Ok, so I have no shortages of critiscism when it comes to the book. I do agree that they seem to have a foolishly optimistic assumption that the only (or I guess just the principal) hurdle in the way of housing development is regulation. I’m certain corporate greed does play a MAJOR role in this. However, going over what you’ve linked here, I have a couple issues. Most notably, the second point there. It really seems odd to essentially say that we shouldn’t be considering housing reform because we need healthcare reform. Two issues can and do exist, and both issues need to be addressed. The authors focus on one of them. That doesn’t mean they don’t care about the other. As for Kline and Thompson’s call for deregulation, it’s something that rubs me the wrong way initially, but they do a pretty good job demonstrating the way that regulation can be used to slow and even fully prevent development, and how it leads to developers only building luxury housing because the costs to develop are too high. And while this make me think somethng like, “boohoo the rich guy will need to wait a little longer to get a return” we can’t ignore that under our current system, profits are the prime motivator. I’m on my phone right now, so I feel I can’t really dive too deep into your question, but my main point would be that I do agree with some of the critisicm and I don’t think they fully address some pretty big concerns the reader may have with what they’re saying.
I did keep notes on quotes that I felt were important in the book, and then went through and wrote out why I felt they were. A lot of them touch on these topics. If you’re interested, I can share it. Though please keep in mind, I haven’t refined my notes as I wasn’t really expecting to share them.
What I’m getting so far (from the reviews and your comment) is that deregulation could incentivize more housing construction, but there’s a massive asterisk that Klein and Thompson are avoiding.
My opinion so far is they either earnestly believe in the neoliberal promise that “if you just get out of the way, the free market can solve anything” or (more cynically) they’re seeding the terrain edify buzzwords for a Democratic comeback campaign.
Either way, you’ve convinced me to put it on my to-read list.
Yeah, I’ll send you a google docs link. I mean, they provide a lot of great examples about how regulation is halting progress on projects that pretty much everyone, regardless of political ideology, can agree are good. So, they have a point. But I feel like their conclusion is somewhat lacking in substance. This is not to say it’s not a great read. It’s just something that would benefit further analysis. Definitely let me know when you’ve finished reading it, if you wanna discuss it more. I don’t really know anyone who’s interested in this topic, so it’s nice to get a chance to discuss it.
Ok, so I have no shortages of critiscism when it comes to the book. I do agree that they seem to have a foolishly optimistic assumption that the only (or I guess just the principal) hurdle in the way of housing development is regulation. I’m certain corporate greed does play a MAJOR role in this. However, going over what you’ve linked here, I have a couple issues. Most notably, the second point there. It really seems odd to essentially say that we shouldn’t be considering housing reform because we need healthcare reform. Two issues can and do exist, and both issues need to be addressed. The authors focus on one of them. That doesn’t mean they don’t care about the other. As for Kline and Thompson’s call for deregulation, it’s something that rubs me the wrong way initially, but they do a pretty good job demonstrating the way that regulation can be used to slow and even fully prevent development, and how it leads to developers only building luxury housing because the costs to develop are too high. And while this make me think somethng like, “boohoo the rich guy will need to wait a little longer to get a return” we can’t ignore that under our current system, profits are the prime motivator. I’m on my phone right now, so I feel I can’t really dive too deep into your question, but my main point would be that I do agree with some of the critisicm and I don’t think they fully address some pretty big concerns the reader may have with what they’re saying.
I did keep notes on quotes that I felt were important in the book, and then went through and wrote out why I felt they were. A lot of them touch on these topics. If you’re interested, I can share it. Though please keep in mind, I haven’t refined my notes as I wasn’t really expecting to share them.
If you’re down, absolutely.
What I’m getting so far (from the reviews and your comment) is that deregulation could incentivize more housing construction, but there’s a massive asterisk that Klein and Thompson are avoiding.
My opinion so far is they either earnestly believe in the neoliberal promise that “if you just get out of the way, the free market can solve anything” or (more cynically) they’re seeding the terrain edify buzzwords for a Democratic comeback campaign.
Either way, you’ve convinced me to put it on my to-read list.
Yeah, I’ll send you a google docs link. I mean, they provide a lot of great examples about how regulation is halting progress on projects that pretty much everyone, regardless of political ideology, can agree are good. So, they have a point. But I feel like their conclusion is somewhat lacking in substance. This is not to say it’s not a great read. It’s just something that would benefit further analysis. Definitely let me know when you’ve finished reading it, if you wanna discuss it more. I don’t really know anyone who’s interested in this topic, so it’s nice to get a chance to discuss it.