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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   30496 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 12, 2024

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New homes and end to price-gouging: Harris sets economic goals

The Democratic presidential nominee's plans build on ideas from the Biden administration and aim at addressing voter concerns after a surge in prices since 2021.

The campaign's proposals include a "first-ever" tax credit for builders of homes sold to first-time buyers, as well as up to $25,000 in down-payment assistance for "eligible" first time buyers, a move that her campaign estimated could reach four million households over four years.

She has also called for capping the monthly price of diabetes-drug insulin at $35 for everyone, finding ways to cancel medical debt, and giving families a $6,000 tax credit the year they have a new child.

She is supporting a federal law banning firms from charging excessive prices on groceries and urged action on a bill in Congress that would bar property owners from using services that "coordinate" rents.

Though analysts say some of Harris's proposals, such as the ban on price-gouging, are likely to be popular, they have also sparked criticism from some economists. Bans on price-gouging already exist in many states, applied during emergencies such as hurricanes. But economists say the term is difficult to define and widening such rules could end up backfiring, by discouraging firms from making more at times of short supply.

Everyone likes free money, right? Building houses is good, having kids is good, paying less for life saving medications is good, taking power out of large landlords hands is good. But maybe trying to apply emergency price gouging laws to non-emergency situations is not so good. Maybe write a law that you have to lower prices when things are good as quickly as you raised them when they weren't so good. What are Trump's plans?

With populism ascendant in both parties, that cost has not dissuaded Trump's choice for vice president, JD Vance, from backing an even bigger tax credit expansion.

Economists predict that increased drilling would have limited impact given the global nature of energy markets and have warned that Trump's pledge to impose a tax of 10% or more on imports would drive up prices.

We're already producing a boatload of oil, but with russia somewhat out of the picture our european friends might appreciate it. Not sure about bringing down prices though.

Food shortages in the US. Lovely. I do have an economist friend who was annoyed with this. I suggest him and his buddies look into making estimates about how many people will starve to death given different food pricing laws.

Of course people like free money, but the free money leads to the inflation that leads to the calls for price controls. The price controls lead to shortages. The shortages lead to government takeovers, or onerous regulation that forces private entities out of business. Its happened before in a dozen different leftist/socialist/communist countries. It would be nice to not repeat the cycle here.

I mostly have hope in the legal structure and republican opposition stopping the craziest parts of this slide into a leftist dystopia. Of course they have to spend political effort and will to stop these things, and while they are busy stopping things from getting worse things certainly aren't going to get better.

The US has a federal structure in which red state governors benefit politically from undermining or preventing the exercise of federal power when a democrat is in the white house, and almost all non-luxury crops are red state production.

There might be localized shortages, but not on a national level.

A localized shortage is more than enough to cause a riot in this day and age. The riot and looting will then make the situation worse.

You'd start seeing cases of state level emergencies being declared in cities as they run out of food, everyone rushes the stores for what's left, and then suddenly nothing is left.

Most nations outside of third world countries have learned not to mess too heavily with grocery prices.

Sure, you can have local riots. But middle class people will generally be able to drive to the next town over for their grocery run, even if it results in a more basic diet at higher cost. The US is too wealthy for mass food shortages.

The US is too wealthy for mass food shortages.

Price controls are a way of taking that statement as a challenge.

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