It's started - Exodus from CA

[Tobra]

Anyone who would say the difference in salaries makes up for the difference in living expenses does not know what they are talking about.

[Hugh R]

I do like CA, its the high cost of living here. Its OK if you make a good income, and the home of the business I work in is here. But when you retire, its an expensive place to live. Tomorrow, I'll be trailer camping on Beach Row at Carpenteria State Beach. High at my house now is 47 degrees. My backyard two minutes ago. Wifey and I were in that spa last night.

[motion]

Yeah, well don't forget that the laborers are going to follow the money. Look out, Tennessee.

[aigel]

Moving away from CA all sounds great if you are white guy with a white family, born and raised in the US. If you are not, your perspective on this will be very different.

Also consider the lack of high tech jobs in the center of the country. And last but not least, if your income is 50% more in CA and you save at the same percentage rate of your total salary (i.e. 10% into your 401k and 40% into your home) - don't you end up with more money at the time of your retirement? You can still move to TN then.

Just my two cents. I can't wait for people to start leaving.

G

[Hugh R]

Aigel,

To a certain extent true. I moved to CA with NOTHING in 1979. On paper, I'm now classified by Obama as "Rich". I look at salary surveys of my profession and I'm shocked at how little my counterparts make doing "safety" in other industries, in other parts of the country.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by aigel

Moving away from CA all sounds great if you are white guy with a white family, born and raised in the US. If you are not, your perspective on this will be very different.

Also consider the lack of high tech job in the center of the country. And last but not least, if your income is 50% more in CA and you save at the same percentage rate of your total salary (i.e. 10% into your 401k and 40% into your home) - don't you end up with more money at the time of your retirement? You can still move to TN then.

Just my two cents. I can't wait for people to start leaving.

G

Yessum, we dun't allow them thar negroes and messicans round these parts. Alls we doin is buildin us some aroplanes!

I always enjoyed meeting people that came to visit KS from CA, you know, when they ask me about my farm. Nevermind that I have an Aerospace Engineering degree and work in the city that designs and builds more aircraft than anywhere else on the planet. Yup, us midwestern folk are just a bunch of stupid old farmers.

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

TN is quite a beautiful place. I'd consider it myself. A friend of mine who I worked with back in CA in 2004-5 left himself for Tennessee but ended up coming back after a year, finding the "redneck culture" intolerable. YMMV I guess. I couldn't stand being in a redneck-infested area myself either but I'm sure there are plenty of areas that don't give that impression (I always suspected he hadn't given it enough of a chance).

The exodus from CA has been going on for a while. In a few years it'll be only illegals, gangbangers and a few (very few) others. Very sad. It's not the place it once was. I'm glad I got to spend 10+ years of my life there at the tail end of its heyday.

Actually, I think his points are valid. A lot of the increased costs/expenses, are due to trying to keep the place nice. My next door neighbor here in S.C. has all kinds of junk in his yard, lower property values. I just live here, I don't care. It'd cost money to clean it up, and you'd create a whole government bureaucracy to do it. I prefer to do what I want on my land, and let others do the same.

If you move to one of these cheaper areas, don't be surprised if things aren't like they were back home!

[Jim Richards]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Yessum, we dun't allow them thar negroes and messicans round these parts. Alls we doin is buildin us some aroplanes!

Your response is predictable for a white person in fly-over country. My wife is Chinese. We used to live in the Southeastern US. She experienced both overt and subtle prejudice the entire time we lived there. In the workplace, in restaurants. Our son did in school. Don't be so dismissive of aigel's point.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

Your response is predictable for a white person in fly-over country. My wife is Chinese. We used to live in the Southeastern US. She experienced both overt and subtle prejudice the entire time we lived there. In the workplace, in restaurants. Our son did in school. Don't be so dismissive of aigel's point.

Southeastern midwest is not the same as the midwest. My brother in law is black and has lived most of his life in KS, he has never felt that racism here has been a factor in his life. With the high per-capita number of engineers here in particular, this town is a veritable melting pot. Downsize your broad brush a bit, everyone between the costs is not a bunch of ignorant racist hicks.

[Jim Richards]

Upsize your fine-point brush a bit, Matt. The OP was talking about Tennessee, as was aigle. Your keyboard blackface act was just plain stupid.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

Upsize your fine-point brush a bit, Matt. The OP was talking about Tennessee, as was aigle. Your keyboard blackface act was just plain stupid.

Perhaps that was his intent, but his post referenced "moving away from CA". Sorry, but I don't buy into CA being the one bright point of light in an otherwise ignorant and intolerant society. I guess I should keep my mouth shut, I like this place as is.

[Rot 911]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

TN is quite a beautiful place. I'd consider it myself. A friend of mine who I worked with back in CA in 2004-5 left himself for Tennessee but ended up coming back after a year, finding the "redneck culture" intolerable.

Ever been to Bakersfield?

[gsxrken]

New York holds the distinction of the highest taxed state. I happen to live in the highest taxed county in it (Westchester). Where Americans Pay Most In Property Taxes - Forbes.com

And we don't get the weather that CA has, either, although we get a nice solid 4 seasons. Born and raised here, I've seen a fair bit of the country and found it's hard to slow down from the NY mentality. But retirement would be a different story. $18k in annual property taxes on a primary dwelling would clobber a nest-egg, and who knows what that number will be in 20 years when I retire.

[Hugh R]

Matt, to an extent your point is true. Hollywood, and a lot of CA legislatures have looked at the big square states as "fly over country". People here sort of forget that Boeing, Lockheed, Martin-Marietta, Hughes Aircraft, etc. used to be based here, or had major operations here.

To the best of my knowledge, we are not filming any features in CA for the next 18 months that are out on the production schedule.

GSXRKEN

I pay 1/2 that with all the BS fees and "special assessments" on a house appraised at $750K.

[scottmandue]

I didn't want to go there...

But as middle age white guy I was treated well in the Midwest...

My Latino co-workers... not so much.

YMMV

Also when attending training in Milwaukee my Midwest co-workers complained about the SoCal guys higher wage... until we told them how much we were paying in rent.

It is all relative.

I keep thinking of leaving CA when I retire, but moving someplace colder as you grow older seems illogical.

[Rot 911]

Yes all of Los Angeles is a paradise.



Lots of diversity too:



And let's not forget the affordable housing:



And the restaurants!



Of course you do have those beaches:



And who can forget the crystal clear LA air!

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by aigel

Just my two cents. I can't wait for people to start leaving.

G

The wrong people are going to be the ones leaving. Hugh and Mrs Hugh leave and are replaced by a dozen subsistence wage families that don't speak English, that is the future. Not so bright that I gotta wear shades.

[gamin]

All you folks in Cali or like states who couldn't stand to live in a "redneck infested area" just stay the h__l away. We don't need your attitudes. I unfortunately lived in Cali and couldn't stand to be in a "liberal, drug infested" area. The weather couldn't make up for it. Late post.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Rot 911

Ever been to Bakersfield?

i was thinking the very thing.

[scottmandue]

Well, how fortunate for you middle stater's who live free of gangsters, drug addicts, murders, perverts, and low life's!

What color is the sky in your world?