2 ms·

>Because tech workers are contributing to the displacement of the people those places need to survive. >Yet the reality is you're still contributing to that di

by scoofy 5y ago

>Because tech workers are contributing to the displacement of the people those places need to survive. >Yet the reality is you're still contributing to that displacement even though you're not responsible for those policies. You're arguing that people trying to make a better life for themselves are ruining the lives of others? I think it's extremely clear that Californian's own tax policies, along with NIMBYs are to blame here, not tech workers. But this is typical, myopic 'blame the catalyst, not the problem' I see frequently from west coast-style leftists (and i say that as a staunch leftist). Tech workers are easy to point at because they are new-ish transplants (most have been here >15 years at this point), and they are considered culturally distasteful, and moderately well off. Nobody wants to blame the multi-million dollar single family home owning boomer who voted themselves a property tax exemption in the 70s that they can literally pass to their kids (from an ethical perspective, you should be appalled that we're currently living through the birth of an actual, landed aristocracy) The tech workers are literally trying to make a better life for themselves. The NIMBY homeowners are literally hording wealth. Yet we blame the young tech workers... it's total nonsense.

cletus 5y ago
> You're arguing that people trying to make a better life for themselves are ruining the lives of others? 100%. > I think it's extremely clear that Californian's own tax policies California's tax policies have been that way since at least the 70s. I'm thinking Prop 13 and rent control, which were essentially massive giveaways to incumbents at the expense of everyone else. Your presence is support for those policies, both tacitly by supporting companies based there and directly with your tax dollars. But I guess it's easier to wave your hands in the air and declare it someone else's problem rather than to acknowledge the part you play in supporting the system. > Yet we blame the young tech workers It's not one or the other. You can both be in the wrong. And you both are, for the record.
- scoofy 5y ago
  This is irrational. Though i am not a 'tech worker' my presence is actively trying to undo the harmful policies by being another vote to overturn the paradigm. Literally leaving does nothing but slightly delay the injustices that these policies perpetuate. Effectively brain-drain, but for the voting populace. The displacement is going to happen with our without tech workers, because of the land use policies. Maybe not today, but as it stands, the region will likely never become more affordable. Blaming the tech workers for literally existing when the suburban tides turned back to urbanism is a trivially irrational post hoc argument.
  - cletus 5y ago
    The dirty little secret of SFBA tech workers is (IMHO) that they're not really liberal. They like to pretend to be and pay lip service to various social causes. They'll vote for the legalization of gay marriage (Prop 8) and recreational cannabis use (Prop 64) and will write checks to the ACLU and pet shelters. But they'll also vote to protect their investments, being the significant amounts they have tied up in Bay Area housing. And if the campus workers, nurses and teachers have to drive 4 hours a day to get to work, so be it.

by scoofy 5y ago

cletus 5y ago

> You're arguing that people trying to make a better life for themselves are ruining the lives of others? 100%. > I think it's extremely clear that Californian's own tax policies California's tax policies have been that way since at least the 70s. I'm thinking Prop 13 and rent control, which were essentially massive giveaways to incumbents at the expense of everyone else. Your presence is support for those policies, both tacitly by supporting companies based there and directly with your tax dollars. But I guess it's easier to wave your hands in the air and declare it someone else's problem rather than to acknowledge the part you play in supporting the system. > Yet we blame the young tech workers It's not one or the other. You can both be in the wrong. And you both are, for the record.

scoofy 5y ago
This is irrational. Though i am not a 'tech worker' my presence is actively trying to undo the harmful policies by being another vote to overturn the paradigm. Literally leaving does nothing but slightly delay the injustices that these policies perpetuate. Effectively brain-drain, but for the voting populace. The displacement is going to happen with our without tech workers, because of the land use policies. Maybe not today, but as it stands, the region will likely never become more affordable. Blaming the tech workers for literally existing when the suburban tides turned back to urbanism is a trivially irrational post hoc argument.
- cletus 5y ago
  The dirty little secret of SFBA tech workers is (IMHO) that they're not really liberal. They like to pretend to be and pay lip service to various social causes. They'll vote for the legalization of gay marriage (Prop 8) and recreational cannabis use (Prop 64) and will write checks to the ACLU and pet shelters. But they'll also vote to protect their investments, being the significant amounts they have tied up in Bay Area housing. And if the campus workers, nurses and teachers have to drive 4 hours a day to get to work, so be it.