Do more people find Hillary Clinton unreliable, calculating, deceiving, morally bankrupt and lacking in core beliefs or Donald Trump immature, petulant, unqualified, temperamental and egocentric?

We will know the answer on election night.

But when it comes to serious issues like job creation, it seems easier to have faith in Trump if he is elected president – provided economic advisors nudge him away from some of his protectionist trade policies.

I have no faith in Hillary’s predilection for higher taxes, more regulations and soaring energy costs, which could spark countless jobs moving offshore if she is elected. For evidence, let’s look to California because Mrs. Clinton echoes the business-bashing policies of Gov. Jerry Brown that have driven thousands of jobs out of state. 

Mexico has been the top foreign destination for California companies for the last eight years. Jobs have also migrated to India, Costa Rica, Malaysia and other countries.

California isn’t losing just low-paying jobs like seamstresses and clerks. Companies now issue paychecks in Mexico to people who manufacture automobiles, aerospace parts, respiratory products, electronic components and surgical tools.

I’m experiencing an upsurge in California companies inquiring about relocating to Mexico – a reaction to the contempt that Gov. Brown and Democrat legislators show toward the private sector. Also, more business leaders exploring non-U.S. locations for their facilities probably reflects their fears that Hillary’s campaign will prevail.

If Mrs. Clinton wins, it’s akin to electing Jerry Brown to the presidency. Seriously, look at the similarities.

Both prefer stacking agencies with appointees looking for “villains” in corporate operations while ignoring labor union excesses. Both will expand Al Gore-like carbon cap-and-trade measures despite job losses, particularly in manufacturing. Both will provide never-ending subsidies to their crony capitalist friends as funds are funneled through the U.S. Energy Dept. and three California agencies – GO-Biz and the film and energy commissions.

Hillary is unlikely to shake up inefficient or fraud-prone agencies in Washington, similar to Gov. Brown’s indefensible lack of action in Sacramento. To them, calcified government is okay.

Will a President Clinton fire members of the National Labor Relations Board for their bullying of companies? No. Will she remove officials from the renegade Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for their unilateral regulatory abuses? No. And let’s not even pretend that she will reform the Justice Department or its FBI component, which turned blind eyes to her security violations.

Gov. Brown and Mrs. Clinton openly embrace Big Government, thereby making it nearly impossible to conduct true reforms.

Their conformity extends to minimum wages. Jerry Brown approved a one-size-fits-all minimum wage statewide, which will hurt companies in the San Joaquin Valley that already have difficulty competing with low-cost foreign challengers. Hillary wants to impose a uniform minimum wage nationwide – as if it costs the same to live in Scranton as it does in San Francisco – an irrational act sure to cause factory closings.

When it comes to expenditures, watch out. Mrs. Clinton will spend billions of dollars on labor-backed boondoggles like Gov. Brown’s pet project, the San Francisco-Los Angeles high-speed rail system – which no longer is high speed.

Under a Hillary-imitates-Brown scenario, dysfunctional federal programs will be preserved. Unneeded projects will be funded. Cost overruns will be ignored. Wrongdoers holding office will keep their jobs.

Companies will need to defend their interests with the persistence of Navy Seals to overcome the anti-business, anti-profit, anti-transparency, pro-union, pro-taxes, pro-spending, pro-regulation, super-leftist zealots that monopolize today’s policy debates.

If Jerry Brown-Hillary Clinton policies prevail, then we will see more jobs move to other nations not just from California but from other states, too.

Originally published in the Orange County Register