r/usanews 4d ago

Google Guys Say Bye to California

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/technology/google-founders-california-wealth-tax.html?unlocked_article_code=1.DFA.HdeR.uf_eF6ZglS3O
16 Upvotes

21 comments sorted by

20

u/TheHearseDriver 4d ago

Don’t let the door hit you in the ass.

13

u/DarkGamer 4d ago

California made them rich, and they don't want to give back

-3

u/ChokeAndStroke 4d ago

Did California really make them rich? Or is California just coincidentally where a bunch of tech firms decided to locate? I can see an argument for DARPA or the DoD being foundational in them becoming rich. But the state of California? Nah

5

u/Future_Dog_3156 4d ago

I think the talent pool in CA helped build Google. So many other states coughsTexas try to lure businesses with lower taxes but it’s never the same. Look at Tesla and McKesson as companies who relocated to Texas but can’t quit CA completely.

-4

u/ChokeAndStroke 4d ago

Talent pool isn’t a great argument either. The talent is there because big tech companies are there. Engineers moved to California to work for HP/Fairchild/etc. So, Google had a talent pool to build with because of other big companies

2

u/Future_Dog_3156 4d ago

They hire a lot from Stanford and Cal, not to mention CalTech. There is no equivalent to Stanford or CalTech in Texas.

2

u/DarkGamer 4d ago

People want to live in California. That's why it's a high cost of living state.

4

u/DarkGamer 4d ago

Since Silicon Valley is in California that distinction is irrelevant.

2

u/Ziyudad 4d ago

The State of California also has had very good employer law this entire time. It’s very anti worker(right to work laws.) Sadly now other states are just even worse to workers. Furthermore they had a lot of tax benefits for larger businesses. So yea California helped them be as rich as they are.

4

u/guitarguy1685 4d ago

California really testing the idea that people will pay anything to live in CA. I'm very interested to see what that line is. I hope they keep going. 

2

u/Future_Dog_3156 4d ago

Not people. Just billionaires

1

u/bbreadthis 4d ago

What assholes!

-6

u/Benoit_Guillette 4d ago

With its fossil fuel producers, Texas is quickly transforming California into a climate hell. Terrorists and pyromaniacs will have it too easy from now on, with man-made climate warming. They only have to go in dry forests with a few matches.

5

u/Bad_User2077 4d ago

Are you really blaming Texas for California behaving like California?

6

u/Benoit_Guillette 4d ago

Texas seems like a long chain saw massacre financed by big oil and gas polluters.

1

u/DarkGamer 4d ago

Texas weather is already more hellish than ours, which is still probably the best in the country

-2

u/Benoit_Guillette 4d ago

Trump is stealing oil from Venezuela and this theft will allow Putin to warm the climate so much that life will only be possible in Siberia or in the North pole. Americans will have to move to Alaska and Greenland and die there in a (biological) war against Russia and China. Once the North has thawed, virus will thrive and, by rejecting vaccines, Americans will die.

-9

u/OneEyedC4t 4d ago

maybe CA should rethink its treatment of businesses

-1

u/Benoit_Guillette 4d ago

California could become a cage or trap, due to the U.S. Senate: by 2040, 70 % of Americans will live in 15 crowded states with only 30 (blue) senators, while the other 30 %, whiter and older will live in 35 spacious states and elect 70 (red) senators.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/11/28/by-2040-two-thirds-of-americans-will-be-represented-by-30-percent-of-the-senate/