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>Housing is not a standalone crisis, but a symptom of a larger dysfunctional economic engine that simply does not work for the majority. Great point. Healthcar
by intalentive 1y ago
>Housing is not a standalone crisis, but a symptom of a larger dysfunctional economic engine that simply does not work for the majority.
Great point. Healthcare, debt, and housing affordability are interlinked issues that stem from one root: a financialized economy that benefits a tiny minority of rent-seekers at the expense of productive activity and the public at large.
Three potential outcomes of this trajectory:
1. Permanent extreme inequality enforced by a "post-liberal" surveillance state.
2. A moderating force, an FDR-like reformer, who represses capital for its own good.
3. Political instability and violence a la Luigi Mangione or worse.
- inglor_cz 1y agoHere in Czechia housing costs are absolutely terrible, which is at least partly caused by an insane, Byzantine permitting process under which a basic block of flats in Prague can spend a decade in bureaucratic limbo before the construction can begin. Yet this is not really a problem of financialized economy, the roots are elsewhere: a. lots of NIMBYs, mostly curmudgeonly old people who want to block any change around them and, being in pension, have a lot of time to throw at thwarting anything. My personal experience is that they aren't really looking for money or profit, they just Simply Hate Anything New, Period, b. the ease of weaponizing environmental and planning regulations against any building project, by the means of lawsuits, c. local mayors have de facto (though not de iure) influence on the permitting process and they don't want to lose this tool of power over their constituents. It is an efficient way how to bash your enemies and reward your friends. From what I know about the US, at least a. and b. apply in many places, too.