Bloomberg Businessweek (November 2025)

Год выпуска: November, 2025

Автор: Bloomberg Businessweek

Жанр: Бизнес

Издательство: «Bloomberg Businessweek»

Формат: PDF (журнал на английском языке)

Качество: OCR

Количество страниц: 104

Gavin Newsom’s California Baggage

There’s an old saying among politicos: “California is always on the ballot”—America’s most populous and productive state is in one way or another continually on the mind of the country’s voters. That’s palpably true this year, as the state considers a redistricting referendum meant to counter Republicans’ attempts to gerrymander the midterm elections in their favor, and as Governor Gavin Newsom, the subject of our November cover story (page 44), presents himself as a social media warrior ready to lead a listless Democratic Party.

But if the nation’s voters are ever again asked directly whether America should look more like California—Newsom is near the top of every list of Democratic presidential hopefuls—they’ll have to consider an economic picture that is decidedly mixed. The state, as is often noted, is a powerhouse that generates 14% of the country’s gross domestic product and alone would have the world’s fourth-largest GDP, just ahead of Japan’s. It leads the country in confronting climate change by establishing standards for renewable energy and electric vehicles. And as home to almost two-thirds of the leading global artificial intelligence companies, it has reestablished its primacy (if it was ever truly in doubt) as the world’s top incubator of the next new thing.

Along with these flexes, not to mention the glorious weather and stunning vistas, California also leads the country in less positive categories. It has the highest unemployment rate (5.5%), is tied with Louisiana for the highest poverty rate and regularly ranks at or near the bottom of most lists measuring high school graduation rates. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, sky-high prices for housing and other necessities, a visible homeless problem in major cities and perceptions of lawlessness have driven more people—and companies—out of the state than its enduring charms have lured in. “The mythology of California is that you could come here and remake yourself and build a middle-class living,” says Los Angeles-based political strategist Mike Madrid, who has advised both Democrats and Republicans. “That’s a quaint notion of the past. You can’t come here without a college degree and ever own a home, let alone support a family.”

The California dream arguably started to fade a few decades ago. After the Cold War, military bases closed, and aerospace giants like Northrop Grumman Corp. and McDonnell Douglas Corp., which helped fuel the state’s furious economic expansion, shrank or disappeared. The tech companies that replaced them employed far fewer people and concentrated wealth in the hands of relatively few shareholders and workers. There’s consensus that the state enacted bad policies too, including labyrinthine regulations that made it hard to run a business and, crucially, to develop land and build more housing. According to the US Census Bureau, California’s population has slightly declined since 2020, while states like Texas and Florida have gotten larger. “It’s more than just housing. Development in all areas of California needs to be streamlined and more efficient. We’re making it costlier for individuals to live here,” says Jennifer Barrera, chief executive officer of the California Chamber of Commerce.

One frequently identified villain is the 55-year-old California Environmental Quality Act, which makes it onerous for companies to get the necessary approvals to build things and too easy for everyone from environmentalists to disgruntled neighbors to stop them. Over the past few months, Newsom has signed several bills that overhaul the state’s permitting process, exempt high-density housing from CEQA and shield qualifying projects from expensive and time-consuming litigation. Critics pointed out the reform came relatively late in the governor’s second and final term and was a response to President Donald Trump’s surprising success in the state in the 2024 election. But the move helped recast Newsom as an “abundance” Democrat—part of the fashionable movement of liberals who want to remove barriers to new construction and economic growth.

In his interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Newsom criticized Trump’s economic policies, took aim at what he calls the administration’s engagement in “crony capitalism” and generally displayed the brand of direct and obscenity-laced political pugilism that has helped him capture public attention lately. He also dodged any talk of running for president in 2028 and conceded that the perception of his state isn’t all that great right now.

“I’m not naive about California’s status in the national election. I’m not a fool. Just the opposite—I’m consciously battling all this, including how vulnerable we are on the two key issues that are completely legit critiques: housing and homelessness,” he said. “I’m quite offended about the status quo myself.”

Remarks

• California, America’s paragon and pariah

In Context

• Sizing up the AI bubble—if it even is a bubble
• A better treatment for prostate cancer
• Serious runners wear … Birkenstocks?
• It’s Africa’s turn to feed the world
• A Walk With: Dumpling dynamo Albert Yang

In View

• The end is nigh for quarterly reports. Good!
• Trump flooded the zone. Now he needs a mop
• Does “fiduciary duty” have a political affiliation?
• Why Palestinian statehood seems to get further away
• The 2025 New Economy Forum
• America slams the door—and the world shrugs
• Investment plans in India are unraveling
• China’s growing port portfolio sets off alarms
• Nine people who really might change the world
• Gavin Newsom is ready for a fight
• Did cloud seeding fuel Dubai’s deadly storm?

How to Invest Now

• Investing in topsy-turvy times
• The markets are roaring, but there are hazards ahead
• Private capital and your 401(k): Pluses and minuses
• How to gauge an ETF
• Feeling bullish? There’s more to the US than Big Tech
• Feeling bearish? Look to Europe and gold
• Robinhood wants to be all things to all investors
• The luxury credit card showdown

Pursuits

• Keeping Austria’s Montafon Valley safe from Big Skiing
• You won’t be buckling your ski boots for much longer
• Why Utah has “the greatest snow on Earth”
• Following a higher calling in the Lake District
• We’ve entered the golden age of wine bars
• The favorite dishes CEOs serve for the holidays
• Anthony Hopkins on a life of challenges and triumphs
• What you’ll want to watch and read in November
• Carmakers try to crack the Formula One formula

Exit Strategy

• Can you master the global supply chain?

скачать журнал: Bloomberg Businessweek (November 2025)