News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on The $3500 Shirt – A History Lesson in Economics. Parent comment

Re:The $3500 Shirt – A History Lesson in Economics by iopq on Saturday January 24, 2015 @05:48PM (#8941353)
No, the people who own houses have chosen to make them expensive. Because it is expensive, those people are quite rich. This gives them political power to make it more expensive. See: San Francisco regulations on construction.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The $3500 Shirt – A History Lesson in Economics by hueving on Saturday January 24, 2015 @06:29PM (#8941461)
It's a terrible feedback loop. Nobody who owns a house in SF in their right mind would vote for anything that could substantially decrease the value of their home.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The $3500 Shirt – A History Lesson in Economics by swatow on Sunday January 25, 2015 @01:45PM (#8943769)
But are the majority of SF residents owners? Is it really about voting, or about savvy political lobbying by property owners?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The $3500 Shirt – A History Lesson in Economics by pimlottc on Monday January 26, 2015 @04:07AM (#8946102)
It does seem at least that homeowners tend to vote more often than renters:

http://journalistsresource.org/studies/politics/citizen-acti...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The $3500 Shirt – A History Lesson in Economics by JulianMorrison on Sunday January 25, 2015 @10:29AM (#8943118)
The fix: (1) government re-regulates building to be easier and land to be more available, causing a housing boom. (2) government guarantees every house's value as it was before the reforms. If the value falls, government pays the difference. (3) Government raises a tax to pay this all off.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The $3500 Shirt – A History Lesson in Economics by iopq on Sunday January 25, 2015 @11:01AM (#8943186)
This is why we can't have nice things. Raise a tax to guarantee that the richest people keep being rich? Do not want.
[ Parent | on HN ]