Power outage/shutdown in CA

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Sort of, California is a really big state. I have lived here for over 18 years and have yet to have a "disaster" actually impact me. By impact, I mean change how I go about my day. Sure, its been smoky at times and dry. I'm not downplaying the hardships (and worse) that some had experienced. I just mean that when the media says California is shaking or California has no power, or California is on fire, etc its not the whole state.

Correction, I did get snowed in without power for 3 days once in the Sierras but, that was awesome, backcountry snowboarding in the backyard! And traffic has changed my plans more than once.

I had a very pretty house there, I had homeowners as well as a earthquake policy, earthquake was MORE than the homeowners and for a reason, it’s not uncommon to bust a huge window or crack concrete one of the random quakes.

And per NY not being fleeced, BA HA HA HA HA HA....HA!

The roads SUCK, schools suck, they over salt everything and drink the ground water, they hate the bill of rights and pass laws in the middle of the night to undermine it, yet the people are too institutionalized and timid to do anything about it, business and people are leaving in droves, they never met a tax they didn’t like, I know people paying almost the same per month in property tax as their mortgage, and their schools turn out garbage. The weather is only nice for 3-4 months, plus a little winter fun than crappy ice, the NYSP and NYPD are two of the most corrupt departments in the US.
 
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Compared to C.A. the US is rolling in the cash




CA has a surplus???????

I take it you didn't read my link, so I'll summarize it for you. There's debate about whether it's 14 billion or 30 billion, but either way, it's not pocket change. We had to do something, so a few years ago so the people of the state voted in a measure to not just balance the budget, but also to create a "rainy-day" fund so that we wouldn't be in crisis every time the economy slows down.

The U.S., by contrast, hasn't had a budget surplus in a long time.

CA has a worse debt to income ratio than a 20yr old valley girl with a Starbucks job, a credit card and large closet lol

"Budget surplus" and "budget deficit" refer to the annual balance sheet, not the total accumulated debt.
 
I take it you didn't read my link, so I'll summarize it for you. There's debate about whether it's 14 billion or 30 billion, but either way, it's not pocket change. We had to do something, so a few years ago so the people of the state voted in a measure to not just balance the budget, but also to create a "rainy-day" fund so that we wouldn't be in crisis every time the economy slows down.

The U.S., by contrast, hasn't had a budget surplus in a long time.



"Budget surplus" and "budget deficit" refer to the annual balance sheet, not the total accumulated debt.

Semantics

I’m not fat! I’m big boned!

CA has more red ink than black. Word it however you like.
 
Semantics

I’m not fat! I’m big boned!

CA has more red ink than black. Word it however you like.
Yeah, the fact that California's debt situation is getting better, while the national debt is getting worse (at an unprecedented rate!) is just semantics. Just keep telling yourself that and maybe it will magically become true!
 
And per NY not being fleeced, BA HA HA HA HA HA....HA!

The roads SUCK, schools suck,

The roads and the schools are okay once you get out of the urban centers and their nearby suburbs.

they over salt everything and drink the ground water,

That depends on where you are. Where I live is a watershed area where the opposite is true: They don't use enough salt. They use sand to avoid contaminating the reservoir, and only use salt on the very worst sections of road. That's one of the main reasons why studded winter tires are so popular here.

they hate the bill of rights and pass laws in the middle of the night to undermine it, yet the people are too institutionalized and timid to do anything about it, business and people are leaving in droves, they never met a tax they didn’t like, I know people paying almost the same per month in property tax as their mortgage, and their schools turn out garbage.

Again, that's an urban area attitude. Unfortunately, the Downstate legislators outnumber the rural ones because of the way seats have been apportioned since 1964, when SCOTUS ruled that the old system, which gave counties more equal representation in the State Senate, was unconstitutional.

The weather is only nice for 3-4 months, plus a little winter fun than crappy ice,

Weather is what it is. Whether people like it or not is a matter of personal opinion. I find something to like about all the seasons.

the NYSP and NYPD are two of the most corrupt departments in the US.

Personally, I think MTA is the most corrupt agency in the state (and probably the country). Even the way it was formed was illegal.

MTA was formed by way of an illegal seizure of Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority assets orchestrated by then-NYC Mayor John Lindsay and then-NYS Governor Nelson Rockefeller to divert the toll revenue of the TBTA, which was probably the only agency in the state that was solvent at the time, to fund the downstate subways and buses. They had been losing money ever since New York City deliberately forced the private operators into bankruptcy and took over the system in 1940.

That takeover, by the way, was because the City thought it would be a source of revenue. Two of the three subway operators and the many bus companies were, after all, private, profit-making companies; and the city wanted that revenue. Their first effort was to form the city-owned IND subway to compete with the privately-owned BMT and IRT in 1932, coupled with a refusal of the private companies' request for a fare increase. They deliberately forced the private companies into bankruptcy because they wanted the revenue.

The city's plan succeeded, and in 1940, the New York City Transit Authority began taking over the former BMT and IRT operations.

Predictably, due to mismanagement on a scale of which only government is capable, by 1965, the NYCTA's finances were in an even deeper hole than the trains themselves. The system was losing money at a staggering rate, despite multiple fare increases, concession income, rental income, and advertising income. The system was also in a miserable state of disrepair and had a crime rate that probably inspired more prayers than a stadium full of Pentecostal preachers. The system was beyond broke. It was irreparably and in every way broken.

Robert Moses' TBTA, on the other hand, was strong and healthy; and Lindsay and Rockefeller wanted to divert that income to fund the chronically-failing NYCTA. The problem was that the TBTA bonds specifically forbade any such diversion. However, since Governor Rockefeller's brother John headed up Chase Manhattan Bank, which held the lion's share of TBTA bonds, the illegal seizure went through anyway: And thus was formed the most unaccountable and inefficient public entity in the history of government.

The other reason why MTA was formed had more to do with Lindsay's and Rockefeller's wanting to get rid of Robert Moses than anything specifically subway-related. He wielded way too much power for either politician's liking. In fact, their mutual hatred of Robert Moses was probably the only thing that Rockefeller and Lindsay agreed on. Bailing out the subways was a convenient excuse to strip him of his agency's money and his power.

Rich
 
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Yeah, the fact that California's debt situation is getting better, while the national debt is getting worse (at an unprecedented rate!) is just semantics. Just keep telling yourself that and maybe it will magically become true!

Getting better?

Could it have even gotten worse?

What’s that quote about when you’re laying in the gutter all you can see are the stars

Also those blackouts are what happens when a huuuuge government forces the power company to “go green”

This causes more fires, which leads into many other failures in the state, well big gov says they’ll kidnap executives if there are any more fires

Power company just shuts it down when they think there could be a fire

Big gov gets mad, the indigenous population likely vote for more big gov.

It’s this type of insanity that gets you bums popping on sidewalks.
 
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I’m curious of the source for your claim that 25 states have no taxes at all.

Particularly since there’s only nine without an income tax.

How many states' budgets are in the red without the feds (ie NY, NJ, CT, California, etc.) kicking in? It was 2/3's last I checked.

There is more than one way to look at these things.
So I don't any pay federal taxes because the federal government spends more than it collects? I'm not sure your logic is sound.
 
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..back on topic.. there was a video post that captured from a dash cam a tree branch being blown by strong Santa Ana winds into high tension lines that made a tremendous arc "spark" and that ignited one of the fires currently burning.. short of burying the cables (imagine the costs) I am not sure how much the state CAN actually do to mitigate risks like that besides having a more robust power network so shutting one section in a high wind risk area doesn't leave a whole region without power

I would post the link to the video, but it's buried inside some very annoying and cringeworthy ABC (or the like) news clip and would rather A) not spam this group and B) not send our pathetic media any more traffic and clicks


--

RE weather. 3-4 months of "good" weather for anywhere in the NE is pushing it. I honestly can't find a single redeeming quality of life there. Weather aside the roads do, in fact, suck.. and people complain of LA traffic, but has anyone ever actually driven around that northeast corridor..? Have you sat on the Storrow Drive on a Thursday afternoon? It's sheer misery. I've never had traffic in San Diego like I had in Boston, and at least when I'm stuck in the car here it's 73 out and sunny and I can have my windows down.. not 43 and raining

But it's a stupid, and ultimately very primitive thing to do, is get in arguments over who's area is better to live in. Different strokes for different folks. Some people enjoy driving down pothole ridden roads in cold rainy weather with very little "recreation" to do, and other's enjoy living in an area RAVAGED by hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, fires.
 
Who said it’s withstanding it?

Only difference between CA and a state about ready to die like say CT, is CA started off with much more.

It’s like gut shooting a deer with a 308 and gut shooting a squirrel with a 308, both end up just as dead, just one takes longer than the other to conclude.

D2-AF8987-B2-B9-4-A33-A9-BC-03-E62-AD84-C76.jpg


A VERY good breakdown of the health, or lack thereof, of the states.

https://www.mercatus.org/publications/urban-economics/state-fiscal-rankings

Bigger the gov smaller the citizen, smaller the citizen the sicker the state.
Thanks for posting the map and the link. There's more to living in a state though than just its fiscal health... I mean, South Dakota? In all reality, who's clamoring to move to South Dakota... and why? These fiscal issues, at least for the gainfully employed, are generally having little impact on the Citizen. Taxes suck, but I take it as a "quality of life" tax, it helps me rationalize the theft. In Boston I couldn't rationalize the theft, since quality of life is utter trash.
 
Whether it's fair or not is debatable. I just think it's absurd to consider money forcibly taken by one government instrumentality to be income taxable by another. In the case of income taxes paid by people with with W2 income, the taxpayers never even touched that money because it was forcibly withheld from their paychecks. How can money they never had be considered income?

Rich
One might also reasonably presume that the state's rights crowd would be completely supportive of a state making a collective decision to assess a certain level of state taxation so as to provide services to those living within that state. But I gave up expecting any logical consistency from those folks a long time ago.
 
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Thanks for posting the map and the link. There's more to living in a state though than just its fiscal health... I mean, South Dakota? In all reality, who's clamoring to move to South Dakota... and why? These fiscal issues, at least for the gainfully employed, are generally having little impact on the Citizen. Taxes suck, but I take it as a "quality of life" tax, it helps me rationalize the theft. In Boston I couldn't rationalize the theft, since quality of life is utter trash.


Vs NYC where you probably can’t even make it a day without breaking a law and risking getting shot by NYPD, and all to enjoy that nice urine smell that seems to be everywhere, oh and the crazy bums and street sales people make it extra vibrant.

SFO used to be a crown jewel, now you’re going to take your girlfriend out, perhaps get yelled at for being straight and white, only to have the evening capped off by her stepping in a pile of druggie bum poo in her heels?

That doesn’t sound like a good QOL, and Ive spent a good amount of time in both states.
 
83% of 'aid to the states' is tied to medicaid and S-CHIP,
You're correct about federal grant allocations, just like the first return in your google search told you. What about the remaining federal spending in states, including defense spending? (Purchasing, contracts and goods, for example). That's not discretionary, but WHERE it is spent certainly is. Doesn't that count?

In fact, defense spending is a great example. The military tells Congress all the time they don't want or need certain equipment, to which the distinguished gentleman from Alabama or Mississippi or Louisiana or some other wholly federal-dependent state tells them, "Yer gittin' it anyway, bo-ah!", and then promptly steers a few billion dollars from the taxpayers of NY and California to cousin Cletus's De-Fence Contractin' Comp-nee.

That doesn't count?

You're insisting on using one example and claiming all federal funding is the same. It is not. Big picture...


Is that what you think ? Explain to me how the state pays taxes to the feds. I missed that part.

Is semantics really your argument. Okay, let me be more "pacific".

The taxpayers of New York State collectively pay much more I'm federal taxes than they collectively receive in federal spending. Oh wait, I can see your next semantic argument.... um

They collectively pay more in federal taxes than the state in which they legally reside receives in federal spending.

Happy?
 
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California sucks.. NY is the best place to live.. state budget = forest fire and natural disaster likelihood. Colorado used to be a good place to live than Californians ruined it

You are caught up.
Roger! :D
 
Vs NYC where you probably can’t even make it a day without breaking a law and risking getting shot by NYPD, and all to enjoy that nice urine smell that seems to be everywhere, oh and the crazy bums and street sales people make it extra vibrant.

SFO used to be a crown jewel, now you’re going to take your girlfriend out, perhaps get yelled at for being straight and white, only to have the evening capped off by her stepping in a pile of druggie bum poo in her heels?

That doesn’t sound like a good QOL, and Ive spent a good amount of time in both states.
This had me genuinely laughing out loud. And you will absolutely be judged for being a straight white male, just the very fact that you are out with a member of the opposite sex means that you must be micro aggressing on them the whole time

NYC and their associated police department is the worst.. live in a tiny dilapidated apartment (my walk in closet is probably bigger) for millions only to step over vomit and the homeless.. and YES, that ever permeating smell of trash! My (ex)brother-in-law's 7 million collar brownstone frequently has at least one homeless person asleep on their front stoop. Can you imagine if another country murdered its citizens as freely as we do? Especially for minor offenses like selling cigarettes??

I was actually a fan of the whole idea of breaking California into 5 States, strictly because it would separate me from the loons in San Francisco
 
Vs NYC where you probably can’t even make it a day without breaking a law and risking getting shot by NYPD, and all to enjoy that nice urine smell that seems to be everywhere, oh and the crazy bums and street sales people make it extra vibrant.

Those were the good old days! Manhattan ain't like that anymore.
 
That doesn’t sound like a good QOL, and Ive spent a good amount of time in both states.

Apparently not enough if you reduce the experience of those two cities to what you cited. Millions of people consider their QOL to be better in those cities than what you have in Alaska. Are they all wrong? Or perhaps people simply have different ideas of what constitutes a 'good' QOL. Nah, couldn't be that.
 
I would like to see tidal energy used as a power source. AK has 20 ft tides you can't tell me it's not possable

no so much tidal, but wave action has been proven. Using the ocean to move a bouy up and down in a fixed chamber can certainly generate electricity indefinitely. At least until the ocean environment cause corrosion of the system.

daily tides, a little more challenging. You have to harness the movement of the water similar to hydro electric, but reversing as the tides change and you only get “peak” production for a few hours. At the slack, you get nothing. But again, it’s perpetual other than the maintenance of the machinery in a marine environment.

of course, nothing is free. In the case of tides, you’re converting kinetic energy into electricity, but the kinetic energy was generated by gravity to start with. What’s the impact of using perpetually leeching energy from gravity? Interesting question and one I don’t know. But I do know TINSTAAFL and it has an impact somewhere.
 
..back on topic.. there was a video post that captured from a dash cam a tree branch being blown by strong Santa Ana winds into high tension lines that made a tremendous arc "spark" and that ignited one of the fires currently burning.. short of burying the cables (imagine the costs) I am not sure how much the state CAN actually do to mitigate risks like that besides having a more robust power network so shutting one section in a high wind risk area doesn't leave a whole region without power.

Well... How about using all the money they levy as fines against utilities to upgrade the utility infrastructure? Consider it forced upkeep.

Weather aside the roads do, in fact, suck.. and people complain of LA traffic, but has anyone ever actually driven around that northeast corridor..? Have you sat on the Storrow Drive on a Thursday afternoon? It's sheer misery. I've never had traffic in San Diego like I had in Boston, and at least when I'm stuck in the car here it's 73 out and sunny and I can have my windows down.. not 43 and raining.

Again, you're assuming that all of the Northeast is cities. Traffic sucks in any big city. So do roads, for the most part, because the sheer volume of traffic both takes its toll on the roads and makes them more difficult to maintain without making the havoc even worse. That's a function of traffic volume, not geography.

But it's a stupid, and ultimately very primitive thing to do, is get in arguments over who's area is better to live in.

It beats working...

Different strokes for different folks.

Finally, a point of agreement!

Some people enjoy driving down pothole ridden roads in cold rainy weather with very little "recreation" to do,

What recreation is exclusive to San Diego? I only spent a few weeks there, but other than being able to buy decent wine in a drugstore, I didn't notice anything unique.

and other's enjoy living in an area RAVAGED by hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, fires.

As you said, different strokes for different folks.

Rich
 
.. short of burying the cables (imagine the costs) I am not sure how much the state CAN actually do to mitigate risk.

Well, they could try that Forestry Management thing and cut tree back from the power lines like we do here. Yes, it’s ugly but we’re making choices - power outages and rampant fires or ugly trees.
 
..back on topic.. there was a video post that captured from a dash cam a tree branch being blown by strong Santa Ana winds into high tension lines that made a tremendous arc "spark" and that ignited one of the fires currently burning.. short of burying the cables (imagine the costs) I am not sure how much the state CAN actually do to mitigate risks like that besides having a more robust power network so shutting one section in a high wind risk area doesn't leave a whole region without power
s.

Years ago where I used to hunt they would clear a 50 yard path of all brush and trees under lines, we don't do that any longer...
Many reasons for these fires besides the enviromaniacs, and billions mandated by state forcing power companies to put money into green power leaving less monies for maintenance etc.
 
It beats working...
..this is true.. and flying beats both!

buy decent wine in a drugstore
that's a big one!
-lots of great hikes (if you're into that sort of thing)
-wineries (some people either love or hate the Temecula thing.. not totally my thing but something to do)
-tons of breweries
-great beaches (many, if not most, allow dogs)
-mountains (skiing, camping, four wheeling, climbing, etc.)
-desert stuff (Death Valley is not "close" but not far via plane either, some incredible stuff to see there)
-sailing
-buy decent wine in drugstores and gas stations
 
of course, nothing is free. In the case of tides, you’re converting kinetic energy into electricity, but the kinetic energy was generated by gravity to start with. What’s the impact of using perpetually leeching energy from gravity? Interesting question and one I don’t know. But I do know TINSTAAFL and it has an impact somewhere.

The kinetic energy comes from the earth’s rotation. What you’re doing is increasing the surface friction by tapping that energy, and the result is to slow down the earth’s rotation. Same with wind turbines and hydroelectric dams. And I think the moon moves farther away to maintain the angular momentum of the system.

Does any of that matter enough to even consider it? That I don’t know. But you’re right - it’s not free.
 
Dang, Virgins are really getting their money's worth from their legislators!

Actually, it depends on how you measure it, whether you're including only grants to the state budget (which was the original question, about states having enough money) or if you also include allocations made to individual welfare.
 
The kinetic energy comes from the earth’s rotation. What you’re doing is increasing the surface friction by tapping that energy, and the result is to slow down the earth’s rotation. Same with wind turbines and hydroelectric dams. And I think the moon moves farther away to maintain the angular momentum of the system.

Does any of that matter enough to even consider it? That I don’t know. But you’re right - it’s not free.
Reduce surface friction elsewhere?
 
-lots of great hikes (if you're into that sort of thing)
-wineries (some people either love or hate the Temecula thing.. not totally my thing but something to do)
-tons of breweries
-great beaches (many, if not most, allow dogs)
-mountains (skiing, camping, four wheeling, climbing, etc.)
-sailing

We have all those things.

-desert stuff (Death Valley is not "close" but not far via plane either, some incredible stuff to see there)

You have me there. We have no deserts.

-buy decent wine in drugstores and gas stations

We don't have that, either. Beer, cider, and "wine coolers," yes. Wine, no.

I don't think deserts and slightly-easier wine availability are enough to make me eager to move west, however.

Rich
 
We have all those things.



You have me there. We have no deserts.



We don't have that, either. Beer, cider, and "wine coolers," yes. Wine, no.

I don't think deserts and slightly-easier wine availability are enough to make me eager to move west, however.

Rich
Hey, and it's the individual differences that make the world such an interesting place..

Can we at least agree that low wings are better?

JK

Cheers
 
Are these power companies seriously not allowed to trim the clearances back? if that actually is the case then that is seriously moronic and short-sighted...
 
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