One of the primary complaints about gentrification is the displacement of the existing residents in a neighborhood. To reduce displacement, a growing number of cities are requiring developers to include affordable housing in exchange for permission to build a new housing project. These mandates violate the property rights of developers by interfering with their freedom…
When government officials mandated the wearing of face masks in public, they implied that we are too stupid to make rational decisions. They implied that, even if we were presented with the facts, we would refuse to make wise choices. They implied that, without public officials issuing orders, we are helpless. Sen. Ted Cruz received…
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…
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…
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…
Gresham’s Law holds that “bad” money drives out “good” money. For example, if legal tender laws declare that a one ounce brass coin and a one ounce gold coin are both worth $10, the more valuable gold coin will disappear from circulation. While Gresham’s law pertains to economics, the same principle applies to rights. When…
The law of supply and demand is a fundamental economic truth. One of its tenets is that when the demand for a value exceeds its supply, prices will rise. Conversely, when the supply of a value exceeds the demand, prices will fall. The willingness of producers to manufacture a value for a particular price constitutes…
In the early nineteenth century, textile workers in Britain burned mills and destroyed equipment to protest the increasing use of machinery. The machines were displacing them, allowing lower skilled workers to produce textiles more efficiently than previous methods. The Luddites, as the protesters were called, were opposed to the progress that technology was making possible….
A growing movement across the nation claims that housing is a human right. Indeed, in March 2020, Representative Pramila Jayapal introduced the Housing is a Human Right Act of 2020. The bill aims to “address and end root causes of homelessness; transition communities towards providing housing for all; and ensure full democratic participation of persons…