12-12-22: Our Sooner State

WalletHub’s definition of diversity goes far beyond the Golden State’s vaunted ethnic diversity to include “socioeconomic diversity, political diversity, religious diversity, cultural diversity, household diversity and economic diversity.” And that nationwide trend of diversification is coming to other states. Vankin quotes University of Southern California sociologist Manuel Pastor, who said “California is America, only sooner.”

When it comes to political phenomena, few are more quintessentially Californian than Proposition 13, a measure approved by voters in reaction to the unintended consequences of California’s economic success in the 1970s and ’80s. As the economy grew, so did real estate prices—and property taxes. Anti-tax activist Howard Jarvis saw an opening and waged a successful campaign for the measure, which mandated that the purchase price of the property would be its value for tax purposes. But Prop 13 has had its own unintended consequences, which Vankin delves into.

The weather outside is frightful…and so are the rising cases of flu and other respiratory ailments. So why are supplies of one of the most efficacious antibiotics running low?