I don't disagree with most of what you said, though I do disagree that one needs to leave California to thrive for the timeframe you've given on $10k. I still don't see where forced exile for life comes into play though.
The idea is this $10,000 is the last bit of money the state of California will spend on you. If you want to take that $10,000 spend it all on anime, and then camp in the woods in Colorado cool just don't become California's problem again.