We took a little vacation last
week to San Diego. It was splendid. This is the view from our condo at sunset.
And this, unfortunately, is the
receipt for filling the car once at a gas station that was 20 cents a gallon
less than nearby competitors. Ouch. Thanks, Donald.
California certainly has its
problems (what state doesn’t in Trump’s America?)—prices being a major issue—but I thought I’d list a couple of statistics to
show the other side of California and how much the rest of the country relies
on the Golden State.
First, according to recently
released statistic from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, California’s
nominal GDP reached $4.10 trillion in 2024. To put that in perspective, if
California were its own country, it would now rank fourth in the world, behind
only the United States as a whole ($29.18 trillion), China ($18.74 trillion),
and Germany ($4.65 trillion). California just passed Japan ($4.02 trillion).
Think about that for a minute. California now has a larger economy than Japan.
If growth rates remain steady, it will soon pass Germany. California accounts
for over 14 percent of the United States’ GDP.
Second, Republicans love to talk
about makers and takers. They hate freeloaders, those who take more from the federal
government than they give back. But if you look at maker and taker states, only
19 states in 2024 gave more to the federal government than they received
(according to USAFacts, November 3, 2025, drawing on IRS and USASpending.gov
data). The largest, by far, was California, which sent $276 billion more to the
federal government than it received. Second was New York, at a paltry $76
billion. In case you were wondering, the majority of states that paid more than
they received are left leaning, the exceptions being Texas, Ohio, Georgia,
Nebraska, Florida, Tennessee, Utah, and Arkansas. And the majority of taker
states are right leaning. Interestingly, though, the biggest taker state is
Virginia, which leans slightly left, but that is likely because it is home to
so many federal employees. To put California in another context, it almost pays
for the deficits of the 19 conservative taker states (which collectively contribute
$289 billion less than they receive from the federal government).
Third, Trump promised to revive
the U.S. manufacturing sector and bring back manly manufacturing jobs. This, of
course, is a losing proposition. Manufacturing jobs have been on the decline
for decades, and in Trump’s first year of his second term, the U.S. shed
108,000 manufacturing jobs (figure published by the Joint Economic Committee on
February 11, 2026). I assume that California is also losing manufacturing jobs,
but it still has over 36,000 manufacturing firms employing over 1.1 million
Californians (California state publication dated April 23, 2025).
Fourth, agriculture. California
produces over one-third of the country’s vegetables and nearly three-quarters
of its fruits and nuts. In terms of total U.S. agricultural production,
California generates over 13 percent. It also supplies about 20 percent of the
nation’s milk. If California were a country, it would rank as the world’s
fifth-largest food supplier.
So, despite California’s troubles,
just imagine what the United States would be without the Golden State. It’s
also a great place to visit.
Oh, and the weather was splendid.
