Companies, jobs streaming out of Calif.

“Earlier in the day, citing the state’s ‘high cost of doing business,’ a regional Comcast official said the company’s Natomas, Livermore and Morgan Hill call centers will be shuttered on Nov. 30. Overall, about 1,000 jobs will be relocated to existing centers in Portland, Seattle and Denver.

“But hours later, after state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and the Governor’s Office interceded, Comcast backtracked, saying its initial reasons were ‘incorrect.'”

Comcast is a giant conglomerate that still employs thousands in California. So it obviously was pressured by Brown and Steinberg, the state’s top two political thugs. You thought free speech existed? Not when a massive tax increase that will kill even more jobs, Proposition 30, is at stake.

Then there’s this about a Campbell’s soup plant:

“The Sacramento plant, which makes soups, sauces and beverages, will close in phases before shuttering for good in July, the company said. As Campbell’s oldest American facility — it was built in 1947 — the factory has the highest production costs in the company’s network.

“About 700 full-time employees will lose their jobs, according to Campbell. Production will be redistributed to plants in Maxton, N.C.; Napoleon, Ohio; and Paris, Texas.”

I heard Joseph Vranich, the relocation specialist, on the John & Ken show yesterday evening. (Audio here.) He said the Campbell’s plant was ideally located in Sacramento because that’s near where the food is grown. But AB 32, Arnold’s beloved Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, kicks in big time next year with its absurd Cap and Trade program. Processing food creates a big “carbon footprint,” so it’s best to skedaddle to a state that treats businesses better.

Vranich said the cost of doing business in California is at least 20 percent higher than anywhere else in America.

This is the continuation of a long-term exodus. Soon the only jobs left in California will be for 180-IQ computer geeks in Silicon Valley, Hollywood producers, government workers, drug dealers and moving companies.