Have some family & friends out that way, L.A. and Fresno mostly. The business environment is oppressive. If you think the Fed's have the corner on innefficient bureaucracy and out-of-control regulation you haven't seen California. Reagan's old quip about democrats and "if it moves, tax it" is applied with psychotic fervor. It is near collapse, no way can they continue with costs for everything shooting through the roof, unemployment growing, businesses leaving, taxes increasing, social services & education exploding (fueled in large part by an ever-increasing illegal population), incomes flattening...the next big sucking sound we hear will be California.