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Texas tops list of worst places to live and work in America


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21 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

Commiefornia

 

 

So yes, Texas is special, but COL is definitely a factor.

Nahgonnalie, kinda like the little California house. Walking distance from the Santa Ana Zoo and the Blood Red Carpet at the Tustin Church of Christ, and conveniently located for visits to the Mexican Consulate if I need to straighten shit out. And I believe Santa Ana is hometown to the guy who used to write the Ask A Mexican column, so maybe I could get decent telenovelas on broadcast TV.

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I know this sounds ridiculous but on the Monterey peninsula the best deal on most groceries is Whole Foods.  So we shop there and Costco and it works.  Safeway is outrageous as is Luckys.  HEB is a National treasure but we’ll never get them out here. 
 

I had barbecue today and as long as you don’t want brisket you can be ok.  I had pulled pork and chicken that was delicious.  
 

Finally, to echo @closetohumping the cost of living for middle class is ridiculous out here.  Between folks who are locked into minuscule valuations and can transfer it across family, making existing housing extremely pricey, and new construction being really expensive, you have to go to Merced or Los Banos or Palm Desert or Inland Empire, and it’s crazy.  There is an attempt to increase the housing stock finally but it’ll be very limited in its effect.

But now that I’m here there’s no way I’m going back.  QOL is just so good.

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18 minutes ago, Hefeweizen said:

I know this sounds ridiculous but on the Monterey peninsula the best deal on most groceries is Whole Foods.  So we shop there and Costco and it works.  Safeway is outrageous as is Luckys.  HEB is a National treasure but we’ll never get them out here. 
 

I had barbecue today and as long as you don’t want brisket you can be ok.  I had pulled pork and chicken that was delicious.  
 

Finally, to echo @closetohumping the cost of living for middle class is ridiculous out here.  Between folks who are locked into minuscule valuations and can transfer it across family, making existing housing extremely pricey, and new construction being really expensive, you have to go to Merced or Los Banos or Palm Desert or Inland Empire, and it’s crazy.  There is an attempt to increase the housing stock finally but it’ll be very limited in its effect.

Well let’s be clear here: this is the result of 50 years of blatant, naked anti-growth NIMBYism (Monterrey County being one of the worst offenders besides my own San Francisco). The state has finally, purportedly, taken RHNA requirements seriously with the new housing element and the unanimous reaction of coastal California has been “Fuck you, I got mine”, so I’d expect the Texodus to continue for a generation because Californians have destroyed any aspiration of affordability. 

Edited by We’reTexas
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33 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

Nahgonnalie, kinda like the little California house. Walking distance from the Santa Ana Zoo and the Blood Red Carpet at the Tustin Church of Christ, and conveniently located for visits to the Mexican Consulate if I need to straighten shit out. And I believe Santa Ana is hometown to the guy who used to write the Ask A Mexican column, so maybe I could get decent telenovelas on broadcast TV.

Yea but you don’t own the land. Just the structure I think.  Santa Ana has some great food but is sort of dilapidated 

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32 minutes ago, Hefeweizen said:

I know this sounds ridiculous but on the Monterey peninsula the best deal on most groceries is Whole Foods.  So we shop there and Costco and it works.  Safeway is outrageous as is Luckys.  HEB is a National treasure but we’ll never get them out here. 
 

I had barbecue today and as long as you don’t want brisket you can be ok.  I had pulled pork and chicken that was delicious.  
 

Finally, to echo @closetohumping the cost of living for middle class is ridiculous out here.  Between folks who are locked into minuscule valuations and can transfer it across family, making existing housing extremely pricey, and new construction being really expensive, you have to go to Merced or Los Banos or Palm Desert or Inland Empire, and it’s crazy.  There is an attempt to increase the housing stock finally but it’ll be very limited in its effect.

But now that I’m here there’s no way I’m going back.  QOL is just so good.

Yep and inland empire is essentially Texas.  Hot as fuck

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1 hour ago, 4th&Five said:

What’s discussed at home after reading it on Facebook? Sounds much better.
 

I heard a ton of political talk at home growing up and it took me 2 years on my own to learn it was all bullshit. 

Meh.  I can't speak for what you did or didn't hear at home.  Still stands to reason, if the influences of FB or Twitter overrule your folks, your folks probably didn't do a very fucking good job.

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6 hours ago, ChiTownDoc said:

Side note: can’t believe Rogan and that nutjob Alex Jones live in Austin.  Obviously more diverse than I give it credit for.  

 

6 hours ago, ztejas said:

Alex Jones has been here forever. 

Well yeah.  He's from Dallas originally but he moved to Austin and graduated from Anderson High,  a couple of years after me.

That's no point of pride, of course.

Shame, shame, shame.

 

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On 7/18/2023 at 7:56 PM, Longhornsnus said:

Not to derail this, but I think our state looked at Louisiana and said "we want that" because free, unadulterated and lightning fast access to every form of pornography, from the basic vanilla to the most perverse, being available at the fingertip of every 5-17 year olds (or wherever the legal consent/age is) is not only passively unhealthy, but extremely and actively detrimental to the development of the brain (and emotional and mental health) of still-developing children. It's a problem, whether you want to acknowledge the studies or not. Especially our young men.

And since when, anyways, did we as a society come to expect and feel entitled to free pornography carte blanche? I mean, up until the mid 2000's you had to pay for it and ostensibly verify ID, or worse yet, go to a seedy sex store and buy a physical copy. But Russia and Eastern Europe starts pumping out free porn and we get used to it and now it's as sacrosanct as a constitutional right for some people, it seems.

If you make it harder to view online free porn and make it harder to buy guns, I think you can probably wipe out about 80% of the incel community overnight.

Either that, or they just want to keep tabs on who might be viewing gay shit.  Not completely discounting your point, but do you really trust our state government to be acting in good faith? 

Edited by LateAughtsHorn
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The heat might eventually drive me out.  But I’m stuck here another 10 years minimum due to family reasons.  If I ever move, climate will be the primary reason.

Texas has a lot going for it: plenty of jobs, coastline, and food.  

The stupid rednecks seem louder than they used to be, the education system seems shitty, and the “good” tax situation is a lie, but I wouldn’t necessarily move for any of those reasons.

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12 hours ago, slorch said:

Meh.  I can't speak for what you did or didn't hear at home.  Still stands to reason, if the influences of FB or Twitter overrule your folks, your folks probably didn't do a very fucking good job.

Overruling, no. But god help any kids getting all of their societal views and politics from their parents.

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2 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

Overruling, no. But god help any kids getting all of their societal views and politics from their parents.

Didnt say that either. 

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Stream of consciousness on this tread - many great comments about various places to live, etc.

IIRC, Elon Musk moved to Austin right around the time he had $1B (yes billion) in stock options nearing expiration.  Exercising/selling as a resident of Texas would have saved him at least $100mm in taxes.  I would move anywhere in the US for 183 days for that kind of money.  

I visited both Portland, OR and West Lafayette, IN during the present Austin heat wave.  The climate in both places made me reflect, "It almost makes the winters worth it."  Portland has its share of problems, so it is relatively uninteresting.  Smallish college towns in the midwest (WL, Ames, Bloomington, others, etc.) might be the next migration destinations.  Reasonable property values, increasing tech/industry growth, local and state investment in industry, etc.  The winters do stink, though.

As noted, though, if there is not reasonable investment in the education of the entire citizenry (more than just $$), it can be problematic.  In the "smallish growing college towns" scenario, live near schools where the professors send their kids.

Edited by boilerhorn
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4 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Based on the free market values that some people like to espouse- what does it say about a place when similar housing is much cheaper there than other places?

Means southern states have more land and less restrictions?  Dallas can sprawl all the way to Kansas at some point 

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1 hour ago, boilerhorn said:

Stream of consciousness on this tread - many great comments about various places to live, etc.

IIRC, Elon Musk moved to Austin right around the time he had $1B (yes billion) in stock options nearing expiration.  Exercising/selling as a resident of Texas would have saved him at least $100mm in taxes.  I would move anywhere in the US for 183 days for that kind of money.  

I visited both Portland, OR and West Lafayette, IN during the present Austin heat wave.  The climate in both places made me reflect, "It almost makes the winters worth it."  Portland has its share of problems, so it is relatively uninteresting.  Smallish college towns in the midwest (WL, Ames, Bloomington, others, etc.) might be the next migration destinations.  Reasonable property values, increasing tech/industry growth, local and state investment in industry, etc.  The winters do stink, though.

As noted, though, if there is not reasonable investment in the education of the entire citizenry (more than just $$), it can be problematic.  In the "smallish growing college towns" scenario, live near schools where the professors send their kids.

Portland winters are relatively mild.  Love that city 

 

global warming will drive people north. Maybe not in our lifetimes but our kids

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1 hour ago, closetohumping said:

Portland winters are relatively mild.  Love that city 

 

global warming will drive people north. Maybe not in our lifetimes but our kids

Shhhh, at least not Chicago.  Unless you wanna end up full of bullet holes, of course.  
 

What’s hilarious is I’ll have family visit now and we are like ‘oh, it’s gonna be 65, you guys are lucky’.  And half are like ‘no, I want it 40 degrees, that feels AMAZING’, being dead serious.  

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6 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Based on the free market values that some people like to espouse- what does it say about a place when similar housing is much cheaper there than other places?

It means there is too much supply because no one wants to live there 

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2 hours ago, ChiTownDoc said:

Shhhh, at least not Chicago.  Unless you wanna end up full of bullet holes, of course.  
 

What’s hilarious is I’ll have family visit now and we are like ‘oh, it’s gonna be 65, you guys are lucky’.  And half are like ‘no, I want it 40 degrees, that feels AMAZING’, being dead serious.  

I know the feeling. 

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3 hours ago, ChiTownDoc said:

Shhhh, at least not Chicago.  Unless you wanna end up full of bullet holes, of course.  
 

What’s hilarious is I’ll have family visit now and we are like ‘oh, it’s gonna be 65, you guys are lucky’.  And half are like ‘no, I want it 40 degrees, that feels AMAZING’, being dead serious.  

Yeah I tend to visit Michigan, where my wife's family still lives, during the winter.  Last time in February just before that big snowstorm down here.  It was super heavily snowing up there and seemed like the same storm...the timing was right.

 

I like the snow and such when visiting, but wouldn't want to deal with it again (I lived in the Denver area for a while) as a normal resident driving to work and shit.  

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8 hours ago, closetohumping said:

global warming will drive people north. Maybe not in our lifetimes but our kids

I think it will, but not everyone.  I was driving thru one of the huge burbs on the west side today. Just thousands of houses between 400k-1.5m for about 15 mins straight.   And was thinking.   I bet tons of our immigrants would buy this shit up right quick at a third of its value, and live another 2 generations. Unlikely it would ever be vacant, just a lot different than it looks now.  Hello Colorado 

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6 hours ago, LateAughtsHorn said:

If any of you fucks end up out here in the UK, I recommend Joe's smokehouse in London. Only Texas bbq place in London owned and operated by a Texan. Owner is apparently a horn, too. Scratches the itch. 

20230325_143629.thumb.jpg.71dc82004f04f4de0c6bb4085124f886.jpg

 

 

Fantastic.  Gonna be spending 3 weeks based out of Wapping soon.  Wife and I were just looking at the Bermondsey Beer Mile as a good way to spend a day destroying our livers.  Nice to know we can score some good Q to help break up all the beer.

Gonna have to yell, "Muledick!" when I hit the doorway...

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17 hours ago, closetohumping said:

Portland winters are relatively mild.  Love that city 

Agree.  Portland winters are relatively mild - temperature-wise (and, hence, snow-wise).  When I visited in ~Mar'22, Portland experienced its first sunny day in about 3 months.  Just about everyone bailed from work in the afternoon.  It is a grey and wet winter there.  I know a few folks who tired of that and moved to Austin around 25 years ago.  That said, just about every place weighs on some folks after time.

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Interesting as my wife and I are considering Portland, ME and the area for retirement. We'd been focused on WA and the Puget Sound area up to Sequim for many years, but the constant wild fires is giving us pause (not that NE is immune; see Canada).

I grew up in MN, but my wife has spent her entire life between San Antonio and Austin. She's thrilled about the chance to live in a true four season environment. As long as someone else is shoveling the big snowstorms and we're within a 15-20 minute commute to necessary infrastructure (medical, groceries) and 45 to an airport then winter doesn't phase me. There's no bad weather, just bad clothing.

Edit: but to remain more topical, we can't wait to get the hell out of Texas.

Edited by GhostOfTomJoad
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2 hours ago, After irth said:

Fantastic.  Gonna be spending 3 weeks based out of Wapping soon.  Wife and I were just looking at the Bermondsey Beer Mile as a good way to spend a day destroying our livers.  Nice to know we can score some good Q to help break up all the beer.

Gonna have to yell, "Muledick!" when I hit the doorway...

Nice! We haven't done the beer mile yet, but that's a really good area to be based out of. There's a park area near tower bridge, and if you can make it there on a weekday, it's perfect. Just enough of a buzz to feel like you're in a world city while still having personal space. It's about a 5-10 minute walk from Joe's, too. 

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23 hours ago, aggie08 said:

Overruling, no. But god help any kids getting all of their societal views and politics from their parents.

With all due respect, but…what?

For the most part, this is the ideal. Parents have brought the blessing of life into the world and it’s their duty and obligation to develop and train them up in the right ways as they see fit. I personally think it’s so weird when people outsource their children’s development and training to the government via public schools, but wouldn’t disparage anyone for it, but getting political and societal views from social media is weird to me.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought it was everyone’s responsibility to raise their own children, not society at large.

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23 hours ago, boilerhorn said:

IIRC, Elon Musk moved to Austin right around the time he had $1B (yes billion) in stock options nearing expiration.  Exercising/selling as a resident of Texas would have saved him at least $100mm in taxes.  I would move anywhere in the US for 183 days for that kind of money.  

Lol wut. Elon is worth 240B. He isn't moving anywhere because of 100M in personal tax savings. He moved the global HQ of Tesla to Austin. 

https://www.tesla.com/giga-texas

He's also doing that space X stuff down near Padre. 

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1 hour ago, Longhornsnus said:

With all due respect, but…what?

For the most part, this is the ideal. Parents have brought the blessing of life into the world and it’s their duty and obligation to develop and train them up in the right ways as they see fit. I personally think it’s so weird when people outsource their children’s development and training to the government via public schools, but wouldn’t disparage anyone for it, but getting political and societal views from social media is weird to me.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought it was everyone’s responsibility to raise their own children, not society at large.

It is everyone’s responsibility to raise their own children. What does that have to do with public schools?

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10 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

Yea even rich people want tax breaks 

The point is he didn't relocate his empire to Texas to save pennies on personal capital gains taxes.

Are taxes part of the reason to move a trillion dollar company? Sure. 

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1 minute ago, ztejas said:

The point is he didn't relocate his empire to Texas to save pennies on personal capital gains taxes.

Are taxes part of the reason to move a trillion dollar company? Sure. 

Why do you think Toyota is located in Alabama instead of say Boston?   Hint it’s not the educated workforce.  Tax breaks.  Tons of land.  
 

it’s a business.   Elon cares about money and expansion.  
 

remember when Amazon expanded?  Financial incentives for as part of everyone’s bid.  

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6 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

Why do you think Toyota is located in Alabama instead of say Boston?   Hint it’s not the educated workforce.  Tax breaks.  Tons of land.  
 

it’s a business.   Elon cares about money and expansion.  
 

remember when Amazon expanded?  Financial incentives for as part of everyone’s bid.  

I'm not saying it wasn't contributing factor - but it sort of goes hand in hand with why he would move Tesla. Also it was $2.5B not $100M - I'm not the one that got the number wrong by a factor of 25. 

If you're performing a holistic evaluation of a state then things like trillion dollar companies moving their HQ and a significant portion of manufacturing sort of matter. Elon didn't set up a ghost address in Texas to save money on his personal taxes with no intention of spending time here. He chose Texas to centralize two different huge endeavors of his - for a lot of reasons - personal tax considerations potentially one of them. 

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6 minutes ago, ztejas said:

I'm not saying it wasn't contributing factor - but it sort of goes hand in hand with why he would move Tesla. Also it was $2.5B not $100M - I'm not the one that got the number wrong by a factor of 25. 

If you're performing a holistic evaluation of a state then things like trillion dollar companies moving their HQ and a significant portion of manufacturing sort of matter. Elon didn't set up a ghost address in Texas to save money on his personal taxes with no intention of spending time here. He chose Texas to centralize two different huge endeavors of his - for a lot of reasons - personal tax considerations potentially one of them. 

Personal tax, more land , politics likely much bigger tax breaks from the state.  Amazon was making desks with discarded doors.  Rich people like to save money especially if it’s business focused.  Otherwise we’d all keep our jobs. They’re great at leveraging and moving money.  So yea 100m means something even to Elon and Bezos.   

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26 minutes ago, ztejas said:

The point is he didn't relocate his empire to Texas to save pennies on personal capital gains taxes.

Are taxes part of the reason to move a trillion dollar company? Sure. 

Also.  He’s still expanding in Cali 

 

https://ktla.com/news/california/tesla-hq-to-return-to-california-musk-announces/amp/

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I assume engineering HQ will handle exterior design, drivetrain, etc.?  Probably a few thousand jobs heading back that way it would seem?  Wonder what kinda dent that'll put in the Austin workforce?  Probably more "design-side" engineering talent out in NoCal than here anyway.  Whereas I think we probably have a deeper bench in electrical engineering, aerodynamics, mechanical engineering, etc.  Just a thought based on some CoC stats. 

Or in the end, maybe he's pulling the design engineers outta Texas because you can't have an abortion here like in California.  And that's exactly what the Cybertruck is, an abortion. 

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Texas public schools seem to perform pretty well against peer states when adjusted for demographics.  They have not released 2022 adjusted scores yet due to pandemic.  The Urban Institute is a liberal think tank based in Washington DC

https://apps.urban.org/features/naep/

Here is their explanation on adjusting for demographics:

Often called the “nation’s report card,” the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading and mathematics assessments are administered to a representative sample of fourth- and eighth-grade students in each state every two years. NAEP scores offer something rare in education policy: data that are standardized across states and across time. Policymakers and pundits seize upon these data as evidence to support their preferred policies. But comparing NAEP scores assumes that states serve the same students—and we know they don’t.

A better way to compare and talk about NAEP performance is to use adjusted NAEP scores that account for demographic differences across students in each state. These adjusted scores allow for students to be compared with their demographically similar peers using factors such as race, receipt of special education services, and status as an English language learner. These are factors we know can affect test results, yet they are not shown in NAEP scores. The interactive tool below brings those adjusted NAEP scores to life.

Updated March 2, 2020, to include a link to download the full dataset.
Note: On October 24, 2022, the National Center for Education Statistics released National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores for 2022, including performance by state on the fourth- and eighth-grade math and reading assessments. In the past, we have updated this tool when new scores are released by applying an adjustment based on prior student-level data to the new state average scores (the new student-level data are typically released 18 months later). This estimated adjustment relied on assumptions about the stability of student demographics and their relationships with NAEP scores over time that were supported by the pre-2019 data. But in light of the large and unequal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, we believe this assumption may no longer hold, so we have decided to delay updating this tool until we have reviewed the new data.

 

https://www.tsta.org/news_center/texas-naep-scores-look-better-when-adjusted-for-demographics/

When the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores for 2019, were announced last week, it was not that average math and reading scores for Texas fourth graders had increased by three points and one point, respectively, from 2017. Texas eighth graders saw their math and reading scores drop from 2017, and it was noted that statewide reading performance in both fourth and eighth grade in Texas remained below the national average.

But the Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank, believes there is another way to look at those scores. According to the Urban Institute, Texas outperforms most other states when NAEP scores are adjusted for differences in student demographics.

When 2019 NAEP scores are adjusted for demographics, the Urban Institute says, Texas students rank fourth in fourth-grade reading; 22nd in eighth-grade reading; second in fourth-grade math; and fourth in eighth-grade math.

Additionally, African American students from Texas rank first in fourth-grade math performance among all the states, while Hispanic and Anglo students’ performance rank in the top 10 states, according to this analysis.

 

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5 hours ago, Longhornsnus said:

With all due respect, but…what?

For the most part, this is the ideal. Parents have brought the blessing of life into the world and it’s their duty and obligation to develop and train them up in the right ways as they see fit. I personally think it’s so weird when people outsource their children’s development and training to the government via public schools, but wouldn’t disparage anyone for it, but getting political and societal views from social media is weird to me.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought it was everyone’s responsibility to raise their own children, not society at large.

You teach your kid calculus?  Black history?  19th century philosophers?   Wood shop?  Defensive backfield?   Marching band?

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1 hour ago, Frank Drebin said:

Additionally, African American students from Texas rank first in fourth-grade math performance among all the states

That's honestly amazing.

Granted, that data is from a few years back. 

2 hours ago, closetohumping said:

Personal tax, more land , politics likely much bigger tax breaks from the state.  Amazon was making desks with discarded doors.  Rich people like to save money especially if it’s business focused.  Otherwise we’d all keep our jobs. They’re great at leveraging and moving money.  So yea 100m means something even to Elon and Bezos.   

You aren't disagreeing with anything I've said. The comment I replied to was suggesting that Elon picked up residency in Texas just to save a little on his personal tax return.

 

1 hour ago, YGIFS said:

I assume engineering HQ will handle exterior design, drivetrain, etc.?  Probably a few thousand jobs heading back that way it would seem?  Wonder what kinda dent that'll put in the Austin workforce?  Probably more "design-side" engineering talent out in NoCal than here anyway.  Whereas I think we probably have a deeper bench in electrical engineering, aerodynamics, mechanical engineering, etc.  Just a thought based on some CoC stats. 

Not sure. The corporate HQ is still in Austin. I'm assuming he still had a lot of folks working in California and all of his twitter stuff is still in Cali. 

It won't take any of the actual giga factory jobs away (obviously).

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