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Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

latimes.com

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Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#191

Post by mythrwy »

perl4ever wrote: post #55
grandmczeb wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is the the real cost of allowing (particularly foreign) capital to be parked in real estate in the developed world. It's amazing to me that people don't recognize this as xenophobia when other forms ("Mexicans are taking our jobs!", "Migrants don't have the same values!") are so readily called out. High housing prices are a self inflicted problem. When you mix supply restrictions with tax breaks explicitly des…

When reading an article about New Zealand restricting foreign real estate investment, I found their reasoning compelling. Housing can be used to house people, or for speculation, like Bitcoin or gold. If you believe that providing shelter takes strict priority for the limited housing stock then it is moral and necessary to restrict the demand from investors. Quantifying the scale of the problem is another issue, but…

Exactly. Speculation and storing wealth are worthwhile activities but IMOP not when it comes to basic human needs. One of which is having a place to eat and sleep.

Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#192

Post by jstarfish »

brandonmenc wrote: post #155

>Phil said people may wonder why vehicle dwellers like himself don't move in with family. Well, good for those who are able, but easier said than done, said Phil. His son is already sharing space because of the high cost of housing. Again, this just boggles my mind. I understand there are people who are on bad terms with their family, but sans that, I cannot imagine a situation where my 60+ year old parents living al…

Dealing with your parents' alcoholism, drug abuse and/or mental illness for 18 years and being none too enthusiastic to continue to do so is one situation.

It gets worse when they start stealing, destroying property and procuring drugs, and you find it's too late to get rid of them thanks to eviction/tenancy laws.

Not everybody's families are Rockwell portraits.

Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#193

Post by hiram112 »

p1esk wrote: post #145
lsc wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My impression is that it's the other way around; working in the computer industry carries a higher pay premium (vs. working in some other field) in Silicon Valley than it does anywhere else. So while a chef might be better off in Luxembourg, the software engineer is better off in silicon valley.

You might be right, but 50k is way too low for a software engineer anywhere in US.

What are you talking about?

The prevailing wage law of the H1B is only $60k, and these are for the best and brightest workers our mega corps need, due to a lack of qualified US workers.

So obviously, $50k is more than adequate. /s

Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#194

Post by jstarfish »

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #6
cletus wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question: why are you having children in such a financially precarious situation when it’s only going to increase your living costs? EDIT: by “financially precarious” I mean that above you said you were a new grad having difficulty finding work. I assume it is your intent to work after the baby is born (rather than being the primary caregiver) or it wouldn’t matter so much about finding work. If your wife ret…

Assuming I'm in a "financially precarious situation" is a bit presumptuous. My wife is an employed college grad, and we have much more saved than the average American. We have health insurance, and have already completely paid off the medical bills for her birth. We are fine. It's still too risky and difficult for us to relocate, though. Our family all lives nearby, so we have a support structure here. My wife has an…

I wish you the best, but you're just making a bunch of excuses.

You say it's risky and difficult to chase jobs elsewhere. Yet you claim to be better off than the average American while chasing entry level jobs.

If anything this makes you more mobile than the average American.

Use this to your advantage instead of holding out for one of a dwindling number of jobs in some rural town. Because even if you get one, what's your exit strategy if you lose it? By your own account your position seems to be ripe for elimination.

Holding out seems more risky than moving on. Don't move to the Bay area or manhattan. The rest of the country is not representative of this article.

But that's just my take on it. Best of luck to you.

Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#195

Post by anon151516888 »

orangecat wrote: post #148
chii wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more likely that unhealthy food is the one source of pleasure that a poor person can afford, and with all the troubles of their lives, they may find solice in eating the delicious junk. Healthy food either takes a bunch of effort, or don't taste very good (unless you couple it with some expensive condiments/spices).

This is basically Scott Adams's "Pleasure Unit Theory", which I find very plausible: http://pratie.blogspot.com/2006/04/scott-adams-pleasure-unit... . If it's true, then developing healthy food that's convenient and tasty will do a lot more good than hectoring people about their bad decisions.

We can't fix everyone's problems. Hectoring may be bad, but at the end of the day a lot of change has to come from the people making bad decisions. Sacrifice for ones children should be the norm, otherwise they shouldn't be bringing them into such a suffering existence.

Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#196

Post by FullMtlAlcoholc »

downandout wrote: post #110
aphextron wrote: post #34

I'll be facing this soon as well, at least they've got RV's. After getting back from my third open house for the week, with double digit atendees, I think the bay area just isn't for me. A perfect credit score and a job making double the median wage is not enough to land a 1 bedroom apartment apparently. I'll probably end up sleeping on someones couch for a few months to finish my work contract, and get out of this h…

I grew up in California. It's a beautiful place. But I fail to understand the point of living or doing business there in 2017. High state taxes, high crime rates (that will only get higher as more people are driven to homelessness), impossible housing market, etc. I now live in Nevada. I can easily drive or fly to California for vacation if I want, housing is relatively reasonable, and there are no state taxes. If yo…

> There's just no point to living in California these days.

There's an ocean, fantastic and constantly improving dining scene, beautiful people, the best national parks in the country, a gorgeous and diverse landscape, great weather that allows you to go skiing and surfing in the same day, arguably the best/tastiest crops and accompanying farmers markets in the nation, cultural attractions such as a top 5 symphony orchestra, iconic music venues, fully legalized marijuana, high quality illegal drugs from being right on the border, population diversity, high quality meetup groups (specifically thinking of BioCurious), and, most importantly, a high concentration of engineering talent.

That's not to mention the perks of living in a world class city. I get to demo things like Microsoft's HoloLens for free at a meetup at their Santa Monica campus, go to Hacker Nights at Riot Studios, attend a free presentation by Robert Sapolsky, watch SpaceX rocket launches and be a part of a very dense, helpful, and talented developer and entrepreneurial community.

The total compensation for the average engineer in LA is around $150k. I do this and work some side gigs. Maybe I can't afford private jets or a yacht, but I have very little material desires.

There is no amount of money that could convince me to spend the bulk of my time in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, or any other place in the US that offers tax advantages outside of Florida. (No offense to anyone who lives there, it's just not for me).

I see and agree with your contention if you find most or all of the above meaningless. I did the whole big fish, small pond thing before in Michigan and didn't like it, but I see how others can appreciate the differences. It's downright arrogant to call anyone who chooses to live in California insane just because you're over it.

Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#198

Post by mnm1 »

FullMtlAlcoholc wrote: post #196
downandout wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up in California. It's a beautiful place. But I fail to understand the point of living or doing business there in 2017. High state taxes, high crime rates (that will only get higher as more people are driven to homelessness), impossible housing market, etc. I now live in Nevada. I can easily drive or fly to California for vacation if I want, housing is relatively reasonable, and there are no state taxes. If yo…

> There's just no point to living in California these days. There's an ocean, fantastic and constantly improving dining scene, beautiful people, the best national parks in the country, a gorgeous and diverse landscape, great weather that allows you to go skiing and surfing in the same day, arguably the best/tastiest crops and accompanying farmers markets in the nation, cultural attractions such as a top 5 symphony or…

Have you considered Washington state as a tax-advantaged state? No state or capital gains income tax. Portland and Seattle are both accessible.

Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#199

Post by notyourwork »

djsumdog wrote: post #147
s0rce wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here, moved to the East Bay 18 months ago, have a great 1bdrm apartment.

How much do you two make vs the cost of your rent? I suspect the person you're replying to may not have anywhere near the means you have.

Op said he makes double the median income. That is more than enough to find a place to rent.

Re: Living in a parking lot in Santa Barbara

#200

Post by fuzzfactor »

QAPereo wrote: post #58
dnautics wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you've never been a scientist, have you? The experiments don't care about how much vacation you're legally entitled to.

Sure, if you’re a lab rat or a PhD student.

I believe the correct terms are ambitious or accomplished.
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