If that monthly jobs report didn't send a chill down the spines of the West Coast, Messed Coast™ governor's mansion dwellers, then maybe the news of the decision from one of the oldest and most successful companies to flee California and Intel's big announcement will.
Welcome to the West Coast, Messed Coast™ where Democrats imagine that money trees grow in deep ancient forests of Washington, Oregon, and northern California to fund the luxury beliefs of San Francisco, La Jolla, Medina, and West Linn.
Be careful what you wish for
Reality's coming crashing down, however. California has tried to regulate oil companies out of existence for years now. Finally, Chevron has had enough. The company announced Friday morning that it is moving its headquarters out of California where it has been since 1879, the age of some of those money trees.
In 1879, a small group of locals founded the Pacific Coast Oil Company, which eventually became the global mega-corporation we know as Chevron. Berkshire Hathaway now owns the country's 26th-largest company in terms of market cap.
Related: West Coast, Messed Coast™: Kamala's Kalifornication of America
Chevron will move its San Ramon, Calif., HQ, with its 2,000 employees, to Houston by the end of the year.
CEO Mike Wirth says the move isn't as much about politics as about efficiency, but Yahoo News reports that the company has "already had slashed new investments in California refining, citing 'adversarial' government policies in a state that has some of the most stringent environmental rules in the U.S." One of the company's executives said California was playing a "dangerous" regulatory game that threatened to spike gas prices.
Intel uh, oh
It turns out that when there's more going out than coming in for a long period of time that's not sustainable. Intel announced this week that it was shedding 15,000 jobs to shave $10 billion from the books. In addition to mass layoffs, the company is offering buyouts to select employees.
All three West Coast, Messed Coast™ states have a heavy Intel presence.
In a letter to employees, CEO Pat Gelsinger said, "This is an incredibly hard day for Intel as we are making some of the most consequential changes in our company’s history."
Gelsinger said the economic reality is an absolute gut punch.
Our costs are too high, our margins are too low. We need bolder actions to address both – particularly given our financial results and outlook for the second half of 2024, which is tougher than previously expected.
Gelsinger noted that the company was not able to speedily take advantage of the AI boom that is expected and the company will retrench.
Interest in interest
As long as we're discussing the economy, we note in passing that the United States is getting eaten alive because of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's (she says she was in the room) inflation debacle.
Try this on for size, West Coast, Messed Coasters™:
Rising interest on the national debt in the U.S. is soaring at such a rate that it’s absorbing almost half of all personal income taxes.
New data from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget shows that roughly 39 cents of every dollar paid in personal income taxes has gone toward paying down the interest on the national debt.
You're not working for The Man. You're working for the guy who loaned the money to The Man.
'Free stuff'
Meanwhile, in Ocean Beach in San Diego, illegal aliens are coming by jet ski. Listen to the Americans welcoming the people breaking into the country.
Related: West Coast, Messed Coast™: Democrats Ready Their Presidential Inflate-a-Spares
Sheer insanity.
In California, illegal aliens are offered voter registration, free health care, some of the worst public schooling in the country, help with housing and home loans, and free trans and abortion surgeries.
Homeless concierge services
In San Francisco, ground zero of the homeless crisis on the West Coast, Messed Coast™, the hapless mayor has issued a dictum that homeless people will be issued travel concierge service. That's right, they're getting bus tickets to go home.
After billions wasted and billions lost, the city now understands that it could have reunited drugged-out homeless people with their families the whole time.
The clueless mayor, who's indulged all of this disaster, now admits that they've been suckers.
San Francisco will always lead with compassion, but we cannot allow our compassion to be taken advantage of. We will not be a city with a reputation for being able to solve the housing and behavioral health needs of people across our country.
Try not to laugh.
Washington bright spot
Washington State's silly season is in full swing before its Aug. 6 primary.
Abortion is the only thing Democrats are talking about, whether it's the governor's race or the water board guy. They're one-trick ponies.
But Joe Kent is the one bright spot.
You're up before the sun to take your daughter to swimming practice. Or at the soccer field with her six days a week.
— Joe Kent for WA-3 (@joekent16jan19) August 2, 2024
And if you have a problem with a man taking her athletic scholarship, Marie thinks you're a "weirdo."
Marie won't protect women and girls' rights, but I will. pic.twitter.com/NFTpxSq3vj
Former special operator Joe Kent is running for Washington's 3rd Congressional District and has picked up Donald Trump and Elise Stefanik's endorsements.
He's running against an Antifa lady who wants to turn the Washington district into Portland.
Democrats' electric surge
Oregon Democrats are killing normal energy with their sun and wind hopes, for equity you understand, but, as predicted, it's not penciling out for the people paying the bill.
Since 2021, Portland General Electric bills have gone up by 44%. Now the company is asking for another 11% increase.
How's that green new deal working out for you?
See the top story for what happens next for Oregon.
Fire
And here's a reminder: the Pacific Northwest is in fire season again. If these commies running natural resources really believed what they say about CO2 emissions, they'd manage forests to mitigate all the fires. Trees are among the biggest CO2 sinks in nature. And when they go up in flames, well, you can do the math.
They haven't ruined everything yet
Two orca pods meet up in the San Juan Islands!
— BLM Oregon & Washington (@BLMOregon) August 1, 2024
On a beautiful day in the San Juans, the T018 and T049A Bigg's Killer Whale pods met up off of Cattle Point, according to the photographer. The snow-capped Olympic mountains in the background completed the picture.
📸 dante0864 pic.twitter.com/fhbYioXnRf
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