The enormous losses from the California fires would have been a tragedy no matter where they occurred, but one of the things I’ve been thinking about lately was how special of a community the Altadena neighborhood that burned was. Among other things, it was one of the most diverse and least segregated communities around, even for a state like California that’s majority minority.
If you zoom in on the census demographic data those little colored dots are throughly mixed up together, much moreso than a lot of neighborhoods around LA.
Time will tell what kind of neighborhood eventually rebuilds there, but given the high housing prices in the region it will be a miracle if the place doesn’t get gentrified and lose all if its old character. Many of the houses had families who had been living there for multiple generations and came from all kinds of backgrounds and income levels. Most people who will be able to afford a new home in the area (even with insurance payouts) will be high-income folks. And money aside, it’s going to take so long to rebuild that large numbers of folks will surely end up permanently relocating elsewhere. There’s no getting back what was lost.
Reaction to that was perfect. People really got fucking mad at… Perfectly proving the point. People care more about paint on canvas then the
FUCKING PLANET.
Makes sense. Free market and all that. In that spirit, I’m assuming Polymarket will also soon be arranging betting tables for when the first Polymarket execs will meet their own version of Luigi Mangione.
Wahoo
Interesting read. (Full disclosure: Bill Shaikin is a friend of ours.)
All good. But this is not the first time Polymarket has used disaster as the basis for investment.
In 2023, after the submersible Titan was lost at sea en route to the Titanic, Polymarket asked: “Will the missing submarine be found by June 23?” Mother Jones found two investors, one who bet yes and one who bet no.
And the typical tech PR bullshit:
The Polymarket statement to The Times started this way: “We express our deepest sympathies to everyone affected by these fires and appreciate the heroic work underway by first responders and everyday Angelenos.”
One can only hope.
and…
The rest of the month will be loads of fun. Forewarned is forearmed.
Ooooh! What a good firefighter.
