San Francisco elected official Hillary Ronen blames the city’s homeless problem on “Republican ideology.” She is wrong. Here are six reasons why “progressive ideology” is the real cause of the city’s homeless problem.
By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)
September 1, 2020
Hillary Ronen is an elected government official who gets paid $140,148 per year to work as a member of the legislative body for San Francisco.
In this video, Ronen blames San Francisco’s homeless problem on “Republican ideology.” (Skip to 8:52 in the video).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw8MACDZ3RI
Ronen is wrong.
“Republican ideology” is not the cause of San Francisco’s homeless problem.
Here six are reasons why “progressive ideology” is the real cause of San Francisco’s homeless problem.
First of all, here is a link to an article that was published by the Atlantic in 2007.
When a developer builds housing, there are three separate and distinct costs: the cost of land, the cost of construction, and the cost of getting a building permit (which the article refers to as the “right to build”).
The article includes this chart:
So in San Francisco, getting a building permit (which the article refers to as the “right to build”) adds approximately $700,000 to the cost of a new home.
And please remember, this cost for the “right to build” is completely separate from the cost of the land, and the cost of construction.
The cost for the “right to build” is determined entirely, 100% by zoning laws, density restrictions, and other local government policies.
Since Hillary Ronen is an elected government official who works as a member of the legislative body of San Francisco, she is one of the people who is responsible for the city’s zoning laws, density restrictions, and other local government policies.
Secondly, here’s another example of how hard it is to get a building permit in California:
January 23, 2015
… there were more permits for single-family homes issued last year through November in just one Texas city Houston (34,566) than in the entire state of California (34,035) over the same period.
Let’s put this into perspective.
Houston is 628 square miles.
California is 163,696 square miles.
So even though California is 260 times as big as Houston, Houston actually issued more new building permits for single family homes in 2014 than did the entire state of California.
Just think about that for a minute.
Those numbers show just how incredibly, ridiculously hard California makes it to build new housing.
Anyone who has ever bought or sold anything at eBay understands that, all else being equal, the bigger the supply of something, the lower price, and the lower the supply, the higher the price.
By making it so difficult to get a building permit in California, the government is causing housing to be far, far more expensive than it would otherwise be.
Third, here is a great article by Thomas Sowell about how the politicians in California have waged war against the construction of new housing.
Fourth, this video also explains San Francisco’s war against the construction of new housing. And please note that it is progressives, social justice warriors, and other left wing activists who are the ones that are most opposed to building this new housing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExgxwKnH8y4
Fifth, in the video with Ronen that I included at the beginning of this blog post, she brags about creating a new government program that gives free illegal drugs to homeless people. (Skip to 7:56 in the video.)
Being high on illegal drugs makes the problem of homelessness bigger, not smaller.
And sixth, the Washington Post published this article, which is called:
“Rand Paul is right: The most economically unequal states are Democratic”
The article includes this chart, which ranks the states by their levels of inequality based on their Gini coefficients.
You can see a bigger version of the chart at this link:
The information in the chart verifies the title of the Washington Post article. Blue states have more inequality than red states.
So that’s six different reasons why Hillary Ronen is wrong to blame San Francisco’s homeless problem on “Republican ideology.”
In each and every one of those six cases, it is actually “progressive ideology” that is causing San Francisco’s homeless problem.
San Francisco is waging a very strong, major war against the constriction of new housing.
For Hillary Ronen to blame this on “Republican ideology” is a huge lie.
On the contrary, since Ronen is one of the left wing, progressive, elected government officials responsible for San Francisco’s housing policies, it is Ronen’s own fault that San Francisco has such a big homeless problem.
“I Vote Against You”- excellent six minute video by Pat Condell
I love this guy’s videos, and this is one of the best ones that he has ever done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjYLWadz5Yc
Bernie Sanders’ war on women
Bernie Sanders wants Nike to stop doing business in Vietnam. He recently accused Nike of
“exploiting low-wage workers”
in Vietnam.
Unfortunately, Sanders did not actually talk to any of those Vietnamese workers to get their opinion on this issue.
Fortunately, a guy named Johan Norberg did talk to Vietnamese workers who work in a Nike factory. He then wrote the following:
But when I talk to a young Vietnamese woman, Tsi-Chi, at the factory, it is not the wages she is most happy about. Sure, she makes five times more than she did, she earns more than her husband, and she can now afford to build an extension to her house. But the most important thing, she says, is that she doesn’t have to work outdoors on a farm any more… 10 to 14 hours a day in the burning sun or the intensive rain, in rice fields with water up to your ankles and insects in your face.
Bernie Sanders wants to reduce the income of Vietnamese women by 80%.
Bernie Sanders want to force Vietnamese women to work outside in the burning sun and intense rain, with water up to their ankles, and insects in their face.
Bernie Sanders wants Vietnamese women to earn less than their husbands.
Bernie Sanders wants to prevent Vietnamese women from being able to afford adequate housing.
And above all else, Bernie Sanders believes that Vietnamese women are too stupid to make their own decisions regarding employment, and he wants to make those decisions for them.
Here are 178 examples of Barack Obama’s lying, lawbreaking, corruption, cronyism, hypocrisy, government waste, and other misdeeds
Note: A longer, more recent version of this list can be found at Obama supporters will go hysterical over this well sourced list of 252 examples of his lying, lawbreaking, corruption, cronyism, etc.
In the 2008 United States election, I wrote in Ron Paul for President. In the 2012 election, I voted for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. Those who are of a more leftist persuasion than myself might want to consider voting for the Green Party in future elections.
(more…)
Here are 176 examples of Barack Obama’s lying, lawbreaking, corruption, cronyism, hypocrisy, government waste, and other misdeeds
Note: A longer, more recent version of this list can be found at Obama supporters will go hysterical over this well sourced list of 252 examples of his lying, lawbreaking, corruption, cronyism, etc.
In the 2008 United States election, I wrote in Ron Paul for President. In the 2012 election, I voted for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. Those who are of a more leftist persuasion than myself might want to consider voting for the Green Party in future elections.
(more…)
Here are 95 examples of Barack Obama’s lying, lawbreaking, corruption, and cronyism
Note: A longer, more recent version of this list can be found at https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/obama-252/
In the 2008 United States election, I wrote in Ron Paul for President. In the 2012 election, I will be voting for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. Those who are of a more leftist persuasion than myself might want to consider voting for Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
Here are 95 examples of Barack Obama’s lying, lawbreaking, corruption, and cronyism:
(more…)
Comments from someone who is an Occupier, progressive, labor leader, and communist
This guy’s tone of voice and calm demeanor make him sound like he could be a trusted teacher, friend, or relative. I think if I knew him in real life, we could be friends, and enjoy each other’s company. He certainly seems well intentioned.
(more…)
Los Angeles teachers’ unions try to shut down South Central charter school that has been very successful at teaching low-income black and Hispanic students
In 2008, the Wall. St Journal wrote the following about a real world example of a charter school which has done an excellent job of teaching low-income black and Hispanic students who live in South Central Los Angeles, California. As is always the case with successful charter schools, the teachers’ unions want it to be shut down, because they are terrified of competition. The teachers’ unions want these low-income students to be trapped in the horrible public schools:
93 reasons why Obama supporters should switch to Gary Johnson or Jill Stein
Note: A longer, more recent version of this list can be found at https://danfromsquirrelhill.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/obama-252/
In the 2008 United States election, I wrote in Ron Paul for President. In the 2012 election, I will be voting for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. Those who are of a more leftist persuasion than myself might want to consider voting for Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
Here are 93 things that Barack Obama has done, that should cause his supporters to switch to Gary Johnson or Jill Stein:
Government makes 1,500 fans miss baseball game because the bathroom mirrors are 1/4 inch too low
A recent five minute speech by U.S. Congressman Mike Kelly (R-Pennsylvania) has been getting a lot of attention. He talks about the red tape that the government uses to strangle businesses.
The entire video is worth watching, but my favorite part begins at 2:23. A government bureaucrat forces 1,500 fans to miss a baseball game because the mirrors in the men’s bathroom are one quarter inch too low.
(more…)
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