We shouldn't have to pay for Jack Dorsey's $40m estate when it crumbles into the sea | Adrian Daub

By using public money to protect California homes from the climate crisis, the state is transferring wealth from working-class people of color to white property owners

Even by the standards of overpriced San Francisco, the Sea Cliff neighborhood is astronomically expensive. Nestled between two gorgeous parks and with what a realtor might describe as commanding views of the Golden Gate, it could hardly be different. Homes in the area routinely go for more than $10m. Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter and the payment service Square, recently bought a place here for $21.5m - next door to his $18m present home. The 0.62-acre compound is recessed from the street and perched on a cliff overlooking the beach.

And that's where things get interesting, because cliffside living has become an increasingly risky proposition in California. Warming ocean temperatures are whipping up stronger surfs and more brutal winter storms, causing cliffs to crumble ever faster into the sea. The consequences for thousands of cliff-top houses such as Dorsey's could be catastrophic. Still, @Jack's bet isn't a bad one: depending on when the house goes over the edge, it might well be the rest of us that gets stuck with the bill.