Why I Can't Wait to Leave Austin

[scm53]

Originally Posted by cBach

I guess you mean the departure of blue collar jobs from S. CA? I don't know if you want to base an economy off of that to be frank, I mean all of the Rust belt cities were manufacturing hubs, it is just much cheaper for China to manufacture nowadays. High tech and other white collar industries are where it's at.

I think most aerospace workers - like folks who build satellites - wouldn't consider themselves "blue collar". The point is, we still build airplanes and cars in this country. Why don't we do it in SoCal? Why isn't there a single chip fab in the entire state?

[radiolibre99]

Originally Posted by buffettjr

I'm no fan of Rick Perry and certainly lean to the liberal side, but what he's doing pulling jobs away from California is smart and effective. The reality is Texas does have a lower cost of living, lower taxes, and a lower cost of doing business, and going to places worse off in those regards to poach businesses and jobs is smart for the state.

What Texas is doing is good for business but I do think that it comes at the expense of other things like a lack of spending on infrastructure, social services, education, etc. I mean Texas ranks pretty bad in a lot of other things. At least Californians think of these things whereas Texans think that it's not a matter for the state but of personal initiative to get your needs in the market place. Some Texas cities just lack of quality of life per se because the cities are simply practical. Houston comes to mind.

Now I know ppl may think that the reason for CA's troubles is the project to create a better quality of life but I think this state would've been worse off had there been no assistance for ppl here. Despite the recession, hell, depression like economy, LA hasn't turned into Mad Max because of it.

Texas is in a unique spot, the land is flat, abundant and ripe for development which keeps prices relatively low. The economy is very diverse; energy, medical, ports, shipping, construction, etc. Other states cannot replicate the Texas model. So Rick Perry is being disingenuous by promoting Texas as a model for the country. Last, relying mostly on private industry for your growth is limited IMO. Sooner or later the state will have to step in otherwise you'll see a lot of uneven economic development.

I'm not calling for all out liberalism but a healthy balance, which to some Texans might seem like Bolshevism, lol.

[Debsi]

This thread is about California now? In the Austin forum? Whaaaaat?!?