The Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, recently ranked California 48th among the 50 states for personal and economic freedom.
The study also examines fiscal and regulatory policies. For the first time, California’s population decreased last year, resulting in the loss of a congressional seat. In the third quarter, 150,000 people left California on average, compared to 60,000 net departures in last year’s first quarter.
There has been a 38% drop in new arrivals between March 2020 and September 2021. California has 58 counties. New arrivals decreased in all of them.
These are some examples of the consequences of losing personal and financial freedom. A publicly-held company with California headquarters must have at least one to three female board members by 2021. The size of the company will determine how many. Otherwise, it could be subject to a $100,000 fine.
Proponents argue that female directors increase profits by having more women on them. One wonders why companies don’t sack their male employees to make way for an all female board.
The California Department of Education has proposed an “equitable math” framework. California Political Review says the framework “promotes the concept that working to figure out a correct answer is an example of racism and white supremacy invading the classroom.”
As of Jan. 1, 2022, California’s new bacon law is scheduled to take effect. According to the Associated Press: “Put simply, the law requires that breeding pigs, egg-laying chickens, and veal calves be given enough space to stand and turn around. For pigs, that means they no longer can be kept in narrow ‘gestation crates’ and must have 24 square feet of usable space.” Producers predict shortages and more expensive bacon and pork products.
In October, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, to continue the fight against “climate change,” signed a bill to eliminate gasoline-powered lawn mowers and leaf blowers. Never mind that a spokesperson for the National Association of Landscape Professionals said a three-person landscaping crew will need to carry 30 to 40 fully charged batteries to power its equipment during a full day’s work.
“These companies,” said the spokesperson, “are going to have to completely retrofit their entire workshops to be able to handle this massive change in voltage so they’re going to be charged every day.”
Then there’s the new law requiring large toy stores to set up “gender neutral” toy sections. Evan Low, the California Democratic assemblyman who co-authored the bill said: “We need to stop stigmatizing what’s acceptable for certain genders and just let kids be kids. My hope is this bill encourages more businesses across California and the U.S. to avoid reinforcing harmful and outdated stereotypes.”
While Democratic lawmakers are trying to protect children against harmful and outdated stereotypes through their legislation, many Californian public school students cannot read or perform math at the state level of proficiency, which is not particularly high.
In 2019, only half of children in public schools were proficient in reading, while 40% were proficient in math.
California’s jobless rate, 7.3%, ties with Nevada’s for last place. Texas and Florida, however, are at 5.4%, 4.6%, and respectively.
Lee Ohanian, a UCLA economist, co-authored the August report on California’s tax and regulatory policies that are causing businesses to leave California at an unprecedented pace. The report found: “Unless policy reforms reverse this course, California will continue to lose businesses, both large, established businesses, as well as young, rapidly growing businesses, some of which will become transformational giants of tomorrow.”
California policies expel high-profile, wealthy people. Elon Musk is currently the world’s wealthiest man and will be moving his Tesla headquarters to Texas. Musk, who claims he will pay $11 Billion in taxes this year for Tesla, has already moved his home from Los Angeles to Austin.
In a population of almost 40 million Californians, 1% of taxpayers account for nearly half of the state’s income-tax revenues. And Musk, the biggest of the “1 percenters,” just walked.
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