More and More People Are Sounding Like James Howard Kunstler

Matthew Yglesias calls this "the misallocation of resources," echoing the very phrase that Kunstler has been using for years to describe the tragedy of the suburban building boom.

We imported tons and tons of capital over the course of the last expansion. But an awful lot of that capital didn’t wind up going to stuff that enhances our ability to produce goods and services in the future. Instead, at best it went to making it the case that people live in somewhat larger homes than they used to, and at worst it went to building homes that nobody wants to live in. This is a bigger deal than lost notional wealth—it’s a lost opportunity.