Low Down, Dirty Shame
Whoever came up with some of these rules should be ashamed of themselves for the damage they have done.
Rent stabilization at 1980s rates means that it is not profitable to rent the apartments, many of which require significant renovation. Conversion to co-op or condo is illegal, nor is demolition of the buildings a permitted option.
So, well-intentioned but ham-fisted regulation is leading to a restriction of housing inventory in a city that is chronically, naturally short.
‘Entire apartment buildings are being kept intentionally vacant in prime New York City locations by real estate firms “This is 2nd Avenue, which is prime real estate where the average 4 bedroom goes for $6,000” In 2019 Democrats passed a new Housing Act law, now entire apartment buildings are left sitting vacant and landlords are collecting the tax write offs’
How to Make Bureaucracies Better
Software should have been an easy vector for a fix, but the author underestimates the obstacles to improving software inside the federal government, not least of which are myriad regulations.
‘I would say yes. Many of us who study the public sector would say there are many common-sense reforms we could do to make things more efficient. Frank leads the Working Group to Protect and Reform the U.S. Civil Service.
‘One of the areas that I think is ripe for reform is the information technology (IT) system in the government. I remember living in Canada and thinking, “Wow, this is so much faster.” The US has always had more siloed databases because of a fear of government knowing everything about you. In Brazil, there’s one database for all civil servants, for the federal budget. It’s so much easier.
‘I think we would benefit from the ability to more quickly hire high-level experts in, say, IT. And reducing procedures in certain areas — absolutely. Many civil servants would cheer for not having to fill out so many forms.’
You don’t say?
‘Army Secretary Dan Driscoll warned Wednesday that bureaucratic bloat in the defense apparatus is undermining military innovation at the expense of warfighters.
‘Driscoll addressed the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday during a posture hearing for the U.S. Army, stressing in his opening remarks that sluggish bureaucracy and wasteful spending have stifled innovation the Army needs to keep up with a rapidly-changing battlefield. In particular, Driscoll pitched the Army Transformation Initiative (ATI) as a solution, touting a project that aims to cut unnecessary spending and invest in crucial technologies like drones.’
For many, rural broadband hopes broken up by bureaucracy
Who benefits from delays in putting money to work? Who gains from procurement delays?
Broadband is necessary in the 21st century. There are significant joint obstacles that prevent its deployment. This is a public good argument and it makes sense.
Yet, the Poindexters are holding up progress with their bureaucratic overhang.
Just because you can do something, Janet, doesn’t mean you have to.
‘According to the BEAD progress dashboard, which tracks where states are in the process of using the money they’ve been allocated, the furthest level of progress is releasing a project for public comment, which has been accomplished by just three states. Before that can happen, states have to have an initial proposal approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, get through a challenge process, and begin and finalize the selection of a service provider.‘
San Francisco wants to use AI to save itself from bureaucracy
Help us R2D2. You’re our only hope.
Only a robot could clean up the Augean stables, apparently.
‘San Francisco’s municipal code runs about the same length as the entire U.S. federal rulebook — that’s 75 “Moby Dick"s and counting. No lawyer, or even a team of them, could ever muck out all the redundant and outdated sections contained in it. So City Attorney David Chiu, a former state assemblymember and city supervisor, is calling in Stanford’s AI experts to help him out.
‘And he hopes others in government will follow him.’
Trump administration asks Supreme Court to lift judge’s new block on mass layoffs
Congress doesn’t run the Executive Branch. They don’t execute. Congress is a governance organization, not an operating one.
‘The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to lift a judge’s block on mass layoffs across the federal bureaucracy, saying it rests on an “indefensible premise” that Congress must provide authorization.’
Trump administration moves to fast-track firings of federal workers for misconduct
Let me get this straight.
A federal civil servant who evades paying federal taxes cannot be fired easily under existing work rules?
What is the policy imperative here?
‘President Donald Trump's administration moved on Tuesday to make it easier to fire federal employees for misconduct, the latest step in a broader effort to overhaul the civil service and shrink the federal bureaucracy.
‘The U.S. Office of Personnel Management published a proposed rule, opens new tab that would allow the office, which acts as the federal government's human resources department, to direct other agencies to fire employees for conduct such as tax evasion, leaking sensitive information and refusing to testify in other workers' disciplinary cases.’
We Need More Options, Not Bureaucracy, For a Better Educated Public
The stated reason for tilting the scales in favor of public schools is something like ‘there are putative didactic economies of scale.’
Yeah, yeah. That’s the ticket.
The real reason, one suspects, is that public schools cannot compete with the alternative. If you let people choose, they’ll vote with their feet by running from public schools.
‘McGill conflates public education with public schools. But education can—and increasingly does—happen anywhere. When states began to mandate education in the 1800s, travel and communication were difficult. Given those challenges, it’s understandable that states assigned kids to schools based on where they lived—and that education and schooling were treated as synonyms.
‘There’s no reason for these limitations today. Recognizing that public schools are not the only—or necessarily the best—way to educate the public opens amazing opportunities. Families should be able to choose what type of education is best for their children rather than being limited to an assigned district school.’
Claims about debt and productivity growth
Growth is the only way out of this morass. The Big Beautiful Bill tells us that tax hikes and spending cuts are not coming anytime soon.
Deregulation is promising.
‘Pro-growth regulatory changes are especially promising. Some of these regulatory changes would be deregulatory–for example reforming permitting for infrastructure–and others would strengthen regulation–for example federal intervention to improve electricity transmission. Tax cuts, in contrast, directly widen budget deficits, and evidence suggests that they very rarely have a big enough impact on growth to offset those direct deficit increases.’
Very Expensive Affordable Housing
The purpose of a system is what it does.
Affordable Housing is a policy that is neither about being affordable nor about housing, but rather about a way to extract rents for politically favored constituencies.
Discuss.
Bonus points for layering in a discussion about California homelessness policy.
‘In my post Affordable Housing is Almost Pointless, I highlighted how point systems for awarding tax credits prioritize DEI, environmental features, energy efficiency, and other secondary goals far more than low cost. A near-comic example comes from D.C., where so-called affordable housing units now cost between $800,000 and $1.3 million dollars each!’