By Douglas V. Gibbs
Detroit is a fine example of what liberal control over a city during the long term can do. The city is bankrupt and in ruins, people are fleeing from it, and those left behind live in poverty that rivals the poorest neighborhoods around the world. Liberalism has destroyed that once booming city, yet the democrats can't make that connection. . . or they refuse to.
California is a fine example of what happens when liberal control reigns over the long haul in a State. Toyota, the world's largest automobile manufacturer, is moving its American headquarters from the Los Angeles area in Southern California, to Plano, Texas. The liberal leadership has been chasing business away from California with heavy regulatory policies, and taxation, that makes it difficult to run a business in that State.
"When you look at the whole package, it's difficult to be a business here," lamented Torrance Mayor Frank Scotto, whose community on the edge of the Pacific will suffer as the jobs migrate to Texas.
Huy Fong Foods of Sriracha sauce fame and Exide Technologies of arsenic and lead pollution infamy are also being forced to leave California over heavy emission regulations put upon them by the State.
The Golden State's anti-business attitude has also recently chased away Occidental Petroleum, Comcast, Raytheon, Legalzoom, Campbell's Soup, Waste Connections, Daegis, Vision Service Plan, and Revionics. Much of the deluge of companies relocating from California is partly due to high taxes, partly due to high regulations and red tape, and recently, largely due to the implementation of AB 32, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which adds significant additional costs to doing business in the state.
254 Businesses left California in 2011 (26% more than in 2010), and the pace continues to accelerate.
Nissan departed California for Tennessee in 2006, and Honda ran from the L.A. area for Ohio.
As business flees California, so does jobs, and wealth.
Meanwhile, to add insult to injury, the cost of business in California is being recommended by the Democrats in Sacramento to increase even more. Following the City of Seattle's decision to jack up their minimum wage to $15 through a process of a five year incremental implementation (proposed and pushed by the lone socialist on the city council), California State Assembly member Barbara Lee is calling for a Statewide rise in the Golden State's minimum wage to $26 per hour.
As the owner of the Water Wheel Saloon and Restaurant, a businessman in Norco, California, told me a few weeks ago, "I don't pay taxes, or wages. You do. Whatever my cost of business is, I pass it on to you. I will continue to do so until I can no longer do business, at which time I will shut down, or move out of California."
Newt Gingrich, during the interview with Barbara Lee, pointed out that many countries in Europe — including economic powerhouse Germany — has no minimum wage, yet has tremendously-high economic productivity and relatively low unemployment. He pointed out the average European country with minimum wage laws had 13.8 percent unemployment. No wage law? Just 6.3 percent."
Lee tried to dismiss the comparison, claiming Europe “has a safety net” that America doesn’t possess. Never mind that the "safety net" in European countries have driven some of those countries to bankruptcy, and the governments face severe economic troubles as a result of their heavy government spending on unsustainable entitlement programs.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Toyota Moving US Base from California to Texas - Yahoo News
California's Leaders Shrug off Toyota Move - Sacramento Bee
Report: 254 companies left California in 2011 - Orange County Register
What Recovery? Toyota Leaving California taking 5,000 jobs to Texas - Stephen Frank's California Political News and Views
California's Business 'Leakage' Becoming a Deluge - Fox and Hounds Daily
Rich People Leaving California for Mysterious Reason - FrontPage Mag
Seattle Announces $15 Minimum Wage - Think Progess
California Lawmaker Wants a $26 Minimum Wage in her State - Daily Caller
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