Why Rich California Is a Poor State

Smoke from a fire at a homeless encampment is seen near railroad tracks littered with boxes left behind from stolen items in Los Angeles on Jan. 2, 2022. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

Commentary

California is a state of contradictions. Silicon Valley-San Francisco is the epicenter of global digital production and wealth. Yet the streets of San Francisco are cluttered with the homeless and their ordure and discarded needles. The middle class long has departed the Bay Area, or been reduced from that status to lower-class existence just by the vastly rising cost of living. As with the rest of the state, when the cost of living is taken into account, the poverty level is the highest in the nation.