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Texas is America Inc's new centre of gravity

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Re: Texas is America Inc's new centre of gravity

#111

Post by QuiEgo »

scoofy wrote: post #40
water-data-dude wrote: post #11

As a gay dude I will never take a job in Texas. Companies may enjoy the lax regulatory environment and favorable tax laws, but there are many bright people who - for one of a NUMBER of reasons - will never move there. It is repressive and frightening. Who knows if that will be enough to move the needle on any of this, but companies aren't just buildings and incorporation paperwork, they're also the people.

People who "refuse to move" to Texas honestly have no idea what they're talking about. Yes, you probably wouldn't like it, but it's certainly not what you think it is. I grew up in Texas (mostly Austin), and later in life moved to California, and genuinely can't stand the navel-gazey "I've never been there but I know I'd hate it" type of attitude that prevails here. Texas is a gerrymandered purple state, not a red st…

I live in Texas (Austin). The biggest downside day-to-day is the weather in summer. The politics are also a valid concern.

That said, it’s not some dystopian hellscape. Day-to-day it’s not that different than any other place.

Also the cost of living is a lot less than the big tech centers (Bay Area and Seattle). A similar house to mine with a similar commute in a similar quality school district is 4x the price in the Bay Area. I can give my family a better life here.

Re: Texas is America Inc's new centre of gravity

#112

Post by NewJazz »

enraged_camel wrote: post #79
nostrademons wrote: post #64

Something I've wondered: for all its claims of business-friendliness, why does Texas insist on attracting the lowest-margin industries? All of the high-margin innovation-based industries continue to get started in California. There was a huge Bitcoin push in Texas about 5ish years back. But the way they went about it was that they passed a bunch of tax breaks for Bitcoin miners - the most commodified, energy-intensiv…

>> Something I've wondered: for all its claims of business-friendliness, why does Texas insist on attracting the lowest-margin industries? Tech is one of the highest margin industries.

Not blockchain tech.

Re: Texas is America Inc's new centre of gravity

#113

Post by b0rtb0rt »

testing22321 wrote: post #73
jleyank wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some folks find Howdy Arabia to be a pleasant, rewarding place to live. To me, I think roughly half of the US working population would dispute this, as they would dispute a discussion of any other place. It's just that the disputants change based on where you're talking about. It's warm. It's dry, and there's some evidence the power system isn't up to the task. Their call.

> It's just that the disputants change based on where you're talking about. It would be good if everyone agreed that taking away basic human rights from women is a bad thing, but I guess were way past that.

what “basic human rights” do women not have in texas?

Re: Texas is America Inc's new centre of gravity

#115

Post by arppacket »

dyauspitr wrote: post #5

This is only going to help with turning that state blue.

Republicans and the Supreme Court have learned their lessons from Georgia, and will never let this happen. They will find new ways to disenfranchise all the people who'd vote blue. Plus their war on education ensures that people who grow up there will remain uninformed and hateful and thus red.

Re: Texas is America Inc's new centre of gravity

#117

Post by mancerayder »

scoofy wrote: post #40
water-data-dude wrote: post #11

As a gay dude I will never take a job in Texas. Companies may enjoy the lax regulatory environment and favorable tax laws, but there are many bright people who - for one of a NUMBER of reasons - will never move there. It is repressive and frightening. Who knows if that will be enough to move the needle on any of this, but companies aren't just buildings and incorporation paperwork, they're also the people.

People who "refuse to move" to Texas honestly have no idea what they're talking about. Yes, you probably wouldn't like it, but it's certainly not what you think it is. I grew up in Texas (mostly Austin), and later in life moved to California, and genuinely can't stand the navel-gazey "I've never been there but I know I'd hate it" type of attitude that prevails here. Texas is a gerrymandered purple state, not a red st…

All this is true, but the abortion restrictions are state-wide and a real issue while also remaining a symbolic turn-off for women from blue states. The bigger issue is the influence of Christianity on the legal system, which approaches third world levels for such a rich state.

Re: Texas is America Inc's new centre of gravity

#118

Post by markoman »

fzeroracer wrote: post #89
sleepyguy wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why you're being junked, you said nothing that any Texas resident wouldn't agree with. Shit, we have two of the largest airlines in the world that as an industry have always been incredibly welcoming to the LGBT community. The only thing that sucks about Texas is the property taxes, other than that it is a very welcoming state with great infra and comfortable standard of living.

>The only thing that sucks about Texas is the property taxes, other than that it is a very welcoming state with great infra and comfortable standard of living. Great infrastructure is fucking insane thing to say. I was living there during the big freeze in 2021 The state is incredibly unprepared for any sort of major weather event and refuses to actively harden infrastructure against these sort of events. That was on…

You're referring to the rather backwards (and isolated) power grid in Texas. Its just another example of how Texas is managed by Good-Ol-Boy network instead of opting for a more consensus-oriented structure as California would do. The ruling party centralizes power at the state level, from where it will burn books, monitor menstrual cycles, issue school curriculum plans and limit power of localities. I don't see how this management model survives to the point where its population grows to pass California. I'd think that TX growth slows some as smaller states like Tennessee, N. Carolina, & Colorado siphon away some of its success owing to better management.

Re: Texas is America Inc's new centre of gravity

#120

Post by Timon3 »

b0rtb0rt wrote: post #113
testing22321 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's just that the disputants change based on where you're talking about. It would be good if everyone agreed that taking away basic human rights from women is a bad thing, but I guess were way past that.

what “basic human rights” do women not have in texas?

The most obvious recent example is the right to receive lifesaving medical treatment. It's no coincidence that between 2019 and 2023, there was "a 33% increase in maternal mortality rates in Texas, compared with a decrease of 7.5% nationally during the same time," and the "rate of sepsis shot up more than 50% for women hospitalized when they lost their pregnancies in the second trimester."[0]

If you have a non-viable pregnancy, but there's still a heartbeat, Texas will try to force you to carry to term anyways. In the best case this causes you immense emotional suffering, in the worst case it means that doctors will often hold back lifesaving medical care until your life is in imminent danger - but waiting this long causes your chance of injury/death to rise sharply. Unfortunately Texas also doesn't want you to receive this lifesaving medical care out of state, so anyone helping you is liable to be sued for $10,000[1].

No matter what your position is regarding the intent of the law, we can hopefully all agree that the changes in maternal mortality are horrible, and that nobody should be forced to risk death just so they can see their non-viable pregnancy die before their eyes[2].

[0]: https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-maternal-mortality-...

[1]: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/texas-abortion-law-10-000-...

[2]: https://www.ms.now/health-mindset/was-torture-texas-mom-reco...

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