Description
Book SynopsisCalifornia is at a tipping point. Severe budget deficits, unsustainable pension costs, heavy taxes, cumbersome regulation, struggling cities, and distressed public schools are but a few of the challenges that policymakers must address for the state to remain a beacon of business innovation and economic opportunity. City Journal has for years been cataloging the political and economic issues of our nation''s largest metropolitan areas, and in this collection compiled and introduced by City Journal editor Brian C. Anderson, the cracks in California''s flawed policy plans are displayed in detail, and analyzed by a diverse set of experts in the state''s design. The list of contributors includes:Steven Malanga, William Voegeli, Joel Kotkin, Wendell Cox, Arthur B. Laffer, Steven Greenhut, Victor Davis Hanson, Heather Mac Donald, John Buntin, Ben Boychuk, Tom Gray, Andrew Klavan, Troy Senik, Larry Sand, Michael Anton, and Guy Sorman. While there is plenty of literature on California's history
Trade ReviewCalifornia was once regarded as a model for the nation; trends that started here swept the continent. Today we can only hope this is not true; but as The Beholden State powerfully shows, if California is still a model, the nation is in deep trouble. The stunning swiftness by which California went from being Reagan's "shining city on a hill" to Detroit-by-the-Sea is an object lesson for the rest of the nation on how quickly bad public policy can squander the bounty of nature and the productivity of its creative citizens. -- Steven F. Hayward, University of California, Berkely
The editors and writers of New York's sprightly City Journal have gone west, young man, and have returned with a gold nugget of political wisdom. How California became a basket case, and why it needn't remain one—these are the twin veins worked in this sobering and inspiring volume. No one concerned with the future of California and the nation can afford to ignore The Beholden State. -- Charles Kesler, Claremont McKenna College
Table of ContentsContents Preface | William Simon Introduction | Brian C. Anderson Part I: The Politics and Economics of Decline The Golden State’s War on Itself | Joel Kotkin The Big-Spending, High-Taxing, Lousy-Services Paradigm | William Voegeli The Beholden State | Steven Malanga Cali to Business: Get Out! | Steven Malanga The Long Stall | Wendell Cox The Pension Fund That Ate California | Steven Malanga Flatten California! | Arthur B. Laffer The Radical Reform That California Needs | Troy Senik Part II: The Urban Fiscal Crisis Lost Angeles | Joel Kotkin How the Road to Bell Was Paved | William Voegeli Broken Windows, Broken City | Steven Greenhut Part III: Public Order The Reclamation of Skid Row | Heather Mac Donald The LAPD Remade | John Buntin The Sidewalks of San Francisco | Heather Mac Donald Part IV: Of Energy and Environment California Needs a Crude Awakening | Tom Gray California’s Water Wars | Victor Davis Hanson Part V: Immigration Dilemmas The Rainbow Coalition Evaporates | Steven Malanga California’s Demographic Revolution | Heather Mac Donald Part VI: Education The Worst Union in America | Troy Senik The Bilingual Ban That Worked | Heather Mac Donald The Union’s Occupation | Ben Boychuk HED TK | Ben Boychuk Grading the Teachers | Larry Sand HED TK | Heather Mac Donald Part VII: The Culture The Lost Art of War | Andrew Klavan Radical Graffiti Chic | Heather Mac Donald Tom Wolfe’s California | Michael Anton Part VIII: Keep Hope Alive The Silicon Lining | Guy Sorman California, Here We Stay | Victor Davis Hanson
