Hello Everyone:
A good and nice wintery Monday afternoon to you all. It is a fresh a week on the blog and we have an eventful week: Fresh subjects, like today, and more Senate trial updates for you, like right now. Right now in the Senate trial of Mr. Donald Trump, the defense team is continuing its presentation, expecting to finish up today. Thus far, we have had two major plot twists in the trial. First, this past Saturday, indicated Rudy Guiliani associate, Lev Parnas, released a video from 2018 in which the president is heard demanding the immediate removal of former American Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. This undermines the president's claim that he was not acquainted with Mr. Parnas. Second, The New York Times reported that an unpublished by former National Security Adviser contains an account of the president insisting on withholding military aide from Ukraine until they announce investigations into the Bidens and the Democrats. Both are major twists that have strengthened the call for witnesses. Debate on the question of witnesses will take place after the allotted time for senators' questions. One final point, The Blogger Candidate Forum is also annoyed with conservative pundits and lawmakers' chest beating following the opening defense presentations. No, the prosecution's case has not been totally undermined because attorneys have not presented anything that would definitively create shadow of a doubt. Shall we move on?
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| thebookoftraveling.com |
California, the place where a person can re-invent themselves. The home of the digital industrial revolution, the entertainment industry, surfing, and Disneyland. The nickname "Golden State" is not just a reference to the place where gold was discovered in 1849 but also the place where, at least according to state boosters, where life is golden. Lately that gold has been tarnished by population slow growth. According to new date from the state Department of Finance, California's population increased to 39.96 million (dof.ca.gov; Dec. 2019; date accessed Jan. 27, 2020). A definite downward trend.
The reasons for the downward trend are based in "fewer births, coupled with increased among aging populations" (latimes.com; Dec. 21, 2019; date accessed Jan. 27, 2020). However, the state has also experienced changes in international migration (Ibid; May 1, 2019), concurrent with more residents leaving California. Estimates suggest that the state's population increased by 141, 300 people between July 1, 2018 and July 1, 2019 (Ibid; Dec. 21, 2019), indicating a .35 percent growth rate, down from 0.57% for the prior 12 months--the lowest recorded growth since 1900, according to state DOF officials (Ibid).
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| designandenergy.com |
Julia Barajas and Sarah Parvini reported, "According to the agency, natural increase (with 452,000 births and 271, 400 deaths) accounted for an additional 180,800 people to the state. Still, these gains were offset by losses in net migration--that is, the total amount of people moving into the state minus the total amount of people moving out" (Ibid). Eddie Hunsinger, a demographer with DOF, told the Times that "even though the net international migration added to the state's population, there was substantial negative domestic net migration, which resulted in a loss of 39,500 resident" (Ibid). This indicates
...the first time since 2010 census that California has had more people leaving the state than moving in from abroad or other states (Ibid)
Brookings Institution senior fellow William Frey said that the difference between the disparity between the number of people moving to California from abroad or other states and the number of people leaving the states is inline with a pattern that demographers have followed over the past several years. Outmigration is not new to California, what is new is the rate has grown over the last ten years. Mr. Frey said,
For some years after the Great Recession housing crunch, California was losing domestic migrants--but not as much as it could have. Now that's starting to push up again....(Ibid)
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| California, Nevada, Arizona map ontheworldmap.com |
William Frey told the reporters that the most common destinations for out migrants are: Arizona, Colorado, Nevada (apnews.com; Nov. 24, 2019; date accessed Jan. 27, 2020), Oregon, and Washington (latimes.com; Dec. 21, 2019). The chief reason is as economy has picked up throughout the west and the rest of the United States. Further, the cost of living is lower and some Californians are drawn to areas with no state income tax. He also pointed to the drop in the immigration levels. Although California is still home the greatest share of the nation's immigrants, that number has dropped. He told the reporters,
In the past, California would be growing because immigration would counteract domestic out migration,... The outmigration is in places where housing prices are high and therefore immigration is not being able to counter that (Ibid)
Los Angeles County experienced overall outmigration even as it continued to gain immigrants. Other counties: Orange, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, and San Diego, also saw negative net migration, even with immigration gains. Mr. Frey continues
California was the place, the big destination, for people around the country and around the world,... It's lost its luster a little bit. The question is whether it's short term or long term. I think the jury is still out. To me, it;s of a stunner to see that California is losing migrants. The land of dreams and the gold rush and all that, now turned the other direction (Ibid)
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| census.gov |
The decline in growth could have implications for the decennial census (Ibid, Apr. 1, 2019) and the future apportionment, based on population figures. Essentially, California could lose a seat in the House of Representatives as well as necessary funding for vital programs such as forest management if the state does not come up with a good count. Eddie Hunsinger told the Times in an email,
...the estimates are for current and historical information (rather than the future) (Ibid; Dec. 21, 2019).
Not all the news about California's population is bad. Intra-state migration saw either population declines or slight increases, with the obvious except of regions surrounding Butte County (Ibid; Dec. 21, 2018), the site of the 2018 Camp Fires, the deadliest in state history. The catastrophic fire destroyed the town of Paradise (Ibid; Nov, 11, 2018), killed 86 people, and displaced about 35,700 residents (Ibid; Dec. 21, 2019).
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| California county map geology.com |
Julia Barajas and Sarah Parvini reported, "According to the Department of Finance, the bulk of those affected by the fire relocated to nearby cities in Butte or surrounding counties, including Colusa, Glenn, Plumas, Sutter, Tehama and Yuba" (Ibid). Four of these counties were listed among the top ten with the greatest population growth (Ibid). Outside of these exceptions, the statewide population is growth in decline. University of Southern California demographer Dowell Myers said "population growth in California has been slowing down for three years" (Ibid). Although the state has recovered from the recession but as prospects have gotten better in California, not everyone has benefited. Mr. Myers said,
...Jobs are getting better, but people's recovery has turned around and gone bad... I thing because of housing prices. The peak millennial is turning 30 in 2020. It's a pivotal moment and they can't find housing. So people aren't coming as much, and they're leaving here more (Ibid)
Dowell Myers also noted that a major factor in the lack of growth is the decline in birth rates--something he attributes to a young couple's inability to find affordable housing where they can raise a family. He said,
People need to feel secure in having housing before they can start a family,... Other people won't come because they have heard the news (Ibid).
Further,
...WE better get our act together pretty darn quick. This is as good as it's going to get. People should be flourishing. The fact that the number of babies is going down is really worrisome (Ibid)
Los Angeles saw a 17-percent decline in the number of children in the area over last ten years, according to Mr. Myers (Ibid). He added,
We are worse off and we have the best economy,... It's not sustainable,... It think we need enough housing workers to live in and for people start families. Older have the right to stay in their houses, but we need to make room for the young people or else we will turn into a retirement city by the sea (Ibid)
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