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Elon Musk moves to Texas

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Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#801

Post by mtanski »

JPKab wrote: post #570
techsupporter wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's rather my point: if you're living just in the larger metro areas, you're choosing to insulate yourself from the rampant discrimination and bigotry that, numerically, forms the bulk of the electorate and shape the cultural mindset. To be clear, that's not a bad thing that people make that choice; I would, were in that position. If Texas voters will finally vote in someone who is more like Ann Richards than…

"If Texas voters will finally vote in someone who is more like Ann Richards than Greg Abbott, I will believe the mindset is changing." I think the problem with this is that it rests on a fundamental assumption that someone's primary motivation for voting Republican is bigotry. Polls by the Pew Foundation do not bear this out. Non-college educated Democrats and Republicans have equally wrong knowledge about what peopl…

Politicians are not in step with the general electorate, they are instep with party elites and primary votes. The primaries tend to select most "ideologically" aligned candidates and by the time you're in the general election the politicians on both sides are far away from the median voter.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#802

Post by millstone »

rconti wrote: post #586
fortran77 wrote: post #577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> while old residents pay nothing This is patently false. Property taxes can and do raise 2%/year. California does need to build new housing.

Of course it's false. Old residents don't pay "nothing", they pay "next to nothing". Look up any house that changes hands after 40 years. The old owners were paying a tax liability an order of magnitude less than the new one.

Worse, if it changes hands through inheritance there is no step up in basis.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#803

Post by betwixthewires »

tabtab wrote: post #520
manigandham wrote: post #506

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The state has gone downhill on every metric possible. People can't name even 5 things that have improved over the past decade. Taxes, infrastructure, homeless, rent/housing, cost of living, gas, traffic, smog and pollution, crime, illegal immigration, gangs, fires, droughts, private property issues, local govt gridlock and deficiency, and now the weather isn't great either. Unfortunately many of those leaving don't r…

> The state has gone downhill on every metric possible. Mostly because it got more crowded. As a CA resident, if you don't like CA, please DO move out. It will help traffic, for one. If ALL you care about is a big house and taxes, then CA is probably not for you. As soon as you walk outside your TX McMansion, you may realize why CA is so crowded.

You make a good point, California is beautiful. Texas isn't really all that beautiful. There are pretty areas, and there's some beauty in any natural landscape.

Still, why can't there be a beautiful place with lower taxes? If taxes are enough to drive people away from a breathtaking place, maybe they're too high.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#804

Post by omgwtfbyobbq »

JamesBarney wrote: post #735
omgwtfbyobbq wrote: post #649

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're both right. Property taxes can increase by up to 2% per year, and new owners frequently pay far more than old owners because property has appreciated significantly in coastal metros with limited space for new construction. This had been especially obvious because historically low interest rates have enabled a lot of asset appreciation, with real estate being one example. High real estate prices lead to high pr…

1. You're implying that increased housing density makes it harder to find infrastructure. This is just false since high density makes infrastructure cheaper per person. 2. Why should it be the developers jobs to build out new infrastructure that isn't directly needed by their building. It's their job to build housing which brings people, those people bring taxes and those taxes pay for upgrades to infrastructure.

I'm not implying it's harder to find infrastructure. I'm arguing that developers don't want to pay for any infrastructure improvements needed to keep services operating in the same manner with more people. Like everyone else, they're self interested and will act in ways that maximize their own interests, even if it externalizes certain costs to the surrounding community. I suspect it's also more expensive per person to upgrade existing infrastructure compared to building it new.

In terms of who should improve infrastructure, it doesn't really matter who does it, but I think either local government or the developer should be required to do it and not be allowed to let things slide. I focus on the developer because they're the first in the process, but it doesn't matter if instead the city requires the developer to build in the infrastructure improvement costs and does it themselves. The only position I have is that it should get done.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#805

Post by nouveaux »

dcolkitt wrote: post #599
ddoolin wrote: post #537

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crime in almost every category has gone down over the last decade. You have to be crazy to think gang activity has gotten worse over the same time period. Immigration is not the domain of the state. I'd argue that given the number of people here, the traffic could be a lot worse. I've personally seen worse gridlock on worse infrastructure in other states with less people. Even if you account for the days that fires a…

> Crime in almost every category has gone down over the last decade. This isn't true at all. Since prop 47, property crime has exploded across the state. Even violent crime rates are significantly higher in LA than they were in 2010.[2][3] In particular gang-on-gang violence may be moving the homicide rate lower, but predator-on-prey violence has shot up. Rapes have more than doubled in the past decade. > From Seattl…

Crime has been coming down after prop 47 passed. This is such a common myth that I put the data into google sheets for these discussions.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QgrfJvfa8XaVm0MEfU4j...

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#806

Post by mlindner »

atomi wrote: post #136
zaroth wrote: post #6

California is actively looking for ways to extract more money from Elon. It likely posed an appreciable risk to his business ventures that CA at some point will try to tax unrecognized capital gains, which would require him to liquidate shares to pay the tax. Basically akin to a hostile government takeover. If CA were to aggressively pursue such a policy, they would likely go after anyone they perceived as fleeing ju…

> CA at some point will try to tax unrecognized capital gains Where is the evidence for this? Effectively, Elon has avoided future California capital gains taxes by moving. Those are the facts of his move. Personally, I would rather pay a few points extra on capital gains and income taxes to avoid Texas. Just look at what the Texas AG is doing right now: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2020/12/08/texas-ag...

California keeps trying to get "wealth taxes" on the ballot. That is exactly taxing of unrecognized capital gains.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#807

Post by betwixthewires »

fumar wrote: post #587
tabtab wrote: post #520

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The state has gone downhill on every metric possible. Mostly because it got more crowded. As a CA resident, if you don't like CA, please DO move out. It will help traffic, for one. If ALL you care about is a big house and taxes, then CA is probably not for you. As soon as you walk outside your TX McMansion, you may realize why CA is so crowded.

I was very close to moving to Austin this winter. I decided to double down in SoCal instead and buy property. I've spent a decent amount of time in Austin for work and have family nearby, but the weather and cultural opportunities won me over in California. I like that I can go to running on beach path, cycle in the mountains, carve canyons on a motorcycle, eat stellar sushi, sit in traffic :(, and walk down any down…

If you have severe allergies, there's nowhere in Texas that you'll be safe except for the far west desert.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#808

Post by nouveaux »

manigandham wrote: post #555
ddoolin wrote: post #537

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crime in almost every category has gone down over the last decade. You have to be crazy to think gang activity has gotten worse over the same time period. Immigration is not the domain of the state. I'd argue that given the number of people here, the traffic could be a lot worse. I've personally seen worse gridlock on worse infrastructure in other states with less people. Even if you account for the days that fires a…

Crime and gang activity is increasing, especially in prisons where every yard is now active. Local street gangs sets have multiplied with the influx of people (many homeless), drugs, welfare and larger organized crime operations. Also recent policies decriminalized many acts and have led to rampant street crime in areas like SF and LA. CA provides sanctuary status for illegal immigrants, along with driver licenses, f…

Crime has been coming down after prop 47 passed. This is such a common myth that I put the data into google sheets for these discussions.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QgrfJvfa8XaVm0MEfU4j...

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#809

Post by phobosanomaly »

tabtab wrote: post #520
manigandham wrote: post #506

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The state has gone downhill on every metric possible. People can't name even 5 things that have improved over the past decade. Taxes, infrastructure, homeless, rent/housing, cost of living, gas, traffic, smog and pollution, crime, illegal immigration, gangs, fires, droughts, private property issues, local govt gridlock and deficiency, and now the weather isn't great either. Unfortunately many of those leaving don't r…

> The state has gone downhill on every metric possible. Mostly because it got more crowded. As a CA resident, if you don't like CA, please DO move out. It will help traffic, for one. If ALL you care about is a big house and taxes, then CA is probably not for you. As soon as you walk outside your TX McMansion, you may realize why CA is so crowded.

Yup.

If you don't spend your weekends fly-fishing Big Pine Creek, 4x4ing the Mojave Road, climbing at Joshua Tree, grabbing burritos and craft beer at Grand Central Market, and swimming out to the mile-buoys at La Jolla Cove, why stay? If your eyes don't light up when you hear 'Clifton's Cafeteria,' or 'Pappy and Harriet's,' or 'half-day boat' what on earth are you doing here?

This state is one of the most unique and incredible places in the country. I can drive from the lowest point in the continental United States (Badwater) to the foot of the highest point (Whitney) in a couple of hours. That's absolutely magical. I love this state with a deep passion, and I know many of its nooks and crannies (still exploring and learning). That's why I will never leave.

If you don't do any of that stuff and you just sit in a bubble writing code all day why on earth would you stay? Just takes parking away from the people that actually enjoy California for the magical place that it is.

I'm happy to pay higher taxes. It helps keep this state humming along as the 5th largest economy on the planet.

Re: Elon Musk moves to Texas

#810

Post by betwixthewires »

bosswipe wrote: post #250
S_A_P wrote: post #158

Pretty interesting to see this move makes people so salty. There does seem to be a trend of people fleeing California, I dont know enough about the situation out there to comment on whether or not its valid. I suspect something must be going on for several high profile folks moving out. And before you bash Texas, its not perfect. But its pretty diverse, and it seems that folks with opposing viewpoints can still coexi…

Pretty interesting to see how much glee many people take in anything negative about California. What is that about? No other state gets so much hate.

I'd say the entirety of the deep south gets much more hate than California.
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