A satirical campaign ad is making the rounds on social media again, but the joke isn’t landing quite the way its creators intended. Meant to ridicule the idea that luxury housing could help ordinary renters, it instead exposes the flaw in a familiar left-wing assumption: If something benefits the wealthy, it couldn’t possibly benefit average Americans.
In March of last year, New York City group Youth Against Displacement released an ad supporting City Councilman Chris Marte and mocking the argument that building luxury condos and apartments could help make city housing costs more affordable. But the group’s punchline fell flat as a Community Note pointed out that economic theory and real-world evidence remain undefeated in this regard: building luxury condos benefits everyone.
nyc: vote “no” on all ballot proposals https://t.co/UMVER5R0TH
— fuelgrannie (@fuelgrannie) October 27, 2026
"Hi, I am a Yimby: 'Yes, in my backyard.' Luxury condos. Luxury condos. Luxury condos. Luxury condos. We need many more luxury towers like this one so that eventually it will lower the cost of housing. One day, all of us will be able to live in luxury condos."
"You have to let your landlord evict you so he can tear down your building and build a luxury high-rise and increase housing supply."
"Yimbies are gentrifiers," a member of Youth Against Displacement explained. "If you don't want to be a gentrifier, here's someone you should support. Chris Marte, the leading anti-displacement city council member who successfully stopped luxury towers. Developers and Yimbys hate him. People love him. New Yorkers, help Chris Marte win big in this upcoming election and say no to the agenda of big real estate. Don't be a Yimby. Vote Chris Marte."
The only problem, of course, is that YIMBYs, so-called gentrifiers and developers are doing what their opponents aren’t: increasing the supply of housing in cities like New York. They are building the homes needed to bring down rents, offering a solution grounded in free enterprise rather than yet another attempt to legislate away a simple supply shortage.
Even a Community Note beneath a repost of the original video pointed out that the group’s argument runs against both economic theory and empirical evidence: Increase supply, including that of luxury condos, and you can ease pressure on rents, even for low- and moderate-income families.
The wealthy benefit the working class. More luxury housing means less pressure on housing prices. Lower taxes mean more money available to invest in companies and businesses that provide thousands of livelihoods for working-class Americans. Even the luxury toys of the wealthy can pave the way for technologies that improve the average American’s quality of life.
This is a simple economic truth that much of the political left has forgotten, and parts of the right are beginning to forget, blaming high housing costs on wealthy investment firms or illegal aliens. The problem comes down to supply and demand, yet nearly everyone is focused on who is buying or renting homes, and too few are asking why we aren’t building more of them. Politics must let the fixed-pie fallacy die: One person’s prosperity does not require another’s poverty. Otherwise, we end up with one party pushing socialism as the solution and the other overlooking the simplest and most effective policy solutions.
Editor's Note: The Democrat Party has been infected by socialism, and it's spreading FAST. Democrats are claiming there's nothing to worry about, but we know the truth.
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