What explains the baby boom in California during the 1980s?

[Dirigible]

I went through puberty.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Wasn't there a big earthquake around LA? When was that? Early '90s, maybe?

Lots of sex is had during epic disasters. It's just a fact.

Northridge, think it was 1994.

 

[John Connor]

Credit cards.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

My wife works at the county as a "human assistance worker." I often travel to a lot of low-income housing projects and their management companies for my work. Living off the government is alive and well, it only changed. Where is your information coming from? This applies to all the races.

The couple of years I spent living off the government.

Most of the "money" comes in the form of subsidies for X, Y and Z thing. (Heating assistance, housing assistance, childcare assistance, Obamaphones, etc.) Plus, it's all got strings attached (buy this, not that. Pay up front, then send us the bills and we'll reimburse, etc.) To get straight-up cash assistance, you have to live in certain states and be kind of screwed in general.

Plus every now and then some politician with a government salary and six-figure pension stops banging their intern long enough to proclaim you a moral degenerate and demand you pee in a cup.

The problem with being supremely lazy - and, frankly, the trap that career welfare recipients fall into - it that it's more effort than simply being normally lazy - but some people really seem to enjoy thinking they're gaming the system, or that they're owed something. When you're a loser, you take the small "victories," I guess.

And frankly, being an asshole doesn't make you less deserving of basic assistance. I'm not licking somebody's boots for "allowing" me to have a refrigerator.

Personally, I feel a lot less stressed with a crappy job - sure, it may be less than welfare and unemployment would bring in, but I can do whatever I want with it.

The only people around my neck of the woods that give me pause are the casino tribes. They get a separate check every quarter or every year from the tribe (casino money.) It's not taxable and it doesn't count as income for welfare eligibility calculations. So folks who are already well above the poverty line are collecting benefits that bump their real income up even higher.

But I try not to get too pissed about it because, hey, genocide.

 

[SSSnail]

Dave the nerd, no one is vilifying people that are down on their luck, and may need the government assistance. The program exists for a reason. It's the people that were actually gaming the system that I don't like.

The people that popped out kid after kid after kid after kid after kid after kid after kid while being on welfare, because the government will pay a certain amount of money for EACH KID, EVERY MONTH until they were 18, that got the population exploded in the 80's until welfare reforme was introduced. They still try, but it's a lot harder now than it was back then.

I understand you may feel that some comments were directed towards you because it is related, but believe me, it's not you, it's the people that took advantage of the system that I loath.

 

[schneiderguy]

I went through puberty.

Are you my Dad? :|

 

[rockyct]

The economic boom of California probably started around then and drew a lot of industries to the state, and thus people. The defense industry was giant in the 80's and early 90's and Silicon Valley started around then as well.