Gavin Newsom is still boasting about California’s GDP even as residents struggle, move out
Zachary Faria
Video Embed
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom can’t stop boasting about how great California’s gross domestic product is, even as the state has become the most difficult one for middle and lower-class people to live in.
Newsom told Florida and Texas to “eat your heart out” over California’s GDP, which is on the verge of passing that of Germany. Were California a country, that would move it into fourth place worldwide, behind only the United States, China, and Japan.
NEWSOM TO TOUT CALIFORNIA CLIMATE PROGRESS AFTER STATE APPROVES BAN ON NEW DIESEL BIG RIGS
Newsom likes to think that that number makes California more successful than Florida or Texas. It doesn’t.
For example, if we measure success based on the affordability of living in a state for middle and lower-class families, California ranks at the bottom. Sure, there is a study out there, which Newsom has been pointing to, claiming that California is relatively “tax-friendly” for middle-class families.
I cannot speak to the basis for that claim.
For example, a California married couple making over $132,000 or a single person making $66,000 (that barely qualifies as Middle Class in California) have to pay a 9.3% marginal tax rate, which is higher than millionaires pay in most states. But I can say that California manages to drain money from middle-class families through means other than taxes, including energy costs and the overall cost of living.
One reason the Golden State is not tax-friendly enough to keep its Middle Class living there is that it has the third-highest average cost of living, behind only Hawaii and Massachusetts. Many families have recognized this fact and moved out for that reason alone. From April 2020 to July 2022, California saw a net decline of 871,127 residents due to migration between states. Even including the arrival of immigrants and new residents who were born in the state, California’s population dropped by more than 500,000 people.
California’s population drain continued in 2022, after the pandemic was long over, as more than 343,000 people left the state on net. Compare this with Texas, which gained over 230,000 people the same year, or Florida, which gained over 318,000. Texas has now joined California as the only state with more than 30 million people, and Florida became the fastest-growing state for the first time since 1957.
According to one new projection, Californians are fleeing so quickly that the state could lose as many as five congressional seats in 2030 if it keeps up. Texas and Florida could each gain four seats.
So yeah, eat your hearts out, Texas and Florida! So what if you are flourishing, and Californians are escaping there to join in the prosperity? Have you seen that GDP number?
Newsom boasts like this in part because it’s the only thing California has to boast about but also because he doesn’t care about everyday Californians. Newsom is an elitist who comes from an elitist family.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
California is a state run by Democratic elitists for liberal elites, not the peasants who are concerned about affordability, crime, homelessness, or their livelihoods being ruined by COVID restrictions, while elitists like Newsom celebrate lobbyists at upscale French restaurants.
Newsom doesn’t know what everyday Californians go through and the problems they face. More importantly, he does not care. He can hang his hat on that GDP number and declare the state a success, even as the state literally runs out of U-Haul trucks as residents flee to more livable states.