The Fool's Recipe for Affordable Housing:
How will we build more affordable housing? Why simply "streamlining" environmental regulation and zoning would unleash the MIGHTY MARKET whose decisions are always wise and fully informed! Why can't the peons understand this?!
Sure, Nixon stopped the feds from building affordable housing several generations ago, Reagan cut HUD's affordable housing budget by 75%, and Clinton signed legislation with the "Faircloth Amendment" that limits federal support for affordable housing, but it's the market's decision to build fewer affordable homes that's the problem. Those pesky regulations are the reason there's a shortage of (affordable) homes! (Note: the US currently has more vacant homes than its homeless population.)
The Fool's Recipe for an Affordable Economy
The Federal Reserve recently announced that 40% of the US population can't afford a $400 emergency, while 60% live paycheck to paycheck. So we need to lower taxes on the wealthy so money can "trickle down." A tax on vacant homes is off the table too.
The Fool's Recipe to Prevent Crime
Cops, courts, and cages always nab the bad guys. Just ask Hollywood! In real life, cops solve less than 15% of crimes (13.2% of felonies in California in 2022). But the public has countenanced massive increases in "justice-related" expenses. Since the 1980s, such spending has grown more than four times as fast as the population.
The US currently incarcerates (per capita) at five times the world's average, seven times Canada's incarceration rate, and Canada has a lower crime rate. One difference: The US has more than half a million medical bankruptcies annually. Canada has Medicare for all.
Update: California can jail people for offenses whose remedy is fines. The Governor has a bill on his desk that would prevent that. So if someone misses a court date, or has a late payment, jail would no longer be a "remedy."
The Fool's Recipe to Prevent Disease
At the top of this list is vaccine skepticism. The author's brother was such a skeptic. He died of preventable pneumonia. Meanwhile, as such skepticism becomes fashionable, diseases previously prevented by vaccines (e.g., measles) are now returning in record numbers.
Fools Want a Strong Dollar
From a Steve Keen LinkedIn Post and Xwitter Post:
A strong dollar looks like a crown. But it can become a noose.
America didn’t become powerful because the dollar was the world’s currency.
It became powerful because its factories could produce weapons, ships, and machinery better than its rivals.
After Bretton Woods, the dollar gained an extra demand: every country needed it to trade with every other country.
That pushed its value above what American goods alone justified.
A 50% overvalued currency gives foreign producers a huge cost advantage.
Cheap imports feel like a victory. They aren’t, because the same process slowly destroys your manufacturing base.
America sent pieces of paper abroad and received physical goods in return. That looked like wealth. Over time, Japan, China, and other “vassals” became more complex industrial economies.
๐๐ก๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ?
- America moved from trade surplus after World War II to sustained deficits of roughly 3–6% of GDP.
- The dollar became stronger. America became weaker.
Keynes proposed something far more rational: a neutral international unit of account—the bancor—managed through an International Clearing Union.
Surplus and deficit nations would both face penalties. That matters because massive imbalances weaken deficit countries while strengthening surplus countries.
Instead, America chose the short-term advantage. Now the long-term bill is arriving.
If dollar dominance ends, imported inflation will rise because Americans rely heavily on foreign goods. Higher interest rates cannot solve inflation caused by a falling currency.
๐โ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐: ๐๐๐’๐ก ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐ค๐๐กโ ๐๐๐๐กโ๐๐.
Use a neutral international unit, make trade balances sum to zero, and limit excessive surpluses and deficits.
That could reduce global instability. But ego and testosterone may get in the way.
Fools Say Socialism is Bad; Capitalism Solves all Economic Problems!
People present announced this conclusion after I pointed out that the local, publicly-owned utility (SMUD) was 35% cheaper than privately-owned PG&E, and, unlike PG&E, its executives weren't consulting criminal attorneys about the possibility of facing negligent homicide charges because they skimped on maintenance and literally burned down towns (Paradise!).
The participants in this discussion were sitting in a publicly-owned building, had driven there on publicly-owned streets, probably got their education from public schools...etc.
But socialism is alien and bad! The public shouldn't control markets or the toxic goods passed off as healthy! Private is always better!
...Now excuse me as I chase those kids off of my lawn
