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>What do you think's wrong with them? A largely transient population creates economic incentives to create and perpetuate all sorts of bad and immoral behavior
by throwaway0a5e 5y ago
>What do you think's wrong with them?
A largely transient population creates economic incentives to create and perpetuate all sorts of bad and immoral behavior.
And by "bad and immoral" I'm not talking about drinking to excess and the bar that doesn't ID, I'm talking about running a predatory towing company, being a jerk slumlord landlord because your tenants won't be around to take you to court, etc. etc. Often times the local governments even try and take a cut by engaging in revenue policing (as if they weren't already in a better revenue position than the surrounding towns). And when you're in an economic environment like that the only way to get ahead is to do all the bad things everyone else is doing. You can't run an honest business when your commercial landlord is setting rates based on the profits of all the dishonest businesses.
- vajrabum 5y agoOK. I got the thing about towing and the city horning in on towing revenue, and collegiate slumlords, but I don't see how that impacts commercial rents. What dishonest types of businesses are you referring to?
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago>What dishonest types of businesses are you referring to? Crazy markups at retail, over charging for services, exploitative labor practices against a labor pool that is mostly ill-informed of their rights. And it all rolls around in a giant cycle that nobody can break out of. This is basically a 1:1 copypasta from a seasonal tourism economy. The guy who wants to run an honest bookstore on mains street can't afford the rent because the rent reflects the money you'd make importing overpriced clothes branded with the town name. The commercial landlord can't lower the rent because the plumber and electrician know there's big bucks to be made so they charge accordingly. The guy who wants to run a landscaping service has to charge the plumber big bucks to grade his yard and work his employees to the bone because the tire shop charged him $2k to put $500 tires on his skid steer because he's being screwed by his landlord who's being screwed by his plumber. And this rat race where everything is inflated wears out and runs down the people who want to make an honest living (they tend to get out if they can). And eventually over time the only people left are the ones who drink the kool-aid and the ones who don't see anything wrong with this sort of "screw everyone as hard as you can every time, you win some you lose some but hopefully you win more in the end" behavior that becomes the default in the local economy. I'm sure (just like tourist towns) some college towns are better and some are worse depending on how much of the local industry money gleaned from the transient population represents.
- chrisseaton 5y ago> Crazy markups at retail, over charging for services Students aren't exactly known for having a lot of money. What is it that lets you markup in a college town?
- throwawayboise 5y agoThere are enough students who have their parent's money and don't think twice about spending it.
- adamcstephens 5y agoHow does what you describe not apply to non-college towns as well? There are slumlords in large cities too, that corrupt the local politicians too.
- godot 5y agoAlso, anecdotally, I went to UC Davis and have not seen any slumlord type of housing in that city. I'm sure there are other college towns with slumlords. But they also exist in any other city.