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> how much of a superpower simple shoe-leather reporting actually is. Derek Thompson's an incredibly sharp writer, but not really a subject matter expert on hou
by regularization 1y ago
> how much of a superpower simple shoe-leather reporting actually is. Derek Thompson's an incredibly sharp writer, but not really a subject matter expert on housing economics; all he did here was read papers and call up the authorities they cited, and the narrative behind those papers collapsed.
Matthew Stoller called the people Derek Thompson called, and some said Derek had misrepresented their opinions. So shoe leather caused the narrative of this so-called reputation to collapse as well.
- tptacek 1y agoLink? I'd love to read countervailing reporting.
- tptacek 1y agoI want to say something about Stoller bringing a knife to a gunfight but really this fight only required Thompson to have a telephone. https://x.com/DKThomp/status/1951083395146231957 https://x.com/DKThomp/status/1951083395146231957 What did Stoller think was going to happen? Calling people up on the phone is Thompson's entire schtick at this point.
- educasean 1y agoAppreciate the fact digging!
- jdminhbg 1y ago[flagged]
- dang 1y agoPlease don't post personal attacks to Hacker News. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- jdminhbg 1y agoUnderstood, but it's also the case that people frequently cite Stoller as if he's a legitimate analyst like a New York Times or Wall Street Journal reporter with skills and editors, and he doesn't actually understand any of the subjects he's trying to report on. I'll dial the snark back.
- peterfirefly 1y agoI read that as a very useful public service message. It also seems to be true. It also seems to be about a public person.
- NewJazz 1y agoMusharbash left a meaty reply in the thread: In any event, my argument was also that three other factors — particularly financial policy changes starting in the 1980s that deprived small builders of bank capital, helped Wall Street to exert control over large builders and impose production discipline on them... https://xcancel.com/DKThomp/status/1951089471501508766#m https://xcancel.com/DKThomp/status/1951089471501508766#m
- Matticus_Rex 1y agoMusharbash's argument, however, is dependent on the exercise of oligopoly power (whether he admits that or not, and given that he's long argued that the oligopoly is present...), and there's no evidence of it! He tries to twist Lambert's words to say he's only saying there's no evidence of builders throttling at a national scale, thereby leaving room for his argument that it's happening in particular markets (https://x.com/musharbash_b/status/1951133245342404888 https://x.com/musharbash_b/status/1951133245342404888). The only problem? Lambert clearly isn't specifying a national scale when he says "US," because he then continues by providing an explanation for the local weakening seen in some metros. Musharbash seems smart enough to understand that, which leaves intentional misrepresentation. He's doing damage control, and hoping to wave his hands hard enough that it isn't noticed.
- NewJazz 1y agoPlease don't link to x.com, it is impossible to read a conversation there without an account.
- davidw 1y agoBTW, you can use 'xcancel' (or even post the Blue Sky links) if you don't want to give traffic to the guy reposting what's in the screenshot: https://bsky.app/profile/whstancil.bsky.social/post/3lv6ul7xkjs24 https://bsky.app/profile/whstancil.bsky.social/post/3lv6ul7x...
- potato3732842 1y ago> and some said Derek had misrepresented their opinions Because he did? Or because once the entire cumulative picture got painted they looked bad and needed to walk their opinions back?
- kortilla 1y agoThat didn’t age well. Based on the response it sounded like he made it up whole cloth or just completely ignored big portions of what the people he called said?