Texas Attracted California Techies. Now It’s Losing Thousands of Them.
Texas Attracted California Techies. Now It’s Losing Thousands of Them.
The “Texas Miracle” loses some of its magic as Oracle announces it’s moving its new HQ out of Austin and Tesla lays off nearly 2,700 workers.
Texas is a high tax, low service state.
California is a high tax, high service state.
Texas spends their taxes on corporate welfare.
California spends their taxes on education, infrastructure and health care.
A company made me an offer last year when I was looking for startups, but they required me to move to Austin. Austin is a nice place, but it’s unfortunately surrounded by Texas. Fast forward to today and they are moving out of Texas because it’s too expensive and they are having trouble retaining talent. The incentives the city has been offering to foster their own Silicon Valley are stalling because it’s not much cheaper and the state legislature is a Barnum circus of inhumanity.
Any state that supports a law enforcement that DOESN'T see children dying in a building tells me right away what they are about. Udalve spoke so much to their character and how it was handled after. Just deplorable. I have friends that left the state after the abortion ban because they are women. So, yea. They got issues down there.
nailed it.
Don't know if it's a low service state. They have pretty strong welfare programs, despite what Republicans will have you believe. Their public education is ranked pretty similarly to California for K-12, if not better depending on the specific list. Their public universities are among the best in the country. Their hospitals are the best in the country.
The biggest drawback is that their legislators think they can practice medicine without having the relevant qualifications. But Californian medical laws and viewpoints have their own drawbacks. Let's not forget, before covid, anti-vaxers were primarily associated with crunchy liberal moms refusing to vaccinate their children. California was among the first to have a resurgence of measles. CA is also a state trying to obfuscate medical roles by allowing advanced practitioners (NPs and PAs) to practice independently (without a surprising DO or MD), as well as allowing naturopaths to identify themselves as physicians. While it's easier to see the harms of Texas's medical laws right now, California has had it's fair share of negative impact on it's populous.
A lot of the Republican rhetoric is empty, meaningless, and far from the truth. This is what makes Republican politics so frustrating. They say one thing, want something else, and do something entirely different. As a liberal it makes it difficult to engage in a meaningful conversation with them. But this sort of state comparison based on broad generalizations also increases the divide, while being very unhelpful.
Can't blame them, Texas is an ugly, shithole state and most of the politicians are worse.
As a Texan, not sure what part of Texas you think is so ugly. There is a lot of beauty here.
Our politicians just suck.
Having lived there, Houston to College Station to Waco is 100% ugly. Really all of East Texas. I admit the hill country is pretty decent.
I moved to Seattle, though. Most Texans don't know what they're missing.
Driving i35, getting to i35, its all parking lots and shopping malls.
It looks like a giant oversized strip mall.
Within city walls it's beautiful. But since Texas is so car dependent most of what you see are strip malls, giant bridges, and poor road design.
i mean, if you could appreciate it anywhere it would be a lot better. how the fuck do so many people actually not have ANYWHERE BETTER to take pictures of wildflowers than the side of the freeway. that really highlights a big problem with Texas. they may have had beauty, but they bought, sold, rented, and ruined most of it until there's only a trash covered vestige at a dangerous crossing left. it's the biggest contiguous state, and somehow has nearly the least public land.
Try visiting a not ugly state like California.
Fucking lmao. Dude, Texas has its own beauty, but it isn't a pretty state.
I have driven across 49 states. When I go back to the photos I took in Texas, I think "huh, wonder what I thought looked cool here... That lump in the distance?"
Yes there are hills. There's even mountains. Not near anything though. Where everything is, it's flat as fuck. Brown, dirt, sandy boring.
Hamilton Pool is the most gorgeous thing in the whole state. It is a sight to behold. It's also 1 hour of boring scenery away from any group of humans conducting any kind of business.
Easily the ugliest scenery of any state I can think of. Second only to Alabama and Mississippi? At least Louisiana has the bayous. Tennessee has real mountains. Oklahoma has... Grass?
Texas is fucking hideous. It's like Nevada without anything cool.
lol ever been to Houston?
Like many southern states, there is much natural beauty in Texas. It doesn't seem like many of the locals realize what they are blessed with.
Well, you've got Big Bend and Palo Duro. Where's the 3rd beautiful place?
I wouldnt say Texas ia ugly per se but y'all aint got much goin on ya dont even got mountains. Even Arkansas has ya beat with their hills.
Deaf Smith county is so ugly.
I love it.
This was always going to happen
Estateware you can't get an abortion and the power grid isn't stable who's only attraction was cheaper rent than San Francisco and even that's not really a thing anymore? What a dumb move
I would invite you to consider that tech billionaires value their talent so little that they'd make them move to Texas for a tax break.
Well, I heard that Austin is very good and progressive, especially compared to the rest of Texas, and feels free of weird shit. But that was quite some time ago, and now it seems not to outweigh being in Texas anymore
I've never understood the logic with the rent. Of course it's cheaper, the weather is shitty and you're stuck in the middle of fucking Texas. Texas is a trash state full of backwards laws and extremists.
Right? I always wondered why tech moved to Texas it has all the things data centers would hate:
If anything, I'd think they'd move to the great lakes.
For the first two decades of the century, what it meant to be Texan—as explained by the state’s politicians—was largely wrapped up in a feeling of competition with California.
As a Californian, I can’t help but think of that Mad Men meme: “I don’t think about you at all” or some such. Do all Texans really think this way or does this author just have a huge California-shaped chip on his shoulder?
Yeah, as weird as it sounds older Texans see California as some sort of threat, some weird liberalist state that is too far gone to save or some shit. Almost any political conversation thats had about red vs blue ends up mentioning California. It is the typical 'old man shaking fist at clouds' group though. Younger peeps either dont care or say something like 'why would you want to move there??' Wothout any way to backup why they said it.
"there's nothing wrong with California that a good earthquake wouldn't fix". Heard that one a few times.
I've lived in both. The average people don't seem to care.
Older Texans might namedrop California at times when they're airing political grievances, but older people everywhere seem to have some casual "product of the times" prejudices against something.
Yeah, as I age I definitely wonder what is going to be my “product of the times” prejudice. I try really hard not to be prejudiced but it can be hard. For instance, I really don’t understand poly relationships. But I’m also not going to yuck someone else’s yum, especially when it comes to the rights of someone to do what they want if it isn’t harming anyone else.
"Thanks for the tax breaks, but now we are off to the next tax breaks"
I don't think he knows about second tax breaks.
Anyone in tech who moved from Cali to Texas was completely misguided... Case in point, ElOn
Nah, makes sense for him. If you make less than 600k, California taxes you less than Texas. After 600k, Texas taxes you less.
If youre rich, Texas makes sure you pay less taxes than poor people.
Joe rogan, Musk, whoever. They move to Texas to not pay taxes.
To the surprise of very few with functional brains.
Because nothing is worth enduring Texas.
Only if you have a uterus. Or have melanin. Or want to vote for a non-republican.
Bait n switch thrills nobody
Good. Fuck Texas.
Gottem.
Texas never attracted techies, it attracted a few Republican tech CEOs with disproportionate shares of power. I've always turned down recruiters trying to get me to move there regardless of how good the job is on paper. If I've got options, I'm choosing to live on one of the coasts. There's nothing for me in Texas. I mean I've been to Bucees once, it's worth visiting. But I'm gonna guess the novelty is probably over by the second visit.
As a Texan, bucees never is over
austin is super expensive now, and tech companies have left. it’s hot, humid, and you or your wife might die if her a pregnancy is non viable. or if the power grid goes out. i have family who moved there but i sure wouldn’t.
Is it normal to close an article when given two options: consent to sharing your data with 99999 companies or "choose options" and manually disable 999 subsets of said companies?
I did that once just bein curious of when the list ends, but I'm not repeating that
Open it in a browser that's not your main browser and clear your cookies afterwards. Or have a browser that automatically removes all cookies on exit.
I hate those types of cookie consent forms because they feel like a dark pattern wanting to make it as excruciating as possible just so you give in and click accept all.
Because that's exactly what it is.
It’s no real solution, but makes this mess a bit more sufferable when you still really want to visit that site: https://consentomatic.au.dk/
They still have huge ports and oil refineries going for them. Until the Permian Basin is drained.
LOSING them? Texas is already executing us fags and all the women who aren’t idiots, & I didn’t read about it?
I thought that wasn’t until next year
People discovering what the state provide isn't free.
Also, just because Texas doesn’t have income tax doesn’t mean you don’t pay taxes. Your taxes come from other places, like property tax, and they don’t provide you with a great living experience like they do in California.
The article even addresses this. Texas Monthly in general is a good gauge of the "44%" of Texas that isn't crazy, or at least is crazy in the silly fun way.
Toll the shit out of anyone trying to go highway speeds
I’m in CA and while state taxes exist, they are a really small part of the taxes I pay. It’s such a small amount, i can’t imagine anyone moving to motherfucking Texass to escape them. Unless they already want to go.
Isn't Texas built on the same letters as taxes? They need money to run the state or print it (what is a bad idea anywhere).
Texas promotes itself with the no income taxes, but what the state provide afterward is another story. People believe in the argument and discover the reality. Your neighbor backyard isn't greener. If you cut a tax, you either take the money somewhere else or cut your expense. People discover that paying taxes provides some benefits...
Libertarians discovering reality is such a great genre.
Also, property tax is really high in Texas and unlike California, you aren’t shielded from spikes in property value greatly increasing your property tax burden.
I believe it’s to a degree that the average tax burden is actually higher in Texas than California.
But are they all moving back to California?
Last I heard was most are going to Nashville which has absolutely terrible traffic and infrastructure, soaring land costs and pushing 100 degrees, arming teachers, arresting folks for DUI even if you've not had a drink. Weather has absolutely nothing to do with any of the decisions because the CEOs don't go to the office. It's all about the latest city tax break.
It's weird that people are talking this up like anything Texas has done would cause this. The people in charge don't give a shit about you, they don't give a shit about you living in 110 degrees weather, and they certainly don't give a shit if you die because of a pregnancy complication.
Also, isn't California a bit too warm itself?
a bit is a touch different than opening your front door at midnight and walking into satan's armpit
If it does reach 110, that’s only for a day or two a year. Most summer days it’s below 100. And I live in San Diego county. In Northern California in the SF Bay Area, I don’t think it ever got to 110 in the nine years I lived there. There was basically one hot month a year, where it would get to the low 90s for a couple weeks.
No CA really is comfortable outside of some low deserts and high mountainous areas. Stuff stays pretty much in the middle year round.
Anywhere not on the coast or high in mountains, yes. I'm in a large valley, and summers can be pretty rough. Not Phoenix rough, but still rough.
The dry heat in socal is really not that bad, especially in the shade. What's far worse is the stifling humidity in the east, south, etc.
California is a big place.