CA per capita GDP — adjusted for COL — is worse than all but 13 states
UPDATE WITH 2014 FIGURES:It’s common for the remaining California boosters (almost ALL far to the left of center) to smugly assert that “California is the 7thlargest ‘country’ in the world.” Using GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as a benchmark, it is a true assertion. It’s also an incomplete assertion. And certainly a misleading assertion. Indeed, a more detailed analysis cuts the legs out from under the booster bunch.
To begin with, that 7th(or 8th— it’s very close) place rank is DOWN from 1999, when CA was ranked 5th. We are in a stately decline.
Moreover, our three immediate “competitors” are India, Italy and Brazil — three economic basket cases. This fact should alert one that using simple GDP as a measure of a country’s prosperity can be remarkably misleading.
Touting CA (vs. other states) as the best state simply because… Read More