The New Detroit: Southern California's Inland Empire
California is the great basket case of this country's financial collapse, with its 37 million people now suffering under a 12.5% unemployment rate. In eight of California's counties, the jobless rate tops 20%, with one in five workers unable to find a job.
When things go rotten in California, they go rotten for a whole lot of Americans. It's the most populous state by far, with 12 million more people than the next biggest state (Texas) and a full 12% of the U.S. population. The real-estate collapse and retail collapse have been brutal, and the tourism industry has been bleeding for two years now, and the state government is bankrupt and retarded. It's all just wonderful.
And for metropolitan areas of more than 1 million residents, only obliterated Detroit has more unemployed than Southern California's "Inland Empire," where the jobless rate is 15% compared to the former Motor City's 15.3%. Hooray for the Golden State. [ Press Enterprise / LA Times ]