Note: Texas doesn't have a state income tax.
Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas
441–450 of 622 posts
Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas
#442Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you never been to Chicago? Pretty nice town.
Nice to visit, wouldn't want to live there. Did I mention it's the murder capital of the United States?
It has a lot of murders but the QoL crimes seem to be significantly less severe than they are in San Francisco.
Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas
#443I wonder if the people fleeing California will end up voting for the same bad policies that are the reason they had to leave in the first place. That is, do they connect the bad policies to the bad outcomes, or will they still favor the bad policies? There is one major area for tech people where Texas may prove a nasty surprise to employees: non-compete agreements. For large employers this may be a bonus though as th…
> I wonder if the people fleeing California will end up voting for the same bad policies that are the reason they had to leave in the first place. That is, do they connect the bad policies to the bad outcomes, or will they still favor the bad policies?
They are leaving because of high prices caused by factors that are just as present in cities in Texas.
They're bringing their money and jobs with them, so they'll bring some of those higher prices too.
It's supply and demand, not liberal or conservative policies.
Texas conservative suburb-dwellers don't want higher density housing either. They especially don't want lower income folks near them! Look at how litle public transit exists, because such things would let the poor people get closer to their little burb.
Why are so many people falling for this "hey, look, we have lower prices, therefore we have better policies" talking point? Been there, done that. Lower prices are because I wouldn't pay as much to live there, that's not higher desirability.
Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas
#444Earlier quoted context omitted.
The east coast has entire Ivy League and yet no Silicon Valley. Also, how do you explain Seattle?
Seattle because Amazon hires and relocates thousands of engineers there who then quit or are PIPed a year or two later, leaving them looking for new opportunities or building new companies.
Pre-2020 Seattle (I do believe a SF like reckoning is on the horizons for Seattle as well because of political overreach on corporations) in fact might be the exact talent sink and hence danger to Bay Area.
Seattle at one point had Microsoft as the hub, Amazon came on the scenes in 2000s - once they both reached critical mass, there was practically no stopping the growth because engineers had an alternative. Eventually we had FB/Twitter/Snap et al starting offices here and having massive presences which led to present day. If only the weather wasn't what it is, I think we would have reached this ~20 yrs ago.
I don't know if it is going to be Austin / Boulder - but once any of those cities build two equally good employment opportunities, it is going to be a real contender. This is what makes TSLA / Oracle move significant: till now what were outposts are becoming real hubs.
Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas
#445Earlier quoted context omitted.
I live in Chicago so I know that feeling. We’ve been on the cusp of dying since the 1970s.
Chicago, while not dead, is a fraction of what it used to be. While it used to be at the vanguard of US cities, when is the last time you’ve heard it mentioned in national news in a good way? Not all cities end up like Detroit. Some just fade into irrelevance.
Yet for whatever reason, new expensive skyscrapers keep dotting the Chicago skyline. Some death-spiral.
Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas
#446Austin is the perfect place for companies that are expanding administration, finance, operations, legal, marketing etc. Talented individuals with specialist skills now have the freedom to be anywhere. All of this is a good thing.
I completely sympathize with the personal assistant, accountant or support agent (normal commodity jobs) that has a family and is forced to live on the SF peninsula and commute on the 101 each day back to their crummy home that is extortionately priced because they have to compete with the salaries of CEO's and VPs who live a few miles away.
Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas
#447HP and Oracle don’t exactly represent the heart of Silicon Valley today and what makes it special/unique. I actually think zombie corporations like Oracle, companies that haven’t innovated in decades and instead rely on an army of sales people to sell legacy software, are somewhat the antithesis of Silicon Valley which is really about real technological innovation and disruption at it’s core. I know there are lots of…
You prefer skinny jeans and beards, I gotcha!
Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas
#448HP and Oracle don’t exactly represent the heart of Silicon Valley today and what makes it special/unique. I actually think zombie corporations like Oracle, companies that haven’t innovated in decades and instead rely on an army of sales people to sell legacy software, are somewhat the antithesis of Silicon Valley which is really about real technological innovation and disruption at it’s core. I know there are lots of…
HP moving to Texas is the corporate version of my grandparents retiring to Florida.
What about Tesla and Palantir?
Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas
#449Traditionally this stuff has meant race to the bottom in terms of taxes and regulations. That is terrible. But if it instead helps wake up California to actually rezone, densify, remove prop 13, and improve social services, that could be quite good.
>Traditionally this stuff has meant race to the bottom in terms of taxes and regulations. That is terrible. But there is no race since Texas hasn't made any changes to accommodate these companies
Well texas has less taxes and regulations, so they are making the opening gambit of the traditional rat race. The question is whether and how California responds.
Re: Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas
#450Earlier quoted context omitted.
What do low property taxes have to do with high rent and lack of housing? Higher property taxes would result in higher rent and property prices...
NIMBYs oppose new construction because it keeps their property values high. They don't care about property values ballooning because they pay property taxes on the assessed values from when they bought, which is often decades ago, due to Prop 13. Prop 13 in general keeps things stagnant. For another example, there is no incentive to renovate/tear down/rebuild bigger because now you will pay significantly higher prope…
NIMBYs oppose things because of qualitative factors every bit as much as quantitative ones.
NIMBYism and zoning exists in SO many places without Prop 13, and does the same thing. It keeps the poor people (denser housing) out. It keeps the transit stops away. It keeps the power station away.
"Bad policy" it may be, if your goal is "the cheapest aggregate housing for everyone," but talking about getting rid of Prop 13 without all the other causes of NIMBYism will just get your expensive houses slowly replaced with expensive condo buildings and do next to nothing for the poor and homeless. We have exactly zero politicians or parties in this country who are telling us what "good policy" would look like on this issue.