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The red states could not afford to allow the blue states to secede, so they will probably not let it happen no matter how many liberal judges and politicians California and the other blue states be promise to take with them.

That's true.

Indeed, states like Arizona and Alaska have their own natural solutions to homelessness. And remember when Nevada was caught shipping their homeless to California?

And despite that, California and other blue states continue to subsidize the red states. If that stopped, blue states would be awash in cash and red states (except Texas) would have some very difficult choices to make, like when Kansas nearly bankrupted itself under conservative tax policy. And then the new federal caps on mortage interest and state tax deductions will only increase the flow of money from blue states to red states, by design.

Of course none of this excuses California's rate of poverty and homelessness. There's plenty of money in the state, it just isn't distributed very well. And that's self-defeating for Democrats because poor people tend vote less than wealthier people and when they do, they tend to vote Democrat.

Now let's work on embracing fiscal federalism by asking Washington to send each state an itemized bill. This would effectively abolish the IRS as each state figures out how to tax its own residents to pay the bill. A weak central government is still a conservative virtue, right?

Of course this will likely bankrupt the red states other than Texas but it will save the blue states a ton of money. For liberals, that will mean two benefits for the price of one, and who doesn't like 2-for-1 deals?

Let's do this!

If California is being run so poorly, then we should let the state sink or swim on its own merits by requiring that California be self-sufficient financially in tax revenue versus federal spending. Let California go bankrupt!

Oh wait, that would bankrupt the red states (excluding Texas) who depend on welfare from the blue states. Never mind.

The reason California taxes everything else so high is....because it and other blue states subsidize most of the red states.

California - and Californians, and other Blue States and their residents, are BIG BELIEVERS in those with money providing subsidies to those without money. So what's the problem here?

California has the highest US taxes on everything.

Except property taxes!

The reason California taxes everything else so high is partly because of its social and environmental protections, partly because it has such a low property tax and must make up the difference, and partly because it and other blue states subsidize most of the red states.

California's property tax structure is effectively bimodal, i.e., both really expensive and cheap. It all depends on when you bought your home. I pay $12k/year, while my neighbor pays $500/year, even though we have basically the same house. I just happened to buy my house 55 years after he did.

This bimodal property structure also contributes to the housing problem. Senior folks with $500/year property taxes and no mortgage have a big incentive to not sell their homes, thus exacerbating a low-supply market.

California has the highest US taxes on everything.

Except property taxes!

The reason California taxes everything else so high is partly because of its social and environmental protections, partly because it has such a low property tax and must make up the difference, and partly because it and other blue states subsidize most of the red states.