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There’s plenty of tax revenue to fund nearly all such priorities. It’s sadly squandered, in large part because voters have ideological commitments to confiscati

by cltby 6y ago

There’s plenty of tax revenue to fund nearly all such priorities. It’s sadly squandered, in large part because voters have ideological commitments to confiscation, and no such commitments to effective government.

AsyncAwait 6y ago
> in large part because voters have ideological commitments to confiscation, and no such commitments to effective government. I highly doubt it's that rather than the fact special interest are prioritized over 'effective government' in large parts due to some conservatives and neoliberals promoting the idea of corruption == freedom. When there's a thousand ways to legally bribe politicians, of course there's no incentive for effective government.
api 6y ago
The problem isn’t even an ideological commitment to confiscation. The problem is one of simple corruption and incompetence. Nobody is willing to confront bad urban planning, out of control NIMBYism, corruption in government contracting, etc. More money won’t fix a broken government any more than more revenue fixes dying companies. IMHO one of the roots of all evil was proposition 13, which created a kind of property owners caste with a vested interest in actually making the housing problem worse. From that flows the homeless crisis, as housing costs start at upper middle class income levels anywhere in the state that also has jobs. The problem is that proposition 13 is a hole from which it would be really hard to dig the state out from. Any politician who challenges it is voted out instantly by the landed caste as well as by the financially vulnerable younger folks who over-leveraged themselves into unaffordable homes and would be ruined if housing fell. The infrastructure problem is also partly related to the housing problem. Nobody dares change anything because it might pop the housing bubble. Prop 13 was a Republican thing, which shows that this isn’t just a Democrat or “too much liberalism” problem. It’s deeper than that.
- jelliclesfarm 6y ago
  disagree. visible homelessness flows from drug addiction and mental illness. everyone else is unhappy not living in someone else's nice house that they think they deserve instead. its not because of NIMBYism. i support NIMBYs. if you dont care about your backyard, who will..its nuts to hand over your backyard to those who dont even live there. entirely irrational and illogical. do you expect some random stranger to run your house and manage your budget and take instructions from them? same thing.

by cltby 6y ago

AsyncAwait 6y ago

> in large part because voters have ideological commitments to confiscation, and no such commitments to effective government. I highly doubt it's that rather than the fact special interest are prioritized over 'effective government' in large parts due to some conservatives and neoliberals promoting the idea of corruption == freedom. When there's a thousand ways to legally bribe politicians, of course there's no incentive for effective government.

api 6y ago

The problem isn’t even an ideological commitment to confiscation. The problem is one of simple corruption and incompetence. Nobody is willing to confront bad urban planning, out of control NIMBYism, corruption in government contracting, etc. More money won’t fix a broken government any more than more revenue fixes dying companies. IMHO one of the roots of all evil was proposition 13, which created a kind of property owners caste with a vested interest in actually making the housing problem worse. From that flows the homeless crisis, as housing costs start at upper middle class income levels anywhere in the state that also has jobs. The problem is that proposition 13 is a hole from which it would be really hard to dig the state out from. Any politician who challenges it is voted out instantly by the landed caste as well as by the financially vulnerable younger folks who over-leveraged themselves into unaffordable homes and would be ruined if housing fell. The infrastructure problem is also partly related to the housing problem. Nobody dares change anything because it might pop the housing bubble. Prop 13 was a Republican thing, which shows that this isn’t just a Democrat or “too much liberalism” problem. It’s deeper than that.

jelliclesfarm 6y ago
disagree. visible homelessness flows from drug addiction and mental illness. everyone else is unhappy not living in someone else's nice house that they think they deserve instead. its not because of NIMBYism. i support NIMBYs. if you dont care about your backyard, who will..its nuts to hand over your backyard to those who dont even live there. entirely irrational and illogical. do you expect some random stranger to run your house and manage your budget and take instructions from them? same thing.