Rent control has bad effects, but politically, when a city gentrifies, this can cause rents to raise so fast as to effectively be an eviction. Gentrification is good for creating flourishing urban areas, but it is unfair to the tenants already living there and could lead to political demands to stop the gentrification.
A rent control that slows the raising of rents, gives the current tenants more time until they can’t afford rent, and gives them more time to make more money, while allowing inflation-based rent raises and letting landlords charge market prices to new tenants…may be a net good.
Multi-year rent freezes that allow no rent increases are bad.
China hasn’t simply over invested in their property sector, their credit system is politically biased to invest in unproductive assets, their consumption seems hopelessly suppressed, making China dependent on exports, and all of their amazing new technology is not enough to overcome their malinvestment.
Trump’s trade wars on our allies, his threats to take territory from allies, and his threats to end Canada’s existence as an independent country…have caused the world to turn away from the US economically and diplomatically. Losing economic cooperation and trade that otherwise would have happened won’t single-handedly cause a US recession, but is hurting Americans economically and will continue to do so. We’d be better off without all of this bullshit. Hopefully future administrations can limit the extent that countries wire trade and cooperation away from the US.
Congresses and presidents give tax breaks for the wealthy and give the wealthy regulatory protection at the expense of everyone else because congress members and presidents are the wealthy. They are protecting themselves and people like them, screwing over everyone else.
Trump’s: attack on the Fed’s independence, forcing respected economic experts to push a bullshit political line, and generally incompetent economic comments and policies…are bad for the rule of law, the economy, and people in general. But, one factor that will determine how bad this is, is whether, after Trump, we see further degradation of the rule of law and more bad economic policies, or whether it gets better.
Canadians are pissed at the United States, not just its leader, for Trump’s aggressive, bellicose, and demeaning comments and goals regarding Canada. They are most insulted by Trump’s insults to Canada’s sovereignty and some say that trust in the US will not come back. They plan to boycott American goods, cancel US travel, and flipp US products on store shelves to notify others that these are products from an asshole country. They don’t just blame Trump, they blame the American people, who truly did cause this aggression toward Canada.
1/3 two 2/3s of the big inflation we had was caused by supply side issues, meaning Covid-caused problems with producing goods, services, and energy, rather than too much government spending. The other 1 or 2 thirds…was government spending–the Covid relief bills.
Some people talked about tariffs like they would single handedly crush the economy. That’s unfortunate because models showed that tariffs are bad for the economy in ways that hurt people, but aren’t usually significant enough to single-handedly crush the economy. This makes it easier for people to incorrectly deny the harms of tariffs in general, and the harms of the current and recent tariffs.
When it comes to the federal debt and deficit, the American voting public are children who want: candy, sugar soda, to stay up all night, and to skip school, and their politicians tell them: Yes. The politicians who have said they would prioritize debt and deficit who then got into office, didn’t fulfill those promises. And when we do reduce parts of spending, we do it on those who most need the government spending.
15 to 30 percent of grocery costs are diesel fuel. Groceries are moved with vehicles using diesel fuel.
By the end of the Biden administration, the US was approaching a full soft landing, but Trump ruined it with government spending, tariffs, war, and strict immigration policies.
An Iphone isn’t a tech product, it’s a luxury product. Owning an Apple means you should reproduce, owning an Android means your DNA should not move on.
When we talk about parts of Germany being “left behind”, we are talking about first-world problems. These areas are still wealthy by world and historical standards. But, their wealth and economic growth is smaller than the big cities.