Just for fun, take this little test: name the two states with the worst business climate, and then the two with the best. When you’ve made your picks, check the survey in today’s Wall St. Journal by clicking “MORE…”.
A new survey ranks California and other liberal states as the worst places to do business, and Texas as the best. See this in the
When asked to name three states with the least favorable “business climates,” 57% of 283 executives polled named California — more than the combined similar negative ratings given to the next two states, New York (36%) and Massachusetts (18%). More striking, the survey marks a sharp decline in the rating given California in a similar survey only three years ago.
Andrew Levine, president of Development Counsellors International, a New York-based economic-development marketing firm that conducted the survey, says it is difficult to know exactly why executives turned more negative on California , but he says higher energy costs and rolling blackouts last year “hurt California’s image very badly. It wasn’t just a concern about will you be able to get power in California . … There was finger-pointing going on that hurt corporate America’s confidence in California .”
When Mrs. Bennett asked me to guess the two worst and the two best states, I got them all right. Some things are just obvious.
My guesses (Worst: California & Massachusetts; Best: Virginia and North Carolina) were better than I expected.
Simon should tattoo this on his forearms, and read from it every day.
No way would I have guessed Texas. The climate here stinks if you’re working it every day. Dallas is a dead, dead city biz-wise. No start-ups, no original home-grown ideas (OK, Mary Kay and TI), no innovation except in arena deals. Houston is probably the most vibrant economy here, thanks to the ship channel and awl bidness. Austin is circling the drain, still in shock from the dot.com fallout. San Antone is holding on, thanks to a low level of civic over-commitment and five (four?) air bases & Ft. Sam.
I would have guesses CO, AZ and GA, as tops. And yup, CA and NY as the worst just on the basis of taxation. My little startup employer is having it’s share of the troubles…
My immediate choices for 2 worst were RI and MD, since I’ve lived in both states.
Well, I got three out of four right. I guessed Texas and Florida for having no state income tax, and I guessed California and New York.
Ha ha! Yet again those wunnerful Murican executives shoot themselves in feet. Lets see. Good business climate=screw your workers=bad business climate. Geddit?!
Here is a California statistic from my own business: Year 2000: $2800,000 for all insurance including Work Comp. Year 2004: $1,000,000 for all insurance including Work Comp. Most of this increase is for Work Comp, or as I like to call it: The Full Employment Act for Chiropractors. Get the picture?