Aside from tech and entertainment (which even in those industries most people are not making a *killing* , yet still doing pretty well), I think by nature of being on the west coast, it’s an entry point to the far east. So with that, a lot of people come to the more populated urban areas and end up bringing a lot of opportunity. We’re talking people with money to spend and able to consume at various level. That has to be a net positive for our state’s economy, for local businesses, retail, and the real estate industry… Also, a lot of these more well to do people want to immigrate here (legally) and park their money/assets here in the U.S. because they themselves have more trust in our legal/financial system than what happens overseas..And they’ll be the ones paying federal/state/local taxes when they do.
I don’t think things are as bad as people make them out to be.. Expensive.. Absolutely… But it does come with a lot of perks too. It’s probably also why for folks that want to sustain themselves here, they need to figure out how to tap into that stream of new money, directly or indirectly, whether it’s as a business owner/retail owner/ independent contractor, or as an employee of a firm that taps into that stream…It wouldn’t hurt if we all did, frankly.
I’d say relative to the rest of the bigger cities, san diego is actually lagging in terms of opportunties relative to everywhere else right now. We didn’t get hit as bad, but we certainly aren’t rocking like Silicon Valley is right now or L.A.
