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I agree that we should have a lot more to show for it, but I think it might be worth taking a look at how San Francisco's museums, opera, symphony, music venues, sports venues, public transportation, and public spending compare to other cities of similar (or even greater) size

The two large hospitals that have received nine digits of oligarch support have something to say about “nothing“; also the symphony is nearly broke and has had near-zero support from the broligarchy. IMHO in 2026 that’s fine and even appropriate, but the story is complicated.

It's true that San Francisco has a lot more transit, sports teams, cultural institutions, etc, but most of them were built before the 2010's tech boom.

Sure, but SF also had the 1990s tech boom, the 1980s finance/corporate HQ boom, the post WWII economic boom, the WWII shipbuilding boom, the post-quake boom, the gold rush… San Francisco has arguably had immense wealth flowing through it since its name was changed from Yerba Buena to San Francisco

san francisco has cut its muni service like 4 times in the last 30 years and never brought it back!

If only there was an illustration of big sums of money being given to workers, who in turn, give those big sums of money to landlords and property owners!

Some people forgot to buy housing at the right time.

1. Pick the right parents 2. Pick the right year to be born 3. Buy a house in ~1981 in Silicon Valley Thank you for coming to my TED Talk

Why does progress lead to poverty?

A housing crisis isn’t always about poverty, it’s just a crisis of not meeting housing demand with the appropriate supply. That results in homelessness.

He knows that, he's referring to the Henry George book

I wouldn't say the "only thing," but yes: preferences, mostly revealed, sometimes admitted. SF is geographically weird, and the only way that growth was going to be sustained was to become Manhattan or Singapore, and the brahmins did not want that. With OpenAI and Anthropic both HQ'd here ...

Yes, living in a city like Baltimore at other end of spectrum I cant help but think about this & SF’s unresolved homelessness crisis.

Sigh. You take this post as fact when it’s more like fact absent.

NIMBYism is the most visible, yet at the same time, unappreciated ruinous structural killer of American prosperity for the working class. NIMBYism has unarguably played an outsized role in stifling our hottest, best cities the most, and absolutely has done damage to the politics of this country.

NYC is practically capital of the world and just about the only thing that ultimately hampers it is NIMByism. Because NIMBYism is what leads to stagnation and rising costs of living. NIMBYism discourages investment.

During the 2010s, San Francisco's economy grew by a sustained 9-10% a year, a speed similar to what many countries go through when they first industrialize, and a speed that is practically unheard of otherwise.

But GDP growth doesn't always translate directly into income grow for median households. Classic example is Taiwan. Household income growth lagging way behind tech driven GDP growth.

Other than Salesforce Tower, the tallest building west of Mississippi, and upgraded Exploratorium, can't think of anything? Lot more Waymo for sure, which is a huge tourist attraction for international visitors. Recent review is better than robot taxis in China.