Cool December Days and the Sunshine Tax

This is one of the times of year when I remember how much I like Southern California. Many areas of the United States have snow and below freezing weather. Today, here, we are in the 60s, with partly cloudy skies. It might go down to the mid-40s at night.

Sure, I've gotten out the blankets and throws, turned on the heater, put on the heating blanket at night--but by many people's standards, this is very pleasant weather indeed.

True, I miss the fall colors (we really don't have seasons here) and I like the snow for visiting (although not living in it long-term). Southern California can get way too hot in the late Summer and early Fall--although not this year, which was fairly mild. I don't like the hot weather, but when we get to this time of year, it is hard not too like our weather.

I was talking to a person the other day (an academic) who said it was hard to get jobs in the area partly because everyone else wants to move here for those jobs. I gave him the line about "sunshine tax" and he had never heard it before. That surprised me. I thought the "sunshine tax" concept was common knowledge.

If you live in SoCal, you pay for the beautiful location and weather with more crowds, more traffic, higher prices, higher property costs, and more competition for jobs. If I wanted to move to Iowa or Michigan or other states where people aren't clamoring to move, maybe I'd have a better chance at finding an academic job and I'd certainly not deal with the high prices and crowds around here. But then I'd have to deal with the location and weather--two things I don't want to do--plus I'd be away from family.

Thanks, I'll pay the sunshine tax to stay here.