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This is one of the best analyses of left anti-development politics that I’ve read. While the specifics refer to California in 2025, the broad outlines characterize housing opposition in most deep blue states and cities.

therebuild.pubCalifornia’s Anti-Development AddictionThere’s a maddening dynamic going on in California housing policy.

26/10/26, 6:00 pm7 reposts55 likes

Barbara Samuels

@bsamuels72.bsky.social

17h

Most NIMBYs are right, not left. Is there a sequel eviscerating them? CA housing politics are a special kind of hell. Not generalizable to the whole country or even all blue states.

Do Not Rank Tiffany Koyama Lane

@pdxpolyscijunkie.bsky.social

Anti-capitalism confounds me. Marx, after all, was an actual economist who tried to understand markets. Smith was not being prescriptive with his description of Capitalism; he was being descriptive. Markets exist whether or not you believe in them.

Do Not Rank Tiffany Koyama Lane

@pdxpolyscijunkie.bsky.social

Moreover, they work in predictable ways, whether or not you like those predictions. You can change the market structure, and change the outcome, but if you just huff and puff about "market = bad," the market will still work in accordance with the underlying laws of economics.

Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈

@maxdubler.com

A lot of people on the political left really hate the idea that markets can ever benefit working and middle class people.

Do Not Rank Tiffany Koyama Lane

@pdxpolyscijunkie.bsky.social

Smith's explanation of Capitalism showed clearly how capitalist markets (many competitors, many customers, open data on pricing and quality) provided consumer (i.e., working and middle class folks) better pricing/product than the mercantilist markets that dominated commerce at the time!

Do Not Rank Tiffany Koyama Lane

@pdxpolyscijunkie.bsky.social

Which, again, we may not fully know those laws--minimum wage theory is an area where we clearly don't fully understand when minimum wages depress employment. But that doesn't mean the rules aren't real, just that we don't know them perfectly.