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A new study of Silicon Valley wealth, income and other economic measures shows vast disparities in one of the country’s wealthiest regions, with the top 10% of households holding 66% of the investable assets in the region last year.
In Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, just eight households held more wealth than the bottom 50% (nearly half a million households), according to the Silicon Valley Index, an annual report by the Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies, the research arm of Joint Venture Silicon Valley.
“We live in a capitalist system that is based on markets,” said Russell Hancock, chief executive of the San Jose-based think tank. “There’s rules to the game; the rules are fair. In Silicon Valley, we have some of the world’s biggest winners.”
Hancock added that the report highlights the need for more investments in education and “equipping people for success.”
The institute defines Silicon Valley as Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, as well as parts of Santa Cruz and southern Alameda counties. The think tank also includes San Francisco in some of its metrics. The report focused solely on data from Santa Clara and San Mateo counties for its wealth analyses.
Wealth inequality in Silicon Valley is more pronounced than in the U.S. overall, or globally, with the top 1% of households holding 48 times more of the total wealth than the bottom 50%, according to the report. That compares to 23 times nationally and globally, the report said.
Ultra rich
The report estimates Silicon Valley’s aggregate household wealth is nearly $1.1 trillion, when it counts ultra high net worth individuals.
The report marks the first time the think tank published wealth estimates that include data on these ultra high net worth individuals, who the institute defined as those with net investable assets of $30 million or more.
‘There’s rules to the game; the rules are fair. In Silicon Valley, we have some of the world’s biggest winners.’
Russell Hancock, chief executive, Joint Venture Silicon Valley
Such assets are those that are held in cash, or can easily and quickly be converted into cash, including checking accounts, certificates of deposits and retirement accounts. The group did not count houses, cars or other non-liquid financial holdings as investable assets.
Santa Clara and San Mateo counties had 163,000 millionaire households in 2022, which the report defined as households that had more than $1 million in investable assets. That translates to less than 1% of the region’s population holding about 36% of its wealth.
And an estimated 8,300 households held more than $10 million in investable assets, according to the report.
Conversely there were about 220,000 Silicon Valley households with fewer than $5,000 in total assets.
About 23% of Silicon Valley residents lived below the poverty threshold in 2021, a 3 percentage point increase from 2019. Two percent of Silicon Valley households, or about 22,000 households, did not hold bank accounts.
The report also noted that while income inequality was lessening statewide, down 1%, as well as nationally, down 3%, income inequality rose in Silicon Valley by 5% in 2021. Generally, the pace of income inequality growth since the 2009 recession has been twice that of the nation, the report said.
The disparities in Silicon Valley began in earnest in the 1990s, when the internet economy first took off, and grew more pronounced after 2010, following the Great Recession. The first two years of the pandemic exacerbated the inequality, the report said.
Data excludes houses. The rich invest in financial assets, the middle class in real estate. An accentuation of an American trend that will be hard to solve until we get a handle on our housing crisis. Unfortunately, the risk management problems of “my house is my IRA” can be severe for some during a downturn in the local economy.
Elon Musk recently moved to Texas to avoid paying state income tax on the billions of stock he sold shortly thereafter in 2022. I know its tempting to conclude after reading articles like this that taxing the ultra rich is the solution but it will drive many of the richest Californians out of the state along with lots of jobs. Those high paid jobs in turn provide numerous support jobs. California is heavily reliant on these ultra rich who pay much of the states state taxes, which pay for a substantial portion of the state’s social programs.
It is heartbreaking to see this type of living here. Those who harvest our food deserve better, no doubt about it.
Otherwise, I do question people’s spending habits. I was raised to be frugal and now it is in my nature. I rarely buy coffee or a bottle of water while out choosing instead to take along what I have from home. I had hand me downs and clothes from thrift stores. We went camping or stayed with family rather than expensive vacations. I am sure that the money spent on frivolous, unnecessary items if saved could go a lot further to improving the lot of those who live on the lower income brackets.
The report this article mentions, the annual Joint Venture Silicon Valley “Silicon Valley Index,” is an exceptional resource. There’s so much in it that journalists can only skim a few of the highlights; but if you want to understand how the Valley works, JVSV provides a meticulously researched trove of essential data you just can’t get anywhere else. It’s great. Anybody can download the whole Index for free from https://jointventure.org/images/stories/pdf/index2023.pdf . A $25 printed copy is also usually available on Amazon after a month or so. The website also has some of the raw data, though you have to dig a bit.
We, the Valley, recruit high-wage tech talent internationally and bring it here, even as mid-wage people exit the Valley for other parts of the state and country, driving our region’s inequality higher and higher. A decade of SV Index data shows this clearly; this year’s report goes a step further, proposing that wealth and wage inequality are actually a cause of our housing woes, not a result of them (p39).
You have to follow their chain of references and footnotes for the details and mechanics, but it’s a crucial insight; because if it’s correct, then the “Plan A” flogged by nearly every commercial entity, including journalists – “never touch the Tech proceeds, and blame all social ills on exclusionary zoning” – is effectively an excuse to prolong the status quo and avoid the real pain: that to solve our challenges we must actually pay for them, and the price tag is so high that the only realistic funding source is the Tech sector. Even the $1.1 trillion of private wealth (which does include housing, about a third per JVSV) isn’t enough.
According to Russell Hancock (chief executive of the Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies), the solution to the problem of wealth inequality in the Silicon Valley is to “equip people for success” and make more billionaires. This is a “let them eat cake” response to poverty.
The assumption that poor people are uneducated and not “equipped for success” is a convenient and arrogant response. Please publish the education level of “220,000 Silicon Valley households with fewer than $5,000 in total assets” and the 23% who live below the poverty line.
That’s too harsh; Russ Hancock, and Rachel Massaro, are not Libertarians. Their job is actually incredibly hard: curating untainted data and objective analysis in a very politically pressurized climate. There are people who really don’t like some of the implications of their data. There are people who really don’t like the idea that we must reinvest more of our Tech proceeds in our Society; look at the backlash we got from the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (which isn’t even in Palo Alto), for example, for daring to float a municipal tech tax in part to fund Affordable Housing (the antithesis of “Plan A,” as it happens). Simply spouting off online, which is what you and I are doing, is much easier than what Russ Hancock has to do.
Beyond that: the “1%-vs-99%” thing is titillating of course, but there’s a strong case that the really important rift is actually the “20%-vs-80%” divide, and declining mobility across it. A good discussion of this is in this book by a Brookings guy https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Hoarders-American-Leaving-Everyone-ebook/dp/B0BL85942Z/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2QJP5Q4F62OR0&keywords=dream+hoarders+by+richard+reeves&qid=1677007750&sprefix=dream+hoarder%2Caps%2C254&sr=8-1 , one of my favorite reads in the last decade. He neither defends nor attacks the Elon Musks of the world, but argues that — for example — eliminating 529 plans (regressive) in order to better fund early childhood education would have a much bigger impact. He recounts that Obama actually attempted to do this, early in his presidency, and got his head handed to him — not by billionaires, but by the 20%.
Do you really think funding early education is going to solve this problem?
Let’s test that assumption and report on the education level of the “220,000 Silicon Valley households with fewer than $5,000 in total assets” and the 23% who live below the poverty line.
@Eric Filseth, did the report deal with the ever-increasing number of gig workers and contractors with few or any benefits? Every year the big companies like Google and Meta increase their percentage of NON-regular employees and every year the number of women and minorities included in their pay-equity discrimination suits keeps growing.
Did it mention the literally hundreds of millions of dollars SVLG’s companies like Uber, Lyft, GrubHub et al paid to lobby against giving their gig workers health benefits or enabling them to collect unemployment benefits while shifting the cost of “affordable” housing and housing for the homeless to the rest of us, the taxpayers?
And what did they have to say about all the recent unionization drives and how increased wages usually drive down stock prices — a major concern of the SVLG members?
@online –
Some of that stuff might actually be in there — I haven’t finished reading it yet (… slower this year since it’s no longer my job …). Download it, you might find what you’re looking for. I don’t know about lawsuits, but they certainly track ethnographic data in Big Tech.
People shouldn’t mix up JVSV and SVLG though. JVSV, at least this part of it, is a research organization — they collect data. If properly done, that’s just incredibly valuable; without objective data all we have is religion, and there’s a lot more religion than accurate facts in some of these areas.
SVLG is a corporate lobby that opposes -business- taxes. Big difference.
There’s rules to the game; the rules are fair. In Silicon Valley, we have some of the world’s biggest winners.’
-Russell Hancock, chief executive, Joint Venture Silicon Valley
What utter offensive bullshit!
The 23% poverty rate cited on page 11 and repeated in articles was a typo. I emailed Russ Hancock yesterday and they are updating the PDF.
The actual SV poverty rate for 2021 shown on page 43 is below the state and national average BUT it would be higher if adjusted for our high housing prices and rents.
The 23% is an advocacy group estimate of the share of households without a sustainable standard of living as they define it.
That indicator is worth understanding and as Eric Filseth has said above, the report is an important annual contribution to our understanding.
For myself, I am more interested in helping low-income families and their children improve their standard of living through skill building, safety net support, fair labor standards and asset building than debating about inequality.
Inequality has one set of implications if residents are stuck in or near poverty and another set of implications if low-income residents are making substantial progress.
It will take at least 10 years to realize that COVID showed us who we really are. Toilet paper hoarders who would shank their neighbor to get closer to the TP at a walmart store. Shelves were emptied within hours of the shutdown declaration. And then, people waited for stores to be re-stocked. There was a two year lesson that we just didn’t get. Almost all our consumer goods are made in China. That’s why big stores are folding. The demand is still there, but there’s no supply coming in. Home Depot and Lowe’s will fold. WalMart will fold, as well as Dollar stores, Macy’s (already halfway there), Bloomingdales (already shuttered in much of the east part of the US), and all sporting goods franchises. Everything that is made in China is now nearly impossible to get. The auto-builders are shouldering a seismic shift toward “all electric” in the face of massive shortages of electronic parts that used to be made in China. As the haves and have-nots are facing the same demons, early childhood education won’t be refereeing the match. The haves simply have more cash than any other less entitled group. But the have-nots have more relevant experience, by having learned to live frugally and simply. I predict the poor will take over the world. But hey, the rich people can all live in a spaceship with Musk and Bezos. Like a long cruise. Space tourism will be outta sight. So there’s that.
“For myself, I am more interested in helping low-income families and their children improve their standard of living through skill building, safety net support, fair labor standards and asset building than debating about inequality.”
How does this help the increasing number of seniors who can no longer afford their medicines, food and utilities? They don’t meed skill building?
How does this help the 50+ workers who are routinely laid off because their benefits cost too much and their salaries are too high? And don’t say “skill-building” because agism is a nationally recognized cost-cutting, right-sizing objective — just like outsourcing is.
How ill this help all the workers in the all the industries due for “creative disruption” and mass layoffs by automation and AI?
Certainly the only way to understand poor is to be living it. Love all the conjectures about how those top earners and tax shirkers can lift us — to a nose above water subsistence while I am trying tread & not to drown in a vast, deep sea of extreme greed.
Meanwhile. I get a state FTB letter yesterday that my ‘22 tax refund has been “Intercepted” for a supposed $173 I owe. My God. I earned $19K last year and the state is auditing my meager income!! Awful is as awful does.
And the state’s EDD lost 11Billion in international reaches of state claim fraud over 2020-21.
While I was one of the million legit claimants stuck in a state wide, national & yes, international hell for 10 months. Every so often after hours
Equaling weeks into months a few hundred $ were pushed my way (with State Assembly office helpers) and family help where they could. Feeding my kids from food lines, forced to let my auto insurance lapse, using old tissue paper, gift wrap for our bottoms because local stores were either empty or price gauging PPE. As I asked a neighbor while he rolled his wagon heaped with TP and Brawny paper towels a $20 bill for two rolls. No! He snarled. Get your own.
Over the course of 3 years, I have used every skill I have in my “tool v
Box” to levy resources for my protective mamma instincts, education, my humility, humor, wisdom, have lost my dignity only to find it again when seeing how hard my children work and how very good they are — pride or shame is no longer — exhausted fighting for bits of scraps I keep shielding the societal, financial, climate Pandemic punches that have not let up since March 2020. So yeah, keep speaking to frayed “boot straps” and “skilling” up. Just take a journey up SF’s Larkin Street, you’ll get my drift and gist. A visual left all the ally’s “The Barbary Cost’ sidewalks packed w our humane absence at the expense of corporate greed.
Maybe Mr Levy et al can comment on yesterday’s report that Google systematically denied its growing pool of contract workers MINIMUM wage and benefits? Also, whatever happened to Google and its old Do No Evil Mantra?
Think reports like this contribute to income disparity, homelessness, etc. or — as many Valley “leaders” claim — that the two are totally unrelated and everything’s just ducky here and that “skill building” is the answer?
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/02/22/google-excludes-thousands-of-workers-from-benefits-report/
My decision this winter to outwit the gas heater utility fees was to go with a freestanding electric space heater.
Out of pocket $33 in November for said heater.
It died last week. I cracked the case, and found a couple of wires that had lost connection since the cheap tape the mfgr used to splice them together had frayed beyond redemption. Picking one of several types of duct tape to DIY repair, I applied the tape and the coils once again glowed with warmth.
Today, it stopped again. Opened it up again, to find that another set of wires that are (supposed to be) soldered together came apart. I used to have a soldering gun but lent it to a neighbor who never gave it back and then moved away.
Now I have to decide … buy a new heater, or a new soldering gun? These are decisions that the “haves” don’t even have to think about. Am I willing to tough it out and go heatless until spring? Do I buy a soldering gun, hoping that’s the last repair this Chinese made heater will need? Do I buy a new heater? Is a new Chinese made heater going to be any better than the FIRST Chinese made heater I bought before the price doubled?
I’m not an electrician, and I know that buying anything made in China is disposable crap and not designed to last even a single winter let alone for a lifetime. Most of my tools are MADE IN USA and I am NEVER going to “lend” one again to anybody. Because the only “replacements” anymore are just one time only use, and lucky if it lasts THAT long.
Wealth disparity literally means choosing heat, or food, for too many people. I’m not dirt poor but I’m not rich either. And can’t afford to buy a new heater every few months.
@MyFeelz . I so get it. DYI fix. Co’om over to my place. I have a trove of USA made tools for every occasion or situation. Yet the funk it which I store (organize) is a shame. Carpenters are so last Century. Or was that the one before? I see the UK has utility closets as well as linen closets . Yet here in SV land no such “utility” space (shelves, cupboard, drawer) exists. So I sort, I throw, I shove, stuff my dream to fix or make to DYI hand tools where ever, against walls, in old coffee cups …the point being, we resident renters are not given the dignity or the where with all to have even small hand held tools to “fix” what needs fixing i’e. A bike tire living under the roof of substandard dwellings. Seriously. HOA’s and PA neighborhood associations rule the borders within Le(Land) Stanford. You’d think a Phillips screw driver might start a revolution because no micro chip is in it to track, trace & report what our hands are doing to solve real world macro problems. Kidding aside.
There is a massive push to centralize our every human move, decision. Within the interior of our private dwellings: Patching, repairing or fixing anything outside, underneath aside from a data driven algorithm … ? AI moving in quickly. Blink. It’s here. We’ve (our flimsy, sparse, pre 1980
human investment) been sold down the river for a few bit coins and mega stocked up option for the 1%.
I see roadside deflated, blackened cones along PA streets. I see gravel piling up,? and severe concrete dust kicked up on ECR and HWY holes, bikes & autos bump over to their Tue/Thur JOB, or traversing to a home or a school to pick up kids. 2 years ago I bought on sale a Dewalt light weight, cordless drill. My dream tool! Yet I have no reason to use it or a square inch to store it, other than goggling at it— like a HS hallway crush . my Bucket list is my ownership of it yet there is no bucket to put it let alone use it.
>>San Mateo and Santa Clara counties had 163,000 millionaire households in 2022…that translates to less than 1 percent of the population holding 36 percent of its wealth…
These two counties have 16.3 million households?
Or the UHWIs skew the curve (more likely)?
I’m going to take other commenters’ advice and download the actual report. I don’t question growing inequality but the interpretation of the data has me scratching my head.
@online – they’re connected. Surprised anybody in 2023 is still asking.
The word-cloud version: high fixed costs plus network effects make Tech natural oligopolies; globalization concentrates this, and the Bay Area adds in talent-supply network effects. The winners win big and pay well, so the world’s tech talent moves here, driving up land costs, which drives up every other cost, because everybody needs a place to live: it’s Dutch Disease, only with land not the Guilder (Kwon-Sorenson, 2019). The boom sector prospers mightily, and the part of the nontradable sector that serves the top of the pyramid – say, private schools, or real estate development – prospers with it. The other tradable sectors wither; the nontradable sectors that serve them wither too. And this last includes … wait for it … “helping low-income families and their children improve their standard of living through skill building, safety net support, fair labor standards and asset building.” That’s not free, and costs even more in our high-Gini Valley. So this Libertarian notion that the Tech economy and inequality are unconnected is false. This economy =generates= inequality, at scale; the Index shows it.
That’s not a screed against capitalism, it’s an argument for responsibly investing the proceeds.
Many signal virtue; the test is when it’s time to pay. Those who flank to “anything-but-money” — no need for business taxes or impact fees, just deregulate, and private actors and developers will cure our ills gratis! — it’s just air cover for keeping the status quo.
Look at the relief over this year’s small rebound in international migration – we’re saved! Importing $200K/yr data scientists helps GDP, but GDP without investment won’t help public schools in low-income neighborhoods. The Plan A apologists evoke Galt’s Gulch, but generate Dickens.
A healthy society takes money, not “likes.” The social-justice movement should divorce its Libertarians; their agenda is unaligned.
@EricFilseth and…how do our low income folk keep the ultra rich afloat?? All this talk and verbiage about “helping” the local peninsula poor, skill up. Yet, how are in US $ dollars and in the quality of life of our poor, who are floating the rich to remain free of such menial domestic tasks? Like rearing children, w
Pulling garden
Weeds, vacuuming wool carpets, dusting a chandelier must contain massive appreciations and a bounty of generous dollars.
See. It goes both ways. yet it’s not recognized as such. It appears that the rich give jobs and income to the poor. yet these poor give and give and give again to those “above” who employ their sweat, labor, away from personal family life. A low wage service to keep themselves employed and those they sweat for, rich, richer, and richest.
Recognize and advocate and be loyal, vocally to the household help. otherwise it is us, a human fed economy — the less fortunate that keep the wealthy economy humming along.
It’s a two way street. Like the ultra privileged are somehow sacrificing their lively hood to employ a poor person to do the nasty, dirty work they, themselves cannot fathom or deal to perform.
However given the pace of AI I am certain any gazillionaire would purchase a in house robot to perform the unsavory , time consuming domestic tasks. Yet Literally the task of a diaper (child or adult) change is intricate, loving requiring yes, the opposable thumb.
@Barbara download the report yes. Yet read it. Let us know. 30 years ago my father informed me. There are 1 million millionaires is the USA. Pennies compared to today. Travel through SF’s “border” . No download needed. The shear visual will reveal all need to know who has what and where it’s stored.
@MyFeelz. My 2008 eco car’s windshield is now cracked from flying gravel & rocks kicked up on the ECR corridor between Embarcadero & Charleston. TY Palo Alto. another fix I cannot afford because the City cannot get its s@&) together to solve really simple, real world problems from their cozy desktop kiosk or from an unresponsive 311 app, or is it a algorithm log jam excuse? May be the obscure budget shortfall I.e “it does not affect me , affect me, me, me, me me.” Syndrome. Well guess what! I cannot afford the $500 cost for a new replacement windshield. Yah. Keep sending those city street sweepers thru that only exacerbate the problem. Keep telling us it’s CalTrans issue. Yet how does MV, Menlo & RWC have a better ECR street running thru their towns??
Our city can’t orange cone off forever and then send out a street sweepers and cannot work w Cal Trans to fix this surface danger to cyclists, pedestrians, and the like???
@EricFilseth
Thanks for the clarification on investment in housing as well as the Reeves and Silicon Valley Index references. I will take a look at both.
Incumbent landowners can and do manipulate the levers of government to restrict social mobility. In California, one historically proven instrument of such mobility is the University of California system. Yet, the NIMBY forces are restricting how many students it can serve.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-02-14/uc-berkeley-may-be-forced-to-cut-3-000-freshman-seats-under-court-order-to-halt-growth
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-24/court-ruling-halts-uc-berkeley-from-building-student-housing-at-peoples-park
A similar case can be made about your cherished exclusionary zoning and declining public school enrollment on the Peninsula.
Sadly, in fighting the forces aligned against social mobility, Caifornia is losing out to other states like New Hampshire.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/state-licensing-requirements-cosmetologists-landscape-architecture/673196/
@Chuck where did all this “para” professional licensing & cost burdened certifications 4 menial jobs derive? I think there r 4 stop
lights on Oregon. Why have the much needed yellow reflective tape been on hold. Not enough sk labor
We want 2 “skill” up, we have 2 pay the state 4 a “certification”. Even health “food safe” requires a paid certification . Yet our App based service jobs: Air B&B or Uber Eats or Door Dash go unscrutinized, a pass.
Task Rabbit, wrecking havoc on home walls, sub par rentals, in unsafe locals, Door Dash delivers outdated milk, or 13 year old teens get into a Lyft to go to pool parties distributing pot & Molly pills in Atherton!! Unchecked, w/out oversight.
The state throws away billions in fraudulent claims, our tax subs Chevron oil, BA mass transit incongruent non connected systems. & the SF PUC has siding blowing off in the slightest wind, while thousands go without power. TY Libertarians 4 wrecking & reeking our state.
The beast begets the monster. Too top heavy? State Governance has no capacity to mitigate while the private sector (mainly Internet APP downloads) goes wild & free. PA talks big about equity, BLM, Asian Hate, climate, unfair housing and the beast lies in a bastion of private wealth or tax free properties, (Le)land Stanford. The city can cry foul at CalTrsns for not fixing ECR, or cry unfair to PAUSD for Cubberly . Yet who does the city actually partner? Consultants. I have seen zero partnership w sources unless that source ponies up dollars. It’s a “pay as we go” system. Has anyone else observed the absurd yellow reflective tape around our crossing light? 1 there, two there. It’s as if the dollars are handed out at an hourly rate. Tonight there is enough funding for one street light, yellow reflective tape. Get my drift? It’s incongruous. BTW why is Oregon deemed the “commercial” route for truckers? Obviously Stanford main entrance is Embarcadero to Galvez.
It’s a nearly meaningless statistic to look at investments. What counts is the income, not the holdings. What about looking at how much people spend compared to their holdings compared again to their income? This is not rocket science to put the idea that a lot of lower income people have little savings and live paycheck to paycheck. The same is true for a lot of upper middle class people too and it could relate to personal choices. The wealth comparison is just a gimmick.
@Native, I thought I made a comment days ago about asking to borrow your tools! But I can’t find it now. Driving on ECR today was like Mario Kart meets Grand Theft Auto with potholes in every lane. Police action, detours, puddling, flooding, wrong-way drivers and people piling in and out of T&C like their life depended on getting a hot cup of coffee. Can I charge the City for an alignment? I empathize with your windshield woes, because every car that goes over the holes is flinging chipped asphalt behind them. There’s no way to go north and south anymore. We know eastward lies the flood zone, and Leland has got a death grip on everything west of ECR. Keep your drill handy, it might be needed to let some steam out of my brain. New construction is a combo of Lego and Lincoln Log on the outside and nothing inside except walls (make sure not to put any holes in it!) and a door. Poverty has always been here. But lately, it is getting noticed because the haves are suffering from POMO — POMO Coffee, POMO tea, POMO Sriracha sauce, please. Nobody can afford to live here to fulfill the service jobs and nobody who CAN afford to live here would stoop that low. There is a tipping point and I think we are seeing it live on YouTube — which is, ironically, just down the street. Coincidence?
@MyFeelz grateful I don’t don’t have a secondary “rental”. i.e storage unit. I am just praying my dad’s table saw is safe in the rain. I grew up watching him run lumber thru many saw models. 1 day I asked “how do u get the measurement right? He relied, it’s all in the level fence. A precise/accurate component of the saw — not provided w purchase. stupid flimsy fence comes with the table yet. The good carpenter must DYI their own for precision cuts. Of course table saws r out, the radial saw, in. My dad did not stoop to the radial. He worked from a table, like a writer, or a artist — mastering his craft. Oh yeah borrow (liberate) any tool you need. I have. Any use for an old wall paper roller?
Can’t quite remember if I shared. An unknown neighbor (college student) knocked on my door. He was desperate 4 a Phillips 2 get 2 his lap top hard drive so he could get a paper in on time. I happily provided. Of course as soon as the door closed, I berated myself 4 loaning a possession. I did not even know where he lived. Sure enough about 2 hours later, he returned w it. No name, or address or if he got the paper in. Yet. He was able to repair the computer! This was no, “next door” transaction. Just 1 friendly neighbor.
Since books w spines r near obsolete Abby Hoffman’s “steel this book” is buried to along w his remains. Yet to share, educate, attribute, cultivate I say, “Steel this computer”. Or tool in your case. If only … “MyFeelz we may, one day, exchange our ideas in present time. Yet I can’t think of a code w/out revealing my ID. Imagine a secret code. Yet by “man”splaining it would give us away. So yes steel the computer or carpentry tool, but not my identity?! Hello! she/her him/he they/them reveals too much of anonymity . Anyway. The humor is noticed & much appreciated! PS when one describes published writing using adjectives like “masterful” w verbs “writing” I run, screeching the other way, in Edward Munch mode trying to cross a bridge !
All the above makes for a pretty depressing read. I listened to the State of the Valley Conference and have a few takeaways. Russ Hancock is bullish on Silicon Valley, and backs up his opinions with data. Silicon Valley has the 3rd highest concentration of billionaires in the world, behind NY and HK. And Silicon Valley is home to some inexcusable disparities that include hunger and housing insecurity.
Focusing only on Palo Alto, I think we – especially CC and the CM – need to keep in mind that it is highly unlikely that the disparities do not exist within this city’s zip codes. I also think CC needs to be extremely careful about things like utility rate hikes and forced conversion to electric which are expensive and essentially unaffordable for many. The job market is in flux, fixed incomes don’t magically grow to cover utility bills that have doubled, Social Security is what it is. I doubt the goal is to get people to leave, but that could well be what many are forced to decide. Meanwhile, we can somehow afford to spend public money on very high salaries for senior staff?? Things downtown are not making much sense. There’s long been a criticism that City decisions favor developers and the wealthier constituents in north Palo Alto. I’ve resisted believing that (especially the last part) but I now think there may be something to it.
Echoing Annette’s points about the forced utilities conversions that will just push more residents to the brink while depriving local retailers / restaurants of customers whose money is now going to enrich our highly paid and often ineffective bureaucrats who seem to be incapable of and/or resistant to common sense reasoning. Examples abound. Pick your favorite.
Our “leaders” need to hear about OUR priorities not just from the 386 people who bothered to respond to the city’s extremely flawed questionnaire and the DOZEN — 12 — people who showed up at the City Priority Retreat that was never even publicized.
Let the people vote on the forced conversion.
PS: When is PA going to fix its failed outreach that’s been going on for decades?
More disparities in Bevery Hills and Hollywood, and they don’t generate world class products.
Anonymous, where would we be without The Beverly Hillbillies? And in case you’re unaware, Hollywood brought us world-class entertainment. So there’s that. BH is not solely an enclave for the rich. My cousin lives there and is FAR from rich. 90210 has middle and lower income residents, just like every other city. If you’re saying Palo Alto is producing world class products, pray tell where they are hidden? All I can find are things made in China.
@Native, I speak ESP. Or is it ESPN? Or Disney Channel? Long tail, big ears, clown shoes? My only talent is spinning a basketball on one finger, having been influenced by Meadowlark Lemon after bumping my head on his knee in a Chicago elevator one time. I had to search him out and it’s long before Al Gore invented the internet (oh wait — doesn’t PA take credit for inventing the internet?) I wish I was a Code Talker. But looming poverty on the rise has me searching for protein alternatives while gray matter disappears. I am worried that we are in the midst of 40 days and 40 nights of rain and nobody is building an ark. I wish I could blame that on income disparity. I have a homemade raft and oars, prepared for anything. Here in PA we think we are above natural disasters. Yet, with continuing rain, trees are uprooting themselves in protest. Showing everybody who’s boss — it’s mother nature of course. Did we take a lesson from Turkey? Are our new Lego buildings able to withstand a 7.0 or higher, with mud under our foundations? Nature is the great equalizer. It is the number one factor as to why Palo Alto exists in the first place. Solid ground, mild weather, verdant trees … in fact our city is named THE TALL TREE. Perfect environment to plant a huge monopolistic center of learning and technology. Until it’s not perfect anymore. The “haves” are defending their turf, and car dwellers are rolling away to a less rainy and therefore ironically, a better existence. All that might be left after the soaking is the campanile. But take heart! The meek shall inherit the earth! Stay dry and pray for no more power outages.
Re wealth disparities and world-class products, now we get to watch the Elon Musk Show each and every day and the sagas of Elizabeth Holmes and Bankman-Fried as they attempt to stay out of jail.
Tune in tomorrow for the next exciting adventures: How many people will Elon fire next? Is he still he richest man in the world? Will having a second child keep Elizabeth out of jail (unlike all the other mothers serving prison terms)?
@Online Name, it would be great if Elizabeth could teach Sammy how to get pregnant. But motherhood is not a get out of jail free card! It’s interesting that the 3 subjects you mentioned are not even whispered about in the hallways of this particular publication.
@MyFeelz. Al Gore Proclamation. A computer on every child’s school
desk, is my recollection of the coming “tech” revolution. Consequently leading Fitch 3 his bestselling book a pre-empt to global climate change . Then an about face when wife stepped on her own Cra Cra, puritanical vice, an vocal & ridiculous freedom of speech argument w Frank Zappa (RIP). Ensuing a media blitz Kreg. The Mother of invention sadly left us to to go unto where Zappa left.
And left we are w much of a organized ore.
Zappa’s genius was lost to the mass media & no long afternoon a mis-understanding of early &
undetected prostate cancer
It appears, you may have been speaking in code. Agatha Christie would admire for sure. Yet w my
Brain and age capacity, We’ll have to suffice to this platform. Are not third party platforms fun?!
The limited number of characters this platform permits makes all so light, breezy & easy. Like fluffy goose down filled dream. Or drearyly. “down alt”. I grateful there is a good side to the tech giants of “technology” beckoning us down, floor by floor. It kind of reminds me of King’s horror book “the Shining” . Except it’s not.
I am terrible at code Mr/Ms yet let us keep on trying. Apparently here many talk big about personnel home ownership & taxes and minutely about those most in jeopardy of the neglect of such????.
It’s the “wpp” mindset that distracts people from a more noble cause, NTTB! I like picking apart pleadings to find the flaws, because I was a lawyer in a past life and have relatives in THIS life who are judges. You have caught a clue, and to discover more, think of Games Magazine and their annual scavenger hunt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0YlYkJGWUY If for nothing else, entertainment saved best for a rainy day. Today is mostly about getting things done outside that the rain has been preventing. I lamented the lapse in esteem of AG after his wife went berserk, exposing him as a mere mortal whose picker was broke. She painted Zappa with the same brush as John Denver, so there’s that. And here we are talking about income disparity and “Tipsy” (my own nickname for her) declared herself a mental health expert and is still applying her skillz to homelessness. Which is probably why we still suffer from income disparity leading to homelessness and mental illness. I am almost illiterate about Zappa but still sure he is rolling in his grave. Educate me! There are many platforms that allow more interaction between participants but this is not one of them. This is the only one I use. Hm. Will have to telepath a solution once I find it. I hate when they link from here to twitter, I ain’t ON twitter! Here’s my nugget about income disparity today: Earlier I went to WalMart and there were almost no customers there. It’s because it’s the day before Social Security pay day. None of their target demographic shop until after they get paid. Rich people can afford to shop any old day. And nobody’s shopping at Target today, either! Just by the look of the parking lot. I don’t shop there, although I might start, since they never tried to frisk me on my way out. I just tried to envision a Stanford U resident getting stopped at the door at WM. I nearly fainted.
Every location in this state has an economic base that supports the local economy. The local economy in PA is Stanford University and hospital and local tech firms. Add some government agencies – VA hospital. The city is built from border to border – the homes in South PA are now as expensive as those in North PA. The people coming into this location need to have some skill set for employment in the basic economy of this location.
Compare that to San Mateo which is in support of the SFO airport which has a wide basis for employemnt. From baggage handlers to hotels and restaurants, car rental firms, airport parking.
You have to put people that have a weak employment resume in locations that can employ numbers of people providing basic business opportunities. If those people have to commute to a job in a different sector than you have not met any goals that support the housing goals.
WE do have the housing for the people that can find employment in this sector. If you read the Real Estate section of the papers there is continual turnover of properties. There is new, cheaper housing in the outer locations in the hills near Sacramento. It is all there. New housing is going up all over – it is in the papers.
Botttom line is that people have to go where they can find work in the sector that they are experienced in. Cheap housing is only one factor in housing – jobs is part of that equation. People that have invested more time in education tend to make more money. How much money a person can make is very personal – it is based on skill sets that they have developed – or not at all.
Reading these comments convinces me that this state should be split in two. Divide at HWY 152. I grew up in West Hollywood – that was movie town way back. A large contingent of LG people – but since everyone was nothing to complain about. They had talent, skills, and were employed and making money. And we had LA Mayor Tom Bradley – no one very brings him up – he was a track star at UCLA, and legal at Southwestern Law School. He ran for governor and lost to an Armenian. And Willie Brown – another success in government. We had agriculture in the Central Valley – a cornocupia of goodys. Drive down I-5 to see the crops go through their cycles, the animals roaming the land. 90210 went through my block – one half BH and one half LA-Hollywood. We were doing pretty good back than. Now look at us. water issues, bank issues, employemnt issues. gas issues.
History lesson- Germany lost WW2 because of oil – lack of. Tanks and munitions locked in the snow. Fast forward the Keystone Pipeline was giving us energy indendence and success and Biden shut that down. That gave Putin the greenlight for his new war and oil dominance over Europe. This is all about OIL who has it – who controls it.
Silicon Valley is a different animal – not doing so well now. The Hype is now over. We are going back to basics. Does that include bank failures? Infrastructure failures? Look at SF – the city. The two CA Legislator Housing instigators who come from there appear to have no success in their own city. the SF Chronicle tells me that. The ladies on The View keep talking about Tik Tok – a Chinese spy system. They keep selling the wrong products. I am not on Twitter, not on Tik Tok. And On-Line only prints half of what I submit. I Feelz must be payng more than me. I sent my check in for another year.