San Francisco's night sky has been putting on a show lately, and it costs exactly zero dollars. Venus has been absolutely dominating the evening sky, outshining the moon on recent nights and turning the city into a surprisingly solid spot for planet watching. Meanwhile, the Bay Bridge light installation continues to do what it does best — reminding us that this city, for all its dysfunction, is still stunningly beautiful when the sun goes down.

We bring this up not just because pretty pictures are nice (they are), but because there's a broader point here worth making. This city has a way of making you feel like you need to spend money to enjoy it. A $19 cocktail here, a $45 parking garage there, a $3,800 studio apartment everywhere. The cost of simply existing in San Francisco has become so absurd that it's easy to forget the best stuff is still free.

As one Bay Area resident put it bluntly: "Teachers, nurses, restaurant workers... they can make $100-150k each, live with partners, and someday buy a house. Well, never buy a house." When the basic economics of living here feel this hopeless, sometimes the sanest thing you can do is step outside, breathe the fog-cooled air, and watch Venus do its thing over the Pacific.

Another local captured the mood perfectly: "I live in the Bay but don't work in tech so frankly had no idea this was the vibe. The tech culture is so disconnected from the rest of the world."

Fair enough. But the night sky doesn't care about your net worth, your Series B, or your LinkedIn following. It's the great equalizer — visible from the Tenderloin and Pacific Heights alike, no reservation required.

So here's our fiscal conservative take: the best things in San Francisco are still the ones the government can't tax, subsidize, or screw up. The bay, the hills, the sky. Go enjoy them before someone figures out how to charge an admission fee.