I support the vote for Austin. I live in Chicago. After reading "The Fate of the States"[1] by financial analyst Meredith Whitney, I believe Austin is a very viable alternative to Silicon Valley purely for how the state of Texas manages its finances.

I took the relevant information from her book, which is about how debt-burdened states like California are hurting their long-term economic prospects and how states like Texas are currently growing and poised for future growth, and wrote a blog post titled "Is California's Budget Threatening Silicon Valley?"[2]

It didn't get much play on HN, but I think it's full of very important data that should be discussed by the startup community.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/dp/159184570X

[2]http://loganfrederick.com/blog/is-californias-budget-endange...

Meredith Whitney's book is about exactly this, that U.S. economic gravity is shifting "away from the coasts" for a bit. (It just came out today, so I can't say I've read it, just that I've really been looking forward to it.) For those who aren't from the world of finance: Meredith Whitney was one of the first people on wall street to predict the mortgage crisis. The book: (not an affiliate link) http://www.amazon.com/Fate-States-Geography-American-Prosper...