Bloomberg News reports that Goldman Sachs held its annual shareholder meeting in Dallas, Texas, where it is developing a new "regional campus" to house about 5,000 employees.
"The region is sweeping in high-profile dealmakers, wealth-management firms and industry giants, as firms and their executives relocate to Texas from higher-cost states including California and New York," the article says, mentioning JPMorgan Chase & Co, Wells Fargo & Co., Charles Schwab, TIAA, Ken Fisher, and Fidelity among "more than a dozen significant financial services expansions in the region since the start of 2021."
The movement of people and economic activity out of New York and California toward Republican-led states such as Texas and Florida with lower taxes, less regulation, and less powerful labor unions (and with somewhat cheaper housing, in part as a result) is one of the most significant U.S. economic and political trends of the past few decades. There are moments when you think the states that are losing out are going to notice what is happening and start to react and improve. New York tried under Giuliani and Pataki; there are some encouraging signs that Tax-Cutting Governor Maura Healey of Massachusetts is concerned. At a certain point, though, the people and firms who care most about these things have already exited, making a turnaround harder to execute.