Hotel California - You can check out anytime you like, but your job is leaving
People came to California for jobs in aerospace and technology. They came here to raise capital and build companies that would change the world. Research indicates that for every tech job, 5 additional service jobs have been created.
My family moved from New Rochelle, NY, to Menlo Park, CA in 1970 when I was in 5th grade and then graduated from Woodside High School. My dad opened a sales office for Japan Airlines in San Jose to market to new Silicon Valley companies. Highway 280 had just opened, and BART was new and safe to ride. A few years after Reagan was governor, and a young Jerry Brown the optomist was then governor for his first time.
I moved back to San Francisco in 1990 to help raise capital for tech companies like Cisco Systems, and co-founded a tech start-up in 1994 with big dreams.
4 of the 5 FAANG stocks - Facebook, Apple, Netflix and Google started here - and drove S&P500 market appreciation and U.S. economic growth over the last decade, as Silicon Valley underscored the promise of entrepreneurialism, capitalism and the American dream.
In contrast, today our state’s majestic cities – San Francisco and Los Angeles are experiencing a doom loop of crime, homelessness, and businesses leaving.
And as businesses leave, so goes our jobs - it’s just a matter of time.
Prop 47 decriminalized theft <$950 and drug possession passed in 2014 (under then Attorney General Kamala Harris) led to “smash & grab” looting and drug addiction on the streets of our great cities. Vote Yes on Prop 36 this November to finally reform Prop 47!
At least 237 large companies have left California since 2005, according to the California Policy Center, blaming the state’s ever-expanding regulatory and taxation climate, and high cost of living. Charles Schwab, McKesson, Lockheed, Bank of America, Tesla, among others.were major employers in the Bay Area. Over 120 relocated to Texas. Chevron is moving its HQ to Houston.
The state raised gas taxes under SB-1 to $1.40/gallon (about $2500/year). We are painfully aware it’s at least a buck cheaper per gallon in other states.
The state banned single family zoning under SB9. A single family lot can now be subdivided into 4 units plus ADUs, so your neighbor can build a 4-unit condo next door, and the state government won’t fund the infrastructure, classrooms, to support the increase in population.
Many cities now ban natural gas appliances in new construction.
The state now requires a $20/hour minimum wage for fast food workers, passed on to consumers.
Governor Newsom recently signed into law that school districts are prohibited from informing parents of their elementary school-aged children questioning their gender identity, which caused Elon Musk to move the HQ for SpaceX and X (fka Twitter) to Texas..
We pay over $20k property taxes, 10% state income taxes, 10% sales taxes, $1.40/gal gas tax, yet the State of California has an $85 billion budget deficit this year.
Why would politicians think we would pay more taxes?
Regional Measure (RM-4) was going to raise taxes over the 9-county Bay Area to pay for a $20 billion bond for affordable housing.
But county boards of supervisors pulled the measure after polling indicated RM-4 would fail in 2024.
CGYWHAE - Common ground you won’t hear anywhere else.
