SUBTITLE: I told you how the housing market died. I forgot to name the executioners.
THE PHANTOM ITCH
I published The Feudalism Update an hour ago. The data was solid. The forensic map of the algorithm (RealPage) and the trap (SB 102) was accurate.
But I woke up with a phantom itch.
I realized I had left a flank open. By focusing on the mechanism of the housing crisis, I let the operators slide into the shadows. I left room for you to read that article and think, "Okay, this is a Florida problem," or "This is a Republican problem," or "This is just greedy developers."
That was a mistake.
I showed you the gun, but I didn't show you the shooters. And crucially, I didn't show you that there were two of them, standing on opposite sides of the aisle, reloading for each other.
We need to close that loop. Right now.
Because in the housing war, you aren't choosing between "Left" and "Right." You are choosing between The Bulldozer and The Bag Man.
Here are the names I left out.
THE RED HAND: THE BULLDOZER
Function: Clear the Land (Deregulation & Preemption)
In Florida, the weapon that killed local zoning was Senate Bill 102, the "Live Local Act." It stripped your city council of the power to say "no" to a massive rental tower in your backyard.
Who held the weapon?
The bill was sponsored by Senator Alexis Calatayud (R-Miami).
She sold it as a conservative, free-market solution to the housing crisis. "Liberty." "Property Rights."
But follow the money.
In the 2022 cycle alone, Calatayud’s campaign was a magnet for real estate cash. She took $45,000 from the Republican Party of Miami-Dade (heavily funded by developers) and direct checks from the Realtors Political Advocacy Committee.
The "Red Hand" didn't pass this bill to help you find an apartment. They passed it because their donors needed the land cleared of "pesky" things like local democracy and zoning boards. They acted as the Bulldozer for the REITs.
THE BLUE HAND: THE BAG MAN
Function: Fund the Tower (Financialization & Tax Shelters)
But a bulldozer isn't enough. You need capital. You need to make the project profitable.
Who wrote the check?
The financial vehicle that fuels this displacement—Opportunity Zones—was technically part of the Trump Tax Cuts. But its moral architect? Its loudest champion?
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ).
Booker co-authored the Investing in Opportunity Act. He sold it to the liberal base using the language of "Equity," "Racial Justice," and "Community Uplift". He told us it would help the poor.
Instead, it created a tax haven for the rich. It allowed billionaires to park their capital gains in "distressed" areas tax-free. The money didn't go to affordable housing; it went to luxury hotels, high-end student housing, and superyacht marinas.
The "Blue Hand" provided the moral cover. They turned a tax loophole for the 1% into a crusade for "Social Justice." They acted as the Bag Man for the capital.
THE HANDSHAKE
Function: The Synthesis
This is the part I need you to see. This wasn't a fight. It was a relay race.
The Developer needs both.
* Without the Red Hand (Preemption), the local neighbors block the tower.
* Without the Blue Hand (Tax Credits), the tower is too expensive to build.
So they work together.
Look at the vote count for Florida's "Live Local Act" (SB 102).
It passed the House 103 to 6.
It passed the Senate 40 to 0.
27 Democrats crossed the aisle to vote for the bill that stripped local zoning rights. They cheered for it because it used the word "Affordable." The Republicans cheered for it because it used the word "Deregulation."
And the Rust cheered because they got the land and the money.
THE CORRECTION
I’m sorry I left this out of the first report. It’s easy to get lost in the machinery and forget the men operating the levers.
Oh gawd! I get so pissed when I read your articles I can only do it a couple times a month! Your coverage, as I’ve noted in previous posts, is thourough and honest. You woke up with that “itch.” You went about the work of identifying it, clarifying it and explaining why it matters.
You are an excellent journalist with natural instinct and the motivation to share what you know even when it’s excruciatingly painful!
I don’t have that stuff in me. That’s why I’m a fan and not an author.
Ethan brother... This lands because you start where the system actually touches people: the body.
That 3:00 AM nausea isn’t ideology — it’s pattern recognition.
The most important move here is stripping the word “market” of its disguise. What you describe isn’t supply and demand — it’s coordinated extraction with empathy engineered out of the loop. Once pricing decisions are outsourced to software, moral restraint doesn’t fail — it’s deleted.
The three-layer structure is the key insight:
Algorithm fixes the ransom
Law subsidizes the extractor
Moral language anesthetizes the public
By the time anyone argues Left vs Right, the enclosure is already complete.
Calling this a subscription to exist is exactly right. Feudalism didn’t disappear — it just got a UX upgrade and a billing department.
This isn’t a housing crisis.
It’s a life-compression strategy.
Clear, sober, and hard to unsee once you’ve seen it.
Starting here! Thank you for your conscientious inclusion and links to previous and necessary articles. You always lay the foundation and follow it with bricks and mortar.
I appreciate your thoroughness and your writing style and thinking always is meaningful and matches my curiosity. I’m a big fan! Thank you so much.
We must have hope! Not fake empty platitudes - a deep heartfelt and soul felt hope for democracy and our United States.
This big picture summation of digital feudalism definitely makes me regret my time as a cog with RealPage as well as rethink the idea of legitimate economic development not very much present in so-called "Opportunity Zones" in places like Miami (which, of course, is about to construct the tallest building in the USA).
And I can see - the “system” you so artfully describe is “The Idol”
- Faith - G-d can help - provide - is simply not there to be relied upon. 😄 For some reason that strikes me as hilarious. For it is G-d who created this earth to supply abundantly. It’s the hoarding and the battle for territory that has limited the earth’s abundance. We can all be greedy little ants scurrying around to get our needs met.
Who is gonna take care of us? Who is gonna provide for us?
Let’s follow that socialist piped piper who says the government will, and maybe he will lead us to our utopia! Nevertheless people do find a way to thrive within this greatly flawed idol system. We look to Heaven for help . Like cliches in system show up and walla - a door opens - help arrives - unexpectedly a prayer is answered. So I have hope. This flawed system is not forever. Only G-d is forever.
They just did and will continue this week in Western Washington where I live. Just like Lahina HI, Paradise CA, Redding CA, Pacific Palisades CA, Santa Rosa CA, East Spokane WA, Talent OR. Fire or water. Next will be a catastrophic earthquake or Mt Rainer going off. Lasers and Popcorn anyone?
Look closely at the urban and US suburban neighbourhoods being ethnically cleansed by Noem’s I.C.E. You will see a pattern. Like Magadministration’s destruction of farmer’s so Vance & Co can buy up their big bank confiscated lands on the cheap for profitable redevelopmemt (Gaza/Ukraine ?), the clearing of areas where low paid workers reside through terror, allows the same predatory class to buy up these areas on the cheap.
Really well written . Same fix in Canada btw. I like your reference to feudalism , yeah, same old same old. Now we are warehousing seniors citizens in a bedsitting room for the price of a mortgage payment. If they hate the idea, there is always Medical Aid in Dying. That works especially well for seniors needing to spend all their life savings for quality living somewhere but who would rather leave it to their grand kids.
I'd qualify for MAID. But they'd win that way.
At least we have universal medical coverage and work insurance for all the basics.
Apparently the soft communism that the country has been suffering under for some time is turning into the hard communism that so many in the world have suffered under and are still suffering under to this day. Bottom line? The rich rule just as they do in communist China and other communist places. Including the good 'ol USSA. https://www.courageouslion.us/p/communism-american-style
You don’t even own your own condo. With condo fees approaching your average monthly payment to rent an apartment, why would anyone buy something only to keep paying forever? And the real-estate market took their que from condo associations and in a major money grab, decided to change the definition of home ownership in the U.S. Forget the phrase “paid-off;” forget the phrase “free and clear;” because we are now in the “condoization” of all property types. Even farms can get converted to condos. The HOAs would like nothing better than to increase the $ sucking ability and power by instituting the power of eminent domain. You can call it a property grab.
Oh yeah! How about property tax? I owned my property and my house and had to keep paying the county $1000 a year for my little 1/4 acre of unplantable dirt and a small 2 bedroom 1 bath house? I loved my place and it was mine. Unfortunately it was in North Carolina where they are willing victims who do not have the umph to know or fight against the slavery system they are comfortable with. I was very uncomfortable for 8 years. Sold the place, moved to Michigan where I was born in fricking December last year, lived on my house sale money for a year, could not find a place for the low amount of money I got for it. Now I’m about homeless and very broke and didn’t see this coming.
I did resist property tax for 7 of 8 years but alas! When I sold it I paid up before I left. 🤦♀️
TITLE: FIELD DISPATCH: THE TWO-HANDED CHOKE
SUBTITLE: I told you how the housing market died. I forgot to name the executioners.
THE PHANTOM ITCH
I published The Feudalism Update an hour ago. The data was solid. The forensic map of the algorithm (RealPage) and the trap (SB 102) was accurate.
But I woke up with a phantom itch.
I realized I had left a flank open. By focusing on the mechanism of the housing crisis, I let the operators slide into the shadows. I left room for you to read that article and think, "Okay, this is a Florida problem," or "This is a Republican problem," or "This is just greedy developers."
That was a mistake.
I showed you the gun, but I didn't show you the shooters. And crucially, I didn't show you that there were two of them, standing on opposite sides of the aisle, reloading for each other.
We need to close that loop. Right now.
Because in the housing war, you aren't choosing between "Left" and "Right." You are choosing between The Bulldozer and The Bag Man.
Here are the names I left out.
THE RED HAND: THE BULLDOZER
Function: Clear the Land (Deregulation & Preemption)
In Florida, the weapon that killed local zoning was Senate Bill 102, the "Live Local Act." It stripped your city council of the power to say "no" to a massive rental tower in your backyard.
Who held the weapon?
The bill was sponsored by Senator Alexis Calatayud (R-Miami).
She sold it as a conservative, free-market solution to the housing crisis. "Liberty." "Property Rights."
But follow the money.
In the 2022 cycle alone, Calatayud’s campaign was a magnet for real estate cash. She took $45,000 from the Republican Party of Miami-Dade (heavily funded by developers) and direct checks from the Realtors Political Advocacy Committee.
The "Red Hand" didn't pass this bill to help you find an apartment. They passed it because their donors needed the land cleared of "pesky" things like local democracy and zoning boards. They acted as the Bulldozer for the REITs.
THE BLUE HAND: THE BAG MAN
Function: Fund the Tower (Financialization & Tax Shelters)
But a bulldozer isn't enough. You need capital. You need to make the project profitable.
Who wrote the check?
The financial vehicle that fuels this displacement—Opportunity Zones—was technically part of the Trump Tax Cuts. But its moral architect? Its loudest champion?
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ).
Booker co-authored the Investing in Opportunity Act. He sold it to the liberal base using the language of "Equity," "Racial Justice," and "Community Uplift". He told us it would help the poor.
Instead, it created a tax haven for the rich. It allowed billionaires to park their capital gains in "distressed" areas tax-free. The money didn't go to affordable housing; it went to luxury hotels, high-end student housing, and superyacht marinas.
The "Blue Hand" provided the moral cover. They turned a tax loophole for the 1% into a crusade for "Social Justice." They acted as the Bag Man for the capital.
THE HANDSHAKE
Function: The Synthesis
This is the part I need you to see. This wasn't a fight. It was a relay race.
The Developer needs both.
* Without the Red Hand (Preemption), the local neighbors block the tower.
* Without the Blue Hand (Tax Credits), the tower is too expensive to build.
So they work together.
Look at the vote count for Florida's "Live Local Act" (SB 102).
It passed the House 103 to 6.
It passed the Senate 40 to 0.
27 Democrats crossed the aisle to vote for the bill that stripped local zoning rights. They cheered for it because it used the word "Affordable." The Republicans cheered for it because it used the word "Deregulation."
And the Rust cheered because they got the land and the money.
THE CORRECTION
I’m sorry I left this out of the first report. It’s easy to get lost in the machinery and forget the men operating the levers.
But let this be the correction:
Alexis Calatayud cleared the zoning.
Cory Booker cleared the taxes.
Blackstone collected the rent.
Stop looking Left. Stop looking Right.
Look Up.
[END DISPATCH]
Oh gawd! I get so pissed when I read your articles I can only do it a couple times a month! Your coverage, as I’ve noted in previous posts, is thourough and honest. You woke up with that “itch.” You went about the work of identifying it, clarifying it and explaining why it matters.
You are an excellent journalist with natural instinct and the motivation to share what you know even when it’s excruciatingly painful!
I don’t have that stuff in me. That’s why I’m a fan and not an author.
Thanks again.
high five, my brother.
HEAR HEAR!!
I’ve called Cory bookers office before. lol
Ethan brother... This lands because you start where the system actually touches people: the body.
That 3:00 AM nausea isn’t ideology — it’s pattern recognition.
The most important move here is stripping the word “market” of its disguise. What you describe isn’t supply and demand — it’s coordinated extraction with empathy engineered out of the loop. Once pricing decisions are outsourced to software, moral restraint doesn’t fail — it’s deleted.
The three-layer structure is the key insight:
Algorithm fixes the ransom
Law subsidizes the extractor
Moral language anesthetizes the public
By the time anyone argues Left vs Right, the enclosure is already complete.
Calling this a subscription to exist is exactly right. Feudalism didn’t disappear — it just got a UX upgrade and a billing department.
This isn’t a housing crisis.
It’s a life-compression strategy.
Clear, sober, and hard to unsee once you’ve seen it.
Exactly!
Well prepared, well presented and frightening.
Starting here! Thank you for your conscientious inclusion and links to previous and necessary articles. You always lay the foundation and follow it with bricks and mortar.
I appreciate your thoroughness and your writing style and thinking always is meaningful and matches my curiosity. I’m a big fan! Thank you so much.
We must have hope! Not fake empty platitudes - a deep heartfelt and soul felt hope for democracy and our United States.
"OUR", when has it been ours since it's inception? This is what it has turned into in the last 50 or more years. https://www.courageouslion.us/p/communism-american-style
This big picture summation of digital feudalism definitely makes me regret my time as a cog with RealPage as well as rethink the idea of legitimate economic development not very much present in so-called "Opportunity Zones" in places like Miami (which, of course, is about to construct the tallest building in the USA).
Tallest building in the USA which will fall into the Atlantic within 10 years
Maybe the Gulf of Mexico if they make it tall enough.
So sickening. Because ? Nothing will ever be done to fix it. Time for that is running out faster than a year does for a 99 year old.
And I can see - the “system” you so artfully describe is “The Idol”
- Faith - G-d can help - provide - is simply not there to be relied upon. 😄 For some reason that strikes me as hilarious. For it is G-d who created this earth to supply abundantly. It’s the hoarding and the battle for territory that has limited the earth’s abundance. We can all be greedy little ants scurrying around to get our needs met.
Who is gonna take care of us? Who is gonna provide for us?
Let’s follow that socialist piped piper who says the government will, and maybe he will lead us to our utopia! Nevertheless people do find a way to thrive within this greatly flawed idol system. We look to Heaven for help . Like cliches in system show up and walla - a door opens - help arrives - unexpectedly a prayer is answered. So I have hope. This flawed system is not forever. Only G-d is forever.
Heaven help the fool.
this was your best one ever. bravo. you promised me a secret link for a Black Friday price.
https://constructamiracle.com/miracle/
I think they are using weapons to drive people out of homes and neighborhoods 🙏🙏🙏🎄
They just did and will continue this week in Western Washington where I live. Just like Lahina HI, Paradise CA, Redding CA, Pacific Palisades CA, Santa Rosa CA, East Spokane WA, Talent OR. Fire or water. Next will be a catastrophic earthquake or Mt Rainer going off. Lasers and Popcorn anyone?
Look closely at the urban and US suburban neighbourhoods being ethnically cleansed by Noem’s I.C.E. You will see a pattern. Like Magadministration’s destruction of farmer’s so Vance & Co can buy up their big bank confiscated lands on the cheap for profitable redevelopmemt (Gaza/Ukraine ?), the clearing of areas where low paid workers reside through terror, allows the same predatory class to buy up these areas on the cheap.
You’re disturbingly, accurately brilliant. Thank you for helping the angry old white lady army to rise articulately. Defiance til death.
Really well written . Same fix in Canada btw. I like your reference to feudalism , yeah, same old same old. Now we are warehousing seniors citizens in a bedsitting room for the price of a mortgage payment. If they hate the idea, there is always Medical Aid in Dying. That works especially well for seniors needing to spend all their life savings for quality living somewhere but who would rather leave it to their grand kids.
I'd qualify for MAID. But they'd win that way.
At least we have universal medical coverage and work insurance for all the basics.
Apparently the soft communism that the country has been suffering under for some time is turning into the hard communism that so many in the world have suffered under and are still suffering under to this day. Bottom line? The rich rule just as they do in communist China and other communist places. Including the good 'ol USSA. https://www.courageouslion.us/p/communism-american-style
And you think this will help how? Or is this just a marker in our history?
Seriously
An answer
I will NOT hold my breath
Where are solutions???
STILL HAVE TO WORK AGE 71 TAX/SCHOOL TAX BOND FRAUD HOMESTEAD VALUATION TO BUDGET RATHER HOME VALUE…FRAUD IN THE TRILLIONS !!!
All part of the grand COMMUNIST plan. I “own” my home. WRONG. I have to pay rent to the county every year or they send armed men to evict me. https://www.courageouslion.us/p/communism-american-style
You don’t even own your own condo. With condo fees approaching your average monthly payment to rent an apartment, why would anyone buy something only to keep paying forever? And the real-estate market took their que from condo associations and in a major money grab, decided to change the definition of home ownership in the U.S. Forget the phrase “paid-off;” forget the phrase “free and clear;” because we are now in the “condoization” of all property types. Even farms can get converted to condos. The HOAs would like nothing better than to increase the $ sucking ability and power by instituting the power of eminent domain. You can call it a property grab.
Oh yeah! How about property tax? I owned my property and my house and had to keep paying the county $1000 a year for my little 1/4 acre of unplantable dirt and a small 2 bedroom 1 bath house? I loved my place and it was mine. Unfortunately it was in North Carolina where they are willing victims who do not have the umph to know or fight against the slavery system they are comfortable with. I was very uncomfortable for 8 years. Sold the place, moved to Michigan where I was born in fricking December last year, lived on my house sale money for a year, could not find a place for the low amount of money I got for it. Now I’m about homeless and very broke and didn’t see this coming.
I did resist property tax for 7 of 8 years but alas! When I sold it I paid up before I left. 🤦♀️