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
md
February 19th, 2013
5:50 pm
“Market has been going up since the 1st qtr of 09.”
Yep, companies have a way of getting healthier when they cut 20 million expenses from their books…..
Politico
February 19th, 2013
5:51 pm
Aesop
You were wrong. Deal with it
Politico
February 19th, 2013
5:53 pm
“Yep, companies have a way of getting healthier when they cut 20 million expenses from their books…..”
Wasn’t the issue. Aesop falsely stated that the market started going up when Repubs said enough. He was wrong. It has been going up before they took back the House and of course for numerous reasons continues to go up.
Dusty
February 19th, 2013
5:55 pm
Josef Josef wherefore art thou? I just camest in my humble abode..
I just wanted to ask you about a book that ruffled me up a bit. It was Dear Ellen Bee….A Civil; war scrapbook of two union spies…..so the fron cover read. Written by Mary E. Lyons & Muriel M. Branch. I saw the title at a book sale and thought I might check it out even though it is called a scholastic printing. Chilluns!!
Have you read it? I thought about your book and thought this one might be interesting. It was but not in the way I thought it might be.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 19th, 2013
5:56 pm
The market has NOTHING to do with what one party or another does unless it affects their bottom line.
Nothing.
getalife
February 19th, 2013
5:56 pm
“bottom that obozo brought about? ”
Lie.
Politico
February 19th, 2013
5:57 pm
Tiberius
You might want to address that with Aesop. He seems to think it does.
getalife
February 19th, 2013
5:58 pm
You keep missing him Dusty.
Jay is switching to a new format so you might ask him over at Jay’s.
Dusty
February 19th, 2013
6:05 pm
getalife,
I don’t post at Bookman’s, new format or not. Sorry. Thanks for helping. .
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
February 19th, 2013
6:09 pm
Of course bike paths cost money, and in a balanced budget state like GA it hasn’t been a priority. Evidently it might have been better if it wasn’t a priority out there.
Yes, better to make sure the businesses have lotso tax breaks. That’s much more important than a n improvement in our lives by bike paths.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 19th, 2013
6:10 pm
When obozo won the dummycrat party nomination in 2008, the very next day the markets collapsed. Not a week later or a month earlier, the very next day. Krazed socialists in power has a way of making capitalists flee. Pumping Wall Street full of obozobucks brought them back, marginally. Only when Republicans finally cornered obozo on the suckestration, forcing cuts in spending, did the market hit the high that it’s on today.
Deal with it.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 19th, 2013
6:12 pm
The American people are begging the Republicans, pleading with them to stop the obozo agenda. No one heard any of this during his campaign, it was just lie after lie after lie. Now that they know what he has on his mind for real, they want no part of it.
We are happy to help.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 19th, 2013
6:12 pm
I tell the people asking for my help to just be calm, socialists always over reach.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 19th, 2013
6:18 pm
Aesop, SOME American people are begging the Republicans to stop the Obama agenda.
You do not speak for “The American People”.
Bruno
February 19th, 2013
6:19 pm
He’s referring chiefly to land-use policies in states like California and Florida, where the bubble was far worse. The decline in prices in less-regulated states like Georgia was less severe on the whole (though there are always, of course, exceptions) and began in earnest after the financial crisis, whereas the decline in the more-regulated states began before the crisis. According to his theory, the decline in the more-regulated states drove the crisis, which eventually spread to places like Georgia.
Kyle–Again, I’ll have to learn more about Mr. O’Toole’s theory, but on the surface, it doesn’t make sense. Restricting land use should theoretically raise values, as it has in my home area in South Jersey. Atlantic County has had a building moratorium in place for nearly 30 years, with predictable effects on the housing prices.
Even if FL and CA were impacted by restricted land use, I still see no mechanism by which this should impact other states. With more information, his theory might make more sense.
If you ask me, the prime factor in the housing market meltdown was greed, both on the banking AND consumer sides of the equation.
Politico
February 19th, 2013
6:22 pm
http://www.google.com/finance?q=INDEXDJX:.DJI
Aesop
Market started going down in 07, but keep flailing with your nonsense.
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
February 19th, 2013
6:25 pm
“That’s much more important than a n improvement in our lives by bike paths”
Please cite any governing document stating where the role of government is to improve our lives, Finn.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 19th, 2013
6:25 pm
I’m not going to squabble with you tonight tibs. Do I look like amvet to you? Calm down.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 19th, 2013
6:27 pm
p-lo – You just gave me a chart that shows exactly what I said.
Thanks.
Politico
February 19th, 2013
6:34 pm
Aesop
Market was going down starting in 07, but you can believe as you wish. It bottomed out 1st qtr 09 and has been increasing since that time.
If you want to believe it is because of the Republicans or whatever, that is your choice. If it makes you feel better about yourself regardless of the facts babble on.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 19th, 2013
6:37 pm
The shooting of Miss Pendleton commanded the attention of the White House and, naturally, that of President Obama’s former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, now mayor of Chicago and fecklessly reshuffling the organization chart of the police department. The usual noises were made about gun control, and especially the flow of guns from nearby Indiana into Chicago, though nobody bothered to ask why Chicago is a war zone and Muncie isn’t. But the mayor’s latest promises did not impress 17-year-old Jordyn Willis, who organized a march in Miss Pendleton’s memory. “He can’t control his city,” Miss Willis told the Chicago Tribune.
Some people can see right through the liberals and this is the only hope of our country.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 19th, 2013
6:38 pm
Look at your own chart p-lo, a mere correction in 2007 is nothing compared to the cliff drop off at the end of 2008. Are you some kind of habitual liar?
md
February 19th, 2013
6:42 pm
“Yes, better to make sure the businesses have lotso tax breaks.”
And I have no problem with tax breaks for businesses considering WE are businesses….in case you missed it, we own them, manage them, work for them and buy their goods……..
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 19th, 2013
6:47 pm
You just have to take their ability to lie away from them -
Date Open
1/31/2008 12438
6/1/2008 11346
8/30/2008 11713
9/30/2008 11140
12/31/2008 8666
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 19th, 2013
6:49 pm
Here’s a good example of a whopper from the habitual liars -
Chuck Todd: It’s “Mythology” That the Media Has Bias
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 19th, 2013
6:59 pm
It seems that the temporary program created by Obamacare to provide coverage to people with pre-existing conditions until the new system takes effect next year has run out of money even though it attracted far fewer people than it was expected to. The Associated Press described the matter in terms we’ll be getting used to as Obamacare unfolds:
Enrollment around the country has been lower than expected, partly because some people could not afford the premiums. But individual cases have turned out to be costlier than originally projected.
Now just imagine how much fun this whole monstrosity will be.
Lynnie Gal
February 19th, 2013
7:22 pm
Ah, Agenda 21–a conspiracy theory for the tin foil hat crowd. Paul Broun’s gang members are very concerned. Gotta go–black helicopter is hovering around my house. Oh, it’s just a hawk trying to get to the bird feeder. Never mind.
indigo
February 19th, 2013
7:44 pm
Aesop
Republican innuendos, distortions and half-truths are flowing from you tonight like sh*t through a goose.
Jack ®
February 19th, 2013
7:50 pm
Slice it anyway you want to, the housing industry collapse came about due to banks being required to loan money to those who never intended to repay their debts.
ODD OWL
February 19th, 2013
7:50 pm
The Republican modus operandi is always diametrically opposite of what they opine about… Randal O’toole listed the real reasons why the housing bubble bursted, then he deny that they’re the real reasons… O’toole claims are untenable…
Hillbilly D
February 19th, 2013
8:00 pm
There’s one point about the housing bubble that nobody mentions. Can’t speak for other areas but in my area, at the time, you could buy a house cheaper than you could rent one. So, if somebody would loan you the money, you’d have been a fool to rent when you could pay less and eventually (hopefully) own it yourself. The problem up here was that nobody was building entry level housing. No money in that, they went with building McMansions. If there had been a supply of entry level houses, it might have made a difference. Although, at least in my area, most of the foreclosures were on mid-to-high level houses, that folks were trying keep up with the Joneses by buying.
md
February 19th, 2013
8:15 pm
HD, builders weren’t building the entry level homes because banks were telling folks they qualified for more even though most folks knew they didn’t have it but bought the bigger home anyway…….
A bit like a car dealer putting folks in the high end ride when the folks know they should be in the yugo…
Rafe Hollister
February 19th, 2013
8:23 pm
It wasn’t greed that caused the housing collapse, it was economic ignorance by people who had no business buying a house. I had many people explain to me how wonderful an interest only mortgage was. They planned on their home increasing in value and after a few years of living large, they planned to refinance and finally get serious about paying down the mortgage. Didn’t work out so well. PT Barnum was correct, a sucker is born everyday and the scamsters count on peoples love of getting something for nothing.
Rafe Hollister
February 19th, 2013
8:30 pm
Yes, md you are correct, and the climate established by Fannie and Freddie fostered the banks to create interest only loans and go crazy with the adjustable loans, which allowed people to qualify for mortgages they could previously only dream of qualifying for.
Hillbilly D
February 19th, 2013
8:40 pm
md
Everybody was in on the gravy train, together, in my area. I saw a lot of what we’ve always referred to here as “going bankrupt with a pocket full”. A lot of the builders took it in the pants but the bankers still have the big cars and the big houses, even though the banks folded up or were taken over by the FDIC.
The folks who were riding the gravy train I don’t have any sympathy for. It’s the folks that lost jobs, etc, in the fallout, that I sympathize with. They got a royal screwing for something they had nothing to do with.
And by the way, I spent years working in car dealerships, so folks think they know what goes on there but they don’t. In many cases, it’s worse than they ever imagine.
Hillbilly D
February 19th, 2013
8:43 pm
On no down payment/ARM loans, of course they’re like a nuclear hand grenade, you can’t get far enough away from them, but they’ve been around a while. I worked with a guy who got a no down payment loan, about 1990.
md
February 19th, 2013
9:16 pm
Yep, ignorance also played a big role. Interest only loans are a great product if used correctly, but folks need to understand the risk prior to……many didn’t.
I find it interesting that many don’t want to recognize that every commodity has risk, and that includes homes, but too many again only saw the upside.
A house is no different than any other in regards to being subject to market forces, prices going up for many years was the exception not the rule.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 19th, 2013
9:24 pm
“We could attract greater federal scrutiny and displeasure of our neighbors,” if marijuana flows across state lines, he said.
The barn door is already open. Make legal in all 50 states. This is the one and only thing I even come close to agree with the liberals on.
Don’t bogart that joint, my friend.
md
February 19th, 2013
9:42 pm
Legalizing mj would be a nightmare for businesses, especially those that have to drug test. Not too sure an accurate testing system could be implemented. Anybody?
Hillbilly D
February 19th, 2013
10:04 pm
md
The places where I’ve worked that they did drug testing, it was basically a joke. The tests were “random”. They’d come in 2-3 times a year and pick out a few people to test. Two things would usually happen, people that everybody knew were users (and not just weed) wouldn’t get picked, if management like them. On the flip side, if there was somebody they wanted to get rid of and did really have a valid reason, they’d test them every time, just hoping they did test positive.
And think of the liability if somebody had an accident, etc. That’s already a bad thing for businesses now and it would only complicate matters, I think.
Mine isn’t the popular view but I don’t think it’d do society any good to legalize it.
Hillbilly D
February 19th, 2013
10:06 pm
That should say “didn’t really have a valid reason”
md
February 19th, 2013
10:11 pm
HD, the last place I worked that had drug testing was on the small side, so on testing days everybody’s name went into the hat in the middle of the room and the “winners” got to wiz in the cup….I don’t think there were too many users in a our group.
Now alcohol was a whole different story.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 19th, 2013
10:18 pm
Now alcohol was a whole different story.
And this is what I don’t understand. How alcohol can be legal but weed isn’t. What, pray tell, is the difference?
td
February 19th, 2013
10:20 pm
Aesop’s Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 19th, 2013
10:18 pm
Now alcohol was a whole different story.
And this is what I don’t understand. How alcohol can be legal but weed isn’t. What, pray tell, is the difference?
Farmers vs established long time big business.
Hillbilly D
February 19th, 2013
10:23 pm
md
The place I was talking about was roughly 100 people.
I think that’s the only place I’ve worked that did random testing. Most other places was just a pre-employment screening and testing for “cause” or after a workplace accident. I did see a guy tested 30 something times before he finally got caught. There was always a running bet as to whether he was on drugs or just crazy and I’m not sure if it was ever determined for sure, that he wasn’t both.
bluecoat
February 19th, 2013
11:11 pm
Where is Chip Rogers when you cons. need him?
bluecoat
February 19th, 2013
11:20 pm
Weed does not need to be made legal.Enough people killed/hurt with drunk drivers as is.Unless I was planning to grow/sell I would never agree with the libs.
getalife
February 20th, 2013
12:09 am
They grow good weed these days.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
February 20th, 2013
6:57 am
Maybe if the libs smoked a joint, they would get all paranoid and stop spending all of our children’s money.
Jefferson
February 20th, 2013
7:24 am
the folks that support the self titled “party of stupid” would be the folks of stupid. Throwing stink balls in the fan just to smell stink, why is your half baked point?