Why it’s not Agenda 21 that should worry you
Randal O’Toole of the Cato Institute was in town today offering a novel explanation for the housing bubble that resulted in the 2008 financial panic and subsequent Great Recession. O’Toole argued the culprit was not loose monetary policy, complex derivatives, greed, poor lending standards, lax government regulation, shoddy ratings for mortgage-backed securities or any of the other usual suspects.
Instead, he said strict land-use policies in certain states made housing prices begin skyrocketing in toward the end of the 20th century, to levels that were ultimately unsustainable. He said it was the burst bubble in those states, circa 2006-07, that led to the financial crash of 2008 — and, following that, depressed housing prices in states without so strict land-use policies, such as Georgia, beginning in 2008-09.
I’ll offer a more thorough explanation of O’Toole’s argument after I’ve read his new book and, in the interest of fairness, I urge you to refrain from trying to shoot down his argument before you’ve heard the whole thing. But I wanted to go ahead and draw your attention today to his thoughts on the popular contemporary bogeyman for strict land-use policies: the United Nations’ Agenda 21.
Agenda 21 is a document drawn up at a 1992 U.N. conference in Rio de Janeiro, and it has become a popular target of ire for some people who believe it is an attempt at social-engineering on the local level by a transnational, unelected quasi-government. It was the subject of a presentation at the Georgia Capitol hosted by then-Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, for which the since-resigned Rogers took much grief.
But O’Toole explained today that it’s “not really true” that Agenda 21 represents a novel threat.
“These ideas go back to 1961,” he said. “They were in the playbook [for urban planners] for 30 years before Agenda 21″ was written.
(In this paper published in December 2007, O’Toole not only listed on page 10 some of the pre-Agenda 21 laws to which he referred today. He also described the way land-use policies were creating a bubble; interestingly, he cited a 2005 New York Times column by Paul Krugman that noted housing prices had risen the fastest in what Krugman called “the zoned zone.”)
While O’Toole disagrees with the goals of urban planners expressed in Agenda 21 — regulating land use to force more Americans into high-density housing, for example — he pins the blame on the urban planners themselves.
“I don’t regard the United Nations as the threat at all,” O’Toole said. He further suggested that people who, like him, oppose such land-use policies do themselves and their cause a disservice when they invoke a globalist conspiracy to explain policies born much closer to home.
– By Kyle Wingfield
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218 comments Add your comment
atler8
February 19th, 2013
4:11 pm
Thulsa,
You quote Thomas Sowell who I know lives in California & should recognize that there is much, much more to development policy in that state than his simplistic notion that it’s a result of what the “liberals” want to put in place in order to pursue their eco friendly goals & to correspondingly jack up housing prices.
He’s kidding himself & fooling you with his treatise because many of the land use policies there were set in place decades ago. I might remind you that California only turned Democratic in the 1990’s, long after restrictive land use policy there was already common. Often it was put into place during times when the governorship &/or legislature were controlled by the GOP or at least balanced between the two parties.
Also Thulsa, take a look at what I wrote here at 3:19 about how elevation change plays a major role in west coast development policy. Sowell sees the famed rugged Califlornia geography all around him but his rigid ideology refuses to accept that is it an obvious factor in land policy there.
You cited San Francisco, Berlely & San Jose as examples. I challenge you to do what I suggested at 3:19 and overlay a geographical map with elevation contours over street maps of those cities & see if you can’t figure out what is thus patently obvious regarding their land use policies.
By the way, the city propers (i.e. city limit areas) of both San Francisco & Berkeley were physically pretty much built out by the end of the 1950’s and early 1960’s.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 19th, 2013
4:11 pm
“Wanna know why GA has a balanced budget.”
A law that requires it.
And that goes for every county and municipality within it’s borders as well, Cheesy.
getalife
February 19th, 2013
4:13 pm
“At least I have more than one kernel of information to share.”
Yeah, we learned about pinkos.
indigo
February 19th, 2013
4:19 pm
Tiberius – 3:48
Does this mean that, politically, you’re a centerist?
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
February 19th, 2013
4:20 pm
A law that requires it.
Without all that Blue state federal money pouring in they wouldn’t manage it.
How did the South get Electricity again ???
Oh yeah Blue northern states did it for them.
Michael H. Smith
February 19th, 2013
4:21 pm
I’m not buying this guy’s “land policy causation argument”, Kyle. From what I’ve read from your review of his “housing bubble burst” explanation, I have no reason for an interest in reading his book; let alone purchasing a copy. Over -inflated-pricing was a mere fraction in the real problem of fraud per se’; which was much bigger and far deeper as the sum, than the any of its’ parts alone.
getalife
February 19th, 2013
4:26 pm
It started after the internet bubble popped and the investors tried to figure out where to invest to make money like the internet.
President Clinton urged invest in green energy.
w bought into the housing scam.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 19th, 2013
4:27 pm
“Without all that Blue state federal money pouring in they wouldn’t manage it.”
There is ZERO proof of that, but speculate without facts all you wish, Cheesy. It’s what you do best, after all.
“How did the South get Electricity again ???”
Yes, by all means, lets go back nearly a century ago to formulate our opinions of the present.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 19th, 2013
4:29 pm
Indigo, you are truly a lost cause.
As Kyle asked earlier:
DO YOU EVEN READ MY POSTS ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
getalife
February 19th, 2013
4:32 pm
Lost me at Cato institute.
Not credible.
Thulsa Doom
February 19th, 2013
4:33 pm
Atler8,
I read your previous post on topography. I’m sorry but that’s not going to explain it all. I’m sure that in certain instances that rapid changes in topography and elevation explain some of the housing restrictions but it doesn’t come anywhere near close to explaining much of it. There are numerous places all over the U.S. where people build into places that have rapidly changing elevations and topographys. So when you take that into account it looks to me like just another reason for urban planners to unustifiably restrict land use. After all look at San Francisco and look at the trolley running up and down those steep hills. They built on those steep hills did they not? Atlanta itself I believe has the 2nd highest elevation among major U.S. cities behind Denver. Yet Peachtree road is built along what was an old Indian trail running along a ridge. And Denver itself is built at quite an elevation. In San Diego I had seen plenty of houses built into the hills overlooking the Naval base. In Birmingham you can drive up a quickly changing topography to a hill or mountain off 280 that overlooks all of B’ham. They built there despite a very quickly changing topography and elevation. There are numerous examples all over the U.S. where your argument doesn’t hold water. And lastly while California may not have turned Dem until just a few decades ago the cities that I mentioned have been Democratic for quite awhile. And of course Repubs aren’t immune from using govt to insulate themselves either.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 19th, 2013
4:34 pm
“Lost me at Cato institute.
Not credible.”
Yeah, ’cause proven, free-market principles don’t even enter your warped world-view, do they, getalife?
Michael H. Smith
February 19th, 2013
4:35 pm
PBS Frontline done a number of very good documentaries on the “housing bubble” and the banking mess from the ’90s to the bubble burst. It will debunk many of the false claims and statements that have been made and continue to be made by blogger on this blog.
Goodnight all.
md
February 19th, 2013
4:40 pm
“Lost me at Cato institute.”
Might be part of the problem. One shouldn’t poo poo info just because of it’s source. One would be wise to look at the info then go off and do one’s own research in order to formulate a better opinion on the subject….not the source.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
February 19th, 2013
4:40 pm
the U.S. military has already decided they’re essentially useless; all Army and Air Force Exchange Service stores on bases round all cash purchases up or down to the nearest nickel.
Another issue Obama is dead on about.
Its time the penny went the way of the Republican party.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
February 19th, 2013
4:41 pm
Cato institute is just a tool for Koch brothers and their extreme agenda
Zero credibility
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 19th, 2013
4:42 pm
Something tells me that Cheesy is posting on the wrong blog again.
Either that or random stupidity is running rampant inside his head.
As usual.
Road Scholar
February 19th, 2013
4:42 pm
Kyle: Georgia has land use laws? I thought it was clear cut and build anything…a Walmart (name one that was denied), transit oriented development (where there is no transit), and pave the world (until the price of asphalt grew).
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 19th, 2013
4:43 pm
The Cato Institute has been around a lot longer than the Koch brothers have been involved in politics, Cheesy.
You’d know that if your brain was in gear sometime.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
February 19th, 2013
4:43 pm
Three out of five “Doubters of Global Warming” interviewed by PBS’s Frontline were funded by, or had some other institutional connection with, the Institute
That is enough right there.
They aren’t credible.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
February 19th, 2013
4:46 pm
The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded as the Charles Koch Foundation in 1974
Care to revise your statement ?
Road Scholar
February 19th, 2013
4:46 pm
Cheesey: “How did the South get Electricity again ???
Oh yeah Blue northern states did it for them.”
No someone standing on a hill got struck by lightning! Shazam!
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
February 19th, 2013
4:47 pm
Dow and S&P close at fresh five-year highs. Dow adds 54 points. Nasdaq and S&P climb 0.7%.
the sky is falling the sky is falling.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 19th, 2013
4:52 pm
“Care to revise your statement ?”
No, because funding doesn’t automatically mean involvement, Cheesy.
Except in your black helicopters circling overhead world.
getalife
February 19th, 2013
4:52 pm
Which part of not credible do you not understand cons?
Once they lose credibility, they have to try to gain it back but they are not even trying.
Thulsa Doom
February 19th, 2013
4:53 pm
Someone not only got out of daycare but they also served their timeout after daycare ended apparently.
md
February 19th, 2013
4:53 pm
“Dow and S&P close at fresh five-year highs. Dow adds 54 points. Nasdaq and S&P climb 0.7%. ”
What does one expect when the money goes from the printing presses to the market…..one best be watching their portfolio as another bubble may be forming.
Can Bernanke time the withdrawal is the question…….
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 19th, 2013
4:54 pm
“Three out of five “Doubters of Global Warming” interviewed by PBS’s Frontline were funded by, or had some other institutional connection with, the Institute
That is enough right there.”
So conversely, if I pick out three out of five proponents of man-made global warming, and they’re funded by governments who are advocating more regulations which will give them more control over people, I can dismiss them as easily as you do and be just as correct, right, Cheesy?
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
February 19th, 2013
4:57 pm
“Care to revise your statement ?”
Then you have failed.
No, because funding doesn’t automatically mean involvement, Cheesy.
I’m sure the Koch brothers named the institute after one of them and gave it a bunch of money but weren’t involved in any other way.
Seriously do you guys listen to yourselves ?
Chalk one up to being wrong but not man enough to admit it.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 19th, 2013
5:00 pm
One would be wise to look at the info then go off and do one’s own research
Come on, md, the last thing these liberals ever researched was which tv channel rachel maddow was playing.
You should know better than that. They’re human tape recorders.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
February 19th, 2013
5:00 pm
So conversely, if I pick out three out of five proponents of man-made global warming, and they’re funded by governments who are advocating more regulations which will give them more control over people, I can dismiss them as easily as you do and be just as correct, right, Cheesy?
No because if they are proponents of they would be correct.
Being right matters.
JDW
February 19th, 2013
5:04 pm
@md…”Wants vs needs…..wants vs needs.”
Not really…it is more like quality vs cheap…there is a place in the middle of budget disfunction and ranking 49 in every measure except obesity and bank failures.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 19th, 2013
5:07 pm
“Dow and S&P close at fresh five-year highs. Dow adds 54 points. Nasdaq and S&P climb 0.7%.
Ever since the Repugs let every one know they were in charge and that suckestration was going to happen, the Dow has sky rocketed. Wall Street is happy to see the adults running things again.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 19th, 2013
5:07 pm
Sorry, Cheesy, but you dismissed them because of their involvement with the Cato Institute and their involvement ONLY.
Just because YOU happen to believe they are right doesn’t make it so.
In fact, it makes it all the more likely they are not right.
md
February 19th, 2013
5:10 pm
“ranking 49 in every measure except obesity and bank failures.”
Can you provide those links please……thanks.
JDW
February 19th, 2013
5:10 pm
“Georgia is one of the biggest taker states.”
Actually these Rubes we have elected can’t even do that right…GA gets $1.09 for every dollar paid. AL gets $1.96, LA 2.73, SC 2.13…maybe we need to get them to train our guys.
Cheesy Grits is gone but not forgotten
February 19th, 2013
5:10 pm
Ever since the Repugs let every one know they were in charge and that suckestration was going to happen, the Dow has sky rocketed.
LOL
JDW
February 19th, 2013
5:12 pm
@MD…”Can you provide those links please……thanks.”
Go have a look…pick anything you want
http://www.statemaster.com/index.php
getalife
February 19th, 2013
5:30 pm
con don’t believe in facts unless those facts are in line with their failed ideology.
The market is high because of easing and ignoring bad news.
The easing will not stop until unemployment goes way down.
The gop are focused on cuts that loses 750,000 jobs so easing will never go away.
The gop should look at the costs of easing and the economy is now blamed on the gop.
Thulsa Doom
February 19th, 2013
5:31 pm
md,
Count me as one of those folks who would love to have bike paths throughout metro Atlanta. I would have actually used the paths and even gone to and from work with them and I would have been willing to pay a little more in taxes to have them. But again. Needs vs wants. But it can be done. As I understand it Peachtree city has a whole network of golf cart paths for people to drive around the city in golf carts- less cars and smog in the air and I’m cool with not having to breathe exhaust. So if a small city like Ptree city can do it at reasonable cost then it can be done. Its just that its a want by a small minority of people like me and JDW.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 19th, 2013
5:33 pm
“The market is high because of easing and ignoring bad news.”
No, the market is high due to the same reason it always rises.
Companies continue to show profits.
Doesn’t matter whether they show profits due to increases in growth or income, or simply due to cutting costs; as long as they show profits, the market will grow.
It has almost nothing to do with the health of the economy, and hasn’t for decades.
getalife
February 19th, 2013
5:36 pm
Finally, Thulsa Doom made a credible argument.
Congrats, I thought this day would never come.
Actually wanting government to do something for the people is not conservative.
It is liberal.
getalife
February 19th, 2013
5:37 pm
Wrong as usual Tiber.
I can count on you for that fact.
You can stop pretending to be better than others because you are worse.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 19th, 2013
5:40 pm
obozo has been easing for four years, only after the GOP said enough on the spending did the stock market rise.
Deal with it.
getalife
February 19th, 2013
5:40 pm
Your 401k’s will drop if the sequester is reality but easing will make it bounce back.
getalife
February 19th, 2013
5:41 pm
Nice spin Aesop.
Politico
February 19th, 2013
5:45 pm
http://www.google.com/finance?q=INDEXDJX:.DJI
Market has been going up since the 1st qtr of 09.
getalife
February 19th, 2013
5:47 pm
The sc will approve more corruption with unlimited private donor bribes.
The cons on the sc do love them some corruption.
I guess you cons do too.
Just unbelievable.
md
February 19th, 2013
5:49 pm
Don’t get me wrong, bike paths would be great to have all over the country……but it’s not cost effective compared to other needed spending.
That seems to be the overall debate……..how much do we want and how much are we willing to pay….
And the operative word should be “we”, but lately the operative word is “they”, as in we want them to pay for it.
These States that are in trouble bought a few too many wants and now are having trouble affording the needs.
It is a human condition……
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 19th, 2013
5:50 pm
p-lo – How could it not go up from the bottom that obozo brought about? We’re talking about the record high the Repugs have given us. Go back to sleep.