capitalist lapdog
May 29th, 2008 by 
bkmarcus
Posted in LvMI | 
individualism for the masses
BK Marcus is an amateur political economist with no formal education in the subject.
He works from Charlottesville, Virginia, as an editorial consultant for the Ludwig von Mises Institute.
He is no longer a house husband, nor a faculty spouse, but he is still a dilettante and a layabout, at least in spirit.
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"It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a 'dismal science.' But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance."
Benjamin Tucker Marcus
October 2008
May 30th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
I thought it was rent that was theft.
May 30th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Rent control is theft because the property owners is prevented from charging the fair free market rent for his property. *HOWEVER*, the rent control is already factored into the property price when the landlord bought the property. Repealing rent control would be a windfall profit for the property owner.
The primary victim of rent control is people who are trying to rent an apartment. They are forced to pay higher prices, due to the supply of apartments tied up in rent control.
In a *FREE* market, rent is not theft. In the present, landlords receive a massive Federal Reserve interest rate subsidy. Suppose a landlord puts up $1M to buy an apartment building worth $10M, borrowing $9M from a bank. The interest rate on the loan will typically be around 6%, while inflation really is 15%-30%. The landlord's ownership claim to the property is not legitimate, because his property purchase was subsidized by the State.
For a rent-controlled apartment, *NEITHER* the landlord nor the tenant have a legitimate ownership claim. The landlord's ownership claim isn't valid, because he received a State subsidy to fund his purchase. The tenant's ownership claim isn't valid, because he's paying less than the fair free market rent. If I were the judge in a free market court, I would rule that a former rent-controlled apartment is *UNOWNED*!
May 31st, 2008 at 3:11 am
FSK, an excellent comment.
June 6th, 2008 at 1:30 am
No. It was stupid.