According to Kenneth Schrupp at The Center Square, a new analysis from the U.S. News and World Report agency found that California ranked “dead last” among the 50 states when it comes time to “opportunity.” In other news water is still wet.

What could have possibly indicated that California wasn’t the friendliest location for anyone wanting to build a life of prosperity and freedom?

Was it the state’s nearly seventy-billion-dollar deficit?

Was it the mass exodus that has seen hundreds of thousands of people flee the state for friendlier locales, a trend which has resulted in a net negative for legal population and hit the tax-happy state where it hurts, i.e. fleeing revenues?

Was it the flight of more than 350 big businesses, a handful of which were Fortune 1,000 companies  like Tesla, HP Enterprise, and Oracle? From Ben Cousins at LinkedIn News:

While major corporations leaving California get much of the attention, companies of all sizes are leaving the Golden State. A new report from Stanford’s Hoover Institution found that businesses headquartered in California left the state in 2021 at double the rate compared to 2020 and 2019. California has lost 11 Fortune 1,000 companies in the past three years, including Tesla, Oracle and HP Enterprise, while smaller companies, too, have left in search of greener pastures. The researchers blame high corporate income taxes and stringent business regulation for the exodus.

Was it the influx of millions of third world migrants who came for welfare?

Was it the news that the government would be handing out $1,200 per month to transvestites/transsexuals simply because of their mental illness? (A person could stay on that  program for up to 18 months, which would yield a $21,600 handout.)

Was it the news that the government would be handing out “free” beer and vodka shots to homeless drunks at the expense of the taxpayer?

Was it the fact that California has the highest state income tax rate in the U.S., coming in at more than 13%?

Was it the price of gas which is typically double the national average? (In 2022 in Mendocino, California, gas hit $9.91 per gallon.) Was it the state’s gasoline tax of “57.9 cents” per gallon, a tax that’s also recognized as “highest in the nation”?

Was it the state’s war on reliable and affordable energy, the very thing that makes the world move?

Was it the state’s war on the farmers providing the food?

Here are a few more details, also from Schrupp:

California housing is so expensive that the typical home requires a household income of $224,000, or three times the median household income to afford. Gasoline in California is more expensive than even Hawaii’s, which must be imported across the Pacific Ocean, and proposed taxes could raise gas prices an additional $1.11 per gallon by 2026. The state’s energy is more expensive than any state’s other than Hawaii, further increasing the cost of living.

America’s largest water district, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which supplies water for 19 million Americans, is raising rates 40% due to revenue losses from high levels of water conservation, putting additional pressure on Californians’ budgets.

I mean, what could have possibly indicated that a state with a massive and crippling government would be bad for people seeking an opportunity to thrive, just as long as they produce something of value?

Image: Steve Shook from Moscow, Idaho, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, unaltered.