The best-laid plans : how government planning harms your quality of life, your pocketbook, and your future / Randal O'Toole.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 357-392) and index.

Introduction -- Forest planning -- The case of the fake forests -- Garbage in, gospel out -- A process of natural selection -- Analysis paralysis -- The return of fire dominance -- Why planning fails -- Radical doctrine or rational decisionmaking? -- Human barriers -- Planning is not necessary -- Land-use planning -- Urban renewal -- Turning Portland into L.A. -- How smart is "smart growth"? -- Smart growth as oppression -- Homeownership -- Housing affordability -- Housing bubbles -- It's supply, not demand -- Portland housing -- Smart growth and crime -- Portland planning implodes -- Why planners fail -- The planning profession -- The history of planning -- The ideal communist city -- Urban renewal in the United States -- From radiant city to smart growth -- Typical planning methods -- Transportation planning -- Planning vs. chaos -- The benefits of the automobile -- Costs exaggerated -- The panic over peak oil -- Planning for congestion -- Building auto-hostile streets -- The rail transit hoax -- Transportation myths -- Why government fails -- Power and rationality -- Legislators: seeking reelection -- Special interests: looking for handouts -- Bureaucrats: maximizing budgets -- The executive: distracted by detail -- Courts and voters: the last lines of defense -- Instead of planning -- 246 varieties of cheese -- Make the market work -- Turn open-access resources into property -- Protect public goods with trusts -- Understand government's limits -- Reforming public land management -- Reforming transportation -- Reforming land use -- The American dream.