Sclerotic rot Many cities in the US have been captured for decades by big Democratic political machines (I talked about this here). Under their watch, cities have become increasing unlivable due to high costs associated with housing, transit, and a failure to deliver government services effectively and efficiently. Furthermore, a gallimaufry of onerous regulatory barriers have been erected that discourage business formation. Elucidated below will be prescriptive policies imperative to the flourishing of an urban center

Big City Political Machines Most large cities in America have been under the control of bureaucratic political entities since the end of the 19th century in the case of our oldest cities like Boston, New York, and Chicago. In nearly every case in the United States, the machines were local Democratic parties. The nascent machine organizations were aptly characterized as highly inefficient, corrupt, and undemocratic. People grew predictably acrimonious at the presence of political machines stymieing progress and lessening the influence of those lacking political clout.