Flailing
By Mitch Berg
Is it just me, or is Joe Biden throwing everything he can find at the wall to see what buys votes?
First, its “national rent control”:
President Joe Biden is ready to propose a 5% cap on annual rent increases for tenants of major landlords as he tries to show he’s doing something about the high cost of housing, according to a person familiar with the plan.
The proposal, to be announced while the president visits Nevada on Tuesday, is being championed by Biden in the middle of a tense presidential campaign and a time when housing costs have been a major driver of overall inflation.
Because that did so much good for “affordable housing” in New York, San Francisco, Minneapolis and Saint Paul..
But that’s just retail Democrat pettifoggery. Next, he goes big:
This is a play for the “ignorant low-information emotion-driven” voter bloc, which elections since 2000 show is between 48-52% of the electorate.
The “rent control”, like his “student loan forgiveness”, is a violation of the Takings clause. Expanding the court without a very solid congressional majority, merely a delusion.
July 18th, 2024 at 11:45 am
I’m surprised he hasn’t championed removing marijuana from the Schedule 1 list to shore up the stoner millennials and gen Z votes.
July 18th, 2024 at 11:47 am
I’m old enough to remember when the MN DFL started promising goodies to every voter that they saw or could imagine in an attempt to win votes because there’s a SURPLUS!!! I also remember that the promises outstripped the surplus and those promises were quietly rolled back.
This isn’t any different, other than that Biden has had his promises stymied before the Election, so he’s had to blame that dastardly SCOTUS.
July 18th, 2024 at 1:47 pm
He’s a buffoon who’s proposals and promises mean nothing. In very short order his party will run him off.
July 18th, 2024 at 4:44 pm
As usual with Biden, he sees a problem (unaffordable housing) and proposes the wrong, absolute worst possible solution (rent control).
This is one place where Kennedy gets it right (God help us!). The idea isn’t rent control, it’s to get rid of corporate control and monopolization of the housing market. REITs are terrible investments, but they’re even worse because they’re destroying much of the middle class’s best method of stabilizing families and building wealth. Nuke the tax credits that allow corporations to take over and control housing and return it to the people and this problem will diminish.
Monopolies are a bad thing in any industry, natural or not. We should at the least discourage their formation at every level: tech, housing, manufacturing, etc.
July 19th, 2024 at 6:21 am
Having friends that own apartment buildings, single family houses and duplexes, I’m aware of the numerous, worthless regulations that landlords are subjected to, especially in Minneapolis and St.Paul. As usual, these regulations most often, involve money in the form of fees. These fund government overreach and bureaucrats. All of them have to have real estate law firms on retainer. One of these friends has decided that he doesn’t want or need the hassles and expenses associated with St. Paul’s disastrous housing people, so he’s selling his properties there. Funny! After four months on the market, he’s not getting any interest. I guess the word is out. Housing issues are directly attributable to government.
July 19th, 2024 at 9:00 am
How much of what Biden says is headline versus how much is action?
For instance, have you personally received notice from the loan service agency saying your student loans been forgiveness? Do you personally know anybody who stopped making loan payments? I don’t.
Are his pronouncements real or just headline fodder?