Yet any shipping lost in recent days might never come back.

Houston, in particular, has been building its port into a mega-facility. As Joel Kotkin wrote recently:

The Port of Houston, connected with the Gulf of Mexico by the 50-mile Houston Ship Channel, is now the nation’s Number One export hub, feeding off the energy revolution and expanding economic exchange with Latin America. Mexico and Brazil are by far the port’s largest trading partners. Houston’s port business has grown almost fourfold since 2000 — far faster than either New York’s or Los Angeles’s. Port officials estimate that the trade sector contributes $500 billion in economic activity and more than 1 million jobs to the state of Texas annually.

This is one reason why Houston and the rest of Texas are weathering the current downturn in oil and gas prices better than they did a similar downturn in the late 1980s.

Back out here on the West Coast, the Los Angeles Times reported it may take a while to return to normalcy:

West Coast ports are emerging from the most contentious labor dispute in more than a decade, but lingering resentment and structural problems may complicate a return to normality.

Activity picked up Saturday at Western harbors after the dockworkers union and employers reached a tentative agreement late Friday on a new five-year contract that will cover 20,000 workers at 29 ports.

Although there are obvious differences, this is somewhat like how a 2011 grocery worker strike was avoided in Southern California. That was unlike in 2003, when a four-month strike cost grocery companies $2 billion in profits and shook up the entire industry, including mergers, multiple store closings and greater use of automated tellers.

Despite its problems, the U.S. economy in most ways remains diverse and competitive.

The current conventional wisdom is that he’s likely to end up back with the Heat. Under NBA rules intended to help teams keep their stars, he can make the most guaranteed money with Miami — a five-year, $129 million deal, averaging $25.8 million a year. Other teams can offer him at most a four-year, $96 million deal (average: $24 million a year).

But in 2010, the last time LeBron was a free agent, he didn’t take the maximum available from his old team, Cleveland, or even from Miami. He took less money because he wanted to join a team ready to make championship runs, and that’s just what happened with the Heat, which made the finals four straight years, winning twice.

So what are the loaded teams this time around? Two teams jump out — the Los Angeles Clippers and the Houston Rockets, which each have two of the 20 or so best players in the league to team with LeBron.

Millions more available in Houston, Miami

But if money is at all a factor for LeBron — not just his salary but how much of a tax bite he faces on his estimated $42 million in annual endorsements — than Proposition 30 is going to hurt the Clippers’ chances badly.

The sting of Prop. 30 on high earners first was highlighted by a sports story in January 2013, when golfer Phil Mickelson said he was considering leaving Rancho Santa Fe and San Diego County because of high taxes. Another San Diegan, small-government crusader Richard Rider, subsequently explained why Mickelson had reason to grouse:

“Here’s the fact that EVERYONE (including me) initially undervalued concerning Mickelson and CA state income taxes. Starting in 2013, Mickelson’s NET state income tax has jumped 83.6%!  And yes, this huge increase hits most Californians making more than $2 million income.

“Here’s why. Until 2013, state income taxes were deductible for federal income tax purposes. Starting in 2013, for the really rich, this deductibility largely goes away (as does deducting property taxes and many other deductions). For people with over $2 million of income, they lose 80% of such deductions.

“With Proposition 30 passed in November, CA has raised its income tax on the wealthy by 29%. The combined tax increase is breathtaking. Do the math, and you find that in 2011 the net CA income tax for Mickelson was 6.7%. In 2013 his net CA income tax is 12.3% — an increase of 83.6%.”

Because of this huge bite, assuming James’ endorsements remained at $42 million, if he played for the Clippers and made $24 million, he would face a 51 percent effective tax rate on his $66 million in income, meaning he would take home a little bit more than $32 million.

Clippers fans can blame CA Dems if LeBron stays away

If he played for Houston, in a state that has no income tax, his 39 percent effective tax rate on $66 million in income means he would take home a little bit more than $40 million. That’s only slightly less then he would make if he returns to Miami, in another state that has no income tax. In Florida, his 39 percent effective tax rate on $67.8 million in income means he would take home about $41.4 million.

Now obviously this is a simplistic calculation of his taxes, which would be subject to other factors, especially given the complex ways many states target the income of visiting pro athletes. But the bottom line is pretty inescapable: Houston and Miami have huge advantages over the Clippers on the money front.

LeBron James may not care about how much money he makes at this point in his life. And one of his very best friends, Chris Paul, is a superstar point guard with the Clippers, where the coach is Doc Rivers, another LeBron favorite.

But if his decision is a close call and he doesn’t choose the Clippers, it’s fair to give some of the blame to Proposition 30 and the confiscatory policies of the California Democratic Party.

In the placid and well off community of Orange Hills in Orange County:

“robbers forced their way into a home and tied up a family at gunpoint and then invaded a neighbor’s home as well.

“The incidents began about 9:30 p.m. Monday in the 300 block of Calle Grande in Orange Hills, an affluent community in the city of Orange. One of the victims told NBC-Los Angeles that a robber held a gun to her head as well as her family’s.

“The family was then tied up but managed to alert authorities when the woman’s husband escaped through a window and called police, CBS-Los Angeles reported.

“The incident lasted three hours, the woman told reporters at the scene Tuesday.

“But the robbers weren’t done. A neighbor’s home also was invaded and a man who lived there was either shot or stabbed in the hand, the man’s wife told KTLA-TV. The man was taken to the hospital for treatment, according to media reports.”

If these people had been armed, say with pump-action shotguns, they could have taken care of business. They also could have saved the taxpayers the cost of the trial and incarceration of these brutal criminals.

Citizen defense

In Texas, where guns sensibly are a big part of the culture, a woman showed how to take action:

“HOUSTON — A woman opened fire on a group of robbers at a local Denny’s restaurant.

“At around 4 a.m. Thursday, a man who does not want to be identified, said his brother was robbed by six men with guns at a Denny’s off the Gulf Freeway in southeast Houston.

“‘I don’t know if it was random or someone set him up. Because he got his own label,’ said the victim’s brother.

“His brother’s wife was in the restroom at the time, but when she exited the restroom she saw the group of suspected robbers. Police said that’s when she pulled out her gun and shot at them.

“‘She said she came out of the restroom and saw my brother on the floor. That’s when she started doing what she gotta do. She got a license and she’ll do anything to protect her kids and my brother,’ he said.

“Police said there was a shootout, but it is not known how many shots were fired at the time. However, police said the gunshots did hit cars in the parking lot.

“No bystanders or customers were injured.

“The group of suspects fled the scene.

“The married couple said they are still shook up, but their family said they’re glad they made it out alive.

“‘Self-defense saved my brother’s life,’ he said.

“According to police, the robbers got away with jewelry.”

The woman’s only mistake was not taking enough target practice prior to the incident.

In California, county sheriffs control conceal-weapons permits. Most county sheriffs, including in supposedly “conservative” Orange County, severely restrict conceal-carry permits. They leave us at the mercy of criminals — who, as these two incidents show, obviously can get guns easily, and don’t care about gun laws.

In any case, in California, for now, you still can get a gun and keep it at home. So get one, practice twice a month, and protect your family.

Lock and load.

By John Seiler

The following chart I made from GasBuddy.com, which also lets you find the cheapest local gas prices. The chart shows gas prices in three areas for the past eight years. Note that Los Angeles (blue line) and San Francisco (orange line) usually have the same prices, with S.F. sometimes a little higher, reflecting the high taxes and extra regulations of the Pyrite State.

By contrast, Houston (green line) prices are markedly cheaper all along. True, Texas is an energy state. But so is California. We just restrict development and refining here because we are creating an eco-utopia in which everyone will drive cars powered by perpetual-motion machines to the High-Speed Rail system.

It’s too bad the chart doesn’t go back 13 years, to 1999, when gas gas 99 cents a gallon or less even in California.

Governments at all levels and the eco-elites want us out of our cars and into mass transit. The high prices punish people who want to live in the dreaded “sprawl” of the suburbs. Nice homes and cars are reserved nowadays for the governmental, bureaucratic and “1 percent” elite. Especially in California, the middle class is being destroyed by taxes, regulations and artificially high energy prices.