Is it time to let the South go?

Yep, that's the point. The net result is that California uses more water than it produces. Without the irrigation of the San Joaquin and Imperial valleys, which originates in the north, there would be very little produce grown in California. And, of course, due to the huge demands of the farming industry in the two major valleys, Los Angeles, most of Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties would be without water if imports from Arizona stopped.

Yep. That's my point. California is a net importer of materials and goods.

The great danger California faces is not the San Andreas fault, but the loss of imported necessities. California is only 3 days away from complete breakdown.

 

The San Joaquin is north of the Tehachapis and the Imperial is south. The Ts are considered the dividing line between NorCal and SoCal. If we divvying things up, then split California north and south. The economics change.

 

Yes, I agree. The only way to make a viable Republic of California would be to dump everything south of a line from Santa Barbara east north east to just north of Death Valley. In that event Northern California would be pretty well off with the exception of fossil fuels with, for the most part, come from Southern California.

The same is true of Illinois. If they could dump Cook and Lake counties into Lake Michigan the rest of Illinois would probably be okay.

 

Ahh, you forget the North has Bakerfield and the Kern County oil field.

 

Not really. That's why I said "most" not"all." The south end of the valley has several fields (Oildale is a dead give away). There are also a few small fields over on the coast near Santa Maria, and of course the fields between San Luis Obispo and Coalinga

But still the lion's share of California crude comes from south of the Tehachapis (and offshore, of course).

 

Crude comes in many colors from yellow, to red, and brown to black, and even some with a greenish tint. The color is often due to the type of crude, heavy or light, sweet or sour.

 

I was hoping it was something other than what it seemed.

 

In my opinion the main reason the once "solid south" is no longer all that solid is the influx of northerners. It started with carpet baggers after the late unpleasantness, the war of northern aggression, and continues with the "snow birds" of today just about every southern state has to endure. It is the influx of these moneyed northern liberals who have diluted the "solid south" into its present unfortunate state.

 

Uh, perhaps you misunderstood. I am not talking about vacationers. I am talking about snow birds. People who live in the north during the summer months and in the deep south in the winter months. They have two homes, one in the north and one in the south. What they do is drive up property values here in the deep south and make it harder for indigenous persons to afford their own homes.