What California and Governor Brown Are Doing Right. Bloomberg

[Sophia4]

California's 4.9 percent increase in GDP last year was more than twice the gain for the U.S. and enabled the state's jobless rate to slide to 4.2 percent, the lowest on record since such data was compiled in 1976. Per capita income since 2013 grew 20.5 percent, making California the perennial No. 1. Among the biggest states sharing the Trump agenda, Texas remains an also-ran with less than a third of California's $31.8 billion in receipts from agriculture, forestry and fishing and $63 billion less than California's $289 billion in equivalent GDP as the nation's largest manufacturer, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. While the Texas unemployment rate is lower at 4.1 percent, California's is falling faster and its total workforce of 17 million is 37 percent greater and has increased 2 million during the past five years, more than any other state.

Investors also make California the best-performing state, with 462 native companies in the Russell 3000 index producing a 587 percent total return (income plus appreciation) during the past decade, 262 percent the past five years, 76 percent the past two years, and 27 percent the past year — easily surpassing the Russell 3000's total return of 371 percent, 154 percent, 59 percent, and 22 percent, respectively. In the market for state and local government debt, California also is superior, representing more than 20 percent of the No. 1 BlackRock Strategic Municipal Opportunities Fund, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-05-29/trump-vs-california-state-s-economy-vastly-outpaces-u-s

[CountAllVotes]

1. Thank you Governor Brown!!

We've gone from a bankrupt state thanks to a puke to a surplus being touted worldwide today!

Thanks my Governor!

Thank you Edmund G. Brown, Jr.

[Sophia4]

3. Right. Brown is a great governor.

Of Course.

He is a Democrat.

Other states should learn from California.

[CountAllVotes]

4. I've been following him since ...

1977!! Jerry Brown!

That was the 1st time he ran for ...

President of the USA!!!

[SWBTATTReg]

2. Outstanding...

Congrats also goes out to the folks in CA too. Takes people to do this stuff too. Amazing.

[ansible]

5. But why isn't it helping the average Californian?

Homeless rates are far worse than it was even back during the 2008 recession, gas is almost $4 a gallon now and it's not even the middle of summer yet and it's getting harder and harder to make ends meet if you're not someone who can afford the comforts of living in the Bay Area.

[sarcasmo]

6. 6 billion dollars budget surplus, Governor Brown doing it right. Let's look at Kansas.

http://www.usdebtclock.org/state-debt-clocks/state-of-kansas-debt-clock.html

[wonkwest]

7. Very weird, dishonest use of statistics

Texas has 70% the population of California.

$289 billion for California. $226 billion for Texas is actually a bit better rate than 70% of that - $202 billion. So proportionally, Texas is doing a bit better on GDP per capita than California.

Proportionally, the states have very similar stats. The only real difference is in agriculture, forestry, and fishing. But, again, how to compare? The Central Valley is a massive producer of world agriculture. Texas isn't exactly known for its forests. And Californian coastal length is 2.5 times greater and in the Pacific Ocean vs. Texas' coastal waters in the Gulf that it shares with neighboring states and Mexico.

This is such a weirdly dumb article. I'm shocked it made it into Bloomberg. I expect this of a lazy blogger who can't be bothered to do cursory research to reinforce a point.

Don't get me wrong. I'm generally pretty positive on California's direction, especially the increased implementation of environmental protects and conservation efforts (I live here). But just glancing at the article, I knew the statistics didn't smell right, so I looked.

And that's to say nothing of housing prices. Buy a house in Texas. Now try anywhere in coastal California. That stuff has economic impacts, too.

Lazy little article.

[Sophia4]

8. Republican governors and legislators put California in debt.

Brown brought us out of that debt.

So the actual statistics when you consider where we were at the beginning of Brown's term are better than those stated in the article.

[wonkwest]

10. California's going in a good direction, agreed

I'm taking issue with the article and how the author uses statistics to make comparisons, as well as the comparisons he's trying to make.

It's a lazy "Democratic state good, Republican state bad!" article that isn't honest with the reader. The worst part of the internet, IMO. It just irked me.

California also has an ace in the hole: Silicon Valley. When some of the largest, most profitable companies in the world are all concentrated in one area, it makes a big difference to the bottom line. If you look up GDPs by city or county, the Bay Area is ridiculous compared to the rest of the country.

There's just something weirdly dishonest about the article. That someone got paid to write it makes it somehow worse.

[Sophia4]

14. Silicon Valley is in California because we have truly excellent universities like

UC Berkeley, Stanford and others in that area. It is also in California because of the adventurous, creative attitude of Californians.

And the housing prices are a matter of supply and demand. If our economy were floundering like that of most of the country, our housing prices would decline. The housing prices are driven up by demand for housing.

[BootinUp]

12. Reading the snippet in OP

Says 289 billion was already adjusted to equivalent.

[wonkwest]

13. Missed that word, but doesn't make much difference

I looked up figures. Texas has 86% of California's GDP per capita. In total GDP, Texas is at 63% of California's in 2017, which is a slight uptick from 2016 where it was 61.5%. Texas is a bit behind where it should be.

But my points about the rest of the article stand.

[CountAllVotes]

16. Can you buy my house?

I live on the coast in a rural area.

My house is worth ~$250,000.00 or maybe a bit more.

I bought it 18 years ago as a foreclosure. No one had lived here in years. Price was abt. 1/3 of what it is today. So I did good so to speak but you can't buy anything closer to to Bay Area for abt. $300,000+++ so I am ... out of luck.

Not all Californians are rich.

[roamer65]

9. Jerry Brown for President!

I don’t care how old he is.

[CountAllVotes]

11. I met him in 1977

He was running for President at that time and I shook his hand!

I listened to him speak (it was during lunch time in San Francisco at the plaza near City Hall) and went back to work and I remember my boss said to me, "He's way ahead of his time!". And so he was!

I guess he's looking to retire now.

He is getting up there in age -- pushing 80 years I believe.

On edit: (seems I was right!) ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Brown

I love my Jerry Brown regardless!!

[Sophia4]

15. Me too. (In a positive sense of that expression!)