Are rent-controlled appartments the evilest thing ever?

[VetLegion]

One good thing about my country is that there is no rent-control anywhere.
You pay the market price.

Now, I do have a heart, but it's beyond me why anyone would think that
some people have a right to live somewhere at extra low prices. The newest
installment is in Berlin:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,784966,00.html

Leaning on his bicycle while delicately rolling a cigarette, he recalled the days when Kreuzberg used to be home to countless artists and students. Fortunately, he lives in a rent-controlled apartment, paying as little as a quarter of what some residents around him do.

Evict the hippie already! If you want to feel good about it, evict him because
he's a smoker and breaking the Kyoto protocol.


Just had to vent after reading that. Thanks for reading

[VetLegion]

BTW anyone familiar with this Henry George guy? He believed that all
rent should go to the state or something. I should read up about that.

[MRT144]

Rent control is bull****.

[KrazyHorse]

re op: yes

[Hauldren Collider]

Yes. Rent control

[giblets]

BTW anyone familiar with this Henry George guy? He believed that all
rent should go to the state or something. I should read up about that.

I think it was only land rent. He wanted a tax on the value of land to take away the rent for that, but not a tax on the value of improvements.

[KrazyHorse]

Land is one of the least elastic factors of production, so the sentiment makes sense.

[Fake Boris]

re op: yes

Why?

[Kidlicious]

Don't hate, appreciate!

[KrazyHorse]

fakeboris

1) Because it destroys efficiency and encourages people to live in expensive areas for whom that privilege is not worth very much
2) Because it destroys equality and rewards the lucky/resnt-seekers who were lucky enough to be in place when rent began to be controlled

There is absolutely no good reason for rent control. People who argue for it are either idiots or self-interested.

[Fake Boris]

I wouldn't be surprised if they sufficiently discouraged home ownership to avoid the worst of bubbles.

[KrazyHorse]

Yeah, and I'm sure pyongyang has very few stock market bubbles too.

[Kidlicious]

1) Because it destroys efficiency and encourages people to live in expensive areas for whom that privilege is not worth very much

You mean someone should be forced to move into a slum so someone with more income can move in. That's what you call equality.

[KrazyHorse]

You mean someone should be forced to move into a slum so someone with more income can move in. That's what you call equality.

If people are poor, then the best thing to do is give them money. All of them. Not randomly select a lucky few and give them something which is worth much less to them than it would be worth to other people.

You ****ing ****. Rent control destroys eficiency and equality. As I said. It does NOTHING POSITIVE.

[Kidlicious]

If people are poor, then the best thing to do is give them money. All of them. Not randomly select a lucky few and give them something which is worth much less to them than it would be worth to other people.

You ****ing ****. Rent control destroys eficiency and equality. As I said. It does NOTHING POSITIVE.

I don't believe that people who charge poor people too much rent so that they have to move care about equality, but I guess you do.