The clowns who run Los Angeles don’t know much, but they do know how to run businesses out of town with excessive regulation and high taxes.

Los Angeles has a national reputation for hostility to business — and it’s getting worse. Recent business surveys by Kosmont & Associates, a private consulting group, and the Rose Institute at Claremont McKenna College rank the city as the second most expensive in which to do business in California.

Larry Kosmont, co-author of the Kosmont-Rose Institute report, says business costs in L.A. average between 2 1/2 to five times those of more business-friendly cities.

For instance, a $10-million office or retail operation pays about $59,000 in annual utility taxes and license fees to do business in L.A., compared with $9,300 in Pasadena, $904 in Burbank and zero in Rosemead.

So by moving a couple miles, from LA to Burbank, a retailer can save $58,096 annually, just in taxes. Unlike politicians, businesses are rational so they split town to the tune of 100,000 jobs lost since 1995.

What to do? Why, empanel a panel of the same types who created the problem. It’s the circle of life: create problems, then hire yourself to fix them.