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Your argument boils down to righteous dignity. You presume that it's below another person's dignity to live in, gasp, 500sqft. This is obviously nonsense. I've lived in less. It is important to understand that scaling down square footage is the simplest path to creating market-rate, sustainable, affordable housing

Seconded. Well researched goodie. He spoke with a wide variety of sources to get his data right. From essentially homeless to Eli Broad - the B in KB Homes.

Straw man - generally the idea of YIMBYism is to be more inclusionary, so that 3+ stories is allowed not required.

In contrast, SFH-only zoning is exclusionary.

Perhaps context will help: Pacific Northwest (PNW) here.

Seattle.

EDITs: More specific in location.

IT'S BACK

With enough zoning it absolutely is, not to mention the lead time required to permit and actually build it. Once built depreciation kicks in - housing isn't permanent. It's a consumable.

The answer is because a resource is at play that is finite: land.

If all the productive land in an urban area is effectively owned by foreign investors and left to sit, then renters bid up the remaining dwellings until they're priced out of the area. It also becomes more expensive to build in that area so the housing stock can't keep up with demand. It's terrible to let a vital commodity lay to waste.

They also tend to move less and stay in the same district for a large percentage of their lives. It's a lot easier to vote if you only need to sign up once and the same process applies. If you're young and mobile, you're changing cities/counties/states and therefore less likely to keep up with the different races.

> What if there's a power outage or I forget to plug in my car overnight?

Is making a trip to a gas station just to fill your car up a good use of time? Or is it better to accept responsibility and make sure you've plugged it in at home? Have you ever forgotten to fill up your gas tank and been stuck on the road? C'mon.

Bingo. That explains it.

> If California doesn't like PG&E making ... profit.. it should set lower profit target, and allow PG&E spend more money on maintenance

Who makes decisions at the CPUC? It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. This is circular logic.

This is because small and micro sized units are literally outlawed by many local zoning laws country-wide.

Sure, but post-WWII the federal government injected billions (in 2020 dollars) into the pockets of mostly white veterans to build millions of homes. The federal government also provided generous home loans and unemployment insurance. Today, these policies would be viewed as socialist by the very people who benefited from it the most.

Buffett & Munger agree with you. (paraphrasing here) Munger cited Costco as an incredibly important, effective, and efficient institution that couldn't be replaced by a non-profit or government. It has lowered the costs of essential goods while treating its workers well.