W. Smith

.@friedberg says "California is functionally bankrupt": "People don't realize how screwed California is. I worry that if California falls, so does the union." "We're $250 billion to $1 trillion short." "If it was the federal government, they would just print more money. California doesn't have the ability to print money, so California has to pay this out, and you can't restructure retirement benefits." "There's a Supreme Court case in California that said once an employee has been offered retirement benefits, even if they're currently an employee, you can never restructure their retirement benefits. It has to stay forever." "And the state cannot declare bankruptcy. There's no way for the state to functionally declare bankruptcy. There's no law to allow it." "No state has ever declared bankruptcy, and the the retirement benefits sit senior to the bonds in California. So you have to pay out the retirement benefits before you pay out all the bond holders that have loaned California the money that they use to run all their programs and services." " This isn't about taxes and Billionaire Tax Act. I don't think you can tax your way out of this problem. People will just leave the state." "California's functional bankruptcy is a major risk to the country and we need to figure out what we can change to fix it." At the @HillValleyForum 2026

After being rejected by multiple medical schools, @forrestbohler asked why: