Speaking only for myself, I have a problem with Arizona enacting (and enforcing) laws that are plainly discriminatory and largely driven by old white men angrily brandishing guns. Arizona is, from my perspective, out of step with the vast majority of These United States.

But that's just me.

I'm an electrical engineer in Phoenix who is actively trying to leave. You pretty much have Intel, Honeywell, and Freescale (ha!) on a large scale, a bunch of other companies with satellite offices locally, and some smaller startup types. From the inside, it certainly doesn't feel special relative to any other large city, and there still is nowhere near the density of tech companies that Silicon Valley has. Could it get there? I suppose. But so could Austin, or Seattle, or Irvine, and so on.

I can tell you where the next Silicon Vally is, and you folks down there in promoting Phoenix won't want to hear it:
San Francisco.

Not only are people not wanting to move out of California, they are moving to the only place even more expensive than Silicon Vally, which is good old San Francisco.

http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/San-Francisco-office-sales-booming-3750956.php [sfgate.com]

The reason is because the talent is here, and the talent WANTS to come here. Young 20-somethings who are generally creative and technology-oriented don't want to move to Phoenix because 1) It's too hot and 2) It's too conservative.

Sorry SV wannabees...San Francisco is the place to be.

I live in Phoenix (actually Tempe, right next door). I've lived here since 2000, so I think I know something about it.

This town is a dump. The idea that hordes of techies and young people are going to want to move here to suffer through 115-degree weather is just idiotic. There is no culture here, very few decent places to eat, and the place is full of meth-heads and illegals. It's been rated by several places as the worst city in America to drive in, mainly because it's so chaotic and because there's no consistent driving style (the frequent road-rage shootings don't help). The local economy is shit, and violent home invasions are common. There is some tech industry, both in the north of the metro area and the southeast part, with Intel and Microchip having substation presences, along with some shitty defense contractors like General Dynamics where engineers go to die. The weather is horrible; it wasn't that bad 12 years ago, but it's gotten hotter, and stays hotter for longer now. You can't bicycle here (one of my favorite outdoor activities) because of the heat most of the year, and also because of the dangerous speeding drivers and lack of safe bike paths. And there's really nothing to do here except for walking around the mall. Even worse, they're trying to phase out the indoor air-conditioned malls in favor of these stupid outdoor malls; who the hell wants to walk around in 115 degree heat to shop? They're nice for about 3 months in the winter, and that's it. They used to have Mill Avenue in Tempe that was kinda fun to walk along, which used to have a bunch of quirky little independent shops, but the Tempe government drove all those out of business to make room for a bunch of mall stores and high-rises, which of course went south when the economy crashed, so most of the place is boarded up now.

This place sucks, and I can't wait to move out in a couple of months. If a bunch of startups do move here, it's going to be short-lived because cool, hip, young employees aren't going to stick around this cesspool for long.

This is a myth perpetuated by people who pull reasons out of hats and other dark orifices to empty your wallet. If any of this smoke had even a passing hint of reality to it, we would be seeing a global pattern that would bear this out. Such a pattern is embarrassingly absent. Here's what is present,

Americas spend more for medicine than any people on the planet; per capita: $7,146, as a percentage of GDP: 15.2%
Our life expectancy is 42 (50th for new borns) in the world falling behind Cuba and Chile, Our child mortality rate is one of the highest in the industrialized world.
The WHO rated American medicine over all at 72 of 191, being beaten by Mexico, Sri Lanka and Uraguay, but tied in a dead heat with Surinam.
Medical care is the number 1 reason for bankruptcy being a a significant cause in 46.2% and mentioned in 62.1% of all bankruptcies.
The United States is one of only 3 industrialize countries (the other two being Mexico and Turkey) on the planet that failed to cover virtually all of their citizens (at least 98.4%) with complete medical coverage. As a result, a 2009 Harvard study reported that 44,900 American's die needlessly every year due to lack of access to affordable medical care.

We have a ridiculous run away malpractice problem, for profit hospitals that have no problem charging $10 for an antacid tablet that costs less than a penny, semiprivate hospital rooms that can cost $20,000 a day, doctors charging $250 for a 30 second visit, pharmaceutical companies who no longer produce useful drugs, but keep pumping out analogues of prior cash cow meds to keep drug patents and fat profits coming, while at the same time moving heaven and earth to sabotage and undermine the generic drug industry, and a greedy insurance system that gladly spins the whole disaster on and on as it take ever fatter slices for itself. This is the picture of an industry rife with greed, gluttony, payola, bribery and an utter disregard for human life or dignity.

Anyone who thinks for a moment that this industry doesn't need to be regulated within an inch of its existence, has no clue to the depth and breath of the depravity that has been visited on the American people. It has passed being a bad joke, its beyond obscene, it is now a full on tragedy, a national shame, an indictment of our system of enterprise and government. It is a blight on our children and nothing less than beating it back into a not for profit service designed to protect and promote the health and well being of PEOPLE is an acceptable answer.