Paul Krugman on housing and productivity

I guess half a concession is better than no concession at all.

He concedes that the housing markets in places he approves of are expensive messes due to massive state manipulation at the behest of his rich friends and that this is driving young people out and towards places with lower costs of living who are as a result booming.  Finally an honest conclusion honestly arrived at. But then it all goes south - no, northeast:

He then claims that nothing else really differs.  Unless you look at electricity prices, retail gas prices food prices, or state and local taxes all of which conspire to push NYC's cost of living index up to between 190 and 202 percent of the national average depending upon borough.  This compares to an index of 90 in the major Texas cities. Of course this data doesn't include overpaid celebrity faculty who in New York get a cool quarter mil not to teach - but they really don't have those types of immensely productive chaps in Texas so we can't compare.

Not happy with obfuscating NYC's ridiculous cost of living, he then pretends that wages in these expensive manipulative burgs are higher due to greater "productivity". Let's press on that swollen, red pus filled claim for a moment shall we?:

A.  According to the Department of Education, NY spends more than twice as much per pupil than Texas and gets worse race adjusted results. Productivity or union power? 

B. Stroll into any NYC Bodega and compare the prices and the staffing to a Houston Walmart - clearly the retail wholesale sector in NYC is far, far more productive of high prices than in Texas.

C. Pop into a NYC eatery and note the astounding productivity of the workers that leads to the astonishingly high prices for indifferently prepared food in cramped, nondescript surroundings. Incidentally, Zagat says that Texas city residents eat out the most of any cities in the nation which is a good indicator of a very high standard of living.
D. Look in the Attorneys section of the NYC Yellow pages and marvel at the incredible number of lawyers and law firms - second only to DC - all of whom are producing immense amounts of real wealth for the nation.
E. I wonder of time spent commuting is included in those 'wonderful' 'productivity' statistics that Prof. Krugman cites given that NYC workers spend far more of their time schlepping to and from work than those of car mad Dallas or Houston. Ain't mass transit grand?

Then our Nobel Laureateness moves on to claims that Texas' success has 'nothing, absolutely nothing' to do with being business friendly. Once again let's apply the pokey pus finding finger of fate to this nasty looking claim:

A. A few decades ago NYC had over 150 of the fortune 500 and today it has 53 while Houston and Dallas Fort Worth had virtually none and today have 45 between them. Useless bloody business friendliness. 

B. In the last year TX has won Toyota's North American Headquarters (6,000 Jobs), Apple's World Operation Center (6,500 Jobs) and Occidental Petroleum's world headquarters.  All from California.  New York?  Not a damned thing.  From anywhere.  Gosh darn business suck ups!

5. But the Krugmanator's finest moment, his pies de folie if you will is his suggestion that all the country needs is a Bill Diblasio to set everything in NYC and other hemorrhaging blue garden spots right. That's right, the same Willie D. that just handed a massive back dated pay increase to the teachers in the most expensive and therefore least productive major school district in the country, the same friend of the best paid municipal employees in the world is going to use his statist, manipulative, crony socialist techniques to reduce housing costs. All I can say is W.O.W.

Looks like Texas is going to be kicking New York ass for a long time to come. Because judging by Pauley K they don't have a clue.