When one California just isn’t enough

“Right not we’ve got one state, we pay the most and we get the worst service,” says billionaire Tim Draper.

According to Draper, California’s longstanding problems with budgets and education and crime have nothing to do with its politicians, but with its size.

So being a venture capitalist, he’s proposed a venture capital approach, “to create start-ups, I guess. Start-up states that would compete for us.”

He would split California into six start-up states- South California, West California, Central California, North California, Silicon Valley, and at the very top, Jefferson State.

“Are you serious? Or being provocative?”

That was one of the first questions he got when he unveiled his plan.

He answered that question this week when he announced he’d collected enough signatures for a statewide ballot measure to begin the separation process.

Critics point out the new state of Silicon Valley would immediately become the richest state in the nation, leaving rural Central California to become one of the poorest.

But he says that’s nonsense. “You’ve got to turn that around and imagine if you will, Central California deciding we would like to take all those jobs that are leaving California. It might end up being the wealthiest state.”

If the trends spreads to other states? The more the wealthier!

In the meantime, he says, think of the current California like your cable provider. “They give you whatever they give you. That’s kind of what they got.”

And until that changes, well, you know what Don Henley said, you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave …