Only a manic bubble mentality could explain all the new building out there, the place is a real um, heckhole.

Dusty, hot, miserable, sprawly, just an awful place. You're running your heat or your AC all year, there are about 3 nice days when you need neither a year. I've seen it down in the 20s in the AM and up in the 90s in the sun later that same day.

Now, I said normal people. It does not make sense for them. I've met, or re-met, a few who moved out to CA about the same time I moved back to CA. They consistantly found that although rents are higher in cali, the increased pay makes up for it. One waitress told me, it's like getting free rent plus nice weather when she did the numbers and compared the two.

The two demographics that make sense in AZ are the retire-and-rot crowd, and criminals. When Three Strikes was enacted in California, over 100 thousand criminals skedaddled for AZ. Prison is such a big part of the economy and culture there that radio stations often broadcast what the day's prison meals are. Going to visit kin in the pen is as much a part of AZ culture as sittin' on the freeway is a part of CA culture. Although AZ actually has far worse traffic jams and aggro drivers.

I think AZ is the textbook example of what Kunstler is talking about.