Actually, the Golden State is a leader in a crony capitalist program that preys on the little guy in the name of the environment.  The program was hatched in 2007 in the hotbed of American leftism, Berkeley, Calif., and has now spread like a lot of California's bad ideas to 33 other states and the District of Columbia.

You're going to think I'm making this up, but the program works like this:

Plumbers, electricians, other tradesmen, and building contractors pitch loans under the program to homeowners as a way of financing green energy improvements, such as new windows, insulation, energy-efficient air-conditioning, and xeriscape landscaping.

In turn, the pitchers get a referral fee from lenders.

There is no attempt to check the creditworthiness of borrowers, because the loans are secured by the value of the borrower's house.

The loans are then bundled into bonds by Wall Street, just as mortgages had been bundled into securities before the last housing bubble and crash.