...their lives are increasingly impossible in a city taken over by tech, and the socioeconomic stratification it fosters.
It's strange to blame the tech industry for San Francisco's fate, because there is nothing peculiar about what the tech industry has done. Astronomical returns to capital for a few senior people, high salaries for a large body of skilled professionals, and concomitant demand for office space, housing and services from other industries -- that's what successful industry looks like everywhere. Usually the result is not shortages, homelessness, and lack of services.
There was -- and is -- a failure of public policy here.
Yup. Prop 13. NIMBYism. Bad mix. Consider NYC's similarities and differences to SF: finance instead of tech (but also tech now too), no prop 13, got too big for NIMBYism before NIMBYism was a thing, but NYC also has had bad housing policy (rent control, rent stabilization, and who knows what other bad ideas). Bad ideas lead to bad outcomes.
> There was -- and is -- a failure of public policy here.
It’s very strange that he didn’t criticize elected officials one bit. Instead, he blames some faceless cabal of venture capitalists for being out of touch. Who is trying to divide us here?
It's strange to blame the tech industry for San Francisco's fate, because there is nothing peculiar about what the tech industry has done. Astronomical returns to capital for a few senior people, high salaries for a large body of skilled professionals, and concomitant demand for office space, housing and services from other industries -- that's what successful industry looks like everywhere. Usually the result is not shortages, homelessness, and lack of services.
There was -- and is -- a failure of public policy here.