Bill Maher Wonders: Why Does It Take a Catatstrophe to Cut Red Tape?

1. Hot Air 

   . . ."They are desperate to avoid accountability for years and decades of mismanagement by the progressive establishment that put them into these offices ... and the progressive establishment is even more anxious to avoid it. As soon as the national scrutiny ends, they will snap back to the same business as usual that created much of this misery in the first place."

" TMZ's Harvey Levin chats up Maher about the start of his new season of Real Time, which launches tomorrow night on HBO, as well as the story of Maher's odyssey through the state and local bureaucracy just to build a shed on his own property. No one who has ever lived in California and Los Angeles would be surprised that it took well over a year to journey through that process, even though the purpose was to add solar power to Maher's property. 

"Now, though, Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass are pledging to cut all that red tape to allow victims of the wildfires to rebuild their homes as quickly as possible. Maher wonders why it takes a disaster for bureaucrats to realize how bad their system actually is (via Hollywood in Toto):" . . .

"Why does it take a catastrophe? Because progressive bureaucrats are motivated by their own agendas, and only incentivized to operate against them in emergencies. California has spent decades keeping property owners from normal uses of their property, even (as Maher experienced) when those uses at least somewhat align with the elites' professed values. They also want to soak taxpayers for every cent they can get in every transaction, which incentivizes them to insert as many steps in the process as they can -- an endless series of applications, permits, and inspections for any significant use of property in the state and in the city." . . .