Saikat Chakrabarti

And we've been calling it mission mode at New Consensus, but it's different three really distinct ways. Countries in mission mode They have this whole other kind of leadership that pops up that doesn't just pitch a mission. They actually follow through and execute. They organize society actively to be a part of it. And really importantly, they capture the national attention.

And we've been calling it mission mode at New Consensus, but it's different three really distinct ways. Countries in mission mode They have this whole other kind of leadership that pops up that doesn't just pitch a mission. They actually follow through and execute. They organize society actively to be a part of it. And really importantly, they capture the national attention.

You know, they really make a show of the progress. They call it the heroes and they use that as political capital to blow through obstacles, whether that's corporate monopolies or process. And the second part is they make comprehensive plans. They don't just pass a bunch of policies and take their hands off the steering wheel.

You know, they really make a show of the progress. They call it the heroes and they use that as political capital to blow through obstacles, whether that's corporate monopolies or process. And the second part is they make comprehensive plans. They don't just pass a bunch of policies and take their hands off the steering wheel.

They actually plan for all the things that will need to happen to make things happen. And, you know, third piece is they create financing and executing institutions. And so America used to have a bunch of these all across our society. You know, during World War II, the largest that we've ever had was one called the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

They actually plan for all the things that will need to happen to make things happen. And, you know, third piece is they create financing and executing institutions. And so America used to have a bunch of these all across our society. You know, during World War II, the largest that we've ever had was one called the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

And the RFC wasn't just a public investment bank. It was like a project manager. It would go out and find problems and find bottlenecks and push and actively make sure stuff got done, things got built, do whatever is necessary to just push things along. And we've really tried to find examples of societies that managed to do this kind of broad-based work. prosperity through iterative slow reforms.

And the RFC wasn't just a public investment bank. It was like a project manager. It would go out and find problems and find bottlenecks and push and actively make sure stuff got done, things got built, do whatever is necessary to just push things along. And we've really tried to find examples of societies that managed to do this kind of broad-based work. prosperity through iterative slow reforms.

And it's really hard to find a single society that did it. You know, it's there's something about the scale and speed of a sweeping transformation that creates this momentum that gives you this escape velocity where these countries finally get the gumption to tackle all these obstacles that are standing in the way of progress.

And it's really hard to find a single society that did it. You know, it's there's something about the scale and speed of a sweeping transformation that creates this momentum that gives you this escape velocity where these countries finally get the gumption to tackle all these obstacles that are standing in the way of progress.

And so that's the big piece that's missing for how do you actually get past all these obstacles that we're talking about.

And so that's the big piece that's missing for how do you actually get past all these obstacles that we're talking about.

Yeah, sorry, Zephyr, you want to jump in?

Yeah, sorry, Zephyr, you want to jump in?

Well, yeah, you know, we have a huge housing shortage in California. I think the process that we use to build housing is crazy. Everyone knows it's not going to build enough housing. We'd have this process in San Francisco where you approve on a parcel-by-parcel method to decide which housing gets built. So that process is a big part of the problem.

Well, yeah, you know, we have a huge housing shortage in California. I think the process that we use to build housing is crazy. Everyone knows it's not going to build enough housing. We'd have this process in San Francisco where you approve on a parcel-by-parcel method to decide which housing gets built. So that process is a big part of the problem.

But I don't actually think it's just going to be a process that'll fix it because what we see is often financing is a problem. Mm-hmm. Like last year, a bunch of construction projects in San Francisco got stalled because interest rates went up. So construction loans got very expensive. And our current approach to that is throwing our hands up and saying, well, I guess that's too bad.

But I don't actually think it's just going to be a process that'll fix it because what we see is often financing is a problem. Mm-hmm. Like last year, a bunch of construction projects in San Francisco got stalled because interest rates went up. So construction loans got very expensive. And our current approach to that is throwing our hands up and saying, well, I guess that's too bad.

But it's why it's really key that we have public financing institutions to try to make sure this stuff moves along and keeps happening. We can't have just this one solution. There's going to be so many bottlenecks that come in the way. Even if we fix the financing, there might be something else that pops up, right?

But it's why it's really key that we have public financing institutions to try to make sure this stuff moves along and keeps happening. We can't have just this one solution. There's going to be so many bottlenecks that come in the way. Even if we fix the financing, there might be something else that pops up, right?