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  #11  
Old 05-04-2014, 08:20 AM
4-2-7 4-2-7 is offline
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The bigger picture is that Texas has become more economically competitive while California has become less so, particularly for energy- and labor-intensive industries. Let us count the ways.

Start with right-to-work laws in southern states that have limited unionization and thus labor costs. Just 4.8% of workers in Texas and 6.1% in Tennessee belong to a union compared to 16.4% in California. Real estate is also cheaper in the South due to less restrictive zoning and environmental regulations, and taxes are lower. According to the Tax Foundation, the state-local tax burden is more than 50% higher in California than in Tennessee and Texas, which don't levy a personal income tax. California's top 13.3% marginal rate is the highest in the country.

Electricity prices are also about 50% higher in California than in the South due to the Golden State's renewable-energy mandate, and its gas is 70 to 80 cents per gallon more expensive because of taxes and blending requirements.

The hostility to fossil fuels has cut California's oil production in half from its 1985 peak while output in Texas has doubled in three years and lifted incomes. The Bureau of Economic Analysis has ranked Midland the country's fastest growing metropolitan area in personal income for the past three years. Nearby Odessa was second for the last two. Between 2008 and 2012, personal income grew 8.05% in Midland and 6.98% in Odessa compared to 4.48% in San Jose and 1.81% in Los Angeles. In March, the unemployment rate was 3.2% in Odessa versus 6.8% in San Jose and 9.7% in L.A.

No city epitomizes California's malaise better than Los Angeles, which hasn't recovered its mojo since the post-Cold War aerospace wind-down. Since 1990 its employment base has declined by 3.1%, which is more than even Detroit (-2.8%). Job growth in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio exceeded 50% over the same period.

According to a report last year by the Los Angeles 2020 Commission, led by such Democratic grandees as Mickey Kantor, Gray Davis and Hilda Solis, Los Angeles added one million new residents between 1980 and 2010 but lost 165,000 jobs. L.A.'s poverty rate of 17.6% is higher than any other major American city. The city has developed a "barbell" economy "typical of developing world cities, like São Paulo," the report notes, with "growth at the top of the income ladder and at the bottom, while the middle class shrinks year after year."

Mr. Brown, promoting his re-election tour, doesn't seem all that concerned that California's middle-class jobs engines are fleeing. "We've got a few problems, we have lots of little burdens and regulations and taxes," the Governor said on Monday, "but smart people figure out how to make it." California's problem is that smart people have figured out they can make it better elsewhere.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...175451998.html
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  #12  
Old 05-04-2014, 08:28 AM
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Meanwhile, the departure from Torrance will leave more than a gap in employment.

According to the city's Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the company was also Torrance's third-highest property taxpayer, with a taxable assessed value of $473 million or over 2 percent of the city's total taxable assessed value last year. Toyota also paid the city $203,037 in water revenue.

Torrance had a $271.5 million budget in 2013 and about $121.5 million in long-term debt. In December 2012, credit rating agency Moody's downgraded Torrance to Aa2 from Aa1, citing a moderately weakened general fund compared to pre-recession levels, increasing pension payments and public safety costs.

The departure could also hurt efforts by Los Angeles to regain its footing in the job market. The region's unemployment rate stood at 8.1 percent in February, well above the national rate of 6.7 percent.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...A3R1AF20140428
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  #13  
Old 05-04-2014, 08:32 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bobabode View Post
"Toyota exit from Torrance inflames Texas/California rivalry" LATimes
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/topof...#axzz30h5HjToL

Of course the $40 million gift from Texas taxpayers has nothing to do with this....
Ya Bob nothing to do with operating a business and again this is an extremely small incentive. So that mean Toyota is moving for much bigger reasons, gee I wonder what they could be?
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  #14  
Old 05-04-2014, 09:13 AM
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As recently as the 1980s, California still had the aura of an unstoppable growth machine, and such a view would have been unthinkable. Now, Texas is the object of economic envy and California is the object lesson, the toxic state.

It's a partisan narrative to be sure, with Republican-run Texas as a low-tax, right-to-work mecca for business. But propaganda aside, though, there is statistical reality to the idea that Texas is rising and California is falling back. In 2000, California’s jobless rate was 4.9%, while the Texas rate was 4.4%. Ten years later, that half-percentage-point gap had widened to more than four points: 12.4% to 8.2%. Texas is also adding more jobs than California, which has 50% more people.

Californians needs to ask if the state has started a cycle of decline, in which a loss of jobs to other states leads to a loss of tax-paying residents, and in turn to a deterioration of the public services that make the state even less desirable for businesses. This “toxic state syndrome,” as it might be called, could be very difficult to shake. The businesses that bring jobs (or take jobs with them when they leave) look for certain things: a skilled work force, relatively low costs, sound infrastructure and public services, and—maybe most important of all—some assurance that these conditions will stay the same.

A state in chronic fiscal distress can’t offer such predictability, and California is a very distressed state. For most of the past decade, its credit rating has been at or near last place in the nation; currently it is rated the lowest by Standard & Poor’s, and Moody’s ranks only Illinois lower. Texas, on the other hand, is just one notch from the top on the S&P scale.

Californians could make things worse this November when voters decide on a measure, backed by Gov. Jerry Brown, to raise its income tax rates (already near the highest in the nation) to prevent deep cuts in school spending. That might produce a temporary burst of revenue but leave the state even more dependent on a volatile revenue source. Then again, if the tax hike doesn’t pass, schools will take a hit that could leave California that much less attractive to employers and employees.

What may be most damaging about California’s tax debate is its tone of desperation. The state is like a man at the end of his rope who has taken hostages—in this case, the schools. Meanwhile, Texas and other states are poaching California jobs with tax incentives at a scale that California state and local governments can’t afford, most recently with the $36 million package of tax breaks and investment funds that convinced Apple Inc. to expand in Austin and add some 3,600 jobs.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...xas-rises.html
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  #15  
Old 05-04-2014, 09:30 AM
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Two dozen companies commit to leaving California

Feb 18, 2013

Two dozen California companies have said they are tired of the business-bashing in Sacramento, along with the high taxes.


The day after Proposition 30 passed, triggering $6 billion in new annual taxes, Arizona launched a campaign to lure some of California’s top companies.

KCRA 3 has learned that 24 chief executives are flying to Phoenix, Ariz., to explore the land of lower taxes and a much friendlier business environment.

Business relocation expert Joe Vranich has been counting.

“I tracked for 2011, that 254 companies of all sizes and shapes and kinds left the state for primarily other states,” said Vranich, the president of Spectrum Location Services in Irvine.

He told KCRA 3 that companies leave California for three primary reasons: “High taxes, excessive regulations and the threat of really ridiculous lawsuits.”



Read more: http://www.kcra.com/news/Two-dozen-c...#ixzz30l0tzK82
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  #16  
Old 05-04-2014, 09:38 AM
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Thanks Bobby Boo Boo

Nice of you to show everyone the ills of Democratic economic policies.

Too bad Obama is following California's lead in case your wondering why this country is not on track yet.

Although for me business is accelerating because of the need of work on the 1%ers homes.
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  #17  
Old 05-04-2014, 09:38 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 4-2-7 View Post
The bigger picture is that Texas has become more economically competitive while California has become less so, particularly for energy- and labor-intensive industries. Let us count the ways.

Start with right-to-work laws in southern states that have limited unionization and thus labor costs. Just 4.8% of workers in Texas and 6.1% in Tennessee belong to a union compared to 16.4% in California. Real estate is also cheaper in the South due to less restrictive zoning and environmental regulations, and taxes are lower. According to the Tax Foundation, the state-local tax burden is more than 50% higher in California than in Tennessee and Texas, which don't levy a personal income tax. California's top 13.3% marginal rate is the highest in the country.

Electricity prices are also about 50% higher in California than in the South due to the Golden State's renewable-energy mandate, and its gas is 70 to 80 cents per gallon more expensive because of taxes and blending requirements.

The hostility to fossil fuels has cut California's oil production in half from its 1985 peak while output in Texas has doubled in three years and lifted incomes. The Bureau of Economic Analysis has ranked Midland the country's fastest growing metropolitan area in personal income for the past three years. Nearby Odessa was second for the last two. Between 2008 and 2012, personal income grew 8.05% in Midland and 6.98% in Odessa compared to 4.48% in San Jose and 1.81% in Los Angeles. In March, the unemployment rate was 3.2% in Odessa versus 6.8% in San Jose and 9.7% in L.A.

No city epitomizes California's malaise better than Los Angeles, which hasn't recovered its mojo since the post-Cold War aerospace wind-down. Since 1990 its employment base has declined by 3.1%, which is more than even Detroit (-2.8%). Job growth in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio exceeded 50% over the same period.

According to a report last year by the Los Angeles 2020 Commission, led by such Democratic grandees as Mickey Kantor, Gray Davis and Hilda Solis, Los Angeles added one million new residents between 1980 and 2010 but lost 165,000 jobs. L.A.'s poverty rate of 17.6% is higher than any other major American city. The city has developed a "barbell" economy "typical of developing world cities, like São Paulo," the report notes, with "growth at the top of the income ladder and at the bottom, while the middle class shrinks year after year."

Mr. Brown, promoting his re-election tour, doesn't seem all that concerned that California's middle-class jobs engines are fleeing. "We've got a few problems, we have lots of little burdens and regulations and taxes," the Governor said on Monday, "but smart people figure out how to make it." California's problem is that smart people have figured out they can make it better elsewhere.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...175451998.html
Some interesting points. I am not sure they are all accurate, but well intended for sure.

I have to ask, is this a good thing that Toyota is moving to texas? I understand that it is for their bottom line. But what about the employees? When should a companies dedication to its employees trump increases to the bottom line? At some point "free market" no longer is free and the people become slaves to the businesses. I can't see when that is ever good. When a business has to move, that is one thing. To me it is a bit unethical to fire a plant full of people so that you can rehire a new group of employees at a lower wage.

I do think you are correct in the reasoning that Toyota did this for income tax, energy cost, real-estate costs, etc. So why not bring the employees with them to texas and share some of the savings with them. Thus they are more competitive and the employees win too? Just a thought
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  #18  
Old 05-04-2014, 10:01 AM
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If I get this correctly, these are corporate/management jobs and not manufacturing jobs so the union question is pretty much a moot point. I also get the impression that Toyota was going to move somewhere else to consolidate, no matter what. It sounds like Toyota is going to offer many of their current employees the opportunity to move to Texas and keep their jobs, which could work out even better for the employee as long as they are paid the same.
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  #19  
Old 05-04-2014, 10:03 AM
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Texas to pay $10,000 for each Toyota job relocated
www.marketwatch.com/story/texas-to-pay-10000-for-each-toyota-job-relocated-2014-04-28

This is bribery. I don't believe that the state of Texas is paying this bribe to relocate workers from other states, especially California. Question I would have is if the cost of operation is so much lower than California, why didn't they move on their own rather than be enticed monetarily?

It is a rhetorical question.
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  #20  
Old 05-04-2014, 10:14 AM
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mpholland mpholland is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BeamOn View Post
Texas to pay $10,000 for each Toyota job relocated
www.marketwatch.com/story/texas-to-pay-10000-for-each-toyota-job-relocated-2014-04-28

This is bribery. I don't believe that the state of Texas is paying this bribe to relocate workers from other states, especially California. Question I would have is if the cost of operation is so much lower than California, why didn't they move on their own rather than be enticed monetarily?

It is a rhetorical question.
They were going to move on their own. They had already narrowed it down to Denver, Atlanta, Charlotte, or Dallas.
Texas just happened to be willing offer a big financial incentive to boot.
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Last edited by mpholland; 05-04-2014 at 10:22 AM.
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