Previous item is a perfect example of why the RIGHT kind of price controls are needed. Enid hasn’t been affected by the real estate bubble. When I compare rental and sale prices there with what I remember from the 70s, the current numbers are in line with overall inflation. A $100 apartment then is $700 now. Elsewhere, including Spokane, ALL prices are luxury prices.
450K for a custom-made mansion in the best neighborhood is proportionate to other houses. 450k for a basic two-bedroom tract house in a crappy area is a LUXURY price. All prices are LUXURY prices in the areas where hedge funds have cornered the market.
I used to go along with the whole concept of “rights”. Censorship is bad, free speech is good, secrecy is bad. Recently I’ve realized that censorship is INEVITABLE and free speech is NONEXISTENT and secrecy is the whole purpose of language.
Constant: No matter who runs the system, there will always be censorship and secrecy.
Variable: Who benefits from the limits? Natural law applies the restrictions to prevent criminals from destroying normal life. “Rights” removes the restrictions from criminals, and then criminals restrict normal people. Etiquette aids free discussion. Without etiquette, bullies will force agreement. Privacy for guilds and families aids normal life. When everything has to be “transparent”, bullies can ruin normal life.
Now I see that price control works the same way.
When the government doesn’t keep prices down, monopolies will keep prices up.
Every culture and system has price controls. In a sane Natural Law setup the controls serve to restrain greed and allow normal people to live normally. Medieval English law punished brewers and merchants who overpriced their wares, and punished sellers who misused scales to cheat people. FDR placed controls on rent to stop greedy landlords from taking advantage of wartime shortages.
Deregulation, starting with Nixon and Carter and continuing through Trump, removed the Natural Law restrictions on monopolizers like Blackrock. Now Blackrock controls prices UPWARD to benefit Larry Fink, leaving the majority of people struggling to survive.
The Biden administration was trying to bring back some of FDR’s Natural Law, especially in real estate. But only a small part of the admin was working in that direction, with no help from the Dems in Congress or elsewhere. The campaign didn’t even mention their GOOD DEEDS, instead screeching about “rights” and “democracy” just like Clinton and Trump.
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Later, there’s a pretty clear pattern of areas without billionaire price control. From Oklahoma north into Dakotas, Minnesota, Alberta and Saskatchewan, the last two billionaire bubbles had a minimal effect. Prices there move with oil booms and busts, simple economics. Texas is a strong exception. It’s part of the oil and cattle zone, but billionaires obviously WANT to be there and move their corporate HQs to Texas. Prices move with the billionaires. Why the single exception? Oceans? Billionaires love beaches more than anything else. You can’t display the length of your megayacht in Enid or Calgary.
Polistra's Mill 