the promised land of broken promises

Ah California, land of broken dreams, and a multitude of runaways. Beautiful state, there's no denying. You've got the Pacific ocean there, with it's attendant shoreline, the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which includes Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the lower forty eight and deserts. The entire natural spectrum can pretty much be experienced in the one state. But to live there is prohibitively expensive. How, I wonder, can anyone afford to live there? I'm watching my pennies here and a small well maintained house in southern CA will cost upwards of half a million, easy. Half a million is a modest assumption, by the way. Three quarters of a million would probably be more realistic. To make matters worse, the tax burden placed on its inhabitants is one of the worse in the nation. An article on MSN's money page stated:

Steer clear: Three states are particularly tough on retirees. Not only do they fully tax most pensions and other retirement income, they also have high top tax brackets: California (9.55% on income less than $1 million) http://tinyurl.com/y8m5x3p

The grapes of wrath, indeed. Only in reverse, I'm thinking.