Way back when, remember Big Government?
Oh.
You think Big Government is still with us, a bloated zombie from a failed twentieth century socialist experiment, still hard at work draining tax dollars from self-made citizens, the better to unnecessarily meddle with their lives (momentary pause here for a rousing cheer from Tea Party supporters).
Well, handsome is as handsome does. Let’s compare today’s Big Government accomplishments with those of past Big Governments.
The subject? Affordable housing.
In America, today’s Big Government hands out an inadequate number of vouchers to subsidize those who need affordable rental housing. Also, various kinds of tax credits seduce developers into constructing handfuls of affordable housing in much larger market rate housing projects. These various Big Government approaches fail to put the tiniest dent in today’s affordable housing crisis.
But them maybe you’d prefer to avoid dealing with the issue by believing that these Big Government efforts will after all slowly solve the problem. Maybe you should have a read of the following article in the New York Times: Microsoft’s Leap Into Housing Illuminates Government’s Retreat
Instead of the bandaid solutions of a government in retreat, have a look instead at what “handsome does” meant nearly three quarters of a century ago, when Big Government really knew how to kick ass, take names and get things done.
What did yesterday’s Big Government have to offer a national affordable housing crisis? Could it offer those same solutions today?
For more on a truly handsome affordable housing efforts by a U.S. government that was Big in a muscular sense, not a just a flabby windbag sense, read an article from the The Idaho Mountain express: Government Could Solve The Affordable-Housing Problem
P.S. Note that an introductory paragraph in the article above mentions an unlinked reference to an article in CURBED. The article is linked here: Why buying a house today is so much harder than in 1950
