Boomer Economy Stunting Growth in Northern California
17th November 2009
These northern California counties–which include Sonoma, Napa, Solano and Marin–have become beacons for middle- and upper-class residents from the Bay Area. These generally liberal people came in part to enjoy the lifestyle of this mild, bucolic region, and many have little interest in changing it.
“The yuppies have insulated themselves here for the long term,” notes Robert Eyler, a director at the Center for Regional Economic Analysis at Sonoma State University. “The boomers have blocked everyone else different in age and skill from rising up and making their place.”
Only in America could such people be characterized as ‘liberal’ rather than ‘conservative’, or even ‘reactionary’.
California’s high-tech greens may talk a liberal streak in terms of diversity and social justice, but their prescriptions offer little for those who would like to build a career and raise a family in 21st century California. Their policies in terms of land use regulation and greenhouse gas emissions will make it even harder for existing factories, warehouses, homebuilders and other traditional employers of the middle- or working class. “In effect,” Eyler notes, “the progressives have become regressives.”
Well, some of us think that the correct term for all modern ‘progressives’ is ‘regressive’ – just look at the environmentalists, who won’t be happy until all white people move back to Europe, and maybe not even then.