Overregulation is driving businesses out of California, creating a dangerously “hollowed-out Silicon Valley”
Kerry Jackson of the Pacific Research Institute argues that California’s economy is on the path to serious destruction. For years, residents and businesses have rampantly migrated out-of-state to avoid excessive legislation and costs. Though California—particularly Silicon Valley—is uniquely entrepreneurial and innovative, it’s become a challenging place to do business. The state’s steady loss of business will reap noticeable damage on the economy, Jackson claims.
California remains a large state with a diverse economy. Yet even if Central Valley agriculture, the entertainment industry, financial-service and insurance companies, and manufacturing continue to thrive, a hollowed-out Silicon Valley would inflict serious injury on the state. Carson Bruno, former dean of Pepperdine University and a Hoover Institution fellow, said in 2015 that “Since the Great Recession, the Silicon Valley-Bay Area has become absolutely essential to California’s economic and fiscal health.” This is no less true today. In the pandemic era, Silicon Valley continues “to fare better than other large regions across California and the nation,” MarketWatch reports.
All this suggests the question: Why would tech companies want to leave California in the first place? Their political preferences often line up with California’s blue-state agenda. The weather in Silicon Valley is near perfect. The region is a magnet for talent. There’s a strong entrepreneurial vibe and embedded social and economic networks.
The short answer: too much government meddling in private business affairs, with the threat of more to come. Before Palantir announced its move to Denver, CEO Alex Karp publicly criticized the “increasing intolerance and monoculture of Silicon Valley.” He implied that the “the engineering elite” of Silicon Valley was convinced that it knew best “how society should be organized.” These same flaws characterize California’s single-party rule, which has contributed to a mass exodus by residents and businesses.
This article originally appeared in Fox & Hounds Daily.
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This article is part of an exclusive Opp Now series on California’s outmigration crisis:
SVBJ reporters Mark Calvey and Allison Levitsky dissect why companies are leaving the Bay Area, and how to slow the exodus.
Political commentator Joel Fox says Gov. Gavin Newsom must address the “tidal wave” of Californians moving to Texas for tax, business, and legal benefits, by correcting flawed legislation.
The HJTA’s yearly “Follow the Money” report catalogues state mismanagement of taxpayer money. 2021’s report details key examples of corrupt bureaucratic spending, all closely intertwined with SF Bay Area exoduses.
Scan the high points of CPC’s “Book of Exoduses” from CA, including that $1 trillion-valued Tesla’s headquarters transferred to Texas, along with data center firm Digital Realty Trust and myriad other organizations.
Brandon Ristoff from CPC purports that “The Exodus” began plaguing our state long before COVID-19 did—due to residents’ taxes and housing expenses.
Lee E. Ohanian traces recent mass business departures to California’s imprudent economic policies.
Adam Ozimek and Connor O’Brien’s Economic Innovation Group report discusses how local family outmigration has reached historic highs.
Front Page Magazine’s Larry Sand discusses the Golden State exoduses en masse.
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