I’ve heard anecdotally of remote workers moving to places like Florida due to tax policies. That makes sense to me, since it isn’t clear what the high taxes of CA actually get you. Other politically-similar states like WA are also raising taxes - in their case it is illegal to levy a graduated income tax per state law, but they’re nevertheless trying to do so and hoping the courts rule in the state’s favor (https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/publications/detail/capital...). Then there’s also the mandate-oriented approach to COVID in many states, which removes individual agency and replaces it with authoritarian approaches. Then there’s huge surges in crime (shoplifting, catalytic converter theft, burglaries, etc) brought on by defunding and soft-on-crime restorative justice policies.
Add it all up, and it really does feel like many states are practicing hostile governance under the banners of being progressive or following the science or whatever. Florida is not for me, but I can see its attractiveness - good weather, low taxes, higher liberty, and handling basic governance like crime. I’m not surprised that many are seeking out something like it.
> Then there’s also the mandate-oriented approach to COVID in many states, which removes individual agency and replaces it with authoritarian approaches.
Ah yes another person who equates a basic courtesy, wearing a mask, with authoritarianism. Or are you referring to lockdowns that have not existed anywhere for 1.5 years? Im finding it increasingly difficulty to entertain any viewpoint of those that lack basic empathy and understanding of common good.
>Ah yes another person who equates a basic courtesy, wearing a mask, with authoritarianism.
Whether something is a "a basic courtesy" (ie. how agreeable it is) has nothing to do with whether the state mandating it counts as authoritarianism. I'd certainly be crying "authoritarianism" if the state mandated that I had to thank the bus driver.
>Or are you referring to lockdowns that have not existed anywhere for 1.5 years
they shut down restaurants (and various other businesses), didn't they? They also banned events and large public gatherings. Or does it not count as a lockdown unless there's martial law and a soldier with instructions to shoot to kill at every street corner?
To you, wearing a mask is not a problem. For me it is and I hate wearing one, although I do it because the law has forced me to. Wearing a mask makes me feel hot. It fogs up my glasses. Breathing is uncomfortable and strained. I dislike not being able to see people’s smiles and emotions. If those things are not important to you, so be it. But it matters to me, and I don’t think it is reasonable to reframe a difference in what I feel or value as being discourteous. That to me feels like a lack of basic empathy as well.
To explore this further - I question why people should be forced to wear a mask just so others can have the reduced risk conditions that enable them to go about their normal lives. Why don’t those who are worried about COVID simply quarantine themselves and let everyone else go about their lives freely? The notion that wearing masks suddenly gives risk averse people the safety they desire doesn’t make sense. On the one hand, I hear extreme fear of COVID despite its very low infection fatality rate. On the other hand, despite those fears, people seem to be OK with leaving home if there are mask mandates, even though there still is a nonzero risk of them being infected. So which is it - because clearly if this is a deadly virus everyone should fear, the only reasonable stance is to self-quarantine - in which case it doesn’t matter what others do. This makes me view mask mandates as wholly arbitrary theater, something that is now a political football for those who favor statist approaches.
As for your claim that lockdowns have not existed anywhere - that depends on what you feel a lockdown is. Certainly various cities and states have restricted activities of different kinds to different degrees. Claiming there has been no lockdown feels disingenuous to me.
Lastly, regarding authoritarianism: I consider local/state/federal governments implementing vaccine mandates or forcing businesses to violate the bodily autonomy and health privacy of their customers/employees to be authoritarian. And I say that as a fully vaccinated person. I prefer a system of governance where individuals retain agency and can decide locally what to do with their bodies, what the risks are, and what risks they are willing to tolerate.
This is the snowflakiest of a snowflake posts I have ever read.
There are entire hospital wards that are shutting down elective surgeries because of people like you. I haven't seen a friend in two years because his wife works with immunocompromised patients and Omicron is so prevalent that any flight nets you an enormous likelihood of catching COVID.
A 40% increase in the number of deaths in working-age population and several service industries getting critic staff shortages because of everybody going sick, but hey, at least your glasses don't have to be foggy.
Lol, the person you’re replying to said he’s fully vaccinated, and somehow you’re blaming him for the increase in deaths and hospitalization when the stats clearly show that fully vaccinated people have very low risk of hospitalization, all because he said he doesn’t like masks (and despite that still wears them when required).
I’m curious where your friend and his wife live. Where I live we have a 90% vaccination rate, reinstated mask mandates and hospitals full beyond capacity, such that non-covid patients can’t get care. My family and I are all fully vaccinated and we wear masks as required. Yet my son still caught covid in late November and it went through our house. You can rail against those with differing points of view, but in my experience the masks aren’t working on a macro level. They’re not even slowing the infection rate. I’m also tired of the theater and ineffective restrictions.
I seriously don't get this arguement. Vaccines objectively reduce hospitalization rates and disease severity, and uvnaxxed people are 20 times more likely to die. So it's clear that however bad things are, they would be much worse with more unvaxxed people.
So yeah, 100 people not being able to get a hospital bed is different from 2000 people.
I guess I conflated my points. I fully support the vaccination effort and agree that the unvaccinated are placing a disproportionate burden on health care facilities, etc. Indeed, given the dwindling capacity at hospitals, I think we should consider placing the unvaccinated on a lower priority than the vaccinated who have non-covid health care needs.
It’s the masking policies that seem inconsistent and often ridiculous to me. For example, my kids have to wear masks at school all day and while playing on school sports teams. My daughter was forced to wear a mask while running cross country outside last spring, which I found downright cruel. At the same time, the students are all allowed to eat and talk to each other at communal tables in the cafeteria every day. I know school administrators have a lot to juggle, but still. I find these inconsistencies everywhere.
As a member of the vast majority who is lower risk, I’d like to know how much longer I’m expected to accommodate these restrictions (lockdowns, closed facilities, canceled events, failed businesses). It’s been a long time and covid isn’t going away. New variants will continue to emerge. Are we really supposed to go on like this indefinitely? Living with a heightened state of public fear? Is it reasonable and good public policy to base all decisions on one factor, to the detriment of all other social and public concerns? I guess maybe I’m going too far, but I’m tired of living like this, and typing into the void makes it feel like someone is listening.
If you want to see if a pair of cities are net gainers or net losers of population, you can use their site to compare them since U-Haul uses dynamic pricing based on demand and availability.
Oakland CA to Dallas TX is $7013 for a 26' truck. The reverse move is only $850
I'm an hour-ish from Madison. My guess would be that it has got a good nightlife scene for its size, a public research university, lots of healthcare jobs, relatively low crime, Midwest-nice neighbors, not far from Chicago/Minneapolis if you're wanting to visit a bigger city, access to Amtrak in addition to air travel.
Yeah, no place in the US has had lockdowns in a long time, though I suppose to an antivaxxer, a vaccination requirement to do certain activities may have the appearance of a lockdown. Or indoor mask requirements may appear to be a lockdown to someone allergic to caring about others. Regardless, if antisocial people want to GTFO and go to Florida, I'm all for it (with apologies to Floridians).
I wouldn’t call them that. In fact living in LA (not for long) I would consider all the fearful people living here to be the antisocial ones. Terrified at every new covid development. Locking themselves inside.
Having spent significant time in Florida this year, masks and any covid restrictions have been gone for a while there.
By contrast, all my new year’s plans in NYC got cancelled, mask mandates exist for gyms and a lot of other places, vaccine mandates exist everywhere, and many many shows have been cancelled.
While I understand many (most?) HNers would consider this positive (“look, people acted of their own accord!”), those tired of covid 19 restrictions, fears, and whatever else you want to call it, have looked at Florida with envy.
Lockdowns has become a catch all term for this.
I need to restate that many might agree with these restrictions so much so that it’s not a big deal to them but it’s not nothing and might even be significant for others.
First of all as of right now the result of the CTU vote hasn't been announced yet (much to everyone's detriment). Secondly a teacher strike is not a lockdown...(at least nobody called it that in 2019).
Do they think getting vaccinated is hurting themselves or others? Appears that a 1 in a million chance of a hurting themselves is prevent them from protecting others.
Florida wants an outsized "donation" of monoclonal antibodies compared to other states to make up for their lesser emphasis on masking, vaccination, and social distancing. Typical conservative "I want to do what I want, and you will be responsible for the consequences!" behavior.
Is out outsized compared to their population or to their need? Why would Florida need more than any other state? New York actually has the most cases by a huge margin.
I'm surprised Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater didn't make it in there. I guess people moving there are either using other companies trucks to move in, or are just hiring people to move them in.
People are fleeing the lockdowns on the coasts. Also, Pelosi and Obama just bought ocean front/an island for 10s of millions, so even they don't believe the seas rising is a threat anytime soon.
Add it all up, and it really does feel like many states are practicing hostile governance under the banners of being progressive or following the science or whatever. Florida is not for me, but I can see its attractiveness - good weather, low taxes, higher liberty, and handling basic governance like crime. I’m not surprised that many are seeking out something like it.