site banner
PaperclipPerfector  9mo ago (text post)   3192 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 16, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

3
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

I recently read this article, which seems to have awoken some latent bleeding heart in me. As a result, it’s got me thinking about wealth redistribution, whence the following questions:

  • What are some of the best “utilitarian” arguments against greater wealth redistribution in America? (When I say “utilitarian”, I don’t actually mean calculating out the utils involved— but I do mean arguments other than moral ones like “people ought be able to retain the results of their labor” (which argument I am particularly sympathetic to around tax season).) What are estimates of the argmax of the Laffer curve? Is there an inverse relationship between “innovation” and income tax rate that might explain why America is far more of a tech hub than Sweden? That sort of argument is what I would be looking for.
  • Are there any low-overhead charities out there where you can mostly-directly send money to poorer people? Preferably with options to filter by criteria such as number of kids, marital status, etc.

I understand that this post betrays a real naïveté in both economic knowledge and worldly experience— so I’ll admit that I’m a decent bit embarrassed about making it, but I figure that a Small-Scale Question Sunday thread is the best place to ask this.

"Increase housing stock? I'm afraid not. Best we can do is subsidize lower income renting. Too bad greedy landlords keep increasing rent."

The greedy landlords are the ones that are stopping more housing from being built.

Local politics may vary, but where I live, every zoning commission or planning board argument includes some housing developer trying to build things and alders coming up with increasingly tone-deaf reasons why that's actually bad for people that want housing. Bootlegger and Baptist coalitions may well exist that unite the landlord oligopoly with busybodies that are very concerned about knocking down a building that Al Capone once took a shit in, but I tend to think the primary problem is the presumption that the baseline is that governments should not allow building unless the builder can prove that it's a net positive. Invert the assumption and the problem goes away.

The underlying assumption in so many suburban towns is

"When I bought my house, I was buying the whole community: the farmland I drive by on my way to work, the historic buildings housing businesses I don't actually visit because I shop online, the churches I'm not a member of, the scrap land that houses deer I like to look at. The owners of all those tracts have to submit their projects to my right to have everything exactly how it was when I bought my house."

When I bought my house, I was buying the whole community

Yes.

Except as a town of only around ~4000 we don't have many tracts, and the duplexs that were built are selling for $670k.

The surrounding farmland and greenspace contribute significantly to the rural character, the historic buildings, church and common provides a canvas for the town events and a gathering space for the residents. That town leadership is responsive to residents in protecting the character is an example of democracy in action.

Perhaps if you joined us at church service or patronized our local businesses you'd have a more charitable view of the stewardship many feel for their communities.

"...contribute significantly to the rural character..."

"...the stewardship many feel for their communities."

This reads like the preamble to some hardcore NIMBY organizations' charter. Amorphous phrases that point to "character", "community" and (unelected) "stewardship" don't trump personal property rights. They're not even in the same neighborhood.

And when is the "character" of a place set in stone? This is straight up No True Scotsman 101. This is such a literal trope the Simpson have a hallmark episode about it. The only constant is change and no person or group gets to self-appoint as "arbiter of the good character of a place and community." That's a well paved road to localized authoritarianism.

I definitely code traditionalist conservative, but trampling on individual and property rights "to make sure we keep the Main Street Habdashery up for another 100 years" is the same as when progressives want to outlaw parental choice in schools so that "we can end bigotry forever by forcing Ibram X. Kendi book reports."

And when is the "character" of a place set in stone? This is straight up No True Scotsman 101. This is such a literal trope the Simpson have a hallmark episode about it. The only constant is change and no person or group gets to self-appoint as "arbiter of the good character of a place and community." That's a well paved road to localized authoritarianism.

You mean 'bylaws'?

When you move to a place with a law saying 'no lots smaller than X acres', it seems reasonable to expect that neither you nor anybody else will be able to subdivide your lot -- and to go to town council meetings to argue against Slippery Dick's variance application.

"to make sure we keep the Main Street Habdashery up for another 100 years"

This sounds like a strawman no one is arguing for. The reality is typically agricultural land abutting protected conservation land or SFR that a developer wants a change in use to support multi-family, mixed use, or SFR McMansions.

person or group gets to self-appoint

Not sure who's arguing for this. I argued for responsive local elected officials as an example of democracy in action.

Your personal property rights aren't being trumped because you can't develop a highrise mixed use development on a surplus paddock. You can sell it as agricultural land.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats