All is not well in the Golden State

Katy Grimes:

How California Democrats Have Turned The Golden State Into A ‘Sh*thole

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Despite so-called “progressives” promising their policies will create a Soviet-style worker’s paradise, California’s leftist Democrats have turned the once Golden State into a sh*thole through decades of leftist policies penalizing and demonizing employers, businesses, property owners, innovators, entrepreneurs – and really, anyone who wants to work hard and get ahead. These hard working people are responding by fleeing liberal California for conservative red states.

The perception across America is that California is the state people are leaving. And that perception is accurate.

More than 1,000 people each day are leaving leftist sh*thole blue states and moving to red states. “This migration is changing the economic center of gravity in America—moving it relentlessly to the South and West,” according to economist Stephen Moore. “California is one of the oil- and gas-richest states in the nation,” which should mean a mass inbound migration, “but its ‘green’ politicians are regulating that industry out of businesses. So much for caring about working-class Americans,” Moore says.

Even the Tech industry isn’t a growth business in California any longer. Cities With Fastest Growth In STEM Jobs Are Far From Silicon Valley, according to demographer Joel Kotkin. “In some recent months in parts of the Bay Area, The San Jose Mercury reports, the tech job count has actually declined. One limiting factor could be high housing costs. A recent report from the state Legislative Analyst’s Office showed that many CEOs, particularly in Silicon Valley, regard severe housing unaffordability – where you need to earn more than $200,000 annually to buy a median-priced house – as their biggest business challenge.”

And why is that? millennials, the fuel for tech firms, also may not be as urban-centric as some have predicted. Their numbers have recently dropped or plateaued in the much-celebrated core cities of Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York after rising earlier in the decade. In contrast, many Sun Belt areas – Nashville, Charlotte, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Orlando – enjoy stronger net population growth in those between 25 and 34 than coastal California and the Northeast. California’s problem is not just people leaving, but talented young people not coming here who, years ago during our better days, streamed in.

My own millennial son, a Naval officer, recently transferred bases from San Diego to Virginia, and said he wished he’d made the move a few years ago. While not exactly a super low-tax state (but ranked 31 in the Tax Foundation’s 2018 State Business Tax Climate Index, Virginia is much better off than CA’s 48th ranking), cost of living, open carry laws, and general non-California people and attitudes contributed greatly to his opinion. He spent his first 18 months out of the Naval Academy in northern Florida, and appreciated the low-tax, business friendly state so much, he’s maintained his residency there.
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The climate used to be one of the primary draws to California, but it can't make up for the hostile environment for job creators.  Housing if overpriced and homelessness is terrible.