Figures released by the national Bureau of Economic Analysis showed the state’s gross domestic product recovering by 1.8 percent, after adjusting for inflation. This compares to national real economic growth in 2010 of 2.6 percent.
California’s GDP, at just over $1.9 trillion, is still below its 2008 peak. And our anemic recovery shows: 33 states are growing more robustly than California, including most of our key competitors. Construction, finance and nondurable manufacturing continue to be the major private sector economic laggards.
California is also losing our "market share" of the US economy. If our economic contraction and recovery had matched the rest of the country, we would be seeing more than $50 billion more economic activity today. This is the equivalent of adding the economy of a Maine or Rhode Island to the Golden State. It would also translate into billions more in state and local taxes, not to mention more jobs and less economic distress for Californians.
Even an anemic recovery can boosted on the margin by state public policy. Other states aren’t biding their time. Why is California?