Gavin Newsom’s latest attempt to celebrate big business blew up in his face when he was harassed by Californians angry for ignoring the realities of life in the Golden State.
The Democratic governor took to X, formerly Twitter, to delight in a survey that suggests California now leads the United States in Fortune 500 companies.
“Huge,” it was declared, “and something you definitely won’t hear on Fox News tonight.”
The reaction was certainly enormous, with hundreds of Californians criticizing his record on crime, drugs, housing, budget deficits and the rest of the state’s economy.
‘Great, the rich are getting really rich and the middle class is getting poor!’ JD Sharp wrote. ‘Welcome to sunny, socialist California!!’
California Governor Gavin Newsom faced furious backlash for his tweet celebrating his state’s success in attracting large businesses.
The embattled governor was keen to publicize a Fortune magazine story suggesting that 57 of America’s largest companies now call the state home, surpassing Texas and New York and putting California at the top of the list by first time in 10 years.
‘More than Texas. More than Florida. 57 incredible, booming companies, right here in the Golden State,’ he boasted.
But many were keen to point out that people have headed in the opposite direction: in 2022, 340,000 more will leave than arrive.
Los Angeles is 340,000 fewer people than in 2019, while San Francisco, San Diego and Santa Clara counties are each missing about 40,000 people.
Meanwhile, Florida gained nearly 250,000, while Texas had 174,261.
California’s population is 1.2 percent smaller than in 2019 and, based on current trends, will not reach pre-pandemic numbers until around 2032.
“I hope most of their employees are virtual or work in other states,” Mericamemed tweeted.
‘It’s funny how many people have been voting with their feet and fleeing their state!’ MacAttack001 added.
Others suggested that rampant housing price inflation is contributing to the state’s homeless epidemic.
Some pointed out that while some big companies move in, people leave.
The number of homeless people increased 6 percent to more than 180,000 people in the Golden State last year.
Since 2013, numbers have skyrocketed by 53 percent in the state, representing one-third of the entire homeless population in the United States.
Some addressed the governor’s policy priorities, others were more succinct
Homelessness rose 6 percent to more than 180,000 people in California last year, federal data shows. And since 2013, numbers have skyrocketed by 53 percent, with the state accounting for one-third of the entire homeless population in the United States.
‘California is also home to the largest number of homeless people, illegal immigrants, needles and human feces on the streets!’ wrote DPL.3.
‘Not to mention the most expensive place to live and the most expensive taxes!’
California spent $24 billion to address homelessness in the five years through 2023, but failed to track whether the money was helping the state’s growing number of homeless people, a damning report revealed last month.
It has contributed to California’s budget deficit of at least $45 billion, prompting Newsom to propose painful spending cuts that affect immigrants, kindergartners and low-income parents seeking child care in a state often praised for having the fifth largest economy in the world.
“How much of that $45 billion deficit that you boast went to these companies in the form of tax breaks?” MacAttack asked. ‘Oh, did you find that $24 billion you lost?’
Reception of the Governor’s tweet was not helped by its timing, coming a day after it was revealed that Fortune 500 CEOs enjoyed an average pay increase of 12.6 percent last year, eclipsing the 4, 1 percent of private sector workers.
“It’s a good thing you serve the big corporations instead of the little people,” wrote Randal Nichol.
“It’s the little ones that are moving to Texas and Florida.”
“I’d rather they brag about successful small businesses, not billionaires getting rich,” Angie G added.
California’s burgeoning drug scene did not escape the attention of its detractors, nor did it escape the state’s criminal justice record, which saw the number of violent crimes increase 27 percent between 2013 and 2022, and pickpockets double.
“Dude, people can’t even walk in daylight in San Francisco and not get mugged,” Danigen wrote. ‘People can’t drive their cars without being robbed. Homeless people are dying in the streets, criminals are rampant in your state.
‘California leads the country in many things: homelessness; undocumented immigrants; budget deficits; income tax rates; fuel prices; poor quality of infrastructure,” added Charles May.
“Hey, but overall we have great weather and scenery.”
The governor found himself completely “proportionate” with more than 2,000 overwhelmingly hostile responses to his tweet in the first four hours.
And some pointed out that even his success story was not all it claimed to be.
But even the governor’s success story was not what he claimed, according to some.
“To put it in context, Texas has 55. California has 57,” community_notes wrote. ‘California also has about 25 percent more population than Texas: 30 million versus 39 million.
‘By population, it should be 68. And Texas and Florida have also been gaining.
“Gavin doesn’t mention that.”