Secular, State 'Arks' Business And Americans Are Escaping To

Floating above the flood

Which States Are Floating Above 

The Bloodwaters Of Socialism?

And which are dying on he bottom?

The following from Sunday Intelligence

Were Are All the Fleeing 

California Businesses Going?

The state of California is now losing businesses headquartered in the state at twice the rate compared to last year, according to a new report from the Hoover Institute.

74 large businesses are known to have moved their headquarters out of California in the first half of 2021, which is double the rate of each of the past three years.

More businesses left California in just the first six months of this year, than over the entire course of 2020.

Texas is the number one destination. Since 2018 it has become the new headquarters of at least 114 businesses which were previously based in California.

During that time Tennessee attracted 25 companies from California, followed by Arizona (17), Nevada (15), Colorado (14), and Florida (13).

The Hoover Institute says that these numbers are actually an under-count. That’s because it only tracked companies that made the move public knowledge — which is not required by law.

In addition, it is only counting the headquarters moved — not jobs. For example, Disney is not officially relocating its headquarters, but it is moving 2,000 headquarters jobs to Orlando, Florida. But this type of loss for California is not reflected in the Hoover Institute’s report.

To get a more accurate picture of the California exodus, the Hoover Institute also looked at new capital projects in each state. On a per capita basis, California ranks 46 out of 50 states when measuring businesses deploying capital for new projects.

That strongly suggests new business growth is not making up for California’s losses — it is a net loser of business, and that trend appears to only be accelerating.

What this means:

California has some of: the highest taxes in the nation, the most restrictive regulation, the highest cost of living, the highest housing costs, a risky legal environment (i.e. the “Sue Your Boss” law), and increasingly, a lower quality of life.

For a long time, California’s exports in technology and culture made up for the high costs. But now even film production is branching out to Canada and Atlanta, Georgia, for example.

And some high profile tech companies are heading for the exits — for example, Tesla built a new factory in Texas instead of California, and Palantir relocated from Silicon Valley to Denver, Colorado.

You simply cannot fight the reality of basic economics forever.

What you can do about it:

The great thing about the United States is that there are 50 different jurisdictions which offer varying degrees of business freedom.

Chief Executive magazine surveys CEOs across the US. It says the three most important things to CEOs about business location is tax policy, regulatory climate, and talent availability.

In its 2021 “The Best and Worst States for Business,” survey, CEOs ranked the best states as:

1. Texas
2. Florida
3. Tennessee
4. North Carolina
5. Indiana

And the worst:

1. California
2. New York
3. Illinois
4. New Jersey
5. Washington

The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council found similar results when analyzing state taxes, spending, and regulatory environments.

On 62 policy measures it found the most entrepreneur-friendly states are:

1. Texas
2. Nevada
3. Florida
4. South Dakota
5. Wyoming
6. Indiana

And the worst:

1. New Jersey
2. California
3. Hawaii
4. New York
5. Minnesota

The Tax Foundation’s 2021 State Business Tax Climate Index found that the most business friendly states when it comes to taxation are:

1. Wyoming
2. South Dakota
3. Alaska
4. Florida
5. Montana
6. New Hampshire

(Texas is ranked number 11.)

And the worst:

1. New Jersey
2. California
3. New York
4. Connecticut
5. Minnesota

The Fraser Institute’s report on “The Economic Freedom of North America,” measures variables such as labor market freedom, legal systems and property rights, payroll tax rates, government spending, and business regulations.

It found the best states for economic freedom are:

1. New Hampshire
2. Florida
3. Virginia
4. Texas
5. Tennessee
6. South Dakota

And the worst:

1. New York
2. West Virginia
3. Alaska
4. California
5. Vermont

When it comes electricity costs for businesses, the U.S. Energy Information Administration measures both commercial (stores and offices) and industrial (factories and production) costs.

The national average cost for commercial energy is 11.1 cents per kilowatt-hour.

The lowest cost states for commercial energy are:

1. Oklahoma (6.4 c/kwh)
2. Nevada (7.2 c/kwh)
3. Idaho (7.8 c/kwh)
4. Virginia (7.8 c/kwh)
5. Utah (8 c/kwh)

And the most expensive:

1. Hawaii (30.8 c/kwh)
2. Alaska (18.9 c/kwh)
3. California (17.2 c/kwh)
4. Connecticut (17 c/kwh)
5. Massachusetts (16.8 c/kwh)

The national average cost for industrial energy is 7 cents per kilowatt-hour.

The lowest cost states for industrial energy are:

1. Oklahoma (3.9 c/kwh)
2. Nevada (4.9 c/kwh)
3. Tennessee (5.3 c/kwh)
4. Kentucky (5.4 c/kwh)
5. Georgia (5.4 c/kwh)

And the most expensive:

1. Hawaii (26.7 c/kwh)
2. Alaska (16.5 c/kwh)
3. Rhode Island (16 c/kwh)
4. Connecticut (14.7 c/kwh)
5. Massachusetts (14.5 c/kwh)

With a few outliers (like Alaska variously showing up at the top and bottom of rankings) we can see the usual suspects appearing over and over.

Texas, Florida, Tennessee, South Dakota, New Hampshire, and Indiana frequently appear listed as the best states in which to do business. (Go figure — all but Indiana also have no personal state income tax.)

And New Jersey, New York, and California are consistently the worst states.