LEAVING CALIFORNIA: Flight of the Icons. Anti-business policies are driving flagship firms and young residents out of California. Once the ultimate land of youth, the state is now aging faster than the rest of the nation.

Mark Zuckerberg has claimed that he would never start Facebook in today’s California. Yet he seems unconcerned about the fate facing smaller firms. His foundation gave millions to Proposition 15, a measure that would have increased property taxes on businesses and was opposed by most legacy businesses, and particularly by minority-owned firms. In a letter to Zuckerberg, the business owners noted: “Unlike Facebook, restaurants, dry cleaners, nail salons and other small businesses can’t operate right now and many may never open again. The last thing they need is a billionaire pushing higher taxes on them under the false flag of social justice.”

Not to be outdone, New York City has been chasing people out of town by stifling housing and industrial development. Many are  crossing the Hudson River to Jersey City, which built seven times more housing per capita as Manhattan last year.

UPDATE: Headline link was incorrect before. Should be working now.