>Nader wrote a number of
>pieces for The Freeman, in the late 50's and early 60's.
There's one at <http://www.fee.org/iol/nader.html> (sprinkled with too many visible discretionary hyphens). It's a story of how the citizens of his hometown, Winsted, Conn., resisted a proposed public housing project. An excerpt:
>Public housing pushes private housing toward deterioration and away
>from expansion. The private sector must pay for public housing
>which, in turn, takes away their tenants from whom income is derived
>to pay the taxes in the first place. "It takes the fruits and chops
>the roots," as one old-timer phrased it. The more public housing,
>the more difficult for owners to keep their property in repair and
>the weaker the incentives for people to want to own their own homes.
>Instances were found where po-tential home owners held off buy-ing
>until the outcome of the referendums was known.
>
>A vicious circle begins to operate; as private property is
>undermined by public competition, private investment is discouraged
>by the threat of more public housing. As local taxes increase, the
>prospects diminish for new or expanding industry.
>
>Public housing accentuates that which it professes to alleviate,
>creating conditions that will raise the call for more public
>housing. It will destroy the incentive to build new dwellings and
>to develop creative methods of private financing.
Of course, many of us held terrible positions when we were young and living in Connecticut.
Doug