Man this entire thread is just a perfect encapsulation of the perfect being the enemy of the good. What a bunch of useless chuds.
What BS. This is like arguing that “trickle down economics” is good because money eventually trickles down to us plebs. We’re in a sinking boat filled with holes and you’re trying to argue that we should be happy that 1 of 1000 holes got patched up even though there isn’t time to patch the other 999 holes before the ship sinks because the crew would rather sit on their ass and drink martinis.
No this is like y’all getting mad at someone working on patching a hole because he’s not simultaneously patching every hole in the exact same instance. All why you sit there and don’t work on anything. Get a mallet get some wood get to work or shut up.
Cheap vodka comes in plastic bottles and landlords are faceless corporate entities on the other side of the country (if they’re in the country at all). So my ability to help is limited.
Except that you’re not in a sinking boat and you’re in the top 5% of the richest people in the world.
Interesting. We all have the same feeling about you. The sad part is that you might actually know something. Maybe you could say something constructive, if only you cared to do so.
You could have made an argument about how aiming for perfection is a bad strategy here. But you didn’t, so let me show how you’re wrong. The proposed solution doesn’t address the underlying problem, and it adds complexity. Rent can only go up by 5%, sure, but what happens if you sell the property you move into it or other exceptional circumstances happen? Then you can raise the price. Or perhaps you rent it through Airbnb, so the rules don’t apply either. It doesn’t really matter what the special cases are, because finance folk love complicated solutions. They’re always going to find ways to game the system at our expense.
But let’s suppose the 5% solution is somehow good. If it’s good for rent then it should be good for other things too, right? You can’t let electricity or gas prices go up faster, or people won’t be able to heat their homes. You can’t let food prices go up faster, or people won’t be able to eat. Oh, and you certainly need minimum wage to be going up 5%, for any of that to make sense.
So if we consider all of that, and we find the aforementioned proposal slightly lacking, maybe it’s not because we’re seeking perfection. Maybe it’s because you have no idea what problems we are trying to solve.
I stand corrected, this is the perfect encapsulation.
Also you are disgraceful that username.
Lol it’s like you summoned the ancient spirit of not understanding incremental improvement, who then wrote a short essay to explain to you just how much they don’t understand the concept.
I also stand corrected. I thought you might actually know something. But then you double down with a witty empty response: two sentences with zero information. What good is that? Grandstanding is boring and pointless.
And then you want to trash talk my username? Jesus. Have fun with that.
Some people are here to learn, some people are here to teach, some people are here to share, some people are here to build community. You’re not doing any of those things. Meh.
I’m not sure I’ve ever heard that phrase. Do you mind explaining what you mean? (Just to be clear, I’m not trying to be combative. I just have no idea how to read that)
In simple terms, the failure to do something absolutely perfectly shouldn’t stop you from doing something that will still be better than the status quo.
What if the act of doing something carries a cost with a negative expected return on investment?
that doesn’t sound very good to me
…then the original saying doesn’t apply, does it? Is this some kind of “gotcha” I’m not understanding?
…then the original saying doesn’t apply, does it?
And that’s the million dollar question. I’m not arguing the perfect should be the enemy of the good. I’m questioning how much “good” I get by aligning myself with a fundamentally bad dude. Biden’s played this bait-and-switch game before, and there’s a real reason to believe 2025 Joe Biden won’t be willing or able to deliver on his 5% rent cap promise. In exchange, what is he asking you to give up?
An hour of your life in line to vote on election day? A small recurring donation to his campaign? A week block-walking your neighborhood to canvas for him? Three months volunteering to work for his reelection campaign?
Presidential elections aren’t cheap. I have to wonder what would happen if all the money and manpower pouring into Biden’s coffers was simply directed towards Habitat For Humanity instead. Would we get more bang for our bucks?
Dawg, I’m not even the OP. I was just explaining an idiom, and you expect me to answer a humanist philosophical question as if I’m the greatest thinker of our generation 😭
I can’t help you decide what extent you’re willing to compromise to vote Biden/democrats. I can’t even vote in the US.
“Don’t make perfect the enemy of good” essentially says that it’s better to do what you can in the short term to reduce harm or make positive change than to wait for the perfect solution and do nothing in the meantime. The idea is that the good is still going to help some people while we wait for the perfect solution to the problem- which, crucially, may never come, or come too late for a whole bunch of people.
One example would be letting a parent having their kid eat fast food instead of a perfectly healthy diet because their parents live in a food desert; not ideal, but it’ll keep the kid fed and alive.
We want actual change.
Not this half-assed thing of “oh shit Biden isn’t polling well. Quick, do something popular!”.
Seeing this honestly frustrates me more because we all know they could do better than this.
This guy really larps these this trust me bro jaja
Unless that also comes with a 5% raise every year, then it’s not as good
At least it prevents people getting a 20-30% increase one year
I’m curious what the federal government can actually do in this situation. Most private leases are contracts under state law, not federal law.
Threats I guess 🤷
I would think tax law could make it completely untenable to own residential properties as rentals and give federal tax breaks to developers that build affordable housing? I’m sure there could also be federal grants to cities for easing zoning restrictions. Not sure how much of this is possible.
You can always put new limits in that private contacts have to abide by. The only limit is the Constitution.
In my province the cap for increase was usually around 1.5 - 2% for existing tenants/renewing lease.
The conservative gov went ahead and fucked everything up and said this doesn’t apply to anything built after 2005, or new builds - that means any new anything in an existing building.
New basement rooms? No cap. (No cap) But, if the basement had rooms 35 years ago, and you ‘build’ “new” rooms, it isn’t new and falls under the older more tenant friendly laws.
However, between tenants, a landlord can do whatever the fuck they want to prices.
Shitty rooms went from 375 to 700 I’m 5 years.
Hello fellow Ontarians. I feel your pain. It may be little solace but know I bought a house with a basement tenant 3 years ago. Their rent was $1100 a month for a 1 bedroom 3 years ago and it’s 1100$ a month now. I don’t need the money. Fuck landholding pariahs taking advantage of renters.
I thought it was $55?
“Here old man, rattle off this list! It’ll save you! Get 'em, Joey!”
And then he screwed it up and read the teleprompter wrong as “capping rent at $55 dollars.” No joke.
I’m down
I think people are focusing quite a bit too much on Biden’s speaking abilities and too little on his policies.
I’ll take Biden’s policies any day over Trump’s policies and his toxic personality.
It’s over…
Pelosi privately told Biden polls show he cannot win and will take down the House
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/17/politics/nancy-pelosi-biden-conversation/index.html
Polls say different things. This one says the opposite: https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-polling-data-five-thirty-eight-1926226
If you think Biden has any chance of beating Trump at this point then I’ve got a bridge to sell you
Treating the symptom.
Okay I guess. I’ll get excited when I see a plan to treat the disease.Not even. Can’t charge more for rent when it’s already max out against income. It’s a placebo that’ll have zero effect. Don’t get too excited about a “plan”. This is the plan.
What world are you living in when they can’t raise rates too high for your income level? Not the one the rest of us are living in.
The vast majority of individuals must be able to afford to house, feed, and cloth themselves, as well as travel to and from work. If not they will riot. This is bad for economic growth, the mandate of capitalism. It’s particularly bad when the market is still significantly inflated relative the economy.
It’ll never be written into law. However, Biden’s proposed rent caps under projected inflation, signifying rent has fully saturated its allocation of income. Housing began balancing systemically naturally, human sellers drying up. Landlords have no obstacles.
I live in a world of nuance. The rent sucks.
Historically that’s actually not what causes people to riot. The slow chipping away actually almost never causes riots. It’s the immediate stripping of a right or privilege. Look back at history that’s how it Works nearly every single time. You’re basically making the same argument people who you sanctions as a political tool make. That if you keep making life shittier and shittier and shittier slowly the people will riot. Doesn’t work.
Furthermore capitalism does not possess the capacity to change in that manner. It does not possess the capacity to adjust to the needs of the masses. Thinking capitalism will fix this is insane.
If you look at history, the last half century is far from “slow chipping away”.
The last half century of political sanctions? What does that even mean? I feel like you were trying to be clever and you lost the point somewhere. If you ever had one.
I responded to the part that wasn’t strawman with a response of equivalent quality, simple clarification of the point of disagreement.
Why do you expect more than you give?
There’s no reason to get excited at all. Biden can call for it, but Congress has to write and pass the legislation. Republican House majority won’t let that happen.
Vote in November.
That translates into rents doubling in less than 15 years
Good thing wages are going up!
Where I’m at it’s indexed to inflation (but circumvented by evicting renters then raising rates illegally like someone else mentioned). Setting a target higher than the target inflation is mostly symbolic. Outside of specific situations like Covid, it is not likely to change much materially at 5%.
I was being sarcastic, wages have not really gone up inflation adjusted for majority of people over last 40 years in the US.
Well mine went up 28% in a year so I’ll take 5%
Woah, an actual campaign promise? Maybe the Dems do want to look like they’re trying after all.
If Democrats kept their promises we’d have codified Roe, have free healthcare for all, and literally no one would carry student debt but those that haven’t yet had time to graduate.
If Republicans kept theirs, we’d be living in a christofascist, ultra-capitalist, white ethnostate.
We’ve got this instead. Behold the power of compromise.
It’s not compromise. It’s only turning right. They’re just arguing about how fast and which corporations should get the money.
As if would ever last the captured supreme court.
Would be good if he coupled it with a promise to stack the Supreme Court
And then roll it back to 2016 +5%
Cute… The beauty of profit is that it is never undo even if it was a crime.
That’s a feature, not a bug btw
Cool, my rent is still 70% of what I make in a month. It’s almost like it’s already too late, but I’m too poor and uneducated to be an expert. Got any other ideas?
Move to another country
If only it were that easy I totally would. Trust me I’ve tried looking into it before.
Do your boots have straps?
The best time to do it was any point in the last 100 years. The second best time is now.
we have several lifetimes worth of policies to change to fix the mess we are in. this is exactly what Biden should be doing, passing policy after policy in the next few months that have obvious positive results for the common voter. he’s not gonna run out of stuff to do if he’s re-elected, so he needs to stop holding onto this shit like it’s his last wild card of all time.
But that might upset his owners, I mean campaign contributors.
He’s not a dictator. Most of those would never pass in the Senate.
It’s not about that. It’s about building momentum for the idea. If it passes great, if not then it’s out there. People know it’s possible and it will never stop haunting the elites who the government actually serves.
If only someone had given him the power to be a dictator!
Guess he just fuckin loses and the next guy does it anyways.
“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”
— some guy
Let’s build a million new homes and sell them to people that don’t currently own any homes.
Let’s
buildseize a million new homes and sell them to people that don’t currently own any homes.FTFY
Fuck these ogres hoarding real estate.
Doesn’t help if there is housing available but it’s 3 hours from where my work is :/
There’s no shortage of homes in the US. They’re just being hoarded for their increasing value.
I don’t believe that is the case. There is no value in letting a property sit empty accumulating value, when it could be doing exactly that while pulling in a hefty monthly rent.
It may well be the case that there’s enough homes empty to house everyone, but only if they’re happy to move somewhere they don’t want to be, and where there’s no jobs to pay for them.
renters bring risks. if the home is on the market, they also make it a half to sell
Eliminate zoning and force cities to build up. Nobody wants a house in the middle of nowhere
This guy is clearly not scared of “crime”
Edgelord
Please expand on what you mean.
For context, I live in greater Boston. The state here has actually forced towns and cities in the inner belt around Boston to remove their zoning laws anywhere within a mile of a train or subway stop. Thousands of additional condos and apartments have been (and are being) built as a side effect and we will have dozens of new squares with shops and businesses on the ground floor and tens of thousands of new residences surrounding our transit hubs.
It’s not been smooth. Some towns are suing the state and doing other random bullshit to slow the process. Pushing these rules to the federal level would actually help states and metro areas consisting of multiple connected cities address the issues more efficiently.
“Crime” is code word for boomers and nimbys to block proper development
You know what would get more votes? That student loan forgiveness thing! Maybe the kids who never graduated or used their expensive education should get their loans forgiven???
Remember that? Yeah?
Cuz 5% is not gonna do much if you got a 15% loan.
He literally forgave my loan and the supreme court said no. fuckin pissed
Seems kind of weird to blame the guy who is trying to do the thing you want and not the people who keep blocking it from happening.
I’m just reminding him since I got a certain loved one that I inherited a certain amount of this debt from. Like WTF. It’s like buying a slave…how much is that slave over there? Oh that one? Yeah that’ll be 5000 Dollars in student loans please!.
trying to do the thing you want
Except he isn’t, at this point all he’s doing is claiming to want to give the poor some crumbs, so that those who haven’t yet, don’t turn on him.
A 5% increase limit is still an increase, he’s not doing you any fucking favours by continuing to allow landlords to gouge you, only a little more conservatively.
the supreme court literally rewrote a law to prevent loan forgiveness.
