My point was that we are needlessly polluting our water bodies when we could be capturing the pollutant and putting it to beneficial use.

The pollution caused by P (and N) is the most urgent need. The ability to benefit is a secondary and important benefit.

About half of the rivers and streams cannot support the amount of nutrients that we deliver and this is a problem that continues to get worse.

Yes, this is an issue with respect to biosolids (human poop compost). It is not an issue when the P is harvested more directly. Look up struvite harvesting via waste water treatment in Google Scholar. The science is interesting and the tech is there.

This is the answer.

The ironic part of all of this is that many of our waters are degraded due to excess nutrients, particularly P.

A major source is human poop.

Waste water treatment plants have the tech to remove P, but are resistant due to initial infrastructure costs.

2020-2021 was not exactly a typical year.

There was a general trend that started during the pandemic of people moving to places with a lower cost of living. The trend has continued, albeit more slowly since as more people work from home or have otherwise evaluated work-life balance. The median price of a home in CA is about $800K.

CA has a major problem with homelessness. Almost every local politician agrees that this is among the most important challenges. However, with housing costs so high, it is a tough nut to crack.

Most societal problems have their roots in poverty, which was my main point.

Since the 1980s almost all economic gains have gone to the wealthy, with middle incomes remaining steady and low incomes actually declining: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/

The bottom 90% earned about 70% of all earnings in 1979. In 2020, the same group earned 60%. Between 1978 and 2020, wages for the top 1% (now >$800k/year) grew by 119%, while the 0.1% (>$3.4 million/year) has water growth of 389%.

This should concern everyone. Trickle down was a lie, told by the rich to make themselves richer.

The shit I brought up is happening everywhere. All of my examples are things that affect everyone.

You forgot to mention that the GDP of CA is greater than the combined economic output of NV, MT, UT, ID, ND, SD & NM.

Also, CA is one of the only states where most of the cities never have deadly weather.

Fox News is trying really hard to make CA seem scary, but it really isn't. Sure they have their problems, but at least they are trying to do something about it. CA spending "the most money" on social programs (BS unless expressed on a per GDP basis) is not the own you think it is.

Life in an oligarchy contributes to homelessness and related problems.

We are living in another gilded age. Wealth continues to concentrate at the top. Rules are written to support those with power and money.

Corporations are making record profits, while inflation makes it difficult for many to afford basics. Rx prices are the highest in the world.

College was once the ticket to breaking out of poverty, yet tuition rates now make it unaffordable to the unprivileged.

Some were sold BS like "right to work". Wages the went up dramatically for those at the top while remaining stagnant for everyone else.

This should not really be a D vs R issue, both sides continue to get equally fucked.

Requiring the 1% to pay a tax rate equivalent to those paid by the middle class should not be controversial.

The system is rigged, but we've fixed it before and can fix it again, but only once we realize that all of those in power have zero incentives to actually adress the root causes of our growing inequity.