Kalifornia

I am born and raised in California. I'm from the northern part of the state, north of San Francisco. I grew up in the Wine Country, surrounded by cattle ranches, vineyards, and some dairies. This made for steak and red wine and good cheese as standards, locally. We were also close enough to the coast that fresh fish was really fresh, and our restaurants served such good food that the ratio of restaurants to people is the highest in the world. One for every 40 people, I believe it was. Most of my neighbors, growing up, went out to eat 3-4 nights a week. That's a huge percentage of your income, eating out. Good food too.

That level of good food and good wine has attracted local and foreign tourists. People come here to have a good time, see the sights, spend money, go home fat and happy. This is positive. California is all about the tourism and agriculture.

Those not contributing to either tourism or agriculture in some positive way aren't really helping the state prosper. We talk up our Tech industry, but its falling apart. I was just part of it, and I have seen it from the inside. We continue to lose jobs to India and China. Not because they make better products, because they really don't, but because they're cheaper and it offers bigger profits for investors, which seems to be all those big companies like Apple really care about. In that context, I can't say I'm surprised if they each announce they're leaving California. Jobs flee California as fast as they can go. This is not a technical golden land. Its just another place. A cold and rocky coastline with natural air conditioning is all well and good, but its not inherently smarter than anywhere else.

In the end, we're back to Tourism and Agriculture. That's the Real California. Beach Boys songs are just advertising jingles. Hamburgers remind you to visit Los Angeles. Disneyland is the happiest place on Earth. Movies got their start here, and drive the bold and beautiful to Hollywood, keeping restaurants staffed with actors and actresses waiting for a chance at their big shot.This is what California is about. Bringing in paying customers. The real California is about The Money.