The Fool's Golden State

With little more than a few months left of my program I've been looking into jobs, and considering the west coast. I'm ready to trade in 6 months of miserable weather for year round sun, beach, and surf. When I tell this to some of my friends who are die hard east coasters, they often contend that while the weather over there maybe be sunnier and warmer, Mother Nature seems to have a grudge against the Golden state. These east coast friends of mine usually hang on to their undying love of the east coast, by mentioning how the big one is coming, the possibility of war between Arizona and Cali over water, and the a slight chance I may run into one of the housewives of OC. Of course all these arguments against moving to the other side of the continent are valid, especially the last one, but I find east coast winters a compelling enough reason to risk it all.
Unfortunately all the aforementioned dangers pale in comparison to the economic situation the state is facing. The state of California is the 8th largest economy in the world, and when it rains in an economy that size it pours. There’s been some unprecedented action taken by the state government, in an attempt to halt the state's financial bleeding. Massive amounts of teacher layoffs, which have resulted in teacher hunger strikes, some of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, Government issued IOU’s instead of wages, and the highest unemployment rate in 70 years.
Last year I traveled to the golden state, before the near collapse of the American financial sector, and was a bit startled by the culture shock I experienced. Growing up in the east coast people tend to be a bit more modest about wealth. The countless $100k + cars I saw were a big departure from the average $40k cars common here in the east. I remember talking to a friend of mine from San Francisco, who lamented that California represents everything that’s wrong with America. Big cars, gross materialism, unaffordable mortgages; essentially an unsustainable lifestyle. Now I'm not arguing against these things, but an economy based on 70% consumption can’t be a sustainable one, and I wonder if my friend was indeed right in his caricature of the Golden state. Does the land of sun, surf and beach represent what's wrong with America?
Disclaimer: this aint a dis to all my west coast people (sorry)