Obama takes on zoning laws in bid to build more housing, spur growth

politico.com

3 pointsjtsnow4 comments

This is the time to whip out those executive decrees.

In the US system the Federal government has almost no power to change local zoning directly - except for the big carrot/stick approach implied in the article. The states and local governments have become reliant on streams of federal dollars to build roads - so tying road money to "your zoning law must be this tall to play" seems likely if there is enough buy-in from the civil servants involved.

Little wonder everything they do for you is becoming more expensive.

Fair warning: This is a political opinion, but without a tight feedback loop with executive command and a diffusion of power, you are asking for corruption when you spread out responsibility and incentives to too many actors. It becomes like two horses pulling the cart both left and right, you shall inevitably end up in a ditch.

Judging from how the Russians took the chance on Crimea and the Chinese snubbed Obama recently, they think that there is a lack of rulership.

I'm a fellow traveler with regard to reactionary thought. It boggles my mind that people in the US don't perceive the downsides to mass democracy.

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