
Bill Maher Tells Amazon's Jeff Bezos to “Take One for the Team” - mplanner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0oeeXjyHiw
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bufferoverflow
I think he missed a point. Amazon likely can't go to Mississippi, because
there aren't enough programmers there. And very few would move there, even if
the offers were good.

I turned down $300K in LA to stay in Hawaii. I can't think of what kind of
offer would make me move to Mississippi.

~~~
zwayhowder
Not every employee is a programmer, and how many people moved from places like
Mississippi to Seattle/Silicon Valley/NYC etc? Surely some of them would love
to return to their home state or nearby earning good money, paying a lot less
rent and actually seeing family and friends from their childhood.

I can respect your decision to stay in Hawaii, just like I stay in Sydney it's
a vibrant multicultural city with everything I want. Despite coming from a
small town in a rural area I wouldn't go back, especially as the nearest
Korean BBQ would be a 6 hour drive away.

However if that small town grew to a medium town and had those things, and
enough money to build some community facilities that I desire such as public
pools that are open year round and have enough space for multiple activities
(First world problems you can't go for a swim on a hot day because the local
swim squad has the whole pool reserved), theatres that could host local and
travelling groups, a public library that is open more than twice a week and of
course city wide broadband, preferably available to outer regions as well (5G
networks might bring this one home)...

Any big move like Amazon would have to be thoughtfully planned, the last thing
a small town needs is thousands of new residents with salaries 2-5 times the
local average driving up the price of everything, imposing their worldview on
the community and creating an us/them divide in the town.

~~~
candybar
Not that many people who work at big tech companies moved from places like
Mississippi to Seattle/SV/NYC. Lots of them came straight out of school (and
top schools these companies recruit from are concentrated on the coasts), lots
of them came from overseas and most of the rest came from other coastal areas.
Even those who came from places like Mississippi don't all prefer their
hometown.

Also what makes places like SV and NYC great is that they are big and diverse
enough to serve as acceptable second/third choices for lots of people from all
kinds of places. Some people may prefer small towns and cities, but most
people who do have are often driven by concerns like family and friends and
have specific small cities they'd prefer. HQ2 in some small city in
Mississippi may appeal to those who happen to be from that area, but don't
offer much to others from small towns elsewhere in the US. If you consider
that these companies employ glboal workforces, this is even more obvious - if
a random American tech worker had to work in Turkey, would they rather work in
Istanbul or a random small Turkish village?

I don't understand this idea that it would be better for top tech companies to
be headquartered in random places in the US - it's obviously terrible for the
companies involved but it also doesn't serve the greater good. It leads to 1)
company towns that live and die with the company; 2) environmentally
inefficient sprawl; and 3) talents being trapped in wrong situations at wrong
companies due to immobility. Furthermore, a critical mass is important and
innovation is not a zero-sum game - if Silicon Valley's capital and talent,
etc was spread around the country, I don't think the outcome is that you get
the same level of innovation and wealth creation, only distributed more fairly
- a lot of it probably never happens. Innovation is almost certainly
accelerated along by a concentration of capital and talent in a small area.
This doesn't mean everything should be in SV, but that there are strong
benefits that accrue to society at large from companies choosing to bring
talent to an already talent-rich area.

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karmakaze
The literal interpretation has only humour value (which is great btw). If you
were worth many billions and thought to better something you cared about it
should be something big and long lasting. It would be to set into motion a new
thing in a chosen direction over a longer time span, say a generation or more.

~~~
bonestamp2
> set into motion a new thing in a chosen direction over a longer time span

Isn't that what Maher was saying though? An investment in a small town in the
middle of nowhere to bring those places into the "party". The way Wal-mart did
with Bentonville AK, or SC Johnson in Racine WI. Those companies have changed
those regions for generations.

People here are saying you can't get programmers to move to Nebraska, but I
don't buy that argument. Wal-mart and SC Johnson have attracted talented
business people to Arkansas and Wisconsin. Sure, some won't want to go, but
eager millenials who can't afford a home in Hawaii, Seattle, or Brooklyn will
go.

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RickJWagner
Another media celebrity espousing left-side views. I'm just tired of it at
this point. I'm not thin-skinned, I just want some jokes that poke fun at both
sides. I don't want a one-sided barrage from talk show hosts to award shows.

Really, if the playing field were level, wouldn't there be more jokes about
foibles of the left? The nation is about 50/50, shouldn't the media be about
the same?

I think in the decades ahead this will be seen as a golden age of propaganda.

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dpau
I've been wondering how much climate change is taken into account in decisions
such as these? If I were planning where I built my headquarters it wouldn't be
in the South. (In fact I'm trying to convince my mother to move- we were only
30 miles away from Michael and it's only a matter of time until we get hit.)
Besides the threat of natural disasters, I imagine the increased cooling bills
would not be insignificant.

~~~
ryandvm
> I imagine the increased cooling bills would not be insignificant

Actually, from a total energy perspective, living in warm climates is better.
It used far less energy to cool a house than it does to heat it.

~~~
zwayhowder
Sure, but there are many non energy ways to warm a house and few to cool it. I
believe the term is "warm clothes" and "blankets". There is a limit to how
much clothing you can take off.

I've never been so cold in a cold climate that I couldn't get warm without
power. Between heat and humidity I've had plenty of days the opposite though.
Now well designed and constructed housing makes a difference, but so does
thoughtful clothing choices.

Here in Australia we often complain about the cold in winter, when it isn't
even below freezing, we just don't dress for it and our houses are designed
for cooling not heating (Assuming any thought was put into that at all). I
spent time in Japan and half the times we turned the heaters off in our
apartments because we were too warm, while outside there was a metre of
snow...

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bbg215
The biggest joke in all of this is that someone like Bezos or Zuck or Dorsey
etc actually cares about shit like this. They don't. They live in a completely
different world detached from 99.9% of the populace.

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scarejunba
The suggested regions are unpleasant places to live and work and it isn’t
because of employment alone. It is because the political philosophy of the
people present there is not conducive to individual freedom. Any effort to try
to get engineering-like success there will fail. They do not want it. And few
engineers want to live like them.

The question isn’t “what can we do to make these people prosperous?”. It’s
“what are these people choosing to do that makes them non-prosperous?”. And
I’d argue “nearly everything”.

