In a Wall Street Journal column remarking on how embarrassing it must be for progressive Californians to explain why they’re leaving the Golden State for other states, James Freeman observes:
Perhaps it’s best to remain vague about the reasons for escape. Announcing that one does not want to be ruled indefinitely by a governor issuing emergency decrees won’t necessarily lead to more projects in the entertainment industry. Noting that failed policies have led to the largest unsheltered homeless population in the United States won’t make the phone ring. Call these new Texans the Hollywood flight club. And you know the first rule of flight club.
I think they should just say what Davy Crockett did: “You can all go to hell. I’m going to Texas”.
Meanwhile, California continue to beckon to the rich and to the poor while members of the middle class are increasingly moved to flee the state.
“…while members of the middle class are increasingly moved to flee the state.”
My data set is skewed, but that seems exactly correct. Now just a playground for the super rich and a dump for the excessive immigrants, drug addicts, hangers on etc. Its the middle class that is leaving.
A surprising number are now ending up here. Leaving California for South Carolina? Let that sink in. However, unknown to many, the low country of SC is some of the most beautiful area in the US, and I’ve been everywhere (man). Unlike shallow southern stereotyping, people are as well educated as most places, and almost uniformly relatively nice. Clean, a sensible cost of living; excellent cuisine, medicine and retail is available, Savannah/Atlanta/Charleston/Jacksonville/Greenville and Asheville are reasonably available if the need grabs you and, contra Steve’s usual snark, despite its history races mix seamlessly here. This ain’t Chicago, Baltimore or Boston.
Talk to a Californian (or, say, a DC resident, where I was just a week ago – it was like going into the Star Wars bar) who has migrated here? They cite all that. They are just plain fed up and seeking some refuge from the idiocy that has gripped certain states and almost all the big cities.