WATCH: Fareed Zakaria Calls California a ‘Failing Model of Governance’
CNN’s Fareed Zakaria used a recent segment to put a sharp spotlight on California’s long-running problems. His message was simple: the state has plenty of wealth, talent, and natural beauty, but it is struggling to deliver the basics people actually need.
Zakaria said frustration with California is real, and he tied that frustration to years of one-party Democratic control. In his view, the state has spent more and more money while producing less and less for ordinary residents. That includes weak results in education, heavy housing costs, and a homeless crisis that keeps getting worse.
He also pointed to the political opening that has grown around those failures. Republican Steve Hilton advanced in the governor’s race, and Zakaria noted that Spencer Pratt, a Republican and former reality television personality, was able to draw attention in Los Angeles politics too. The broader point was not about celebrity. It was about voter anger.
California still has a massive economy. Silicon Valley, Hollywood, top universities, agriculture, ports, and deep pockets all remain part of the state’s appeal. But Zakaria argued that the government model has become the problem. The state keeps getting bigger, more expensive, and more bureaucratic, while basic quality-of-life issues keep sliding.
He laid out some of the numbers. Since 2000, California’s population has grown by roughly 15 percent. Over that same stretch, general state spending has jumped from $78 billion to about $248 billion. Spending per person has risen from about $2,300 to about $6,300. The number of state employees has also grown by more than 50 percent by one count.
Housing was the centerpiece of his critique. From 2021 to 2024, the Los Angeles metro area issued only 118,000 building permits for new homes, while Atlanta, with about half the population, issued 163,000. That kind of gap tells the story. When building gets too slow and too expensive, prices go up, rents rise, commutes get longer, and more people eventually pack up and leave.
Zakaria also highlighted the population loss. Over the past seven years, California has lost a net 1.9 million people through domestic migration. That is a loud warning sign for any state. It means families, workers, and taxpayers are voting with their feet.
Watch the video below:
California is one of the most dynamic places on the planet.
But it is a case study in how a rich society can spend more and more while producing less and less of what its ordinary citizens need.
My take: pic.twitter.com/a8LGEhWCdd
— Fareed Zakaria (@FareedZakaria) June 14, 2026
https://x.com/FareedZakaria/status/2066234582299545634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw