the Kardashians, movie directors and movie sets. Throughout the past two decades it has

set the standard for fashion and way of living for not only America but also for the entire

world. Tourists even come from all over the world, just to get a tour of the neighborhoods

in Hollywood where all the celebrities live. Looking at the beaches, the Beverly Hills

mansions, and palm-strewn roads, one would think this is one of the best places to live,

hardly a place to run away from. But that is exactly what is happening. From raging

wildfires, to rampant crimes, California seems to have all the drama that one would expect

from the fictional Gotham city. Unfortunately this state does not have a billionaire vigilante

running around trying to save it. Today we are going to dive in and see what exactly

is causing this mass exodus from the third largest state in the US that's becoming

quite the 21st century phenomenon.

The high cost of living
 First things first. Let's talk about how

far your money can get you in this land of aspiring actors and tech entrepreneurs. From

the cost of a loaf of bread to a rental apartment room to the prices of an uber, the cost of

living in California is 41.4% higher than the national average. The largest increases

being in Transportation, Food, and Housing. Thanks to the demand to live in the city being

on the rise since decades ago, the cost too has risen as a result so much so that people

who have roots in the golden state from as early as the 1800's are packing up and leaving! 

The average price of owning a house here is somewhere close to $700,000 whereas in other

states like Texas, Idaho and Florida, it's less than half of that. Again, when demand

increases, prices follow suit. People from all over the country come to make a fortune

in this state, all whilst living frugally and bunking in with friends. And then they

leave for another state for a better quality of life with a lower cost of living, giving

them a bang for their buck. While this used to be the trend in the early 2000's, more

people have left the state than people who have migrated to it from 2007 to 2016. With

fewer younger people coming in, the state is fast on its way to becoming an ageing population.

Soon, only rich oldies will be seen running the town. 

Rising Homelessness
 Thanks to the ridiculous prices of goods and

services, many are rendered poor and homelessness is more and more rampant in the last decade.

And when people are left out on the streets, social ills such as drug use and street gangs

become commonplace. Unlike in other states, locals do not feel safe to let their kids

out to play. Some even say that they couldn't walk around the block without finding a few

needles lying around in certain neighbourhoods. There are currently roughly 60,000 homeless

folks in LA alone and the officials say it's getting out of hand. Uhh to start, how about

getting them OFF the streets and into homes, hmm? 

Widespread crime
 It's no surprise that with lesser solutions

to homelessness and social ills that crime rates are a lot less manageable. Data shows

that the number of homicide cases have actually gone up 15%, while shootings have also increased

14%. In other cities like Sacramento, aggravated assault cases have gone up 23%. Most of these

cases come from gang-related violence even before the death of George Floyd which today,

is monumental in the police vs people paradigm. What makes matters worse is that police have

had to follow new regulations, in line with the Covid-19 pandemic, which prevents officers

from stopping and speaking to civilians. To make matters worse, this has also hindered

investigations and slowed treatments for victims. In any case, if crime continues at this rate,

California will see a rise in crime that it has not seen in years. As the Californians

observe these drastic changes to their neighbourhood many have given up and simply decided to leave.

Skyrocketing Taxes
 Another pressing reason for people giving

up the Californian dream is the high rate of taxes. California has the highest rate

of income tax in all of America, which can go as high as 13.3%. It also has the highest

sales tax at 10.50%. As tax-payers are beginning to see the declining cost-to-benefit ratio

on their taxes, frustration builds up, pushing people to take the first to leave the stat.

They've been paying more than Mr. President ever has after all. As if that wasn't enough,

the Democrats have proposed another increase this year in order to fight the pandemic bringing

about a total of 54%. It's insane that even the top 1% are also thinking to move. Elon

Musk and Joe Rogan are among that percentile of people who have already taken

that step.

Uncontrollable Wildfires
 If people were still second guessing their

move from California to other states like Texas, the wildfires this year would have

relieved the doubt. The 2020 California wildfires have burned more than 4% of the total landmass

of the state- that's 4 million acres of land! 4. Million. Acres. But wildfires are

nothing new in this state. During the late 90s an average of 12,000 Californians died

from wildfires. In order to prevent more deaths, a fire suppression bill was passed which meant,

suppressing forest fires immediately by any means possible. Even though it saved people

for decades, what it has done is also preserved more and more fuel for fire every year. With

the increase in temperature thanks to global warming, droughts start to become more severe

and plants start to get even drier. These are all the ingredients mother nature needs

to start a small fire here and there, which can start to spread quickly and culminate

into a huge hot mess- which is what happened here. 2020 has seen one of the biggest wildfires

recorded in Californian history. This pushed authorities to finally give the green light

for controlled burning of forests every year to curb the problem. But the damage has been

done and it will be a while before people forget this year and its continuous supply

of disasters.

Rolling blackouts
 If you don't already know, rolling blackouts

are deliberate power shut offs initiated by the authorities in order to prevent a system

crash. Power outages occur when the demand for electricity exceeds its supply or when

there are wildfires. California has been seeing more and more power shut offs due to extremely

hot temperatures and rampant wildfires. In the year 2019 utility companies like the PG&E

and the SCE have cut off power for more than 30 counties in California. And that was because

they were afraid that the electrical towers may start fires due to the strong, dry winds

they were experiencing. That year, more than 3 million people were affected.  The temperature

in places like the Death Valley went as high as 130 degrees and here's the crazy part-

the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth is a 134 degrees, so you can imagine how hot

California is. This year, since people no longer can cool off in places like the malls

and the cinema, more and more people are keeping their air conditioning on for longer hours

than usual. This has caused a spike in demand which the utility companies have not anticipated.

The California ISO has thus announced power outages, in order to make sure the electrical 

system across the whole state doesn't crash. This was a very poor performance on the part

of the utility companies. One would have expected them to be more cautious this year, since

people shared their frustrations through vandalism which included the egging of a PG&E office

front doors and the shooting of a company vehicle last year.   With all of these issues

surrounding electricity supply, a now-basic necessity of not only a household but a business

too, one can't help but wonder how are the companies from manufacturing to tech surviving

in the Silicon Valey? It'll just be a a matter of years- maybe even months- before

they uproot, if California doesn't resolve this expensive problem, don't you think?

Poor policymaking
 Lastly we have to discuss the incompetency

of state authorities. From under delivering to failing to keep its promises, the Governor

of California can be accused of plenty. While other states are slowly opening up businesses

under pandemic precautions, cities in California are still keeping them shut tight. This has

resulted in a weakening of the local economy in terms of slower cash flow and a significant

number of job losses. On top of that, very little to no inclination to solve the homelessness

problem, reflects poorly on the state's care about the overall welfare of the people.

With all of its issues in a basket, this once golden state is now likened to a hell hole

by many residents. Even during the state speech, Governor Gavin Newsom made proclamations of

success, which were rather technical truths. For example as a state which had one of the

hardest falls during the Recession now saw an increase in employment rate. According

to him, 1 in 7 jobs in America were created in California. That may be true, but when

Recession hit, California had lost around 1 million jobs! And even though the performance

looks very good, it was mostly about restoring the jobs that were lost in 2010, so that isn't

very promising. What about today? 

So there you have it, these are some of the reasons why California is losing its charm.

What will become of it in the near future? Will it somehow find a way to go back to its

former glory or is it destined to an inevitable doom? Drop us your two cents the comments

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