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I don’t really blame tech, so much as I blame real estate speculators. The problem isn’t all the money and industry entering the city, it’s people trying to par

I don’t really blame tech, so much as I blame real estate speculators. The problem isn’t all the money and industry entering the city, it’s people trying to parasitically rent-seek off that productive economic activity. If San Francisco was able to build at the level of say a Tokyo or had social housing like Vienna, it’s a pretty much a non-issue. The problem comes when wealthy, land-owning elites conspire with corrupt politicians to prevent housing and other infrastructure from rising to meet the demand of the city’s growth. That being said, the overlap between wealthy tech investors and wealthy landowners blocking construction is not exactly zero.

trilbyglens 3y ago
Institutions in the us have never really worked for the people. It's always been an oligarchy of one type or another. Sf is just the latest chapter in this story. Places like Vienna are more functional because they have governments that are working for the people rather than corporate interests. They have centuries of real social development, rather than what the us has which is only economic development. I think most people in america don't really understand the concept of society. They see the state as a mechanism to keep just enough peace to enable money to be made, and to fight wars. They don't see it as a tool to craft a society that benefits the main thrust of it's people. Despite all the lofty ideals and language in our founding documents it's never been that type of endeavor.