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"a lot of techies live in areas with exorbitant cost of living," And what do you think is the primary driver of said cost of living? I believe there is a ton

"a lot of techies live in areas with exorbitant cost of living," And what do you think is the primary driver of said cost of living? I believe there is a ton of arbitrary complexity in the system, and though it's not specifically created, it definitely grows if it's not checked and entities with power have no reason to do that. Google, Oracle, MS, Governments, Banks - have very little incentive to clear the weeds, usually just the opposite. Wherever there is steady profit, there are layers of cruft.

m0zg 8y ago
>> And what do you think is the primary driver of said cost of living? Mostly NIMBY-driven refusal to build more housing and transportation infrastructure. It's not like the US is lacking for land. There's no reason a dilapidated teardown-ready shack should cost $2M, no matter where it is.
- sonnyblarney 8y ago
  No, there is NIMBY-ism in most places, the reason Valley prices are sky high is the salaries. " There's no reason a dilapidated teardown-ready shack should cost $2M, no matter where it is." The cost is not the shack, it's the land it's sitting on. The higher the salaries in the valley, the more that dilapidated shack will cost.
  - m0zg 8y ago
    You make it sound like people enjoy paying millions for dilapidated shacks, which I can assure you is not the case. The reason housing costs so much is limited supply coupled with high demand. There could be a 10-story 40-apartment building in place of that one shack. Place a few thousand of those strategically through Bay Area, and the price per square foot would come down big time even if the cost of land stays high. But, NIMBY. Can't reduce the "value" of all that (mostly dilapidated) real estate people already own.
    - sonnyblarney 8y ago
      " much is limited supply coupled with high demand. " No, it's just 'supply and demand' neither are 'high or low' necessarily. SV has quite high wages, that's a huge driver of demand. The residents of SV do not want to be like NY or Hong Kong, that is their choice. It's the choice many, many places make as well. Zurich, Paris, even London, they don't live in high rises. The attractiveness of Cali in many ways is that it's not entirely flooded/urban like NYC. There are not just arbitrary ways to create more homes, it has an effect on the situation.
  - WillPostForFood 8y ago
    It is both. There is more money buying a relatively fixed number of homes, so price goes up. But if you could buy a piece of land with one home. And put 10 units on it, then that could be offset.

m0zg 8y ago

>> And what do you think is the primary driver of said cost of living? Mostly NIMBY-driven refusal to build more housing and transportation infrastructure. It's not like the US is lacking for land. There's no reason a dilapidated teardown-ready shack should cost $2M, no matter where it is.

sonnyblarney 8y ago
No, there is NIMBY-ism in most places, the reason Valley prices are sky high is the salaries. " There's no reason a dilapidated teardown-ready shack should cost $2M, no matter where it is." The cost is not the shack, it's the land it's sitting on. The higher the salaries in the valley, the more that dilapidated shack will cost.
- m0zg 8y ago
  You make it sound like people enjoy paying millions for dilapidated shacks, which I can assure you is not the case. The reason housing costs so much is limited supply coupled with high demand. There could be a 10-story 40-apartment building in place of that one shack. Place a few thousand of those strategically through Bay Area, and the price per square foot would come down big time even if the cost of land stays high. But, NIMBY. Can't reduce the "value" of all that (mostly dilapidated) real estate people already own.
  - sonnyblarney 8y ago
    " much is limited supply coupled with high demand. " No, it's just 'supply and demand' neither are 'high or low' necessarily. SV has quite high wages, that's a huge driver of demand. The residents of SV do not want to be like NY or Hong Kong, that is their choice. It's the choice many, many places make as well. Zurich, Paris, even London, they don't live in high rises. The attractiveness of Cali in many ways is that it's not entirely flooded/urban like NYC. There are not just arbitrary ways to create more homes, it has an effect on the situation.
- WillPostForFood 8y ago
  It is both. There is more money buying a relatively fixed number of homes, so price goes up. But if you could buy a piece of land with one home. And put 10 units on it, then that could be offset.