Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think THE major difference was enforcement of noncompetes (as well as those as a proxy for a slew of similar regulatory differences). Financial resources went to route 128 because of a more corporate-friendly regulatory climate. Innovation came from Silicon Valley because of a more innovation-friendly regulatory climate. Guess which won out? US reached economic supremacy in part due to a weaker IP scheme than Europ…
This is not an antagonistic comment but do you have any sources to share about this? I've lived in both cities and feel like I should know more about this.
Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy
911–920 of 1001 posts
Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy
#912Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do taxes work in the US? I find it so complicated! So California has their own state Capital gains tax? How much is that?
In summary, for normal people, taxes in the US come at federal, state and local levels. 1. Federal: a) Income tax of 10% on income over around $12k (single) or $24k (married) up to 37% on income over $518k (single) to $622k (married). Capital gains tax is at the same rate for assets held less than a year but up to only 20% for assets held more than one year. b) FICA, a wage tax. You pay for 7.65% for social security…
Small nitpicks: The Medicare / Medicaid portion of FICA is 1.45% and uncapped, and increases by .9% over $200k.
FICA is also paid equally by the employer (.9% ACA add-on excluded), so it’s only an accounting gimmick that prevents it from being a 15% tax on income.
Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy
#913Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is unbecoming to point at the homeless and blame them for making our cities unattractive. These are human beings with souls and emotions. When they make us feel uncomfortable with their appearance or behavior we should remember they lead lives where they are likely suffering most of every day. We as a people have failed to create a society with space for these people to exist in peace, happiness, and good health.…
They are people, and I feel for the trouble they are in, but no amount of compassion or empathy could convince me to take a stroll through a majority of SF downtown after dark. Likewise with many of the South Bay trails and parks. I don't even go to SF downtown during the day anymore because of the number of times I've almost stepped in human feces, and the needles strewn about. 8 years of liberal politicians claimin…
> A just society offers opportunities, not guarantees.
Tell that to the people who made a mistake when they were younger, got a criminal record, and are now vilified for the rest of their lives and are turned down from the vast majority of jobs. Is it any wonder you see those people turn to crime to make a living?
Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy
#914Earlier quoted context omitted.
The person with a job and the person "risking" their billions in capital are not comparable.
from a financial perspective, the job comes with zero (or near zero) monetary risk. The person risking "billions" in capital is taking "billions" in monetary risk (the weighting depending on what the investment is - bonds are less risky than shares, for example).
And they stand to gain far more than someone working for $20 an hour.
Over the last 50 years the values of investments have far far outpaced growth in earnings. If a millionaire doesn't invest and make captial gains, what does he do with his money? Keep it in a box under the bed?
Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy
#915Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wealthy is about how much wealth you have, not your income. In 2020, $121,411 was the median household net worth in the United States. This is up from $97,225.55 in 2017. The average household net worth in 2020 was $746,821. It was $692,100 in 2017. The disparity between these two numbers is itself a major problem, but not the point. If you have a net work of $120k you aren't wealthy, even if you earnt that all in th…
I often hear arguments about capital gains taxes being an unfair advantage, and that it should be taxed the same as income. But often these arguments don't present a full picture - because it only discusses the end result of the dollar received and compare the tax rates. What about the risk? A job-income is 100% guaranteed to be received if one worked. Even if the business paying the said wage doesn't make a profit,…
> If capital gains are taxed the same, you will find that there will be less investments, which leads to less jobs and less wealth overall.
So you're saying people don't work because they are taxed at a higher rate than capital gains?
Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy
#916In the last 10-15 years San Francisco gained a ton of residents that didn't want to be there at all. They moved there because the job opportunities in tech were too hard to turn down. I had some friends like this, they just never really liked the city. Now they're all leaving because their job is not making them stay. That's fine and I'm happy they have more choices now. But there's a flip side to that. One of my lea…
This story is insanely misleading though. Everyone here is talking about why the tech elite are leaving due to the quality of life when Keith Rabois specifically has like 3-4 IPOs he was an early investor in going public right now and makes no sense to stay in California in 2021 and pay state capital gains taxes on those sales. Same with Elon Musk and Tesla’s absurd stock price. And probably a lot of other people giv…
This is a pretty wild spin to me, if those taxes came with clean streets and blowjobs the well paid non-bazzilionaires wouldn't be leaving for QoL reasons. Why should people feel loyalty to a city that has tons of money to go around for bottomless budget traps like junkies and dregs from out of state but nothing of significance for the people who actually make those support programs possible in the first place? The only reason before was the money and now those earners can get that money while living in a less exploitive environment.
Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy
#917Earlier quoted context omitted.
The university situation is not particularly unique in SV. What other infrastructure do you mean?
Venture capital, finance, concentration of mentors, proximity to Asia, liberal culture and massive population of California. Infrastructure might be the wrong word. I was mainly thinking of soft factors that take time to grow following the exodus. As well as geography and demographics.
I think other than proximity to Asia, Austin has all of this and fewer of the problems. I would not be surprised if there is a significant shif in the coming years.
Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy
#918Earlier quoted context omitted.
I often hear arguments about capital gains taxes being an unfair advantage, and that it should be taxed the same as income. But often these arguments don't present a full picture - because it only discusses the end result of the dollar received and compare the tax rates. What about the risk? A job-income is 100% guaranteed to be received if one worked. Even if the business paying the said wage doesn't make a profit,…
> If capital gains are taxed the same, you will find that there will be less investments, which leads to less jobs and less wealth overall. So you're saying people don't work because they are taxed at a higher rate than capital gains?
well, you can interpret my words in a wrong way to try to make a point, or you can admit that taxation discourages the thing being taxed.
Higher capital gains tax discourages investment. If income tax is higher, it indeed does stop people from working (as much). But we are talking about raising capital gains tax, not raising income tax.
Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy
#919Earlier quoted context omitted.
Never happened to me or my friends. And apparently there's less poop on the sidewalks than SF.
I don't know anyone that died of Covid. I wash my hands and are not walking around in Chicago.
I have no plans to live in fear and plan to walk around downtown Chicago in the future.
Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy
#920Earlier quoted context omitted.
>It is unbecoming to point at the homeless and blame them for making our cities unattractive. I had a coworker who visited sf. A homeless person threw a bottle of urine all over him. Do you think that made it more or less attractive? Seriously we all suffer, but most of us suffer in such a way that we don't make the world too much worse for others.
Wow. I didn't know the homeless were to blame for making the World much worse for others. Thanks for opening my eyes.
Take your virtue signaling elsewhere, Prophet Amos. That incident was evidence that the city does not care about the quality of life of its residents (both the non-homeless, who are expected to suck it up and grin, and the homeless, who probably haven't been given any psychiatric treatment or any sort of intervention whatsoever by the state); it was not about blaming poor people.