[Apocryphon]

Certainly it should be the government's job because it is both intended to and should be most effective/efficient to fix such a tragedy of the commons type situation.

But your comment is also sad because it shows how despite all of the iconoclast rhetoric, Silicon Valley companies are often far more risk-adverse, some could say, cowardly, in not willing to buck change. Not simply on matters involving social value or controversy, but more mundane topics that have been brought up before on HN such as willingness to embrace remote work, create better interview processes, etc.

And that of course, is also understandable. Tech companies are only willing to disrupt the economic markets and labor practices that would lead to maximum value extraction and shareholder value. No one sincerely disrupts to "make the world a better place."

[nerfhammer]

Tech has absolutely nothing to gain from sky high real estate prices.

Casting it as an singular moral entity which you can then accuse of moral delinquency may not help in understanding or solving any particular problem. If it were in fact a hyper powerful agency that could change the landscape around itself merely through the commission of its moral will, why would it not have removed all of the anti-housing laws already? Tech workers don't want to pay millions for housing. It is not in the tech industry's best interest – therefore, the issue can't be due to tech having ill best interests.

[thephyber]

"Tragedy of the commons"[1] doesn't seem to apply here.

That's applicable where (1) the free dumping of sewage into a common water supply or (2) advertisers get so good at making noisy attention-grabbing web ads that people have a strong motivation to start installing ad-blockers, making ad-based business models try and install more ad placements. It's similar to the Prisoner's Dilemna, where game theory has each player pitted against each other but the outcome is subject to a downward spiral of some common resource.

There is no downside for long-term property owners or the highly paid. If the well-paid engineers at tech companies were equally hurt by rising cost of living, then TotC might apply. They aren't, so it doesn't.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons

[al3xnull]

Isn't those exact companies and the businesses that will end up paying for it anyway through taxes along with others in the state? This certainly isn't a federal problem. I'm not sure how getting government involved fixes it as if their funds are just "free" and "exist".