I am not a fan of California politics. I merely stated a fact of macro-econ that applies to any state or entity that doesn't create its own currency. If you don't understand that distinction you should refrain from having an opinion about economics or the impact politics has on it.

The poor response to the pandemic was largely due to the mistaken idea that the federal government must be "efficient" and cannot "afford" to be proactive in its approach to such things as disasters and pandemics. This concept lends itself very well to RayGun's attack on the utility of the federal government to be a force for good in people's lives, and that didn't die with him. In fact, it is now so dominant in right wing politics that it gave us an insurgent attempt to thwart our democratic process.