[winestock]

In terms of cash flow, the California tech industry is a means of moving money from venture capitalists to San Francisco landlords.

That's right, for all the talk of disruption, innovation, and progressive thinking, the broad outlines of the economic structure of California IT is something that Hillaire Belloc or G.K. Chesterton would've recognized a hundred years ago.

The posted article and the comments in this thread make allusions to President Trump, so allow me to further scare you with this scenario.

Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by ~2.7 million votes in the previous national election, but she won the state of California by 4 million votes. So the entirety of Clinton's lead came from California. Imagine how the Trump administration must think of "the Left Coast." Do you doubt that men like Bannon, Pence, and Sessions have plans for California? Or are trying to get ideas for plans?

Put yourself in their shoes. "How can we divide and conquer California's most important power centers? Hmmm. The H-1B thing got us some votes. Yeah. What else can we do to set those nerds against each other? Hey, there's the fact that tech workers can barely afford rent even when they earn six figures. Let's see…"

Don't forget. Donald Trump is/was a real estate developer. His grasp of issues such as affordable housing must be non-trivial. It's his bread & butter, after all. He made his pile in New York City real estate; not an easy venue. Think of what he could do to the Bay Area with the talent and knowledge earned from that front (plus the incidental help of a few executive orders).

The housing situation in tech centers must be dealt with. If we nerds don't do it, then President Trump will do it for us.

EDIT: Upon re-reading, I see that my tone may seem a little snarky. I apologize. I've given this problem a little thought and I needed to vent.

[paulddraper]

> Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by ~2.7 million votes in the previous national election, but she won the state of California by 4 million votes. So the entirety of Clinton's lead came from California.

FYI, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Vermont (together...CA is a big state) have the same numbers.

[vinceguidry]

I think this is comfortably a market problem and eventually the market will find a collection of hacks and workarounds. AmaGooFaceSoft will open more and more campuses outside of Silicon Valley and more startups will relocate.

Company culture will get more accepting of remote work and workers will be able to choose where they want to live. Eventually the demand for housing will drop to ordinary levels. Political initiatives will be dreamed up, but most won't have any effect.

Fundamentally, the real estate and job markets aren't broken, they're just responding to extreme circumstances. When markets work they tend to solve problems like these on their own. The situation just propped up overnight, relatively speaking, so it's taking awhile

[TheAdamAndChe]

The companies have no incentive to make those changes, though. What makes you think they will?

[vinceguidry]

Ultimately, the customers, the source of demand. Markets work so long as politics don't keep them from working. The real estate market in San Francisco is constrained by politics, keeping the supply from growing to meet demand, but nobody is forced to want SF real estate. Prices find an equilibrium, and everybody makes their choices about where they want to live and how. That's how markets are supposed to work.

Facets of the tech job market bring a huge influx of tech workers to the SF bay area, perhaps the workers would rather live somewhere else, but they make the choice to work in SF. No political constraints here, just people's power to choose at work.

The job market right now has a culture that keeps workers close to the companies, but that culture is malleable, and the thing that shapes culture the most is economic incentive. Other tech companies relocate, AmaGooFaceSoft's employees express a preference for escaping the Bay area, and eventually the incentives that created Silicon Valley will reverse.

The reality is the tech industry has gotten too big for SV.

[shostack]

Isn't their incentive the ability to pay lower salaries?

[coldtea]

>Do you doubt that men like Bannon, Pence, and Sessions have plans for California? Or are trying to get ideas for plans?

Yes.

[powera]

"Donald Trump is/was a real estate developer. His grasp of issues such as affordable housing must be non-trivial." - that's not how things work at all.

[e40]

I've had similar thoughts (though not as well-fleshed out as yours) since the election.

Conservatives hate liberals far more than we dislike them. I think there is revenge on their minds, for sure. I have no idea in what form it will take, but I'm pretty sure it's being plotted.

Rents and housing prices in the Bay Area are insane and unless something is done, it will cause serious ripples in society and serious unintended consequences.

[cvwright]

> Conservatives hate liberals far more than we dislike them.

You know, I've seen conservatives making the opposite claim a lot lately too. Maybe (hopefully) neither side really hates the other nearly as much as you both like to imagine.

People need to chill the hell out.

[bbctol]

Near as I can tell, the number one way people stereotype the other side is by saying those people stereotype us all the time. Everyone knows that the country is too divided--and we all know the people responsible for that division are those motherfuckers on the other side!

(Not to say that there's total equivalency between positions, I do actually think one is much less empathetic than the other and centrism isn't automatically smart, but it's been interesting to notice.)

[e40]

It's been widely discussed, since the election, that how little liberal America thinks and cares about conservatives is one reason Trump got elected. Look how much hatred there was for HRC. DT was mostly written off as a joke candidate. Look at the anger at DT rallies. "Lock her up!" was the chant. That's some anger right there. Show me the equivalent on the left, before the election.

I know my opinion is not popular here, but it sure seems to align with what happened in the last year.

[TheAdamAndChe]

Uh, Bernie Sanders? He was the anti-establishment, populist democrat that likely would have become the nominee if he wasn't completely suppressed by the DNC. The democrats in charge underestimated the population's desire for change.