California’s Ongoing Idiocy Continued Tuesday…Rest Of Country Will Pay

Since I live in the Socialist State of Kalifornia I figured I would put up a post on the complete and utter demise of this State after the last election. Couple figures first:

• Some 2.3 million Californians are without jobs, for a 12.4% unemployment rate — one of the highest in the country.

• From 2001 to 2010, factory jobs plummeted from 1.87 million to 1.23 million — a loss of 34% of the state’s industrial base. Ask any company, and it’ll tell you the same thing: It’s now almost impossible to build a big factory in California.

• With just 12% of the U.S. population, California has almost a third of the nation’s welfare recipients. Some joke the state motto should be changed from “The Golden State” to “The Welfare State.” Meanwhile, 15.3% of all Californians live in poverty.

• The state budget gap for 2009-10 was $45.5 billion, or 53% of total state spending — the largest in any state’s history.

• The state’s sales tax is the nation’s highest, and its income tax the third-highest, the BusinessInsider Web site recently noted. Meanwhile, the Tax Foundation’s “State Business Tax Climate Index” ranks California 48th.

• In a ranking by corporate relocation expert Ronald Pollina of the 50 states based on 31 factors for job creation, California finished dead last.

And what did the voters of his State decide? Not only did they elect a has-been liar named Jerry Brown but they also passed a Proposition that would require only a simple majority in Congress to pass a budget. Prior to this it was 2/3rd’s which gave Republicans, who are always the minority in this Socialist State, some leverage to get some of the worst tax hikes and bad stuff out of the budget.

Not anymore.

So now expect budget busting numbers to come out of our State Legislature. But wait….wonder of wonders, Californians in the same election approved Proposition 26 which makes it harder to raise taxes. But does anyone really believe a super liberal Legislature is going to stop spending on all their Utopian idiocy?

Ain’t happening jack.

For one, knowing this State, any intelligent Proposition will go to court and a activist judge will throw it out:

Shaun Bowler, a political scientist at University of California, Riverside, said odd voting patterns often spark lawsuits, and referenda have been thrown out as a consequence.

“Prop 26 will end up in court,” predicted Bowler, who said it is poorly worded and fails to clearly define “fee.”

“You can always try to litigate [ballot measures] out of being implemented,” he added. “That’s likely going to happen here.”

And even if 26 sticks around you can expect the Legislature to spend and borrow, spend and borrow….and then all you good people in less retarded States will be sending money to bail this State out.

This place is a mess and the businesses can see it:

In executive coaching, there is a saying: “The problem you define is the one you solve.” Based on what I’ve seen, California is in serious trouble because many people refuse to admit to one of our big problems – the flight of businesses, capital and jobs to other states and nations.

Good information about the phenomena is hard to come by. Hence, out of frustration, a year ago I began compiling a list of what I call “California Disinvestment Events.”

The new compilation shows that 144 companies have fully or partially engaged in such events during the first three quarters of 2010, nearly triple the 51 companies discovered for all last year. You can see the list of companies that disinvest along with explanatory context here.

Such events are found in public documents. The real exodus is incalculable because so many are carried out without public notice. I think that for every one that becomes public knowledge, another dozen or more occur. Of course, many are small companies, but as they grow the economic benefits will be reaped elsewhere.

Since Joseph Vranich wrote the above article he has updated the list with another 14 companies bringing the total to a 158 leaving California.

And you can count Investors Business Daily as another one:

Worse is the feeling among the state’s businesses of an entrenched, almost pathological antipathy toward any job-creating activity.

As Cypress Semiconductor CEO T.J. Rodgers memorably put it: “The killer factor in California for a manufacturer to create, say, 1,000 blue-collar jobs is a hostile government that doesn’t want you there and demonstrates it in thousands of ways.”

So far this year, thanks to California’s unfriendly political environment, strict regulations and high taxes, 32 companies have announced they’ll either expand elsewhere, move or shut down operations, according to the California Manufacturers & Technology Association.

For many, it’s as simple as ABC — Anywhere But California. This is an issue near and dear to our hearts. Investor’s Business Daily was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles — and for a quarter of a century has proudly called California its home.

But we too have been affected by the state’s poisonous, anti-business political environment. With de facto one-party rule in the state since the 1960s and few signs of change anytime soon, our optimism about the state’s future has begun to wane.

As a result, sad to say, much of IBD’s future growth will happen at a new facility in Texas — where local and state authorities have bent over backwards to make us feel welcome.

California was once like Texas, but lost its way. Today, when comparisons are made, California is most often compared to Greece — another idyllic place with a sunny, Mediterranean climate on the verge of bankruptcy.

But the liberals voted to keep us on a path towards bankruptcy.

Just sad.

Curt

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