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Toyota to move U.S. operations base to Texas

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whistles

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Wow that sucks! I grew up in that city an it would be a shame to see them leave.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Well, I guess Toyota doesn't care about it's workers. From almost perfect weather to humid subtropical.

-13 ( +0 / -13 )

I would love to move my business to California, as I grew up there and love it very much. But the cost of doing owning a business in California is absurdly high, anything and everything is taxed, regulated, and wrapped in red tape. It is very difficult, snd in some cases impossible to start a business in California, a problem which began in the first Brown administration, and which has gotten worse during the second.

California's population began declining a few years ago as companies began to pull out of the state, and the workers followed them. This has benefited surrounding states, which have seen steady increases in population and jobs. Texas has aggressively courted companies in many states, and has seen a lot of success. California is still the home of the tech giants, but even some of these have begun to move to places like Idaho and Utah.

I doubt i will ever live in California again, much as I would like to.

9 ( +13 / -4 )

"California's population began declining a few years ago..."

This calls for the BS detector:

California population (in millions):

2012: 38.04

2011: 37.69

2010: 37:35

2009: 36:96

(Stats brought to you by "Google," a thoroughly Californian company, which managed to prevail against the "libtarb collectivist socialists" and... lead the world.)

https://www.google.co.jp/publicdata/explore?ds=kf7tgg1uo9ude_&met_y=population&hl=en&dl=en&idim=state:06000:48000

-7 ( +4 / -11 )

The population may have grown, but the business exodus is the result of business UNfriendly policies, taxes, and regulations pushed by the "libtarb collectivist socialists" lead by Brown and the Green Nazis. Let them go bankrupt.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

I was surprised to read that they even had an office in NYC. They are very cost conscious. Their HQ in Japan is in Nagoya, not Tokyo (where they only have a "regional" office). But that is to keep Tokyo bureaucrats out of their lives. They should be happy there.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

In addition to the tax environment, the EPA has contributed to chasing away or shuttering businesses such as CLARK FOAM.

http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-03/why-are-californias-businesses-disappearing

0 ( +4 / -4 )

I am from California and all I can say is SCREW TOYOTA!! If Toyota thinks they are too good for CALIFORNIA, time to BOYCOTT Toyota! Do not buy their cars! Make them pay for their treason! They wanna enjoy the Lone Star state with no sales taxes etc..lets see if them Texans can also PAY for them Toyotas! And the CALIFORNIA population is only INCREASING!! Who wants to live in crap deserts that surround California, sure a few in Vegas and parts of Arizona but most of Texas is one dry, FLAT crappy place that even from a Jet Plane 30,000 feet up in the air, just looks like a moonscape! So Toyota, you wanna be stingy and move out of California, now I will let everyone on my Facebook list know NOT TO BUY TOYOTA!!

-20 ( +1 / -20 )

Glendale of California happens to have a strong Korean community and has erected an anti-Japan statue there. I'm happy with this move.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

"Glendale of California....has erected an anti-Japan statue"

Do you mean the statue honoring victims of World War 2?

-10 ( +2 / -12 )

El Mexicano, you should check the very long list of companies that have relocated over the past decade. Then, you should write a nice letter of thanks to Toyota for not having exited FIRST.

"A new study from the Manhattan Institute, "The Great California Exodus: A Closer Look," offers a reality check. Yes, Californians are fleeing, mostly to pro-growth states with a better tax and regulatory climate. California used to be a destination state, but has seen 3.4 million residents leave in the past 22 years. "The data suggest that many cost drivers – taxes, regulations, the high price of housing and commercial real estate, costly electricity, union power and high labor costs – are prompting businesses to locate outside California, thus helping to drive the exodus." As authors Tom Gray and Robert Scardamalia explain, Californians are fleeing "chronic economic adversity," congestion and "constant fiscal instability" at the state and local governmental level, which "can be seen as tax hikes waiting to happen."

10 ( +11 / -1 )

"Yes, Californians are fleeing"

California is losing some low-paid "old economy" jobs, but it continues to add highly skilled, highly paid jobs in IT, education, etc. The red states are getting growth in the gritty low-skilled industries because they are poorer (a legacy of years of right-wing conservative policies) and thus boast cheaper labor costs, (rather like Bangladesh, LOL).

California added 320,000 jobs in 2012, and it's population and economy are growing. It will remain American's economic dynamo, along with the blue states of New York, Washington State, etc. for many years to come.

-9 ( +0 / -9 )

Jeff, what's the ratio of new jobs to new residents? Are there more or fewer employees? How many of the "new " jobs are in the service sector? How many of the tech jobs added in Silicon Valley were filled by Californians vice H1B visa holders? Just asking.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

California's population began declining a few years ago as companies began to pull out of the state, and the workers followed them. This has benefited surrounding states, which have seen steady increases in population and jobs. Texas has aggressively courted companies in many states, and has seen a lot of success.

Moving to Plano, TX. (North Dallas) --> Most popular among Californian ex-Libs is Austin, TX.

The state of Texas has offered Toyota $40 million as the automaker begins moving its U.S. headquarters from California to suburban Dallas. Gov. Rick Perry announced Monday that Toyota will invest more than $300 million in a facility in Plano that will house nearly 4,000 employees. They will come from Toyota's sales, marketing, engineering, manufacturing and finance divisions currently spread around the country. Perry has made two visits to California since last year, trying to convince top employers there to move to Texas. In a statement, he said Texas' low taxes and relaxed regulations can help Toyota thrive. The state incentives for Toyota come from the Texas Enterprise Fund. A Perry signature initiative funded by taxpayers, the fund has been used to persuade firms to expand in Texas since 2003.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Ignoring all the "left vs. right" accusations being thrown around here, the upshot of this move is that Texas put together a benefits package that not only bested California's, but did so by an amount that made the cost of uprooting business centers and moving them halfway across country worthwhile.

@Elbuda, I had a good chuckle while reading your post. Here's some of the things I thought of while reading it:

I am from California and all I can say is SCREW TOYOTA!! If Toyota thinks they are too good for CALIFORNIA, time to BOYCOTT Toyota! Do not buy their cars!

So first it was "Buy American", then it was "Buy Detroit". So I guess the new national slogan is "Buy California"? (not that anyone would want it.) Even if Toyota relocates to Texas, you're still "buying American".

Make them pay for their treason!

You aren't committing treason by leaving a state. You're making a sound economic decision based on the current economy. As I mentioned above, in order to justify the cost of the move the benefits of the move had to FAR outweigh anything California officials were willing offer, so if you're disappointed in someone it should be the California officials.

They wanna enjoy the Lone Star state with no sales taxes etc..lets see if them Texans can also PAY for them Toyotas!

Oil and cattle ranching are still two of the biggest industries in Texas (soon to be joined by auto manufacturing). Something tells me they'll have no problem buying cars.

And the CALIFORNIA population is only INCREASING!! Who wants to live in crap deserts that surround California, sure a few in Vegas and parts of Arizona

[cough] mojave desert [cough], [cough] The Mojave Desert (pronounced: mo-hah-vee) is a desert that occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona in the United States [cough]

but most of Texas is one dry, FLAT crappy place

as opposed to one dry mountainous crappy place

that even from a Jet Plane 30,000 feet up in the air, just looks like a moonscape!

[cough] mojave desert [cough]

So Toyota, you wanna be stingy and move out of California, now I will let everyone on my Facebook list know NOT TO BUY TOYOTA!!

Thank you, that was a thoroughly enjoyable read, Elbuda! :-)

5 ( +5 / -0 )

The population may have grown, but the business exodus is the result of business UNfriendly policies, taxes, and regulations pushed by the "libtarb collectivist socialists" lead by Brown and the Green Nazis. Let them go bankrupt.

I cannot, for the life of me, understand why any person espousing these types of views chooses to live life in Japan, a country not exactly known for its ease of doing business (FYI, there is a ranking for nations according to that criterion, and Japan comes in at #27, well behind the Scandinavian social democracies that anybody calling himself "John Galt" on an anonymous forum probably despises). See http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IC.BUS.EASE.XQ

And according to Galt's logic, Toyota should just abandon the relatively clean air of Japan altogether in favor of the "business friendly" and environmentally degraded hellhole that is now China. You can spill all the toxic waste you want over there.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

I would not want to live in Texas as it is freezing in winter and very hot in the summer. Add to it a chronic drought that one day will mean big trouble for the Dallas metro area. Unlike Japan this area has limited public transit and often the only transport is by car in the congested streets. Another while taxes are low "you get what you pay". The schools and roads are substandard and services taken for granted in socal are not there are paid for each time. I would rather live in Tokyo than Texas and even living in Oklahoma is ok. I would tell Toyota please give me another job but not in Texas.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

It's a good business decision for Toyota. Texas does not have state tax and less regulations. Now Toyota and most of it Japanese rivals are treating North America like their domestic market, meaning that a California isn’t always the best one. Texas is closer to all of those places that Toyota manufacturer than Torrance is. The changing nature of the auto business means they need to get closer all the time. Besides, California’s business climate is becoming an even bigger downer. California has become difficult for companies because of higher tax rates and complex taxing schemes but also for overzealous regulations and regulators that have managed to stifle the entrepreneurial energy of thousands of companies.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

@John Galt

"A new study from the Manhattan Institute, "The Great California Exodus: A Closer Look," offers a reality check"

"Reality check"?!? That's a hilarious: The Manhattan Institute is right-wing group set up to promote right wing views. It doesn't conduct "research," it conducts propaganda.

The institute has been desperately seeking examples that appear to fit its ideology. Naturally, they've been clutching at straws... until Texas came along. Since then they've been spouting fundamental lies about California (see my BS detector above).

The fact that the nation's wealthiest state, home to the world's most powerful and competitive businesses, which is adding population, jobs and GdP growth, is somehow a basket case, is plain propaganda based on a twisting of the facts.

Mind you, my presentation of a basic indisputable statistic got five negatives, so clearly many of the posters on this thread don't care about the truth. They're happy being brainwashed.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

California is losing some low-paid "old economy" jobs, but it continues to add highly skilled, highly paid jobs in IT, education, etc. The red states are getting growth in the gritty low-skilled industries...

@JeffLee:

The move to Plano will affect 2,000 employees at Toyota Motor Sales, USA, in Torrance, California; 1,000 employees at Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc in Erlanger, Kentucky; and certain employees at Toyota Motor North America in New York City.

The 2000 employees at Toyota Motor Sales moving to Dallas are definitely not low-paid "old economy jobs", they are all office jobs. And Toyota Motor Engineering and Mfg North America (aka "TEMA") is not a mfg. plant, it's the mfg. and engineering headquarters of Toyota in North America. None of these jobs are factory jobs.

Unless you're in the service industry, or any industry that has a criminally high profit margin (like the IT industry), or you mainly serve the local market, California just isn't the place to be doing business for reasons many others have mentioned here already.

Yes, California has a growing population, but the 2 main reasons are high birth rates, and immigration; it's not companies flocking to California to do business.... not to mention, it's estimated that 7.3% of California's population are illegal aliens.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

@masswipe, it may be a difficult point to grasp, but where I choose to reside(my JT moniker notwithstanding) has no relevance to the story of Toyota's departing the taxation and regulatory hell of California, but thanks for the attempted personal stab.

Jeff, I don't care who wrote the study, but the content is correct albeit politically inconvenient for redistributionists such as some here. You can attempt to discredit the source( like an Alinsky plebe) but that doesn't change the fact that thousands of businesses have exited California while more welfare recipients of various ilks have moved in. How many municipalities have declared bankruptcy or are on the verge? Yeah, thought so.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Toyota said its 10 manufacturing plants in the U.S. would not be impacted by the changes. But it said a number of other units would not be affected “at this time”—including operating units in Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico, and distribution centers.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

So, no changes in factories.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

John GaltApr. 29, 2014 - 07:40PM JST Jeff, what's the ratio of new jobs to new residents? Are there more or fewer employees? How many of the "new " jobs are in the service sector? How many of the tech jobs added in Silicon Valley were filled by Californians vice H1B visa holders? Just asking.

In the U.S., there is a quota of 65,000 cap-subject H-1B visas each fiscal year. Out of that, maybe 15 to 20 percent is in Silicon Valley. It's still a drop in the bucket for H-1B. You have to remember, the nine counties of Bay Area has close to 6.5 million people.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The two big elephants in the room - corporate welfare and the consolidation of its workforce to a more "wage-friendly" location.

Consider this. If you are an executive making $100K in CA, and then get moved to TX maybe making the same amount or less according to your argument, you will still come out ahead. Take a look on Zillow and compare how much house one can buy for $350K and up compared to the area in CA where Toyota is now. The mayor of Torrence even said that the city can only do so much, and that the state needs to do more to make it more business friendly. But the CA state government is blind to what is going on, and as others have pointed out, states are making them offers to make their bottom line look better. Don't blame Toyota for doing what other businesses are doing. Take a look at Hollywood and at how many US TV shows and movies are being filmed not in CA but in other places and even Canada. The movie "Battle for Los Angeles" was not filmed in LA, but New Orleans due to reduced operating costs. And as a side note, those behind the camera jobs that are leaving LA and going to other states on average were in the $70K-$90K range.

@ JeffLee: the exodus of people from CA reprsents the people who are middle class and pay taxes. Yes CA has had a population increase, but it was of people who were more reliant on government services to support them.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@masswipe, it may be a difficult point to grasp, but where I choose to reside(my JT moniker notwithstanding) has no relevance to the story of Toyota's departing the taxation and regulatory hell of California, but thanks for the attempted personal stab.

It wasn't a personal stab, it was an observation, and one the moderator saw fit to let remain rather than deleting. Thanks, moderator. And yes, it is a difficult point to grasp. I'm certainly no "love it or leave it" type when it comes to Japan. People who don't especially like the country have every right to live there. But given how very, very strongly you express your libertarian views here on a daily basis, I don't understand how you can stomach living in a country where the business and political elites have never, in modern history, come even remotely close to buying into the types of ideas expressed in "Atlas Shrugged" or other works by Ayn Rand. I mean, if California were a country, it would almost certainly rank higher on the "Ease of Doing Business" index than Japan does.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

The 2000 employees at Toyota Motor Sales moving to Dallas are definitely not low-paid "old economy jobs", they are all office jobs. And Toyota Motor Engineering and Mfg North America (aka "TEMA") is not a mfg. plant, it's the mfg. and engineering headquarters of Toyota in North America. None of these jobs are factory jobs.

Listening to a talk radio station from the area, and they had a woman on who said she was a small business owner who supplied parts and services to Toyota, and this move will cause her a major loss of business. Unless they are going to be buying online from her, the business contacts she had in CA are going away with the move to TX. It may be only 2000 Toyota jobs, but it is the other jobs that are generated from the company being there will be some of the ones to suffer. And that has a ripple effect on the economy.

Torrance has a population of around 100,000. So a loss of 2-3,000 jobs in the area may be small compared to the overal population of Oragne county, but those jobs that make money off the comapny that will no longer be there will begin to suffer and you have the effect of increasing the job losses.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

YuriOtani: I would not want to live in Texas as it is freezing in winter and very hot in the summer.

I'm not sure what you consider "freezing" but no matter because Texas is big, bigger than Japan and the weather varies, just as it does in Japan. Texas hill country is humid subtropical with hot summers and cool winters, quite like Tokyo. The coastal areas are warm most of the year, rather like Okinawa or coastal Kyushu. No doubt some of the large urban areas of Texas will suffer from major droughts but then again much of southern California is now experiencing serious drought and so are parts of Oklahoma.

I would tell Toyota please give me another job but not in Texas.

And Toyota would probably tell you to see if someone else was hiring.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Texas to Pay $10,000 for Each Toyota Job

Headline from the WSJ today. So basically Perry is bribing Toyota. Hope the Texas taxpayers are not ripped off by Perry once again on this deal.

Regarding the CA bashing by the libertarian klan, the state is booming, the budget is balanced and the population is growing dramatically. Which ten states in the USA are doing the worse economically, they are all dominated by Republicans. Which states are highest on government welfare, they are all republican states. Facts, not empty propaganda from rightwing radio and fox news.

Two most valuable companies in the world, apple and google, both bay area based.

Conclusion, if you want the economy of your state to boom, vote democratic. If you want to tank the economy, like bush junior did on a national level, put republicans in power. Also if you want more welfare for corporations and wealthy people, like the fox news hero Cliven Bundy, vote for republicans.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Texas to Pay $10,000 for Each Toyota Job

The overall cost to the state of TX will be about $40 million. However, the move will be a gain of over $300 million in revenue generated from the company moving there. If the state legislature is going to put up $40 million to get $300 million, then I think that is a wise use of taxpayer (that is sales tax since TX does not have a personal state income tax and CA has one of the highest in the nation) money.

As far as a Dem/GOP state goes, last year, in LA County (one county up from Orange County where Toyota is located) spent over $650 million in welfare payments. This just to illegal alien parents, as stated by the director of the LA county Dept of public services. In the article he further goes on to state: "Approximately $54 million in welfare payments are issued each month, consisting of nearly $20 million in CalWORKs and $34 million in food stamp issuances, according to the data."

Facts, not empty propaganda from rightwing radio and fox news.

The data I gave above came from the local CBS News.

Two most valuable companies in the world, apple and google, both bay area based.

Yes but Apple builds its products in China and overseas as well as Google. So if they are so profitable, why don't they pay the extra costs to keep the jobs in the USA.

Spending $10,000 per Texan at one time is far better than spending $54 million a month in welfare.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

" Regarding the CA bashing by the libertarian klan, the state is booming…"

Klan? Now you want to play the race card? Are going to label AlphaApe like that, too?

When Nissan relocated their ~1300 jobs to Tennessee, they got ~$140,000 per job in incentive, FYI.

Let Apple relocate their manufacturing to Torrance, then. Or Google, to manufacture their ... device.

The fact that businesses(and the very wealthy) are leaving CA isn't propaganda, but it is rather inconvenient for collectivists.

To masswipe(cute moniker, btw), starting a business here in Japan is so incredibly easy, and far less over-regulated. I'm here for my own reasons, and experience much more freedom here than in US on a daily basis, though far from The Gulch. The mods usually let attacks against me stand, btw. No surprise there.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The fact that businesses(and the very wealthy) are leaving CA isn't propaganda, but it is rather inconvenient for collectivists.

Back in 2013 when the golfer Phil Mickelson said that he was thinking of leaving CA due to the retroactive tax increase that passed that made his state tax increase from 10.3% to 13% would put him over the 60% combined tax rate, and he was villified in the CA press on being "greedy" and not willing to "pay his fair share." Something similar by the state of CA Office of Business and Economic Development tried to downplay the move as not being really impactful on the overall CA economy.

To an extent that may be true, but what those politicans don't fully understand is that people are more concerned about how things affect them locally. It may not make a bit of a difference to a Prius driver in San Francisco, but to the people that make money of sellnig parts and dealing with these people in Torrance it is a big deal.

I think it is somewhat ironic that the company that the super liberals tout as the way to go with the electric car (Prius and other hybrids) has decided to leave the state that is really pushing them due to its own dysfunctional business climante. Even Tesla, is debating on not building their cars in CA due to the cost of doing business there and the over board regulations that the state of CA imposes.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

So many good businesses have already left Cali. As John Galt mentioned CLARK FOAM was the leading global supplier of surfboard foam blanks until they were forced out by EPA nonsense.

Toyota has made a very good decision that they should have made a decade ago.

AlphaApe is spot on regarding the surging welfare costs. Companies and wealth producers are one-by-one reaching their limits of being treated as ATMs for tax purposes. The way to better business environments are I-10E and I-15N.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

"To masswipe(cute moniker, btw), starting a business here in Japan is so incredibly easy, and far less over-regulated. I'm here for my own reasons, and experience much more freedom here than in US on a daily basis, though far from The Gulch. The mods usually let attacks against me stand, btw. No surprise there."

Uh hypersensitive much, there? I didn't attack you. But go out on a limb and call yourself "John Galt" on an anonymous forum, and some people will notice and wonder about it, that's all. Glad to hear you experience so much more freedom in Japan than you did in the USA. The data gatherers and tabulators, though, appear to have reached different conclusions on an aggregate (i.e. non-anecdotal) level. In terms of starting a business, the USA is ranked #20 out of 189 nations. Japan, meanwhile, sits at #120, a full 100 spots behind. Top places for starting a business (in order) are New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, Australia, and Hong Kong. Rankings can be found here: http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings

Articles like this one are click-bait for libertarians, I realize that. Jerry Brown will never match Rick Perry in a contest of politicians groveling before corporate interests. But life is about more than just taxes and money. Texans are generally not libertarians when it comes to sexual and personal affairs. Ask any low-income woman in Texas about ease of access to family planning and birth control services.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

I was listening to a business relocation expert on a SoCal radio station and he brought up a few points. Before Toyota made the decision to move, they did an in depth study of over 100 US cities to decide where to relocate. Gov. Perry had little to do with it, though I am sure that his offers to the company helped. Moving out of CA, Toyota is looking at saving at least 20-30% on operating costs. That's from having to pay reduced property taxes and employee taxes and that is a hard number to walk away from.

Also, we have heard mention of the business climate in CA compared to TX, the expert brought up a few examples. In CA, if there is a typo on your pay stub (not the actual pay check), the employee can file a claim against the company and sue and be awarded damages according to CA state law. That rule does not apply in TX. People complain about places like TX not being union friendly, but there if the employee wants to work a 4 day work week, the company and employee can come to an agreement and the employees get their 4 day work week. In CA, that luxury does not exist. CA workers law does not allow for that to happen, unless a hurdle of legal steps and fees are paid.

Imagine you had a company and you wanted flexibility to have your people work they way that they want to and you and them work out a deal without involving the state government. You can get that in TX vice CA. It is not just with Toyota. The resturant chain Hardees is moving from CA to TX. The president of the company stated that it takes him 4 weeks from filing the permits to start building a new resturant in TX, in CA it can take up to 6 months. Emplyees are forced to take breaks and managers can't ask them to work even if the place is busy when on their break or if they do, they face fines and penalties, where in TX you don't. There are many more cases of why the cost of doing business is so high in CA that makes people just want to leave and try someplace else.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

So can the same case be made against Kentucky since they are losing jobs are well?

The fact is that there are a million moving parts to the situation. You can pick and choose your criteria to make any case you want. Google is adding so many high paid employees to California that it's pushing rent prices up in San Francisco and causing friction with the long-term residents. I could easily present that information in a vacuum and say "that's all you need to know about California."

About taxes.....same story. It's an extremely complex situation. Telling me that a state has no personal income taxes sounds great.....unless you move there and find out that your property taxes are twice what you paid before. Lowering one tax doesn't automatically mean a state is getting by with less, it can sometimes mean they are overtaxing you in another area that doesn't get mixed in with business headlines. And that's a tax that affects all home owners, not just the employees of one company (read: corporate welfare).

As for what the companies say themselves, it's another mixed bag. I doubt a large business owner is going to come out and say, "We're moving to XXX because they offered us a lot of cash and their employees are low-rent and uneducated so we can get away with paying them less." Doesn't sound too good. Throw in some anecdotes about red tape and the people will make your case for you.

And finally, a business is a collection of their people, and you have to look at what the people are getting. Would you rather live in Los Angeles or Plano? It's a personal choice. Texas might sound good for Toyota but Texas also has the most uninsured people in the entire country. Want to move there for your next job? Cutting the budget has cause Texas to slash it's education spending. Do you want your kids to go to school there?

Like I said, it's complex. Throwing a few anecdotes around doesn't even begin to tell the whole story.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Like I said, it's complex. Throwing a few anecdotes around doesn't even begin to tell the whole story.

@SuperLib: I think you are guilty in your post of doing just that. When you state:

Do you want your kids to go to school there?

I would submit to you what is the HS graduation rate for LA Unified or some of the other CA schools (public) compared to TX. When you state, about where would you rather live Plano or LA have you even seen some of the so called "better" areas of LA? The streets are a mess because the money (and they collect plenty of it from high taxes like sales tax, income taxes, property taxes, etc) are in shambles and recently the LA city council is trying to get voters to approve a sales tax increase that would put LA at one of the highest in the nation to fix roads that they are already paying taxes to support. Frankly people get tired of paying the "high cost for low living" and I submit to you many would jump at the chance to leave from LA to TX. Moreover, you make it sound as if the middle of the USA is some outback wilderness where nothing happens, and that the only people that matter are either in CA or NY. When you say "low rent" you do ralize that if you compare what one could buy with $350K in Plano vs. LA, you will come out ahead in TX with much more property to call your own.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

El Buda your comment was hillarious!! Fadamor i guess you set him straight, people are leaving California and business because the state is being invaded by parasites that get government handouts! Unions and illegal aliens will make california a border state looking for handouts from the government for years to come the smart business are leaving the only small business i see coming in are taco trucks!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

stingy and move out of California, now I will let everyone on my Facebook list know NOT TO BUY TOYOTA!!

I don't think that will ever happen. If you have noticed in all of the "PC" shows on TV, you will see the characters driving a Toyota Prius (take a look at Modern Family), or some other Toyota hypbrid and they have been praised as the "wave of the future." So I am curious to see if this really will take off since it would sort of defeat the idea of supporting Toyota for their "Green efforts" when the only "green" they are going after are dollars.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

AlphaApe: I think you are guilty in your post of doing just that.

My comment was meant to show that there are hundreds of questions one can ask themselves when it comes to picking a state/area to live in. It's not some cut-and dry taxes/regulation issue. For example, in terms of companies moving into California from other states, Texas is #3 on the list. That tells me that for more than a few companies it makes sense for them to go in the other direction.

There are a lot of moving parts but conservatives are hailing it as some kind of slam-dunk victory and they are more than happy to dumb down the issue to attract low-information voters.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

There are a lot of moving parts but conservatives are hailing it as some kind of slam-dunk victory and they are more than happy to dumb down the issue to attract low-information voters.

It's no victory when some people will loose their jobs. I don't look at it as an "us" vs "them" type of thing but at overall how things are being run. From what the reports have said, no one from the governors staff made any attempt to talk to Toyota and they (Toyota) didn't even try to run it by them because they knew what types of BS that they would have to go through just to try to make things work. Making it a place where one wants to do business is what I am more concerned about, and not whether if a state is blue or red. If anything, the state of TX should be more concerned with many more people from CA which is a "Blue" state moving there and turning it from "Red" to blue.

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http://taxfoundation.org/blog/monday-map-migration-personal-income

=people are moving out of California. Can easily see the income move to Nevada, Arizona, Texas. NY state is worse however.

Corporate income migration is harder to track since many don't pay any taxes, income if offshored etc.

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Various selfish interests have caused California's budget problems (of all end of the political spectrum). The BART workers often abuse the system to collect sick pay (when they aren't really sick) and often are overpaid. On the other hand the prison industrial complex costing Californians massive amounts of money (incarcerating too many people because of the 'war on drugs", etc. The list goes on.

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