Really?

BZ

From the Orange County Register:

So far this year, 69 companies have moved all or part of their California work and jobs to other states or countries, reports Irvine relocation consultant Joe Vranich. It’s the fastest rate of departures since Vranich started tracking the exodus in 2009, he says. There have been an average of 4.7 moves per week from Jan. 1 through April 12, compared to 3.9 moves in all of 2010.

The numbers are low, Vranich says, estimating that only one in five out-of-state moves is made public.

I already drew the attention of my readers to this fact with my August 28th, 2010 post, in which I listed, in detailed extremis, the following business movements/reasons:

CalStar Products Inc., headquartered in Newark, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay Area, in January 2010 was awarded $2.44 million in federal clean energy tax credits. The company said in the future it expects to build additional plants in the Mississippi Valley and the East Coast. In late 2009 CalStar opened a plant in Caledonia, Wisconsin.

Creators Syndicate may flee L.A. because it operates like a “banana republic.”

Creel Printing left Costa Mesa for Las Vegas and So Cal loses 60 more jobs.

Dassault Falcon looked at building an aircraft services facility in Riverside County but instead located in Reno.

DaVita Inc. moved its HQ from Los Angeles to Denver; expects to see millions of dollars in savings over time.

Denny’s Corp., the large restaurant chain, once had its headquarters in La Mirada, later in Irvine, Calif, and then moved to Spartanburg, South Carolina. In fairness, I note the move occurred in the early 1990s. However it’s noteworthy because the company was founded in California and its growth over time created HQ jobs in another state.

Digital Domain, the Academy-Award-winning visual effects studio based in Venice, Calif., placed new studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Port St. Lucie, Florida, which combined will have about 500 employees. The facilities will allow the company to reduce costs while continuing to deliver cutting-edge work.

DuPont Fabros Technology suspended a $270 million Santa Clara data center project in favor of one in Ashburn, Virginia.

EDMO Distributors, Inc., a world-wide wholesaler of aircraft avionics, test equipment, and pilot supplies, moved its HQ from Valencia, Calif., to Spokane Valley, Wash. Since, it has built a larger headquarters in the city’s Mirabeau Point community complex.

Edwards Lifesciences based in Irvine will expand with 1,000 employees – not in California but in Draper, Utah.

EMRISE Corp. completed its HQ move from Rancho Cucamonga to Eatontown, NJ, in May 2009. The company said the move “will result in additional annualized cost savings of approximately $1 million and facilitate improvements in operating efficiency. . . . The cost savings associated with relocating our corporate headquarters will start immediately. . . The aggregate total of these expense reductions will increase our profitability and cash flow in this and succeeding years and, over time, substantially improve our ability to further reduce our long term debt.”

Facebook, based in Palo Alto, will expand in a major way in Oregon by locating a custom data center in Prineville. It will be a 147,000-square-foot facility costing $180 million and will employ 200 workers during construction and another 35 full-time once operating in 2011.

FallLine Corporation left Huntington Beach, where they were being “hammered” with multiple governmental regulatory fees, for Reno, Nevada.

Fidelity National Financial left Santa Barbara for Florida, spurred by California’s “oppressive” business environment.

First American Corp., based in Santa Ana, will open a call center in March 2010 not in California but in Phoenix, where it expects to employ about 400 people within two years.

Fluor Corp. moved its global headquarters from Aliso Viejo to Irving, Texas, with about 100 employees asked to relocate while the company planned to hire the same number there. In 2006, when Fluor moved into its new headquarters building, a company statement said: “The official dedication had a decidedly Texas theme” as a horseshoe was raised on the building, a time-honored Texas tradition.

Foxconn Electronics, a large contract electronics maker, moved some of its Fullerton operations to Dallas.

Fuel System Solutions moved its headquarters from Santa Ana to New York.

Gregg Industries, owned by Neenah Enterprises Inc. in Wisconsin, closed a 300-employee foundry in El Monte foundry under pressure from the South Coast Air Quality Management District to make $5 million in upgrades. The company didn’t want to make the investment in the difficult economic climate so it decided instead to leave the state.

Helix Wind Inc. may move its research and development, engineering, and testing departments from San Diego to “more supportive” Oregon.

Hewlett-Packard, HQ’d in Palo Alto, at various times has moved jobs to Tennessee and Texas.

Whew! Thanks for sticking with this post so far!

Continuing with the article:

Among the 69 [businesses most recently fleeing Fornicalia. –BZ] are some big names: CKE Restaurants, which started in Orange County and now is based in Carpinteria; Dunn-Edwards paints in Vernon; and eBay Inc. in San Jose which will add 1,000 high-paying jobs in Austin, Tex. after receiving government incentives to locate there.

Further, we must ask: WHY are businesses leaving Fornicalia? Are there some common threads? Can we identify commonalities and trends?

I submit: yes. We can. Here are the Top Ten Reasons listed according to Joe Vranich:

The #10 Reason (New!) – Unprecedented Energy Costs: The California Manufacturers and Technology Association states that commercial electrical rates here already are 50% higher than in the rest of the country. However, a law enacted in April 12, 2011 requires utilities to get one-third of their power from renewable sources (e.g., solar panels, windmills) within nine years. Look for costs to increase by another 19% in many places to a whopping 74% in Los Angeles. Such new burdens along with upcoming regulations stemming from the “California Global Warming Solutions Act” set potentially overwhelming obstacles to companies here as they try to meet competition based in other states and in foreign nations.

#9 – Severe Tax Treatment: The Tax Foundation in their 2011 State Business Tax Climate Index lists California at No. 49 for tax fairness. CFO Magazine ranked California the worst state for tax treatment. The Council on State Taxation ranks California as the only state to receive a D- grade (the lowest grade). Last year the National Conference of State Legislatures said California remains the number one state in raising taxes – raising them higher than any other state that increased taxes in 2009.

#8 – Worst Regulatory Burden: The consulting firm Bain & Co. constructed a “regulatory hassle index” that found “California is far worse than any other state by a very significant margin.” The finding was echoed by Development Counselors International that found that 72% of surveyed corporate executives listed California as having the “worst business climate” in the entire United States. The newest survey, released in March 2011, found that 87.7% of California executives who also operate in several states say California is a harder place to do business than anywhere else. The survey, by the California Foundation for Commerce and Education, found that among the other 12.3%, not one executive said it’s easier doing business in California.

#7 – Dreadful Legal Treatment: The Civil Justice Association of California said the state ranks 44th in legal fairness to business. Los Angeles was again named the least fair and reasonable litigation environment in the entire country.

#6 – Most Expensive Business Locations: The Rose Institute of State and Local Government reported in its 2010 survey that California cities continue to be some of the most expensive locations to do business in the United States. That was confirmed by the Milken Institute, which found that California businesses are paying 23% more than the national average just to operate here.

#5 – Provable Savings Elsewhere: Again Bain & Co. found that more than half of California business leaders – an astonishing 60% – said their policy is to restrict job growth in the state or move jobs to other U.S. locations. Some companies are quite open about this, like Intel, which has said it will never build another plant in California, and McAfee in 2010 admitted it intentionally avoids hiring in California and saves about 30 to 40% every time it hires outside of the state.

#4 – Downright Unfriendly: The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council in Virginia found that California ranked 49th overall in terms of business friendliness. That was echoed in February 2010 when The Mercatus Center at George Mason University ranked California 48th in economic, regulatory and personal freedoms in the 50 states.

#3 – Uncontrollable Spending: Extravagant spending causes California to now have the lowest credit rating of any state. The American Legislative Exchange Council points out: “Despite the dubious distinction of having both the highest statewide personal income tax and the highest state sales tax in the nation, California still finds itself with far and away the largest budget deficit of any state.”

#2 – Excessively Adversarial: For two years in a row Chief Executive magazine found California to be the worst state in the nation in which to do business. Said one CEO, “California is terrible. Even when we’ve paid their high taxes in full, they still treat every conversation as adversarial. It’s the most difficult state in the nation.” The magazine calls California the “Venezuela of North America.”

#1 – The ‘Outpouring’ of Poor Rankings Continues: California ranked dead last in the latest Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States for 2010 study. The finding was based on a composite of labor-related factors, business and personal taxes, the litigation environment, demographics, crime rates, school dropout rates, lifestyle and a multitude of other issues. There is little evidence that California’s business environment will improve considering that that the legislature in 2011 has voted down litigation reform, tax-increase plans are underway, and a host of new regulations are to be implemented that will increase costs for literally every business.

But will Fornicalia LISTEN??

I submit:

NO.

Those who drive the car of Fornicalia are not only Tone Deaf — but — Blinded By Philosophy.

Sorry for the length of the post but —

It was necessary.

Let YOUR state be forewarned of the destructive tendencies of Leftism.

BZ

And yet, Mr Obama reported an income of $1.73 million dollars for 2010.

Glenn Beck has disappeared from the Fox TV radar screens in what appeared to have been a record 2.35 seconds.

I like creativity.