Let me start right off with the obligatory offset to why I remain a lifetime resident of California. It was 65 degrees yesterday with about two clouds in the sky. It might be three degrees warmer today. It's gorgeous outside. That concludes the reasons to remain a resident of the Golden State, because the economic beatings are going to continue until morale improves.

Gavin Newsom, the Democratic Governor here who just yesterday took second place in the straw poll of possible Democratic presidential nominees in 2028 at 7%, 34 points behind frontrunner Kamala Harris, is not taking the election of Donald Trump very well, and he's apparently going to punish the citizens of this state for it in 2025. 

Newsom was just in Washington last week meeting with Biden administration officials to discuss ways of "Trump-proofing" California. What does Trump-proofing mean? Well, in a word, securing cash.

The governor landed in the Beltway on Monday afternoon and was set to spend the next 36 hours meeting with White House officials and California’s congressional delegation. Izzy Gardon, a Newsom spokesperson who’s traveling with the governor in Washington, said focus areas include “disaster funding, the approval of state healthcare initiatives aimed at improving access to health and mental healthcare for Californians and crucial climate and clean-air efforts.”

Newsom has vowed to make California a leader of the resistance against Trump’s second term — especially when it comes to disagreements over the state’s voter-ID and climate laws, as well as protections for patients seeking abortions and LGBTQ+ rights.

Trump's team taking shape, all of them, seem to be highly-motivated to take a hatchet to the discretionary spending budget amongst all the federal agencies under his command, and this has Newsom terrified enough to make a trip to D.C. and secure as much guaranteed funding as humanly possible for the next few years. The problem with that, of course, is no agency, no executive order can bind the hands of a future administration. What one administration promises by fiat, the next one can reverse it. 

What this tells you, however, more than anything else is that Gavin Newsom's Utopia on the West Coast is just not fiscally sustainable. There's just not enough money in this state to fund what Newsom thinks has to happen for the benefit of humanity, or at least progressive humanity. Newsom's current budget deficit projection, which is very Pollyanna-ish, is $37.9 billion dollars for 2024-2025. There are plenty of other economic indicators and analysts who think the real number is well north of $60 billion...for one state, for one year. There's just no money here, and billions of potential tax dollars are moving out of the state every year, fleeing safer havens in red states. 

Real Clear Politics did some analysis of demographic migration trends in this country for the first half of the 20s, and extrapolates what the Census of 2030 will show if the current trends continue, and the Census isn't politicized to count people in the country illegally. The long and the short of it? California could lose four Congressional seats and four Electoral College votes due to population loss. Fiscally speaking, things are pretty dire here. You'd think at some point, Newsom and the Democrats would begin to pivot. That's apparently not going to happen. 

The California Governor recorded a video a few days ago to attack...The Heritage Foundation. No one let him know that that issue was deemed a dead letter in the election two weeks ago. 

I revere this country. The institutions. The Presidency. I want our nation to succeed.

But I’m not naive.

Donald Trump has a playbook. They wrote it out for us. 922 pages. With 270 specific points he has publicly supported.

If our American values and freedoms are attacked,… pic.twitter.com/vL9oqq6yvG

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) November 9, 2024

The Project 2025 bogeyman didn't work, primarily because it's not Donald Trump's agenda. But Newsom has nothing but a narrative shell game to play in order to conceal his fiscal crisis. As for the suckers, including me, who choose to remain here, it's soon going to cost a lot more to do that.

California's gas prices could have major increase with passing of new fuel standards.

We're talking... a jump of 65 cents per gallon!

Read more from our @ABC sister station KGO-TV - here: https://t.co/zRgjszQWCT pic.twitter.com/Eu0xrbv2oL

— Steve McCarron KOMO (@SteveTVNews) November 12, 2024

Michael A. Mische, economic professor at University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, calculates what the impact of this new tax, wholly meant to change public behavior, will have on the average Californian. 

Californians driving gas-powered cars will need to make up to an additional $1,000 a year in pre-tax income if they want to keep up with the projected 2025 gas prices in the state, according to a new study published at USC. 

According to USC professor Michael A. Mische, of Marshall School of Business, his research states as California is expected to see a spike in gas prices for 2025, when the state begins requiring gas stations to carry a more expensive blend fuel that is approved by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). 

While Mische links back to CARB’s claims, saying the new special blend would increase gas price by $0.47 a gallon, a different study referenced by the USC professor claims retail gas prices may go up by $0.65 a gallon in 2025 and up $0.85 a gallon in 2030. 

These changes could cost drivers in California an extra $222 to $449 a year for regular fuel, more for premium, Mische’s study reads. Bottom line: Californians relying on fueling their vehicles with gas will need to make an extra $600 or a grand just to break even for 2025.

And it's not just the cost of filling your tank. It's the cost of filling the tank of the Amazon delivery vans. It's the cost of filling the tank of the Uber/Lyft drivers. Everything else will go up in cost if energy costs continue to go up by design. Remember that living wage Californians were given for entry-level hamburger flipping jobs? Guess what impact $.90 cents a gallon is going to have on their real take home wage? In essence, Gavin Newsom, he being the person who appointed the current members of the California Air Resources Board, has now Trump-proofed California's participation in the nation's coming economic recovery. 

With regard to illegal immigration, the Los Angeles City Council just voted unanimously to continue being a sanctuary city, putting them in direct opposition to what incoming Border Czar Tom Homan will be dealing out beginning on January 20th.

BREAKING: With a 13-0 vote, the LA City Council adopted a "sanctuary city" ordinance today to prohibit the use of city resources and staff for federal immigration enforcement efforts.

https://t.co/WLXYLRvnFW

— KCAL News (@kcalnews) November 19, 2024

Add it all up, and it looks like California's future is bleak indeed. No money, fewer people to pay for stuff, opposing the rule of law when it comes to the nation's immigration statutes duly passed by Congress, and the cost of living, already the highest in the nation, is about to have that record shattered like Lia Thomas in the women's 500-meter freestyle. 

Have I mentioned the weather? 

Your SoCal 'Tuesday Morning' Weather Briefing!

You can expect a mix of Sun and clouds over the Coachella Valley today with dry air and slightly below normal high temperatures in the lower-70s.

Sunshine returns in full-force on Wednesday with low relative humidity and... (1/3) pic.twitter.com/CK1Mz2skmD

— Jerry ‘Bluesky’ Steffen ⚡ (@JerrySteffen) November 19, 2024