1. Libertarians who support restrictive planning regulation deserve a special kind of contempt. Guys it’s time for some asshole theory

2.The guiding principle of ppl like Hoot is a hollow misanthropy.But their assholery is such that they need to dress it in intellectual pomp

3.Libertarianism seems a good fit bc it absolves them of obligations to the society they’ve benefited from & they enjoy the harshness of it

4. But the problem for our assholes is that sometimes free markets help people who aren’t them and disrupt the privilege they enjoy.

5. In the rare cases where it doesn't benefit them our asshole will just abandon support of markets.

6. Now I’m sympathetic to classical liberal ideals: government isn’t always competent, efficient, or benevolent.

7. Regulation often gets captured by narrow interests. Free markets can provide wide benefits. And ppl should be left free from interference

8. But the clearest area of policy where a freer market relative to the status quo could provide the most benefit is in planning regulation

9. Planning regulation has been captured by wealthy landowners. It has made housing expensive, a few rich, and society much less equitable

10. So of course assholes like Hooton and the Act party love planning regulation

11.“Aklanders” don’t want density. Really? Market is sending price signals that would result in built density if not for planning regulation

12. Many landowners would gladly sell to developers, developers would build, and people would move into the resultant apartments.

13. Aucklanders do want density but planning regs are preventing it. A few selfish landowners benefiting from status quo don’t want density

14. And the selfish landowners are working to obstruct dense development in the one tiny patch of NZ where it is viable

15. Why don’t those pricks move to the other 99.9% of NZ that will never be dense instead of sneeringly telling people to move to Paris /end