@kentwillard I don’t want to impugn anyone in particular, but people who identify as centrists tend to triangulate, and a combination of Trump’s election and Musk’s takeover of the media and politics (his threats to primary people have a strong effect i think) have moved the pole against which they triangulate and the positions of prominent centrists. 1/
@kentwillard Some of them you could see the shift during the campaign, they offered guarded praise of Trump’s economic plans when Biden was flailing, becoming more critical of Trump when Harris entered and was leading in the polls, now going hard towards Trump and tech. /fin
what if we just planted an American flag on the glacier next to an ice cold keg of Bud and see how the Danes respond to that.
just because you’ve put it in a graph
doesn’t mean that it’s a fact.
@scott I agree that it also functions like a form of rent control! although i’m not sure i can make a case for its dampening supply particularly.
Screenshot of tweet by Basel Musharbash “The poor have been rebels, but they have never become anarchists: they have got more interest than anyone in there being some decent government. The poor man has a stake in the country, the rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.” –– G. K. Chesterton
@brendan If there were only some kind of institution whose judgments would carry social weight. His claims *can* be countered! But Person A is persuaded, Person B missed or doesn't understand the counter, Person C thinks the counter itself is based on false claims, Person D just trusts Elon. With more argument, all the Persons minds can flip. But without anything to represent a tentative consensus, at any time, who knows who won the argument?
@arthegall we are grateful.
It’s working. Centrist institutions “triangulate” towards him. He increasingly defines one side a set of conventions that presume “both sides” equally worthy, equally suspect. Trump couldn’t really do that, because he couldn’t put together a platform, hold a consistent line. 6/
Elon Musk is epistemological poison in a way Donald Trump never was. 1/
Donald Trump bullshits transparently. He lies constantly, changes his story with his interest, (almost) everybody understands that and looks through it into the values that are motivating the schtick (love them or hate them). 2/
Musk, on the other hand, affects himself a supergenius, a knower of truths. He attaches superficially plausible logics to his lies, concocts stories and “evidence” to support them is relentless support of persuading people to believe what he wants them to believe. 3/
In Trumpworld, there have been the Qs, frightening, but discernibly fringe, weird. 4/
Musk, with his determined activity, with the reach and the epistemological deference his money can buy, is intent on reshaping the mainstream with his tendentiously concocted stories. 5/
Trump was bad enough. But Musk and his crew are much worse. Under Trump, nothing was true, there were always alternative facts. Musk is molding lies of his choosing into a version of truth towards which much of our lucre-tropic society may quietly bend. /fin
@dpp probably a lot! but even in a sane world, the tax value of disneyland would be mostly its activity, while for housing it's mostly just property. which under Prop 13 can't durably overcome the significant service provision actual human residents incur.
@arthegall we're in the game. we have no choice but to play. not making a move is a move. https://zirk.us/@interfluidity/113743570005661957
@BenRossTransit @n8chz i don't think there's much question that Prop 13 has contributed to CA localities string preference for commercial and dispreference for housing. that's not NIMBYism, just sane financial management. sure, new development of any kind pays more, but housing decays much, much more rapidly than commercial in CA. i don't think second order effects in home prices can come anywhere near offsetting this.
would you work in coalition with Steve Bannon to vanquish Elon Musk?
@BenRossTransit @n8chz i'd definitely equate Prop 13 with financial gain, or financial loss avoidance. yes, loss avoidance helps stabilize residence, as rent control also does.
Prop 13 is financial, though, and is a source of supply restrictions in CA. housing is a perishable asset to local tax authorities, where other activities bring perpetual real yields, so the game becomes approve workplaces and commerce here, shift housing approvals elsewhere. 1/
@BenRossTransit @n8chz i agree, though, that resident NIMBYism is largely nonfinancial, people who simply want to preserve what they struggled to secure, the life and neighborhood they like, and don't want to roll the dice on big changes.
i don't agree, though, that residents are going against financial interest. yes, some properties would gain value as neighborhoods change, but some might well lose, and people are wisely risk averse about their largest economic asset. /fin
Prop 13 is rent control for homeowners. And its supply effect occurs where constraints actually bind, at the decision-making of local government, where in supply-constrained CA jurisdictions rents have usually been more than high enough for new construction to pencil absent non-price constraints.
some punters cheer, some moan, over where the ball has rolled just now. but the wheel very much is still in spin.
tech took a tongue lashing in the tech lash so they bought all the tongues.
people think philosophy is obscure and all, but the most urgent crises we face now are basically problems of epistemology.
what you want is people who lie a lot are amplified less.
what you have is people who lie a lot are amplified more.
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