That's not "progressive"

I was going through some post at this blog and I ran across this

Then last week Toyota announced it is canceling plans to build its new Prius hybrid at its plant in the San Francisco Bay area because of the high tax and regulatory costs. Adding to the humiliation is that Toyota will now take this investment and about 1,000 jobs to a more progressive and pro-business state: Mississippi.

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Mississippi a "progressive" state? Now we know that's a bunch of malarkey. Mississippi is a state full of backwater hicks and JOBS. How could it be "progressive"?

But it gets better for California, a "real" progressive state.

There is already a reverse gold rush going on in California and the evidence points powerfully toward high tax rates as a culprit. Census Bureau data show that, from 1996-2005, 1.3 million more Americans left than came to California. And the people who are leaving are disproportionately those with higher incomes: the very targets the Democrats want to tax more.

The liberal fairy tale is that the rich “don’t pay their fair share.” The reality is that there’s no state in the country more dependent on six- and seven-figure earners to pay its bills. Those with incomes of more than $100,000 pay 83% of the state’s income taxes, and the richest 6,000 of the 38 million Californians pay $9 billion in taxes. Every time a rich person like Tiger Woods departs, the state fiscal problem deepens.

The Democratic tax plan will give rich people a further incentive to flee at the very time the real-estate market is in collapse. New housing data reveals that the average California home price fell by 28% from June 2007 to June 2008, almost double the decline of any other state. The politicians in Nevada, the state with the third worst real-estate market, are hoping California raises taxes, because this could be a fast way to revive the Reno and Las Vegas housing markets.

What the politicians in California refuse to address is their own overspending. State outlays were up 44% over the past five years, meaning that California is spending at a faster pace than even Congress. Minority Republicans in the Legislature say the solution is a hard expenditure cap – like 46 other states have. Yet even in the face of the giant deficit, Mr. Schwarzenegger and the Democrats want to pass a new $9 billion water bond, a $14 billion state-run health insurance program, and the most expensive climate-change program in the country.

It may be that California Democrats are trying this now as a kind of trial run for Barack Obama next year. The Illinois Senator also believes he can solve the federal government’s fiscal imbalance by imposing higher tax rates on small business employers and the wealthiest Americans. If they can get away with it in Sacramento, look for a national reprise next year.

What's most impressive to me is how "progressives" seem to know so much but can't seem to get their arms around the fact that people leave when they take over. Those are the only votes that count. Are you taking notes Governor Strickland?