More States Benefit From Republican Governance

National politics remain a mess but States are being managed more competently with much higher public satisfaction.

Fully 30 state governors, or 60%, have Republican governors and half of all states have both Republican governors and Republican legislatures.  And according to Conn Carroll at The Washington Examiner:

According to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average unemployment rate in the 25 states controlled completely by Republicans is just 7.2 percent, more than half a point lower than the national 7.9 percent unemployment rate. In the 14 states with full Democratic control, unemployment is 8.4 percent, a full half-point higher than the national average.

The Republican state economies are growing faster too. According to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the real gross domestic product of the 25 Republican-controlled states has grown almost .25 points faster since 2008 than the real GDP of the 14 Democratic-controlled ones.

I'm certainly enjoying living in Texas where Texas lawmakers and governor Rick Perry suit my libertarian tastes. It's one of the states with no income taxes, where the fundamental beliefs include small and efficient government, low regulation and economic freedom.  Some 87 percent of Texas legislators come from the private sector--working people.  Texas has been creating jobs for as long as I've been an adult.  When I graduated from college some 33 years ago, it was the place to go to get a job.  It still is.

Yeah and Leftists like Paul Krugman pooh-pooh Texans success claiming that it's all about oil and gas.  Hey, California has huge oil and gas reserves, but they have continued to discourage oil and gas exploration. The last two oilfields developed in Federal waters offshore California had over 1 billion barrels of recoverable oil. There's more!   It's all about governance and administration Mr Krugman.   And regarding Texas' population gains, there's reasons that people come here. There's opportunity here!  There's also reasons that people are leaving states like California. People vote with their feet.

California is la-la land with incredibly burdensome regulation. All those bureaucrats are busy-beavers creating burdens on business. According to Chuck Devore in National Review says:

According to a 2009 study commissioned by the California legislature, state regulations cost almost $500 billion per year, or five times the state’s general-fund budget. These regulations ding the average small business for some $134,122 a year in compliance and opportunity costs.

Meanwhile, some 2 million people have left California in the past 10 years. California state spending is out of control as it is at the national level, and taxes keep going up and up. It might not sound that dramatic, but according to Chuck Devore, Texans pay only 7.9% of their income to State and Local taxes while California's figure is 10.9%.  Taxes matter!  Business regulation matters!

I applaud Phil Mickelson threatening to leave California due to the 13% top income tax rate enacted by their legislature. I don't why he apologized subsequently for speaking his mind. Tiger Woods fled California about 10 years ago for tax reasons. He went to Florida which is a no income tax state. Mickelson complained that his over top marginal rate is about 60% now.  California is like France and Mickelson is our Gerard Depardieu.