I actually *did* work a software engineering job for a non-big-tech company in a rust belt area. It was 1/3 my current salary (but similar rent!) and work environment was kinda terrible! Big tech wage premiums are life-changing money, but the nature of the beast is they lock you into costly metros.

I don’t think you’re hearing me. I didn’t *choose* to live in Seattle, my employer unilaterally dictated that I move there in a dire labor market. 1) American tech workers don’t have global mobility 2) you’re conflating “tech workers” with software engineers generally—I’m referring to FAANG corps.

But the topic of this thread was cost of living impacting the career/moral choices of tech workers, purging us from cities is a completely different discussion

It’s up to all of us to use our economic power and shut it down. Everyone do whatever they can to not spend or work November 25-December 2.

I did live in a rent controlled apartment in nyc for two years as a student on just ~$1500 a month but was a long commute, awful cockroach problem, and the bathroom ceiling caved in once :(

A non-cockroach Seattle studio is about $2k

So for tech workers (original focus of the thread) due to RTO mandates we have to live in cities/places like Princeton are off the table. Exact numbers vary but general consensus for where I live (Seattle) is six figures is the minimum livable wage for an individual: www.kuow.org/stories/payc...

Ahh but in Berlin and Vienna you have rent control and public housing. in American metros (minimal social support for anything) the joint income needed for a family of 4 is over $250k USD. We American techies are seriously jealous of our European counterparts with access to real social democracy!

“There are definitely Nazis in uniform…In my experience they are typically relegated to conventional, noncombat arms units. Occasionally they end up in the infantry or the engineers…to learn combat tactics and explosive fabrication.”

People who missed the “pre-existing conditions” nightmare have no concept how bad that was.

Being diagnosed with anything might mean no coverage & bankruptcy/death decades later. Pre-cancerous lump removed? No cancer coverage for 7 years. Past heart attack? No private coverage, ever. It was deadly.

in its original form the medicaid expansion was basically mandatory and would have very clearly formed the nucleus of a genuinely universal system. and in its neutered form (thanks john roberts) it is still a powerful policy that can be built on and expanded in straightforward ways