To the editor: Jonah Goldberg makes a good historic case that hire freezes, wealth taxes and worth controls have not often delivered on their guarantees (“Democrats’ newest ideas have been failing for centuries,” June 30). However his column misses one thing vital: The Democratic Occasion’s main viewers for these proposals isn’t economists — it’s voters.
Political strategists have lengthy understood that daring, tangible-sounding pledges energize a base way more successfully than nuanced coverage papers. When a working household hears “we’ll freeze your hire,” the emotional resonance is instant, no matter what tutorial literature says about long-term provide distortions. Whether or not or not these concepts survive contact with a legislature — or with actuality — they serve their supposed goal on election day.
This isn’t distinctive to Democrats. Events throughout the spectrum routinely champion proposals whose political worth far exceeds their coverage advantage. The actual query price asking is why voters proceed to reward guarantees that historical past suggests gained’t ship. That reply lies not in economics, however in how successfully a message speaks to individuals’s lived frustrations.
Goldberg is correct that these concepts don’t work. However they do get votes.
Hua Gu, Calabasas
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To the editor: With none hire management, somebody may pay all they’ll afford to lease an condominium for one yr. Following that, the owner may entertain a bidding warfare to see who’s prepared and in a position to pay extra hire than you possibly can. It may be argued that you ought to be grateful that you simply acquired to dwell in your good place for a yr, and should you now have to maneuver perhaps 20 miles away from work, so be it.
Luckily thus far, L.A. metropolis management seems to worth stability — somebody nailing down a job, entry to varsities and providers, actions to share with others — and a spot to dwell. It’s cheap that landlords are allowed reasonable annual hire will increase, and that they’ll search market hire when somebody strikes out.
Proudly owning a rental property could be a good long-term funding, nevertheless it shouldn’t essentially be a approach to get wealthy in a single day.
Ken Hense, Los Angeles
