It’s already clear that the Golden State has plenty of problems. Now Investor’s Business Daily documents another one that should give pause to those inclined to support progressive public policies.
As the basic transformation of America promised by President Obama continues, California offers a glimpse into the future of what happens when governments operating on progressive socialist ideas start running out of other people’s money. To make matters worse, California is about to run out of those “other people.”
In 1970, children made up 33% of California’s population, a number that’s expected to shrink to just over a fifth by 2030, a report by the University of Southern California and the Lucile Packard Foundation shows.
That year California averaged about 21 seniors per 100 working age adults. By 2030, that number is predicted to rise to 36% of working age adults. This birth dearth means there will be fewer people pulling the wagon that state government is inviting more people to ride.
“These trends are not yet widely recognized, but they should be a wake-up call for policymakers,” said Dowell Myers, lead author of “California’s Diminishing Resource: Children,” and a demographer at the University of Southern California.
Indeed, California, the world’s eighth-largest economy, and the most populous state in the U.S., is going to shrink, the consequence of policies that has made it less and less a business-friendly state where families no longer can come to and thrive and prosper.
