CAPITALISM FAN: See, the problem with setting 'fair prices' for goods is that you create shortages! But if you just let THE MARKET (TM) set the prices, there are no shortages ever!
THE MARKET (TM): Hi so we raised the cost of houses to ONE MILLION DOLLARS. And we didn't build any new ones because that would lower the price. Literally fewer people can now live in houses.
CAPITALISM FAN: That's not a shortage. Shortages are what affect millionaires, not morally bad poor people who eat avocados.
@natecull not a correct critique. The market floats on top of land use policies and law, often engineered to increase house price. Housing is heavily regulated in all sorts of ways.
There are good critiques of capitalism: I don't think this one is even wrong
@pnathan and yet, somehow, mysteriously, despite nothing ever being capitalism's fault, capitalism continues to make housing unaffordable
capitalism can never fail us
capitalism can only be failed
our only choice is to make capitalism tougher, sterner, harder, purer
we salute capitalism
@pnathan Nope, what I'm blaming capitalism for is *the housing market*. Which sees houses as an investment good - and they are specifically marketed and sold as such.
New Zealand has seen house prices double in around the last ten years, and triple around the last 20.
Our government has been center-right during the last 8 years, and presided over this disaster. They had a 'hands off, market knows best' approach, claiming the problem would self correct.
It is not and will not.
Nate Cull (.social)
⚗️⚗️⚗️ pnathan ⚗️⚗️⚗️