Exodus from California

Arnold Beichman points out in National Review Online that no one complains about businesses outsourcing from state to state. "Why is outsourcing to Mississippi to escape tax and high-wage burdens in California acceptable but outsourcing to India or Bangladesh is not?" THIS is the kind of outsourcing that California should be worried about--far more businesses are moving employees to Texas than to India. Excerpt:

The California Business Roundtable has described California's business climate as "atrocious." The Roundtable surveyed more than 95 percent of the state's industry sectors, including both small and large businesses.

Despite high worker productivity, a high concentration of science and technology workers (think of Silicon Valley), and available venture capital, companies seeking to expand or relocate avoid California even with a conservative governor like Arnold Schwarzenegger in office.

Here's what the Roundtable survey found:

1. The cost of doing business in California is 30 percent higher than the western-state average.

2. Almost 40 percent of the California decision-makers participating in the Roundtable survey plan to "outsource" jobs from California to other western states, preferably Texas.

3. Half of the companies have "explicit policies to halt employment growth in California while less than five percent of companies have retention policies in place to keep jobs in California."

4. Last, California's "regulatory environment is the most costly, complex and uncertain in the nation." Regulatory costs are 105 percent higher in California than in other western states.