It seems that each day brings news of another major company moving its offices, and often part or all of its operations, out of California, most often to Texas. Examples: Toyota, Oracle, Tesla, Core-Mark, HP Enterprise, Palantir, CBRE, Kubota Tractor, Charles Schwab, Colony Capital and Jamba Juice. Those large companies are part of over 15,000 companies which have left California in the last 12 years. Two recent headlines in the L.A. Times are illustrative: “Another Firm Leaves California” (Colony Capital) and “Fearing Big Tech’s Steady Move Out of California.”
We will explore the histories of both states; their respective economic and political development; their differing approaches to taxation, regulation, environment, labor issues, poverty and social issues; current political trends; and the very difficult questions about what can be done here in California to make it attractive for businesses to start and remain here.
