Billionaire Investor and Trump mega-donor Peter Thiel gave a speech where he encouraged Republicans to not only bash the left but to set out a “positive agenda” for the future as well, citing DeSantis as the best example.
In the speech delivered at the National Conservatism Conference, Thiel contrasted DeSantis’s record to the condition of his home state of California.
“I do think DeSantis in Florida is probably the best, the best of the governor’s in terms of offering a real alternative to California, of trying to tackle California in some ways”
Thiel’s only concern is the high housing costs plaguing Florida at the moment with the mass influx of people.
“The fact that real estate in Florida or Texas has melted up over the last two or three years is not evidence that you’re succeeding and building a better model than California.I’m worried that that’s evidence that you’re becoming like California.”
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While Florida’s prices are similar to California’s, the underlying economic reasons are different. With such a sudden and large influx of people, basic supply and demand would predict a temporary price spike, incentivizing contractors to build more houses. Once supply catches up to demand, the prices should decrease. However, California has no such demand spike but retains its high costs, a phenomenon economist Thomas Sowell has blamed on restrictive zoning laws creating artificial shortages.
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"The California thing offers some limited growth in this world of tech, but it's not enough for a whole society. And if you don't like that, you can stick with Greta and ride a bicycle." – @peterthiel at #NatCon3 pic.twitter.com/ZBbgzNCKYV
— National Conservatism (@NatConTalk) September 11, 2022
Peter Thiel at @NatConTalk conference in Miami just gave a talk dissing CA & singles out DeSantis:
“I do think DeSantis in Florida is probably the best, the best of the governor's in terms of offering a real alternative to California, of trying to tackle California in some ways”
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) September 11, 2022
These housing costs are one of the top issues democrats are using to attack DeSantis on the economic front. Still, they have primarily focused on his cultural policies such as voting, abortion, and education.
This competition with California is no secret; DeSantis and California Governor Newsom have attacked each other explicitly and repeatedly, with Newsom launching an attack ad. Thiel summed up DeSantis’s attacks on Newsom well.
“The temptation on our side is always going to be that all we have to do is say that we’re not California. It is just such an ugly picture, the homeless poop, people pooping all over the place, it’s the ridiculous rat-infested apartments that don’t work anymore, it’s the woke insanities, there’s so much that it feels like shooting fish in a barrel. It’s so easy, so ridiculous to denounce.”
However, Thiel also said that this “nihilistic negation” would not be enough to move forward long-term.
“[It] might be enough to win in the midterms in ’22. It might be enough to win in ’24. But we want to have more of a program positive vision, something like that to be credible.”
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