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Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

wsj.com

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Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#221

Post by pcwalton »

demosthenes14 wrote: post #12
spectramax wrote: post #3

I just moved to the Bay Area and I have no good opinions about living here. It’s a 3 trillion dollar neighborhood that has broken infrastructure, an abysmal housing situation, crime through the roof, homeless people everywhere, traffic, outrageous costs and just generally an awful place to live. I don’t know about the business side, but from an employee standpoint, fuck the Bay Area. Oh, and my car got broken into tw…

Sometimes I wonder if there’s a funded campaign against the Bay Area online. Where do you live, and where did you come from? I just moved to SF and yes it has homeless people, traffic and is extremely expensive, but these are things that every other big city I’ve lived in has. The costs and homelessness are worse than Seattle or NYC but not to the point that it’s a reduction in my quality of life. To say you have “no…

It's not a funded campaign against California or anything (although I suppose our current president's campaign rhetoric comes close to meeting that definition), but I agree that the constant California bashing is annoying. My guess is that it's simply a result of the fact that more people here have experiences with California than anywhere else, and people like to complain about where they live. So you see a lot of negative California rhetoric, because lots of people here can relate to it. Whereas if I complain about the intolerance, ugliness, weather, etc. of College Station, Texas (all reasons why I moved away and have no interest in moving back to that state) few know what I'm talking about.

I'm no California booster or anything, mind you. Some people like it here (I'm one of them), and some don't. That's fine. We certainly have our problems that we need to work on, and we have also done a lot of things right. (For example, SF tore down the Embarcadero Freeway permanently when it was damaged in the earthquake. Brilliant move. Wouldn't fly politically for a second in Dallas.)

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#222

Post by pkaye »

gilbetron wrote: post #91
TulliusCicero wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the problem with housing prices in California is that property taxes are too low. Prop 13 means existing homeowners are shielded from higher property taxes, so growing property values are only good for them, no matter how high. Thus, there's no incentive to increase housing supply, which could lower prices.

Whoa! Didn't even know about Prop 13 - that basically means no house can currently have a higher taxable value than basically double what it was worth in 1978. Insane!

The property tax rate is capped at 1% (plus some small extra.) The property value is reassessed with change of ownership. Yearly increases in assessed value are limited to no more than 2%.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#223

Post by _jal »

kodablah wrote: post #215
_jal wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was responding to someone asking narrowly about taxes, not chasing moving goalposts. > I would guess that That's why I posted data; it works better than guessing.

The commenter guessed at something your article did not address yet is not unrelated. Saying it's moving goalposts to discuss housing costs in relation to property tax percentage and then quoting the first part of the sentence pretending your link addresses the unquoted part is disingenuous at best.

I pretend nothing; the first part of my response made it obvious I'm not responding to housing-related issues.

I'm guilty of being a little snippy, which I'll own. I just get sick of these unmoored "housing sucks in California well no, it is taxes well really is is about..." conversations. The issues are complex, there's real lives and lots of money on the line, and yes, fully two thirds of these conversations involve moving goalposts, whether or not people realize that's what they're doing.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#224

Post by ausjke »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #181
ausjke wrote: post #136

[flagged]

Why do people leave CA? Because they don't like what it's becoming. So they move somewhere else. But it's not really what they want, either. What they want is maybe 75% Texas, 25% California. So they try to move Texas, not all the way to California, but in that direction. To the people in Texas, that feels like "trying to turn Texas into California".

People make the state as it is today, so those people are exactly the reason what made CA is becoming. No they don't want to do just 25%, they want to own it and do 100+% their way wherever they migrate to, it's called Stockholm Syndrome. After they destroy a new place, they will move on to yet another state, which is why I call epidemic.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#225

Post by megaframe »

atlantacrackers wrote: post #38
jimmaswell wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Friendly if you're the right political party and orientation, I hear.

Have you ever visited? Talked to locals? You might be surprised how friendly people are IRL.

People can be friendly to your face and still vote for and support laws and political leaders who want you out of their area or worse.

Look at how they fought gay marriage or how they treat Mexican-American's. There are pockets of safety in that state (Houston/Austin) but as a whole it's not that great.

I lived a number of years in Idaho which has the same problem. I'm "OK" in Boise (even there things can happen) but I'm genuinely concerned for my safety when I have to drive anywhere else in that state.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#226

Post by scurvy »

tootie wrote: post #170
hkmurakami wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TD Ameritrade is headquartered in Omaha. The HQ location choice is not driven by existing Ameritrafe footprint, or by the merger itself. The FAQ is simply addressing what will be, not starting that there was a cause and effect because of the proposed merger. Also, Schwab was already reducing SF headcount for years. Also, afaik the merger is still in the prices of regulatory review. All this being said, the merger lik…

Ameritrade has always been based in Omaha, but the T in TD stands for Toronto. So headquarters locations is a pretty malleable designation.

Yep, and after this the new company will have nothing to do with Canada. Toronto Dominion shares in TD Ameritrade will be cashed out. Though it will be interesting to see if they still get their back end cut like they do now.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#227

Post by txcwpalpha »

jonas21 wrote: post #18

This is part of Schwab's merger with TD Ameritrade. Relevant bits from Schwab's FAQ [1]: Q: Where will the combined company be headquartered? A: As part of the integration process, the corporate headquarters of the combined companies will eventually relocate to Schwab’s new campus in Westlake, Texas. Both companies have a sizable presence in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This will allow the firm to take advantage of th…

This move was almost certainly planned long before the merger. They announced construction of a massive, headquarters-sized campus in Westlake several years ago, and they're already almost done building 3 of the huge office buildings (with 2-3 more to come). My guess is that the move is an entirely separate decision but was combined with this announcement for convenience sake.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#228

Post by mapgrep »

cortesoft wrote: post #77
hkmurakami wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TD Ameritrade is headquartered in Omaha. The HQ location choice is not driven by existing Ameritrafe footprint, or by the merger itself. The FAQ is simply addressing what will be, not starting that there was a cause and effect because of the proposed merger. Also, Schwab was already reducing SF headcount for years. Also, afaik the merger is still in the prices of regulatory review. All this being said, the merger lik…

Why would the government review a headquarters move?

It wouldn’t, OP said the government would review the _merger_ - federal antitrust review pretty standard in mergers this large.

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#229

Post by justinzollars »

BurningFrog wrote: post #110
justinzollars wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The attitude here is we are fully developed and thus done developing. I don't imagine a bright future for California with these housing policies.

I don't see a bright present : "The poverty rate, when adjusted for the cost of living, is the worst in the nation" https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-california-housing-c...

More on no bright present:

https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/poverty/471332-...

Re: Schwab Leaves San Francisco for Texas

#230

Post by newguy1234 »

seanmccann wrote: post #13

> The company said Monday that “a small percentage of roles may move from San Francisco to Westlake over time, either through relocation or attrition. The vast majority of San Francisco-based roles, however, are not anticipated to be impacted by this decision. Schwab expects to continue hiring in San Francisco and retain a sizable corporate footprint in the city.” Doesn't sound like they are leaving San Francisco, ju…

That's what they always say but overtime they "integrate" more of the operations to the new headquarters and then eventually they want everyone under the same roof.
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