Posted on 10/31/2016 4:19:11 PM PDT by jazusamo
It is especially painful for me, as an economist, to see that two small cities in northern California — San Mateo and Burlingame — have rent control proposals on the ballot this election year.
There are various other campaigns, in other places around the country, for and against minimum wage laws, which likewise make me wonder if the economics profession has failed to educate the public in the most elementary economic lessons.
Neither rent control nor minimum wage laws — nor price control laws in general — are new. Price control laws go back as far as ancient Egypt and Babylon, and they have been imposed at one time or other on every inhabited continent.
History alone should be able to tell us what the actual consequences of such laws have been, since they have been around for thousands of years. Anyone who has taken a course in Economics 1 should understand why those consequences have been so different from what their advocates expected. It is not rocket science.
Nevertheless, advocates of a rent control law are saying things like "this will prevent some landlords from gouging tenants and making a ton of money off the housing crisis."
The reason there is a housing crisis in the first place is that existing laws in much of California prevent enough housing from being built to supply the apartments and homes that people want. If landlords were all sweethearts, and never raised rents, that would still not get one new building built.
(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...
Nope.
We do not live in a genuine capitalistic system.
Let’s not forget that Capitalism is a term Marxists came up with to denigrate free markets + property rights, which is really what we’re talking about.
I don’t think economics is a science.
Heck, I don’t think economics is a “thing”.
It’s just politics. And rent control and minimum wage laws can be political tricks that garner votes. It’s just not about “economics” at all.
That, and if we had honest economists, failed and failing theories would fall by the wayside.
Well .....
Obama has proven, once again, that socialist wealth redistribution doesn’t work.
Dr Sowell is a treasure. Thanks for the ping jaz.
Most welcome, FRiend.
Free unfettered competitive markets. Not rigged, not controlled by govts (fascism, cronyism, nepotism), not artificially supported and propped up.
Economics only works when there are There are true measures for goods and services exchanged. Once credit gets thrown in and the checks and balances start going awry with voodoo economics and people start skirting the system can derail. Throw an the MSM reporting false evonomic data and socialism with politicians leeching off the system and you have a recipe for disaster. The real truth is so many companies and governments don’t know where they truly stand financially or there not going report it. It’s like we have a massive poker game and everybody is using their best poker face to fool the other so they won’t call and collect and we are in a precarious position because of it. Just my .02 and an oversimplification but hopefully somewhere close.
No “too big to fail.”
“...which likewise make me wonder if the economics profession has failed to educate the public in the most elementary economic lessons.”
Don’t beat yourself up, Dr. Sowell.
It’s OUR fault that we’ve ALLOWED the LibTards to compromise education from Pre-school through College where they have thoroughly succeeded in the dumbing down of the Electorate and in keeping them on the Democratic Plantation.
I have NO idea how to turn this around other than more Charter Schools (which ALSO have their problems) and more Home Schooling...or, in my case, DAILY deprogramming over home work and around the Family Supper Table.
I did the best I could, but *I* released three of them (kids) into the wild; and we can’t even agree on sports teams, let alone politics!
*SIGH*
Well said, Diana! Bumpity Bump.
I love that you love Dr. Sowell as much as I do! :)
make me wonder if the economics profession has failed to educate the public in the most elementary economic lessons.
Isn't Sowell a NeverTrumper?
Anyway...
This clearly shows how the conservative establishment and intelligentsia completely live in a bubble.
The notion that the public knows ANYTHING about basic economics is laughable.
Most people in America can barely read and write.
There are articles on this forum TODAY about how nearly ALL college age students have ZERO knowledge of American history and can barely read and write.
And Sowell is lamenting the fact that the public doesn't understand the finer points of economic theory?
PUHLEEZE.
Sowell: Has Economics Failed?
Yes. Yes, it has. How can any policy engine, whether economic, political, or whatever, be said to have succeeded while people stupid enough to be liberals still are stealing oxygen that normal good people could be utilizing?
“Let’s not forget that Capitalism is a term Marxists came up with to denigrate free markets + property rights, which is really what we’re talking about.”
Yes, von Hayek called it “the extended order of human cooperation,” which is much more accurate—though inconveniently long.
“That is how you get ill-informed voters who support price controls of many kinds, without understanding that prices convey economic realities that do not change just because the government changes the prices. It is as if someone’s fever was treated by putting the thermometer in cold water to bring the temperature reading down. You don’t get more housing with rent control.”
Is there a more clear thinker and writer on the vital public policy issues in America today? I can’t think of one.
I wish Professor Sowell a long, long life.
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