Posted By: Guerneville Mom (15/06/2009 1:33:23 PM)
Comment: Children must leave the nest, let them leave and make a new home for themselves. Someone should remind them that once they leave they may never be able to afford to move back if they are living within the middle class range. (This was my first time commenting on blogs, and would like to remind some of you that your opinions inspire 'we who are less political' to educate ourselves about some of the things you discuss that we usually would not read about for whatever reason. What I am trying to give you is a blanket thank you for sharing your thoughts with me just by coming to understand what you write, wheather I agree or disagree...Thank you)

Posted By: Jessica (15/06/2009 9:28:50 AM)
Comment: I was born and raised in Santa Rosa and went to college at SSU. After graduating the real estate prices here were skyrocketing and I knew it would be very difficult to ever purchase a home. I moved to New Englad where I lived for over four years. I loved living in New England. This California girl enjoyed the 4 seasons; an autumn full of bright falling leaves, a white Christmas, a muddy spring, and a green, sunny, warm summer. I will always love New England...but over the years I missed Sonoma County more and more. I missed my family. I missed hiking in Redwood forests, and the kelpy smell of the Pacific ocean. It is odd the things you miss when you no longer have them. I moved back to Sonoma County in January of this year. Now I look at Sonoma County with a pair of fresh eyes again, and am grateful for every moment with my family I have, and beautiful Bodeaga Bay. But to all the youths who ever dream of packing up your car and moving out-of-state to start over; DO IT! Moving to a new place in the country and starting my live new somewhere else...where no one knew me was one of the best things I had ever done in my life! And now...I am happy to be home.

Posted By: sonomarob (15/06/2009 8:32:34 AM)
Comment: If only it were a simple matter of state and local taxes. It is really tiresome reading the comments in the PD with the incessant whining about liberals and taxes. True California ranks near the top ten in state and local taxes per capita, but it also ranks 6th in per capita income. Simple mathematics dictate that these metrics will move together. (http://www.bea.gov/regional/spi/drill.cfm and http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/08taxbur.html) California's overall tax burden is not solely responsible for jobs fleeing. Taxes are not a major cause of shipping jobs to India or China - wages are. Would you like to reduce your wages to Chinese levels to keep those jobs here? I agree that CA's mix of taxes are a negative and leads to big problems with the business cycle. CA is more heavily weighted towards income taxes which are more volatile than property taxes. Cost of housing is a much more significant cause for young families to look elsewhere to build their lives. High housing costs are not caused by 'taxing the hell out of our generation with no remorse.'

Posted By: michael koepf (15/06/2009 8:02:50 AM)
Comment: For over two decades editor Pete Golis and his left wing media buddies have been exclusively touting and endorsing progressive candidates and liberal spending and taxing policies that have forced industry to flee California. Now he pretends to scratch his head and wonder why others are leaving too. Thus: an editor either blind to reality or blind to himself.

Posted By: Fed Up (14/06/2009 10:43:05 PM)
Comment: Why should a young person stay in California and be taxed to death? If the PD and Pete Golis would get their heads out of the sand and stop endorsing every tax and spend politician, maybe some real progress could be made. You can keep your hope, optimism, and change!

Posted By: jason (14/06/2009 10:38:41 PM)
Comment: The real reason they are leaving heading to the mid-west is they can't stand the baby boomers controlling liberal mind set that turns everything into a problem with only one broken solution, by taxing the hell out of our generation with no remorse. We'll come back when we get another governor that sounds like Reagan.

Posted By: nameless bob (14/06/2009 8:55:36 PM)
Comment: Optimism and faith my hiney! What a weasel worded excuse for actual analysis! The state government is broken because of rules of governance that demand a 2/3 vote for budgetary decisions and serious handicaps to raising necessary taxes. Either the 1/3 minority have to betray their constituency or the majority does. Which do you reccomend? What, you don't want to allienate potential buyers of your newspaper by having an actual meaningfull opinion on this rather simple matter? Instead you refer to nebulous non-committal crap like "optimism" and "faith". You want to help? then quit obfuscating and voice an opinion that means something. Really, just what the hell does optimism or faith bring to this deadlock?

Posted By: pacman (14/06/2009 8:24:30 PM)
Comment: Housing costs are too high in coastal areas. Housing is a cost not an asset. try explaining it to the Press Democrat Editorial Board