personally and they’re about to get a taste of the bureaucracy they themselves allowed to take place. So, unless you’re one of those homeowners who lost their homes, the rest of the state really doesn’t care. They have better things to do and their homes are still standing. But the main reason is they know the bailout is coming. So, until then, out of sight, out of mind. The fires may no longer be news but trust me, when the bailout begins to take shape, it will be.
So why did over ten thousand homes burn to the ground in Los Angeles county? Below are two main reasons however, not the real reason.
A fish and a field mouse
Let’s go with the fish first. Believe it or not, years ago, California turned off the water spigot from the north because they said by doing so, negatively impacted a tiny fish called the delta smelt. CA deemed it was better to allow billions of gallons of water flow into the pacific ocean than divert it to reservoirs and farmland. Smart move, right? Appears to be what Californian’s thought. (At least the majority of them.) Year after year, drought after drought which brought countless acres of farmland to go unused and the water police issuing citations to residents who watered their lawn an extra time a week instead of once a week just to keep their landscapes barely alive. All the while knowing there was more water than you could shake a stick at just a few hundred miles to the north flowing right into the pacific. Same thing happens to rain water in Los Angeles. Right into the ocean. For more years than I’d care to admit to, I could never understand that. Still, nothing changed. And how does a tiny field mouse play into this?
I used to live in southern CA as a kid and I always wondered why there were so many lines etched into the hillsides so far away. My Dad explained to me they were firebreaks designed to help with the containment of fires that would occasionally break out. Later in life, every time I visited family I began to notice those fire breaks that were so prevalent in the past, were no longer there. Obviously— a disaster just waiting to happen. From what I understand, cutting the firebreaks came to an end because they were impeding the migration of a field mouse. Another smart move resulting in wildfires ability to burn at will. Add 100 mile per hour Santa Ana winds (which take place every single year to varying strengths) to the mix and there you go. Between the fish and the field mouse and really bad decisions, you have over ten thousand homes, businesses and other structures burnt out of existence.
The price of stupidity, ignorance and intentional neglect
To say the writing on the wall for decades (in HUGE bold letters) was for some unknown reason missed (likely ignored) by those who made the decision to put a fish and field mouse ahead of lives and property would be a gross understatement. When it comes to wildfires, it’s always (and has always been) a good idea to have two things at the ready. Water and firebreaks. Common sense, isn’t it? Especially when living in such a fire prone environment. But this tiny little problem (sarcasm) has gone ignored for decades. Not so much by home insurance companies. They were well aware of increasing risks due to the state’s inaction, preferring to leave the state completely. Their pleas were falling on the deaf ears of morons, they began to feel like it was flogging a dead horse so they bowed out of it all. And what did California do? Were the issues (or at the very least serious concerns) of insurance companies leaving the state ever addressed? Nope. CA did nothing except create their own form of “insurance of last resort” which never really insured the full value of the property to the extent that even with this insurance of last resort, clients were still unable to afford to rebuild. In essence, instead of turning the water faucet back on, removing the now five foot tall, extremely flammable underbrush due to previous rains, dead trees and such, (that would be way too much work)— or at the very least bring back firebreaks and grazing rights (among other very logical solutions), they just created “the insurance of last resort.” The “powers that be” were warned about what happened two/three weeks ago for decades would eventually happen and guess what, it finally happened. But no one saw that coming… right? At least no one in charge. (Again, sarcasm).
So what will be the price for this utter ineptitude? Last time I checked, it’s somewhere between 250 and 275 billion dollars. Let that sink in. A quarter trillion dollars. All because of a fish and a field mouse and decisions made in regard to both. And don’t forget those who died or the cost to California’s environment due to the incineration of everything people normally store in their homes never meant to be incinerated. And California’s ecosystem? Tens of thousands of acres burned? Mudslides to follow? Forgive me for laughing. I’m not really laughing but you get my point.
An ounce of prevention…
is worth a pound of cure. In other words— had California taken care of the high brush, dead trees through forest and land management. Had plenty of water and created firebreaks and repaired close to 100 non-working firetrucks rusting away in repair yards— would the fires been as devastating? No. This isn’t a 20/20 hindsight sort of thing, it’s an “are you insane?” sort of thing. And how much would it have cost to do these things to help prevent or at the very least be far better equipped for an eventuality? I guarantee you, not 275 billion. But that’s OK right? The federal Government will bail them out.
And not only that, (the real crime will be,) California will also make additional billions in permits, fees, regulations and additional taxes from labor required to rebuild. No one thinks about that unless they stand to profit from it like cities, counties, and those who control them but to homeowners forced to cough up the thousands they’ll have to pay just for the privilege to begin to rebuild their homes due to the negligence of these people which resulted in scorched land where their homes used to be, won’t be a pretty sight when they get the bill or the loan documents. The only ones who will be able to afford this will be the wealthy and those fully insured. The rest will end up taking what they can get and move. Local and state governments won’t care in the least. They just see the dollar signs. The bailout is coming!
Or is it?
Rewarding bad behavior.
What earthly good does it do to bail out anyone for anything if they learn absolutely nothing from the decisions they’ve made to cause the need for the bailout to begin with? And trust me, this is in regard to most any instance. Whether it’s a city, state or even an individual. Is there a correlation? Absolutely. For example:
A sister shows up at her brother’s house in tears. She says her boyfriend is nothing more than a leech and now she can’t pay her bills. She admits she needs to dump the guy but until that happens, she asks for money to get back on her feet and promises not to give any more money to this so-called boyfriend. Knowing she’s never made good relationship choices, being the understanding brother that he is, he goes ahead and gives her the money hoping she’ll come to her senses and end the relationship. Next thing he knows, he finds out all was forgiven and the breakup never occurred. In fact, he’s now living at her house.
A couple of months pass and she’s back at his door in tears once again. Same thing. Boyfriend’s an asshole. No money, bills mounting. She promises to kick the bum out. Now, the brother is not rich by any stretch of the imagination but reluctantly gives her the money she says she desperately needs on the auspice the boyfriend will be out of the house and her life for good in short order but her brother warns her that was the last time. She promises. Problem finally solved— so he thought.
Not too long after, he finds out through family members that the boyfriend is still living at his sisters house along with financial issues. Nothing changed. The only saving grace is that he knows his sister will no longer be knocking on his door for money as he made it clear he’s washed his hands of her.
This is California in a nutshell. Same shit, different year. And they always get bailed out. The same thing happened with financial institutions. So far so good with them now I guess. Lessons learned? I hope so. Not so with CA. They keep doing the same things and hope people have short memories which in the case of California, they do. Just as long as they get their bail-out.
Do we wash our hands of California and let them deal with that which they themselves created through almost criminal negligence? While there are times I’d like to say we should, we all know that will never happen. But we also know this behavior can no longer be tolerated. Keep in mind, these CA wildfires were not a natural disaster like a hurricane or flood. Not much you can do about those but these fires could have been prevented or at the very least much less costly. Time to break out the consent decrees.
Strings
We don’t know what will become of the cities impacted by these fires. While elected officials talk out of one side of their mouths with their declaration “We will rebuild,” I can’t help but think in private, they may believe the fires are an opportunity to redesign these areas anyway they like hoping those most affected will eventually move. Then they get to run the show. If that happens, I’m certain those residents vowing to rebuild will be “convinced” to leave. Especially when financial roadblocks are set in place to hamper rebuilding or make it feasibly impossible because of the inevitable rising costs. I have absolutely no idea in that regard. That’s between the residents, city and the state.
That being said. I wouldn’t give California a dime until they agree legislatively with the following: Notice I use the word “legislatively.” Any elected official can make a promise then renege on it when politically safe to do so. Not this time. CA should be required to put whatever agreements they make on the record through consent decrees. While I’m no expert in land management or infrastructure, I’ll let common sense take over in the following suggestions below.
Here’s where I normally utilize my infinite wisdom and solve the problem (kidding). That is— until I came across this article which literally blew my mind and came to the revelation that it’s no wonder California is so screwed up. The state is completely buried in red tape. So much so it would take a miracle to achieve just about any goal of lasting proportion. You’ve all heard of the term “administrative state”, that’s California. Don’t get me wrong, the statement above has never been a secret, I simply had no idea as to what extent. Here’s the article written by Marc Morano on — Analysis: California’s government solely responsible for states forest management and wildfire debacle. (And I thought I wrote long articles.) What you’ll find out is you don’t have to read the entire article word for word (unless you want to) to come to the conclusion that the administrative state is alive and well in California. When the cost to administrate and regulate a desired goal is just as, if not more expensive than the desired goal itself, there’s definitely a problem. I’ll have more to say about this in the epilog.
While Trump won’t be able to fundamentally change the bureaucratic state which is California, he can require specific changes through consent decrees in order to bail out the state. California can either accept the changes or solve the problems themselves without any federal assistance. Totally up to them. What are they? Here are a few.
1. Not one dime will be appropriated to California until the water is turned back on and firebreaks are immediately resumed. And I don’t mean it takes a year or three to be implemented, I’m saying within thirty to sixty days. (Note: From what I understand, this has already taken place. Go Trump!)
2. Not one person who lost homes from the fires will be subjected to any federal, state or local fees for anything connected to the process of rebuilding. Cities, State government will levy no regulatory fees for permits, etc. (Note: Seeing as the fires were due to negligence and not the homeowners fault, only fair, correct?)
3. No property taxes, or miscellaneous fees will be required, billed nor collected until any rebuilding is completed. When life for these people goes back to normal, so can everything else. (See previous note.)
I could go on but as of finishing up this long overdue article, it’s my understanding that Trump has convinced Gov Newsom to get the water flowing in California once again therefore, I, and by extension all sane Americans have every confidence that Trump will be able to not only convince Newsom to play ball in other ways but at the same time extract America’s deserved pound of flesh from the state in the process. In other words, he’s going to use the bailout just like a tariff. And considering the absolute mess CA has gotten itself into over the past two decades, perhaps it’s time to give some much needed tough love.
Which brings us to the subtitle of the cover image above. “Aren’t elections supposed to have consequences?” Apparently it all depends on where one resides. I’ve said on multiple occasions in articles that the continued downfall of CA means either one or two unfortunate but likely truths. Either their elections are rigged or the majority of voters residing there are outright idiots. Both could be equally plausible. But according to Obama, elections are supposed to have consequences. Sadly, one would imagine CA voters are finally waking up to theirs and this time, perhaps things will begin to change but trust me, I won’t be holding my breath.
We hear about all the finger pointing regarding these fires when in reality, the finger should be pointed at every single individual who cast their vote for those running their state into the ground. And I’m not simply referring to those at the top of the ticket like Newsom. It’s the CA state legislature who if truth be told, really run the state government. From top to bottom, it’s a massive democrat controlled monopolistic bureaucracy. And I guess the majority in CA are perfectly fine with it seeing as they keep voting for the same government shit time after time. The same can be said for many other blue states like New York and Illinois. Nothing changes except the increasing bewilderment of their residents as to why when the majority cast their vote for the same every time.
While I may have empathy for those affected by the fires, I have very little sympathy because this is what they voted for. I’ve always been a live and let live kinda fish but when I have to pay for others continued stupidity and inaction which cause billions to repair without any real remedies instead of setting up a committee to revisit the issue years down the road. Well, I draw the line there. And so does President Trump.
So yes, CA will get their bailout but most likely nowhere near what Newsom expects. And it will come at a hefty price. Not necessarily in regard to money but more importantly, in the way their state is managed. This is until the majority of voters either remove their heads out of their collective asses in who they choose to vote for or they figure out a way to remove election corruption allegedly plaguing their state. Governors are a great start but it’s the state legislature which is equally if not more important. Transparency (most over-used word in the dictionary) is key. Trump needs to shine a bright light not only how the bailout will proceed, but how the money will be spent and what CA intends to do immediately to remedy the situation. CA needs to open the books and expose the waste, abuse and fraud affecting their state. Small price to pay considering…
But remember this California— you have another man-made disaster like this again due to stupidity and negligence?
You’re on your own.
