I was doing my regular morning walk, and I looked to the left and saw, in a single frame, everything wrong with San Francisco.
An empty lot rubbing shoulders with a dilapidated apartment building tagged to death with graffiti and a notice from the city letting the owner know that if he doesn’t clean it pronto, he will receive a fine from the city.
I could exaggerate and say there was a crackhead folded over at the front door, but that was a couple blocks earlier. I digress…
We have the worst of both worlds: We have the taxes of a socialist society and the services of a libertarian one. Take my money and give me nothing — brilliant!
But how did we get here? It’s the government, of course, but the people here voted for them. Why?
Every so-called progressive waxes poetically about building a utopia where everyone is happy, there is abundant public transit, tree-lined streets, no strife, and the jails are closed because we don’t need them anymore. We have none of those things, well, maybe the last one.
Even if it’s not my ideal situation, the pitch is basically Copenhagen. Not a great place to start a billion-dollar business, but an incredible place to enjoy life and raise a family — sounds great, honestly!
But have any of these morons been to Copenhagen? I have—it’s fucking beautiful. Pristine, even. Everyone commutes on massive bike lanes or spotless trains; you could eat off the sidewalk, and the park benches have more style than our two-million-dollar toilet. They have free college—that actually teaches math—monthly assistance for children, free healthcare, and 52 weeks of paid parental leave courtesy of the government.
Let’s say you’re an engineer in SF, making $200k and forking over 35% in taxes. In Copenhagen, the same job parts with 45%. Both places squeeze us—35%, 45%, but who’s counting anyway? Ten percent less in taxes for services that are ten times worse—what a steal! At least in Copenhagen, highway robbery comes with benefits.
So where’s the money going? Mostly to the mayor’s friends, vanished into one of our hundreds of commissions, or into our parks—which, to be fair, are awesome. Probably the only thing our government gets right.
What can we do? Vote better. Try bold ideas but pivot quickly when they fail. Stop comparing promises. Start comparing results.
Looking to read something positive about San Francisco? Here’s my post on why I still live here: