Neoliberal policy has failed the working class. That’s what’s driven so many people toward Trump’s brand of populism. We need an alternative that actually prioritizes working people, not just the “free market” interests of a different set of billionaires. This is not a real solution.
Neoliberal policy as defined in Abundance didn't fail the working class, because those policies weren't put in place in most blue cities. Housing is expensive in San Francisco precisely because the reforms outlined in Abundance weren't made. Real estate in SF is about as far from "free market" as you can get.
The denialism of market forces is one of the worst aspects of progressives. Like it or not, the only way housing is going to become cheap is if there so much housing available that landlords actually have to compete for tenants.
You can build public housing, and have a 20 year waiting list for it. You can have rent control, but that only benefits long-time residents at the expense of newcomers. But the only thing that will make cheap housing widely available is to make it easy to build, so developers can saturate the market with housing.
Congratulations on becoming a Marxist! Please inform the other comrade in this discussion that Karl would have strangled Dean Preston with his bare hands, because Marx, the materialist, cared about the actual conditions of the people, and rejected idealism, i.e. "I am a tenants' rights advocate".
Did you respond to the right comment? I'm not sure how you arrived at the conclusion that I have even a remotely positive view of communism or attempts by the government to replace free markets.
Comments
Neoliberal policy has failed the working class. That’s what’s driven so many people toward Trump’s brand of populism. We need an alternative that actually prioritizes working people, not just the “free market” interests of a different set of billionaires. This is not a real solution.
Neoliberal policy as defined in Abundance didn't fail the working class, because those policies weren't put in place in most blue cities. Housing is expensive in San Francisco precisely because the reforms outlined in Abundance weren't made. Real estate in SF is about as far from "free market" as you can get.
The denialism of market forces is one of the worst aspects of progressives. Like it or not, the only way housing is going to become cheap is if there so much housing available that landlords actually have to compete for tenants.
You can build public housing, and have a 20 year waiting list for it. You can have rent control, but that only benefits long-time residents at the expense of newcomers. But the only thing that will make cheap housing widely available is to make it easy to build, so developers can saturate the market with housing.
Congratulations on becoming a Marxist! Please inform the other comrade in this discussion that Karl would have strangled Dean Preston with his bare hands, because Marx, the materialist, cared about the actual conditions of the people, and rejected idealism, i.e. "I am a tenants' rights advocate".
Did you respond to the right comment? I'm not sure how you arrived at the conclusion that I have even a remotely positive view of communism or attempts by the government to replace free markets.
Marx was certainly smarter than many of his followers.
Now Deng Xiaoping, he was a really smart communist. "It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice"
Marx was smart enough to mooch off of his friend's attic space for free.