How is anyone trapped in a high-COL area? I understand it can be difficult to leave an area, particularly one with lots of jobs, but sometimes you don't have optimal options in life and you have to figure out which one is the least worst. In this case, the hypothetical person you're talking about is trapped by his inability to make a difficult decision. Nothing more and nothing less.
> Savings/bootstrapping work if you have them, but I challenge you to find a 30-year-old in SV who (a) has appreciable savings, and (b) wasn't lifted by a connection ("acqui-hire" welfare checks count as "lifted").
I am in my early 30s, live in SV, have a liquid net worth in the low six-figures and have never been "lifted" by an acquisition or acqui-hire. I was nearly broke twice in my 20s.
> Perhaps I am a moron for chasing the prestige of the VC-istan and Wall Street jobs, throwing me into a city where landlords win and talent struggles.
You were not thrown into a city, you chose to be there. As you said, you chased "the prestige of the VC-istan and Wall Street jobs."
And please stop this ranting about landlords. People who earned money, invested it in property and generate income by renting said property out are not gaining at your expense, at least no more than the farmer who grew the food you eat.
If your rent is too damn high, move.
> VC-istan (and, to a lesser degree, Wall Street with its bonus system) are economies where, instead of savings, you put everything you have (time, money, energy) into this weird system that distributed outsized rewards, intermittently, to a lucky few.
I'm not seeing what you're seeing in the parent comment. Which of his points were incorrect? If the answer is "none", I might consider apologizing for implying they wrote that comment in bad faith.
> once they're trapped in high-COL areas...
How is anyone trapped in a high-COL area? I understand it can be difficult to leave an area, particularly one with lots of jobs, but sometimes you don't have optimal options in life and you have to figure out which one is the least worst. In this case, the hypothetical person you're talking about is trapped by his inability to make a difficult decision. Nothing more and nothing less.
> Savings/bootstrapping work if you have them, but I challenge you to find a 30-year-old in SV who (a) has appreciable savings, and (b) wasn't lifted by a connection ("acqui-hire" welfare checks count as "lifted").
I am in my early 30s, live in SV, have a liquid net worth in the low six-figures and have never been "lifted" by an acquisition or acqui-hire. I was nearly broke twice in my 20s.
> Perhaps I am a moron for chasing the prestige of the VC-istan and Wall Street jobs, throwing me into a city where landlords win and talent struggles.
You were not thrown into a city, you chose to be there. As you said, you chased "the prestige of the VC-istan and Wall Street jobs."
And please stop this ranting about landlords. People who earned money, invested it in property and generate income by renting said property out are not gaining at your expense, at least no more than the farmer who grew the food you eat.
If your rent is too damn high, move.
> VC-istan (and, to a lesser degree, Wall Street with its bonus system) are economies where, instead of savings, you put everything you have (time, money, energy) into this weird system that distributed outsized rewards, intermittently, to a lucky few.
Welcome to life.