3 ms·

I'm not convinced this is a bad thing. What's wrong with having a higher educated, higher income populace?

inetknght 9y ago
What's wrong with diversity?
RosanaAnaDana 9y ago
So imagine being completely unable to live in the place you grew up in once an adult, and forced to emigrate not from choice but financial necessity. Its pretty much a bummer.
- mywittyname 9y ago
  We like to forget that much of the early USA was populated for largely this reason. Our ancestors didn't move half-way across the damn world because they wanted to, they were forced out due to circumstances beyond their control, be it oppression, famine, or a general lack of opportunity (no land or jobs).
kec 9y ago
someone still has to mop the floors.
- logfromblammo 9y ago
  My iRobot Scooba does that--poorly, but it does that. The Roomba handles the initial hard floor cleaning, and also the carpets. I don't have a robot yet to clean the toilets, but I hear they exist in Japan, and my parents have one on their most heavily used commode. Thank goodness California phased out most of its public telephones before sending all their telephone sanitizers on the 'B' Ark to Texas. Whether there is a problem in pushing out all the low-skilled labor depends largely on whether all the work that those people do is automated yet. My concern is that jobs that require some on-site human judgment, but not a lot of skill, will start to go unfilled before robots are ready to step in.
tachyoff 9y ago
Nothing, assuming local policy and large corporations don’t price lower-income earners out of their homes/apartments.
flukus 9y ago
Less people to do things involving less educated labor (flipping burgers, building houses, delivering packages, etc) will increase prices. That higher income will be meaningless.
- VLM 9y ago
  Some actual numbers IBEW local 82 journeyman electricians union rate in Ohio $29.05/hr IBEW local 234 journeyman electricians union rate in California $71.36/hr Of course I'm not sure the education level or IQ of the typical electrician is much different than than the typical software developer with respect to the lower education specification; however it does seem likely that labor costs in CA for similar work are currently about 147% higher than Ohio costs. According to Zillow "The median home value in Salinas is $436,900" and "The median home value in Dayton is $57,300" for a journeyman electricians income, you'll be one of the poorest people in the highest crime neighborhood in CA, or live in one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city if you live in Ohio. Given the choice of top or bottom 10% of neighborhoods and amenities, I'd certainly rather live in Ohio. This probably cascades thru every career path.
asteli 9y ago
There's nothing wrong per se with an educated, wealthy populace. It's the gentrification process that is problematic. It forces the poor and marginalized out, which is basically the last thing those populations need. It's also bad for innovation of all kinds. People who have ideas and are willing to take a chance on executing them are deterred by the threat of being forced out of their communities if they fail. You're already seeing this with the loss of artists and musicians from the bay. My housemate is a professional artist and straight up can't afford to move within the bay. Our house is being sold, so she's moving to Georgia.
dnomad 9y ago
Yeah the people who think this is a bad thing are pretty confused. The real story here is that everybody in California is becoming very highly educated [1]. California is experiencing a remarkable brain gain as the best and the brighest in the world relocate to the state. This may drive out lesser educated Americans but the idea that this is a disaster or a bad thing is mistaken. California's future is very bright (even if too much value gets captured by real estate speculators.) [1] http://www.ppic.org/blog/californias-brain-gain/ http://www.ppic.org/blog/californias-brain-gain/
- adamrezich 9y ago
  A bad thing for whom? California or its (former) citizens?
  - kenhwang 9y ago
    Either? Former citizens presumably get an increase in quality of life in a lower cost of living area, and California has a richer (newly imported) middle class. The ones that have it hard are the ones who can't afford to stay and can't/won't leave.

What's wrong with diversity?

So imagine being completely unable to live in the place you grew up in once an adult, and forced to emigrate not from choice but financial necessity. Its pretty much a bummer.

mywittyname 9y ago
We like to forget that much of the early USA was populated for largely this reason. Our ancestors didn't move half-way across the damn world because they wanted to, they were forced out due to circumstances beyond their control, be it oppression, famine, or a general lack of opportunity (no land or jobs).

kec 9y ago

someone still has to mop the floors.

logfromblammo 9y ago
My iRobot Scooba does that--poorly, but it does that. The Roomba handles the initial hard floor cleaning, and also the carpets. I don't have a robot yet to clean the toilets, but I hear they exist in Japan, and my parents have one on their most heavily used commode. Thank goodness California phased out most of its public telephones before sending all their telephone sanitizers on the 'B' Ark to Texas. Whether there is a problem in pushing out all the low-skilled labor depends largely on whether all the work that those people do is automated yet. My concern is that jobs that require some on-site human judgment, but not a lot of skill, will start to go unfilled before robots are ready to step in.

tachyoff 9y ago

Nothing, assuming local policy and large corporations don’t price lower-income earners out of their homes/apartments.

flukus 9y ago

Less people to do things involving less educated labor (flipping burgers, building houses, delivering packages, etc) will increase prices. That higher income will be meaningless.

VLM 9y ago
Some actual numbers IBEW local 82 journeyman electricians union rate in Ohio $29.05/hr IBEW local 234 journeyman electricians union rate in California $71.36/hr Of course I'm not sure the education level or IQ of the typical electrician is much different than than the typical software developer with respect to the lower education specification; however it does seem likely that labor costs in CA for similar work are currently about 147% higher than Ohio costs. According to Zillow "The median home value in Salinas is $436,900" and "The median home value in Dayton is $57,300" for a journeyman electricians income, you'll be one of the poorest people in the highest crime neighborhood in CA, or live in one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city if you live in Ohio. Given the choice of top or bottom 10% of neighborhoods and amenities, I'd certainly rather live in Ohio. This probably cascades thru every career path.

asteli 9y ago

There's nothing wrong per se with an educated, wealthy populace. It's the gentrification process that is problematic. It forces the poor and marginalized out, which is basically the last thing those populations need. It's also bad for innovation of all kinds. People who have ideas and are willing to take a chance on executing them are deterred by the threat of being forced out of their communities if they fail. You're already seeing this with the loss of artists and musicians from the bay. My housemate is a professional artist and straight up can't afford to move within the bay. Our house is being sold, so she's moving to Georgia.

dnomad 9y ago

Yeah the people who think this is a bad thing are pretty confused. The real story here is that everybody in California is becoming very highly educated [1]. California is experiencing a remarkable brain gain as the best and the brighest in the world relocate to the state. This may drive out lesser educated Americans but the idea that this is a disaster or a bad thing is mistaken. California's future is very bright (even if too much value gets captured by real estate speculators.) [1] http://www.ppic.org/blog/californias-brain-gain/ http://www.ppic.org/blog/californias-brain-gain/

adamrezich 9y ago
A bad thing for whom? California or its (former) citizens?
- kenhwang 9y ago
  Either? Former citizens presumably get an increase in quality of life in a lower cost of living area, and California has a richer (newly imported) middle class. The ones that have it hard are the ones who can't afford to stay and can't/won't leave.