To the editor: Jonah Goldberg’s latest column deploring populist guarantees and actions ignores actuality (“Everyone is campaigning on ‘affordability’ that no one can deliver,” Aug. 18). Previous to 1981, there was a bipartisan consensus that authorities ought to assist the needy. That consensus was shattered in 1981 with President Reagan’s tax cuts for the rich, adopted by those delivered by Presidents George W. Bush and Trump.
As wealth on the prime produces extra wealth on the prime, our decrease and center courses are actually confronted with financial desperation. This needs to be apparent to anybody observing the housing scene in California. To stop this tragedy from spreading to different cities, populist insurance policies are completely required.
One might pretty quibble with the small print of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s method, however sustaining the established order is clearly not the reply. Populist approaches to confront our affordability disaster are important and needs to be applauded, not demeaned.
Eric Carey, Arlington, Va.
