On March 2, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lifted his mandatory face mask order and said that businesses could begin operating at full capacity. His announcement met with quick criticism from both Republicans and Democrats, including President Biden, who said, Texas—I think it’s a big mistake. We are on the cusp of being able to fundamentally…
In 2011, I purchased a boarded up home in the Sunnyside community of Houston. This low-income neighborhood was filled with similar homes. Many of these homes were in disrepair and hadn’t seen a fresh coat of paint in decades. To call the area economically depressed would be an understatement. Yet, I took a risk and…
On Thursday, a federal judge in Texas declared the eviction moratorium imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unconstitutional. “Although the Covid-19 pandemic persists, so does the Constitution,” the judge wrote in his ruling. The Department of Justice has announced that it will appeal. Diane Yentel, president and chief executive of the National…
Many Americans, including President Biden, believe that wearing a mask in public should be mandated by law. Violators should be subject to criminal prosecution. Wearing a mask, the argument goes, will protect the wearer, as well as those around him. If this is true, and there is substantial evidence supporting it, then why aren’t we…
Irrationality can take many forms, but one of the most common is context-dropping. When one drops context, one considers an issue in isolation, disconnected from other issues and known facts. When one drops context, one looks only at the immediate moment in disregard for the long-term implications. The pandemic and government’s response to it has…
In April 2020, the town council in Montclair, New Jersey, passed a rent control ordinance. The Montclair Property Owners Association (MPOA) launched a petition drive to submit the ordinance to a referendum. The town clerk refused to certify the petitions, but on February 22, 2021 a judge ordered the town council to repeal the ordinance…
In previous posts we have seen how the “right” to choose asserted by housing advocates leads to the destruction of freedom of choice, how the “right” to stay is an assault on voluntary action, and how the “right” to equal treatment is a demand for injustice. In this post, we will examine the fourth “right”:…
In previous posts we have seen how the “right” to choose asserted by housing advocates leads to the destruction of freedom of choice and how the “right” to stay is an assault on voluntary action. In this post we will examine the third “right” asserted by housing advocates: the right to equal treatment. We will…
As the destruction caused by lock downs continues to grow, housing advocates have called for numerous measures to protect tenants, including rent control. And while economists have long agreed that rent control is destructive to the housing market, that hasn’t stopped politicians from catering to “tenants’ rights” groups. As an example, in Spain, a law…
In 2015, The Texas Legislature passed a bill that prohibits local governments from forcing landlords to accept housing vouchers. Sen. Royce West has submitted a bill that would repeal that prohibition and make it illegal to refuse to rent to an individual on the basis of his source of income. West’s proposal would apply across…
Many pundits are claiming that the state’s power problems this week show the failure of fossil fuels. These pundits are guilty of dropping context–of looking at isolated facts. But if we want to make rational policy decisions, we must consider the full context. We must look at all of the relevant facts. And the facts…
In Part 2, we examined how the alleged right to choose advocated by housing advocates actually destroys the freedom to choose. In this post, we will look at the second “right” asserted by advocates: the “right” to stay. We will see how, if put into practice, this guarantee against involuntary displacement will reduce voluntary action….