According to Fareed, business are moving out of blue states to TX and FL.

[joetheman]

They will avoid paying taxes but their workers will turn the states blue. Be careful what you ask for.

[drray23]

1. if they move to Texas like Tesla did

they will have to deal with the bad power grid..

[mahatmakanejeeves]

17. Tesla changed its mind, didn't it? It's going to Oklahoma instead?

Didn't I read that at DU?

I can't find it, but I thought the failure of the grid was the deciding factor.

[Rstrstx]

39. Whaaattt? Work on the the Austin plant is far along

They hope to be cranking out cars by the end of the year. Supposedly Austin was chosen because it was the only place people at the company would move to, they didn’t want to go to Tulsa or Dallas. I believe Tesla’s plants also have a large amount of solar panels on the roofs, which would provide much if not all of their own electricity.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

40. Okay, I'm wrong. I thought some firm recently decided to locate its new plant in

Tulsa, and it was the unreliability of Texas's electric grid that caused the company to make that decision.

Thanks for the insight.

[Blue_Adept]

2. Some will move there but plenty of others are moving to blue states as well

With the devaluing of education in the state going on in Texas and a lot of people not interested in being around permitless open carry people, you're not going to get the best of the best.

Hell, we've had so many companies coming into MA the last few years because of all the biotech and the 60+ colleges to draw new recruits from.

[Klaralven]

3. Normally a business that is moving will staff up with new employees in the Red State

Part of the reason for moving is to out-place older, high-cost employees in the Blue State and to recruit recent college grads in the Red State.

It's also an occasion for off-loading a lot of dead-wood lower and middle management in the Blue State.

[ananda]

4. I fear that red state cult behavior will turn blue people red.

It's a thing.

[Elessar Zappa]

6. If they move to a Texas city,

they’ll be surrounded by liberals. All Texan metro areas are blue.

[DFW]

8. Not in Dallas, anyway

Like most big cities in Texas, Dallas is majority blue, and we have plenty of northern candlepower moving down for the (relatively) reasonable costs of housing and living, not to mention the lack of a state income tax, though I don't know if that can be maintained forever.

[JCMach1]

21. Housing is getting insane here, unfortunately

[Bucky]

25. Rising housing costs will only hurt the middle class and working class

But for the people who are already rich, it'll be a bonanza.

[JCMach1]

35. Exactly. We were ready to but over this last 6 months it quickly

Became almost impossible as we are not a cash client and I am not willing to compromise on things like inspections or pay a 20% premium over market.

[DFW]

27. Ah, that is one thing I wouldn't know. Sorry to hear it.

I guess it's a logical consequence of all the people wanting to move there. The same thing happened to my little town outside Düsseldorf. The Japanese decided, for some reason, that Düsseldorf would be their home away from home in Europe, and the real estate section of the Saturday paper is full of "Japanese concern looking for single family houses for its executives, price no object." Not easy for mortal Germans to compete with. In downtown Düsseldorf, one of the main streets might as well be in Tokyo. Hotel Nikko, the Japanese Consulate, bookstores with books and greeting cards only in Japanese, Japanese porcelain shops, Japanese travel agencies, fancy Japanese restaurants, simple Japanese rahmen shops, Japanese grocery stores, complete with Koreans working the cash registers, just like in Japan.

Since I live with my housemates in Dallas when I'm there (almost never, any more), and they've been in the same house for decades, it's never been a factor I paid any attention to.

[JCMach1]

30. On a side note, I really like Dusseldorf. One of the most amazing

Breakfast buffets I ever had could once be found at the Kempinski there

[DFW]

36. I wish I knew! Some of the hotels here really do put on a show with their breakfast buffets.

Since we live here, we never run into town for breakfast. If you ever find yourself in Freeport, Maine, book Sunday Brunch at the Harraseeket Inn. That was the only one I ever experienced that could beat the breakfast buffet at the Mauna Lani in Waikoloa, HI.

[jmbar2]

5. They are infecting those areas with unaffordable housing virus

Texas has a notoriously poor safety net for low income folks. As the affluent folks benefit from these moves, everyone else suffers.

[DFW]

12. Not in every case

My outfit has only about 500 people worldwide, 440 or so of which work at the head office in Dallas. I'm sure it's different for a company the size of Texas Instruments. As only two of the ten-or-so executive committee members are native-born Texans (not even all are native-born US citizens), company policies are set by the transplants (and the two native-born Texans usually go along, anyway). We take care of our low-income folks to the point that in bad times, the top people reduce their salaries by ¾ or even down to zero in order to not reduce the pay or benefits of any of the lowest-paid people, or need to let them go.

[jmbar2]

18. You are awesome!

A company with a heart and a conscious. The uplifts me to know that folks like you are out there.

I was mainly focusing on the pressure on housing costs. My sister is a nurse in Houston in an understaffed hospital. They used to be able to recruit easily, and to hire visiting nurses, but rising housing costs are making it harder. Houston lost a lot of housing during Hurricane Harvey, so the supply is lower, and the incoming population is putting more pressure on existing housing.

Stay kind. We need businesses like you!

[DFW]

28. I have been to Houston exactly once in my life, and that was over 40 years ago.

I know nothing about the place.

I will say this about our outfit--we have very little employee turnover, and the top brass DOES have a heart. They order birthday cakes once a month for everyone to celebrate "all the birthdays," bring in summer barbecues for everyone, stuff like that. I'm sure they expense it in good years, but they pay for it out of their own pockets in bad years.

Sometimes they go farther than I even would. This goes back a few years, but one of our guys who had been there a long time got afflicted by a severe case of fundamental Christianity. This wouldn't have been a problem, but he started to try to convert everyone else in the Dallas office as well. His wife left him due to this, and he really started losing it. He got fired, but they kept him on the employee rolls at minimum wage until he found another job, so he wouldn't be without health insurance. Now, I realize this is a little extreme, but it typifies the attitude of loyalty the top has for the lower echelons. When my wife got cancer (twice), as soon as the diagnosis came through, the message wasn't 5 minutes in coming from the head office: take all the time off you need for her, no limit.

We are quite aware that it's not typical, but there's no law (yet!) on the books in Texas that requires us to be typical. I was recruited a year after I graduated from college, and I've been there since 1975. I turned 69 this year, and while I don't see retiring in the near future, I don't imagine at this point that I'll be moving to some other outfit, either.

[jmbar2]

29. You've been truly blessed to have such a supportive workplace for all those years.

I wouldn't be thinking retirement either if I were in your shoes.

[DBoon]

7. The relocated workers may not find local laws to their liking

The most hip city in Texas is still in Texas. Someone adapted to the social mores of a blue state may be in for a surprise when they move.

[tinrobot]

9. Perhaps that will change. I believe these newcomers still get to vote.

At least for now...

[FakeNoose]

10. The only thing that's "ideal" about the Texas economy

... is the loads of people who are willing to work for less than minimum wage. But that's generally a short-term gain that leads to long-term losses. The CEOs and executives will get their bonuses anyway, no need to worry.

[former9thward]

16. Companies moving to Texas are generally high tech.

No one at those companies is working for less than minimum wage. In fact most of them are getting paid at least 10 times the minimum wage.

[RainCaster]

26. High tech companies require reliable power

That's a problem in TX.
A lack of state taxation is moot when you lose 3 weeks of wafers because of a 6 hour power loss.

[former9thward]

32. TX has suffered far less power disruptions than CA.

Which is where many of these companies are coming from.

[dalton99a]

11. Many newcomers act more Texan than native Texans

The Trump Train was organized by some racist asshole from Las Vegas

[DFW]

14. They don't find Dallas very friendly if they do.

Neither Trump nor Abbott have many friends in Dallas.

[JCMach1]

31. They just move to the north burbs where it's still reddish/purple 🟣

Yes, I live in Mckinney...

[spooky3]

13. Amazon rightly gets criticized but they put 2nd HQ in blue VA

That alone would offset dozens of small businesses that MAY move out.

[DFW]

19. People moving into Northern Virginia transformed the statewide voting habits of the whole state

Pockets of rednecks exist, and they elect their right-wing congresscritters. They also gerrymandered the state to the point that the extremist right was disproportionately represented in the Statehouse (like so many other states, such as NC or PA). But statewide, Virginia has been tilting blue for some time now. Every presidential election, you first see the Republican leading while the TV commentator ALWAYS says, "but the heavily populated ares of Northern Virginia have yet to report." When they do, the balance almost always tips in our favor.

[spooky3]

20. Absolutely true. But the other metro areas also are blue

As is the case in most other states. Even the Tidewater area, with lots of military and evangelical types, is majority blue.

There are also college towns like Charlottesville that are blue.

The governor’s race will be interesting because the R is pouring tons of his own money into ads (that say next to nothing) already.

Fairfax Co always reports last; I don’t know why. I always have to reassure worried DUers on election night

[DFW]

34. Fairfax County!

I was born in Alexandria, but my parents built a house out in the middle of nowhere in 1955. It was inside the borders of Fairfax County, supposedly "Falls Church," but almost a half hour drive to the center of Falls Church. At the time, it was a wilderness, didn't even have paved roads. Now, the area is "Washington suburbs," but back then, it might as well have been Outer Mongolia.

I think one reason Fairfax County is one of the last to report is because it is so populous, and the reporting centers must be both numerous and spread out.

[spooky3]

38. :-), now that area is considered "close in." You have

To drive nearly to WV to reach “suburbia.”

[PortTack]

24. That's right! It's also what happened in GA and AZ. It's only a matter of time for TX

[JCMach1]

33. My district in N. Dallas burbs was about +20R when I moved

Now, it's close to the state % of about +5R

[House of Roberts]

15. Fareed is good on foreign issues and stories,

as long as you keep in mind he's heavily pro-India. He should stay in his lane and leave domestic politics to others.

[lark]

22. Businesses that pay their people are not moving to FL, at least certainly not this part.

There is little industry here, other than warehouses and medical related fields in NE FL. There aren't that many skilled workers, other than medical, since the jobs aren't here and there are way too many uneducated folks. Building related folks are always busy though, roofers, carpenters, tile layers, tree surgeons.

We'd hoped the people moving to central FL from Puerto Rico would help, but no, way too many of them voted repug because they put their religion first and are strongly Catholic. The companies will probably not transfer many, ,they usually don't and use the lower cost labor where they've moved. They don't actually care about things like consistent customer service, just saving $$.

[kimbutgar]

23. Last November I packed up a couple who moved from Northern California to Texas

My manager got a call from them Friday saying they were moving back to California because they hated Texas and their daughter in law was a real MF45 supporter that had added to their misery.

[Hekate]

37. They'll hire locally, won't they? So how can "their workers turn the states blue"?

Those businesses may take a select cadre to another state to set things up, but the vast majority of the original workers are going to be dumped off the payroll and left behind. The businesses aren’t paying relocation costs for thousands of workers. Red states will have lower wages as well as lower taxes.

[roamer65]

41. I have no problem with them leaving.

Good luck on coming back north in 20 years, after we have built the wall to seal out climate refugees.

Dump lovers are ESPECIALLY encouraged to move down South. Learn how to swim, you dumb fucks.

[joetheman]

42. There seems to be little regard for climate change in these move decisions.

Some limits will have to be set on how much these red states get from the Fed coffers because of climate change disasters. They will need to contribute more to their own welfare through state and local taxes...you know, like Trump asked the NATO members to do at the UN.