Houses Not For Sale

Perhaps Marx would never have anticipated capitalism doing it this way, but the Blackrock’s and general landlord of the world have sure done well proving that Some Things Should Not Be for Sale.

Now I know this is not full bore lunatic Socialism, but do we really want that?

Often I like markets. The food market is fantastic. However, any mention of “the housing market” these days make me want to vomit.

Here on Ōhanga Pai I often mention that markets are good, and have nothing to do with capitalism. Why not? Because I always mean, in every case, fair markets — which you never get under a class hierarchy, which is what capitalism is, ok! Capitalism is not “private enterprise” and “free markets”, nor any combination of such structures. Capitalism is the class relation, or in more acute terminology, it is wage slavery.

That’s what it is, deal with the definition bro.

At least respect my content, and note that this is my definition, I do not care one hoot about yours. But I am invited not your channel, I’ll respect your definition, and invent a new word for mine, or three words, “W’Age Slavery”.

“Doesn’t exist in the world,” you say? Well, I guess you gotta experience it to know it, brother I’ve experienced it. G’damn lucky I am still alive.

Anyway, so housing…

The Housing Crisis is fake. Wanna know why?

Because it is all just dopey government policy, which could be changed on a dime.

For starters, we do not lack the construction workers.

But more importantly, because of consideraqtions that prompt me to suggest you should read Debra Satz’s book, Why Some Things Should Not Be for Sale

It is a quick read, takes about three seconds, here, let me read it all,

“Some things should not be for sale.”

Finished.

Well… I did skim read the “why” of it. You know the problem. When a book is relating things that are bleedin’ obvious, you get bored, and then there is the incipient cortisol dripping anxiety hanging around you of of stumbling across a sentence like,

“We need to tax the rich to pay for it.”

I avoided that with Satz. But you just know it has a high chance of appearing.

Anyway.

It’s a crime when government policy is causing house prices to become unaffordable except for the investors. But the thing is, why do we accept houses need to be on a market in the first place?

Price discovery? No, because the construction workers and their materials are already accounted for, there is a market for all that. The basic human need of affordable healthy housing, like clean water, is paramount, and there is no business for a market to be involved.

Do we need the market instead for people to exercise preferences?

Well, I guess there’s a debate on how government run housing should be run. But it is always possible for the government proper to step out of the business. The government already has agents operating the housing market, called banks. The mortgage is, after all, an agreement to pay in the State’s unit of account. The banker is in all cases acting as an agent of the government.

The model could thus be, by government dictat, that all people rent-to-own a house, no speculators allowed, 100% tax rate on private rents and owner unoccupied home houses.

Does this mean the construction market just squirts out into high rises, no homes? No, because again, construction firms need a permit from the State. Which means again they are acting as agents of the state. It is all government policy. The landlords are not increasing your rent illegally.

Does it mean everyone will be living in East German or Soviet era domiciles?

No. Because the government does not need to dictate to the architects. We are limited by our real resources and imaginations. So if our architects lack imaginations or materials for their builders, then we can only have what they can conjure, but if they can conjure up nice houses for all people, then that is what we all can have. I would say in New Zealand, that is a pretty nice home, better than what I’ve ever had.

Private construction firms can compete openly for the public contracts, and all that stuff. There’s still a market underneath where it needs to be. Has to open so political favourtism shenanigans do not ensue. (Or, just organize to get decent people into government… but… you know… they’d keep it open and transparent anyway.)

No permits for McMansions then, unless everyone can get an energy sustainable McMansion. But the government can always permit very nice homes, maybe apartment block (let’s keep it real), but, you know, apartment block can be very sociable. Especially with full employment policy where building maintenance and cleaning workers are compensated like princes (which they are).

I had another MMT point to make.
But I forgot.