Land of the Free?

LAND OF THE FREE? Our country was founded on freedom. The idea that human talent, innovation and tenacity were best harnessed by applying no harness at all. It is a fundamental belief in people. A belief that, in light of current laws, seems to be missing from many of our current leaders. This Independence Day we decided to look at two real world examples of states with differing levels of economic freedom: spend-heavy California and light- on-taxes, nearby Utah. A comparison between the two shows what happens when the harness is fastened too tight. VS CALIFORNIA UTAH DEBT PER CAPITA amount of debt held by the state divided by the number of people (2011) $3.990 $2.577 RANK: 17 RANK: 31 STATE & LOCAL TAX BURDEN PER CAPITA the tax burden placed on each state resident (2010) a $4.934 $3.181 RANK: 45 RANK: 15 UNFUNDED PENSIONS gap between the state's liability for its employee pensions and how much the state has actually set aside (2010) SI13,587.418,280 $4.628,098.440 THE OUTCOME CREDIT GROWTH s&p general obligation bond rating business annual growth rate (1991-2011) VS VS A AA *0.53% +2.90% MIGRATION number of people moving bétween the two states (2011) MINUS 18.237 8.944 people moved from CA> UT people moved from UT > CA' = +9.293 NET GAIN PEOPLE "VOTE WITH THEIR FEET" UTAH HAS MORE ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES AND IS MORE CONDUCIVE TO ECONOMIC GROWTH SOURCES: The Tax Foundation, The Pew Center On The States, California State Treasurer, Bureau Of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, Utah State Treasurer BANKRUPTINGAMERICA