Posted on 02/12/2013 1:51:24 PM PST by Kaslin
I’ve been pointing out the differences between California stagnation and Texas prosperity for quite some time.
And since California voters approved a new 13.3 percent top tax rate last November, I expect the gap to become even wider.
Simply stated, California is the France of America and Texas is the Cayman Islands of America.
So it’s understandable that the Governor of Texas is telling employers in California that his state has a better climate for job creation.
John Fund of National Review opines on this bit of competition between states.
Texas governor Rick Perry knows how to start a rumble. Last week, he spent a mere $24,000 on radio ads in California, urging firms there to move to Texas, with its “zero state income tax, low overall tax burden, sensible regulations, and fair legal system.” …He begins a four-day barnstorming tour of California today, touting Texas’s virtues to business owners. …several observers acknowledged that Perry has gotten the better of the battle.
Texas is clearly doing better on jobs, and it’s easy to avoid higher taxes when you obey Mitchell’s Golden Rule and restrain the burden of government spending.
Indeed, in the last five years Texas has gained 400,000 new jobs while California has lost 640,000. The Lone Star State’s rate of job growth was 33 percent higher than California’s last year, even as the Golden State finally pulled out of the recession. …Texas’s legislature has just trimmed its $188 billion two-year budget by 8 percent, and the state may have more revenue than it can legally spend because it is barred from raising outlays more than the rate of economic growth.
Here’s a very good Steve Breen cartoon about Perry’s fishing trip to the west coast.
And remember my post about Phil Mickelson threatening to leave the state? Well, Chip Bok has a humorous take on that looming departure.
I’ve already written about the exodus of jobs from California, and expect even more in the future.
P.S. Texas is far from perfect. There’s a good bit of crony capitalism in the state. But there’s also some bad policy in the Cayman Islands, so the analogy is appropriate.
P.P.S. This “coyote” joke about California and Texas is the fourth-most viewed post in the history of this blog.
P.P.P.S. Here’s a photo that shows the California bureaucracy in action, and a cartoon featuring archaeologists from the future.
I quite Los Angeles, home of my birth, last year.
As I have posted before, it wasn’t because of the actual expense — I can afford it. It is the ATTITUDE! How DARE I make good early life decisions, work my butt off and make good money as a result!! This behavior must be PUNISHED! If liberals get to go to bed saying “I am a good person, I used FD’s $ to pay for colostomy bags for illegals” that is just an added bonus for them.
Me and Mrs. FD decided we won’t stay where we aren’t wanted. I miss So. Cal but Texas people and attitude makes up for it and then some!
The problem with inviting California to Texas is that Texas might become California - unless the neighbors take care of it.
Exactly right! Austin and Dallas are “California East” already. Of course, parts of Dallas are more like Detroit.
If the competition were to see which state could pander to ILLEGAL aliens the most Texas wins hands down. But, following Texas' lead California has made substantial gains in recent years.
I wouldn’t call what California is bringing down on itself “stagnation”, because stagnation is far too like a state of nominal function. Instead, the best analogy to California is found in this short video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMG-LWyNcAs
Who is John Galt?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.