#mr market

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Rent control works

This Saturday (May 20), I’ll be at the GAITHERSBURG Book Festival with my novel Red Team Blues; then on May 22, I’m keynoting Public Knowledge’s Emerging Tech conference in DC.

On May 23, I’ll be in TORONTO for a book launch that’s part of WEPFest, a benefit for the West End Phoenix, onstage with Dave Bidini (The Rheostatics), Ron Diebert (Citizen Lab) and the whistleblower Dr Nancy Olivieri.

David Roth memorably described the job of neoliberal economists as finding “new ways to say ‘actually, your boss is right.’” Not just your boss: for decades, economists have formed a bulwark against seemingly obvious responses to the most painful parts of our daily lives, from wages to education to health to shelter:

https://popula.com/2023/04/30/yakkin-about-chatgpt-with-david-roth/

How can we solve the student debt crisis? Well, we could cancel student debt and regulate the price of education, either directly or through free state college.

How can we solve America’s heath-debt crisis? We could cancel health debt and create Medicare For All.

How can we solve America’s homelessness crisis? We could build houses and let homeless people live in them.

How can we solve America’s wage-stagnation crisis? We could raise the minimum wage and/or create a federal jobs guarantee.

How can we solve America’s workplace abuse crisis? We could allow workers to unionize.

How can we solve America’s price-gouging greedflation crisis? With price controls and/or windfall taxes.

How can we solve America’s inequality crisis? We could tax billionaires.

How can we solve America’s monopoly crisis? We could break up monopolies.

How can we solve America’s traffic crisis? We could build public transit.

How can we solve America’s carbon crisis? We can regulate carbon emissions.

These answers make sense to everyone except neoliberal economists and people in their thrall. Rather than doing the thing we want, neoliberal economists insist we must unleash “markets” to solve the problems, by “creating incentives.” That may sound like a recipe for a small state, but in practice, “creating incentives” often involves building huge bureaucracies to “keep the incentives aligned” (that is, to prevent private firms from ripping off public agencies).

This is how we get “solutions” that fail catastrophically, like:

Public Service Loan Forgiveness instead of debt cancellation and free college:

https://studentloansherpa.com/likely-ineligible/

The gig economy instead of unions and minimum wages:

https://www.newswise.com/articles/research-reveals-majority-of-gig-economy-workers-are-earning-below-minimum-wage

Interest rate hikes instead of price caps and windfall taxes:

https://www.npr.org/2023/05/03/1173371788/the-fed-raises-interest-rates-again-in-what-could-be-its-final-attack-on-inflati

Tax breaks for billionaire philanthropists instead of taxing billionaires:

https://memex.craphound.com/2018/11/10/winners-take-all-modern-philanthropy-means-that-giving-some-away-is-more-important-than-how-you-got-it/

Subsidizing Uber instead of building mass transit:

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/cities-turn-uber-instead-buses-trains/

Fraud-riddled carbon trading instead of emissions limits:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/27/voluntary-carbon-market/#trust-me

As infuriating as all of this “actually, your boss is right” nonsense is, the most immediate and continuously frustrating aspect of it is the housing crisis, which has engulfed cities all over the world, to the detriment of nearly everyone.

America led the way on screwing up housing. There were two major New Deal/post-war policies that created broad (but imperfect and racially biased) prosperity in America: housing subsidies and labor unions. Of the two, labor unions were the most broadly inclusive, most available across racial and gender lines, and most engaged with civil rights struggles and other progressive causes.

So America declared war on labor unions and told working people that their only path to intergenerational wealth was to buy a home, wait for it to “appreciate,” and sell it on for a profit. This is a disaster. Without unions to provide countervailing force, every part of American life has worsened, with stagnating wages lagging behind skyrocketing expenses for education, health, retirement, and long-term care. For nearly every homeowner, this means that their “most valuable asset” — the roof over their head — must be liquidated to cover debts. Meanwhile, their kids, burdened with six-figure student debt — will have little or nothing left from the sale of the family home with which to cover a downpayment in a hyperinflated market:

https://gen.medium.com/the-rents-too-damned-high-520f958d5ec5

Meanwhile, rent inflation is screaming ahead of other forms of inflation, burdening working people beyond any ability to pay. Giant Wall Street firms have bought up huge swathes of the country’s housing stock, transforming it into overpriced, undermaintained slums that you can be evicted from at the drop of a hat:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/08/wall-street-landlords/#the-new-slumlords

Transforming housing from a human right to an “asset” was always going to end in a failure to build new housing stock and regulate the rental market. It’s reaching a breaking point. “Superstar cities” like New York and San Francisco have long been priced out of the reach of working people, but now they’re becoming unattainable for double-income, childless, college-educated adults in their prime working years:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/05/15/upshot/migrations-college-super-cities.html

A city that you can’t live in is a failure. A system that can’t provide decent housing is a failure. The “your boss is right, actually” crowd won: we don’t build public housing, we don’t regulate rents, and it suuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks.

Maybe we could try doing things instead of “aligning incentives?”

Like, how about rent control.

God, you can already hear them squealing! “Price controls artificially distort well-functioning markets, resulting in a mismatch between supply and demand and the creation of the dreaded deadweight loss triangle!”

Rent control “causes widespread shortages, leaving would-be renters high and dry while screwing landlords (the road to hell, so says the orthodox economist, is paved with good intentions).”

That’s been the received wisdom for decades, fed to us by Chicago School economists who are so besotted with their own mathematical models that any mismatch between the models’ predictions and the real world is chalked up to errors in the real world, not the models. It’s pure economism: “If economists wished to study the horse, they wouldn’t go and look at horses. They’d sit in their studies and say to themselves, ‘What would I do if I were a horse?’”

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/27/economism/#what-would-i-do-if-i-were-a-horse

But, as Mark Paul writes for The American Prospect, rent control works:

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/housing/2023-05-16-economists-hate-rent-control/

Rent control doesn’t constrain housing supply:

https://dornsife.usc.edu/pere/rent-matters

At least some of the time, rent control expands housing supply:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-9906.2007.00334.x

The real risk of rent control is landlords exploiting badly written laws to kick out tenants and convert their units to condos — that’s not a problem with rent control, it’s a problem with eviction law:

https://web.stanford.edu/~diamondr/DMQ.pdf

Meanwhile, removing rent control doesn’t trigger the predicted increases in housing supply:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119006000635

Rent control might create winners (tenants) and losers (landlords), but it certainly doesn’t make everyone worse off — as the neoliberal doctrine insists it must. Instead, tenants who benefit from rent control have extra money in their pockets to spend on groceries, debt service, vacations, and child-care.

Those happier, more prosperous people, in turn, increase the value of their landlords’ properties, by creating happy, prosperous neighborhoods. Rent control means that when people in a neighborhood increase its value, their landlords can’t kick them out and rent to richer people, capturing all the value the old tenants created.

What is life like under rent control? It’s great. You and your family get to stay put until you’re ready to move on, as do your neighbors. Your kids don’t have to change schools and find new friends. Old people aren’t torn away from communities who care for them:

https://ideas.repec.org/a/uwp/landec/v58y1982i1p109-117.html

In Massachusetts, tenants with rent control pay half the rent that their non-rent-controlled neighbors pay:

https://economics.mit.edu/sites/default/files/publications/housing%20market%202014.pdf

Rent control doesn’t just make tenants better off, it makes society better off. Rather than money flowing from a neighborhood to landlords, rent control allows the people in a community to invest it there: opening and patronizing businesses.

Anything that can’t go on forever will eventually stop. As the housing crisis worsens, states are finally bringing back rent control. New York has strengthened rent control for the first time in 40 years:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/12/nyregion/rent-regulation-laws-new-york.html

California has a new statewide rent control law:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/business/economy/california-rent-control.html

They’re battling against anti-rent-control state laws pushed by ALEC, the right-wing architects of model legislation banning action on climate change, broadband access, and abortion:

https://www.nmhc.org/research-insight/analysis-and-guidance/rent-control-laws-by-state/

But rent control has broad, democratic support. Strong majorities of likely voters support rent control:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/03/07/metro/new-statewide-poll-shows-strong-support-rent-control/

And there’s a kind of rent control that has near unanimous support: the 30-year fixed mortgage. For the 67% of Americans who live in owner-occupied homes, the existence of the federally-backed (and thus federally subsidized) fixed mortgage means that your monthly shelter costs are fixed for life. What’s more, these costs go down the longer you pay them, as mortgage borrowers refinance when interest rates dip.

We have a two-tier system: if you own a home, then the longer you stay put, the cheaper your “rent” gets. If you rent a home, the longer you stay put, the more expensive your home gets over time.

America needs a shit-ton more housing — regular housing for working people. Mr Market doesn’t want to build it, no matter how many “incentives” we dangle. Maybe it’s time we just did stuff instead of building elaborate Rube Goldberg machines in the hopes of luring the market’s animal sentiments into doing it for us.

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Toronto, DC, Gaithersburg, Oxford, Hay, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/16/mortgages-are-rent-control/#housing-is-a-human-right-not-an-asset

[Image ID: A beautifully laid dining room table in a luxury flat. Outside of the windows looms a rotting shanty town with storm-clouds overhead.]

Image: ozz13x (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shanty_Town_Hong_Kong_China_March_2013.jpg

Matt Brown (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dining_room_in_Centre_Point_penthouse.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #urbanism #weaponized shelter #housing #the rent's too damned high #rent control #economism #neoliberalism #monetarism #mr market #landlord brain #speculation

[popsicle-stick]

commission of angeline and artemis I circa 1985 in the style of a particular leyendecker piece

💎commissions are still open! 💎

#the material of the dress is inspired by an 80s dress i saw at my local vintage market the material was insane. a duochrome i'd never seen #artemis fowl #a pale imitation of mr leyendecker himself but it was a good excercise in how he thought about shape and light & a renewed appreciation for #*how insanely skilled he was #lottieart

[rainboopz]

The Main Cast + Minor Cast together for my little concept "Happy Asian Market" 🛒🦀💛

For those who are new, it's about Hughie, an ex-gangster, stumbling upon a job at an Asian supermarket that includes beating up demons with Buddhist magic. Right up the lug's alley!

#artists on tumblr #character design #original characters #demon #digital art #vietnamese oc #art #happy asian market #hughie #mrs. bui #lily #jessica #kevin #zahav #anthony #thien #zelie #troy #joel #fun fact everyone besides the demons are viet in some way

[night-market-if]

Imagine MC coming back and the first thing they do is find Mr. Billows and say, “I believe we have a common enemy…we should join forces to destroy him.” “Meow.”

Mr. Billows will be giving several people a piece of their mind in book 2.

#the night market #mr. billows #interactive fiction #twine game #twine if

[pratchettquotes]

"H-hello?" he called in the cavernous darkness of the hall. "Is there anyone there?"

There was, fortunately, no reply, but there was some scrabbling up near the roof.

"We're closed, you know," he quavered. "But we're open again at seven in the morning for a range of stamps and a wonderful deal on mail to Pseudopolis." His voice slowed and his brow creased as he tried to remember everything Mr. Lipwig had told them earlier. "Remember, we may not be the fastest but we always get there. Why not write your old granny?"

"I ate my grandmother," growled the voice from high in the darkness. "I gnawed her bones."

Stanley coughed. He had not been trained in the art of salesmanship.

"Ah," he said. "Er...perhaps an aunt, then?"

Terry Pratchett, Going Postal

#stanley howler #mr. gryle #moist von lipwig #going postal #discworld #terry pratchett #postal service #mailman #stamps #postage #marketing #sales #situational awareness #family ties #the art of salesmanship #perhaps an aunt #we always get there

[clodstargazer]

A heartfelt thank you from Grizzco Industries for the support shown.

#good marketing campaign #business is booming #splatoon #splatoon 3 #splatfest #springfest #mr grizz #grizzco #my art

[shiningliive]

Utapri ♪ Live Emotion Theme Song CD

*New promotional video released and preorder purchase benefits revealed.

'Live Emotion Theme Song CD' will be released on the 12th of June 2024, and will include three brand new songs: 1. KIR☆MEKI EMOTION - by Starish 2. SONG LETTER - by Quartet Night 3. GLORIOUS ANGELS - by Heavens

Bonuses will be one randomly selected idol card (with a message from the idol on the back) per CD preordered. The randomised card will depend on the version of the CD purchased.

For example, if the Starish version CD is purchased, the random bonus will be randomly selected from the 7 Starish members.

There are further/alternate bonuses depending on the store the CD is purchased from (eligable stores shown on the official website) as well as a limited time campaign for those who purchase through Animate or Broccoli Online between the 4th and 31st of March.

People who purchase from these stores in the alotted time period will have the chance to win either a poster autographed by each of the groups members, or an autographed idol message card.

Further information can be found on the official websites:

☆ Official Live Emotion Teaser Site ☆ Official Live Emotion Twitter ☆ Official Theme Song CD Site

#not shining live #live emotion #theme song cd #god im loving these song previews more than when i first heard them #pay me mr utapri i give you so much free marketing #love you <3 <3 #Youtube

[mvshortcut]

Ok everyone tell me in the tags or replies your ideas for mbs post-credit cutscenes. Please I never knew I needed them until now

#I'll go first #SQ at the bottom of a well somewhere #Jackson and Jillson attempting to work retail #Curtain ahem. Encountering Madge while pondering the dance of the celestial orb #Marlon POV waiting outside Curtain's office with the muffled sounds of Stevie Nicks and clapping and shoe squeaks coming from inside #Mr. Benedict going to the farmer's market. that's it. I want to watch him pick out a butternut squash for 3 minutes #the mysterious benedict society #tmbs

[master-of-blogging]

Actually the most relatable Ninjago character is Mr. Frohicky:

-assumes that he will be fired/get in trouble because of a small mistake

-Constant Anxiety

-would love it if friends would rehearse confrontations before actually having them with him

-king of helping others with their feelings, is absolute garbage with his own feelings

#ninjago frohicky #ninjago dragons rising #dragons rising #ninjago #Ninjago spoilers #Marketable Mr Frohicky plushie when?????

[galacticrain]

#not art #poll #splatoon #splatoon 3 #splatoon 2 #mr. grizz #commander tartar #dj octavio #splatfest #splatoon tartar #splatoon mr grizz #splatoon dj octavio #villain splatfest #conducting market research for my made up splatfest

[trickostars]

I do think personally that if you called Helen “Mrs Incredible” to her face consistently she’d eventually start maiming and killing. Her and Bob are correcting every fucking interviewer like “It’s Elastigirl” is like the top 5 thing they say now, in court Evelyn only referred to Bob as “Mr Elastigirl” and Helen had to hold back a laugh each time.

#the incredibles #pixar #bob parr #helen parr #mr incredible #elastigirl #evelyn deavor #screenslaver #winston is like “for marketing reasons we think mrs incredible might be nice” #and Helen pulls her trap card of “your sister tried to kill my entire family” #and winston does what he always does when she says that #which is hand her 200 dollars and apologise

[superbellsubways]

assistants in plushie/pillow form

#ngl id love a plush ORCA like this #and not making a plush CQ was a missed opportunity like why didnt they do that hes so marketable #splatoon 3 spoilers #mr grizz #commander tartar #gijinka #digital art #digital painting

[velichorus-k]

We desperately need more animated movies with gross animal characters in the year of our lord 2023. No more cute or furry-bait dogs and cats. I want to see these guys and go "what is that?"

#mostly talking about #rango #fantastic mr fox #I want to see fur texture that makes me want to give the characters a bath #eyes full of rabies and death #no marketable plush #characters that would smell like woodchips and rotting burgers #anyways you get the point #personal #opinions

[rainboopz]

viet punks and their granny gonna make you rich for the dragon year 🧧❤️🐉

#artist on tumblr #original characters #lunar new year #year of the dragon #chuc mung nam moi #digital art #illustration #art #vietnamese oc #hughie #jessica #kevin #mrs. bui #happy asian market #congrats on your $18 guys!!!

[night-market-if]

How would Milo react if he bought a ring to propose to the MC with…but he dropped it and Billows just ran over and ate it….

He would try to chase that cat through the streets to get that ring back. Screaming after him that he is a demon. He would then declare full on war with Billows, which would confuse everyone else, but the night would suddenly be about vengeance. And catching a certain grey cat.

#the night market #milo next #mr. billows #interactive fiction #twine game #scenerios #milo and billows equals war

[sauriansolutions]

Is there a Twisted Wonderland version of McDonald's? TwstDonald's? 🤣

Because you know certain boys would try to organize an expedition there.

I feel like this would start out with Ace casually mentioning that the cafeteria burgers are okay, but he's really craving a BigTwst (this naming convention is terrible, I love it).

Epel casually relies, huh, he's never been to TwstDonald's, what's it like? Cue Adeuce, Yuu, and Grim freaking out, and insisting that they need to go on a roadtrip immediately.

Ruggie and Jack probably join in, because they seem like the types who'd go full-in on "Mission: Let Epel Have a Goddamn Burger, For Once In His Life."

But, oh no! Vil overhears this conversation, and makes it his life's mission to sabotage this road trip at all cost!

Also Rook is there, ostensibly to help Vil "save" poor, innocent Epel from the horrors of fast food. But it's unclear whose side he's even on, because Rook operates by Rook Rules that are incomprehensible to everyone who isn't French.

Insert increasingly absurd shenanigans.

Finally, cut to Idia, who's been remotely watching this whole disaster play out while eating the TwstDonald's Super Combo he had delivered to his dorm like a sensible person.

"Heh, Ortho, come check out these absolute noobs," he giggles through a mouthful of fries.

Ortho floats over and shakes his head sadly. "I bet they don't even have the TwstDonald's app downloaded. They're missing out on so many Twisty D points..."

#i wrote this while procrastinating #I'm just going to leave this here and hope nobody finds it #i wish coming up with nonstop garbage like this was a marketable skill #why yes mr and/or mrs job interviewer #i do in fact have a phD in shitposting