Why does California have so much industry/jobs?

[JB3]

Quote from oldtime:

yeah except many of us realized we could sell our CA house in the suburbs and buy a big spread in Indiana and still walk away with a wad of cash.

Yeah, in Indiana, but you can't get good chinese food or sushi, dang it's good. And you can't check out the girlies in their bikinis on the beach. You can't drive with your top down along PCH. You can't hit the clubs on Sunset.

NOw sure what you would do in big spread in Indiana. Farming? Watching TV? Shoveling snow in the winter?

 

[oldtime]

Quote from tomdavis:

I've lived in California for 20 years, and things have changed a lot in that time. We used to have one of the highest rates of business formation in the country, especially technology, but that isn't true anymore. The state has lost 1.3 million jobs since 2007 and business are leaving the state at an ever-increasing rate. When you think about California, you have think about old California and new California. They're two different animals.

California is in many ways a great place to live, but it's not the best place operate a business. In the last couple of years, several technology companies in our area have packed up and left the state. The main reason they give is that it's 20% cheaper to run a business in places like Utah or Colorado and 30% cheaper in Texas.

I don't know what the future will bring, but I still love the weather here.

it's just fashion man, California was cool, now it's square. Dubuque IA is now cool. Tech companies like it, plenty of old brick abandoned factories and packing plants to convert to office and lofts.

the weather in CA is great, except for the part about water.

get a hundred miles out of LA and you see how it should really look.

And not just LA, Phoenix and Las Vegas also.

The valley is about shot, what use to be fertile is now just salt, and it doesn't even matter because it is all being converted to residental.

Fishing? Yeah, that was great.

You got a port in San Diego and one in Oakland and that's all you have left.

Nobody has ever figured out how to get ahead without exploiting a natural resource, and you are just about out of them. Especially the most basic of all, namely water.

(you do understand that this is just a rant and not really backed up by any factual information and is entirely based on nothing more than an uneducated opinion don't you?)

 

[oldtime]

Quote from JB3:

Yeah, in Indiana, but you can't get good chinese food or sushi, dang it's good. And you can't check out the girlies in their bikinis on the beach. You can't drive with your top down along PCH. You can't hit the clubs on Sunset.

NOw sure what you would do in big spread in Indiana. Farming? Watching TV? Shoveling snow in the winter?

somebody from out of town asked me, "Where's a good place to eat?"

My answer was, "I don't really think there is any good place in Indiana to eat."

In the old days we use to have a pretty good race in May, but the old days are gone.

In Ca you go to the store and count how many girls you wished you'd married or at least could have sex with.

In Indiana, you go to the store and see if maybe possibly there is anyone good looking shopping. I'm not saying it never happens, but it is very rare.

I don't shovel snow, that's what they do in the city.

Yeah, TV is pretty much where it's at.

Everything I know I learned from the TV.

 

[oldtime]

Quote from JB3:

Yeah, in Indiana, but you can't get good chinese food or sushi, dang it's good. And you can't check out the girlies in their bikinis on the beach. You can't drive with your top down along PCH. You can't hit the clubs on Sunset.

NOw sure what you would do in big spread in Indiana. Farming? Watching TV? Shoveling snow in the winter?

one of my goals was to start in SF and move south down El Camino Real and do a review of every restaurant. Until I realized by the time you got to San Mateo it would probably be four volumes and by then thousands more would have sprung up behind you.

 

[kinggyppo]

Quote from JB3:

Yeah, in Indiana, but you can't get good chinese food or sushi, dang it's good. And you can't check out the girlies in their bikinis on the beach. You can't drive with your top down along PCH. You can't hit the clubs on Sunset.

NOw sure what you would do in big spread in Indiana. Farming? Watching TV? Shoveling snow in the winter?

yeah I would much rather shovel snow!

 

[oldtime]

Quote from kinggyppo:

yeah I would much rather shovel snow!

you don't actually shovel it, you scoop it up and put it in the bed of your pick up. That gives you plenty of traction to get up the hill, plus it clears out a little space in the drive, and then you don't have to do anything until it melts, and by then it's time to start hauling things again. Firstly manure for the garden and lastly wood for the winter.

 

[oldtime]

Quote from oldtime:

you don't actually shovel it, you scoop it up and put it in the bed of your pick up. That gives you plenty of traction to get up the hill, plus it clears out a little space in the drive, and then you don't have to do anything until it melts, and by then it's time to start hauling things again. Firstly manure for the garden and lastly wood for the winter.

we live very close to the land. It's just us, the land, Detroit, and oil. (not to mention propane.)

 

[blackjack007]

Quote from Vinny1:

I have a family of 3 (wife and one 4 year old daughter). My wife is an elementary school teacher so she can probably find a job anywhere that is reasonably close to home, no need to commute to downtown LA. I am self employed and work from home, so no need to commute to downtown LA either.

Do you know anything about a town called Canyon Country? How is that area? It is right next to Santa Clarita (about 34 miles northwest of Los Angeles) I found many affordable homes there. Here is one for $350k...

http://www.realtor.com/realestatean...atland-Dr_Santa-Clarita_CA_91351_M22076-40261

santa clarita is a beautiful city nestled in a valley. Very safe, affordable. The downsides are: because it's somewhat inland it can get hot in summer (into the 90s, occasionally low 100's). and the commute is atrocious, which isn't a problem for you but it will be for your wife. CA schools have been laying off teachers in droves so i wouldn't count on her being able to find a teaching job close to home.

speaking of weather, today is middle of winter and it's 72F in silicon valley and 82F in orange county. i imagine the beaches in southern Cali are packed today

 

[dealmaker]

Quote from Vinny1:

I have a family of 3 (wife and one 4 year old daughter). My wife is an elementary school teacher so she can probably find a job anywhere that is reasonably close to home, no need to commute to downtown LA. I am self employed and work from home, so no need to commute to downtown LA either.

Do you know anything about a town called Canyon Country? How is that area? It is right next to Santa Clarita (about 34 miles northwest of Los Angeles) I found many affordable homes there. Here is one for $350k...

http://www.realtor.com/realestatean...atland-Dr_Santa-Clarita_CA_91351_M22076-40261

The reason you found quite a few affordable homes there is that no one wants to live there and that was one of the towns worst hit by the forclosure crisis. Personally I'd rather live in Pittsburgh or Kansas City than live in inland California especially in Southern or Central inland California.

 

[WS_MJH]

Quote from dcvtss:

This is an interesting thread, I moved from Maryland to Austin, TX last year and a couple of observations. First as someone mentioned earlier the top talent, especially in IT definitely heads to Silicon Valley. Austin tech companies aren't able to retain any of UT's (one of the original public ivies) top tech talent, they all head to Cali, and it's not like Austin is a terrible place to live.

You are spot on with your observation that the nicest area of Texas have the highest tax rates, it's easy to correlate in TX because it is all property taxes, there's a map out there somewhere with property tax rates and the highest are in the 3 major cities and drilling down further the nice areas have higher rates. The rates are generally high compared to other states, one benefit of this however is it acts as resistance against housing bubbles.

I also agree that tax rates are not as big a factor in personal and corporate movement as is commonly thought, but living in the DC area proved to me that it is a factor, and when other things like distance are held relatively constant the lower tax area does win out. Just about every major company opening or moving operations to DC chooses Virginia.

Don't have the quote that you cited but some interesting comments. I've heard that Austin's tech scene has been losing momentum over the past couple of years, as evidenced by gowalla being beaten foursquare. It'll be very interesting if over the next five to ten years if NYC can get to parity with the silicon valley regarding tech. I think it can because NYC actually has many more advantages, SV just has its built in base.

Regarding taxes, the guy you cited mentioned people pay high taxes so the quality of life is better. People are better educated, healthier, etc. If that were true, then Detroit would have the best school system, RI would be an economic dynamo, CA would have the best health care. In fact, some of the best schools are in red states, FL and TX are the best as per Newsweek.

High taxes don't make an area better for its people; it's the quality of the people that make it better. CA/NYC et al do well because of the people; they are just so successful that they succeed despite high taxes. If CA/NY lowered their taxes and became sane economically, they'd boom.