California, 1851. « You could take a boat from Bakersfield to Stockton using the waterways as shown. »
« At that point, if not before, the city would be nothing more than a vehicle to pay the retirement costs of its former workers. This wasn’t a hypothetical scary situation, said Reed. It’s a mathematical inevitability. » 

Michael Lewis on why California is awful, cf. Iceland, Greece, Ireland, & Germany (or just buy the damn book)
