Poor California came in last again. Other states in the bottom five included Massachusetts, New Jersey, Michigan, and New York. This paragraph summarizes what is today wrong with the state of my birth:
Californians pay among the highest income and sales taxes in the nation, the former exceeding 10 percent in the top brackets. Unemployment statewide is over 12.2 percent, higher than the national average. State politics seems consumed with how to divide a shrinking pie rather than how to expand it. Against national trend, union density is climbing from 16.1 percent of workers in 1998 to 17.8 percent in 2002. Organized labor has more political influence in California than in most other states. In addition, unfunded pension and health care liabilities for state workers top $500 billion and the annual pension contribution has climbed from $320 million to $7.3 billion in less than a decade. When state employees reach critical mass, they tend to become a permanent lobby for continual growth in government.
Here is an article in The Orange County Register which discusses the negative content of the survey. I particularly like this comment made by a CEO which explains why Texas ranked #1:
Texas is pro-business with reasonable regulations while California is anti-business with anti-business regulations.
