We've just had a run of unbelievably beautiful weather.
It's even more amazing considering it's early winter. Gorgeous sunny skies. Snow-covered mountains. Winter days in California are often beyond perfect. And summer days in much of California are temperate and have low humidity. Like Italy in Europe, California may have the best weather in the United States. Add California sights to the weather, and it's a pretty sweet combination.
Yet I've seen multiple media stories about how much people love to hate California.
One wonders why.
Yes, we have high taxes. But if you do a Google search on states with the highest overall tax burden, you find that by many measures, New York, Hawaii, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Oregon and even Minnesota have similar tax burdens, maybe even higher.Yes, we have lots of stuffed-shirt politicians. It could even be argued that some of our politicians are certifiable idiots. But that's the same as every other state.
Yes, we have terrible forest fires and earthquakes. But we don't have tornadoes or hurricanes.
Yes, we have lots of people and the traffic that comes with them. But take an area of equal size on the East Coast and it will have twice as many people and the traffic to match.
Yes, we have very high housing costs. But we also have the 5th highest income of all the states. And if you don't insist on living in the Bay Area or L.A., you can find houses at semi-reasonable costs.
Yes, we have the largest tech companies in the world, Apple, Google, Facebook, and those companies can irritate millions on a continuous basis. But do people want to give up what those companies provide?
I'm guessing that much of the reason some people have antipathy for California is shown in these photos. I'll sum it up in a single word at the end of this post.
