California

Its economy is dismal, its politicians worse. But nowhere can reinvent itself so capably as CaliforniaPITY California. Not only must it endure an epidemic of foreclosure, a 10.5% unemployment rate and the lowest bond rating of any state. It is also suffering a critical assault. In the past few weeks Forbes, Fortune, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal have all published scathing reviews of California. Even this newspaper has called it ungovernable. Although many other states have been knocked by the recession, none has been kicked so enthusiastically while down. The most trenchant critic is Joel Kotkin, an urbanist at Chapman University. Mr Kotkin, who defended California during the early 1990s recession, now believes it is decaying. In his view, the state has been captured by environmentalists and slow-growth zealots who are stymieing house-building and running down dirty industries like agriculture and manufacturing. They are turning California from a place of working- and middle-class opportunity into a playground for the rich and a trap for the poor.