Let’s Talk California

July 17, 2023

California has been one of the most successful states in the US, primarily because of things outside its control. Large-scale inward international immigration has enabled California to continue its population growth. The millennial desire for an urban coastal experience has brought a constant influx of people in their 20s and 30s, which has helped with taxes and a steady labor force. Now combine all these people with a rich capital environment and boom…Silicon Valley.

Ideas flow from the tech startups in the valley to factories in China, Japan, Taiwan, etc., making California the gateway to East Asia. And when those products get imported back to the States, their first stop is the Long Beach Port along CA’s coast. This is just another external element contributing to California’s solid economic model.

But now, all of the factors that have propped up California are flipping. Immigration is stalling. The capital situation is upside down. The cost of living is through the roof, so the labor force is moving to places like Texas. Rising tensions with Asia are causing reshoring and nearshoring. The only thing California can do now is reinvent itself.

Whether they can do it or not is a discussion for another video…

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