Barnaby: Yes, been to MT, Missoula specifically, a great university town, cosmpolitan, award winning downtown, fabulous, inexpensive homes, well-educated and hard-working citizenry. Of course, you could pick a mining town, like Butte, and get another result. San Diego has, on average, a miserable school system. Of course, there are some way above average schools, like in Poway, Scripps, wealthy enclaves here and there. But on average, ours lag in national ratings and the trend is downward. The economically improving states, like Montana, are probably already ahead of us, on average. Piggs: lets see some national ratings to settle this.
As to construction work force, my experience tells me otherwise. I’ve met crew chiefs who had the following preferences: First, workers from the midwest and south. Second choice: Mexican. Third choice: native-born Californians. Mountain state workers did not enter the discussion, but maybe they are all gainfully employed in their home state. OK, that should generate some opinions!
But my main point is that, investing, we ought to look at long term demographic and economic trends, and taxation levels. They largely explain why, for example, Utah and Idaho are doing relatively well, and Michigan and Ohio are doing so poorly. The trends for CA are not good.
