I Am Ranting Today on… Housing
I’ve never been a fan of capitalism. I just think there’s a better way. I can’t spell out exactly how a new system would be designed, but I do know this: houses and other life necessities should not be part of the open market. They should not be subject to speculation or investment schemes or flipping or anything of that nature. We need houses, we need food and we need clothing. In the world I envision, these items would be distributed to everyone equally. If you want to call it communism or socialism, so be it. If someone really has a hankering for speculating, they could do so on a wide variety of items: artwork, consumer goods of all sorts, and, yes, even tulip bulbs. I just don’t think someone should lose their home because of some cockamamie scenario based not on the intrinsic value of, say, a house, but on mere ideas: What someone thinks something is worth. In the meantime, don’t forget the Small House Movement (”Better Living Through Simplicity”). Watch an 83-year-old woman lose her home to foreclosure.
November 18th, 2008 at 11:18 am
The real problem is that the almighty buck is the real god..the US Treasury should delete the quaint slogan on your moolah and just print in exorbitant profit without risk we trust.
I concur. Never ever EVER let speculators dictate the value of a Home. Look where it got you…house prices that cost more than 10X the average income. WTF?
November 18th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
While I do believe in capitalism and the free market – as always corporations can’t be trusted to ever regulate themselves which is why everything DOES need to be regulated. This is a big part of the decline of the GOP (along with their “your bedroom is our business” philosphy).
November 18th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Rhea,
I enjoy your writing, particularly this post. I must admit, it is a little odd that, in many societies, most basic needs are provided such as roads, education, and, in some countries, healthcare. Why isn’t basic housing available? Thanks for mentioning the Small House Society.
Regards,
Gregory Johnson
http://www.SmallHouseSociety.org
November 18th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Gregory, I am glad to mention the small house movement. I’ve written about it a number of times and will continue to. Thanks for writing in!
November 19th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Great sentiment on that bumper sticker.
November 26th, 2008 at 11:51 am
I’m not sure that having the government control everything really solves what goes wrong with capitalism, which is greed, profiteering and dishonesty. People need to learn how to behave more decently when they are in charge of money than they currently behave. Taking away the right to own things doesn’t solve that, it just makes it irrelevant. I think we should do better at helping the people who suffer as a result of other people’s bad behaviour, and figure out how to learn to treat money and belongings with more respect.