Over the past decade, as California consolidated itself as a bastion of modern progressivism, the state’s class chasm has widened considerably. To close the gap, California needs to embrace pro-growth policies, especially in the critical energy and industrial sectors—but it’s exactly those policies that the progressives most strongly oppose. – City Journal

 

 

By Joel Kotkin at City Journal

EXCERPTS:

… income among families in the 10th percentile of earners plunged 21 percent. Nationwide, the figure was 14 percent. In the much wealthier 90th percentile of California earners, income fell far less sharply: 5 percent …

 

One reason for California’s widening class divide is that, for a decade or longer, the state’s progressives have fostered a tax environment that slows job creation …

 

Still more troubling to California employers is the state’s regulatory environment …. among the most complex in the nation.

 

The list of companies leaving the state or shifting jobs elsewhere is extensive.

 

Radical environmentalism has been particularly responsible for driving wedges between California’s classes. …. today’s progressives regard with suspicion any growth that requires the use of land and natural resources. …. the new green movement advocates a reduced human “footprint” and opposes cars, “sprawl,” and even human reproduction.

 

FULL ARTICLE

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