San Fran Chronicles 224
If you didn't know already... California is a big state. As in really big. Not just size but in what we produce. If California was its own nation it be the 8th largest economy in the world (U.S. is #1).
Not only that, but if the Bay Area alone was its own country (which many of us wish...) we would be the 22nd largest economy in the world.
The first time you visit California you can see why we have such a large economy... the entire central part of the state is a huge bread basket, we have a very long coastline filled with cities and ports, we have vast mountain ranges that have ample natural resources, and well... we also grow more pot than... ummm... anyone in the world.
If the data included all the billions of dollars of black market marijuana I would imagine we would cruise up a few spots in the rankings. Even when the legal marijuana is accounted for it equals an additional billion dollars a year (an estimate - because the pot clubs don't actually divulge how much they sell... most people believe its closer to 5 billion a year).
So keep in mind the next time you trash California - we are adding more to our nations GDP than any other state... plus we grow really good herb...
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DOMESTIC PRODUCTION
California 8th among world economies
Tom Abate
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
California may be suffering at the moment, but if it were a separate nation, it would still be the world's eighth-largest economy. This chart is based on figures provided by the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy in ....Palo Alto..... It uses data from the World Bank and U.S. government to estimate the gross domestic product, or total value of goods and services, produced in each economic region. The center also estimated the 2008 GDP of the nine Bay Area counties: Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, Marin, Solano, Sonoma, ..Napa.., Alameda and Contra Costa. If the Bay Area were a nation, the center reckons that its $487 billion economy would rank 22nd, behind ..Switzerland.. but ahead of Sweden, with GDPs of $488 billion and $480 billion, respectively.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/08/BUEE19JM8O.DTL This article appeared on page DC - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle