The reasons are varied. The cost of services continues to outpace inflation. Programs are being squeezed out by things the government was not providing in the halcyon 1950s and early 1960s, including Medi-Cal and some welfare programs. And the state has been reluctant to embrace new ways of funding services while holding back state money to plug other holes in the budget.
Now, what could possibly have changed over the past 30-40 years in California to account for the costs of services outpacing inflation? If one were writing this particular article about the middle class squeeze in Cali for the Los Angeles Times, then there is one cause that definitely won't ever be allowed to even be a shadow of an inkling of a thought to enter into an article on our deteriorating state infrastructure.
What could it be?
Oh, yeah, VDH wrote a book about it, Mexifornia (link goes to an article he wrote five years after the book was published on how many things got worse faster than he imagined back in 2002) . Mexicans aren't bad, Mexicans in fact, are pretty great (hell, I'm part Mexican and I'm pretty great), what's changed is that the disparity of the standard of living of those coming to the States from Mexico is now vast, and when we are getting a constant influx of people escaping abject Third World levels of poverty and violence, it's inevitable that not all of that poverty and violence fails to cross the border along with those seeking opportunity and refuge. Legal immigration is a fantastic thing, that energizes this state like no other in the Union. Illegal immigration, on the other hand, has had copious negative effects on the standard of living for those who live in states where the majority of illegal immigrants settle.
Even with the economic downturn, and the nation's highest unemployment rate, California still attracts people with family connections here, and news of the state of our economy may not filter to every pueblo south of the border. The flow north has been slowed by the economy (and there's evidence of some 'self deportation' going on since it's cheaper to be poor and jobless in Mexico than it is to be poor and jobless in California), but it won't stop, and given the near collapse of civil structures in parts of Mexico due to narcotics trafficking, some will flee north not for jobs, but just for personal safety, and if the collapse spreads and worsens, the flow north will increase, even without low paying, unskilled jobs to absorb this population.
California will continue to welcome more people than it can handle, and those with the resources and will to leave, will find places to go. There's plenty of blame to go around for the state of our state, it's not only a problem due to illegal immigration, we also have a political culture that loves to spend lavishly on itself when times are good, and then enact the most business unfriendly legislation around when times are bad (which can only make the bad times even worse). That'd screw us over even without importing Mexico's social ills into our state, but added together, it really makes our state stand out as THE basket case of all the basket case states.
California is where the future happens, maybe we'll find a way through this mess, despite our political class, we still have a dynamic, energetic, and diverse population, we still have some of the most desirable real estate on the planet, and we still have an abundance of physical gifts that no other place has, so once a rebound happens, we'll charge back to being a leading example of what a great state can be, rather than a leading example of what a great mess (but if we don't begin to take the problems associated with illegal immigration seriously enough to at least name them as a possible cause for some of our hardships, then we're screwed).
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