2021: Making a Living vs Making a Life

Five Years Later: an Idea Whose Time Has Come

This was in my facebook timeline, shared 5 years ago today:

Nothing — and everything — has changed since 2016.

In 2017 this photo comparing the Austin skyline from 2010 to the one in 2017 is made the rounds on facebook, with the expected laments about how things have changed from the one where we knew all the names of the buildings to a skyline dominated by bright shiny objects.

Each of those buildings represent external interests investing in Austin, not as a community, but as a transaction space in which they generate money that’s then extracted back out to their locations far from Austin. Thus, our beloved ATX has become the world’s ATM. ~ Turning ATX into an ATM

Austin is still a great place to make a living…if you’re in high tech.

As of November, 35 companies had relocated to or opened new facilities in the Austin area in 2020 alone, according to data from the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

‘Austin has many qualities that make it an attractive option. “There are a lot of things about this community — it’s got a great local flavor, a great music scene, it’s an outdoors city,” said Laura Huffman, president and CEO of the Austin Chamber, as reported by CNN Business. “That’s where people want to be. I think 2020 has taught us all that we have more…