Will California become America's first failed state?
Its political system is locked in paralysis and the two-term rule of former movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger is seen as a disaster – his approval ratings having sunk to levels that would make George W Bush blush… The percentage of 19-year-olds at college in the state dropped from 43% to 30% between 1996 and 2004, one of the highest falls ever recorded for any developed world economy. California’s schools are ranked 47th out of 50 in the nation. Its government-issued bonds have been ranked just above "junk". Some of the state’s leading intellectuals believe this collapse is a disaster that will harm Californians for years to come… California has always been a special place, with its own idea of what could be achieved in life. There is no such thing as a British dream. Even within America, there is no Kansas dream or New Jersey dream. But for California the concept is natural… California has always been able to reinvent itself, and some of its most hardcore critics still like the idea of it having a "dream".
Read full article [here].
by Paul Harris, The London Observer.