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So blue cities and states continue to become richer and income inequality will continue to grow. Austin, Seattle, San Diego, LA, NYC.. unbelievable Also, kind

by dmode 8y ago

So blue cities and states continue to become richer and income inequality will continue to grow. Austin, Seattle, San Diego, LA, NYC.. unbelievable Also, kind of disappointing how low the job numbers are. 5000 in Austin over the next several years and hundreds for other areas. In contrast, Amazon announced 20K in VA and NYC. This tells me that Cupertino will continue to grow

AnthonBerg 8y ago
Could it possibly it have more to do with other correlated demographic attributes of those states, such as education level or age or quality of life, rather than the "blueness" or "redness" itself?
- dmode 8y ago
  I think you hit on a key point that is lost in the "business friendly" discussion that pervades US politics and is singularly focused on tax relief. Whereas anybody who has worked in some kind of relocation strategy knows that tax is only one lever among many to incentivize companies. The biggest lever, in a knowledge economy, is availability of high skilled talent. Simple math suggests that to hire 5000 engineers, you need to interview 50k engineers, which means you need 200-300k at the top of the funnel. Thus, it turns out that the biggest incentive to attract businesses is to make your city attractive for talent. An area with a large talent pool is the most business friendly place, period. And then you have to ask why do such talent concentrate on certain areas of the country and what those areas are doing right.
- kitsunesoba 8y ago
  It’s anecdata so take it with a grain of salt, but a lot of red areas like my home town are also extremely resistant to new industries and the changes that they bring on top of being unwelcoming to anybody from out of state and in fact anybody differing significantly from the dominant local culture. All of this is directly counter to what makes a good location for a new campus. I’m sure that there are red areas that aren’t like my hometown, but from what I’ve gathered a lot of them — maybe even a good majority — are.
- buboard 8y ago
  on the other hand these are small numbers of jobs so they could have been more mobile.
- willfiveash 8y ago
  Good point. As a long time (lived here since 1979) Austin resident I can tell you that it's a lot of fun to live here, in particular for someone in their 20's or 30's. There are a bunch of live music clubs, several large music festivals, SXSW, lakes and the Hill Country for biking, rivers to tube on, etc... On top of this the University of Texas main campus (~50K students) is located here and there are other universities in addition. This city is a magnet in Texas and surrounding states for tech talent unlike say, Waco because people want to live here.

by dmode 8y ago

AnthonBerg 8y ago

Could it possibly it have more to do with other correlated demographic attributes of those states, such as education level or age or quality of life, rather than the "blueness" or "redness" itself?

dmode 8y ago
I think you hit on a key point that is lost in the "business friendly" discussion that pervades US politics and is singularly focused on tax relief. Whereas anybody who has worked in some kind of relocation strategy knows that tax is only one lever among many to incentivize companies. The biggest lever, in a knowledge economy, is availability of high skilled talent. Simple math suggests that to hire 5000 engineers, you need to interview 50k engineers, which means you need 200-300k at the top of the funnel. Thus, it turns out that the biggest incentive to attract businesses is to make your city attractive for talent. An area with a large talent pool is the most business friendly place, period. And then you have to ask why do such talent concentrate on certain areas of the country and what those areas are doing right.
kitsunesoba 8y ago
It’s anecdata so take it with a grain of salt, but a lot of red areas like my home town are also extremely resistant to new industries and the changes that they bring on top of being unwelcoming to anybody from out of state and in fact anybody differing significantly from the dominant local culture. All of this is directly counter to what makes a good location for a new campus. I’m sure that there are red areas that aren’t like my hometown, but from what I’ve gathered a lot of them — maybe even a good majority — are.
buboard 8y ago
on the other hand these are small numbers of jobs so they could have been more mobile.
willfiveash 8y ago
Good point. As a long time (lived here since 1979) Austin resident I can tell you that it's a lot of fun to live here, in particular for someone in their 20's or 30's. There are a bunch of live music clubs, several large music festivals, SXSW, lakes and the Hill Country for biking, rivers to tube on, etc... On top of this the University of Texas main campus (~50K students) is located here and there are other universities in addition. This city is a magnet in Texas and surrounding states for tech talent unlike say, Waco because people want to live here.