The Independent Institute in cooperation with Canada’s Fraser Institute has issued a new 2017 Economic Freedom of North America report and California’s ranking shows what happens when politicians who have never held a real job or created real jobs in the private sector decide they can regulate an economy into success.
California ranks 49th out of all 50 states, finishing just ahead of that slave to Big Government, New York. For some reason the wizards in Sacramento think driving out businesses and replacing them with illegal aliens attracted by “sanctuary policies” is going to pay off big the for state.
Dr. Lawrence J. McQuillan, Senior Fellow and Director of the Independent Institute’s Center on Entrepreneurial Innovation, explains this fallacy, “California’s lack of economic freedom helped motivate more than 10,000 businesses to leave the Golden State, reduce operations, or expand elsewhere during the past seven years.” This goes a long way to explain the 3.5 million individuals who moved out of California from 2010 to 2015.
Unfortunately, the consequences of leftist Big Government policies are inescapable. Here are some examples I’ve covered in the past: California has six of the ten worst places to retire here.
Bi-partisan unity in California means Republicans and Democrats unite to kill jobs here.
And Texas’ economy is booming while California’s declines here.
The ‘Economic Freedom’ index includes statistics on “government spending, taxation and labor market restrictions.” Too bad marijuana consumption and production wasn’t included, because that might have improved the Ganga State’s ranking.
For comparison purposes New Hampshire, at 8.3 out of 10, was top-ranked for the third consecutive year. Tied for 2nd were Texas and Florida, followed by South Dakota and Tennessee. So now we know for sure why people and businesses are leaving California for Texas and it’s not the weather.
Fred McMahon, a co-author of the report, explains what characteristics define a state with economic freedom and opportunity, “The freest economies operate with comparatively less government interference, relying more on personal choice and markets to decide what’s produced, how it’s produced, and how much is produced.”
The only discordant note in the announcement of the report came from the president of the Independent Institute, David J. Theroux. With a surprising amount of naiveté from what one would think is a hard-nosed economist, Theroux predicted, “The 2017 report shows the public, news media, and policymakers in Sacramento what changes need to be made to make California competitive in the future.”
Only there is no chance the know-it-all micro-managers in Sacramento will take any advice from the Institute that isn’t in the vein of “Tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect.”
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker’s bureau. Read more reports from Michael Reagan — Go Here Now.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)." Read more of Michael Shannon's reports — Go Here Now.