Brown accelerates California exodus

In an article published in The Fresno Bee on April 10, Phillip Reese indicated that multitudes of Californians have left this state for places where it is cheaper to live. The governor just signed legislation increasing the minimum wage in this state by 50 percent over the next few years.

Restaurants and food stores will therefore be required to increase the cost of the food they sell, and factories and retail outlets will be required to increase the cost of clothing and merchandise they sell by a similar amount to generate the funds required to pay these salary increases to their employees.

I live on a U.S. Air Force pension, a city pension and Social Security. These retirement programs all have very limited cost-of-living increases that will not even come near to matching the increased cost of food, clothing and merchandise that will result from the governor’s mandated wage increase.

Hence I, and other taxpaying citizens like me, have no choice but to join the crowd looking for a more reasonable place to live. Enjoy the consequences of this outward migration, governor. You are responsible for accelerating it.

This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 6:18 AM with the headline "Brown accelerates California exodus."