Uhh, ever hear about the depression, dot com bubble, great recession/housing market crash?
You're basically advocating "Let's do nothing, the market always corrects itself." Which is true to an extent, but in the extreme it also ruins lives, the country, and itself left unchecked during this process.
This is why a completely unregulated market is a horrible idea. Government needs to step in at certain times. This might not be as expansive as those (localized to the SF area), but it's pretty clear government intervention can be helpful when a market doesn't correct itself fast enough and the majority are screwed in favor of the few (or none).
You’d need government intervention to keep prices low, too. What if there‘s no zoning, but also no support to build sewer systems and transit? What if the NIMBYs start practicing arson?
Libertarianism won’t get you anywhere with social problems.
(This is besides the basic issue where loans mean prices don’t matter, so they’re free to go up…)
>> Uhh, ever hear about the depression, dot com bubble, great recession/housing market crash?
All of these are cyclical repeating events. Look at the historical data. This is how humans function. Trying to control cycles is pointless and i would say impossible. You just have to be mindful of them and may be "pad" yourself when you reach the extremes.
Markets are pretty efficient at deciding what things are worth at the current point in time, trying to regulate that is again pointless. The issue we often have is collusion of interests (and government is full of that).
SF will resolve itself. Just let the market do its thing and this too shall pass..
>All of these are cyclical repeating events. Look at the historical data. This is how humans function.
Yeah, that's kinda my point. It's awful when left unregulated. And with the great depression/housing market crash, government stepped in to help people out and get the market going again once it was obvious the market had failed/was failing.
Yeah I suppose unregulated is the wrong word. My overall point though is that this is something the local government can and should do something to fix.
Boston is currently also experiencing a housing shortage/crisis, and has a short and long term plan to help with it, which has already begun to start working.
Over the last 3 years new housing development has outpaced growth (which is also projected to stay strong)[1][2]. And rents are finally starting to dip. [3]
Saying "this is cyclical the market will correct" is probably true, but corrections can take a long time before becoming swift and detrimental. It's possible to fix it quicker, less drastically, and improve things over the short term and long term with well thought out government intervention.
The private market isn't flawless. Steady growth is better than boom and bust.
You're basically advocating "Let's do nothing, the market always corrects itself." Which is true to an extent, but in the extreme it also ruins lives, the country, and itself left unchecked during this process.
This is why a completely unregulated market is a horrible idea. Government needs to step in at certain times. This might not be as expansive as those (localized to the SF area), but it's pretty clear government intervention can be helpful when a market doesn't correct itself fast enough and the majority are screwed in favor of the few (or none).