Democrats believe that money in the form of government expenditures can perform miracles and cure any ill.

What used to be Humboldt State University (HSU) in Arcata, California is now Cal Poly Humboldt (CPH).

When I began teaching there in 1969 (and continued for ten more years), enrollment was about 6,000.  That is about where it remains today.

Over the past fifty years, the university has made numerous failed attempts to attract more students.

The most recent and by far the costliest attempt occurred in 2021, when Governor Gavin Newsom strong-armed the Legislature to commit almost half a billion dollars to convert HSU to CPH, thinking enrollment would quickly double to 12,000.  Thus far, enrollment has increased two percent.

There are two previously existing state polytechnic universities in California, both of which have enrollments exceeding 20,000, but both are close to population centers (San Luis Obispo and Pomona).  Arcata, the location of the new Cal Poly, is and always has been the most remote site of the twenty institutions in the California State University system.

Throwing half a billion dollars at HSU/CPH will fail just as all the other attempts to make it grow have failed.

This HSU to CPH conversion is not at all different from Jerry Brown’s “bullet train to nowhere” boondoggle, which is now a sensitive topic for Democrats.  That train, the construction for which began in 2015, was supposed to link San Francisco and Los Angeles, but so far, it links only Merced and Bakersfield.  Authorized in 2008, it was based on a projected cost of $24 billion, which has since ballooned to $106 billion.

California is a one-party state governed by arrogant “progressive” Democrats.  Will they learn anything from this HSU/CPH fiasco?

They will not.  Why should they?  They have no incentive to do so.  After all, that half a billion dollars they’ve squandered is not their own money.

Such waste never fazes Democrats — no guilt, no embarrassment, no lessons learned.

Money must really seem miraculous to Democrats.  They confiscate it from their enemies, spend it on whatever suits their fancy, and never have to worry about being held accountable.

The Golden Gate Bridge, the Hoover Dam, and the Empire State Building were each built in about three years, start to finish, during the depths of the Great Depression.  Nowadays, government projects take seemingly forever and usually cost multiples of their original cost estimates.

Remember Obama’s “shovel-ready jobs,” which he later confessed did not exist?  That was a classic Democrat fabrication designed to hoodwink taxpayers into supporting his 900-billion-dollar stimulus bill in 2009.  Yes, it was a con job, but who cares?  Certainly not Democrats.  Simply spending the money is all that matters to them.

Ron Ross, Ph.D. is a former economics professor and the author of The Unbeatable Market.  He resides in Arcata, California and can be reached at rossecon@aol.com.  His website is rossecon.com.

Image: pasja1000 via Pixabay, Pixabay License.