CALIFORNIA VOTES ON $11 BILLION HOUSING BOONDOGGLE (AGAIN)

California voters are apparently being offered another shot at 'progress' this November, according to the ever-optimistic scribes at the 'Santa Barbara Independent.' Among the sundry mischief on the ballot – including the perpetually popular and utterly baffling 'billionaire tax' that always seems to miss everyone but the middle class – is yet another multi-billion-dollar housing bond. One might wonder if the state simply runs these same measures every few years, changing the dollar amount but keeping the core promise: 'We'll fix housing this time, we swear!'

It's truly a marvel how Sacramento manages to keep a straight face while proposing an $11 billion affordable housing bond. By our count, that's roughly the 17th multi-billion-dollar 'solution' to a problem that only seems to get worse the more the state spends on it. One could almost suspect that 'affordable housing' has become less a goal and more a perpetual money-laundering scheme for various politically connected developers and 'consultants.' Every bond passes, every dollar disappears, and yet, the median home price in California still requires a second mortgage on your soul.

Then there's the 'billionaire tax' – a legislative equivalent of a child furiously shaking a piggy bank, hoping more money falls out to buy candy (or, in California's case, to fund bullet trains to nowhere and burgeoning homeless populations). Our fearless leaders seem to forget that billionaires, unlike the average taxpayer, possess this uncanny ability to… leave. Much like basic common sense, manufacturing, and anyone with a robust retirement plan, they tend to flee the Golden State's golden handcuffs.

And let's not overlook the 'voter ID' requirement mentioned in the Independent's blurb. Oh, the humanity! Asking someone to prove they are who they say they are before casting a ballot. Whatever will California's electoral integrity do with such a radical, yet widely accepted, concept? It's almost as if some folks prefer a system where ghosts and recent arrivals from the abyss can sway elections. But hey, at least we haven't funded another study on why people are leaving California – that would be $11 billion wasted, for sure, since we all know the answer already.