I'm unsure how this isn't political. Some states are economic engines of the US, some states are net takers of resources. States that have resources by way of being economic engines should protect themselves from the coming impact of climate change (if one doesn't believe in climate change, or the impending risk it presents, don't bother replying, there is no common ground to be had). That's it, that's the thesis. How California is handling fire code and mitigation currently is somewhat immaterial; more importantly, they have the resources by way of their economy to fix the problem if and when they choose to (to spend to de-risk against fire risk). They have the economy of a developed nation state. They can spend whatever is required when they decide to appropriately spend. If you don't have the resources to defend against climate risk, or don't believe in the risk, you have little recourse against it.
This could've been a collective action problem at the nation state level; it no longer is due to political choices by people who believe a global climate phenomenon is a hoax. So those who can afford it must go it alone for the foreseeable future.
So according to you CA has the resources to rebuild themselves and should protect themselves, but you consider it immaterial that they are choosing not to protect themselves with fire code and insurance changes? This sounds classist - we can do whatever we want because we have money, but we don't want to pay taxes because that might help other states that are also making suboptimal choices. But both Florida and Texas (your examples) are also donor states. It's hard to find what the basis is for your thesis when it seems to be applied irrespective of the facts.
Yes, I am saying if you have the economic resources as a state, you should not help other states economically that do not believe in climate change (within the context of climate mitigation spending and transfers). Why would you help people working against you or who don't believe in what you're defending against?
Money is fungible, taxes don't work that way, both of your examples of FL and TX produce more fed tax revenue than they receive, so it's hard to see how you think this would apply.
States can increase their income taxes, which can be deducted against federal income taxes. This keeps the tax revenue internal to the state and avoids sending it to a federal government who would spend the tax revenue suboptimally. These funds can be spent on climate mitigation programs within a state. If your state has no income tax and relies on the federal government, that’s unfortunate (I suppose increasing property and sales tax is an option, if not regressive).
Love this line of thought. Tired of dealing with bible thumpers who can't understand the basic physics of carbon in the atmosphere. All productive states (aka BLUE states) should keep their money and tell the feds to FAFO at this point. We need to protect ourselves, if they want to have their idiotic belief systems that's too bad. "Don't appeal to mercy to God the Father up in the sky, little man, because he's not at home and never was at home, and couldn't care less. What you do with yourself, whether you are happy or unhappy - live or die - is strictly your business and the universe doesn't care."
Let's think about this. You say that Texas and Florida are "donors" in the same way as California is. But what do those states do? Take Texas. Its main industry by far is oil and gas -- an extractive and polluting industry, and one that causes pollution far and wide wherever the products are used. Any money that Texas has is paid for by current and future suffering, by causing the very climate change they say doesn't happen.
Florida is a tourist state. Everyone loves Disney and the beach, but any money from tourism is just brought in from somewhere else. Florida's tourism industry is also extractive, and tourist travel also causes untold climate damage.
But California? We have agriculture. We have software. We have logistics -- everything in your house probably came through Long Beach and on our highways. We even have our own Disney so we don't have to fly to yours. California's industries aren't extractive. They're productive. And we're careful to minimize or eliminate the externalities of our industries while we work to create the things you use every day. In many ways, California is America. Without us, the country would shrink and shrivel day by day until you've extracted all the good and left everyone else nothing.
"We have logistics -- everything in your house probably came through Long Beach and on our highways."
So high carbon as well. Texas, and Flordia especially also have ag. CA has a lot of tourism too. Claiming that CA is the only source of "good" is a bit over the top.
This could've been a collective action problem at the nation state level; it no longer is due to political choices by people who believe a global climate phenomenon is a hoax. So those who can afford it must go it alone for the foreseeable future.