Can we define droves? California had a decrease in population for the first time ever in 2020. They lost roughly 185,000 people out of 39.5 millon or just under a half of percent.
That doesn't seem like a lot.
Direct Headline:
Businesses Are Fleeing California Along With Its Residents, And President Biden Should Pay Attention
Adam A. Millsap Aug 27, 2021,07:54am
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adammillsap/2021/08/27/businesses-are-fleeing-california-along-with-its-residents-and-president-biden-should-pay-attention/?sh=5e47728b2327
Direct Headline: Companies are rapidly leaving California in 2021, Stanford researchers find
by: Fareeha Rehman Sep 1, 2021 / 01:09 PM PDT
The Lone Star state gained 114 of the known 265 California companies that relocated their headquarters between January 2018 to June 2021.
https://www.kron4.com/news/california/companies-are-rapidly-leaving-california-in-2021-stanford-researchers-find/
Direct Headline: Why some tech companies and
billionaires are leaving California
Katie Schoolov Jan 23 20219:00 AM EST
California’s population and job growth have both slowed to a trickle, with many citing concerns about high taxes, cost of living and heavy regulations. With the rise of remote work in 2020, over 135,000 more people left California than moved in -- the third largest net migration loss ever recorded for the state.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/23/why-companies-are-fleeing-california.html
*******
California just lost Larry Ellison and Elon Musk to Texas. Joe Rogan, who has 200 million plus podcast downloads a month and a massive platform, does nothing but talk about the virtues of Texas compared to California. On the Conservative side of the spectrum, you have Ben Shapiro talking about leaving California for Florida, citing refusing to take his children out near the endless homeless encampments and homeless problem that is spinning out of control in southern California.
I have employees in both California and Texas, as well as a few other states. I can tell you dealing with business in Texas is far easier, dramatically so, than the supposed Golden State. The dollars earn by my employees in Texas simply stretch further than the ones in California.
I'm going to get real about it. Some recent college graduate just before the pandemic started who moved to Texas because he was just trying to find better work/cost of living/trying to make a mark for himself is one thing. If I left, I take jobs with me. I take away dollars into the tax base. Those employees who would go with me, now they are paying property taxes in another state instead. Their children are more likely to go to college in Texas and have their parents pay money into the Texas educational system. And if they are successful and do well, they'll stay in Texas and use their talent there.
Of course the establishment Democrats want to destroy Governor Greg Abbott of Texas, he's been doing a great job of luring these big businesses to Texas. You win elections with money and now you have shipping barges full of money showing up to the Lone Star state.
I can tell you from my experience, I have decades upon decades of being entrenched in business in California. Even with that advantage of experience and contacts and rapport and reputation and good word of mouth and a strong asset base, I can't even imagine how new upstarts are doing it. The miles of red tape to everything now should be impossible for the average person, starting out and trying to succeed with a small business, to slog through.
As remote work becomes more common, more people are going to leave.
And it's not just issue of the GOP, the Border Crisis has savaged the legacy vote from the Hispanic/Latino voting block, where there is a major share in southern California. That means while California might remain a Blue stronghold, there's a risk to establishment Democrats that AOC will infuse Progressive contenders into LA and San Diego. If AOC controls LA, she in effect, puts her hands in the cookie jar in Hollywood.
You are looking at some raw numbers but not looking at the overall context.
Big Business in California, those who can swing it, are voting with their feet and voting with their wallets. Their vote says they believe Gavin Newsom is an imbecile.
I believe Gavin Newsom is an imbecile. I've paid in blood in taxes, fees, licenses, and on and on and on in this state for decades and I've earned the right to call him a blithering no holds barred idiot. He controls the 5th largest economy in the entire world and he's done his part to run it into the ground. "Auntie" Pelosi has given him so much coverage that it appears he might last forever to some and they can't stand it anymore.
You aren't asking whom specifically is leaving and why they are leaving.
Then again it doesn't fit the standard tribalist narrative.