Stacy Summary:  You guys have been on such a roll!  I’m loving reading all your comments every morning.  Some really good stuff.  Thanks!  For all of our Californians out there, let us know your personal experience of what is happening in the state because the article below paints a pretty bleak picture with, however, a few signs of hope .  . . what are you seeing?  I might add that Max, of course, has been saying for years that China will buy California.

• Will California become a failed state?

But the state that was once held up as the epitome of the boundless opportunities of America has collapsed. From its politics to its economy to its environment and way of life, California is like a patient on life support. At the start of summer the state government was so deeply in debt that it began to issue IOUs instead of wages. Its unemployment rate has soared to more than 12%, the highest figure in 70 years. Desperate to pay off a crippling budget deficit, California is slashing spending in education and healthcare, laying off vast numbers of workers and forcing others to take unpaid leave. In a state made up of sprawling suburbs the collapse of the housing bubble has impoverished millions and kicked tens of thousands of families out of their homes.