The hottest Substack posts of California Thoughts

And their main takeaways

Is housing popular? Does it matter?

58 implied HN points • 04 May 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Housing policy Electoral Politics
  1. Pro-housing policies face challenges in local elections due to perceived negative impacts on communities
  2. Statewide pro-housing legislation has seen success in California by focusing on technical housing laws
  3. Issue salience and status quo bias play a role in the acceptance of pro-housing policies at local and state levels

Abolish the SALT Deduction

19 implied HN points • 12 Feb 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Taxation Wealth Inequality Government spending Tax policy
  1. Repealing or increasing the cap on the SALT deduction would benefit the richest Americans and increase inequality.
  2. Factors like housing costs influence migration more than taxes, so removing the SALT deduction cap may not lead to as much migration as expected.
  3. It is suggested to abolish the SALT deduction and most other itemized deductions to prioritize spending on anti-poverty measures.

(One of) American Compass's horrible, terrible, no good, very bad ideas

19 implied HN points • 23 Jun 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Globalization Economic Impact Foreign Investment
  1. American Compass proposes a global tariff to eliminate the trade deficit, but this can have negative effects on the economy.
  2. Trade balances and currency exchanges work to maintain balance in the economy, with imports and exports affecting standards of living.
  3. Implementing tariffs can lead to declines in domestic output and productivity, unemployment, and higher inequality without significant impact on the trade balance.