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Comparative ranking based on taxation and regulations, workforce quality, and living environment

. . . based on a set of 43 indicators divided into eight sub-indexes – government and fiscal policy, security, infrastructure, human resources, technology, business incubation, openness, and environmental policy.

Any lament that U.S. executives are sitting on cash at their companies instead of investing in plants and equipment may be about to get louder.

When Apple CEO Tim Cook announced late last year that the tech company wanted to bring some manufacturing back to the United States, it raised the question of where? Now we know: Texas.

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Gov. Jerry Brown acted Wednesday as California’s cheerleader-in-chief, countering the state’s anti-business reputation in an address to hundreds of business, agriculture and education leaders.

Payrolls climbed in 30 U.S. states in April, while the unemployment rate dropped in 40, showing the labor market strengthened across the country.

California leads the nation in most technology sector rankings compiled by the Washington D.C.-based TechAmerica Foundation.

It’s another day, with another list slapping California as a place unfriendly to businesses. According to a survey of more than 700 CEOs, California ranks dead last.

Economic uncertainty and concerns about revenue and cash flow to the worry list for California small businesses, according to a survey by California Bank & Trust of San Diego.

The latest edition of our list shows many things, but perhaps the most important is which cities have momentum in the job creation sweepstakes. Right now the biggest winners are the metro areas that are adding higher-wage jobs thanks to America’s two big boom sectors: technology and energy.

AMERICA’S crisis owes something to baby-boomers’ taste for sun. From the 1970s the share of Americans living in the southern half of the country climbed steadily, from under 40% to more than half by the 2000s. Climate helped motivate the shift (as climate control helped populate the Deep South, almost uninhabitably humid before air-conditioning). Economic opportunity also exerted a strong pull. This flow provided the underlying energy for America’s housing boom and bust.

Not long ago Gov. Rick Perry came poaching on my turf. Well, not mine, exactly, but close: He came to Oxnard, Calif., the town next door to the one I’ve lived in for 25 years, in hopes of luring one of our best local employers off to Texas.

Drones are on the minds of a lot of lawmakers right now. Their domestic arrival is now inevitable—the FAA estimates that 7,500 small drones, formally referred to as unmanned aircraft, will be in American skies by 2018. Drones will be fertilizing crops, aiding in search and rescue, and helping cops chase down criminals. And they’ll be creating jobs—lots of them, in areas such as manufacturing, training, and research and development. The unmanned aircraft industry hopes that there will be 100,000 people with drone-related jobs by 2025.

As I cruised down the Huangpu River past glimmering Shanghai high-rises with California Governor Jerry Brown and Chinese former NBA player Yao Ming, I could not help thinking that they may have at first blush appeared an odd couple. But their meeting marked not only another chapter in sports diplomacy, but also the culmination of one of the largest U.S.-China trade and investment delegations in history. What this delegation forged in China foretells of not only critical opportunities for the Golden State and U.S. economies, but also the possible future face of diplomacy and economic engagement.

Southern California is a hotbed of young and innovative companies, but you wouldn’t know it by following the money.