Some Red State/Blue State Indicia

combined market cap of NVIDIA, Apple, Alphabet and Meta as a % of total U.S. market cap

2019 8.9%

May 2024 16.7%

The Golden Geese always come to the rescue.
 
It is striking not just how concentrated market valuation has become in a few firms but the geographic locations of those firms. Below is the top 5 by market value by decade:

1950s AT&T, GM, Exxon, DuPont, GE
1960s AT&T, IBM, GM, Exxon, Texaco
1970s IBM, AT&T, Exxon, GM, Eastman Kodak
1980s IBM, Exxon, AT&T, GE, GM
1990s GE, Microsoft, Exxon, Walmart, Coca-Cola
2000s ExxonMobile, GE, Microsoft, Walmart, Pfizer
2010s Apple, ExxonMobile, Microsoft, Alphabet, Berkshire Hathaway
2020s Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet

#6 for the 2020s by the way is yet another West Coast-domiciled firm: Meta.
 
nsacpi said:
It is striking not just how concentrated market valuation has become in a few firms but the geographic locations of those firms. Below is the top 5 by market value by decade:

1950s AT&T, GM, Exxon, DuPont, GE
1960s AT&T, IBM, GM, Exxon, Texaco
1970s IBM, AT&T, Exxon, GM, Eastman Kodak
1980s IBM, Exxon, AT&T, GE, GM
1990s GE, Microsoft, Exxon, Walmart, Coca-Cola
2000s ExxonMobile, GE, Microsoft, Walmart, Pfizer
2010s Apple, ExxonMobile, Microsoft, Alphabet, Berkshire Hathaway
2020s Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet

#6 for the 2020s by the way is yet another West Coast-domiciled firm: Meta.
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Almost as if it was by design
 
chop2chip said:
Almost as if it was by design
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It is an interesting question why Silicon Valley is where it is and not somewhere else. When my daughter graduated from Stanford the head of the computer science department discussed this question at the departmental graduation ceremony. I don't entirely buy his argument, but he drew a line from the gold rush and culture of risk taking that grew out of that to today's Silicon Valley. Leland Stanford got rich as a railroad executive who headed west during the gold rush. He later became governor and among other things was known for saying some pretty racist things about Chinese immigrants. He referred to them as an inferior race and the dregs of Asia. Sounds sadly familiar. And somewhat ironic given the strong Asian presence in both the student body and faculty today.

My daughter btw refused to even entertain a career among the nerdy bros of Silicon Valley. She just didn't want to be part of that misogynistic culture. There are better places for her talents.
 
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Woof - Can only imagine how bad the guys are at that stage since this is the first time they have any power over the opposite sex.

Meaning - I can understand why your daughter chose to go in a different route.
 
thethe said:
Woof - Can only imagine how bad the guys are at that stage since this is the first time they have any power over the opposite sex.

Meaning - I can understand why your daughter chose to go in a different route.
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She still works in the field she would worked in if she had gone to Silicon Valley. Just in a different place.
 
Branches from the same tree explains the history of tech and Silicon Valley. If silicon development sprang out of Denver in the 1960’s, we’d be referring to it as the Silicon Slopes.
 
chop2chip said:
Branches from the same tree explains the history of tech and Silicon Valley. If silicon development sprang out of Denver in the 1960’s, we’d be referring to it as the Silicon Slopes.
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You'd be surprised though at how many places once looked like the world center of innovation only to lose that leadership. I imagine Silicon Valley will fade away some day like the others. But so far it has been remarkably durable and spectacularly successful.
 
nsacpi said:
You'd be surprised though at how many places once looked like the world center of innovation only to lose that leadership. I imagine Silicon Valley will fade away some day like the others. But so far it has been remarkably durable and spectacularly successful.
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Agreed. Americans should be immensely proud of Google’s, Apple’s, Microsoft’s, Nvidia’s, etc. success. Contrast to their Japanese contemporaries, many of whom were much bigger in the 80’s, they are significant reason for American superiority.
 
nsacpi said:
It is an interesting question why Silicon Valley is where it is and not somewhere else. When my daughter graduated from Stanford the head of the computer science department discussed this question at the departmental graduation ceremony. I don't entirely buy his argument, but he drew a line from the gold rush and culture of risk taking that grew out of that to today's Silicon Valley. Leland Stanford got rich as a railroad executive who headed west during the gold rush. He later became governor and among other things was known for saying some pretty racist things about Chinese immigrants. He referred to them as an inferior race and the dregs of Asia. Sounds sadly familiar. And somewhat ironic given the strong Asian presence in both the student body and faculty today.

My daughter btw refused to even entertain a career among the nerdy bros of Silicon Valley. She just didn't want to be part of that misogynistic culture. There are better places for her talents.
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Imagine if WIlliam Shockley stayed in NJ or moved to Mass, or Arizona, etc. One man's vision changed a whole area massively. And he was supposedly such a massive asshole
 
GOKdUFxWYAAuIEi
 
Then why does he have more support from black people and hispanics than any Republican president in decades?
 
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