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Not accounting for government-produced inflation is interesting. I wonder if city could sue Federal government for printing money and causing such consequences
by loceng 2y ago
Not accounting for government-produced inflation is interesting.
I wonder if city could sue Federal government for printing money and causing such consequences?
Reminder that deflation should be occurring with the benefits of automation technology, where the buying power of the dollar should be increasing.
- bobthepanda 2y agoThis has happened before. Most cities capped transit fares at one nickel when streetcars got started and the US was on the gold standard. These laws remained in effect even through massive inflation through two world wars, and usually didn't get repealed until the companies failed, the government took ownership of these services and then realized how much they cost.
- rizzom5000 2y agoHave price controls ever ended with a positive outcome for consumers, or anyone for that matter?
- gms 2y agoNo. Unfortunately wielding them is always an act of either ignorance or malice.
- antifa 2y agoLol no, this is like saying lawn mowers don't work just because you know a guy who refused to do regular maintenance like oiling the engine.
- loceng 2y agoIs this an argument for having or eliminating the gold standard, where currency is anchored to a physical good?
- cryptonector 2y agoClearly GP's argument has nothing to do with how a currency is run.
- loceng 2y agoI wasn't sure, so I was asking; I wonder how complex of an understanding of these systems have integrated into how they actually address the topics. I don't like to assume - but would I be more right to assume you're big into "cryptocurrencies" with crypto being in your username or more wrong?
- rizzom5000 2y agoI was referencing something like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.L.A._Schechter_Poultry_Corp._v._United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.L.A._Schechter_Poultry_Corp.... I think the 70's gas rationing in the US was another example of where price controls absolutely stomped on consumers. I'm not sure if there are any examples to the contrary, but there are surely people who benefit as, say, 'winning' a rent controlled apartment (but I wouldn't necessarily consider that those people were ever actually consumers in the market to begin with).
- loceng 2y agoA lot of interesting policy options in that case - thanks for sharing. I think an evolution of government is necessary, likely where a relatively blank slate is needed to flush out the influence of regulatory capture - and most important where each political party comes forward to present their actual party platform that will update/remove what existing laws in place - basically a version controlled repo like Git facilitates. This way there will be an exact breakdown, exactly in the place of existing laws for the layperson et al to go through it in an easy UI/UX; along with commentary and conversation - similar to how the Genius.com allowing line-by-line threaded commentary.
- Boltgolt 2y agoThe EU enforces a bunch of them, including no more than 0.2% fees on card purchases, no cellular roaming fees and no fee for in-EU money transfers.
- bobthepanda 2y agoPercentage price controls make a lot more sense than fixed value price controls not adjusted for anything.
- cryptonector 2y ago90% of NYC's subways were built by two private companies in the 19teens and 20s, then they got regulated and their fares got capped until in the late 1940s they were going bust and the city "nationalized" them. The streetcars between Queens and Brooklyn got killed this way too, and not even replaced. It's horrible. But public transit yo! It's funny. In the U.S. the federal government doesn't get to nationalize industry thanks to the Steel Cases. The States don't do it either because they compete with each other. But the cities do do it, and what can they nationalize? Public transportation is what they have nationalized. In other countries it tends to be the inverse. So Buenos Aires has an amazing privately-run public transit (bus) system that is the envy of any American city, and that's because in Argentina they nationalize big companies, not piddly ones, because the politicians who can do it are at the federal level, and they "dream big". I wish we could put all public transit in the U.S. in the private sector. Then finally we would have real public transit options.
- bobthepanda 2y agoPrivate transportation only works when all forms of it are privatized. A big reason the railroads and transit companies failed in the US was the construction of interstate highways that were free to use.
- cryptonector 2y agoRail failed for transit because it's inflexible. Busses already get to be much more efficient than cars and much more flexible than trains. Rail is a fetish.
- bobthepanda 2y agoRail does one thing really well; it fits a lot of people into a tight space, much tighter than any road or bus lane. A single road lane carries 2,500 people per hour per direction; the same figure for a grade-separated railway track is 30,000 at the low end and 90,000 at the high end. This is vital in places where land values are high and land acquisition for a sufficiently sized highway, parking lot etc. becomes too high. Rail generally hasn’t failed in places that are dense enough to support it; Europe, East Asia, and even a few North American cities.