California is incomparable. It is especially incomparable to other states like Texas or North Carolina.
Why? Climate … and lots of wealthy consumers. Even the less well off here are dozens of times wealthier than a West Virginian in poverty.
So, when columnist Dan Walters goes off on how California requires a political solution to some deep facts about real property under capitalism, it is notable to point out the glaring omission(s).
People can move. Not even that far away from the Santa Clarita Valley is the wide expanse of the Great Mojave. Lots of empty land, a lot of it inexpensive.
When The Newhall Land and Farming Co. originally began its Valencia buildout, and while other local enclaves like here in Saugus were also drawn in, this community was a dusty little place where the roads did not bridge the creek, and had to be shut when it rained at what is now Newhall Ranch Road at McBean Parkway. This place used to be the boonies.
Now, why do you think that the Great Mojave has not become inhabited? It’s probably because there is not a tenable development scenario. No reasonable capitalist has found a capitalist solution. There is the flywheel problem, though: Cities are preferred because of their wealth of opportunity, but they experience diminishing returns as they age.
So, Dan apparently wants some kind of political solution, which I suppose is in opposition to the existing political solution. Answer to Dan: Run for office. Put your acumen to use or prove its intractability, or maybe buy some land in the Great Mojave and build something to your pleasing, and you may even get a chance to make your own rules if you incorporate your own city.
But beware. Even when there ARE tenable funded plans (see “California Forever”), they get pushback from heartstring tuggers who decry the effects on their rural property in Solano County.
Capitalism loves competition. It drives participants to seek an optimized cost/benefit tradeoff.
For whatever reason — for a billion different reasons — some people do not cross that cost/benefit boundary in one locale, yet they may find a different proposition and locale more suitable, like maybe in the Great Mojave, Tennessee or Malta.
I, for one, support the promise of capitalism. I do draw the line, though, when we let money dictate who is viable as a candidate for public office. Especially when the money can flow in from anywhere in the world with zero traceability. When we let that happen, we have sold off our democracy to the highest bidder(s) anywhere in the world. We will become battered like a marionette whose strings have a thousand puppeteers all vying for control.
Christopher Lucero
Saugus
