If enough of us vote for a change then it will either happen, or there will be a Coup.

The truly stellar performers are not rank-and-file, and should be handled differently and with above-board negotiations.

Did Intel, Qualcomm, Cisco, Oracle or move out of California?... I thought not... If they do, then it will be an issue.

Also, Texas allows non-competes and it is this reason, along with the horrible weather, and no state initiative and referendum why I would never move there.
I do like the gun laws in Texas though....

All citizens deserve a basic level of protection against exploitation from greedy entities. This isn't Lake Wobegon where everyone is "above average". As I stated previously, this type of behavior needs to be discouraged. There are too many "fish being shot in the barrel" in this country. Time focus our efforts on something more worthwhile...

The lube is already there: It's called "Employment At Will" and only the US practices this. The rest of the civilized world uses the contract form of employment.

People who are truly good at what they do should be paid well....

Actually it is quite the opposite: MoneyInTheBank == Freedom. If you truly want to be free, you must make the effort and do this, otherwise you will always get the short end of the stick.

If you really want indentured servitude, just continue with the secret no-poach agreements, and the H-1B visa program....

Mod parent up... Somebody gets it

California has one vital thing going for it: Weather. Executives want to live here because of it. Executives want to have there employees close to manage them. (Especially at a start up) That's why Gov. Perry was largely unsuccessful in wooing California tech companies to Texas. While large scale manufacturing can be done anywhere, R&D is still predominately stateside and on the Left coast due to the favorable weather.

Any smart employee will have at least 1 year of living expenses banked. In that case, the opposite could very well happen, and the company could be begging for the employee to return at double the rate of the prior contract.

Taking advantage of ignorance is to be discouraged. This is one of my pet peeves about the American way, and it is a fundamental flaw in the American way of thinking. There should be basic protections in place to prevent these shenanigans from happening in the first place.

Let the free market work its magic. Companies should start using employment contracts for stellar performers so that they don't have to fear them leaving for competitors, and the contract can be renegotiated every 2-3 years, if the stellar employee doesn't like the terms, they can walk when the contract expires.

Time to add anti-poaching to the California Business and Professions code to make it strictly forbidden. This keeps coming up year-after year. There needs to be a law to protect the free market for talent. California should lead the way, but it would be really nice to see it at the Federal level as well.

I guaranteed income is the right solution, but I don't have much faith in it happening; especially in the United States. It goes against the ingrained Puritan work ethic.

When someone becomes unemployable, they currently either go on SSI, or are supported by their families. A TED conference predicted there could be up to 75% of the population in an unemployable state in a few decades' time. There is no way that 75% of the US population could be on SSI or supported by their families.
This isn't going to be pretty and people are going to suffer before it gets better.

It really doesn't matter if the middle and lower classes revolt and march on Washington with their firearms.

The arms allowed to be possessed by the government are no match for the arms which could potentially be used by the US government against its citizenry. Partial list: Full auto weapons, ordnance, drones, chemical weapons and H-Bombs. Do you think puny little pistols, rifles and shotguns would be effective against those?

Do you think that the rest of the world will stand up to the US if they get a bit heavy-handed with their citizenry?

  Any change will need to happen in a more subtle way.

I agree. California is much better:

1. No noncompete contracts written on flypaper.
2. Temperature and and humidity are lower in the summer.
3. Sane limitations on invention agreements
4. More people beleve in evolution instead of creationism.
5. California has initiative and referendum. Texas doesn't.
6. Even though Texas has no personal income tax, property taxes are twice as high as California's.