The rise and fall of California

Merry Christmas from California! Most of us have family and friends living in the West Coast.

- ANDREW J. MASIGAN

Some of us have had the privilege of visiting the sunshine state and enjoyed its gorgeous hills, valleys and coasts. For many Filipinos, immigrating to California remains a dream of a lifetime. Some 1.2 Filipino families call it home today.

California, by itself, is the fifth largest global economy, roughly the size of Germany. It is an oil producer, a manufacturer of military hardware, the world's center for entertainment, an agricultural behemoth (a large-scale producer of wine, wheat, fruits, dairy products and meat) and ground zero for technology. California's Silicon Valley is the birthplace of the transistor, the integrated circuit, the microprocessor and social media. Up until 2015, California was the proverbial center of the universe. Its products, services and ideas impacted our lives while it earned trillions of dollars in the process.

Things began to spiral downwards for California in the last eight years. In 2016, 1,800 companies moved to other cities, mostly Austin, Texas. This included blue-chip companies like Oracle, HP, Tesla and Aecom. The exodus has since accelerated to such a point where 12 corporate headquarters leave the state every month. Along with the exodus comes the loss of thousands of jobs, property, talents and high-income taxpayers.

San Francisco, in particular, is a shadow of its former self. The state accounts for half the homeless population in America. The state's poverty rate is at 16.4 percent, nearly the same level as the Philippines. Its public education system has eroded so significantly that its drop-out rate is the 15th highest in the country.

Vast tent cities for the homeless have taken over parks and public spaces. There is squalor, joblessness and poverty all around.