Overview
- On Sunday Zakaria argued that California combines world-class assets with a governance problem, saying state spending has risen more than 200% since 2000 to roughly $6,300 per person.
- He identified housing as the state’s central failure and blamed restrictive zoning and regulatory red tape for a chronic shortfall in new homes and high costs.
- Zakaria said the state lost a net 1.9 million people to domestic migration over the past seven years and tied that outflow to worsening affordability for middle-class families.
- He pointed to growing visible homelessness and stagnant education results despite higher spending as evidence that increased budgets have not fixed key problems.
- Coverage of the remarks has run across ideologically different outlets that framed the critique as a warning to Democratic leaders and cited recent election results, while noting Zakaria did not mention Governor Gavin Newsom by name.