[beachstartup]

people ridicule it because it's so different than the american way, which is to severely restrict housing construction to cause enormous increases in price so that nobody can afford to live anywhere without taking out massive loans, while poor people get kicked out of their homes.

[vonmoltke]

That is not the "American way". That is the way certain areas behave as they try to fight urbanization, but is not the way most areas behave.

[natrius]

Can you give some examples of cities that don't do this? Every single city I'm familiar with does this, though Houston does it less than most places.

[freehunter]

It's hard to point to examples of cities that don't do it because it doesn't make the news when a new building is put up in Nashville. It doesn't make the news when a law to limit building height is never even proposed in Kalamazoo. It doesn't make the news when Akron's population increases 3% year over year.

It does make the news when San Francisco's residents start getting driven out of the city. It does make the news when Madison limits the height of buildings downtown. Can you give me an example of people who didn't get a flat tire today? Of course not, because that's just called normal functioning.

[beachstartup]

so what you're saying is, the media distorts and amplifies the exceptions in order to create a perception of widespread dysfunction, thereby generating revenues through public outrage?

but this only happens in the US, right? not anywhere else, like... china?

[jobu]

Poor people get kicked out of their homes in China too - http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/06/sport.china

[seanmcdirmid]

Beijing real estate makes San Francisco look like a bargain.

Also, china doesn't have a property tax, so you can just buy an apartment and sit on it forever, there is no economic pressure (as a property tax is) to put it to productive use.

[aianus]

You can't buy land forever in China the way you buy land in the US. You can only get a 70 years 'land use grant'.

[seanmcdirmid]

No one expects that to hold, but even if it does, the US has property taxes most everywhere, and you'd eventually pay for your land again and again just by owning it.

It is speculated that China will drop the land use grant when they institute a real property tax.

[walshemj]

All of which is happening in China plus the wiping out of massive amounts of historically significant buildings with so much as a thought

[venomsnake]

There has been massive displacement of Chinese peasants too. By a decree. But indeed - if you look at rates of home ownership in Eastern Europe pre changes - socialist systems indeed seem to prefer affordable housing.