[IAmEveryone]

So… A recession may turn out to be bad for an economy? I know economics is called the “dismal science” but this seems to undercut even low standards.

More specifically on the article’s thesis: yes, California’s tax revenue may be more sensitive to an economic downturn. But that’s due to extremely high income from startups that just doesn’t exist in other states. It’s running a budget surplus that’s something like half of all other states’ total revenue IIRC.

If that extra income disappears, people will still work, earn income, and go shopping. The state’s revenue will just revert to normal-state levels.

Hacker News has taken this weird turn to hate California to a degree usually reserved for, say, female CEOs or renewable power. This story may seem to satisfy this urge, predicting as it does a hard crash for the state. But it’s really just reporting on the altitude record the state is currently setting.

Edit, in response to the answer below: TIL, thanks! I’ll have to switch to making jokes about their Nobel being second-rate and their models being thinner and on more crack than those of the fashion world.

[astrange]

> I know economics is called the “dismal science” but this seems to undercut even low standards.

That was invented by a slaveowner who was mad that economists told him slavery was a bad business strategy. (his response was something like “you economists just look at the numbers of me not paying them and don’t realize I’m teaching them the Christian values of hard work”)