Get Unstuck, But We Must Be Sustainable

I just finished “Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity” (Appelbaum 2025). This is a good book. It really rhymes with the latest hot topic book Abundance (Klein and Thompson 2025).

The gist of the book Stuck is that we have governed and zoned our way into an unnecessary housing shortage. This has made us less mobile as a society in where we live, how we live, and how our wealth classes interact. It has served to reinforce our class structure in the USA.

I definitely agree with the assessment of the author.

Of course, this is a very complicated problem. What to do about it? The author recommends solutions, including simplifying zoning processes throughout the various levels of government. Building should be streamlined. (YAY! Let’s rid of bureaucracy!)

Here is my two cents.

I agree that we need to drastically rethink how we are zoning. We do need to make sure that everyone in America should have affordable housing. They are literally tearing down houses in many cities through out the USA. There is enough room and resources to house everyone. Take a drive in back country PA, there is nothing but trees for 100s miles in any direction.

Everyone has a right to being able have a reasonable home. When the prices are too high for housing like they are in NYC or Long Island folks should be able to build suitable affordable housing for folks that live there. If we must, build the buildings taller.

Where I disagree with Stuck and Abundance is that we need to continue to keep the environment – and our environmental footprint – at center stage. I don’t have a problem with saying we have an abundance of people power to solve any problem. We do. Be sharks! I do have a problem with us saying we have an abundance of resources. We do not. Our unchecked growth is rapidly reshaping our world in unexpected scary ways. And it will get worse. A lot worse.

So the problem with abundance is that abundance encourages growth. There is enough for people alive today but the future may be different. We need to champion public good but also sustainability.

Here is a simple example: I was just at Myrtle Beach, SC. They are building like crazy, but where were the crabs on the beach? We didn’t see a crab. Then we went to a quiet corner of SC and saw a ton of crabs. When we build it effects the world around us.

We have to balance abundance with sustainability in such a way that prevents local governments and Karens from making building too arduous.