Commentary: California's super-rich conquered the world, but not always the voters

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Set us as preferred The New Testament has a lot to say about the poor, but it is short and not very sweet on how tricky it is for the rich to get into heaven.California, however, has proved to be a heaven on earth for big-league moneymakers — billionaires, in modern-day dollars — for almost as far back as there were fortunes to be made.In its 176 years of statehood, California has become vastly rich, leading the ranks not just among states but among nations.Its current billionaires may number as many as 200.

Forbes magazine puts 85 Californians on its list of the 400 richest Americans.Over those decades, tycoons have leveraged their fortunes to shape the state with their railroads, mines, newspapers, oil businesses and ranching and agriculture.Yet in industrialized society, as in physics, every action can generate that equal and opposite reaction, and over those decades, Californians have a history of saying “enough” when its rich men get too big for their board shorts.Proposition 40, the one-time “billionaire wealth tax,” marks the latest of these skirmishes between the uber rich and regular Californians who see the accumulation of wealth and power as an abuse or, at least, feel deprived of their fair share.Los Angeles is a complex place.Luckily, there's someone who can provide context, history and culture.

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