Last week I got to meet Texas Governor Rick Perry (that’s a photo of him pointing to a picture on his office wall). The first thing he told me, after saying “I just Tweeted you” is “when are you going to move to Texas?”
Two years ago I would have laughed because California was definitely the best place to do a technology business. This year, though, it’s a little tougher to laugh at that suggestion.
Here’s why:
1. My two brother-in-laws, both engineers, are laid off and looking for work. If they found work in Texas, they’d move in a heartbeat.
2. Housing prices in Silicon Valley remain ridiculous. Yeah, on my street in Half Moon Bay there’s lots of houses for sale, but prices remain far higher than they are in Texas and other places in the world and over the hill in Palo Alto prices haven’t dropped at all.
3. The pull of VC money over on Sand Hill Road is dropping fast. Last night when I visited SmugMug’s offices CEO Don MacAskill told me he just hired some people with decades of experience and said “I never expected to be able to hire such talent.” If the stars of Silicon Valley are on the street looking for work, imagine what it’s like for regular everyday engineers.
But that’s just my stories. For California as a whole I’m sensing that the whole state is primed for a major brain drain.
Why? Our state is bankrupt. What was the response? Lay off a bunch of teachers. Our education system is already in the toilet, but this will make it worse. Other states, like Texas, that aren’t bankrupt and aren’t laying off teachers, are looking more and more attractive to parents. It’s that, or spend 10s of thousands on private schools.
There’s a general feeling that crime is getting worse. That’s part a PR problem due to four Oakland police officers getting killed last week, but how will we solve those problems if we don’t have any money to hire more cops, build more prisons, etc, etc? Callers to KGO radio yesterday made it sound like the crime problem is getting worse. Rubbed into the wound is the fact that as a state we’ve decided to stop spending money on education and I predict we’ll see the problem get even worse as uneducated kids hit the job market and find no one is willing to hire them. The crime rate is about to head up big time because of this.
Finally, entrepreneurs are figuring out that they can start companies elsewhere and do just fine. A month ago I visited Tatango up in Bellingham Washington. If you can start a startup in Bellingham you can start it anywhere. I have to admit that the small town life of Bellingham has many advantages for a startup. For one, your employees are going to be more loyal. For two, they will need less pay because housing costs 1/7th to 1/12th what it does in Palo Alto. For three, the whole community is vested in helping you out (they are the only tech startup in town).
In California’s defense, it’s still going to be hard for someone like me to leave because of the ecosystem that exists here, the weather, and generally the ability to ask anyone on the street what their Twitter address is and get back more than just a blank look, but the Texas Governor made it clear he was going to come after California’s entrepreneurs and what he’s offering workers and entrepreneurs is more and more attractive every day.
Is this a problem for California? Are we about to see a major brain drain? If we don’t fix the education problem and the economy doesn’t improve here soon to keep geeks from looking elsewhere, I’d say yes. I’m off to look at moving company stats. They are usually the first place to see evidence of a brain drain as people move out of state.
Are you seeing any evidence yet? Got family/friends/coworkers who’ve moved out of state?
Scobleizer 
It’s what I call the Wrath of (Sour) Grapes. The reversal of the Dust Bowl. I ended up in Iowa from Northern CA. Doug Mitchell moved here from SoCal. Be it Texas, Ohio, or Minnesota…I think we’ll see the brain drain starting anytime.
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It’s what I call the Wrath of (Sour) Grapes. The reversal of the Dust Bowl. I ended up in Iowa from Northern CA. Doug Mitchell moved here from SoCal. Be it Texas, Ohio, or Minnesota…I think we’ll see the brain drain starting anytime.
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When a state decides that it can give nearly infinite levels of goodies to the non-productive people, and tax the productive ones to pay for it, it’s a simple matter of time. Why would anyone move into California now, with the prospect of punitive taxes, poor schools, bad policing, and corrupt, useless government that can’t provide basic services?
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When a state decides that it can give nearly infinite levels of goodies to the non-productive people, and tax the productive ones to pay for it, it’s a simple matter of time. Why would anyone move into California now, with the prospect of punitive taxes, poor schools, bad policing, and corrupt, useless government that can’t provide basic services?
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I’m a software engineer who just moved from Sacramento to a suburb outside of Boulder, CO. I love it. The environment is great, the weather is as good (if a little colder, but not unbearably so) as Sac, and technology is all around me. Sun and IBM both have campuses out here, and the new buzzword “Green Technology” is all over the place. There’s a lot of talk about a new green technology incubation center going in around Broomfield, between Boulder and Denver.
Thanks to Southwest and a central location, I’m a maximum of 2.5 hours and $150 from anyone I need to meet in the country. And, if you need to show off your digs to visiting dignitaries, there are far worse places you could go than Boulder.
The primary and secondary schools in Colorado are 16th in the nation according to PSK12.com, vs. California’s 46th and favorable even to Texas’s 32nd.
California does not, indeed, hold a monopoly on great places to be and run a tech business.
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I’m a software engineer who just moved from Sacramento to a suburb outside of Boulder, CO. I love it. The environment is great, the weather is as good (if a little colder, but not unbearably so) as Sac, and technology is all around me. Sun and IBM both have campuses out here, and the new buzzword “Green Technology” is all over the place. There’s a lot of talk about a new green technology incubation center going in around Broomfield, between Boulder and Denver.
Thanks to Southwest and a central location, I’m a maximum of 2.5 hours and $150 from anyone I need to meet in the country. And, if you need to show off your digs to visiting dignitaries, there are far worse places you could go than Boulder.
The primary and secondary schools in Colorado are 16th in the nation according to PSK12.com, vs. California’s 46th and favorable even to Texas’s 32nd.
California does not, indeed, hold a monopoly on great places to be and run a tech business.
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What do you think about specific areas like the North Carolina Research Triangle or Austin?
Both have relatively high tech populations and MUCH cheaper real estate that Silicon Valley. I looked at houses during SXSW last week and you can get a modern 2000 sq. foot house for $160,000.
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What do you think about specific areas like the North Carolina Research Triangle or Austin?
Both have relatively high tech populations and MUCH cheaper real estate that Silicon Valley. I looked at houses during SXSW last week and you can get a modern 2000 sq. foot house for $160,000.
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We may see a bit of a generational shift in the entrepreneurial and technical classes of Silicon Valley. For your parents generation and in some regards, you, California was the place to work and have a family and live in an area where technology was plentiful. But if you carry to the extreme the ‘negatives’ which you mentioned in your post, then Silicon Valley may go the way of some urban centers–filled with single, under 30s living in substandard housing without a care in the world toward long term things like the education system or other infrastructure cares.
I toy with moving to California monthly, but I also have started looking at Texas and other cities as well that might offer a better balance for my family, not necessarily just the tools that I would want as an entrepreneur.
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We may see a bit of a generational shift in the entrepreneurial and technical classes of Silicon Valley. For your parents generation and in some regards, you, California was the place to work and have a family and live in an area where technology was plentiful. But if you carry to the extreme the ‘negatives’ which you mentioned in your post, then Silicon Valley may go the way of some urban centers–filled with single, under 30s living in substandard housing without a care in the world toward long term things like the education system or other infrastructure cares.
I toy with moving to California monthly, but I also have started looking at Texas and other cities as well that might offer a better balance for my family, not necessarily just the tools that I would want as an entrepreneur.
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As a recent arrival to CA, let me be the first to respond to James Robertson’s rather unpleasant statement. I moved here and am happy I did.
We need more than “general feelings” to substantiate your claims about crime going up, Robert. While you’re looking up moving statistics, you should also check out arrest records, incarceration rates, etc., to see if your theory holds up. In fact, I’d argue that by moving to reform the state drug laws (which there is some traction for) and releasing nonviolent prisoners locked up for harmless drug-related offenses, you could free up a lot of money for more police and better resources to fight real crime.
There is absolute truth in the fact that CA’s education system is in the crapper, not to mention a dysfunctional state government that’s hamstrung by outdated rules of process and the ability of any crank to put any foolish thing up for becoming law (such as Prop 8). Reforming the state constitution and eliminating things like the 2/3 majority to pass a budget, rather than a simple majority, will get the logjam broken and help push better reforms through.
As far as housing goes, all of this artificial propping up of the bubble has to stop. The only way to make homes in CA affordable is to let prices drop to the levels they were at before 2001. Even then, that’s still perpetuating an inherently unsustainable sprawlconomy that relies on gas and exurbanism to survive, but it will at least slow or stop any potential brain drain.
Eventually, people will migrate further inland if only because the sea levels will rise to such a huge degree that most of SoCal will be under water by the end of the century, anyway. 🙂 But we can prevent or at least mitigate that as well.
The point of this is not to simply preach doom and gloom, but to point out that CA’s problems are all man-made, and can be solved with enough ingenuity and hard work. Running away from the problems won’t solve them.
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As a recent arrival to CA, let me be the first to respond to James Robertson’s rather unpleasant statement. I moved here and am happy I did.
We need more than “general feelings” to substantiate your claims about crime going up, Robert. While you’re looking up moving statistics, you should also check out arrest records, incarceration rates, etc., to see if your theory holds up. In fact, I’d argue that by moving to reform the state drug laws (which there is some traction for) and releasing nonviolent prisoners locked up for harmless drug-related offenses, you could free up a lot of money for more police and better resources to fight real crime.
There is absolute truth in the fact that CA’s education system is in the crapper, not to mention a dysfunctional state government that’s hamstrung by outdated rules of process and the ability of any crank to put any foolish thing up for becoming law (such as Prop 8). Reforming the state constitution and eliminating things like the 2/3 majority to pass a budget, rather than a simple majority, will get the logjam broken and help push better reforms through.
As far as housing goes, all of this artificial propping up of the bubble has to stop. The only way to make homes in CA affordable is to let prices drop to the levels they were at before 2001. Even then, that’s still perpetuating an inherently unsustainable sprawlconomy that relies on gas and exurbanism to survive, but it will at least slow or stop any potential brain drain.
Eventually, people will migrate further inland if only because the sea levels will rise to such a huge degree that most of SoCal will be under water by the end of the century, anyway. 🙂 But we can prevent or at least mitigate that as well.
The point of this is not to simply preach doom and gloom, but to point out that CA’s problems are all man-made, and can be solved with enough ingenuity and hard work. Running away from the problems won’t solve them.
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penguinsix: one thing, though. 20 somethings do grow up to be 30 somethings. Usually that’s when they start having kids and start caring about these issues.
Michael: Texas is seeing big inroads in the tech industry, but not all is good there either. AMD is laying off a bunch of people there, but overall the health of the system in Texas is better than it is in California.
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Amazing how all these eggheads come here, vote democrats into office, then leave when the business climate tanks due to red tape and high taxes.
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penguinsix: one thing, though. 20 somethings do grow up to be 30 somethings. Usually that’s when they start having kids and start caring about these issues.
Michael: Texas is seeing big inroads in the tech industry, but not all is good there either. AMD is laying off a bunch of people there, but overall the health of the system in Texas is better than it is in California.
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Amazing how all these eggheads come here, vote democrats into office, then leave when the business climate tanks due to red tape and high taxes.
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As a student in Texas, our education system is in the dumps. The Texas Education Agency is atrocious and our crime rate is growing as well. I love Texas, the weather, environment, etc. Yet, don’t move to Texas if you’re planning on a better education system.
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As a student in Texas, our education system is in the dumps. The Texas Education Agency is atrocious and our crime rate is growing as well. I love Texas, the weather, environment, etc. Yet, don’t move to Texas if you’re planning on a better education system.
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House prices are falling like crazy in California. This house would’ve easily gone for $1200 per square foot just 2 years ago. Now it’s being listed for a mere $993. Demolition not included.
http://www.burbed.com/2009/03/05/probate-sale-in-cupertino-just-993-per-square-foot/
But if you’re not into paying $810,000 for a 2br/1ba 816 sqft house in tear down condition (maybe you don’t need the Bay Area’s 2nd best school district – ranked 60th in America) – there are cheaper homes.
For example, this house is just $225,000. It’s a 0br/1ba 224 sqft. Any engineer could easily afford this. This would’ve easily gone for $350,000 in 2006. It just goes to show how prices have collapsed.
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House prices are falling like crazy in California. This house would’ve easily gone for $1200 per square foot just 2 years ago. Now it’s being listed for a mere $993. Demolition not included.
http://www.burbed.com/2009/03/05/probate-sale-in-cupertino-just-993-per-square-foot/
But if you’re not into paying $810,000 for a 2br/1ba 816 sqft house in tear down condition (maybe you don’t need the Bay Area’s 2nd best school district – ranked 60th in America) – there are cheaper homes.
For example, this house is just $225,000. It’s a 0br/1ba 224 sqft. Any engineer could easily afford this. This would’ve easily gone for $350,000 in 2006. It just goes to show how prices have collapsed.
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Yet, don’t move to Texas if you’re planning on a better education system.
It’s probably a toss up between California and Texas. After all, Texas didn’t have a documentary made about its school system called “From First to Worst” http://www.pbs.org/merrow/tv/ftw/index.html
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Yet, don’t move to Texas if you’re planning on a better education system.
It’s probably a toss up between California and Texas. After all, Texas didn’t have a documentary made about its school system called “From First to Worst” http://www.pbs.org/merrow/tv/ftw/index.html
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Very well written post. I would say one thing, California although have some problems, but I think the Entrepreneurs did their best and created the Eco-System in California, now they are trying re-invent the eco-system in other part of the nations. State of California can do one thing help the Entrepreneurs (like State is really in that position LOL) to spread their wings around the nation. Let’s make the US a big “Silicon Valley” instead of just a part of it!
Take Care,
I am BonGeek, and you can tweet with me @BonGeek
Ciao
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Very well written post. I would say one thing, California although have some problems, but I think the Entrepreneurs did their best and created the Eco-System in California, now they are trying re-invent the eco-system in other part of the nations. State of California can do one thing help the Entrepreneurs (like State is really in that position LOL) to spread their wings around the nation. Let’s make the US a big “Silicon Valley” instead of just a part of it!
Take Care,
I am BonGeek, and you can tweet with me @BonGeek
Ciao
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I grew-up in Nor Cal, currently live in Austin, TX and before Austin I live in Raleigh. Everything has it’s pro and cons. I thought about moving my family back to Cali. But, the school system seems to be a disaster and housing market is insane.
The big issue is culture. Austin is amazing, but there is not a lot of day trips destinations and its hot. NC has a ton to do, but Raleigh’s city-life is mellow, but improving. So each place has some give-and-take!
But, Austin and Raleigh (along with a ton of other locales) is affordable, friendly and along with the great schools, it’s hard to beat that.
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I grew-up in Nor Cal, currently live in Austin, TX and before Austin I live in Raleigh. Everything has it’s pro and cons. I thought about moving my family back to Cali. But, the school system seems to be a disaster and housing market is insane.
The big issue is culture. Austin is amazing, but there is not a lot of day trips destinations and its hot. NC has a ton to do, but Raleigh’s city-life is mellow, but improving. So each place has some give-and-take!
But, Austin and Raleigh (along with a ton of other locales) is affordable, friendly and along with the great schools, it’s hard to beat that.
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Robert, there is a huge swath of the country that isn’t experiencing the same problems the rest is. I’ve chatted with you about this on friendfeed a couple of months ago. It’s from North Dakota and Minnesota straight south… all the way to Mexico. Some of these states have the most business friendly policies in America and cheap real estate and good education systems (relative to the coasts and the rust belt). South Dakota and Texas are the best. You couldn’t pay me enough to move to California right now, but I’d consider South Dakota or Texas in heartbeat.
My wife has a small bootstrap start up and she’s going to start hiring shortly. We are expanding in spite of all of this. But we could do much better in South Dakota or Texas. You can buy 3000 sq ft homes on 10 acres for less than 300K!
You can see the pattern in this map
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Robert, there is a huge swath of the country that isn’t experiencing the same problems the rest is. I’ve chatted with you about this on friendfeed a couple of months ago. It’s from North Dakota and Minnesota straight south… all the way to Mexico. Some of these states have the most business friendly policies in America and cheap real estate and good education systems (relative to the coasts and the rust belt). South Dakota and Texas are the best. You couldn’t pay me enough to move to California right now, but I’d consider South Dakota or Texas in heartbeat.
My wife has a small bootstrap start up and she’s going to start hiring shortly. We are expanding in spite of all of this. But we could do much better in South Dakota or Texas. You can buy 3000 sq ft homes on 10 acres for less than 300K!
You can see the pattern in this map
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California is more than Silicon Valley and the coastal urban centers. The fact is that there is a lot of hardship throughout the state, and plenty of opportunity, as well.
The poorest community in California, Tobin (in Plumas County), has a per capita income of a little over $7 a *day*. The median per capita income in California is less than $10/hour.
Some of that “brain drain” is migrating to other locations in the state, with lower cost of living, healthy communities, and higher quality of life. There are interesting, innovative technology companies sprouting up all over California. People are self-selecting for human values in choosing where to live and work.
Let the Texas governor recruit all the entrepreneurs he wants. They won’t stay long. Recruitment/retention is a failed economic development strategy, and I’m not surprised Texas has not learned that. The key to growing a thriving economy is to create the conditions for your own home-grown entrepreneurs to flourish.
That’s something I’ve been involved with for many years. You can learn more at http://goldencapitalnetwork.blogspot.com/ ObDisc: I edit that blog.
–Ax
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California is more than Silicon Valley and the coastal urban centers. The fact is that there is a lot of hardship throughout the state, and plenty of opportunity, as well.
The poorest community in California, Tobin (in Plumas County), has a per capita income of a little over $7 a *day*. The median per capita income in California is less than $10/hour.
Some of that “brain drain” is migrating to other locations in the state, with lower cost of living, healthy communities, and higher quality of life. There are interesting, innovative technology companies sprouting up all over California. People are self-selecting for human values in choosing where to live and work.
Let the Texas governor recruit all the entrepreneurs he wants. They won’t stay long. Recruitment/retention is a failed economic development strategy, and I’m not surprised Texas has not learned that. The key to growing a thriving economy is to create the conditions for your own home-grown entrepreneurs to flourish.
That’s something I’ve been involved with for many years. You can learn more at http://goldencapitalnetwork.blogspot.com/ ObDisc: I edit that blog.
–Ax
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The same policies that crushed California are being put in place on a national level now…it will be interesting to see how it effects each state.
Close to Canada, close to Seattle, close to the mountains, close to the ocean, beautiful country, cheap real estate…yeah, Bellingham is real, real tough to start a business in. Maybe that is why it is one of the top 10 fastest growing business centers.
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The same policies that crushed California are being put in place on a national level now…it will be interesting to see how it effects each state.
Close to Canada, close to Seattle, close to the mountains, close to the ocean, beautiful country, cheap real estate…yeah, Bellingham is real, real tough to start a business in. Maybe that is why it is one of the top 10 fastest growing business centers.
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I moved last year. Initial driver was to be close to family, but the outstanding schools on Seattle’s Eastside means we aren’t shelling out half my salary to send my kids to school, and I got more than twice the house, and ten times the land for what we sold our house in California for. And no income tax. Washingtonians laugh when I told them one of the reasons I moved was the cost of living.
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I moved last year. Initial driver was to be close to family, but the outstanding schools on Seattle’s Eastside means we aren’t shelling out half my salary to send my kids to school, and I got more than twice the house, and ten times the land for what we sold our house in California for. And no income tax. Washingtonians laugh when I told them one of the reasons I moved was the cost of living.
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I have a feeling that we are going to see other hubs pop up as VC begins to realize the potential of other areas, to bring forth higher rates of return on investment. As several mentioned, Austin and Raleigh have the atmosphere and the ability to possibly bring some new ideas to the table with a much lower cost to start. There are several factors that I would look at however in choosing where you would to be, life experience, location to family, climate, finances(obviously), and the type of community you want.
I decided in high school that the best hub for me would be Raleigh based on those. I’ve spent years down there living with an aunt so I know my way around and I enjoyed the community. Having family all the way up the east coast(Conneticut to Florida) makes it a very good centralized location to be. I’ve adapted to the colder temperatures of the north, if it’s 70 out I’m ready to die. And compared to prices in California it is able to provide a much longer timespan to develop on a budget.
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I have a feeling that we are going to see other hubs pop up as VC begins to realize the potential of other areas, to bring forth higher rates of return on investment. As several mentioned, Austin and Raleigh have the atmosphere and the ability to possibly bring some new ideas to the table with a much lower cost to start. There are several factors that I would look at however in choosing where you would to be, life experience, location to family, climate, finances(obviously), and the type of community you want.
I decided in high school that the best hub for me would be Raleigh based on those. I’ve spent years down there living with an aunt so I know my way around and I enjoyed the community. Having family all the way up the east coast(Conneticut to Florida) makes it a very good centralized location to be. I’ve adapted to the colder temperatures of the north, if it’s 70 out I’m ready to die. And compared to prices in California it is able to provide a much longer timespan to develop on a budget.
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I left the Peninsula a year & a half ago because of overcrowding & overpriced housing. I do miss the beautiful ecosystem & diverse cultural community I left behind, but the Bay Area isn’t the only place where you can “talk Twitter” without your neighbors going cross-eyed. I am now living in Bend, Oregon, home to affordable housing, great schools, 300 days of sunshine a year, and a small but vibrant community of SEO / social media enthusiasts. I haven’t spent even five minutes regretting my choice to move here!
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I left the Peninsula a year & a half ago because of overcrowding & overpriced housing. I do miss the beautiful ecosystem & diverse cultural community I left behind, but the Bay Area isn’t the only place where you can “talk Twitter” without your neighbors going cross-eyed. I am now living in Bend, Oregon, home to affordable housing, great schools, 300 days of sunshine a year, and a small but vibrant community of SEO / social media enthusiasts. I haven’t spent even five minutes regretting my choice to move here!
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Bought a house in Monrovia, California (east of Pasadena) in 2004 for $294,500. Sold it in 2006 for $480,000 when we moved to Washington for more affordable housing. According to Zillow, today the house in California is worth $312,000. We miss the weather sometimes, we miss the great restaurants (like Aloha Food Factory in Alhambra), we miss being an hour away from Disneyland. We don’t miss the traffic, the crime, the rude people. We have only a few friends to miss because most of the rest of them moved to Colorado or Washington at about the same time.
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Bought a house in Monrovia, California (east of Pasadena) in 2004 for $294,500. Sold it in 2006 for $480,000 when we moved to Washington for more affordable housing. According to Zillow, today the house in California is worth $312,000. We miss the weather sometimes, we miss the great restaurants (like Aloha Food Factory in Alhambra), we miss being an hour away from Disneyland. We don’t miss the traffic, the crime, the rude people. We have only a few friends to miss because most of the rest of them moved to Colorado or Washington at about the same time.
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You may want to think twice about moving to Texas and sending your kids to school there.
The current Texas Board of Education is led by a young earth creationist-dentist – a ‘revised science curriculum’ is being debated by the board at this time and up for a vote soon (see http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/03/how_did_we_get_to_this_point.php).
How about that: your kids will be ‘educated’ by morons who think the earth is not older than 6000 years. Beats the homeschooling nuts here in California and elsewhere.
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If Texas is serious about attracting high-tech entrepreneurs, they’ll have to stop idiocy like trying to stop the teaching of evolution.
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You may want to think twice about moving to Texas and sending your kids to school there.
The current Texas Board of Education is led by a young earth creationist-dentist – a ‘revised science curriculum’ is being debated by the board at this time and up for a vote soon (see http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/03/how_did_we_get_to_this_point.php).
How about that: your kids will be ‘educated’ by morons who think the earth is not older than 6000 years. Beats the homeschooling nuts here in California and elsewhere.
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If Texas is serious about attracting high-tech entrepreneurs, they’ll have to stop idiocy like trying to stop the teaching of evolution.
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My wife and I are relocating from the SF Bay area to Orange County. We’ll be able to rent a house or huge condo there for what we pay now for a 1 bdr apt outside SF itself. (Why buy now when you can rent cheap)
SF and Silicon Valley seem to be pricing themselves out of the market. Rents inside SF itself are insanely high.
BTW, when moving to other states, you need to factor in everything. When we moved from LA to CT in 2007, we thought the cost of living would be less. Not so. Property taxes in CT are about triple that of CA, no joke, and there’s lots more taxes too. Everywhere.
So now we’re in SF about to move to OC. Most important I think in times like these, is to be flexible. But opportunities still exist, we’ll be doing something quite different from what we did before.
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My wife and I are relocating from the SF Bay area to Orange County. We’ll be able to rent a house or huge condo there for what we pay now for a 1 bdr apt outside SF itself. (Why buy now when you can rent cheap)
SF and Silicon Valley seem to be pricing themselves out of the market. Rents inside SF itself are insanely high.
BTW, when moving to other states, you need to factor in everything. When we moved from LA to CT in 2007, we thought the cost of living would be less. Not so. Property taxes in CT are about triple that of CA, no joke, and there’s lots more taxes too. Everywhere.
So now we’re in SF about to move to OC. Most important I think in times like these, is to be flexible. But opportunities still exist, we’ll be doing something quite different from what we did before.
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No one’s ever happy. I remember in the late nineties companies complained because the unemployment rate was too low and they couldn’t find anyone. California’s taxes are way too high. Let me give you one example of how supply side econ actually increases government revenue. Tiger Woods. He doesn’t live in California because his state income tax would be 11% versus 0% in Florida. Now if California’s rate were something much smaller, say 4%, wouldn’t it be better to have 4% of Tiger’s income rolling into treasury rather than none? Or even if California had no income tax like Florida wouldn’t be better to have him and others like him living there buying houses, paying property tax, sales tax etc, than him moving away. I’m not saying that’s Tiger’s only reason for moving to Florida. But I’m sure it was one factor in the equation.
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No one’s ever happy. I remember in the late nineties companies complained because the unemployment rate was too low and they couldn’t find anyone. California’s taxes are way too high. Let me give you one example of how supply side econ actually increases government revenue. Tiger Woods. He doesn’t live in California because his state income tax would be 11% versus 0% in Florida. Now if California’s rate were something much smaller, say 4%, wouldn’t it be better to have 4% of Tiger’s income rolling into treasury rather than none? Or even if California had no income tax like Florida wouldn’t be better to have him and others like him living there buying houses, paying property tax, sales tax etc, than him moving away. I’m not saying that’s Tiger’s only reason for moving to Florida. But I’m sure it was one factor in the equation.
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California is going through tough times, no doubt. As someone who moved here 35 years ago from the Midwest, though, I can say our Golden State has qualities that Texas, RTP, Colorado, and the rest cannot match. First is the weather. It’s more pervasive and important than people realize. Try being productive on a hot, humid day. Or bone-chilling one. Second is the mind set of Californians. We are risk takers and open thinkers. Sure there are entrepreneurs in many places–even my birth state of Michigan–but they are islands of energy in a sea of… how do I put this politely?… um, complacency. Or, better yet, uniformity. Like you, Scoble, I live in HMB. Other than your enclave, however, the town pretty eclectic, very cool. You don’t find HMB anywhere else but CA. We will come out of this someday. Soon, I hope.
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California is going through tough times, no doubt. As someone who moved here 35 years ago from the Midwest, though, I can say our Golden State has qualities that Texas, RTP, Colorado, and the rest cannot match. First is the weather. It’s more pervasive and important than people realize. Try being productive on a hot, humid day. Or bone-chilling one. Second is the mind set of Californians. We are risk takers and open thinkers. Sure there are entrepreneurs in many places–even my birth state of Michigan–but they are islands of energy in a sea of… how do I put this politely?… um, complacency. Or, better yet, uniformity. Like you, Scoble, I live in HMB. Other than your enclave, however, the town pretty eclectic, very cool. You don’t find HMB anywhere else but CA. We will come out of this someday. Soon, I hope.
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This is something I write about a lot on my blog. There are certain factors that draw smart people, lots of capital, and jobs to a state. Generally speaking, lower taxes trump almost everything else. Education is important. How strong the unions are (people flee union states in favor of non-union states) is another big factor. There’s also the regulatory climate, whether a budding entrepreneur feels like trial lawyers are going to sue them off the face of the earth, and even the size of government (less is more). Transportation and other infrastructure (electric grid, water, etc.) are another set of categories that are huge but rarely talked about.
It all really comes back to taxes, though. Low taxes attract people. In trying to build utopia, California has overextended and bankrupted itself. Often it is easy to say, “why doesn’t the government do more on issue x, y, or z,” when really the answer is pretty simple: it’s not sustainable and will lead to what has happened in California (40+ billion dollar deficit, economic bust), rather than what has happened in Texas (balanced budget, economic growth).
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This is something I write about a lot on my blog. There are certain factors that draw smart people, lots of capital, and jobs to a state. Generally speaking, lower taxes trump almost everything else. Education is important. How strong the unions are (people flee union states in favor of non-union states) is another big factor. There’s also the regulatory climate, whether a budding entrepreneur feels like trial lawyers are going to sue them off the face of the earth, and even the size of government (less is more). Transportation and other infrastructure (electric grid, water, etc.) are another set of categories that are huge but rarely talked about.
It all really comes back to taxes, though. Low taxes attract people. In trying to build utopia, California has overextended and bankrupted itself. Often it is easy to say, “why doesn’t the government do more on issue x, y, or z,” when really the answer is pretty simple: it’s not sustainable and will lead to what has happened in California (40+ billion dollar deficit, economic bust), rather than what has happened in Texas (balanced budget, economic growth).
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As far back as 10 years ago I heard that Austin has a great technology sector and is a pretty decent place to live.
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As far back as 10 years ago I heard that Austin has a great technology sector and is a pretty decent place to live.
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The brain drain has been going on for three or four years. My family moved to Houston and we live in what Californians would call a mansion. We got out before the real estate bubble burst.
My wife and I both have great jobs in downtown Houston in the booming energy field. Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas are all gaining population. I see California plates every day.
Psst. There is no state income tax in Texas.
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The brain drain has been going on for three or four years. My family moved to Houston and we live in what Californians would call a mansion. We got out before the real estate bubble burst.
My wife and I both have great jobs in downtown Houston in the booming energy field. Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas are all gaining population. I see California plates every day.
Psst. There is no state income tax in Texas.
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I spent 15 years in Silicon Valley. Once you have the network (which is hard to get outside of the valley) it does not really matter where you are.
We moved to the coast of Maine in 2004. In 2007 I founded a mobile start up in Portland Maine. Hiring is a bit tougher, but we get the pick of the litter. Rent is way lower. The salary scale is way lower. We also get a lot of folks fleeing the Boston area.
It’s also good to be out of the bubble insofar as understanding the mainstream audience.
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I spent 15 years in Silicon Valley. Once you have the network (which is hard to get outside of the valley) it does not really matter where you are.
We moved to the coast of Maine in 2004. In 2007 I founded a mobile start up in Portland Maine. Hiring is a bit tougher, but we get the pick of the litter. Rent is way lower. The salary scale is way lower. We also get a lot of folks fleeing the Boston area.
It’s also good to be out of the bubble insofar as understanding the mainstream audience.
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* Yes, please, please come to Texas and help some of the unhinged red-statedness that goes on here. Unfortunately, Mr. Perry (if you’ve been following the news) is a huge part of it. * If you want good education, you’re going to have to live in a large suburb or pay for private school. Small-town and inner-city schools are really bad. * The RE prices quoted above are not close to what I’ve seen for Austin or anywhere you’d want to live. We own a 1545-sq-ft house in a popular, older Dallas neighborhood and it’s worth about $350k. (However, still peanuts to you folks.) * I’ve wanted to move to California for years now but the RE prices are, as you know, INSANE. So yes, please move en masse and give me a shot. 😉
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* Yes, please, please come to Texas and help some of the unhinged red-statedness that goes on here. Unfortunately, Mr. Perry (if you’ve been following the news) is a huge part of it. * If you want good education, you’re going to have to live in a large suburb or pay for private school. Small-town and inner-city schools are really bad. * The RE prices quoted above are not close to what I’ve seen for Austin or anywhere you’d want to live. We own a 1545-sq-ft house in a popular, older Dallas neighborhood and it’s worth about $350k. (However, still peanuts to you folks.) * I’ve wanted to move to California for years now but the RE prices are, as you know, INSANE. So yes, please move en masse and give me a shot. 😉
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The problem is that whenever Californians flee California, they try to turn their new home back into California. The reason Colorado, and Idaho, and Texas are more attractive and growing is that our taxes are low, our regulations are low, and we allow people freedom. Californians come in and start advocating for higher taxes, higher services, and more regulation. You turn all your destinations into the very place you had to flee.
So get a clue. High taxes, lots of regulations, huge state spending on services is NOT the way to go. It’s why our Texas Governor is turning down some of the stimulus money, which Californians probably think is crazy.
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The problem is that whenever Californians flee California, they try to turn their new home back into California. The reason Colorado, and Idaho, and Texas are more attractive and growing is that our taxes are low, our regulations are low, and we allow people freedom. Californians come in and start advocating for higher taxes, higher services, and more regulation. You turn all your destinations into the very place you had to flee.
So get a clue. High taxes, lots of regulations, huge state spending on services is NOT the way to go. It’s why our Texas Governor is turning down some of the stimulus money, which Californians probably think is crazy.
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The reason to move to the Bay area is the same reason I’m on Twitter – there are lots of smart people in one concentrated area that you can meet and network with and learn from. However, just like Twitter, I’m increasingly finding new ways to still tap into that network and not have to live out there. If I could afford it, I’d live out there in a heartbeat, but because I’m bootstrapping a business, it makes horrible business sense to move out there right now.
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The reason to move to the Bay area is the same reason I’m on Twitter – there are lots of smart people in one concentrated area that you can meet and network with and learn from. However, just like Twitter, I’m increasingly finding new ways to still tap into that network and not have to live out there. If I could afford it, I’d live out there in a heartbeat, but because I’m bootstrapping a business, it makes horrible business sense to move out there right now.
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California needs to update its tax system, but it cant because of its debt. California needs to cut down on social programs, it cant because liberals will cry and cry about babies dying and puppies bleeding. California needs to break up into smaller pieces, it can’t because.. you know, bureaucracy. Not worth it.
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California needs to update its tax system, but it cant because of its debt. California needs to cut down on social programs, it cant because liberals will cry and cry about babies dying and puppies bleeding. California needs to break up into smaller pieces, it can’t because.. you know, bureaucracy. Not worth it.
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@Tom Giovanetti:
Does “allowing people freedom” include allowing them the freedom to turn your educational system back 3000 years? Because it certainly seems like Texas is well on its way to doing just that.
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@Tom Giovanetti:
Does “allowing people freedom” include allowing them the freedom to turn your educational system back 3000 years? Because it certainly seems like Texas is well on its way to doing just that.
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I think there’s a lot of truth to the potential described in this article. But the thing it DOESN’T mention is that there are a tremendous number of unemployed or underemployed Californians who would love to relocate but are stuck because they own homes that are virtually unsellable. If not for that, I would have recruited a number of friends up to the Pacific Northwest a long time ago.
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I think there’s a lot of truth to the potential described in this article. But the thing it DOESN’T mention is that there are a tremendous number of unemployed or underemployed Californians who would love to relocate but are stuck because they own homes that are virtually unsellable. If not for that, I would have recruited a number of friends up to the Pacific Northwest a long time ago.
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Great post, Robert. I lived in Menlo Park for 10 years and absolutely loved its outdoors and the business “stimulation” (I kept my Menlo house so I can return some day!). I’ve been in Austin for the last 4 years (I grew up here), and I missed the stimulation of the Silicon Valley early on. But something cool is happening here that I have not felt before. The support system and networks for entrepreneurs are getting stronger and stronger. Add the music industry, UT, friendly culture and competitive RE and it’s becoming highly attractive to talented people. Austin still has a ways to go before it can call itself an innovation center, but it is definitely on the map and headed in the right direction.
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Great post, Robert. I lived in Menlo Park for 10 years and absolutely loved its outdoors and the business “stimulation” (I kept my Menlo house so I can return some day!). I’ve been in Austin for the last 4 years (I grew up here), and I missed the stimulation of the Silicon Valley early on. But something cool is happening here that I have not felt before. The support system and networks for entrepreneurs are getting stronger and stronger. Add the music industry, UT, friendly culture and competitive RE and it’s becoming highly attractive to talented people. Austin still has a ways to go before it can call itself an innovation center, but it is definitely on the map and headed in the right direction.
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Texas sucks. The only even remotely tolerable culture is in Austin, and the allergies are horrendous. I didn’t *have* allergies until I lived in Austin a couple years.
I ended up moving to Salt Lake City. Snow in winter, comfortable, beautiful warm summers. Population above average education, about the same cost of living when I moved here from Texas.
It feels like *everything* is 20+ minutes away in Texas, no matter where you start. The roads are bad, the traffic is often bad (albeit not bay area bad). Much ado about their lack of state income tax, but if you own a good home, you’ll be shocked to discover how expensive property tax is (in Round Rock, mine was around 2.3% per year), and then there’s the energy costs. Yeah, my house was 3900 sq ft, but does that excuse electric bills that top $600 in summer, even when you’re trying to lay off the thermostat as much as possible?
I will miss breakfasts at Chez Zee, and the eclectic part of Austin culture.
But SLC is nice, and for the non-mormons, the falling percentage of mormons in the area is comforting.
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Texas sucks. The only even remotely tolerable culture is in Austin, and the allergies are horrendous. I didn’t *have* allergies until I lived in Austin a couple years.
I ended up moving to Salt Lake City. Snow in winter, comfortable, beautiful warm summers. Population above average education, about the same cost of living when I moved here from Texas.
It feels like *everything* is 20+ minutes away in Texas, no matter where you start. The roads are bad, the traffic is often bad (albeit not bay area bad). Much ado about their lack of state income tax, but if you own a good home, you’ll be shocked to discover how expensive property tax is (in Round Rock, mine was around 2.3% per year), and then there’s the energy costs. Yeah, my house was 3900 sq ft, but does that excuse electric bills that top $600 in summer, even when you’re trying to lay off the thermostat as much as possible?
I will miss breakfasts at Chez Zee, and the eclectic part of Austin culture.
But SLC is nice, and for the non-mormons, the falling percentage of mormons in the area is comforting.
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Sad news, Robert.
Also Italy is laying off a lot of high school teachers. Expecially in the South.
But an Italian family has not the same opportunity to move abroad. Or maybe my generation will need to build on that opportunity…
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Sad news, Robert.
Also Italy is laying off a lot of high school teachers. Expecially in the South.
But an Italian family has not the same opportunity to move abroad. Or maybe my generation will need to build on that opportunity…
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Tatango is the only tech startup in Bellingham? That’s a big surprise to hear. PRWeb’s offices have always been just outside of the city limits, Cranberry Network (who just recently launched WeaveMet.com and PeoplePond.com) is also from the area.
It’s a fantastic location for a base of operations for the reasons you stated plus the lifestyle and recreation opportunities are second to none with the greatest amount of snowfall in North America occuring at Mt Baker (one hour East) and fishing and diving in the Puget Sound (one hour to the West) and everything in between.
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Tatango is the only tech startup in Bellingham? That’s a big surprise to hear. PRWeb’s offices have always been just outside of the city limits, Cranberry Network (who just recently launched WeaveMet.com and PeoplePond.com) is also from the area.
It’s a fantastic location for a base of operations for the reasons you stated plus the lifestyle and recreation opportunities are second to none with the greatest amount of snowfall in North America occuring at Mt Baker (one hour East) and fishing and diving in the Puget Sound (one hour to the West) and everything in between.
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I thought this line sounded odd:
Pretty much every state is having budgets problems, with California having the largest problem (not surprising given it’s the most populous, housing bubble, etc). But the phrase that Texas wasn’t laying off teachers didn’t ring true to me. Sure enough, a quick Google search turned up:
Texas, October 2008 – district lays off 375 teachers (this was a math mistake, but still. Teachers, math mistake in budget, not a ringing endorsement)
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/17/dallas.schools/index.html
Texas, March 2009 – district closes a middle school and lays off more teachers
http://www.kwtx.com/news/headlines/41395207.html
Texas, March 2009 – district discussing what to do about $1 million budget deficit
http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/localnews/stories/DRC_aubrey_0320.51414bdd.html
To be fair, I live in Utah and we’re having to deal with our own budget shortfalls as well. But to claim that Texas has been able to avoid lay offs or budget deficits in schools is not true.
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I thought this line sounded odd:
Pretty much every state is having budgets problems, with California having the largest problem (not surprising given it’s the most populous, housing bubble, etc). But the phrase that Texas wasn’t laying off teachers didn’t ring true to me. Sure enough, a quick Google search turned up:
Texas, October 2008 – district lays off 375 teachers (this was a math mistake, but still. Teachers, math mistake in budget, not a ringing endorsement)
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/17/dallas.schools/index.html
Texas, March 2009 – district closes a middle school and lays off more teachers
http://www.kwtx.com/news/headlines/41395207.html
Texas, March 2009 – district discussing what to do about $1 million budget deficit
http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/localnews/stories/DRC_aubrey_0320.51414bdd.html
To be fair, I live in Utah and we’re having to deal with our own budget shortfalls as well. But to claim that Texas has been able to avoid lay offs or budget deficits in schools is not true.
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It isn’t that California isn’t spending funds on schools. 48% of the state’s budget goes to schools. If the funds aren’t reaching the classrooms, we should start by firing the $100,000+ administrators.
California’s biggest problem is centralization. Everything comes from Sacramento. So you have the state administrative layer, the county administrative layer, and the local administrative layer. For some fields (air pollution control) there is a state-mandated regional administrative layer which replaces and sometimes adds to the country and local layers (for example, water quality).
We need to tilt the balance toward LOCAL control and LOCAL funding. Sacramento needs to shrivel to less than half its size. And, yes, Alan Chamberlain is right: we need to support the establishment and growth of LOCALLY-OWNED businesses instead of focusing on recruiting out-of-area firms.
Finally, we need to get rid of the illusion that the comfort of state employees is more important than the finances of everyone else. When there isn’t enough money, lay people off instead of making it even harder on the rest of the population.
Mandatory disclaimer: my comments are my own opinions, not those of anyone else.
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It isn’t that California isn’t spending funds on schools. 48% of the state’s budget goes to schools. If the funds aren’t reaching the classrooms, we should start by firing the $100,000+ administrators.
California’s biggest problem is centralization. Everything comes from Sacramento. So you have the state administrative layer, the county administrative layer, and the local administrative layer. For some fields (air pollution control) there is a state-mandated regional administrative layer which replaces and sometimes adds to the country and local layers (for example, water quality).
We need to tilt the balance toward LOCAL control and LOCAL funding. Sacramento needs to shrivel to less than half its size. And, yes, Alan Chamberlain is right: we need to support the establishment and growth of LOCALLY-OWNED businesses instead of focusing on recruiting out-of-area firms.
Finally, we need to get rid of the illusion that the comfort of state employees is more important than the finances of everyone else. When there isn’t enough money, lay people off instead of making it even harder on the rest of the population.
Mandatory disclaimer: my comments are my own opinions, not those of anyone else.
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🙂 I am living proof that tech exists in a lot of places, including Texas. I’ve lived in the valley, and in San Diego, Florida (twice) Honolulu, Illinois… but I’ve moved BACK to San Antonio 12 times. Why? It’s the most comfortable place for me and my family. Climate, costs, education, pace of life, they all work for me here.
Has Tech? Sure. Was on the team that helped invent WiFi, helping build The Rackspace Cloud now – and I haven’t had any trouble hiring great talent – even if they are not (yet) willing to move 🙂 .
Talent is where you find it – it doesn’t need to sit in the chair next to you anymore.
And I strongly disagree with the assertion that it is hard to build a network outside of the valley – my network is pretty vast. You build that through human touch, not geographical proximity.
Rob
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🙂 I am living proof that tech exists in a lot of places, including Texas. I’ve lived in the valley, and in San Diego, Florida (twice) Honolulu, Illinois… but I’ve moved BACK to San Antonio 12 times. Why? It’s the most comfortable place for me and my family. Climate, costs, education, pace of life, they all work for me here.
Has Tech? Sure. Was on the team that helped invent WiFi, helping build The Rackspace Cloud now – and I haven’t had any trouble hiring great talent – even if they are not (yet) willing to move 🙂 .
Talent is where you find it – it doesn’t need to sit in the chair next to you anymore.
And I strongly disagree with the assertion that it is hard to build a network outside of the valley – my network is pretty vast. You build that through human touch, not geographical proximity.
Rob
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I moved from Southern California (South Orange County) after a decade due to the realization of the cost of living verses the quality of life. San Antonio, my destination, has better, higher rated schools than the elite area in which I lived. The cost per sqft was ridiculous and yet the ability to connect to top people in the tech community was undiminished due to the Internet’s ability to connect people regardless of physical location. With these factors in mind it was EASY to choose to move to San Antonio,TX, from Missio Viejo, CA. This is a decision that not only have I not regretted, I have pinched myself to be sure I truly made this choice. My entire family has benefited by this move — including my technical career.
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I moved from Southern California (South Orange County) after a decade due to the realization of the cost of living verses the quality of life. San Antonio, my destination, has better, higher rated schools than the elite area in which I lived. The cost per sqft was ridiculous and yet the ability to connect to top people in the tech community was undiminished due to the Internet’s ability to connect people regardless of physical location. With these factors in mind it was EASY to choose to move to San Antonio,TX, from Missio Viejo, CA. This is a decision that not only have I not regretted, I have pinched myself to be sure I truly made this choice. My entire family has benefited by this move — including my technical career.
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My business has directly been impacted by this movement.
I see more and more people moving to Dallas, who are inspired to be a part of my company because of the technology, their entreprenurial spirit and desire to keep more of there money.
We were featured on the Celebrity Apprentice March 22nd and will continue to attract the very best in the technology world.
visit or call. 214-755-9926 There is no recession in Texas!
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My business has directly been impacted by this movement.
I see more and more people moving to Dallas, who are inspired to be a part of my company because of the technology, their entreprenurial spirit and desire to keep more of there money.
We were featured on the Celebrity Apprentice March 22nd and will continue to attract the very best in the technology world.
visit or call. 214-755-9926 There is no recession in Texas!
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Yes, and Texas’s human rights and social justice standards are just about equal to China’s – libertarians other favorite techtopia!
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Yes, and Texas’s human rights and social justice standards are just about equal to China’s – libertarians other favorite techtopia!
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Stop bashing the creationists already. Nobody is advocating that evolution shouldn’t be taught. They are advocating that it not be taught as fact, but as a theory – which is still all it is, even after all these years. They are also advocating that other theories be discussed alongside evolution.
You may not like it, but it hardly constitutes turning back the clock thousands of years on education. That kind of FUD is just plain silly.
Having said that, Texas has some problems with schools, just like other states do. I live in Dallas and the DISD is notoriously mismanaged and corrupt. I would not send my children to public schools, not even in Plano where I grew up in the 80s and 90s, when Plano was one of the top school districts in the nation. In general public schools have become worse nationwide almost in direct correlation to the amount of federal funding and meddling. Coincidence? I think not.
Unfortunately, if the BHO gets his way, California-style pain is coming to the whole country.
Until then, Texas will be a superior place to live, start a business, and grow a family. It pains me to say it, because I love the California weather and flora. At one time I wanted to move to San Diego, and I was actively seeking jobs in that area. Its just not worth it with the crap you have to put up with from your crazy government.
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Stop bashing the creationists already. Nobody is advocating that evolution shouldn’t be taught. They are advocating that it not be taught as fact, but as a theory – which is still all it is, even after all these years. They are also advocating that other theories be discussed alongside evolution.
You may not like it, but it hardly constitutes turning back the clock thousands of years on education. That kind of FUD is just plain silly.
Having said that, Texas has some problems with schools, just like other states do. I live in Dallas and the DISD is notoriously mismanaged and corrupt. I would not send my children to public schools, not even in Plano where I grew up in the 80s and 90s, when Plano was one of the top school districts in the nation. In general public schools have become worse nationwide almost in direct correlation to the amount of federal funding and meddling. Coincidence? I think not.
Unfortunately, if the BHO gets his way, California-style pain is coming to the whole country.
Until then, Texas will be a superior place to live, start a business, and grow a family. It pains me to say it, because I love the California weather and flora. At one time I wanted to move to San Diego, and I was actively seeking jobs in that area. Its just not worth it with the crap you have to put up with from your crazy government.
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We just left Dallas/Plano, Texas — agree that it is very business friendly, low taxes, affordable real estate. The climate we did not like — while warm, the daily wind shifts, storms and stifling humid summers did us in. Insofar as outdoor activities, you can bike and walk, but that is about it. We also didn’t like the cowboy mentality of the TX people. We looked at SF, but could no afford it –ended up in Phoenix — we tell everyone it is very HOT all the time, to keep folks away. Actually the desert climate suits us fine for 9 months of the year. We found the people friendly, the taxes as low as TX, lots of outdoor activities and affordable real estate. But there are 100 degree days and no lakes/ocean views — just enough to keep you Californians from flooding in!
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We just left Dallas/Plano, Texas — agree that it is very business friendly, low taxes, affordable real estate. The climate we did not like — while warm, the daily wind shifts, storms and stifling humid summers did us in. Insofar as outdoor activities, you can bike and walk, but that is about it. We also didn’t like the cowboy mentality of the TX people. We looked at SF, but could no afford it –ended up in Phoenix — we tell everyone it is very HOT all the time, to keep folks away. Actually the desert climate suits us fine for 9 months of the year. We found the people friendly, the taxes as low as TX, lots of outdoor activities and affordable real estate. But there are 100 degree days and no lakes/ocean views — just enough to keep you Californians from flooding in!
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When Californians move out to other states, it has coined the term californicate. They bring their attitude, politics and ideas and try to foist it on the new location. I have lived in Boulder for years and remember how much nicer it was before the californians came in. Pearl Street mall was cool ecletic and special with its unique stores. Now its like any mall in America. And I swear californians must think cement is beuatiful because they lay it down everywhere! It was so much nicer back in the 80’s. If you must leave california, please leave the attitude, politics and ideas behind.
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When Californians move out to other states, it has coined the term californicate. They bring their attitude, politics and ideas and try to foist it on the new location. I have lived in Boulder for years and remember how much nicer it was before the californians came in. Pearl Street mall was cool ecletic and special with its unique stores. Now its like any mall in America. And I swear californians must think cement is beuatiful because they lay it down everywhere! It was so much nicer back in the 80’s. If you must leave california, please leave the attitude, politics and ideas behind.
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It would be hard to give up Trader Joes, In & Out, world class shopping, nightlife, a variety of restaurants, arts, proximity to other Western U.S. cities, an outdoorsy culture, lots of upstart companies, etc.
We’re talking about Scottsdale, right?
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It would be hard to give up Trader Joes, In & Out, world class shopping, nightlife, a variety of restaurants, arts, proximity to other Western U.S. cities, an outdoorsy culture, lots of upstart companies, etc.
We’re talking about Scottsdale, right?
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Texas is awesome, come on down 😛
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Texas is awesome, come on down 😛
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“The Texas Board of Education will vote this week on a new science curriculum designed to challenge the guiding principle of evolution, a step that could influence what is taught in biology classes across the nation. The proposed curriculum change would prompt teachers to raise doubts that all life on Earth is descended from common ancestry.”
THis is not FUD.. it’s real and it IS running back the clock. Yes evolution is a theory.. but that doesn’t mean it’s a weak guess. Creationism has no supporting scientific basis. We might as well also teach astrology in science classes.
As for California’s brain drain. I would not be too worried about it. THe people who are most enticed by affordable housing and cheap schools tend to be people who have already contributed the most productive years of their life. They move to the valley in their 20’s enticed by the energy and vibrance of the bay area. THey work 80 hours a week until their mid thirties when they decide they want to slow down, buy a 6 bedroom house on 5 acres and start popping out kids. This is when you move our of California, but they will be replaced by the next batch of hungry 20 somethings.
I should also point out that New York city is insanely expensive, has high taxes, relatively high crime (compared to Austin and Boulder) and relatively poor schools… Not too many people worried about the brain drain there, however.
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“The Texas Board of Education will vote this week on a new science curriculum designed to challenge the guiding principle of evolution, a step that could influence what is taught in biology classes across the nation. The proposed curriculum change would prompt teachers to raise doubts that all life on Earth is descended from common ancestry.”
THis is not FUD.. it’s real and it IS running back the clock. Yes evolution is a theory.. but that doesn’t mean it’s a weak guess. Creationism has no supporting scientific basis. We might as well also teach astrology in science classes.
As for California’s brain drain. I would not be too worried about it. THe people who are most enticed by affordable housing and cheap schools tend to be people who have already contributed the most productive years of their life. They move to the valley in their 20’s enticed by the energy and vibrance of the bay area. THey work 80 hours a week until their mid thirties when they decide they want to slow down, buy a 6 bedroom house on 5 acres and start popping out kids. This is when you move our of California, but they will be replaced by the next batch of hungry 20 somethings.
I should also point out that New York city is insanely expensive, has high taxes, relatively high crime (compared to Austin and Boulder) and relatively poor schools… Not too many people worried about the brain drain there, however.
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I’m a Texan from Austin and now live outside Raleigh — both a great! The culture is Austin is an exception to the rest of the state though (I miss Austin terribly!) Something to keep in mind for any potential new Texans. North Carolina is beautiful and the Triangle offers so much to do. It’s also really cool to me that in Raleigh, Durham & Chapel Hill, you never feel like you’re in large cities.
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I’m a Texan from Austin and now live outside Raleigh — both a great! The culture is Austin is an exception to the rest of the state though (I miss Austin terribly!) Something to keep in mind for any potential new Texans. North Carolina is beautiful and the Triangle offers so much to do. It’s also really cool to me that in Raleigh, Durham & Chapel Hill, you never feel like you’re in large cities.
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Maybe some people will leave and maybe the overall gradients of talented people living in California vs. other states will smoothen out somewhat but despite the problems outlined in the article, I still believe that California is one of the best places to live.
On the bright side, since SmugMug powers my online store I am glad to hear they are doing well.
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Maybe some people will leave and maybe the overall gradients of talented people living in California vs. other states will smoothen out somewhat but despite the problems outlined in the article, I still believe that California is one of the best places to live.
On the bright side, since SmugMug powers my online store I am glad to hear they are doing well.
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> Reforming the state constitution and eliminating things like the 2/3 majority to pass a budget, rather than a simple majority, will get the logjam broken and help push better reforms through.
It’s absurd to think that the cost of CA’s govt would go down if it was easier for the majority to pass a budget because the majority wants to spend and tax more. Making it easier for them to do so would not change their goals, it would merely make it easier for them to accomplish said goals.
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> Reforming the state constitution and eliminating things like the 2/3 majority to pass a budget, rather than a simple majority, will get the logjam broken and help push better reforms through.
It’s absurd to think that the cost of CA’s govt would go down if it was easier for the majority to pass a budget because the majority wants to spend and tax more. Making it easier for them to do so would not change their goals, it would merely make it easier for them to accomplish said goals.
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@jbella – Teaching another theory alongside evolution is not turning back the clock. I guess we must agree to disagree.
New York *is* suffering a brain drain. The only thing attracting people to that God forsaken place is the money from the financial industry, which is evaporating. Four friends who moved to New York for the $$$ have already left and come back to Texas. These are people with advanced degrees who were doing financial stuff until now. I think you underestimate the pain NYC is about to experience.
Frankly you’re just wrong about the type of people that prefer Texas, and a bit arrogant in your belief that people make their contributions in their 20’s and then lose value. Most people in their 20’s don’t contribute very much! For every Zuckerberg there are thousands who enter their prime productive years in their 30’s and 40’s. They are able to do so because of decades of failure in private and public enterprises, failures that teach them how to be successful.
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@jbella – Teaching another theory alongside evolution is not turning back the clock. I guess we must agree to disagree.
New York *is* suffering a brain drain. The only thing attracting people to that God forsaken place is the money from the financial industry, which is evaporating. Four friends who moved to New York for the $$$ have already left and come back to Texas. These are people with advanced degrees who were doing financial stuff until now. I think you underestimate the pain NYC is about to experience.
Frankly you’re just wrong about the type of people that prefer Texas, and a bit arrogant in your belief that people make their contributions in their 20’s and then lose value. Most people in their 20’s don’t contribute very much! For every Zuckerberg there are thousands who enter their prime productive years in their 30’s and 40’s. They are able to do so because of decades of failure in private and public enterprises, failures that teach them how to be successful.
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Anyone interested in knowing what really happened to the economy, and what is needed to restore its vitality, would do well to watch Juan Enriquez’ talk at TED in February. http://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_shares_mindboggling_new_science.html
In addition to a penetrating analysis of the meltdown, and a preview of some pretty amazing science in the pipeline, he makes the point that investment in innovation is critical to economic development. In a 2007 study, GlobalInsight’s report VentureImpact notes that venture investment in startups constitutes only .2 percent of GDP, whereas venture-backed businesses generate 17.6% of GDP. That’s an 88X ROI.
There are VCs in Austin, RTP, Atlanta, etc., but don’t be ridiculous; California is where the vast overwhelming bulk of venture money is, in large part because that’s where it was earned in the first place. Add to that LPs like CalPERS, funds-of-funds like Hamilton Lane, and the thousands of individual angel investors deploying seed capital, and it becomes self-evident why the Texas governor is just whistling past the graveyard.
Trends in venture capital in California argue compellingly for an expansion of the innovation economy inland from the coastal urban centers into the central valley. R&D at UC schools are tech transfer and commercialization gold mines. Smaller, more agile, specialized funds are being created to mine these nuggets, and regional angel groups are increasingly backing home-grown initiatives in the Sacramento, San Joaquin and Coachella valleys, the North Bay, the Central Coast, and the Sierra Nevada.
With the rapid development of reliable remote presence platforms, entrepreneurs are no longer tied down in Silicon Valley, SOMA, or San Diego. They can start up anywhere they can get signal, where property values are reasonable, schools are good, crime is low, and the fishing is sensational.
As for the CA budget, the problem with the dispute between the Democrats’ raising taxes strategy and the Republicans’ cutting expenses strategy is that they’re both wrong. Programs are already threadbare, and yet they must be paid for. The only solution is to increase revenues, but not by increasing taxation, but by increasing the commerce that is taxed. That means more jobs must be created, more value must be created, and more wealth must be created. And the only strategy that is proven to do that is private equity investment in innovative entrepreneurs who have already self-selected to live in California (or Texas, for that matter). Venture-backed companies produce more revenue, more jobs, and more liquid wealth than any other form of enterprise. Public policy must be reformed to encourage more of it.
Finally, creationism, or intelligent design, is utter rubbish, and has no place in the publicly-funded education system. If Texas succeeds in inflicting this rabid superstition on its children, you will see a brain drain exodus of epic proportions, and the hope of Texas ever becoming an important tech corridor will vanish with it.
–Ax
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Anyone interested in knowing what really happened to the economy, and what is needed to restore its vitality, would do well to watch Juan Enriquez’ talk at TED in February. http://www.ted.com/talks/juan_enriquez_shares_mindboggling_new_science.html
In addition to a penetrating analysis of the meltdown, and a preview of some pretty amazing science in the pipeline, he makes the point that investment in innovation is critical to economic development. In a 2007 study, GlobalInsight’s report VentureImpact notes that venture investment in startups constitutes only .2 percent of GDP, whereas venture-backed businesses generate 17.6% of GDP. That’s an 88X ROI.
There are VCs in Austin, RTP, Atlanta, etc., but don’t be ridiculous; California is where the vast overwhelming bulk of venture money is, in large part because that’s where it was earned in the first place. Add to that LPs like CalPERS, funds-of-funds like Hamilton Lane, and the thousands of individual angel investors deploying seed capital, and it becomes self-evident why the Texas governor is just whistling past the graveyard.
Trends in venture capital in California argue compellingly for an expansion of the innovation economy inland from the coastal urban centers into the central valley. R&D at UC schools are tech transfer and commercialization gold mines. Smaller, more agile, specialized funds are being created to mine these nuggets, and regional angel groups are increasingly backing home-grown initiatives in the Sacramento, San Joaquin and Coachella valleys, the North Bay, the Central Coast, and the Sierra Nevada.
With the rapid development of reliable remote presence platforms, entrepreneurs are no longer tied down in Silicon Valley, SOMA, or San Diego. They can start up anywhere they can get signal, where property values are reasonable, schools are good, crime is low, and the fishing is sensational.
As for the CA budget, the problem with the dispute between the Democrats’ raising taxes strategy and the Republicans’ cutting expenses strategy is that they’re both wrong. Programs are already threadbare, and yet they must be paid for. The only solution is to increase revenues, but not by increasing taxation, but by increasing the commerce that is taxed. That means more jobs must be created, more value must be created, and more wealth must be created. And the only strategy that is proven to do that is private equity investment in innovative entrepreneurs who have already self-selected to live in California (or Texas, for that matter). Venture-backed companies produce more revenue, more jobs, and more liquid wealth than any other form of enterprise. Public policy must be reformed to encourage more of it.
Finally, creationism, or intelligent design, is utter rubbish, and has no place in the publicly-funded education system. If Texas succeeds in inflicting this rabid superstition on its children, you will see a brain drain exodus of epic proportions, and the hope of Texas ever becoming an important tech corridor will vanish with it.
–Ax
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@Alan – I guess my problem is that the public eduction inflicts, rather than teaches. In a system that encouraged critical thinking, the introduction of competing ideas like “intelligent design” would not be a problem because the kids would be smart enough to make their own decisions about it. Instead we have built an education system specialized in indoctrination.
It’s OK for you to believe that intelligent design is rubbish – I’d like kids to be able to draw that conclusion for themselves instead of having other ideas programmed into them.
Someone else already mentioned it, but the problem with the CA budget is that the state has opted to create massive entitlements. If it wants to grow the tax base – all it has to do is cut the onerous regulations and entitlements that have bankrupted the state, and businesses will flock back to CA. However, that is unlikely to happen – half the state pays little to no taxes and is more than happy to steal from the other half that funds everything.
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@Alan – I guess my problem is that the public eduction inflicts, rather than teaches. In a system that encouraged critical thinking, the introduction of competing ideas like “intelligent design” would not be a problem because the kids would be smart enough to make their own decisions about it. Instead we have built an education system specialized in indoctrination.
It’s OK for you to believe that intelligent design is rubbish – I’d like kids to be able to draw that conclusion for themselves instead of having other ideas programmed into them.
Someone else already mentioned it, but the problem with the CA budget is that the state has opted to create massive entitlements. If it wants to grow the tax base – all it has to do is cut the onerous regulations and entitlements that have bankrupted the state, and businesses will flock back to CA. However, that is unlikely to happen – half the state pays little to no taxes and is more than happy to steal from the other half that funds everything.
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@Eric I would be all for the teaching of creation theory alongside evolution if there were any scientific evidence for it. As it stands “creation science” exists mostly to try to poke holes in evolution. It’s only fair that we insist that any theory we teach in science class have to stand up to some real scientific scrutiny. We don’t go around teaching cold fusion as fact in science class, even there there is much more compelling evidence that it is real than creationism.
New York is experiencing some hard times. Much like Silicon Valley did during the dot com bust. After 2001, San Francisco felt like a ghost town. Thousands of talented people left for greener pastures. But as it always does after these corrections, Silicon Valley survives, and thrives, and is born again.
I’m sorry. I did not mean to imply that only people less interested in work prefer Texas. That would be silly. Of course broad range of people prefer to live in Texas. I was just saying that when the time comes in your life where you re-prioritize your work / home balance, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, etc offer a lot more for these people. And I also did not mean to imply that people in their 30’s and 40’s are not productive… but the fact is, most people do their greatest work in their 20’s and early 30’s. (Okay.. I kinda stole that from Malcom Gladwell.) And yes, I am much closer to 40 than I am 30… and much as I hate to admit that a lot of my best work was done 10 years ago… I am content that instead of working 80 hours a week.. I work an honest 40.. and go home to my wife and daughter.
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@Eric I would be all for the teaching of creation theory alongside evolution if there were any scientific evidence for it. As it stands “creation science” exists mostly to try to poke holes in evolution. It’s only fair that we insist that any theory we teach in science class have to stand up to some real scientific scrutiny. We don’t go around teaching cold fusion as fact in science class, even there there is much more compelling evidence that it is real than creationism.
New York is experiencing some hard times. Much like Silicon Valley did during the dot com bust. After 2001, San Francisco felt like a ghost town. Thousands of talented people left for greener pastures. But as it always does after these corrections, Silicon Valley survives, and thrives, and is born again.
I’m sorry. I did not mean to imply that only people less interested in work prefer Texas. That would be silly. Of course broad range of people prefer to live in Texas. I was just saying that when the time comes in your life where you re-prioritize your work / home balance, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, etc offer a lot more for these people. And I also did not mean to imply that people in their 30’s and 40’s are not productive… but the fact is, most people do their greatest work in their 20’s and early 30’s. (Okay.. I kinda stole that from Malcom Gladwell.) And yes, I am much closer to 40 than I am 30… and much as I hate to admit that a lot of my best work was done 10 years ago… I am content that instead of working 80 hours a week.. I work an honest 40.. and go home to my wife and daughter.
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@jbella – Malcolm Gladwell is a notoriously bad researcher. He’s not much of a writer, either. His books are filled with platitudes reinforced by anecdote. I gave up on him after reading his first two books. In general, I try to read nonfiction from academics, not journalists, because most of the time academics actually have standards. Anyway, I digress.
The point of teaching a competing theory is to present an alternative case and encourage discussion and critical thinking. If you only teach one way, the presumption is that this is the *only* way. I wouldn’t care if they taught a theory involving martians or romulans, provided that it is a complete alternative theory for debate.
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@jbella – Malcolm Gladwell is a notoriously bad researcher. He’s not much of a writer, either. His books are filled with platitudes reinforced by anecdote. I gave up on him after reading his first two books. In general, I try to read nonfiction from academics, not journalists, because most of the time academics actually have standards. Anyway, I digress.
The point of teaching a competing theory is to present an alternative case and encourage discussion and critical thinking. If you only teach one way, the presumption is that this is the *only* way. I wouldn’t care if they taught a theory involving martians or romulans, provided that it is a complete alternative theory for debate.
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Texas is great place to live! We want to keep it that way! After reading some of these comments and seeing how some of these states fell in the recent election, please stay where you are!
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Texas is great place to live! We want to keep it that way! After reading some of these comments and seeing how some of these states fell in the recent election, please stay where you are!
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Robert – your take on California’s brain drain is powerful and really hit a nerve!: loads of feedback. I’m a SV true believer though and think you still can’t beat its ecosystem for entrepreneurs. We’ve been here before (remember?) and held the lead. Time will tell
Cheers Alison van Diggelen, http://www.freshdialogues.com
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Robert – your take on California’s brain drain is powerful and really hit a nerve!: loads of feedback. I’m a SV true believer though and think you still can’t beat its ecosystem for entrepreneurs. We’ve been here before (remember?) and held the lead. Time will tell
Cheers Alison van Diggelen, http://www.freshdialogues.com
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@Eric —
But intelligent design is not a “competing theory”, inasmuch as it has no scientific underpinning whatsoever. It has been utterly discredited by the scientific community, and as such has no place in the curriculum. It is simply a smokescreen for the notion that a father-figure superhero lives in the sky and gets angry about who we have sex with but will stand idly by while we slaughter each other over who has the least wrong narrative of his arbitrary rules. That fable was disposed of in the 18th century enlightenment movement generally and very specifically in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. You can believe it if you want, but you can’t teach it to my kids.
If you’re going to teach science, then you have to abide by empirical imperatives. Pernicious mythology is anthropology, which isn’t science; it’s a branch of literature.
–Ax
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@Eric —
But intelligent design is not a “competing theory”, inasmuch as it has no scientific underpinning whatsoever. It has been utterly discredited by the scientific community, and as such has no place in the curriculum. It is simply a smokescreen for the notion that a father-figure superhero lives in the sky and gets angry about who we have sex with but will stand idly by while we slaughter each other over who has the least wrong narrative of his arbitrary rules. That fable was disposed of in the 18th century enlightenment movement generally and very specifically in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. You can believe it if you want, but you can’t teach it to my kids.
If you’re going to teach science, then you have to abide by empirical imperatives. Pernicious mythology is anthropology, which isn’t science; it’s a branch of literature.
–Ax
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Robert – your take on California’s brain drain was powerful and really hit a nerve!: loads of feedback. I’m a SV true believer though and think you still can’t beat its ecosystem for entrepreneurs. We’ve been here before and held the lead. Time will tell.
Cheers Alison van Diggelen, founder FreshDialogues.com
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Robert – your take on California’s brain drain was powerful and really hit a nerve!: loads of feedback. I’m a SV true believer though and think you still can’t beat its ecosystem for entrepreneurs. We’ve been here before and held the lead. Time will tell.
Cheers Alison van Diggelen, founder FreshDialogues.com
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I think that in this day in age there is no real reason that a tech startup needs to be located in silicon valley, or even in California for that matter. The cost savings of doing business elsewhere could vastly outweigh the other benefits of staing in-state.
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I think that in this day in age there is no real reason that a tech startup needs to be located in silicon valley, or even in California for that matter. The cost savings of doing business elsewhere could vastly outweigh the other benefits of staing in-state.
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@Eric
Fair point about Malcom Gladwell, I’m not a huge fan of his work either.. but I did hear about his notion that most of the great minds of our time did their best work in their youth.. and it rang true to me because of my own personal life experience.
When I hear about people leaving dense metropolitan areas to live in the ‘burbs it occurs to me that this is as it should be because a lot of what makes these cities great is the vitality of youth.
The problem with teaching creationism as a competing theory is that there is nothing to teach. When we discuss evolution we can talk about the fossil evidence and transitionary forms, and the DNA evidence, and on and on and on. What are we going to talk about when it comes to creationism? That the world may be 6000 years old because… the there is a chapter in the bible that lists a linage of people along with their ages? That we might be able to explain things like the grand canyon by invoking the biblical flood in Genesis?
When teaching science, it’s at least as important to teach the scientific method than it is to teach specific facts and figures. By that measure, creation science can not even be considered a science.
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@Eric
Fair point about Malcom Gladwell, I’m not a huge fan of his work either.. but I did hear about his notion that most of the great minds of our time did their best work in their youth.. and it rang true to me because of my own personal life experience.
When I hear about people leaving dense metropolitan areas to live in the ‘burbs it occurs to me that this is as it should be because a lot of what makes these cities great is the vitality of youth.
The problem with teaching creationism as a competing theory is that there is nothing to teach. When we discuss evolution we can talk about the fossil evidence and transitionary forms, and the DNA evidence, and on and on and on. What are we going to talk about when it comes to creationism? That the world may be 6000 years old because… the there is a chapter in the bible that lists a linage of people along with their ages? That we might be able to explain things like the grand canyon by invoking the biblical flood in Genesis?
When teaching science, it’s at least as important to teach the scientific method than it is to teach specific facts and figures. By that measure, creation science can not even be considered a science.
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@jbella
Haven't been in the classroom in a few years, have you? Today’s classrooms read the from the textbooks as though they were sacred scriptures and tolerate no dissent, no questioning, no overt sign of disagreement. This is why parents are putting their children in charter schools and even doing the home school thing. Unfortunately, I think this is pretty much nationwide, not just a California problem.
I agree that teaching creation as science does bring up some issues (and I don’t support it myself). But the problem is, the way we currently teach evolution, it is just another religion, and there is no valid reason to pick that particular religion over any other.
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@jbella
Haven't been in the classroom in a few years, have you? Today’s classrooms read the from the textbooks as though they were sacred scriptures and tolerate no dissent, no questioning, no overt sign of disagreement. This is why parents are putting their children in charter schools and even doing the home school thing. Unfortunately, I think this is pretty much nationwide, not just a California problem.
I agree that teaching creation as science does bring up some issues (and I don’t support it myself). But the problem is, the way we currently teach evolution, it is just another religion, and there is no valid reason to pick that particular religion over any other.
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What’s getting lost here is California’s situation is self-inflicted. Every two or three years, revenues are lower than expected, leading to this kind of existential crisis in state and local government. That’s the reason we have the current governor anyway. The vast majority of revenues for local governments are collected through sales tax (which centralizes control in Sacramento).
Look at our taxation situation: Franchise Tax Board collects income tax, Board of Equalization collects sales tax, Department of Motor Vehicles collects vehicle taxes, and that is before you even look at property taxes (collected by counties). Then there are fees paid for things like mandatory licenses and ID cards and attendance at any state-sponsored college.
Meanwhile we have some school superintendents making $200K or more, while wailing about schools being underfunded. In some communities, that is five to ten times the average earnings. This for a school system that discourages individual thought and critical thinking, because such things tend to break down authoritarian rule.
(Which, in my opinion, is what the whole creationism thing is about: a reaction to schools trying to dictate beliefs instead of presenting students with evidence and the ideas and allowing them the freedom to decide for themselves.)
If we want to fix California, we have to break up the concentration of power and revenue in Sacramento. Why should my town’s road repair budget come from the state? What happens in years when the state is hard-pressed to fund things (like this year)? Do we just live with crumbling roads? Why should politicians in Sacramento or Washington decide how much homework your child should have? Do they even know what your child needs? Shouldn’t his/her teachers and parents decide that?
Again, in years when non-state employees suffer pay cuts and layoffs, why should taxes be raised in order to protect state employees from sharing the pain? Why should we make it impossibly stressful for the college kid working part-time at the local Gree-C Burger to pay his college fees and his vehicle fees?
There were those who thought dumping Gray Davis would lead to new fiscal responsibility. This lack of responsibility is likely to make California economically intolerable for many of our residents in coming years.
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What’s getting lost here is California’s situation is self-inflicted. Every two or three years, revenues are lower than expected, leading to this kind of existential crisis in state and local government. That’s the reason we have the current governor anyway. The vast majority of revenues for local governments are collected through sales tax (which centralizes control in Sacramento).
Look at our taxation situation: Franchise Tax Board collects income tax, Board of Equalization collects sales tax, Department of Motor Vehicles collects vehicle taxes, and that is before you even look at property taxes (collected by counties). Then there are fees paid for things like mandatory licenses and ID cards and attendance at any state-sponsored college.
Meanwhile we have some school superintendents making $200K or more, while wailing about schools being underfunded. In some communities, that is five to ten times the average earnings. This for a school system that discourages individual thought and critical thinking, because such things tend to break down authoritarian rule.
(Which, in my opinion, is what the whole creationism thing is about: a reaction to schools trying to dictate beliefs instead of presenting students with evidence and the ideas and allowing them the freedom to decide for themselves.)
If we want to fix California, we have to break up the concentration of power and revenue in Sacramento. Why should my town’s road repair budget come from the state? What happens in years when the state is hard-pressed to fund things (like this year)? Do we just live with crumbling roads? Why should politicians in Sacramento or Washington decide how much homework your child should have? Do they even know what your child needs? Shouldn’t his/her teachers and parents decide that?
Again, in years when non-state employees suffer pay cuts and layoffs, why should taxes be raised in order to protect state employees from sharing the pain? Why should we make it impossibly stressful for the college kid working part-time at the local Gree-C Burger to pay his college fees and his vehicle fees?
There were those who thought dumping Gray Davis would lead to new fiscal responsibility. This lack of responsibility is likely to make California economically intolerable for many of our residents in coming years.
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Interesting blog. Why is California in such a mess and Texas architecting itself to attract the state’s intellectual capital? How do they rate? I’ll suggest that California has become like General Motors today and the 80s-era IBM and is an out of control train on a one way trip to the junkyard.
The level of taxation relative to service that is the California brand is ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong. Our police officers and firemen are first rate. Many of our schools buck the statewide disgrace and excuses present in other systems…. yet beyond that is one big mess of self-righteous one way dialogue like “We won’t pay you the amount you overpaid in taxes but you still need to keep overpaying us because we cannot be limited by base concerns like budget”… “This is your last opportunity to appeal our sky high property valuations…” etc etc.
I frankly think that Californians pay higher taxes than the French and get fewer benefits. I’ve heard htis from several French nationals who have complained about the taxation in California.
That promped a buddy of mine to design this bumper sticker: http://www.cafepress.com/FreeCa
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Interesting blog. Why is California in such a mess and Texas architecting itself to attract the state’s intellectual capital? How do they rate? I’ll suggest that California has become like General Motors today and the 80s-era IBM and is an out of control train on a one way trip to the junkyard.
The level of taxation relative to service that is the California brand is ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong. Our police officers and firemen are first rate. Many of our schools buck the statewide disgrace and excuses present in other systems…. yet beyond that is one big mess of self-righteous one way dialogue like “We won’t pay you the amount you overpaid in taxes but you still need to keep overpaying us because we cannot be limited by base concerns like budget”… “This is your last opportunity to appeal our sky high property valuations…” etc etc.
I frankly think that Californians pay higher taxes than the French and get fewer benefits. I’ve heard htis from several French nationals who have complained about the taxation in California.
That promped a buddy of mine to design this bumper sticker: http://www.cafepress.com/FreeCa
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What Governor Perry is proposing to do is nothing new. This “raiding” of California talent and/or companies based in California has gone on for years. I remember during the power crisis a few years ago seeing billboards that said something like “Michigan never has brownouts.” Yeah those ads worked really well for them didn’t they? Granted, Texas has a much better economic outlook, but the summers there are brutal (think 90s and above every day). I know of someone who moved to Austin with her husband from the Bay Area a few years back and told me the culture and political views there are radically different from the Bay Area.
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What Governor Perry is proposing to do is nothing new. This “raiding” of California talent and/or companies based in California has gone on for years. I remember during the power crisis a few years ago seeing billboards that said something like “Michigan never has brownouts.” Yeah those ads worked really well for them didn’t they? Granted, Texas has a much better economic outlook, but the summers there are brutal (think 90s and above every day). I know of someone who moved to Austin with her husband from the Bay Area a few years back and told me the culture and political views there are radically different from the Bay Area.
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“Does “allowing people freedom” include allowing them the freedom to turn your educational system back 3000 years? Because it certainly seems like Texas is well on its way to doing just that.’
There was an “education system” 3000 years ago? Here in the U.S? Wow! Who knew? I’d be very interested in knowing more about what the “education system” here in the U.S. looked like 3000 years ago. Can you point me the information you have on this?
“THis is not FUD.. it’s real and it IS running back the clock. Yes evolution is a theory.. but that doesn’t mean it’s a weak guess. Creationism has no supporting scientific basis. We might as well also teach astrology in science classes.”
Turning back the clock to…..when…exactly? What scares you about teaching creationism? The fact that it may end up being right? Look, I don’t know, nor do I really care which theory is right. I do however, want to ensure my kids are taught to have an open mind and question things that they hear and not take them as fact. Tell me, are you open to exploring different “theories” about the Global Warming hoax? Are you open-minded enough to consider that the whole thing is a ruse? Or if you don’t subscribe to the Global Warming theory, are you open-minded enough to consider it may actually be happening?
Now,if we are going to just stick with the evolution theory and in the spirit of ensuring everything about the “science” is taught, I’m guessing you’d be fine with teaching the history of Nazism and how Hitler relied on Darwin, and more specifically Spencer and Haeckle, to validate his ‘superior race’ practice?
Call me silly, but I don’t want my children exposed to intellectual pointy-heads who adhere to what they think is a unquestionable idea, and insist it explains just about everything.
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“Does “allowing people freedom” include allowing them the freedom to turn your educational system back 3000 years? Because it certainly seems like Texas is well on its way to doing just that.’
There was an “education system” 3000 years ago? Here in the U.S? Wow! Who knew? I’d be very interested in knowing more about what the “education system” here in the U.S. looked like 3000 years ago. Can you point me the information you have on this?
“THis is not FUD.. it’s real and it IS running back the clock. Yes evolution is a theory.. but that doesn’t mean it’s a weak guess. Creationism has no supporting scientific basis. We might as well also teach astrology in science classes.”
Turning back the clock to…..when…exactly? What scares you about teaching creationism? The fact that it may end up being right? Look, I don’t know, nor do I really care which theory is right. I do however, want to ensure my kids are taught to have an open mind and question things that they hear and not take them as fact. Tell me, are you open to exploring different “theories” about the Global Warming hoax? Are you open-minded enough to consider that the whole thing is a ruse? Or if you don’t subscribe to the Global Warming theory, are you open-minded enough to consider it may actually be happening?
Now,if we are going to just stick with the evolution theory and in the spirit of ensuring everything about the “science” is taught, I’m guessing you’d be fine with teaching the history of Nazism and how Hitler relied on Darwin, and more specifically Spencer and Haeckle, to validate his ‘superior race’ practice?
Call me silly, but I don’t want my children exposed to intellectual pointy-heads who adhere to what they think is a unquestionable idea, and insist it explains just about everything.
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@Marc
Good God. You guys are dense. What scares me about teaching creationism in science class? Where do I start? How about it’s not a science. If we were to teach it in science class.. it has to have some scientific content. When we teach evolution, we don’t just sit in front of the class and say “Men came from monkeys.. write that down.. and believe it.” There are solid scientific reasons why we believe evolution is an accurate theory. You ask if I would be open minded enough to accept creationism if it could be proven to be accurate. The answer is yes. Are you open minded enough to accept the theory of evolution? Evidently the answer is no because there is a mountain of evidence supporting evolutionary theory and zero evidence supporting creation science. So who is being intellectually dishonest?
The same goes for climate change. I desperately want to believe that it’s not true… I live a very comfortable life… and I want my daughter to enjoy the same things I do. But what evidence do you have that the theory is entirely wrong? The science seems to be very conclusive.
As for the Nazism blather… please. Because Hitler used darwinism to advance his crazy ideas is meaningless. How many wars have we fought in the name of God? How many atrocities are committed in his name? We human never need much more an excuse.
You are silly. Because not only do you not have an understanding of science.. you think you are open minded when in reality you refuse to accept any evidence that goes against what you want to belive.
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@Marc
Good God. You guys are dense. What scares me about teaching creationism in science class? Where do I start? How about it’s not a science. If we were to teach it in science class.. it has to have some scientific content. When we teach evolution, we don’t just sit in front of the class and say “Men came from monkeys.. write that down.. and believe it.” There are solid scientific reasons why we believe evolution is an accurate theory. You ask if I would be open minded enough to accept creationism if it could be proven to be accurate. The answer is yes. Are you open minded enough to accept the theory of evolution? Evidently the answer is no because there is a mountain of evidence supporting evolutionary theory and zero evidence supporting creation science. So who is being intellectually dishonest?
The same goes for climate change. I desperately want to believe that it’s not true… I live a very comfortable life… and I want my daughter to enjoy the same things I do. But what evidence do you have that the theory is entirely wrong? The science seems to be very conclusive.
As for the Nazism blather… please. Because Hitler used darwinism to advance his crazy ideas is meaningless. How many wars have we fought in the name of God? How many atrocities are committed in his name? We human never need much more an excuse.
You are silly. Because not only do you not have an understanding of science.. you think you are open minded when in reality you refuse to accept any evidence that goes against what you want to belive.
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to ask anyone on the street what their Twitter address is and get back more than just a blank look
Actually, to me, that’s a benefit. And you don’t REALLY care about their address, you just want to follow them, so they will follow you.
Gosh, the socialistic-left nanny-state feel-good welfare serious, spendathon, with strong-arming state employee unions, over-regulation and immigration run amuck lucid-dream-state State, is falling apart. Predictable 100 miles away, if not a tech and hippie Utopian.
Lost in all this is that California is just too big to manage itself, break it up into 3 states and it could work, or at least independent administrative districts, if not changing the Betsy Ross. The South gets and spends most of the money, the Middle/North gets shafted. Similar to Chicago/Cook County, and the rest of Illinois.
But California is a dream, so no matter how much its screwed up, it’s still heaven. Still nothing beats South Florida, and you get used to the heat, your body chemistry changes. I like Texas too, tho less of a state and more a country.
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to ask anyone on the street what their Twitter address is and get back more than just a blank look
Actually, to me, that’s a benefit. And you don’t REALLY care about their address, you just want to follow them, so they will follow you.
Gosh, the socialistic-left nanny-state feel-good welfare serious, spendathon, with strong-arming state employee unions, over-regulation and immigration run amuck lucid-dream-state State, is falling apart. Predictable 100 miles away, if not a tech and hippie Utopian.
Lost in all this is that California is just too big to manage itself, break it up into 3 states and it could work, or at least independent administrative districts, if not changing the Betsy Ross. The South gets and spends most of the money, the Middle/North gets shafted. Similar to Chicago/Cook County, and the rest of Illinois.
But California is a dream, so no matter how much its screwed up, it’s still heaven. Still nothing beats South Florida, and you get used to the heat, your body chemistry changes. I like Texas too, tho less of a state and more a country.
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Robert,
A practical look at moving to Texas vs staying in California. Check with your tax attorney on how many days MaryAmie & you lived in Half Moon Bay, so that California will tax you as having lived in the state as a full time residents for the calendar year. Luckily, Texas doesn’t have a state income tax and the Feds doesn’t care where you where living (well, sort of)as of 12/31/2009. If you planned on claiming the moving expenses for tax purposes, you will need to satisfy 3 rules before you can deducted the moving expenses on Schedule A. Again, check with you tax attorney.
I don’t know if Rackspace will extend medical coverage for your family, But, San Antonio (corporate home for Rackspace) has the South Texas Medical Center (about 1/2 to 3/4 mile south from the corporate headquarters address.) Medical services and research is one of the main stays of the economy of San Antonio, but the technology sector is bigger in Austin and Houston and Dallas-Forth Worth areas.
Don’t forget all of the other things you and MaryAmie need to take into consideration. Housing, education, jobs, transportation(especially if you need to get to & from the airport quickly,) your internet access choices primarily Time-Warner Cable, and AT&T DSL, and U-verse(not worth the cost, time, and hassle IMHO,) restaurants, culture, and weather.
I suggest you look at all of the companies, start-ups, and VCs you interviewed in past 4 years and all of your futures interviews in terms of geographical locations and what your gut instinct tells you where the innovative and disruptive startups and companies are happening in the next 2-3? years to help you decide if moving is the way to go.
I just moved to San Antonio about 7 months ago, So I’m still adapting to all
changes.
I hope this helps MaryAmie and you to decide, whether to move or not.
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Robert,
A practical look at moving to Texas vs staying in California. Check with your tax attorney on how many days MaryAmie & you lived in Half Moon Bay, so that California will tax you as having lived in the state as a full time residents for the calendar year. Luckily, Texas doesn’t have a state income tax and the Feds doesn’t care where you where living (well, sort of)as of 12/31/2009. If you planned on claiming the moving expenses for tax purposes, you will need to satisfy 3 rules before you can deducted the moving expenses on Schedule A. Again, check with you tax attorney.
I don’t know if Rackspace will extend medical coverage for your family, But, San Antonio (corporate home for Rackspace) has the South Texas Medical Center (about 1/2 to 3/4 mile south from the corporate headquarters address.) Medical services and research is one of the main stays of the economy of San Antonio, but the technology sector is bigger in Austin and Houston and Dallas-Forth Worth areas.
Don’t forget all of the other things you and MaryAmie need to take into consideration. Housing, education, jobs, transportation(especially if you need to get to & from the airport quickly,) your internet access choices primarily Time-Warner Cable, and AT&T DSL, and U-verse(not worth the cost, time, and hassle IMHO,) restaurants, culture, and weather.
I suggest you look at all of the companies, start-ups, and VCs you interviewed in past 4 years and all of your futures interviews in terms of geographical locations and what your gut instinct tells you where the innovative and disruptive startups and companies are happening in the next 2-3? years to help you decide if moving is the way to go.
I just moved to San Antonio about 7 months ago, So I’m still adapting to all
changes.
I hope this helps MaryAmie and you to decide, whether to move or not.
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What goes up, must come down and vice-versa.
Arrogance and amnesia to free market principals is causing the decline of this state as is NJ, NY etc basically all the left states…the emergence of TX and NC will herald the re-emergence of free market beliefs long after the public will be tired of the Obama self righteousness..and see I told you so attitude.
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What goes up, must come down and vice-versa.
Arrogance and amnesia to free market principals is causing the decline of this state as is NJ, NY etc basically all the left states…the emergence of TX and NC will herald the re-emergence of free market beliefs long after the public will be tired of the Obama self righteousness..and see I told you so attitude.
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California may have an education problem by letting a bunch of teachers go, but if you move to Texas, their plentiful teachers will try to teach your kids that the Earth is only 10,000 years old, that there’s no such thing as evolution, and that Jesus had as much to do with continental formation as tectonic shift (which, I believe, is a myth in Texas).
Cali may be having problems – what’s new – but Texas is not your answer.
Try Chicago. Seriously; the housing market isn’t *as* bad here, and people know what both Twitter and evolution are here.
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California may have an education problem by letting a bunch of teachers go, but if you move to Texas, their plentiful teachers will try to teach your kids that the Earth is only 10,000 years old, that there’s no such thing as evolution, and that Jesus had as much to do with continental formation as tectonic shift (which, I believe, is a myth in Texas).
Cali may be having problems – what’s new – but Texas is not your answer.
Try Chicago. Seriously; the housing market isn’t *as* bad here, and people know what both Twitter and evolution are here.
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I think there should be other theories taught besides evolution.
Personally, I favor the Leprechaun theory. Clearly, we were waved into existence by leprechauns and the sooner we recognize this, the sooner we’ll find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
The expression “theory of evolution” refers to the notion that scientists don’t know how we evolved and here is the current idea of how it happened. There is also a theory of gravity and other phenomena.
These theories will change as and when our understanding of the available evidence changes. But it does begin with evidence. And that is where the leprechaun theory fails.
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I think there should be other theories taught besides evolution.
Personally, I favor the Leprechaun theory. Clearly, we were waved into existence by leprechauns and the sooner we recognize this, the sooner we’ll find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
The expression “theory of evolution” refers to the notion that scientists don’t know how we evolved and here is the current idea of how it happened. There is also a theory of gravity and other phenomena.
These theories will change as and when our understanding of the available evidence changes. But it does begin with evidence. And that is where the leprechaun theory fails.
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I am the chairman of the Bellingham Angel Group and we invested in Tatango and continue to advise their management team. They were recently voted the best start-up company for 2008 in the County and deservedly so. I am surprised that we don’t see more tech companies moving up to the Bellingham area with its’ wonderful lifestyle and supportive attitude towards technology companies.
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I am the chairman of the Bellingham Angel Group and we invested in Tatango and continue to advise their management team. They were recently voted the best start-up company for 2008 in the County and deservedly so. I am surprised that we don’t see more tech companies moving up to the Bellingham area with its’ wonderful lifestyle and supportive attitude towards technology companies.
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> Programs are already threadbare, and yet they must be paid for.
If these programs “must be paid for”, how do other states do without them?
Yes, the “more money” folk always trot out teachers and police when they’re asking for more money.
When they do that, they’re telling you that teachers and police are their lowest priority, that they’ll cut teachers and police to keep funding for other things.
And CA keeps electing them.
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> Programs are already threadbare, and yet they must be paid for.
If these programs “must be paid for”, how do other states do without them?
Yes, the “more money” folk always trot out teachers and police when they’re asking for more money.
When they do that, they’re telling you that teachers and police are their lowest priority, that they’ll cut teachers and police to keep funding for other things.
And CA keeps electing them.
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@jbella..
Whoa..Whoa…Whoa!!! Chill out there, pal. First, the minute you employ name-calling to defend your argument, it tells me you really don’t have a solid foundation on which to defend your position.
Second, whenever I hear the word “believe” associated with some “theory”, I know the facts are weak. “Believing” something is not science.
Third, you also get dismissed as being a rational thinker when you come to a conclusion based on no facts. Please show me anywhere in my comments that I don’t “believe” in Darwinism? Conversely, please show me anywhere in my comments where I said I “believe” in creationism. You can’t, because I never said either. See, this is the type of weak scientific thinking that gets some in trouble (see:Algore)–coming to a conclusion based on no evidence.
You assume me to be religious, yet I’ve given you no concrete facts from which to draw that conclusion. Yes, there have been plenty of wars based on religion. I’m perfectly happy with those facts being brought up. And I in no way suggest that because Hitler based his “perfect race” goals on Darwinism, that the theory doesn’t hold water. I’m simply saying, just as you suggest with religion, teach the “good” with the “bad”. Jeez! Jump to conclusions much? Doesn’t make for a good scientist.
Oh, and see what you did there? I said “Global Warming” and you replied with “climate change”. Odd how the terms have changed. “Cimate change” allows everything to be “explained”. I will happily concede that the climate is changing. Just has it has for the last 6,000, er, I mean, 6 billion years (or however old the Earth is. Don’t really care. I can’t do anything productive with that information). What I’ve seen no conclusive evidence of is that “man” is the current cause. And just because we can find a number of scientists that “agree”, doesn’t make it a fact. As the saying goes: “Science by consensus is not science”. That same statement can be applied to Darwinism, given there it has yet to proven conclusively from what Man evolved.
I’m ambivilant on which “theory” ends up being right. What I am not ambivilant about is “protecting” our children from other lines of thinking.
I’m happy to supply you plenty of scientific evidence or facts that call into question the “theory” of evolution and the beginning of life. Like the unbelievable scientific “fact” that life was somehow produced from non-life. As I’m sure you well know, scientific evidence has to be reproducable. Now, call me crazy, but has anyone, anywhere, in the history of intelligent man, been able to produce life from non-life forms? For me, that would move the needle much further towards evolution. So, what reproducable evidence do we have of that? Or what concrete evidence? Or how there is no fossil evidence of transitional forms of life. And that when questioned, the answer is something called “punctuated equlilibrium” (oooo..sounds complicated. We better accept it). When pressed to explain why we dont’ see evidence of continued evolution today, we are told there is, indeed, evidence! Look at the variations in finch beaks!!! Even better, look how many breeds of dogs man has produced! (nevermind the fact that in the end, they are, and do forever remain…dogs!)
I could go on. Methinks, however, given the evidence of intolerance in your reply, it would be a futile exercise and we would not be willing to have a rational discussion on the topic. In fact, I think that rather than answering the questions I raised, you would come back with “yea!!?? Well what evidence do we have of intelligent design?”” Fair question…when we start debating intelligent design. But you chose to summarily dismiss it. So, now is the time to defend evolution by explaining some of the issues I raised. But thanks for being another example of my last statement in my previous post
And to the person that suggest teaching “intelligent design” violates the First Amemdment, I would ask what specific religion is being established by doing so? Which is what the First Amendment prevents Congress from doing. Establishing religion (see:Church of England). It can’t solely be Christianity, because there are plenty of other relgions that posit that man was created.
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@jbella..
Whoa..Whoa…Whoa!!! Chill out there, pal. First, the minute you employ name-calling to defend your argument, it tells me you really don’t have a solid foundation on which to defend your position.
Second, whenever I hear the word “believe” associated with some “theory”, I know the facts are weak. “Believing” something is not science.
Third, you also get dismissed as being a rational thinker when you come to a conclusion based on no facts. Please show me anywhere in my comments that I don’t “believe” in Darwinism? Conversely, please show me anywhere in my comments where I said I “believe” in creationism. You can’t, because I never said either. See, this is the type of weak scientific thinking that gets some in trouble (see:Algore)–coming to a conclusion based on no evidence.
You assume me to be religious, yet I’ve given you no concrete facts from which to draw that conclusion. Yes, there have been plenty of wars based on religion. I’m perfectly happy with those facts being brought up. And I in no way suggest that because Hitler based his “perfect race” goals on Darwinism, that the theory doesn’t hold water. I’m simply saying, just as you suggest with religion, teach the “good” with the “bad”. Jeez! Jump to conclusions much? Doesn’t make for a good scientist.
Oh, and see what you did there? I said “Global Warming” and you replied with “climate change”. Odd how the terms have changed. “Cimate change” allows everything to be “explained”. I will happily concede that the climate is changing. Just has it has for the last 6,000, er, I mean, 6 billion years (or however old the Earth is. Don’t really care. I can’t do anything productive with that information). What I’ve seen no conclusive evidence of is that “man” is the current cause. And just because we can find a number of scientists that “agree”, doesn’t make it a fact. As the saying goes: “Science by consensus is not science”. That same statement can be applied to Darwinism, given there it has yet to proven conclusively from what Man evolved.
I’m ambivilant on which “theory” ends up being right. What I am not ambivilant about is “protecting” our children from other lines of thinking.
I’m happy to supply you plenty of scientific evidence or facts that call into question the “theory” of evolution and the beginning of life. Like the unbelievable scientific “fact” that life was somehow produced from non-life. As I’m sure you well know, scientific evidence has to be reproducable. Now, call me crazy, but has anyone, anywhere, in the history of intelligent man, been able to produce life from non-life forms? For me, that would move the needle much further towards evolution. So, what reproducable evidence do we have of that? Or what concrete evidence? Or how there is no fossil evidence of transitional forms of life. And that when questioned, the answer is something called “punctuated equlilibrium” (oooo..sounds complicated. We better accept it). When pressed to explain why we dont’ see evidence of continued evolution today, we are told there is, indeed, evidence! Look at the variations in finch beaks!!! Even better, look how many breeds of dogs man has produced! (nevermind the fact that in the end, they are, and do forever remain…dogs!)
I could go on. Methinks, however, given the evidence of intolerance in your reply, it would be a futile exercise and we would not be willing to have a rational discussion on the topic. In fact, I think that rather than answering the questions I raised, you would come back with “yea!!?? Well what evidence do we have of intelligent design?”” Fair question…when we start debating intelligent design. But you chose to summarily dismiss it. So, now is the time to defend evolution by explaining some of the issues I raised. But thanks for being another example of my last statement in my previous post
And to the person that suggest teaching “intelligent design” violates the First Amemdment, I would ask what specific religion is being established by doing so? Which is what the First Amendment prevents Congress from doing. Establishing religion (see:Church of England). It can’t solely be Christianity, because there are plenty of other relgions that posit that man was created.
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There is no evidence whatsoever of a designer, intelligent or otherwise. To teach otherwise is intellectual fraud. The postulated inference of divine intervention is indoctrination of religious faith. Thou shalt not.
–Ax
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There is no evidence whatsoever of a designer, intelligent or otherwise. To teach otherwise is intellectual fraud. The postulated inference of divine intervention is indoctrination of religious faith. Thou shalt not.
–Ax
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@Alan Chamberlain – There is no evidence of evolution, Darwin’s version or otherwise. To teach otherwise is intellectual fraud. The postulated spontaneous generation of life from non-life is indoctrination of religious faith. Thou shalt not.
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@Alan Chamberlain – There is no evidence of evolution, Darwin’s version or otherwise. To teach otherwise is intellectual fraud. The postulated spontaneous generation of life from non-life is indoctrination of religious faith. Thou shalt not.
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@reardon There is abundant evidence of evolution, refereed, and otherwise validated. Again, check out the Enriquez talk at TED (previously linked). Life can indeed be synthesized. You are suffering from a severe cognitive disorder. Seek professional therapeutic intervention. –Ax
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@reardon There is abundant evidence of evolution, refereed, and otherwise validated. Again, check out the Enriquez talk at TED (previously linked). Life can indeed be synthesized. You are suffering from a severe cognitive disorder. Seek professional therapeutic intervention. –Ax
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This is where parsing your words gets important. Evolution as in small changes from an existing organism, yes. Of course, small changes occur as existing genes are selected from a gene pool. But this is a process of specialization, not something that creates something new.
There is no proof of evolution causing a change from one thing to a totally different new thing. There are no fossils showing change from a fish to a land animal, or from a microorganism to a fish, from a land animal to a human, or anywhere inbetween. Nor is there any other solid scientific evidence.
And last of all, as for any clue as to how life started in the first place, evolution has no answer. Theories are postulated, like a frankensteinish lighting bolt, or super space aliens, but these are just that — theories which have never been proven. Which theories, when considered by an open mind have the same flavor of fairytale that intelligent design does.
This is the hilarity of those supporting evolution as fact, while deriding intelligent design as fiction — neither can be proven, neither can be reproduced, and both are a belief of the holder, not a fact.
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This is where parsing your words gets important. Evolution as in small changes from an existing organism, yes. Of course, small changes occur as existing genes are selected from a gene pool. But this is a process of specialization, not something that creates something new.
There is no proof of evolution causing a change from one thing to a totally different new thing. There are no fossils showing change from a fish to a land animal, or from a microorganism to a fish, from a land animal to a human, or anywhere inbetween. Nor is there any other solid scientific evidence.
And last of all, as for any clue as to how life started in the first place, evolution has no answer. Theories are postulated, like a frankensteinish lighting bolt, or super space aliens, but these are just that — theories which have never been proven. Which theories, when considered by an open mind have the same flavor of fairytale that intelligent design does.
This is the hilarity of those supporting evolution as fact, while deriding intelligent design as fiction — neither can be proven, neither can be reproduced, and both are a belief of the holder, not a fact.
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As somebody who lives outside of Detroit, I wish that entrepreneurs would consider moving here. There is a ton of cheap vacant office space and home prices are at an all time low. If you can deal with the weather, it’s a wonderful opportunity. When was the last time that you actually had a “White Christmas”?
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As somebody who lives outside of Detroit, I wish that entrepreneurs would consider moving here. There is a ton of cheap vacant office space and home prices are at an all time low. If you can deal with the weather, it’s a wonderful opportunity. When was the last time that you actually had a “White Christmas”?
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Looking for affordable housing ( 4 bedroom, nice neighborhood, 1/4 acre, under $300,000), no hassle lifestyle ( average commutes under 20 minutes), creative community: check out http://www.smallerindiana.com and then check out Indy.
With a small, but growing tech community http://www.techpoint.org, great universities, IU, IUPUI, Purdue, Notre Dame, and a pro business gov, maybe you should be looking to the Center of the US, to Indy…
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Looking for affordable housing ( 4 bedroom, nice neighborhood, 1/4 acre, under $300,000), no hassle lifestyle ( average commutes under 20 minutes), creative community: check out http://www.smallerindiana.com and then check out Indy.
With a small, but growing tech community http://www.techpoint.org, great universities, IU, IUPUI, Purdue, Notre Dame, and a pro business gov, maybe you should be looking to the Center of the US, to Indy…
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Born in Hollywood (no, I’m not kidding), and grew up in Orange County. I’ve lived and worked in Orange and Ventura counties, plus spent a lot of time in the bay area. There are *lots* of things to like about California, but the business climate isn’t one of them.
Long ago, California committed itself to being a big welfare state. To quote Margaret Thatcher, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” The money has run out. There’s only so much blood you can drain from those producing capital to provide from those simply consuming it. California has been able to been able to deal with the lack of economic freedom simply by having so much fuel to burn. The flame is flickering, the economy is stalling, the housing prices are still crazy.
I’ve been in Austin for 11+ years now, and I love it. You can’t swing a dead cat around here without hitting somebody from California. I do know a few that long wistfully for the nice weather, the beach, the mountains (all things I still miss a bit). However, most of us won’t trade that for a great quality of life, affordable housing, and strong economy.
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Born in Hollywood (no, I’m not kidding), and grew up in Orange County. I’ve lived and worked in Orange and Ventura counties, plus spent a lot of time in the bay area. There are *lots* of things to like about California, but the business climate isn’t one of them.
Long ago, California committed itself to being a big welfare state. To quote Margaret Thatcher, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” The money has run out. There’s only so much blood you can drain from those producing capital to provide from those simply consuming it. California has been able to been able to deal with the lack of economic freedom simply by having so much fuel to burn. The flame is flickering, the economy is stalling, the housing prices are still crazy.
I’ve been in Austin for 11+ years now, and I love it. You can’t swing a dead cat around here without hitting somebody from California. I do know a few that long wistfully for the nice weather, the beach, the mountains (all things I still miss a bit). However, most of us won’t trade that for a great quality of life, affordable housing, and strong economy.
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California is a mess because Socialism/Liberalism can only survive if it is funded. Basically, Socialism/Liberalism cannot stand on it’s own.
So the whole state will collapse under it’s own weight as the liberal lawmakers have made laws that promise tens of billions of dollars of future cash flows to various entitlements without any idea how they will pay for it.
New York is in the same predicament. In New York City, 1% of population pays 50% of the taxes. Despite what the liberals keep pounding into us that the “rich” don’t pay their fair share of taxes, even liberals have to admit at some point that this is a problem.
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California is a mess because Socialism/Liberalism can only survive if it is funded. Basically, Socialism/Liberalism cannot stand on it’s own.
So the whole state will collapse under it’s own weight as the liberal lawmakers have made laws that promise tens of billions of dollars of future cash flows to various entitlements without any idea how they will pay for it.
New York is in the same predicament. In New York City, 1% of population pays 50% of the taxes. Despite what the liberals keep pounding into us that the “rich” don’t pay their fair share of taxes, even liberals have to admit at some point that this is a problem.
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I think the problem liberals have with 1% paying 50% of the taxes is that it’s not enough.
Liberals will not be satisfied until the top 10% pay 100% of the taxes, and the taxes are 10x greater than they are now, in order to fund a plethora of liberal-designated pipe dreams.
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I think the problem liberals have with 1% paying 50% of the taxes is that it’s not enough.
Liberals will not be satisfied until the top 10% pay 100% of the taxes, and the taxes are 10x greater than they are now, in order to fund a plethora of liberal-designated pipe dreams.
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So the whole state will collapse under it’s own weight as the liberal lawmakers have made laws that promise tens of billions of dollars of future cash flows to various entitlements without any idea how they will pay for it.
It appears you’re unfamiliar with how California is governed. In California, (comparatively speaking) much of the financial decisions are made by The People – through propositions.
So as much as politicians would be an easy scape goat, the reality is that in California, the budget is decided by The People.
Some have cited Proposition 13, as one of the root causes of California’s fiscal instability. Imagine – 4 neighbors living side by side in similar houses. One pays $1,300 a year in Property Tax, the next one pays $20,000, the next one pays $7000, and the last one pays $2,000. And then the giant office building next door pays $10,000.
That’s Proposition 13. Proposed and passed by citizens. Opposed by politicians.
http://www.democracyctr.org/library/california/prop13.htm
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So the whole state will collapse under it’s own weight as the liberal lawmakers have made laws that promise tens of billions of dollars of future cash flows to various entitlements without any idea how they will pay for it.
It appears you’re unfamiliar with how California is governed. In California, (comparatively speaking) much of the financial decisions are made by The People – through propositions.
So as much as politicians would be an easy scape goat, the reality is that in California, the budget is decided by The People.
Some have cited Proposition 13, as one of the root causes of California’s fiscal instability. Imagine – 4 neighbors living side by side in similar houses. One pays $1,300 a year in Property Tax, the next one pays $20,000, the next one pays $7000, and the last one pays $2,000. And then the giant office building next door pays $10,000.
That’s Proposition 13. Proposed and passed by citizens. Opposed by politicians.
http://www.democracyctr.org/library/california/prop13.htm
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Northern California gripes. Things are great so far in Southern California. Thats why (down here at least) we would love to break off, we only need you for the water.
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Northern California gripes. Things are great so far in Southern California. Thats why (down here at least) we would love to break off, we only need you for the water.
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Dennis T Cheung, the problem is not revenue, but spending. It’s irresponsible and this is why I said Socialism/Liberalism has to be funded as it can’t stand on it’s own.
It collapses when they run out of other people’s money to fund ever expanding and irresponsbile promises. In this case and every case, “other people’s money” is our money and the burden falls on the most productive.
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Dennis T Cheung, the problem is not revenue, but spending. It’s irresponsible and this is why I said Socialism/Liberalism has to be funded as it can’t stand on it’s own.
It collapses when they run out of other people’s money to fund ever expanding and irresponsbile promises. In this case and every case, “other people’s money” is our money and the burden falls on the most productive.
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Dennis T Cheung says:
The reason this is happening is because of the logjam in Sacramento. Nearly all decision-making for every part of state and local government is centralized in Sacramento. School budgets and governance? Sacramento. Road construction? Sacramento. Building on your property within a certain number of miles from the coastline? Sacramento, not your local government controls it. Utility rates (other than municipal utility districts)? Sacramento. Smog abatement? Sacramento mandates state-owned “air quality management districts” instead of county-owned “air pollution control districts” here in Southern Cal.
We could return control and funding ability to local communities, but that would deprive the control freaks in Sacramento of their power.
As Ken T Partridge said, we’d love to split up, but water (you have it, we want it) keeps us together.
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Dennis T Cheung says:
The reason this is happening is because of the logjam in Sacramento. Nearly all decision-making for every part of state and local government is centralized in Sacramento. School budgets and governance? Sacramento. Road construction? Sacramento. Building on your property within a certain number of miles from the coastline? Sacramento, not your local government controls it. Utility rates (other than municipal utility districts)? Sacramento. Smog abatement? Sacramento mandates state-owned “air quality management districts” instead of county-owned “air pollution control districts” here in Southern Cal.
We could return control and funding ability to local communities, but that would deprive the control freaks in Sacramento of their power.
As Ken T Partridge said, we’d love to split up, but water (you have it, we want it) keeps us together.
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I grew up in San Pedro near Los Angeles, my wife and very young children moved to Austin 2 years ago and we love it. There is affordable housing, good schools and universities, especially University of Texas at Austin. Michael Dell started Dell Computers from his dorm at UT Austin. Also clean air and water, friendly people, light traffic compared to L.A., low crime, abundant parks, green city, lots of family oriented festivals and a very athletic and outdoor lifestyle.
There is a substantial high tech sector in Austin. Some high tech companies that are present here are Dell, AMD, Intel, Apple, IBM, Sun Microsystems, Freescale Semiconductor, National Instruments, Applied Materials, Samsung Semiconductor, Silicon Labs, Google and many others.
We sold our puny 1,300 sq. ft. in Carson, near Los Angeles, for a whopping $575k and bought a 3,400 sq. ft. in southwest Austin for $312k. We’re about a 15 minute drive away from downtown. All 3 elementary schools in our area are rated exemplary. The elementary schools that our kids would have attended in Carson barely made an “acceptable” rating.
California’s business environment is hostile to business compared to Texas. Here are some state level taxing comparisons.
California Texas
Top Personal Income Tax 10.3% 0%
Top Individual Capital Gains Tax 10.3% 0%
Individual interest income 10.3% 0%
Top Corporate Income Tax 8.84% 4.5%
Top Corporate Capital Gains Tax 8.84% 4.5%
Gasoline Tax(per gallon) $.487 $.20
I believe now the gasoline tax is 68.7 cents/gallon under the recently passed California budget.
Then there are costs associated with a complex business regulatory system and government business policies in California.
Currently unemployment in Austin-Round Rock is about 6.3% compared to San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara at 10%. Housing is definitely cheaper, around 60% to 65% cheaper per square foot but salaries are lower for comparable engineering jobs by anywhere from 10% to 20%. But despite the lower salaries mitigated by lower taxes, cheaper gasoline, lower grocery prices, etc., higher quality of life coupled with a pro-business and pro-growth environment make Texas and other states very appealing for business start ups and established businesses as well.
Yes, I believe economic reality for any business in California is causing businesses to relocate out of California and induce highly skilled workers to follow thereby causing a brain drain.
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I grew up in San Pedro near Los Angeles, my wife and very young children moved to Austin 2 years ago and we love it. There is affordable housing, good schools and universities, especially University of Texas at Austin. Michael Dell started Dell Computers from his dorm at UT Austin. Also clean air and water, friendly people, light traffic compared to L.A., low crime, abundant parks, green city, lots of family oriented festivals and a very athletic and outdoor lifestyle.
There is a substantial high tech sector in Austin. Some high tech companies that are present here are Dell, AMD, Intel, Apple, IBM, Sun Microsystems, Freescale Semiconductor, National Instruments, Applied Materials, Samsung Semiconductor, Silicon Labs, Google and many others.
We sold our puny 1,300 sq. ft. in Carson, near Los Angeles, for a whopping $575k and bought a 3,400 sq. ft. in southwest Austin for $312k. We’re about a 15 minute drive away from downtown. All 3 elementary schools in our area are rated exemplary. The elementary schools that our kids would have attended in Carson barely made an “acceptable” rating.
California’s business environment is hostile to business compared to Texas. Here are some state level taxing comparisons.
California Texas
Top Personal Income Tax 10.3% 0%
Top Individual Capital Gains Tax 10.3% 0%
Individual interest income 10.3% 0%
Top Corporate Income Tax 8.84% 4.5%
Top Corporate Capital Gains Tax 8.84% 4.5%
Gasoline Tax(per gallon) $.487 $.20
I believe now the gasoline tax is 68.7 cents/gallon under the recently passed California budget.
Then there are costs associated with a complex business regulatory system and government business policies in California.
Currently unemployment in Austin-Round Rock is about 6.3% compared to San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara at 10%. Housing is definitely cheaper, around 60% to 65% cheaper per square foot but salaries are lower for comparable engineering jobs by anywhere from 10% to 20%. But despite the lower salaries mitigated by lower taxes, cheaper gasoline, lower grocery prices, etc., higher quality of life coupled with a pro-business and pro-growth environment make Texas and other states very appealing for business start ups and established businesses as well.
Yes, I believe economic reality for any business in California is causing businesses to relocate out of California and induce highly skilled workers to follow thereby causing a brain drain.
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“Why? Our state is bankrupt. What was the response? Lay off a bunch of teachers. ” – if you study carefully the history of California education, you will recognize one distinct pattern, in regular intervals the teachers and adminstrators claim they need more money, money is always eventually given, lots of it; however, no amount of money has ever succeeded in notably improving the education quality; a closer inspection will reveal that the schools that take the stats down belong to districts where the family structure has eroded to five kids to one grandmother, with the actual mother and father being high schools dropout who have gone awol into a world of crime and drugs. Meanwhile, repeatedly schools with intact families and parents who “volunteer” their time, and money “directly to the school, not in cash, but in actual supplies” do well. Time and time again, you will continue to read that x administrator has pocketed the sorely needed funds. The only fix for the schools is to fix the families, by “enforcing” “existing” laws, however our culture of lawsuits will always prevent this from happening. Essentially, California has rendered itself powerless to utter the words “straighten up and fly right.”Our education system is already in the toilet, but this will make it worse. Other states, like Texas, that aren’t bankrupt and aren’t laying off teachers, are looking more and more attractive to parents. It’s that, or spend 10s of thousands on private schools.
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Listen I am one of those highly educated brains that left for Texas during the housing boom back in 2007, now 21/2 years later Iam packing and going back to California, I dont care if I have to go collecting aluminum cans for survival, nobody with education and brains will ever want to live with this bunch of confederate rednecks and hellish weather, besides this place is dead depressing, so I beg you to bare the hard time, it will be over soon, dont be another statistic of Californians wanting to go back home. By the way higher education in Cali is 100 times better than in Texas, even a misserable Cal State Univ. will be sup[erior to A&M or any other Texan Univ.
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thanks for article very
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Even the heavily biased UN Council on Climate Control has dismissed the “rising sea levels” theory as quack junk science. Give it a rest already – coastal CA isn't going anywhere.
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I thought I'd chime in as someone who has the unique perspective of having started a business in Arizona in 2003, moved to CA soon after because my income skyrocketed, then moved out of CA three years later (to Texas) after seeing how horrifically anti-business it is.For starters, this article is obviously talking about tech, but if you look up the stats, the vast majority of millionaire entrepreneurs are in rather ordinary, non-tech businesses. So all this search for the next Silicon Valley seems quite silly to me.Our experience in Newport Beach, CA was disappointing. First of all, the weather is crap. Sorry but it is. If I'm paying millions to live in a modest house, I want warmth and sunshine. Chilly fog for half the year is totally unacceptable given the cost of living. The myth of “great weather” in CA really baffles me and must be the greatest publicity stunt ever pulled!Second, we were stunned and disappointed at the dining scene. Nothing but bland corporate- or Iranian-owned chain restaurants. The reason? Because CA makes it too burdensome and expensive for a talented, created, entrepreneurial chef to open a place. Taxes, insurance, workers comp, rents, etc. In the first month on San Antonio we found more and better restaurants and wine bars than three years in Southern California – that's saying a LOT.And biggest of all is how FIERCELY anti-business the state is. As an entrepreneur, you are considered evil and are requested to take care of every lazy piece of garbage in the state, even if you're not doing well. And the CA FTB is notoriously worse than the IRS in abuses of power and collecting taxes.What I've figured out is this: People who say CA “isn't that bad” simply don't know any better. If you've eaten garbage all your life, you have no idea what good food tastes like, and therefore can't understand why anyone would go to a fine-dining restaurant. The same is true of CA entrepreneurs and business owners. You really have no idea how bad you have it and how much better things are elsewhere. As for us, we're thrilled to be back in a warm climate (not the lousy gray fog), to have a great selection of restaurants and wine bars, to have FRIENDLY neighbors, and to meet REAL entrepreneurs with real tangible businesses, not a bunch of posers who talk a big game but who own nothing! Oh yeah, and to be in a place devoid of the horrific 40×80 lots, the same ones even millionaires are forced to live on in CA!
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I thought I'd chime in as someone who has the unique perspective of having started a business in Arizona in 2003, moved to CA soon after because my income skyrocketed, then moved out of CA three years later (to Texas) after seeing how horrifically anti-business it is.For starters, this article is obviously talking about tech, but if you look up the stats, the vast majority of millionaire entrepreneurs are in rather ordinary, non-tech businesses. So all this search for the next Silicon Valley seems quite silly to me.Our experience in Newport Beach, CA was disappointing. First of all, the weather is crap. Sorry but it is. If I'm paying millions to live in a modest house, I want warmth and sunshine. Chilly fog for half the year is totally unacceptable given the cost of living. The myth of “great weather” in CA really baffles me and must be the greatest publicity stunt ever pulled!Second, we were stunned and disappointed at the dining scene. Nothing but bland corporate- or Iranian-owned chain restaurants. The reason? Because CA makes it too burdensome and expensive for a talented, created, entrepreneurial chef to open a place. Taxes, insurance, workers comp, rents, etc. In the first month on San Antonio we found more and better restaurants and wine bars than three years in Southern California – that's saying a LOT.And biggest of all is how FIERCELY anti-business the state is. As an entrepreneur, you are considered evil and are requested to take care of every lazy piece of garbage in the state, even if you're not doing well. And the CA FTB is notoriously worse than the IRS in abuses of power and collecting taxes.What I've figured out is this: People who say CA “isn't that bad” simply don't know any better. If you've eaten garbage all your life, you have no idea what good food tastes like, and therefore can't understand why anyone would go to a fine-dining restaurant. The same is true of CA entrepreneurs and business owners. You really have no idea how bad you have it and how much better things are elsewhere. As for us, we're thrilled to be back in a warm climate (not the lousy gray fog), to have a great selection of restaurants and wine bars, to have FRIENDLY neighbors, and to meet REAL entrepreneurs with real tangible businesses, not a bunch of posers who talk a big game but who own nothing! Oh yeah, and to be in a place devoid of the horrific 40×80 lots, the same ones even millionaires are forced to live on in CA!
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