The Guardian has a sobering article on Venezuela in which it chronicles "'A slow-motion catastrophe': on the road in Venezuela, 20 years after Chavez's rise" to better understand the collapse of that former South American economic power.
Venezuela's economy shrunk 15% last year. Inflation is expected to be over 1,000,000% this year. Mass shortages exist in almost every item needed to live---food, fuel, clothing, medicine and medical supplies. The country that still boasts the world's largest oil reserves, and what used to be the best economy in South America, has become a third world outpost.
It is also impossible to comprehend what socialism has done to destroy Venezuela in two short decades. Almost 10% of Venezuela's 31 million people have fled the country. You can be sure this number includes many of the smartest and most talented citizens it had. 90% of those remaining now live in poverty.
That brings us to California whose Democrat leadership seems determined to destroy the state in much the same manner as Chavez and Maduro did to Venezuela.
A new Democrat proposal, that will be considered in the state legislature in 2019, would extend Medicaid benefits in the state to illegal immigrants.
It is estimated that 1.8 million illegal immigrants live in California and are uninsured. It is estimated that 1.2 million of those would be eligible for Medicaid under the proposal at annual cost of $3 billion. Medicaid costs are normally shared between the state and federal government but in this case California should be paying the entire tab itself.
That number seems very low to me---it works out to only $2,500 per beneficiary. I would expect the cost to be at least double or triple that and that does not take into account the fact that such a law would undoubtedly entice more illegals into the state for the benefits.
Medicaid costs in California already exceed $100 billion per year. Costs have increased by over $60 billion in the last ten years.
Over 14 million are covered this year in an average month. That number was only 6 million a decade ago. Three-fourths of the increase was the result of the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare.
Average annual costs are over $7,000 per participant. How does the state think it can extend coverage to illegals for $2,500 per person? Do they actually believe that the federal government is going to pay the 64% of the overall total cost it is doing for citizens?
 |
| Source: California Legislative Analyst's Office |
If California continues on this path it is going to need a lot more tax revenue. They will need more companies who innovate, and employ more people, who make big incomes, and who pay a lot in taxes.
As I have written before, the top 1% of income earners who California pay half of all income taxes. The income tax also makes up 67% of state revenues. The recent stock market sell-off should be of particular concern to the budget officers in Sacramento. Taxes on stock option income and capital gains make up a significant portion of income for those high earners. If that money stops flowing in, California is going to be in a world of hurt.
That leads us to this third chart. Who would have thought that the company spending the most money on research and development in the entire world is a retailer?
I would not have guessed that in a million years.
It just goes to show you how far and wide Amazon is thinking to find more ways to incorporate itself into your life.
You can be sure that Alexa is listening to what you want so that Amazon can sell it to you in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment