CA politicians are like trust fund kids. They’ve inherited something they didn’t build or earn, and they’re spending like drunken sailers. Only question is do they get voted out before they blow all of daddy’s money

Don't tell @Jason that you used AI to help with your article. 🤣

We have to demonize incompetence. Sort of like shitting on our favorite sports teams when they suck.

You might as well run for governor. What you have to lose! #Avoid2030CAbankruptcy

CA is like a drug addict - when we get close to having to be fiscally reposnsible, another wave of IPO's comes and we are right back on the overspending & waste heroin

And this volatility isn’t a secret either, the State’s Legislative Analysts are very up front about it - Newsom and the Legislature simply don’t care. #cabudget

@grok over the last 25yrs, how much has California reduced spending? Specifically focus on the states General Fund and compare FY 2001 to FY 2026/27 budget. Site specific concerns your identify & please add which political party has been in control of the state over this time period.

This would be super valuable report to open source and gain some much needed coverage on ahead of the upcoming elections

California is a part of the USA. You're listing the GDP of the USA, and then listing California also.

That heat map is funny… Sacramento registers but San Diego doesn’t . Okay . That makes so much sense

$4.3T economy funded like a casino: the top 1% pay roughly half of California's income tax, and most of that is capital gains. That's why Sacramento swings from a $100B surplus to a $47B hole in two years and still calls it a revenue problem.

Said differently, this year’s expected tax revenue qualifies as a windfall relative to historical averages (thanks to AI), and my understanding is that it’s precisely during these boom years that we typically build up our state reserves. If we spend more than we make in even the best of years, then we are heading down a dangerous road.

How much of the Cali economy is funded by the federal government, meaning tax payers outside of the state ?

As a CA resident most of my taxes go to the federal govt which trump is currently siphoning off to his cronies like you. Or paying off the red state takers that keep electing him.

Have you read California Crackup? Explains a lot about California’s challenges. Good read

@grok what is the redline chamath describes?

@chamath Thank you for publishing this audit. The concentration of personal-income-tax revenue in roughly 1 percent of filers, the swing in realized capital gains from $349 billion to $156 billion, and the $11.9 billion of adjusted-gross-income that left with 200,000 residents last year are not abstract risks. They are the precise vulnerabilities the State Controller is supposed to monitor in real time. I am running for that office because California does not currently give the public, or policymakers, independent, timely visibility into where the money actually goes. The Controller should be producing near-time AI-assisted audits and live general ledgers so that when revenue falls, everyone can see exactly where the pressure lands—on schools, Medi-Cal, pensions, or reserves. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss your analysis and a practical plan for Radical Transparency on All-In.

I hope this wasn't written with AI or Jason will think less of you.

paywall ☹️

California's biggest industry is agribusiness.

Too much gel

Possible we get an audit like this of SPACs?

@chamath put the numbers on the table. California leans on a small group of high earners. When they leave, the money leaves too. In 2023 the state lost 200,000 people and $11.9 billion of income. That is not a spreadsheet problem. That is your neighbor packing a truck. That is a job that does not get created here. That is a tax bill that lands on the families who stay. Chasing high earners out with failed policy is a bad deal for everyone left behind. @Herb4Controller grew up in California. He has spent nearly 40 years in finance, the kind of work where you learn to protect other people’s money as if it were your own. He served as board president of the San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System and helped turn that system around after it was in real trouble. He is running for California State Controller because he is tired of watching Sacramento spend first and explain later. He will post every government transaction each day. AI and citizen journalists will audit the record in public. That is how you keep the waste from driving people out. @WallStreetApes and @CA__DOGE keep showing what happens when a state punishes the same taxpayers and then acts surprised when they leave. @joelpollak keeps showing what families already feel: high taxes, weak results, and a shrinking base. Go to californiademtax.com to see what this failure already costs your household. Then read both posts and pass Herb’s reply to a friend. #MathNotPolitics #RadicalTransparency #AuditCalifornia #TeamHerbMorgan #HerbMorgan #RadicalTransparency It’s math, not politics.

worth to have a look !

@Jason I think he might have used AI to write this 👀

In other words, China made most American CEOs flee California, then they set up shop, and this is quite obvious. I’ve been researching the CIA perspective; former CIA agents are deathly afraid of China, and I see patterns of communism all over the place here. San Francisco seems the worst, actually. They have infiltrated our tech hub and manipulated the environment just enough to get everyone out. I wonder if this has anything to do with former counterterrorism director Joe Kent claiming that Trump feels his family is being threatened by China, which is his main motivation for switching to a pro-war stance. Is anyone going to speak up?

Chamath’s “deep dive” discovers California’s own budget appendix. The scary 37%? The top 1% averaged 45% of PIT over 20 years; 2023 was actually low after capital gains collapsed. That’s not an audit. It’s a state PDF with ominous lighting. (California Budget)

Please do New Jersey next

👏👏 CA Governor wen? 😎

Awww. Perfect timing... They didn't even know that's what I was doing... Grokky

Anyone here from California? Does California do a good job managing their budget? Is California heading in the right direction?

Child's play in comparison to the threat from AI to the US (and world) financial system. The Chair of the Bank of England gives fair warning and more must be done to protect it. fsb.org/uploads/P310826.pdf

🚨 RECEIPT CHECK CLAIM: California’s finances are unusually dependent on wealthy taxpayers and markets. 🟢 TRUE. The top 1% provide roughly 40% of income-tax revenue, making receipts volatile. Large liabilities exist, though bond debt remains manageable. 📋 VERDICT: Valid.

As a young founder is it even worth it to visit Palo Alto or just build product and ignore all the sf bs

@grok please summarize the article with bullet points