&#62; In 2005, Californians paid out $35.9 billion and received back $31.2 billion. That's a gap of $4.7 billion. That's a lot.<p>Actually, it's more, and it doesn't matter.<p>CA elects "progressive legislators" who push the programs that do such transfers.  Do you really want to argue that it's okay to do that on the state level but not on the national level?