The anti-abundance critique on housing is wrong

Re:The anti-abundance critique on housing is wrong by burnt-resistor on Thursday July 31, 2025 @07:10PM (#44751239)

Neo-neoliberals believe trickle-down voodoo economics will really, really work this time. It's vague hand-waving, utopian magical thinking mixed with arbitrary deregulation, illiberalism, and disregard for the rule of law that appeals to limousine Democrats, people with significant wealth, and people who don't know any better. Ezra Klein is grifting to sell books, speeches, and interviews while appearing to have little contact with life experience or reality he claims to "know better" about.

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Re:The anti-abundance critique on housing is wrong by tptacek on Thursday July 31, 2025 @07:15PM (#44751283)

"Trickle-down" economics is a direct subsidy for high-income earners meant to spur demand. That's the opposite of what increasing the housing supply does.

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Re:The anti-abundance critique on housing is wrong by burnt-resistor on Thursday July 31, 2025 @07:20PM (#44751323)

Totally wrong strawman missing the bigger point. It's still a vague, misguided utopian ideology focused on helping the rich supposedly "overproduce" while doing nothing for everyone else. That's trickle-down economics 101.

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Re:The anti-abundance critique on housing is wrong by jeromegv on Thursday July 31, 2025 @07:55PM (#44751559)

Supply and demand is not an ideology, it’s the most fundamental way that pricing works in a capitalist society. Has been studied for centuries. To think that supply and demand would not apply to housing and instead be trickle down economics is a hell of a statement.

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Re:The anti-abundance critique on housing is wrong by bee_rider on Thursday July 31, 2025 @08:16PM (#44751690)

The Supply and Demand model makes some assumptions that are not always true (perfect competition, for example).

The model isn’t an ideology, it is just a model. But there are a lot of ideological beliefs around this stuff. Some people seem to think that all markets have perfect competition, or that the resulting efficient pricing is inherently always good.

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Re:The anti-abundance critique on housing is wrong by tptacek on Thursday July 31, 2025 @07:21PM (#44751329)

Well, you have the economics wrong, and our ability to handwave at each other about whose policy is "miguided" and "utopian" seems like a pretty boring conversation. Regardless: it's obviously not "trickle-down economics". Trickle-down economics are policies that deliberately and directly subsidize the wealthy in the hopes of spurring demand.

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Re:The anti-abundance critique on housing is wrong by esseph on Thursday July 31, 2025 @07:34PM (#44751419)

Trickle down was a Reagan thing.

I'm very confused by your statements.

I mean it was the Big Beautiful Bill that just added 3-5 trillion in debt and reduced taxes on the very wealthy. I don't think those impotent Dems had any sway in this.

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Re:The anti-abundance critique on housing is wrong by nielsbot on Thursday July 31, 2025 @07:39PM (#44751457)

Dems are also beholden to the wealthy--not sure they tried that hard, overall.

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Re:The anti-abundance critique on housing is wrong by burnt-resistor on Thursday July 31, 2025 @07:49PM (#44751524)

Then you're too focused on political concerns. Neoliberalism doesn't recognize political parties, it recognizes money. As Gore Vidal would say, the Property party.

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Re:The anti-abundance critique on housing is wrong by immibis on Thursday July 31, 2025 @08:06PM (#44751642)

To avoid confusion: neoliberalism has not much to do with the liberals (Democrats). It's closer to libertarianism, but only about money.

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Re:The anti-abundance critique on housing is wrong by esseph on Thursday July 31, 2025 @09:04PM (#44751966)

I think I was confused (speed) reading through it and hit the Democrats part and was just thinking to myself... They have extremely limited power right now, and aren't passing laws?

There are some wild political takes on the internet sometimes, and it can be hard to parse out exactly what the person is trying to say (especially if the reader failed their speed reading comprehension ;-) )

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Re:The anti-abundance critique on housing is wrong by skinnymuch on Thursday July 31, 2025 @08:42PM (#44751838)

Neoliberalism, trickle down, abundance. They are all similar and/or the same.

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Re:The anti-abundance critique on housing is wrong by tomhow on Thursday July 31, 2025 @08:36PM (#44751806)

I have a soft spot for anyone with a background in Turbo Pascal from the 90s (my father built our family business on Turbo Pascal then Delphi through the 80s and 90s, so I grew up with it around the house).

I just wish you'd dial back the combative tone of your comments on HN. You've been engaging in a lot of political/ideological battle recently, and it would be good if you could remind yourself of the guidelines and make an effort to use HN in the intended spirit.

We're trying for curious conversation here. Different perspectives about economics are very welcome. Slurs and swipes are not.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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Re:The anti-abundance critique on housing is wrong by lanfeust6 on Thursday July 31, 2025 @09:22PM (#44752085)

How about for fun, instead of rhetorical devices and snarky projection, just look at the facts. The data on effects of zoning reform in places like Minneapolis and others, about where housing is cheaper wherever it's easier to build, about rent dropping ( https://denverite.com/2025/07/25/denver-rent-prices-drop-q2/) when you build way more units, etc.

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