3 ms·

Why would you produce more bread, milk, eggs as prices fall? You would of course wait for the next-pig cycle - when the starving masses pay any price to you. T

Why would you produce more bread, milk, eggs as prices fall? You would of course wait for the next-pig cycle - when the starving masses pay any price to you. The answer- essentials can never be a non-government interferring market. This can be by creating artifical oversupply by buying up oversupply for foreign aid or bio fuels(food production). In the case of housing, this is by having the goverment continually construct housing.

estearum 7mo ago
Sure, which is a different intervention than what's being discussed here.
philipallstar 7mo ago
One of the main housing issues is government interference. People want to do things to get money from other people, including building houses for them to buy.
- somenameforme 7mo ago
  You're probably being downvoted because you're just assuming everybody knows what you mean. For somebody who doesn't it's going to be a nonsensical statement. The issue is that the government mandated banks enable easier access to loans for housing, as a means of resolving prior housing issues. But what happens when you suddenly start giving a bunch of people the ability to go arbitrarily far into debt to buy something that they perceive as priceless (because housing, and most any other 'thing' tends to endlessly appreciate in value in an inflationary economic system)? Obviously prices skyrocket. The exact same thing happened with education for the exact same reason.
dan-robertson 7mo ago
The government intervention in the markets for agricultural products is because farmers are often an important political base, not to keep prices low for consumers. Without the intervention, prices would fall and supply would have to fall too, which would be good for consumers and bad for producers.
- harrall 7mo ago
  And the biggest reason is, learning from history, the instability of food prices destabilizes nations. There have been many “bread riots.”
  - dan-robertson 7mo ago
    Bread is much cheaper today (at least relative to incomes) than in the days of bread riots.
    - FuriouslyAdrift 7mo ago
      Wheat is HEAVILY subsidized.
    - 21asdffdsa12 7mo ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring#Causes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring#Causes
- myrmidon 7mo ago
  I'd argue that government intervenes in agriculture for supply-chain safety first and foremost. Governments are concerned with this because no meat (or rice) on supermarket shelves during a supply-shock of any kind leads to rapid unplanned regimechange very consistently. So basically every western government throws a few billions a year at local farmers so they stay (and this is not a US phenomenon, EU does the exact same thing). This is also less necessary for countries where labor is cheap. This is arguably good for most consumers because essential calories being more affordable "on average" is not good enough, you'd typically rather pay (partially indirectly) a higher average to guarantee availability and avoid starving.

estearum 7mo ago

Sure, which is a different intervention than what's being discussed here.

philipallstar 7mo ago

One of the main housing issues is government interference. People want to do things to get money from other people, including building houses for them to buy.

somenameforme 7mo ago
You're probably being downvoted because you're just assuming everybody knows what you mean. For somebody who doesn't it's going to be a nonsensical statement. The issue is that the government mandated banks enable easier access to loans for housing, as a means of resolving prior housing issues. But what happens when you suddenly start giving a bunch of people the ability to go arbitrarily far into debt to buy something that they perceive as priceless (because housing, and most any other 'thing' tends to endlessly appreciate in value in an inflationary economic system)? Obviously prices skyrocket. The exact same thing happened with education for the exact same reason.

dan-robertson 7mo ago

The government intervention in the markets for agricultural products is because farmers are often an important political base, not to keep prices low for consumers. Without the intervention, prices would fall and supply would have to fall too, which would be good for consumers and bad for producers.

harrall 7mo ago
And the biggest reason is, learning from history, the instability of food prices destabilizes nations. There have been many “bread riots.”
- dan-robertson 7mo ago
  Bread is much cheaper today (at least relative to incomes) than in the days of bread riots.
  - FuriouslyAdrift 7mo ago
    Wheat is HEAVILY subsidized.
  - 21asdffdsa12 7mo ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring#Causes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring#Causes
myrmidon 7mo ago
I'd argue that government intervenes in agriculture for supply-chain safety first and foremost. Governments are concerned with this because no meat (or rice) on supermarket shelves during a supply-shock of any kind leads to rapid unplanned regimechange very consistently. So basically every western government throws a few billions a year at local farmers so they stay (and this is not a US phenomenon, EU does the exact same thing). This is also less necessary for countries where labor is cheap. This is arguably good for most consumers because essential calories being more affordable "on average" is not good enough, you'd typically rather pay (partially indirectly) a higher average to guarantee availability and avoid starving.