British Columbia Premier David Eby says it's "hard to understand" why other politicians still believe in relying on the private sector to deliver affordable housing and instead it's time for governments to step up.
It’s not “hard to understand” when you realize we’ve have thirty-plus years of neoliberal orthodoxy to overcome.
Basically, three generations of politicians and civil servants have passed since the idea of the government doing anything at scale was a thing. The very idea of direct public action at scale is barely in living memory, and certainly not within anyone with decision-making power…
…and that’s before we get past Boomers that are still scared of long lines at the DMV and “socialism”, or Xers and Millenial “thought leaders” that know nothing but the hustle.
Pivoting away from public-private partnerships (such a nice phrase, isn’t it? it’s so much nicer than calling it what is is: bribery and the mass-transfer of public wealth to private hands) is going to be very hard because the entirety of government and the media not only have a vested interest in the status quo, they can’t really conceive of an alternative. Try proposing this in government today and people will think you’re nuts, but talk about spending two to ten times as much on “tax cuts” or “grants” or “accelerator funds” and they’ll line up and cheer.
Government investment in things like this would be cheaper, but it would also mean the wealthy would pay more taxes and get less kickbacks, so you can bet that the right-wing machine will be screaming about this sort of thing in short order.
It’s not “hard to understand” when you realize we’ve have thirty-plus years of neoliberal orthodoxy to overcome.
Basically, three generations of politicians and civil servants have passed since the idea of the government doing anything at scale was a thing. The very idea of direct public action at scale is barely in living memory, and certainly not within anyone with decision-making power…
…and that’s before we get past Boomers that are still scared of long lines at the DMV and “socialism”, or Xers and Millenial “thought leaders” that know nothing but the hustle.
Pivoting away from public-private partnerships (such a nice phrase, isn’t it? it’s so much nicer than calling it what is is: bribery and the mass-transfer of public wealth to private hands) is going to be very hard because the entirety of government and the media not only have a vested interest in the status quo, they can’t really conceive of an alternative. Try proposing this in government today and people will think you’re nuts, but talk about spending two to ten times as much on “tax cuts” or “grants” or “accelerator funds” and they’ll line up and cheer.
Government investment in things like this would be cheaper, but it would also mean the wealthy would pay more taxes and get less kickbacks, so you can bet that the right-wing machine will be screaming about this sort of thing in short order.