Toyota North America HQ Leaving CA (pension, $10,000, houses, inflation)

[Alpha_Dog]

Originally Posted by peterlemonjello

It is a nice place. In fact Ive always said its like Dallas' Torrance. Both cities are very similar.

No really - Torrance is very close to great beaches, has fantastic weather, and is located in the middle of the best of everything SoCal has to offer. Plano has horrible weather 90+ degrees and high humidly from May thru Oct, extremely boring and ugly topography, big-box and chain store culture permeates this region, and it's the epicenter for the 30k a year wannabe millionaire. Collin county, where Plano is located is a virtual hotbed for social conservatives, and hard right evangelical bible thumpers - no thanks!

[nslander]

Originally Posted by peterlemonjello

It is a nice place. In fact Ive always said its like Dallas' Torrance. Both cities are very similar.

I know you said you're from Torrance, now I have my doubts.

[nslander]

Originally Posted by peterlemonjello

If you want to tell me you would rather live in El Centro than Dallas, Houston, or Austin, you've lost your mind.

You might want to clarify that statement.

The longer my bother lives out of state, the more entrenched be becomes in his opinion he has made the right decision to leave, even though he almost never sees the place he thinks he remembers. Anyway,,,

El Centro is 2 hours from San Diego; I'd avail myself to that as much as possible, while savoring the tomales of El Centro, until I could find a preferable place to call home. In absolutely no scenario would that be anyplace in Texas. Not even a question in my mind.

Your story is your own, and I have no reason to doubt your affection for Tejas. From my perspective, I cringe at the thought of the sequence of events that would be necessary to compel me to live there. Or El Centro.

[Bartleby9]

Originally Posted by 3shipguy

When will California learn and adopt a friendlier business environment? How many more companies need to leave before drastic changes are implemented? It's sad to see a state with the largest GDP (correct if I'm wrong) in such decline.

By friendlier business environment do you mean a race to the bottom for the lowest wages? Texas has a horrific labor conditions. No guarantee overtime for workers. No guarantee lunch break. Less rights for workers. Oh, and ****tier pay.

[Vicman]

Originally Posted by Alpha_Dog

Collin county, where Plano is located is a virtual hotbed for social conservatives, and hard right evangelical bible thumpers - no thanks!

It'll change when enough liberals move in. Fort Bend County is undergoing a huge transformation.

[PedroMartinez]

What would a home 35 minutes from downtown LA, SD or SF cost in California that:
1. Was 10 years old or less.
2. Had 3500 sq ft
3. Had 18,000 sq ft land
4. With 2 car detached garage
5. Large salt water pool, with 18' x 18' covered outdoor kitchen, infinity edge, fire pit, fire bowls, hot tub, commercial patio heater, and large deck
6. On the water (canal leading into lake) with around 200' bulkhead with dock and jetski lifts
7. Sprinkler system.
8. Upgrades like wood floors, crown molding, dedicated home theater, granite counters, etc.

I'm curious if it would be even possible to maintain my current lifestyle in California. My immediate guess is that I could never afford a comparable home as the one I have outside of Houston.

I'm at about $425k (home was $285k with pool and other improvements being around $140k).

What would the equivalent be?

[TrueDat]

Originally Posted by Alpha_Dog

No really - Torrance is very close to great beaches, has fantastic weather, and is located in the middle of the best of everything SoCal has to offer. Plano has horrible weather 90+ degrees and high humidly from May thru Oct, extremely boring and ugly topography, big-box and chain store culture permeates this region, and it's the epicenter for the 30k a year wannabe millionaire. Collin county, where Plano is located is a virtual hotbed for social conservatives, and hard right evangelical bible thumpers - no thanks!

If there were going to be a comparison, I've always felt that Plano/Collin County is more like a variant of inland Orange County (Irvine, Rancho Santa Margarita, Laguna Niguel, Anaheim Hills, etc.) complete with social and political conservatives, a growing and monied Asian middle class, good schools, lots of mini-malls and big box stores, relatively new McMansiony housing stock, and disdain for that "liberal" big city 20-30 miles down the freeway. (And, for those who don't know, Dallas is politically blue these days.)

[Gurbie]

Originally Posted by Vicman

It'll change when enough liberals move in. Fort Bend County is undergoing a huge transformation.

I know it's funny, but the Texas conservatives are really worried about this happening. It's as if they wish corporations moving to their state to get the transplanted employees to sign an affidavit swearing to vote Republican.

Fact is, it's probably inevitable that Texas will turn blue, as it's urban areas and Hispanic population expand.

Very few people, I would guess, move to Texas for reasons of ideological purity. They go there to find work, and take their affiliations with them.

[Gurbie]

Originally Posted by jm1982

Yes and if welfare levels were cut to be more in line with the rest of the country based on population, you would definitely see things being a lot different too.
A lot of the business we do have is being supported by welfare money, EBT, SNAP,etc especially in certain areas.

according to a new, more comprehensive U.S. Census poverty measure which considers more factors than the old reckoning of poverty, California has proportionately 45 percent more people living in poverty than does Texas.[LEFT]
Read more: California has grown welfare while Texas has grown jobs, and soft tyranny is to blame | The Daily Caller
[/LEFT]

We have 12% of the nation's population , but 28% of the welfare recipients!...Not good..

I think Brown is aware, and trying to make California competitive. He just got back from a business trip to Asia. Two LA Asian banks, Cathay and a Korean bank, just got rated among the country's best investments. Projects funded by China and Korea are changing the LA skyline in the next five years.

Brown just agreed to adjust state taxes to promote the privatized space program, which is headquartered here:

PolitiCal - California, California politics, Jerry Brown, Sacramento - latimes.com

So like I said, we're not in decline- we're morphing into something new.

[ExeterMedia]

Originally Posted by silverkris

Well, actually that has an advantage - you encourage the growth of the renewable energy industry, which has grown quite a bit in California. Contrast that with the state (Arizona? Oklahoma?) that decided to slap a monthly levy on those homeowners using solar energy.

I don't understand this logic. Forest_Hills_daddy had the same argument. We chase out companies that aren't "eco" enough, so that we can MAYBE, HOPEFULLY get more eco-friendly companies who can replace them therefore making the state more cool, and eco-friendly?

All the while what happens to the hundreds or thousands of workers who get laid off?