California Governor Gavin Newsom is on a public relations campaign, hawking his state as the Greatest Of All Time – in everything.
While California’s natural beauty remains, and once used to be the land of opportunity, the Golden State has some very noticeable tarnish as well. If the California media actually reported the economic facts, Gov. Newsom might be forced to limit his PR campaign to tourism, instead of claiming everything is coming up roses.
Context is needed, even as Gov. Newsom sings California’s praises from the top of the Golden Gate Bridge in this cool video:
As a California native, I know just how beautiful so much of California is – all 164,000 square miles of it.
But, we do have some serious issues, which are impacting the state’s economy – and this article is not about California’s high crime and serial theft crisis, or the homeless crisis.
“High income inequality in California coincides with high levels of poverty and stagnant upward mobility,” the Public Policy Institute of California reported in January. That is our reality, and is the result of poor public policy.
Gov. Newsom claims California:
has the most equitable tax system in the entire country (WTH?),
is #1 in the nation for new business starts (but IPOs are down),
#1 for access to venture capital funding, and
the #1 state for tourism spending, manufacturing, high-tech, and agriculture.”
and
California remains the 5th largest economy in the world for the seventh consecutive year, with a nominal GDP of nearly $3.9 trillion in 2023 and a growth rate of 6.1%
Let’s get one thing straight – California’s income, sales, and gas taxes are among the highest in the nation. It is this tax burden which has caused people and businesses to leave the state.
So while California remains the 5th largest economy in the world, California also is home to 1/3 of the nation’s welfare recipients – the highest in the country:
“California’s high cost of living plays a significant role in California’s poverty rate. The existence of so much poverty amid such widespread wealth highlights the high level of economic inequality in the state,” CATO reported. “Using the traditional Gini coefficient measure of economic inequality, California ranks as the nation’s fifth most unequal state (see Figure 2).6 This is particularly problematic because much of this inequality stems from government policies, both historical and ongoing.”
California’s economy has shifted from a predominately manufacturing economy to a service economy increasingly made up of part time and minimum wage jobs. However, it remains the largest manufacturing economy in the country, based on sheer numbers.
Gov. Newsom reports:
“California remains the 5th largest economy in the world for the seventh consecutive year, with a nominal GDP of nearly $3.9 trillion in 2023 and a growth rate of 6.1%.”
Notably, California’s Gross State Product (GDP) in 2004 according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office was nearly $1.5 trillion,” and the Statewide Median Average home price was $474,000.
In 2024, the Statewide Median Average home price is almost double at $822,200, according to the California Association of Realtors.
Also in 2004, “California Manufacturing declined by almost 160,000 jobs, reflecting major reductions in high-tech jobs in 2001 and 2002,” the LAO reported.
Half of all of jobs in California are public sector government jobs, or public sector related.
Unemployment is up again, and is highest in the country at 5.3%.
Tech layoffs are continuing, with more expected.
California saw fewer IPOs in 2023.
The Governor’s budget surplus turned into a $73 billion budget deficit.
The Associated Press reported at US News:
“California‘s unemployment rate is now the highest in the country, reaching 5.3% in February following new data that revealed job growth in the nation’s most populous state was much lower last year than previously thought.
California lost a staggering 2.7 million jobs at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, losses brought on by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order, which forced many businesses to close.”
But this year, while the data initially showed California added 300,000 jobs between September 2022 and September 2023, the corrected numbers released earlier this month show the state added just 50,000 jobs during that period.
Last year, the preliminary numbers showed California added 9,900 jobs in July. But the corrected numbers show the state actually lost about 41,400 jobs that month.
How does a state have an employment swing of “9,900 jobs added” to a loss of 41,400 jobs? It doesn’t. This is the game California always plays with employment numbers to make things look rosy at first, then quietly adjusts the next quarter.
Gov. Newsom says:
More people are moving to California and the state’s population is expected to continue to experience positive growth.
California’s population increased by 67,000 people last year to 39,128,162, according to new data released today by the California Department of Finance (DOF). The state’s population growth can be attributed to an increase in legal foreign immigration and natural population increasing.
The state’s population in 2004 was 36 million, adding more than half- a-million people yearly, the LAO reported. We are not adding 500,000 people any longer.
The Department of Finance reports, “Natural increase – the net result of births minus deaths — increased from 106,700 in 2022 to 118,400 in 2023 as the number of deaths decline from their pandemic peak.” Did the population really increase, or did the pandemic-related deaths cease?
We note, deaths were markedly higher in 2020 than previous years, during the Covid-19 pandemic: “40,538 more people died in 2020 than the average of the previous three years,” the Daily Democrat reported. “The dramatic 15% increase in deaths over the average of the previous three years is significantly more than the nearly 26,000 deaths that state health officials attributed to COVID-19 as of the end of the year.”
California’s Economy
The Public Policy Institute of California reported in January:
“Californians are deeply concerned about the state’s economic future. Nearly two in three Californians expect bad economic times in the coming year. Seven in ten believe the state’s children will be worse off financially than their parents.”
Sadly, the PPIC sums up where we find our state:
High income inequality in California coincides with high levels of poverty and stagnant upward mobility. About 5 million Californians cannot meet their basic needs and it has gotten harder to climb the economic ladder over time. Sky-high housing costs have left many—especially younger, lower-income, and nonwhite residents—without the meaningful opportunity to own a home, a vital path to wealth creation for earlier generations. And in our increasingly knowledge-based economy, a college degree is key to economic mobility, but college affordability and debt are limiting the viability of this pathway for those who might benefit the most.”
Context.
View Comments (18)
Florida just released those numbers - and they were record amounts too.
Gavin just can't stand it.
Meanwhile, they can't track how many bums and junkies have been 'helped' off the streets with the BILLIONS already spent, what the crime statistics that get reported to the FBI are, or where he is going to get billions to balance the budget.
What a raging, out of control narcissist. I'm convinced that the only time he participates in intimacy is when he is alone, naked and staring at himself in the bathroom mirror.
Was Newsom hawking his state as the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time), or considering the satanic circles that he travels in, maybe he was also referring to the goat which is one of the most prominent symbols associated with satanism? In satanist circles, they worship baphomet and often glorify imagery of goats, as goats represent stubbornness and evil. It's the perfect allegory for Newsom and the evil coven of Democrats who control California?
You are onto something there TJ!
Looking at Newsolini in that picture he looks like a Goat! Buffoon works too!
I was recently in Santa Monica and what I witnessed is exactly what Katy Grimes highlights.
Bums and rich, clueless tourists.
My hotel was directly across from Newsom’s crown jewel, The Step navigation center.
Good times!
If I were a tourist, it would be a one and done trip to California.
p.s. watch where ya walk to avoid broken glass, feces and urine! Yep, number one all right!
You have my sympathy, Cali Girl.
I don't even know what goes on there anymore apart from reading and hearing about it because I haven't been near the place in many years, even though I used to live in Venice, if you can believe it, once upon a time. A section of Santa Monica beach that was once Pacific Ocean Park (look it up), now gone, which I remember as a little girl, still has the pilings from the wooden roller coaster that went over the ocean so you can't go in the water in certain places. But WHAT a gorgeous and safe beach it once was! We used to go there all the time. Husband and I used to go to an amazing fireworks show there on July 4th. But that was many years ago and it's hellish now, from all reports. Except for the ocean view which I'm sure is still fine. Newsom and his Statewide Team of Destructos are criminals. They should be locked up. As you know.
Those sound like great memories of the once beautiful city, ShowandTell. I am so happy you have those to hold onto. California once was golden!
I too used to love visiting Santa Monica. It will be the last time I stay there, we will stay a little further south next time.
The progressive mind set has demolished so much of California and yes Newsom et. al should be held legally responsible for the crime and filth!
Standing atop the Golden Gate, my a__. No wind blowing? C'mon man!
This is a P.R. stunt enabled by A.I.!
Artificial as the Guv himself.
Jeepers, what a surprise, he is lying (again). Tourism spending is up a bit (but NOT back, nowhere near) because INFLATION has not been not factored in! Uh, that's going to make a difference in spending numbers, ya think?, considering how we've been crushed by skyrocketing costs:
"Here's why Newsom's tourist numbers are misleading"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YKzFr9LpHA
And then of course you have all of the other pressing CA problems, economic and otherwise, as Katy Grimes has once again so helpfully catalogued. Catalogued in part, anyway ---- the entire list of Newsom destruction is too long to print, now more than ever, because it just keeps getting longer and longer every day.
Gavin Newsom:
Worst Governor Ever
Incurable Narcissist and Unrepentant Liar
GOAT Horse's Ass
WTH?! At first I thought I was looking at a picture of biden, maybe they all look alike.
No kidding, Doug. Isn't it AMAZING how it took only Grampy Joe and Gov Gruesome to single-handedly stigmatize for all time the once-classic aviator sunglasses.
Ha,ha.
My husband put his ray bans in a drawer 4 years ago!
Those guys ruined it for him!
They ruin every thing they touch!
Make Aviators Great Again = MAGA 2024
Ha ha, that's a good one, CG --- "Make Aviators Great Again"
He’s talking about the homeless and illegals streaming into our state, along with those visiting for abortions and transgender surgeries.
Weird how Newsom goes radio silent then pops up on top of a bridge wearing Biden style aviators spouting some statistic he heard the night before which he hopes distracts us from the increasing homeless, hopeless budget deficit, campuses occupied by Hamas, and huge numbers of illegals coming into California, which he claims are “tourism” dollars….
Maybe those Chilean burglar gangs flying up to burglarize upscale LA homes and the Honduran drug dealers on the streets of San Francisco are also “tourists” in his mind.
I think you too are onto something here! Restaurants and hotels are no where near capacity.
Newsom gives Biden a run for is money on being the top gaslighter.
Notice how Democrats all issue distorted and falsified positive economic metrics and then "quietly revise" them a month or two later?
It must be part of the DNC playbook....
Oh, and Gav, you look like a horses ass in those aviator shades...
Were you wearing your California Governor letterman jacket too???
Insecure poseur....
I hate to be a whiner, but is there ever going to be a day when we open up CG and not see that MFPOSSOB's photo? He's gov, I get it, but how about a break every now and then? Thanks in advance. Keep up the outstanding job!