Unsolicited endorsement from Bloomberg Matthew Winkler, Bloomberg News editor in chief emeritus, recently wrote: “Of all the prevailing media narratives around Gavin Newsom, the one that is most conspicuous by its absence is No wonder Elon Musk quietly sought Newsom’s help when the world’s richest man sought to move a bunch of Tesla Inc. engineers back to the state after relocating them to Texas. “Who Knew ‘Slick’ Gavin Newsom Was Such an Economic Maestro?” The Bloomberg column reported that after Newsom took office, the state’s gross domestic product surged 40% to more than $4 trillion, accounting for more than 14% of U.S. output. This outpaced major economies including China, which expanded 32%, and Germany’s 16% GDP growth. Californiais 12% of the U.S. population and drove more than 40% of growth in the U.S. stock market value. California-based companies spent $527 billion annually on acquisitions during Newsom’s tenure, almost three times the $179 billion spent annually in the 20 years prior to 2019 “California’s not-so-secret sauce happens to be the diversity between its citizens’ ears instead of the fossil fuels generating the biggest share of Texas growth,” Winkler wrote. The state’s more than 600 colleges and universities make California peerless in the breadth of higher education availability compared with U.S. states or any of the world’s developed economies. California has the highest enrollment in higher education that creates a leading “talent pipeline,” with one college or university for every 64,000 citizens, more than the UK and Germany, according to the governor’s office. California has sponsored > 300 Nobel prize-winning research projects, UC Berkeley alone has > 111. As a point of reference, Texas has less than 50. The Bloomberg column also noted that California produces more engineers than any other state “Even after Musk … decried California as ‘a land of taxes, over-regulation and litigation’ when he moved the company’s headquarters along with its research and development leadership to Texas in 2021, the world’s richest person admitted a year later that Tesla couldn’t succeed without California-based engineers,” Winkler wrote. “’I will never forget’ when Musk ‘called me,'” Newsom reportedly recalled. “He said, ‘I’m surprised you’re picking up the phone. I may actually ask you for some help’ because ‘I can’t find the talent in Texas. Don’t say a word.’”
more from the Bloomberg article, “Forget the political attacks. Industry knows its breadwinners are in the Golden State.” Technology firms based in California lead the nationwide industry with 41 companies generating a 603% total return over the past decade — four times the gain of their global peers in the past two, three and five years. California makes up 62% of all U.S. venture capital funding and did 31.5% of venture capital deals last year. “The runner-up in 2025 was New York with 13.3%. Massachusetts was next, just ahead of Texas — both below 6%,“ according to Bloomberg. Health care contributed 52% to the state’s GDP last year, “despite MAGA attacks on the industry,” Infrastructure and trade keep the U.S. economy moving due to the Newsom administration’s infrastructure investments, according to the governor’s office. The Port of Los Angeles is the nation’s “gateway to global trade, handling more than $300 billion of cargo annually,” Winkler wrote. Clean energy and clean transportation are helping California maintain its future-facing dominance, officials said. The largest eight clean companies in the state have seen their stock value rise 56% on average since 2019, compared with 40% for their global counterparts. “Their 7% average annual gain in revenue crushes the 5% global average,” Winkler wrote. “California renewable energy companies will see 17% revenue growth in the coming year, more than doubling the 7% increase of global peers, according to analyst estimates.“
Good article. I wouldn't really give too much of the credit of California's success to Newsom other than he was smart enough to not get in the way. Which isn't nothing-- if they elected a Republican governor, that person probably would have started remolding state government to the detriment of what they've got going. But the credit should really go to their natural resources, the appeal of the state that draws the best and brightest to the state, to the work of Californians, to the strong industries that made their homes there, and these all operate in a virtuous cycle to reinforce each other. They hit a winning formula before Newsom was elected, and he's not screwing it up.
Newsom's finger print is all over the emergence of AI---gaining traction the pandemic years---leading to SF being the AI capital of the world. Since 2020, more than 2,400 AI companies have been founded in San Francisco, a city of just 830,000 people, which contradicts the convenient false narrative that businesses are moving out of Calif in droves, in particular, SF
@Salvy @Os Trigonum @CrixusTheUndefeatedGaul These Lakers are going to wearing their Bronny jerseys on Saturday at Dave and Busters
everything is relative, Trump's approval rating slips to new second term low with men Trump’s approval rating with men is 41 %, and his disapproval rating with the group is 52 %. His overall approval rating is 38 % versus a 55% disapproval rating.
Not trying to get into it or chose sides, but that would seem to be more a function of the fact that all the computer nerds and other technology geeks already congregating in the area starting in the 1970's, and so they had a running head start. It was sort of a natural evolution of the "computer age" or "internet age" that they were already dominating. (Not sure everybody understands that Silicon Valley is basically a San Francisco suburb? Neither San Jose or Santa Cruz really cut the mustard as a corporate hub-type of city.) My favorite thing about Newsom is still that he was willing to punch back at Donald Trump (and found a way to do so effectively) when every other Democrat on the planet was still either shocked, or steamrolled and totally cowed. That speaks to character in a way that is difficult to quantify. He was doing it effectively way before it became a totally cool thing to do.
To be clear, punching back at Trump was always cool. It's just that most politicians are not cool and many have struggled with doing it effectively.
there was no AI industry to speak of when Newsom took office in 2018; thru Newsom's EO / initatives / partneships w industry / higher education, there are over in 500 co in Calif involved in AI, 280 in SF alone if so, the GOP / right wing media would look the other way on Calif's less-than-successful effort on the high-speed rail project. in 1996, Gov Pete Wilson, a GOPers, laid the groundworks for the establishment of the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA), which was reponsible for the planning / implementation of the high speed rail system with 30 years of hindsight, just like Trump's tariffs, to say that it was ill-conceived would be an understatement the 4 Calif governors that followed Wilson, Reps and Dems alike, have been saddled w this mess lots of legal roadblocks which led to delays and cost overruns despite the fact CHSRA has spanned 5 California governors, w Newsom being the latest, right-wing media / GOP would have people to believe that Newsom is solely responsible for the CHSRA mess
@GOATuve Voting for a candidate because they talk back to Trump isn’t a qualification This is what happened when Biden and Kamala got elected The people here who simply ignore what’s going on in California under Newsom aren’t very smart That’s like putting someone in the Rockets starting lineup cause they talked yelled at Ted Cruz Not a real reason @Os Trigonum @pgabriel @CrixusTheUndefeatedGaul @Salvy @Tomstro
Huh? Without Newsome's brilliant guidance corporations like Apple and Google would be nothing. And let's not forget that Newsom made Tesla successfull, not that Nazi Elon Musk.
