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Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

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Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#461

Post by tabob »

ericmay wrote: post #451
StavrosK wrote: post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Living in a country with a safety net, it looks pretty damn positive to me, you get unemployment checks while you're unemployed which makes it much easier to take your time to find a good next job.

The United States has unemployment benefits [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment_benefits_in_the_U...

Unemployment varies greatly state by state and rarely keeps up with the reality of the cost of living.

On top of this, it only applies if you lose your job due to "lay-offs". I've been laid off four times in my life, all 3 times the companies claimed they were not lay-offs and fought my claim. 2 times I was denied.

The third time I received unemployment benefits for 5 months. I received $4,000 in benefits then my former employer won an appeal, and my claim was deemed "fraud". I had to pay $8,500 back ($4,000 + $4,500 in "fraud fees").

If you are fired for "cause", "screw you, have a nice day".

8 months ago 10% of my company's engineering department (screw you, cloud passage) was fired "for cause" and replaced with cheap Belarusian contractors. This time I didn't even bother for unemployment, I didn't want to risk having to pay it back + 100% fines. I also do not get covid stimulus, and have had to sell my 401k to keep from being homeless.

America has no social net whatsoever. I do not qualify for unemployment, food stamps, or anything else even though I have been working my ass off and paying taxes for 25 years.

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#462

Post by meerita »

bergstromm466 wrote: post #422
throwaway9980 wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially good if the converted office space also provides a good work from home environment. Everyone is working from home and those that can are scrambling to expand their houses to suit a new lifestyle.

> Especially good if the converted office space also provides a good work from home environment. Or... you know... just give homeless people housing?

I want a free house too.

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#463

Post by meerita »

StavrosK wrote: post #440
throwaway3699 wrote: post #436

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lack of jobs and crushing taxes more like. Social safety nets aren't all they're cracked up to be, and leaves people trapped in that system forever.

Really? Living in a country with a safety net, it looks pretty damn positive to me, you get unemployment checks while you're unemployed which makes it much easier to take your time to find a good next job.

But that doesn't happen as you say. What people do is just take 2 year sabatical at the expenses of all the taxes while they go Thailand, etc. That is what happens with most of the unemployment checks.

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#464

Post by madeofpalk »

reaperducer wrote: post #196
erosenbe0 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In terms of suffering, I'm more worried about the loss of support workers and supporting businesses over the long-term. Especially in a place like Chicago where the installed base of offices is much much larger than SF, and where portions of the future sales tax revenue has already been securitized and sold to investors.

Developers in Chicago are building as fast as they can right now. It's counterintuitive to people on the outside, but from what I read, it's because labor, material, and capital are dirt cheap. So the developers are putting up new skyscrapers and other mega-developments so they're in a good position to take advantage of the recovery. A new 57-story office tower opened just last week: https://www.chicagoarchitecture.o…

> A new 57-story office tower opened just last week

Surely this didnt start or finish as a result of the last 6 months?

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#465

Post by bitcoinmoney »

nwatson wrote: post #180
nicktrocado wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which state? I thinking of moving and would like to know good states to move into

North Carolina is decent. Made the move in 2013, been working for SF Bay Area companies since. Cost of living is very low, kids' education is decent (impacted by COVID-19 currently, of course).

Did you maintain your salary ?

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#466

Post by ericmay »

StavrosK wrote: post #459
ericmay wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, I misunderstood the context. I thought you were from outside the United States as the origination of your comment.My fault!

No sorry, I confused you even more. I am from outside the US, I think my country's system doesn't trap you, so I was wondering why the US one does.

Haha no worries! I have not been on unemployment, so I'm afraid I can't comment on that. As someone else mentioned it does vary a bit state by state, so there could be something there.

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#467

Post by adrianN »

meerita wrote: post #463
StavrosK wrote: post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Living in a country with a safety net, it looks pretty damn positive to me, you get unemployment checks while you're unemployed which makes it much easier to take your time to find a good next job.

But that doesn't happen as you say. What people do is just take 2 year sabatical at the expenses of all the taxes while they go Thailand, etc. That is what happens with most of the unemployment checks.

In Germany people don't take two year sabbaticals while on welfare. Where do you think that happens?

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#468

Post by sidlls »

jessedhillon wrote: post #378
sidlls wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Define "reasonable tax rates." I'll tell you this: states where there are very low taxes (e.g. no income taxes, low sales/other taxes) tend to be net takers when it comes to federal dollars: they get more from the federal government than their populations pay in taxes. States like California are net givers: their populations send more to the federal government than they get back. As a bonus irony, the "taker" states…

I'm taking a look here (visualization is crummy, but there's a list below) https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/donor-state... There are only ten donor states in 2019: - Connecticut (- $4,000) - New Jersey (- $2,368) - Massachusetts (- $2,343) - New York (- $1,792) - North Dakota (- $720) - Illinois (- $364) - New Hampshire (- $234) - Washington (- $184) - Nebraska (- $164) - Colorado (- $95) And these ar…

The source of your data is a SUNY Rockefeller Institute of Government report: https://rockinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/1-7-19b-Bala.... Scrolling down to page 14 shows a nice visual that completely supports my contention. The two surprises to me are ND and California, but the rest essentially show that taker states tend to have higher populations of individuals who are opposed to the federal government spending money ("anti-government spending").

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#469

Post by wokkel »

meerita wrote: post #463
StavrosK wrote: post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Living in a country with a safety net, it looks pretty damn positive to me, you get unemployment checks while you're unemployed which makes it much easier to take your time to find a good next job.

But that doesn't happen as you say. What people do is just take 2 year sabatical at the expenses of all the taxes while they go Thailand, etc. That is what happens with most of the unemployment checks.

I live in what, judging by your comment, is a socialist country, and have never seen that happen. Without some sources this is Just FUD.

Re: Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

#470

Post by hobby-coder-guy »

throwaway3699 wrote: post #436
adrianN wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there data supporting the conclusion that lack of housing is what causes homelessness? I always thought that it was more of a failure of the social safety net.

Lack of jobs and crushing taxes more like. Social safety nets aren't all they're cracked up to be, and leaves people trapped in that system forever.

taxes do not cause homelessness. Ever.
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