because although Austin a liberal oasis, it’s still in Abbott’s Texas. Many young women don’t want to endure a Handmaid’s Tale regime.

Young people in a state where basic medical care is limited by law.

I’m pointing out that the woman-hating atmosphere and laws in Texas are not helping Austin’s plight in general. Oracle isn’t the whole story here.

When you start a relationship as a mistress, the cheating bastard will keep looking even after making a "commitment" to you.

He's not moving his company because of politics, I assume.

(and their employees)? Texas has become corporate unfriendly in nearly all ways except for lack of income tax.

And no, the increasingly regressive politics of Tennessee do not escape me but (apparently) are not a bother to Oracle... And Nashville has a similar overpriced housing issue. And the Tennessee legislature is increasingly trying to destroy any independence for Nashville and Memphis. Sheesh. It seems to me one bad move for another.

I know Humana is in Kentucky

But Austin has a bunch of strikes against it. The housing market has been riding a bubble for a very long time that was due to burst.

The transportation situation is atrocious. The traffic there is as bad as LA, and the city can't do much to change that at this point.

Sure, there's no state income tax, but the property taxes alone often make other states' income+property taxes look like a bargain. Taxes and fees on obscure services are also rampant--and almost always grifter high. It ends up being as expensive to live in high-COLA Texas cities, tax-wise, as it is in places with state income taxes. And sometimes, it's more expensive. A lot more.

If that's not enough, now major corporations must be having a difficult time recruiting and retaining employees thanks to the Texas GQP war on women. No matter how liberal it claims to be, Austin is not exempt from abortion being effectively illegal in the state, you know.

Maybe that's not such a big deal at techbro companies like Oracle or Tesla...but it will be a big deal for the working wives of any Oracle or Tesla employees or potential recruits. Every woman with a brain is thinking, 'sure, we'd probably make enough for me to leave the state for an elective abortion, but what if I have a pregnancy that goes bung? What happens to me then?' And they do not like the answer they see playing out in the real world of emergency obstetrics in Texas.

That's going to cool recruiting and retaining the best workers, and not by a small amount. I think the big companies there are already hurting from that sexist policy, and the employment woes will only become worse as time goes on. Sooner or later, they will have to cut their losses and move to bluer lands, or risk falling behind to competitors in civilized states.

So it's not a surprise that Austin is starting to lose its luster.