At the outset of the Biden/Harris Administration, much was said of the “California Way” and that they wanted to use it as a model for the country. The centerpiece of their economic plans was and has been government action and spending. The result, however, has been an economic dead end.
California rose to prominence in the last half of the 20th Century. The private sector flourished in concert with bold infrastructure improvements championed by Democrat Edmund G. Brown, Sr. – improvements that fostered economic growth. At the same time, California’s university and college systems were the envy of the country.
In time, California’s economy vaulted into the top 5 of all economies in the world. With that, California’s wealth grew immensely and, as is frequent in history, so did its government. America’s federal government has followed a similar path.
Then the story changed.
Over the last thirty years, California has become a decidedly Blue state. Democrat super majorities run the state government with its legislature dominated by Democrats from two of the most liberal areas of the country, Los Angeles County and the San Francisco Bay Area.
The latest generation of Democrat leaders in California include the likes of Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom. They tout the California Way.
They believe California became enormously successful in part because of their tenure. However, in truth, their efforts have initiated an economic and cultural death spiral.
The world knows of California’s pandemics of crime and homelessness. Add to that, California’s education system has fallen to among the lowest in the nation.
Now consider this: In the aftermath of Gavin Newsom--supported by Harris--shutting down of the California economy in response to COVID, California has now vaulted to the highest unemployment rate in the country.
“The state’s labor force participation rate hit a high of 68% of its adults in 1990, has dropped steadily since, and is now below 63%,” Cal Matters recently reported.
As for the state’s unemployment in the first half of 2024, using the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most comprehensive unemployment measuring stick, U-6, California’s worst in the nation unemployment rate is 9.7% - nearly 2% higher than the over national rate. Keep in mind, without California, the national rate would be even lower.
Astonishingly, in state of boundless resources and over 35 million people, in the 30 months from January 2022 to June of 2024, only 5,400 private sector jobs were created in California. That is not a misprint.
Of all the new jobs created in California since the end of the pandemic, 96.5% have been government jobs. A nearly $300 billion budget will do that for you.
That much spending kills off the private sector and the California private sector is certainly moribund. Little wonder given that California has been ranked 50th as a place to start a business for over a decade and the least friendly business state due, in significant part, to its highest in the nation income tax rates and crushing regulations.
That tax, regulate and spend decline is the true California Way.
It is also the federal government way under Harris and Biden.
Biden/Harris have been running $2 trillion budgets on average during their administration. Those deficits have been funding government job growth.
Nationwide, in 2023, government job growth grew at its highest growth rate since 1990. For well over a year, the growth rate in government jobs has outpaced the growth rate in the private sector – and that includes characterizing most of the healthcare industry as private sector even though it is financed heavily by government spending.
For the first three months of 2024, new government jobs accounted for nearly 25% of all jobs growth. That is up 227% over the same three months in 2019, pre-pandemic, under President Trump, when government job growth accounted for just 11%.
In other words, the California way is now truly the Biden/Harris way – with more of that to come if Harris wins in November.
Obviously, the nation has a stark choice just ahead.
Huge spending. Countless new regulations. Little to no private sector growth. Higher taxes, higher unemployment and big trouble lie ahead along that California Way.
The Harris/Walz ticket want to take the country further down that road.
Recently, I was in Italy when a nationwide rail strike was held. Fortunately, I bought a ticket on one of the private rail providers that kept running. There is a lesson there for America.
It’s not too late to turn around and catch a ride with the hard-working private sector and the politicians who support it this November.
Thomas Del Beccaro ran against Kamala Harris in 2016 for U.S. Senate, winning the first debate 38% - 33% over her and is the Author of The Lessons of the American Civilization. |