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Costs cannot be controlled. That’s not how it works. That’s how you get empty shelves. I think some inflation will happen but not dramatically in food and clot
by encoderer 5y ago
Costs cannot be controlled. That’s not how it works. That’s how you get empty shelves.
I think some inflation will happen but not dramatically in food and clothing. We do not have many naked and starving people in America. It’s the premium consumer goods that will see higher demand - think dishwashers not Chanel.
- com2kid 5y ago> Costs cannot be controlled. That’s not how it works. That’s how you get empty shelves. Many types of food in America are massively subsidized, including dairy[1], beef[2], and corn. Government policies can certainly drive down prices. Direct price controls don't work, but subsidizing production most certainly works. Though an economist would argue that a dollar saved at the market cost tax payers more than a dollar to get, due to inefficiencies, counter argument is that people who are poor pay less taxes and benefit more from reduced food prices. (At which points arguments about corn subsidizes and long term harm to the health of the citizenry are brought up.) [1] https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings?itemId=8 https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings... [2] https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings?itemId=121 https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_price_rankings...
- encoderer 5y agoSure but a subsidy is a market support. A price control is a market support. A subsidy is not a price control.
- inglor_cz 5y agoI guess rent will be the one to go up in case of UBI. UBI fundamentally does not solve the problems that: a) some people do not want to live next to some other people, and are willing to pay extra for that privilege - now they have even more money to use for that purpose, b) in the most expensive regions, demand exceeds supply a lot. I even think that a vast majority of UBI would, at the end, accrue to landlords.
- colinmhayes 5y agoIt's gotta be combined with YIMBY policies, hopefully LVT.
- vpribish 5y agoin the current context of this experiment rent dropped by 30% in SF while this was going on. Sure some of that was people fleeing dense urban areas to escape lockdowns, but also some was people decamping because the economic pressure to work in a city was lifted. UBI might be a terrible threat to landlords' incomes as people redistribute.
- chii 5y agothe drop in rent would be more attributable to the WFH policies instituted by many companies rather than any UBI imho.
- markus_zhang 5y agoThe state can definitely influence the prices of goods (e.g. it can affect the price of money). Direct control is indeed infeasible.