When all those Californians fled to Colorado a decade or two ago, several things happened soon thereafter:
- more anti-gun laws
- higher taxes
- woke prosecutions (actually, non-prosecutions)
- more industry-choking regulations
- …to name but some (I’m sure Stephen Green could come up with a lot more).
And now, still more California:
Colorado regulatory burden, affordability drives business exodus
98 large businesses have left Colorado since 2019, taking nearly 14,000 jobs with them. These aren’t failed companies or departures caused by mergers and acquisitions, but companies relocating operations to other states, with Texas, Florida, Utah and Tennessee among the biggest beneficiaries of the Colorado exodus.
I just hope that there aren’t too many California-thinking people among those 14,000 jobs.
Amidst my glee about reports like the above, here’s my problem with this trend.
The earlier ex-California movement to states like Texas and Florida contained, I believe, many people who saw what California had become and decided they didn’t want any more of that — but more importantly, saw that there was no profit in re-creating California-style business and social environments in their adopted states.
I’m not so sure that this is true, anymore.
And I still think that newcomers to a state should be barred from voting in state- and local elections for five years (federal elections, of course, are exempt) until they’ve properly assimilated into their new home state’s culture.
In the meantime, Colorado can go and suck eggs — unless they can’t, because there’s a regulation against sucking raw eggs (for health reasons).