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I'm going to submit that some of these COVID protests are not COVID protests. They are inequality protests, but seriously talking about inequality has been push

by api 5y ago

I'm going to submit that some of these COVID protests are not COVID protests. They are inequality protests, but seriously talking about inequality has been pushed out of the Overton window across much of the American political landscape. As a result the anger "sublimates" out about other issues. The right does a good job guiding the anger of the working class toward issues that have nothing to do with inequality like COVID, race, immigrants, trans people, etc. Meanwhile the left offers up a totally out of touch message that doesn't resonate at all, or offers them welfare without understanding that these people consider welfare to be something to be ashamed about. They want productive work. You know... we have a housing crisis in this country. A lot of these people could find work building adequate housing for the US population, but that would threaten high real estate valuations... We also have a lot of infrastructure that needs building, but we may have to wait for the generation that was brainwashed to believe that infrastructure (except more roads) is communism to retire. There are plenty of jobs but we won't create them. We'd better get on it.

finnh 5y ago
Such a good point about housing. Also, green new deal jobs upgrading the energy efficiency of our housing stock. Lots of work to be done.
ben_w 5y ago
I have a suspicion that housing will stop being a crisis due to a combination of: 1) the main expense is the land, the houses themselves are cheap, so anything that causes existing-but-undesirable houses to now be in a commuter zone increases useful supply 2) self-driving vehicles will allow people to commute while asleep or doing their hobbies (this is a terrible idea with current tech, people already get in trouble for doing both in existing self-driving cars) 3) remote working (we already have a lot of digital entertainment and socialising) If I’m wrong, I expect it to be because all this makes meatspace location into an even bigger status symbol than it is already.
- shkkmo 5y ago
  > self-driving vehicles will allow people to commute while asleep or doing their hobbies This doesn't eliminate the traffic issues and energy consumption associated with long commutes. Self-driving cars are a substitute for the efficiency benefits of density. If anything, the expansion of remote work has just pushed the housing crisis into more housing markets.
  - yazaddaruvala 5y ago
    > pushed the housing crisis into more housing markets. FWIW I prefer density but isn’t this good? The reality of yesterday was too few zip codes with too much demand and not enough good will to increase supply. Instead we now have a lot more zip codes that can make decentralized decisions about building more housing. Hopefully they vote for more development and use it as a way to stimulate jobs in their local construction industry. How can this be a bad thing?
    - shkkmo 5y ago
      The new zipcodes face the same economic incentives to restrict supply. Property owners want to see their holdings increase in value and generally have more political power. I don't see any reason why the new hot markets are going to do anything different from the old hot markets. Perhaps some will, but renters and potential homeowners will get priced out of more markets
      - yazaddaruvala 5y ago
        Because the long term benefit of density ends up lifting the local economy a lot more than the property prices go down in the short term. Especially with remote work, the extra income brought in adds to the local coffee, haircut and food scene, and increased overall property taxes on the same land make the city money. People just don't think in that long a timeframe but there are localities which do and hopefully it works for them and we all get to learn the timeframe for benefits (or the lack of benefits) from such a change. https://www.theurbanist.org/2020/08/12/portland-passes-sweeping-zoning-reform/ https://www.theurbanist.org/2020/08/12/portland-passes-sweep...

by api 5y ago

finnh 5y ago

Such a good point about housing. Also, green new deal jobs upgrading the energy efficiency of our housing stock. Lots of work to be done.

ben_w 5y ago

I have a suspicion that housing will stop being a crisis due to a combination of: 1) the main expense is the land, the houses themselves are cheap, so anything that causes existing-but-undesirable houses to now be in a commuter zone increases useful supply 2) self-driving vehicles will allow people to commute while asleep or doing their hobbies (this is a terrible idea with current tech, people already get in trouble for doing both in existing self-driving cars) 3) remote working (we already have a lot of digital entertainment and socialising) If I’m wrong, I expect it to be because all this makes meatspace location into an even bigger status symbol than it is already.

shkkmo 5y ago
> self-driving vehicles will allow people to commute while asleep or doing their hobbies This doesn't eliminate the traffic issues and energy consumption associated with long commutes. Self-driving cars are a substitute for the efficiency benefits of density. If anything, the expansion of remote work has just pushed the housing crisis into more housing markets.
- yazaddaruvala 5y ago
  > pushed the housing crisis into more housing markets. FWIW I prefer density but isn’t this good? The reality of yesterday was too few zip codes with too much demand and not enough good will to increase supply. Instead we now have a lot more zip codes that can make decentralized decisions about building more housing. Hopefully they vote for more development and use it as a way to stimulate jobs in their local construction industry. How can this be a bad thing?
  - shkkmo 5y ago
    The new zipcodes face the same economic incentives to restrict supply. Property owners want to see their holdings increase in value and generally have more political power. I don't see any reason why the new hot markets are going to do anything different from the old hot markets. Perhaps some will, but renters and potential homeowners will get priced out of more markets
    - yazaddaruvala 5y ago
      Because the long term benefit of density ends up lifting the local economy a lot more than the property prices go down in the short term. Especially with remote work, the extra income brought in adds to the local coffee, haircut and food scene, and increased overall property taxes on the same land make the city money. People just don't think in that long a timeframe but there are localities which do and hopefully it works for them and we all get to learn the timeframe for benefits (or the lack of benefits) from such a change. https://www.theurbanist.org/2020/08/12/portland-passes-sweeping-zoning-reform/ https://www.theurbanist.org/2020/08/12/portland-passes-sweep...