[mint2]

Yeah we should be able to have cheap lead paint and asbestos and get rid of fire codes. Kids these days have too many IQ points.

No regulation is not a viable solution unless we want a return to pea soup smog in LA and other areas, rivers that go on fire, and more lead poisoned children.

Getting the balance of regulations is hard but it would be a lot easier if companies didn’t have to be forced to do it. But it’s unrealistic to think it’s viable for them to behave responsibly due to adverse selection.

But in any serious discussion, one has to fully embrace the fact that regulations are good and necessary. If the debating parties don’t admit that then it’s not sincere. Equally it must be admitted that regulations and a burden and should be the minimal necessary to stop unacceptable abuse.

[ixacto]

Houston does not have zoning, and the sky has not fallen there. What we have in the rest of the country is an incentive structure that is firmly on the side of rent-seeking and NIMBYism.

It is literally built into our tax code, with the mortgage interest deduction and California’s subsidy of the boomer Generation with the drastic reduction of real estate taxes.

It is ridiculously easy to solve the housing problem in SF, just tear down the single family homes and replace with high rise apartments at HK-level density. But the entrenched interests don’t want to do that.