Bill Lockyer sets the record straight about CA and TX (mortgage, construction)

[18Montclair]

Excellent.

These are all points we've already revealed here on C-D btw.

Republican legislators even took a trip to Texas to discover the Great Secret. When they came back, without saying much of anything about what they found, they introduced a 30-bill legislative package. In front of a Carl’s Jr. full of minimum-wage workers, they said it would cure what ails us.

Before and after the trip, the Republicans jack-hammered a variation of the factoid that has lifted their entire enterprise: “From 2008 to 2010, Texas added more than 165,000 jobs, while California lost 1.2 million.” Problem is, it’s bunk. From 2008 to 2010, according to the Texas Workforce Commission, Texas lost 352,500 jobs.

The data also paints a distorted picture of California. Those who employ it take a number that reflects the recession’s impact and sell it as evidence of a chronically hostile business climate.

The recession hit California earlier and harder than most states, and the housing market tanked deeper here during the recession than any other state. Yes, it cost California a lot of jobs from 2008 to 2010 (1.1 million, not 1.2 million, including close to 500,000 construction-related jobs). But does anyone seriously think the collapse of the national mortgage and housing market had anything to do with California’s business climate? Consider: Before the recession, from 2000-2007, California added 1.13 million jobs.

California’s homegrown detractors ignore other data as they award Texas their seal of approval and stamp a big “REJECT” sign on their own state.

California towers above Texas and all other states in venture capital investment. In 2010, California had 1,089 deals worth $12 billion. Texas? Less than 300 deals and less than $2.5 billion. From 1999-2009, California’s real GDP grew by 27.2 percent, compared to Texas’ 25.9 percent. From 2002-10, California created more jobs than Texas in the following manufacturing sectors – semiconductors, computers, communications equipment, and medical equipment and other durable goods. As a percentage of what businesses produce, California takes less in taxes than Texas (4.7 percent, compared to 4.9 percent).



Capitol Weekly: Opinion: Fact and fiction in the California-versus-Texas debate

[BigDGeek]

I'd love for people from CA to stop thinking that Texas is the promised land with dirt cheap housing and plentiful jobs. I'm a native Texan who loves my state and I will tell you right here, right now, that this is NOT the promised land. I think we weathered the recession better than some areas did but that doesn't mean that life is easy here.

[Setsuko]

The grass is always greener.