I know a lot of tech workers in Texas, specifically in the Austin area. They seem to be doing very well. I'm quite proud of America's working conditions. A lot of workers in other countries would marvel at our opportunities and be grateful these investments are happening here as opposed to elsewhere.

>A lot of workers in other countries would marvel at our opportunities and be grateful these investments are happening here as opposed to elsewhere.

"In other coutries"...any particular ones?

I can’t think of any developed country where that’d make sense.

India

When Texas flips blue like California did way back it's going to be interesting

No thanks

Nah, watch what happens when California goes red, if Dems repeat their 2024 performance trends.

Unlike Texas, California thankfully hasn’t been gerrymandered to death. It still has a functioning democracy.

California's housing crisis is a result of small-c conservatives wanting their property values to rise forever. Prop 13 and it's consequences have been a disaster for the state.

Prop 13 is a disaster, but it was not the product of any specific political persuasion.

It was even well-intentioned, but the unforseen (although predictable in direction if not magnitude) consequences are in fact disastrous.

I have wondered about how to repeal Prop 13, but I can't come up with a repeal that doesn't do equal and opposite damage.

> I have wondered about how to repeal Prop 13, but I can't come up with a repeal that doesn't do equal and opposite damage.

I haven't thought enough of the consequences, but what I have been pondering is complete removal of property tax on your personal residence. You have to spend 50% + 1 day to count it as your residence.

Any commercial property or nonresidence would continue to have property tax.

There would be some cheats, like people claiming to have spent 50% + 1 day despite not having done that, or somebody living in an apartment complex they own to avoid tax, but overall I think it would solve a lot of problems.

The only drawback I see is less tax revenue.

Over the course of a decade go from a max of 2%/year to something like 10%/year. Maybe some extra tax breaks for those who lost equity when selling a long-term residence (doubt, probably just slow their growth)

Right, some kind of phase-in would be necessary.

The opposite damage I'm talking about is forcing people to lose their houses for inability to pay current-FMV property taxes. Mostly older/retired/fixed income people. This would apply to any phase-in schedule too.

You could implement some sort of right of first refusal for any multi-family build on that land.

While that’s certainly a key component, Texas is also home to the largest potential solar and wind capacity in the country. There’s also a ton of land to build on.

And Austin was an island of sanity according to my friends who lived there.

Unlikely. Texas is the largest exporter of crude oil and natural gas, the largest in capacity for refining petroleum, and huge exporter of petrochemicals in the US. More solar and wind means more oil for refinement and export.

I'm in Dallas and doing just fine tyvm.

I do find it slightly offensive that you would insinuate that hiring in Texas is solely about less worker protections and not that we have plenty of skilled workers in one place and with a lower cost of living.

I'm a worker not an owner,and I prefer living in Texas at this stage in my life and have turned down offers to move back to California.

Working in tech in a big Texas city easily puts you in the top 10% of the cushiest jobs in the US. Based on how I've been treated here, I really doubt that worker protections (or lack thereof) is the real driving force behind more tech jobs moving here. We are far from being oppressed here.

The most likely driving force of tech moving to Texas is that mid career professionals like myself don't see a future in California due to the insane cost and bad vibe of raising a family there. It's a great place for people just out of college, but Texas is a better place to settle down unless you are pulling an outrageous salary. The other big advantage California has is VC and startup networks being located there, which is also something that primarily benefits early career people rather than those of us that need a stable job at an established company.

It's also worth pointing out that Texas has long had a large technology industry presence. The dominance that California experienced during the early 2000s through to mid 2010s is an outlier and it shouldnt surprise anybody that things are evening out.