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Re:Why the Assholes Are Winning: Money Trumps All by afarrell on Saturday February 06, 2016 @12:52PM (#11048786)
The common response to this is: Universal Basic Income.
Re:Why the Assholes Are Winning: Money Trumps All by ck2 on Saturday February 06, 2016 @01:33PM (#11049005)
You mean guaranteed minimum housing cost.

Or guaranteed minimum landlord profit.

Because rent will rise by exactly whatever guaranteed minimum income becomes.

Same way college costs rise to whatever loans are available.

Re:Why the Assholes Are Winning: Money Trumps All by dllthomas on Saturday February 06, 2016 @03:08PM (#11049559)
"Because rent will rise by exactly whatever guaranteed minimum income becomes."

That seems unlikely, because of competition. Not merely of identical units, but of all alternatives. We are not terribly supply-constrained on housing, nationally or globally (some markets certainly are, actually or artificially).

"Same way college costs rise to whatever loans are available."

Money that is available only to a single purpose is a substantially different dynamic than money that can be put to other uses.

Re:Why the Assholes Are Winning: Money Trumps All by bobby_9x on Saturday February 06, 2016 @04:44PM (#11050066)
Most cities have housing restrictions. Since this will most likely never change, rent will go up accordingly.
Re:Why the Assholes Are Winning: Money Trumps All by dllthomas on Saturday February 06, 2016 @05:02PM (#11050157)
Competition of all alternatives. As I said, this is not merely identical units.

It includes those cities which do not have housing restrictions. It includes any new units permitted inside existing housing restrictions. It includes increased sharing of housing (this is also impacted by other forms of "housing restrictions" but most people live in situations below maximum occupancy). It includes moving outside of cities entirely (made more attractive in the presence of a basic income).

To the extent that people choose these alternatives, rents will face downward pressure. They may still go up, but "the entirety of BI will simply become rent" seems wrong.

Re:Why the Assholes Are Winning: Money Trumps All by douche on Saturday February 06, 2016 @07:52PM (#11050920)
A truly universal basic income would probably allow a diaspora from the currently over-saturated, "the rent is too damn high" markets, into the surplus housing stock and land that sits vacant due to poor local economies throughout the country.

If I could earn a guaranteed $25k for breathing, I sure as hell wouldn't be where I am now, since I could go home and buy a good chunk of land, do some subsistence farming, and happily hack away and read at my leisure.

Re:Why the Assholes Are Winning: Money Trumps All by chillwaves on Saturday February 06, 2016 @02:27PM (#11049318)
That's a good rebuttal, however you seem to ignore the innovating spirit of humans. Why should we live where rents are high? Not sure if you are in America, but we have lots of land and many places it is cheap. If UBI is indeed universal, we are not tied to the markets that are cornered.

Secondly, if we go that far why not push for more public housing as well (can do it in a failing city like Michigan or build a new city) and let people create their own economies?

Re:Why the Assholes Are Winning: Money Trumps All by ktRolster on Saturday February 06, 2016 @02:54PM (#11049468)
> Why should we live where rents are high?

I don't know, I ask that every time I drive down the road in Silicon Valley.