Considering Socialism

[jacksonM]

https://www.apnews.com/5852bf92518d4502acb0270099066d73

The state of Oregon is considering statewide rent control.

So my question is do we not yet have enough evidence from past experience to conclude that this sort of thing is going to have the opposite effect of the good intentions involved?

[stuper1]

Virtue signaling doesn't care about evidence. You don't even need evidence, just common sense, but virtue signaling doesn't care about common sense either.

There's a book called "Economics in One Lesson". I wish all the virtue signalers would read it and understand it. Then, maybe they would understand that all their efforts to help people are actually having the opposite effect. It's the old story about giving a man a fish versus teaching him how to fish. But the virtue signalers won't read the book, and even if they did they wouldn't understand it. Bummer for all of us.

[Kriegsspiel]

As far as I know, rent control is well understood and the effects are predictable.

Oregon’s measure prohibits landlords from terminating month-to-month leases without cause after 12 months of occupancy and limits rent hikes to once per year. Those increases are limited to 7 percent above the annual change in the consumer price index.

Landlords can terminate tenancies only with 90 days’ written notice and payment of one month’s rent, with exemptions in some cases. A landlord can refuse to renew a fixed-term lease if the tenant receives three lease violation warnings within 12 months and the landlord gives 90 days’ notice.

The Oregon Rental Housing Association, which represents small-scale landlords, said the measure protects good tenants while not encouraging landlords to leave the business and invest their money elsewhere.

“I believe most landlords will be able to adapt and operate within the parameters,” said Jim Straub, the group’s legislative director.

I think what Jim means is that landlords will stop renting month to month

Another measure aiming to deal with that issue would require cities and counties to allow duplexes and some higher-density housing in lands zoned for single-family homes.

That would actually work. I predict NIMBY.

Oregon actually seems like a good place to try to get it passed with good optics and "overwhelming public support," since anyone protesting against it is going to be assaulted by ANTIFA. Very sad, Oregon seems nice. I wanted to live there once upon a time. Like me, none of those people need to live there. They could move to the Midwest and afford a perfectly acceptable apartment working at a gas station or retail job. So I am not really sympathetic.

[Xan]

One plus of the plan is that it might keep all those California refugees from making their way to Texas.

[jacksonM]

I was listening to a segment of an interview with AOC last night and when pressed about her many misstatements that fly in the face of facts she basically countered that all of that isn't really important. What's really important, she said, is that we do what is morally correct, not what is logically and factually correct.

How do you argue against that except to ask how you determine what is morally correct? I guess the answer is that you just ask her because she's obviously a person who has been given an extra dose of insight into such things that many of us do not have.

[WiseOne]

I was listening to a segment of an interview with AOC last night and when pressed about her many misstatements that fly in the face of facts she basically countered that all of that isn't really important. What's really important, she said, is that we do what is morally correct, not what is logically and factually correct.

Isn't that what Trump gets ridiculed about all the time? Granted his idea of "moral" isn't well aligned to the rest of us, but I am still mystified about how a critter like this gets glorified in the press, not to mention elected to national office. To put it in non-polite terms, she's a flaming idiot.

Re how rent stabilization works in NYC: there's an escape hatch for "luxury apartments" that exceed a fixed rent figure. So landlords increase rent by the maximum amount allowed every year, until they hit that magical ceiling and then they're home free. And, they can set rent to whatever they want once a tenant leaves, so most new apartments on the market are set above that ceiling. The result is overall higher rents. Plus, new buildings are always "luxury" apartments, for the same reasons.

[Kriegsspiel]

I was listening to a segment of an interview with AOC last night and when pressed about her many misstatements that fly in the face of facts she basically countered that all of that isn't really important. What's really important, she said, is that we do what is morally correct, not what is logically and factually correct.

Isn't that what Trump gets ridiculed about all the time? Granted his idea of "moral" isn't well aligned to the rest of us, but I am still mystified about how a critter like this gets glorified in the press, not to mention elected to national office. To put it in non-polite terms, she's a flaming idiot.

Female Of Color privilege. These FOCers can get away with pretty much anything, especially if they're attractive. Attractive Female Privilege is the most powerful privilege in the modern world, even more than magnet privilege and gravity privilege. It's well established that news media is almost completely liberal, so the FOCers will benefit from press privilege too. Some FOCers have actually ascended to the level of Mother FOCers which is certainly something to keep an eye on. Trump counters with orange privilege, which is a recently developed privilege, and White Man Privilege, but those are weaker privilege forces as the data show.

I've been keeping my ear to the ground on this issue, and I do know that privilegineers are working on new forms of privilege to level the playing field and ensure we live in a multi-pole privilege world.

[pmward]

I am still mystified about how a critter like this gets glorified in the press, not to mention elected to national office.

She gets publicity because she is female, she's young, she's attractive, she's socialist (which is sadly rising in popularity these days), and the things she says are so extreme that they can't help but be click-bait (Trump shares this same skill of generating extreme click-bait articles). At the end of the day, the media isn't there to make news, the media is there to make money. Articles about AOC are easy money. Being a successful politician these days isn't about being right, it's about generating attention and social media buzz. Our country is really screwed in the long run, as qualifications now matter less than social media likes. I'm just thankful that she is still too young to qualify to run for president next term...

[dualstow]

Isn't that what Trump gets ridiculed about all the time? Granted his idea of "moral" isn't well aligned to the rest of us, but I am still mystified about how a critter like {AOC} gets glorified in the press, not to mention elected to national office. To put it in non-polite terms, she's a flaming idiot.

Perhaps twitter exhibits the voices of the lowest bracket of intelligence, but I was still taken aback to see that she could tweet a reference to a bit of videogame English -- "all your base are belong to us" and get the equivalent of a standing ovation on that platform. I just hope most of those people are too young to vote.

One plus of the plan is that it might keep all those California refugees from making their way to Texas.

I swear to God, if you can find a way to ban Californians, you should do it.

[Kriegsspiel]

Perhaps twitter exhibits the voices of the lowest bracket of intelligence, but I was still taken aback to see that she could tweet a reference to a bit of videogame English -- "all your base are belong to us" and get the equivalent of a standing ovation on that platform. I just hope most of those people are too young to vote.

Wow just wow. First that "wack" comment, now THIS cultural appropriation? She might as well be wearing blackface. Sad!

[dualstow]

Alright, you forgot your /s tag. I'm not saying anything she did anything so strange, only that it's amazing how many people were gaga for it. I'm sick of both maga and gaga.

[Kriegsspiel]

Alright, you forgot your /s tag.

[jacksonM]

Two tweets that say it all....