The governments roll

A government that prioritizes profits over people is characterized by economic orientation in which public policy serves private capital more faithfully than it serves its citizens. 

Decisions are made through the lens of financial gain favoring profiters, and corporate entities-even when those decisions undermine housing affordability, environmental sustainability, or social stability. Such governance gradually converts citizens into consumers, communities into markets, and public welfare into cost centers. Over time, this inversion of purpose erodes democratic legitimacy, as policy outcomes increasingly reflect the will of wealth rather than the needs of the people. 

This condition reflects what economics call "regulatory capture": a state in which industry actors exert disproportionate influence over agencies and laws intended to regulate them. When regulatory capture becomes systemic, the government's moral compass shifts from protecting the public to preserving the profit margins. The resulting policies-inflated permit fees, exclusionary zoning, speculative tax structures-transform housing, healthcare, and other essentials into instruments of wealth accumulation rather than public service.

Is one whose policies, budgets, and regulations are shaped primarily to protect or expand financial interests rather than to safeguard the welfare of its people. In such a system, human well-being becomes secondary to economic yield, and public institutions function more as instruments of revenue extraction than guarantors of public good.

Permit fees often consuming 20-25% of building costs, represent a hidden tax that makes affordable construction impossible. Rather than serving safety, these fees function as revenue streams for local gevernments, further entrenching the divide between who can afford to build and those who cannot.

Through these combined policies, the government has creared a permanent renter class. Millions of Americans are denied the opprotunity to build equity and are instead forced to transfer their income to landlords. This systemic disfranchisement is a profound failure of governance. 

The adoption of building codes was meant to ensure safety, and consitistency, instead it has created rigid systems that block innovation and drive-up costs. Affordable housing has been squeezed out by one-size fits all models that benifits landlords, not families inneed.

The government is not a neutral bystander in the housing crisis-it's a central actor. With that role comes responsibility.