tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post2793707551921362195..comments2024-03-27T17:15:37.606-04:00Comments on Triablogue: Obama is the answer!Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17809283662428917799noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-74240062766206786172008-10-12T10:38:00.000-04:002008-10-12T10:38:00.000-04:00"Is he going to force promiscuous men to wear rubb..."Is he going to force promiscuous men to wear rubbers? Will he institute the Prophylactic Police to issue and enforce the rigorous use of compulsory condoms?"<BR/><BR/>I like that idea, actually.<BR/><BR/>No, in all honesty, I could see free sterilization procedures for both men and women who "qualify". Reduces abortion and unwanted pregnancies!!Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05387448864812957107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-89171872339734085522008-10-11T12:35:00.000-04:002008-10-11T12:35:00.000-04:00But he's the Obamessiah!But he's the Obamessiah!Mike Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17608757096556069037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-46937452312397588742008-10-11T05:00:00.000-04:002008-10-11T05:00:00.000-04:00Also 'poverty' means relative poverty, and is ther...Also 'poverty' means relative poverty, and is therefore pretty meaningless.<BR/><BR/>Obama wants to raise the minimum wage as well...<BR/><BR/>"There is a broad consensus among economists that minimum wage laws distort the price mechanism and lead to dead weight losses to society and to higher unemployment"<BR/><BR/>Way to eliminate unemployment!<BR/><BR/>Leftists are completely, 100%, absolutely, comprehensively, unremittingly, superhumanly economically illiterate. They are mired in the most stultifying economic ignorance. Even regarding the most simple economic principles the knowledge is too wonderful for them, it is high, they cannot attain it.<BR/><BR/>More, and yet more, AND YET MORE (MORE DAMMIT!) government handouts are their answer to EVERYTHING. In the process they do infinite harm to the people on handouts, turn us all into wards of the state, and they confiscate, at the threat of physical violence and a lifetime behind bars, our hard earned money to pay for it all.<BR/><BR/>Just because democracy technically makes it legal for them to do it, it's still flagrantly unfair. It's an abuse of the system.Claudehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16705428441316701050noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-71655963595347953632008-10-10T22:17:00.000-04:002008-10-10T22:17:00.000-04:00Seth writes:"I read a paper when I was coming over...Seth writes:<BR/><BR/>"I read a paper when I was coming over here that said there are 10,000 homeless people in Detroit alone. That’s not counting the state itself, or where we are. How can we feel that we are living in a civilized society when we can watch like, sit on the streets not begin able to survive or take care of themselves? How is it that we consider ourselves civilized if we allow these things to happen?"<BR/><BR/>An extreme Liberal like Obama isn't going to solve this problem. He'd likely support the rent-control policies that cause much homelessness in large cities.<BR/><BR/>This is because artificially lowering the prices of housing makes it impossible for many landlords to make a profit. This causes them to abandon their buildings, creating a shortage of housing, usually at the low-income levels that the housing laws apply:<BR/><BR/>"The number of abandoned buildings taken over by the New York City government over the years runs into the thousands. It has been estimated that there are at least four times as many abandoned housing units in New York City as there are homeless people living on the streets there" (Thomas Sowell, <I>Basic Economics</I>, 3rd edition [Basic Books; New York, NY, 2007] p. 45)"<BR/><BR/>This shortage of housing also creates little incentive for other landlords to maintain their current buildings beyond the bare minimum--there is, after all, no competition and people are desperate.<BR/><BR/>Investors divert funds into luxury apartments and office buildings, since regular apartments are no longer viable. This exacerbates the problem.<BR/><BR/>And rent control often benefits the rich more than the poor:<BR/><BR/>"Where rent control laws apply on a blanket basis to all housing in existence as of the time the law goes into effect, even luxurious housing becomes low-rent housing. Then, after the passage of time makes clear that no new housing is likely to be built unless it is exempted from rent control, such exemptions or relaxations of rent control for new housing mean that even new apartments that are very modest in size and quality may rent for more than older, more spacious and more luxurious apartments that are still under rent control...A news story in the <I>Wall Street Journal</I> pointed up this non-comparability of rents under New York’s rent control laws:<BR/><BR/>‘Les Katz, a 27-year-old acting student and doorman, rents a small studio apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side for $1,200--with two roommates. Two sleep in separate beds in a loft built atop the kitchen, the third sleeps on a mattress in the main room.<BR/><BR/>‘Across town on Park Avenue, Paul Haberman, a private investor, and his wife live in a spacious, two-bedroom apartment with a solarium and two terraces. The apartment in an elegant building on the prestigious avenue is work at least $5,000 a month, real-estate professionals say. The couple pay around $350, according to rent records’ (Ibid. p. 47).<BR/><BR/>I doubt Obama understands these economic issues. And even if he did, I doubt he'd have the integrity to do what's best for the country, rather than what's popular.<BR/><BR/>"Politically, rent control is often a big success, however many serious economic and social problems it creates. Politicians know there that there are always more tenants than landlords and more people who do not understand economics than people who do" (Ibid. 46).Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784922935749497931noreply@blogger.com