California Getaway

Last week, the California State Automobile Association, an affiliate of the national AAA, announced it is closing all three of its call centers in the state at a loss of 900 jobs. Spokeswoman Cynthia Harris was quite blunt about the reason: "It costs more to do business in California than other states."

Its departure is one more sign that California's current tax and regulatory climate is driving jobs away.

California's liberals seem oblivious to such developments. One-seventh of California's pending $101 billion state budget is red ink, the result of the state's leadership once again failing to rein in spending and develop a less volatile tax base. The Democratic legislature has proposed over $8 billion in higher taxes... [snip]

The state's Democrats not only insist on higher taxes, but are blocking a proposal to limit future spending increases to the growth of the state's population and inflation ... "I think that we have to be very, very careful about tying the hands of future legislatures," says Democratic Assemblyman Dave Jones.

Apparently, he and his colleagues prefer tying the hands of California businesses so they feel compelled to flee the state.

[and they'll all be re-elected]

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