Despite all the critics, California could soon rise to the world’s 4th-largest economy California has long faced criticism for driving away business and workers, due to high taxes and prices and tough regulations.A few high-profile business titans have loudly departed, most notably Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, who moved Tesla’s headquarters — and himself — to Texas during the pandemic (though SpaceX remains headquartered in Southern California).“Everybody was focusing on the California exoduses, the wildfires, the earthquakes and everything that was negative going on, but I don’t think anybody was paying attention to the growth.” Although Gov.It fails to take into consideration important factors such as housing affordability, income inequality, cost of living and wealth distribution, all key areas in which California has continued to struggle, making it difficult for middle- and low-income families to thrive in many parts of the state, according to economic experts.“It’s not as though this is all California innovation, it’s also partially those external factors.” While Winkler mentions in his analysis that “Germany, of course, has been severely impacted by the war in Ukraine,” many experts say that aspect of the equation was heavily downplayed in the probability that California will surpass Germany."