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).
woah, this is really cool way to tell a story, I like it alot. I found the images too large and made finding the text pretty difficult but that might be the point. I feel the text in better proportion to the images would made this even stronger.
once people started holding on to house to rent instead of sell, when individuals realized they could be landlords too, let to where we are now.
if you let investors compete for the price of homes over those who would live there, of course the investors are going to price out everyone, eventually, until they own it all, this is inevitable if we don't stop it.
but it doens't stop there, they make it expensive to own a home, more than just the mortgage. they make the laws so being an individual with a home is nearly impossible unless you own it in the middle or no where, or you have at least 7k income a month.
Good feedback thank you! I want to put all the text in the images like a collage but then the people who utilize the text to speech to listen wouldn't be able to
i can help you solve this problem. by using ‘image description’ or ‘alt text’ perhaps, IDK, but I’ll help… before this iteration of me I worked in corporate world in accessibility support for a tech company. there are def ways to do this. I’m passionate about new ways of telling a narrative and you, my friend are the hottest thing i’ve come across so far in my search for resistance fiction AND innovative story telling.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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
LIQUIDITY. Trump's treasury quietly BAILED OUT BANKS AND WALL ST WITH A TOTAL OF 3-4 TRILLION DOLLARS. Small paragraph in Business journal.
Since at least 1980 the cry, "It's the DEBT!"
All the while 💰💰💰whatever "Market" needs/ DOD needs, gets covered.
Now they are yelling we can't afford Medicare for All, and we can't feed people. Of course not,
MORE TRILLIONS have gone out the door.
You know the litany: DOD,
DHS...and don't forget Congress RAISED their pay. Congress has NEVER STOPPED COLLECTING THEIR PAYCHECKS, HEALTHCARE, EXPENSE ACCOUNTS, even though most of them don't need it. To round it out: Winter "breaks," Spring "breaks," Summer "breaks," Fall "breaks." "BREAKS" no matter what is going on, or how urgent it is. Know you have seen all of this, but as many times as I have posted about 2020,
no response.
Congress continues to "argue" over a few Billion 💰, and we are emptying our pantries to help feed our neighbors. 😡😠😡
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
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.
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.
woah, this is really cool way to tell a story, I like it alot. I found the images too large and made finding the text pretty difficult but that might be the point. I feel the text in better proportion to the images would made this even stronger.
once people started holding on to house to rent instead of sell, when individuals realized they could be landlords too, let to where we are now.
if you let investors compete for the price of homes over those who would live there, of course the investors are going to price out everyone, eventually, until they own it all, this is inevitable if we don't stop it.
but it doens't stop there, they make it expensive to own a home, more than just the mortgage. they make the laws so being an individual with a home is nearly impossible unless you own it in the middle or no where, or you have at least 7k income a month.
fuck the landlords and fuck the police.
Good feedback thank you! I want to put all the text in the images like a collage but then the people who utilize the text to speech to listen wouldn't be able to
i can help you solve this problem. by using ‘image description’ or ‘alt text’ perhaps, IDK, but I’ll help… before this iteration of me I worked in corporate world in accessibility support for a tech company. there are def ways to do this. I’m passionate about new ways of telling a narrative and you, my friend are the hottest thing i’ve come across so far in my search for resistance fiction AND innovative story telling.
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.
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.
I think they are using weapons to drive people out of homes and neighborhoods 🙏🙏🙏🎄
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.
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?
this was your best one ever. bravo. you promised me a secret link for a Black Friday price.
https://constructamiracle.com/miracle/
You’re disturbingly, accurately brilliant. Thank you for helping the angry old white lady army to rise articulately. Defiance til death.
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
Makes Perfect Sense,
yet again.💕 Thank you for your work.
March 2020 "Market" was crashing. Said it needed
LIQUIDITY. Trump's treasury quietly BAILED OUT BANKS AND WALL ST WITH A TOTAL OF 3-4 TRILLION DOLLARS. Small paragraph in Business journal.
Since at least 1980 the cry, "It's the DEBT!"
All the while 💰💰💰whatever "Market" needs/ DOD needs, gets covered.
Now they are yelling we can't afford Medicare for All, and we can't feed people. Of course not,
MORE TRILLIONS have gone out the door.
You know the litany: DOD,
DHS...and don't forget Congress RAISED their pay. Congress has NEVER STOPPED COLLECTING THEIR PAYCHECKS, HEALTHCARE, EXPENSE ACCOUNTS, even though most of them don't need it. To round it out: Winter "breaks," Spring "breaks," Summer "breaks," Fall "breaks." "BREAKS" no matter what is going on, or how urgent it is. Know you have seen all of this, but as many times as I have posted about 2020,
no response.
Congress continues to "argue" over a few Billion 💰, and we are emptying our pantries to help feed our neighbors. 😡😠😡
🗽🇺🇲🇺🇦
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
Capitalist plan…you’re welcome.