It was with interest that I read Star Parker’s editorial inThursday’s paper. In this article she addresses Bed Bath and Beyond’s decision to move out of California and Gavin Newsom’s flippant and seemingly unconcerned response. She then cites the Cato Institute’s ‘D’ rating of Gavin Newsom to back her contention that his policies have made California a bad place to do business.

I found this interesting because when I looked up these ratings, the CATO Institute had given Kim Reynolds an ‘A’ rating. I then compared recent Growth National Product (GNP) data for the two states and saw that Iowa had a 6.1 point reduction in Gross National Product during the first quarter of 2025 while California saw a drop of only 0.2%. California’s population is about twelve times that of Iowa’s and yet their GNP in 2024 was fifteen times higher than Iowa’s. This causes me to doubt the validity of the CATO rating system. When one looks at this economic data, it becomes difficult to argue that California’s governor is doing a worse job than Iowa’s.

California and Iowa are the two top agricultural states in the union and, as such, share many problems — soil degradation, polluted water, and depleted aquifers. Maybe it is time to look beyond divisive party politics and work together to develop better agricultural systems that will allow us to feed our people without destroying our most valuable natural resources.