It’s Time to Sell California
America Needs a Hand
With America in the mood for BIG changes, I would like to posit that the Federal Government sell California ASAP.
California is a problem child
We all know the constant litany of issues with California: Mudslides, forest fires, water problems, earthquakes, Mark Zuckerberg; the list goes on. And then there is the problem of California’s infrastructure.
San Francisco’s aged sewers are also discharging more than a billion gallons of combined sewage and runoff into San Francisco Bay annually¹
This jewel in America’s crown suffers from serious tech debt. Their electrical grid is insufficient and dangerous, sewer systems are antiquated, and San Francisco has become so embarrassing that Oracle moved their annual convention to Las Vegas.
America Needs the Money
Consider the current condition of America’s affairs.
- Student loan debt is approximately $1.5 trillion. The average wage at Starbucks is $11.02/hour. This means that it will take 90,744,101,633 hours for college graduates to pay off their loans. I just don’t see this happening in humanity’s lifetime.
- Total federal debt is about $28 trillion. The average wage at McDonald’s is $9.80/hour. Obviously, your college degree was a great investment, but I digress. So, it will take 2,857,142,857,142 hours for the rest of us to pay off our Federal Government’s debt.
- Total consumer debt is around $13.9 trillion. Clearly neither you nor I intend to pay these debts off as long as we can roll them over to new credit sources. Is it time for you to go back to college? Again, I digress. Why include consumer debt? Jobs! If we pay off all consumer debt, consumers will consume and their spending will create new jobs.
America Needs to Start Digging for Cash in our Collective Sofa
The approximate grand total of American debt is $43.4 trillion. I didn’t include other sources of debt since the total constantly changes thanks to our benevolent Federal Government’s inclination to pay any debts, except student loans or consumer debt.
Each of us, when we truly need cash, sell something that someone will buy. For America, that would be the proud State of California. Let’s drill into this.
Why Sell California?
If we were to sell one of our fifty states, we have four viable geographical locations.
- Alaska. Russia would sorely love to get that piece of real estate back, but we can’t afford to sell it since we’d lose the largest national park in our country. Oh, and there’s that oil, too.
- Hawaii. It’s too small; size matters. Hawaii’s GDP, as of 2018, was $82B.
- Any state on the east coast. We would be hard-pressed to find a buyer because they are all rather old, though “gently used.” Also, the EU countries, across the pond are €9.86 trillion in debt, that they know of. What with Brexit and Greece, no one really knows what is Europe’s financial health. The bottom line is that they can’t afford California.
No Time for Nostalgia
We must remove our emotions and logically look at what’s good for America. If we are only going to sell one state, then it must be California. The State has some wear and tear, but it can truly be the Golden State for us. And remember, America’s finances were just fine when we only had forty-eight or forty-nine states.
A reasonable asking price is $50 trillion. Apple alone is worth $1 trillion. Of course, we would negotiate only with qualified buyers. And I believe a majority of Americans would settle for $44 trillion. After paying off all of the Federal Government’s debts and obligations, all student loan debt, and all consumer debt, we might still have a bit of cash to spruce up the rest of the country.
We shouldn’t delay getting California on the market and it should be an as-is, all-cash sale; none of this “We’ll throw in Greenland” or whatever. Since it’s going to take some time for any buyer to come up with $44 trillion it is imperative that we act now, before “the big one” hits our Golden State.
In closing, I encourage each of us to not surrender to nostalgia. Thinking about aunt Betsy in Barstow, cousin Connie in Colfax, or yourself, if you live in California, is counterproductive. No, the great people of this land, sans California, are looking to a brighter tomorrow.
We need to be comrades in arms. With our debts paid, our credit score will soar! As a nation, sans California, we can collectively breathe a sigh of relief; just imagine all the good we can do.
[1] “The Story of a California Sewer — and It Isn’t Hollywood.” Washington Examiner, 27 Sept. 2019, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/the-story-of-a-california-sewer-and-it-isnt-hollywood.
