By Milt Harris ——Bio and Archives--July 3, 2023
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Years ago when you thought of Seattle things like the Space Needle, Starbucks and Pikes Place Market came to mind. That was of course until the real radical left came out of the shadows and began to loudly proclaim their madness.
Most of these rancid ideas are based on socialism, which now they don’t even try to hide. In fact, they announce themselves as Democratic Socialists. It’s been quite a progression for these imposters. Moving from communist, to socialist, to just plain old Democrat, to progressives. Now, all deception and subtlety are gone. Today, they brazenly knock capitalism and attempt to initiate socialist policies in a misguided attempt to advance their agenda.
Among the many problems that the far left can’t seem to grasp, is that socialism does not work. Therefore, all of the programs that they attempt to initiate are also doomed to fail because they fall under the umbrella of socialism.
A new example of this type of distorted thinking has cropped up in the form of a socialist city council member in Seattle, named Kshama Sawant. Sawant, citing that rents have doubled over the last decade, posted a threatening tweet that said:
Seattle rents nearly DOUBLED over the last decade; we can’t let this go on. That’s why tomorrow, I’m introducing our rent control bill, supported by 35,000 Seattle renters. Show up to let Democrats know that there will be a political price to pay if they oppose it!
This isn’t Sawant’s first foray down the socialist path. In 2020, while speaking at a Bernie Sanders rally, she clearly stated her desires calling for “a “powerful socialist movement to end all capitalist oppression and exploitation.” She is also a member of the Socialist Alternative, a Trotskyist group that on their website states that their goal is to create a “socialist United States and a socialist world.” They intend to do this by taking control of the “top 500 corporations and banks that dominate the U.S. economy and pay compensation on the basis of proven need to small investors, not millionaires.”
Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International.
When a politician speaks at a well-known socialists' rally, makes a statement like that, and belongs to a socialist organization, it can’t be a surprise that any bill she initiates will be rooted in socialism. The bill that she proposed is labeled Council Bill 120606. It proposes that residential rent increases would be regulated, and would provide tenant protections, and enforcement provisions. These would be monitored by a Rent Control Commission and District Rent Control Boards that would authorize rent control exemptions. The commission would consist of 35 renters and seven landlords, all of which I’m sure will be liberal to their core.
Keep in mind that these are the same people that have created revolving door arrests and allow rampant theft and crime to ruin the lives of hard-working Americans. These are the people that push an agenda, while loosely trying to hide their real intentions under a thin veil of non-existent caring.
Washington state law has banned rent control since 1981, for good reasons. Historically, it’s been proven be nothing more than a short-term fix for current residents, at the expense of long-term affordability for a much broader population. Economics has shown that rent controls not only limit new construction and supply, it also depletes existing supply.
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Science also tells us that rent control provides benefit to a share of households but at enormous cost, one being inability to fund maintenance. Rent control often leads to poorly maintained, outdated housing and battles between tenants and landlords over upkeep.
Opposition to rent control is not a partisan issue. Economists on both sides of the aisle oppose it, including two Nobel Prize winners. From right-wing Milton Friedman to left-wing Gunnar Myrdal. In fact, Myrdal stated that “Rent control has in certain Western countries constituted, maybe, the worst example of poor planning by governments lacking courage and vision.”
Historically, price controls in the United States are associated with the Soviet Union, which raises a “red flag” for many Americans. For Soviets, price controls led to severe supply shortages, a runaway black market and depression, but three decades later the memory of people like Sawant are conveniently fading.
According to Harvard’s Ed Glaeser: “The most natural tool towards affordability is supply, and to make sure that we are making it easy enough to build moderate-cost rental-apartment buildings in these cities.”
Ironically, in most cities with rent control or ones that are seriously discussing it, are themselves guilty of making it way too difficult to build housing, which makes what does get through more expensive.
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Milt spent thirty years as a sales and operations manager for an international manufacturing company. He is also a four-time published author on a variety of subjects. Now, he spends most of his time researching and writing about conservative politics and liberal folly.