San Francisco Ballot Measure Would Tax Empty Storefronts in Attempt to Boost Retail Sector
The initiative would leave untouched all the city regulations that've made it so hard to start a business in the first place.
Policy
Bill Would Roll Back Prohibition-Era Gun Rules
The legislation aims to undo the "egregiously unconstitutional registration, taxation, and regulation of short-barreled rifles."
Los Angeles Bans Developers From Making Campaign Donations
In the midst of a housing crisis, L.A. politicians have decided to limit their own incentives to allow more housing construction.
Los Angeles Is Spending Over $1 Billion To House the Homeless. It's Failing.
Los Angeles County saw disease outbreaks and 1,000 homeless deaths last year.
Feds Sue California City Over Law That Mandated Evictions for Criminal Activity—Even When No One Was Arrested or Charged
A Department of Justice lawsuit argues Hesperia’s rental ordinance amounts to illegal racial discrimination.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Right to Oppose This NYC Mega-Development
But she's wrong about why it's bad.
Ilhan Omar's $1 Trillion Housing Proposal Is an Expensive Joke
The Homes for All Act misdiagnoses the roots of the country's housing problems, then adds a boundless faith in the feds' ability to solve them.
Despite Stiff NIMBY Opposition, San Francisco Business Owner Will Be Allowed to Convert Arcade Repair Business Into Normal Arcade
The struggles Joey Mucha had to go through to secure a simple change of use permit highlight the problems inherent in San Francisco's planning process.
Free People Don't Ask the Government for Permission
"Liberty," Thomas Jefferson wrote, "is unobstructed action according to our will; but rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will, within the limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others."
Democratic Candidates Acknowledge Poor Housing Supply, but Not How Government Causes It
More federal spending won’t make housing more accessible as long as regulations and zoning drive up prices.
San Francisco Activists Are Trying to Stop Business Owner From Converting His Arcade Repair Shop Into a Normal Arcade
Neighbors say Joey Mucha's plans for a Skee-Ball arcade in the Mission would be a positive addition to the community. Activists disagree.
Republicans and Democrats Rev Up Spin Machine for Start of Public Impeachment Hearings
Plus: the effects of restrictive zoning on education access, DACA's uncertain future at the Supreme Court, and Mayor Pete's miraculous surge
Pete Buttigieg Has a $1 Trillion Plan to Drive Up Housing, College, and Labor Costs
Dramatic increases in federal spending will not “unlock access” for the poor. It will only help those with the right connections.
DACA Has Its Day at the Supreme Court
Plus: New York's rent control expansion has predictable effects, people are boycotting Uber again, and violence continues in Hong Kong.
American Taxpayers Are Subsidizing Ultra-Cheap Shipping From China
For decades, the U.S. Postal Service has charged some countries less than it charges domestic shippers to move packages within the United States.
Is New York City Barreling Toward Its Own Housing Crisis?
A report from the city's Department of Planning finds that housing construction has not kept pace with job growth.
Bernie Sanders Blames Apple for Silicon Valley's Government-Created Housing Crisis
Development restrictions and NIMBYism, not tech sector success, explain Silicon Valley's housing costs.
California NIMBYs Sue To Stop In-N-Out Burger From Coming to Their Town
Opponents use a notorious environmental review law to keep a famed fast food restaurant out of Rancho Mirage.
Hannibal Buress on Bernie Sanders' National Rent Control Proposal: 'Wrong'
The actor and comedian is the owner of a three-unit rental property in Chicago.
California's Wonky Insurance and Land Use Regulations Make the State's Wildfires Deadlier and More Destructive
The state has made it exceedingly difficult to build in fire-safe cities, while also making insurance rates in high-risk areas artificially cheap.
Falafel Shop Wins Narrow Victory Over San Francisco's Bizarre, Broken Permitting Process
By one vote, the city's planning commission denied a business's request to stop a competing falafel shop from opening up down the block.
Facebook's Plans To Spend $1 Billion on Housing Development Is a Drop in the Bucket
The source of the state's housing affordability problems are onerous government regulations and fees that artificially drive up the costs of housing.
The Third Lesson of Economics
Henry Hazlitt's insights were far more sophisticated than one modern critic thinks.
Go Walgreens!
Why are so many people in Washington DC walking around wearing Walgreens gear all of a sudden?
States Are Easing Arbitrary Licensing Barriers to Work for People With Criminal Records
This year, Mississippi and North Carolina both ditched a vague "good moral character" clause that kept occupational licensing out of reach for people with criminal records.
Legislator Who Argues Housing Is a Human Right Also Suing to Stop Affordable Housing in Her District
New York Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou is a plaintiff in a lawsuit to stop a Habitat for Humanity housing project.
Californians Are Fleeing the State's Progressive Policies
California's progressive political imperatives are having such glaring real-world repercussions that it's hard to keep ignoring them.
Dental Hygienist Labeled 'Sexual Abuser' and Loses License for Treating His Wife
The case is a bizarre example of occupational licensing woes and backward regulations.
Audit Finds Cost of Building Supportive Housing in L.A. Exceeds Median Price of a Market-Rate Condo
Los Angeles is spending $600,000 per unit on building affordable and supportive housing for homeless residents.
When Mandating Affordable Housing Makes Housing Less Affordable
A new study of inclusionary zoning policies in the D.C. and Baltimore metro areas finds that the policy ends up raising rents.
Tennessee Court Says Music City Can Keep Cracking Down on Home Recording Studios
A Davidson County judge ruled Tuesday that Nashville's ban on home businesses servicing clients on site is constitutional.
The Decentralized Web Is Coming
Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Twitter are in the federal government's crosshairs, but the technology necessary to undermine their dominance may already exist.
How Rent Control Laws Hurt Tenants
California is about to get a real world lesson in how rent control laws can't solve a housing crisis.
Are We Really Doing the Impeachment Thing Again?
The wish-fulfillment machine kicks into high gear on both sides of the aisle.
Small Businesses Benefit From Deregulation But Remain Stymied by Trump's Trade Policy
Dump intrusive trade policies to give a real boost to consumers and entrepreneurs.
Did California Just Abolish Single-Family Zoning?
The Golden State now allows homeowners to build up to two accessory dwelling units on their property by right.
Minneapolis Doesn't Want Landlords to Check Tenants' Criminal History, Credit Score, Past Evictions
The Minneapolis city council just made the rental business a lot riskier for property owners.
States Take Antitrust Aim at Big Tech
Everybody’s going after Google and Facebook. But how do you prove they’re harming consumers?
Bernie Sanders' Housing Plan Calls for $2.5 Trillion in New Spending and Nationwide Rent Control
The socialist presidential candidate wants the federal government to take the lead in regulating rental prices and building new rental housing.
How Do You Lose Money Dealing Marijuana? Be a Government Agency.
Ontario has lost millions trying to sell cannabis.
New Bill Would Tie Federal Transit Funding to Local Zoning Reforms
Local governments that remove development restrictions near transit would have a better chance of scoring federal transit funding grants.
California Passes Statewide Rent Control Despite a Massive Housing Shortage
Economists have long warned that rent control only limits housing supply and drives up prices in the long-run
It's Not a Mystery Why America's Biggest Cities Are Losing Population
Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City all have some easily identifiable management problems.
Don't Just Do Something
Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? Who knows? Do something!
Latest Trade War Casualties: More Than 10,000 Layoffs in August
The trade war should be thought of as a massive tax and regulatory scheme.
