With everyone following every facial tick and minor mis-statement by (P)resident Biden at his presser last night, there has been surprising little notice—and no press follow up so far—to his suggestion that the Biden Administration wants to institute nationwide rent control, and maybe even price controls on the resale price of houses.
Here’s what came out of his mouth:
“We’re going to make sure that rents are kept at 5% increase in corporate rents for apartments and the like. Homes are limited to 5%.”
WHAT?!?! This ought to be a HFS moment for everyone (except certified morons like Bernie Sanders, Lizzie Warren, and AOC).
As our friends at the Committee to Unleash Prosperity commented this morning:
God help us. If there is ANY economic issue that virtually all economists agree on, it’s that rent control limits the availability of affordable housing, increases homelessness, and fails to help the poor. . .
Assar Lindbeck, the late left-wing Swedish economist who for many years chaired the committee that awarded the Nobel Prize, famously said: “In many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city–except for bombing.”
Economist David R. Henderson disputes that – he argues based on the experience of Vietnam that rent control is worse than bombing.
I can’t improve on that. If reporters don’t ask about it, every Republican candidate ought to press their Democratic opponent on whether they support President Biden’s plan to limit the future value appreciation of people’s homes, which is the most valuable asset for most middle class Americans. This is on par with George McGovern’s infamous $1,000 per person “Demogrant” idea in 1972 that was hugely unpopular especially with the working class. Apparently Democrats still haven’t absorbed that lesson.
In addition to senility, Biden must be suffering brain freeze from his ice cream addiction.
