Silicon Valley exodus: Bay Area tech companies leaving for Texas

> Really would love a clear answer

It's astonishing that you don't understand this, but I'll assume your question is in good faith.

It's because "Silicon Valley" doesn't actually produce etched silicon anymore, or really anything of actual value to humanity, at all. In fact, it's become a net negative for the rest of humanity.

It spends the most valuable IQ points this planet has on endless ad click optimization, addictive social media experiences that induce mass depression, and finding novel ways to censor non-mainstream opinions.

There is no value-add, and there hasn't been for two decades. I suppose Cupertino can lay some small claim to actually advancing humanity with their silicon design, but at the cost of the rest of the company inventing ways to ensure that humans are passive consumers of Apple Credit Cards and Apple TV instead of actually advancing us somewhere other than Idiocracy or Wall-E.

Meanwhile, there are very real and very tangible risks to our very existence that SV ignores because of mathematically flawed assumptions about the actual physical limits to photovoltaics, energy storage, or absurd notions such as "vertical farming". If Wired or The Atlantic prints a glowing story on a 19 year old who will solve resource constraints and climate change, well then, by God they're going to do it. Faith is all you need. Math and reality can GTFO.

What's really hilarious is that HN, at least monthly, gets an article posted and upvoted about how toxic and infantile and terrible SV is, but lessons are never learned because anything that interferes with the income stream necessary to maintain the narrative bubble is mere curiosity.

You even asking this question is indicative of a problem: specifically the problem that you are NOT actually ignorant of the answer. You read the answer on your own echo chamber regularly. Rather, you choose to disregard it and instead regard the people earnestly answering it as trolls, or proles, or some other ignoble fool whose response can be easily forgotten.

As it is that this response will be forgotten. Because introspection is inconvenient, and flyover rubes are beneath you.

It may have more to do with cost structure. FAANGs have a willingness to pay much higher salaries, even if they could've hired for less than half the cost elsewhere so it makes more sense for them to be in the bay area, especially since those are super high margin businesses. YOu'll notice that Amazon, a business where margins are important is notably absent from the bay area.

Yes, that is a big problem. People don't seem to learn their lesson. CA peoples leave CA and go to austin and we're already seeing some of the same things happening there as in CA, where housing supply is restricted and of course, at that point housing prices go up again.

People just never learn the fundamentals of economics and how those decisions lead to economic hardship for so many, that's the real problem.

This feels like a false dichotomy to me (if it’s true which I’m not certain of).

It’s not very good for employees if your small business customers don’t like you and as a result you have to close.

A local car dealership may be great for its employees by ripping off customers and generally being a terrible experience, but I won’t have much sympathy when direct to consumer sales come and wipe them out.

Small businesses need to offer something of value to customers that’s real and differentiated as opposed to a narrative of their own self interest. In short - they have to be competitive. There’s no reason they can’t do this while also being good to employees.

A lot of the complaints I see come across as sour grapes and trying to legislate their existence rather than just being better and caring about what customers want.

At its best capitalism is a force for aligning value and interests between provider and customer. On net this leads to more efficient distribution and better outcomes for the most people.

At its worst it’s rent seeking and leveraging local power over people without choice. Small businesses often fall on that side of the spectrum to me.

Not as an adult, no.