THE JAWBONE OF AN ASS.

A price cap has the same effect on resource allocation that a tied-down safety valve has on a boiler.  Might as well issue a ukase that the circular constant π is the rational number 22/7.  Our President, though, thinks that by pandering to the delusions of the communists in his coalition plus continuing to smear his opposition, he can get another term.

President Joe Biden is ready to propose a 5% cap on annual rent increases for tenants of major landlords as he tries to show he’s doing something about the high cost of housing, according to a person familiar with the plan.

The proposal, to be announced while the president visits Nevada on Tuesday, is being championed by Biden in the middle of a tense presidential campaign and a time when housing costs have been a major driver of overall inflation.

But the plan would require solid Democratic control of Congress to become law. Additionally, most policymakers have said the best way to limit housing costs would be through more construction and changes to land use regulations.

The person familiar with the plan spoke on the condition of anonymity because the proposal has not yet been formally announced.

That's true, Dementia Joe's mumbled reference to "the proposal" during that debate probably slipped his mind later that night.

I come from Scranton, Pennsylvania. I come from a household where the kitchen table – if things weren’t able to be met during the month was a problem. Price of eggs, the price of gas, the price of housing, the price of a whole range of things.

That’s why I’m working so hard to make sure I deal with those problems. And we’re going to make sure that we reduce the price of housing. We’re going to make sure we build 2 million new units. We’re going to make sure we cap rents, so corporate greed can’t take over.

It's populist froth, and it's demented. "A mountain of economic evidence suggests rent control is a terribly counterproductive policy."  It's the kind of process worship we've come to expect from Washington, though.

Biden himself seems to be conceding that rent control produces many of the problems it seeks to solve. Rather than abandoning the policy, he's instead decided to riddle his rent regulation scheme with carve-outs and exceptions.

Some of these exceptions may well limit the damage his proposal would do. They also make it a confusing, arbitrary mess that would award benefits to a near-random collection of renters.

Want more cheaper housing? Get rid of zoning, setbacks, and parking minima.  "Bet on emergence, and, wherever possible, be guided by trade-tested betterments."

Dementia Joe, though?  What was I saying about the jawbone of an ass?

Grocery costs are too high for families across the country.

We have a plan to tackle them. pic.twitter.com/hmEOfXdFMF

— President Biden (@POTUS) July 3, 2024

Note another "confusing, arbitrary mess."  On one hand you engage in coercion against merchants to get them to lower their prices, while with the other hand you pass out more money to shoppers, attenuating their incentives to shop around.  So it always is with socialism.  "[L]ogic is to socialists as crucifixes are to vampires."  But the communists at Common Dreams (now we know where Dementia Joe's 30% approval ratings come from, that is, when they're not in a faction fight over whether to kick him off the ticket) are on board.  "The rent is too damn high—and rent control is a real fix."  Alas, those pesky separations of powers get in the way.

The president, who is seeking reelection, will propose taking a tax benefit away from landlords who hike rents by more than 5% annually, according to the reporting. The plan would only apply to the existing housing stock of landlords who own more than 50 units and would require congressional approval—so it is not expected to go anywhere unless Biden wins in November and Democrats secure majorities in both chambers of Congress.

Should the plan pass, it's also an incentive for the government to keep printing money. That tax is not indexed to inflation.  "Logic and content will carry the day. Wishful thinking does not."

As if I didn't have enough reasons already to recommend that Democrats not win another national election for a generation.