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by AddingValue 1297 days ago
Rent in the Soviet Union (no private property, all state owned houses) was like $70 a month for a flat.

Capitalism allows unregulated (no limits) speculation with life depending resources "assets" like water, food, energy and housing, with the catastrophic consequences we all - globally - experienced.

(like 30 year old "children" still HAVING to live with their parents, or homeless die from cold on the street)

HURRAY! Another mankind fuckup.
1 comments
credit_guy 1297 days ago
It is indeed a fuckup. But you're implying that the solution is communism.

Since I was born in a communist country, I can tell you this: it's easy to show low prices on paper. It's when you need to deliver the goods that's a bit more complex. People were paying low rent, but couldn't move from one city to another one. You would a job when you finished college. If you didn't like it, well, you didn't need to like everything in life. You'd get a place to rent too. You didn't like it? It was a free country, you were free to not like it. Just not free to express your various dislikes.

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AddingValue 1297 days ago
That is a good comment.

So what can be learned?

The resume could either be:

1) state needs to make speculation on water, food, medicine, energy illegal or tax it highly (well that usually does not work says Panama)

2) set "maximum" prices (A very socialist thing... also not so great as it hinders investments)

3) US & EU & Asia & EVERYONE gov NEED to buy up at least 30% of all real estate (at the price it was before the bubble) and gurantee their citizens a fair rent & energy & heating.

Guesd option 3 would be best solution.

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credit_guy 1296 days ago
There are more options actually.

One of them would be for the Fed to not keep interest rates artificially low. When money is cheap, speculation flourishes. When mortgage rates are at 7%, fewer people would get in the flipping house business. And 7% is still unnaturally low.

The St Louis Fed maintains lots of interesting historical time series, and one of them is the average 30 year mortgage rate [1]. It goes back to 1971. Before 2001 mortgage rates were always above 7%. Well, not always, but 99% of the time, and about 50% of the time they were above 10%. After 2010, rated were below 5%, and after Covid even before 3%.

[1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MORTGAGE30US

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