Unskilled labor in Houston may not get $15/hour, but jobs are pretty easy to come across. I know multiple people who really aren't good at their job (one's a waitress, one works in retail) but they frequently get new jobs when they lose the old (and sometimes have more than one at once). It's not hard to find a $700 apartment here either.

Interesting that you bring up Houston. As someone who lives in Austin and frequents Houston (and have friends living in Houston), I really really liked the city for its great housing at affordable prices, amazing food and nightlife (even though one has to drive fucking everywhere with inhumanly aggressive drivers). Has your opinion changed after the recent Hurricane?

I live in an area where I was unaffected (north of Houston). It really only affects where I'd buy a house in the future, as I'd ensure I'm not near a bayou or creek (my current home, a lease, is outside of that danger zone). If you're open to where you live, and aren't stuck on a certain hot spot, I still think it's a great (if hot with the traffic you mentioned) place to live.

It's interesting you bring up healthcare. My wife's cousin is currently working as a travelling nurse. He get shipped off to some rural part of the country for 8 weeks to (mostly) work the over night shift at various rural ERs.

Apparently it's near impossible to fill the roles otherwise.

Wow. I haven’t heard about that before but I’m not surprised.

Cities that aren't on the coasts exist, you know. $15/hr jobs in Midwestern cities aren't outlandish by any stretch.

We're talking about someone who's struggling to get by in SV. Where are they going to get the money to move their family to the Midwest?

Well, if all your possessions are in an RV, moving your family to the midwest costs gas - that's pretty much it.

Several hundred in gas, I'm guessing, and that may not be such an insignificant amount if you're that much on the margin.

Remember: you almost definitely aren't paying for it on credit in this scenario.

Why not stop participating altogether? It's not hard to leave this system of slavery[1]: it just requires sacrifice.

You don't need to live on the major coasts or in a major city. You can live off the land in the woods, hunting and growing your own clean food, drinking clean water, etc.

[1] https://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/n...

I can't imagine someone who has no experience in surviving out in the woods is going to last long.

I wonder when the last time wah that a similar argument was made in the US congress.

Which is very much not cheap. Not to mention, while you're driving from point A to point B, you're not bringing in income. So where are you gonna get the money for gas and food?

It doesn't take months to travel 300 miles by car. Bringing in income during the long trip is not a realistic issue.

It's going to take at least a week, and a lot of gas. We're talking about people who already aren't bringing in much, and so likely don't have anything saved up.

Have you never loaded everything you own in a car and moved before? It does not take a week. And driving 300 miles takes 6 hours in an RV, not 7 days. Within a 300 mile radius of SV is everything from LA to Reno to Eureka.

What world do you live in? 300 miles is like a 4 hour drive on the interstate.

Getting to somewhere in the Midwest from SV is far from 300 miles.

That’s assuming this RV is in sound condition for the trek. That’s quite the assumption given the context but, sure, maybe.

This is true, but it is also not not the point I am addressing.

Well, except maybe in St. Louis, which set a $15 minimum wage only to have it nullified by the state of Mizzureh.

They technically exist, but it's like...would you ever think of opening a business somewhere like Illinois? That's like opening a tin of meat in a school of pirhannas.

I own a business in the Midwest. So, yes, I absolutely would.

Fair enough, to each their own. I like the Midwest a lot, don't get me wrong. It's just not the sort of place I'd go if I wanted to employ people.

More the sort of place I'd go if I wanted to run a small workshop for a year or two. Rent is cheap, and in my experience the people are friendlier than around the coasts so you won't go insane if you aren't willing to take on a second job called 'trying and failing to meet people.'

I did get the feeling it was because I was a white guy, in a lot of cities, but...is it wrong to say that at least they were friendly? As opposed to condescending everyone equally? Probably; I don't really feel comfortable with that line of reasoning...or maybe I just am dealing with mild discrimination and it's hard because so far I've basically been pampered through life on that count? It seems more likely that I'm just overly sensitive, but...fuck, the looks I get from people I've never seen before...I don't know, people are so complicated

Twin cities or Chicago?