San Francisco’s Dirtiest Block
9th October 2018
A New York Times feature article about what the newspaper calls the “dirtiest block” in the city of San Francisco observes, “For many who live here it’s difficult to reconcile San Francisco’s liberal politics with the misery that surrounds them.”
That line made me smile. For many who don’t live there — and even for some who do — it’s precisely San Francisco’s liberal politics that created the misery that the Times so vividly describes. Rent control and environmental regulations suppress housing supply, while generous welfare programs act as a magnet attracting people. That’s not “difficult to reconcile.” It’s totally and entirely predictable.