RE: [ihc] About those parking brakes .....

[Tom Harais <THarais@xxxxxxxxx>]

The larger the population, the more difficult it is to keep the
movers and shakers on the path of reason. No one knows who they are, so they
can't be shamed into acting sensibly.

Actually John:

Population is the driving force behind all the issues of the day anyway.
California is head and shoulders above any other state, and probably most
countries on this factor.  Only, no one wants to speak to that.  If
California's population was half of what it is, the resultant environmental
issues would be cut in half as well.  Thus, the utopian drive to legislate
problems out of existence would not have the urgency that our population
creates.

The reason I bring this up is, that all these people had to come from
somewhere.  It's not natural growth due to birth rates.  They continue to
come at about 1M per year, mostly from other states.  (You Oregon folks that
think that Californians are moving there in droves and ruining your state
need to review your assumptions!)  

Now I'm not advocating that we can put a moat around the state and just lock
all newcomers out.  But I'm absolutely flabbergasted to know that, even with
our traffic problems, our environmental issues, our poor employment outlook,
and housing that starts at $500,000/unit ($1,500/month for rentals), those
1M souls continue to come every year, adding to the problems.  

To put some perspective on it take the population of the state where you
(any of you) live and divide it by your state's total area.  Compare this
to:

CA 36,000,000 people/164,000 sq mi = 220 people per sq mi

Compare the highest population state to:

The second most populated state:
TX 22,000,000 people/262,000 sq mi = 84 people per sq mi

The least populated state:
WY 501,000 people/97,000 = 5 persons per sq mi

The largest state:
AK 648,000 people/572,000 sq mi = 1 person per sq mi


Keep in mind that there are more cars than people in CA at this time
(literally).  Think of the implications in cars/sq mile.

It's numbers, sheer numbers!  Perhaps madness too.  What the heck do you do
with 36M people?

Tom H., '76 Traveler