Keep Them Poor - Keep Them Down

"The innate character of every government is to increase the power of the state to deal with problems that it declares are unprecedented"

Henry Porter in The Observer (United Kingdom)

Believe me people I would MUCH rather write about some non-government topics but government is so pervasive in our daily lives I am obligated to highlight what is wrong with government almost daily via this blog. This is not only an attempt to keep my sanity by "venting" on this blog a bit but is also a campaign to educate those "fence sitters" out there who simply go through life with no passion on any public policy issue. So now let me invite you to get on the fence to come down on my side of the field by working to cut government wherever we can.

Why?

I can offer no better reason than an "affordable housing" project that has been proposed in my idyllic suburb in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. The situation we face locally is that our "Dakota County Community Development Agency" (CDA) is presenting a plan to our planning commission and eventually the city council -- my instincts tell me the wheels are greased on this proposal so it will move like things move through a goose :-) -- to build a senior citizen housing complex alongside an "affordable housing" rental town home project.

First of all let me state the obvious that the everyday communist (like some of my neighbors who attended the public meeting I did) does not fully consider -- GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS AND TAXES DRIVE UP THE COST OF HOUSING thus causing a "need" for affordable housing. Think of it -- lumber imports from Canada are restricted thus driving up the cost of building materials, construction companies services are taxed, building codes add costs, and government borrowing increases the "cost of money" thus driving home mortgage rates up. Once the cost of housing goes up then government sees the opportunity to take our tax dollars to finance affordable housing projects.

Okay anyone who knows basic economics can figure this out for themselves but let me offer you a personal insight from the public meeting I attended when I asked the CDA staff, "so given the useful life of this housing stock you plan to build will it always be rental properties or do you try to phase in renters to become home owners via a condo association model so that the residents will become part of the ownership society?" To which the CDA staffer replied -- "oh no , these properties will always be rental properties because some people in the world will never have the capability to become home owners...................."

Did you hear that? The central planners in our government are picking winners and losers when it comes to people getting their first step on the property ladder. I have more faith in the "working poor" than the CDA does OR is the CDA staff simply motivated to keep this economic class "poor and down" in order to keep all the CDA staff employed?

Bottom line is that if the need for "affordable housing" is growing then let's try a new approach by completely phasing out agencies like the CDA coupled with an overall reduction in the costs of home ownership as noted earlier. Clearly the current model is not working.

Owners not vassals,

Todd