Today’s links Rent control works: 30-year, federally guaranteed fixed-rate mortgages = rent control for homeowners. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018, 2022 Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading Rent control works (permalink) David Roth memorably described the job of neoliberal economists as finding “new ways to say ‘actually, your boss is right.'” Not just your boss: for decades, economists have formed a bulwark against seemingly obvious responses to the most painful parts of our daily lives, from wages to education to health to shelter: https://popula.com/2023/04/30/yakkin-about-chatgpt-with-david-roth/ How can we solve the student debt crisis? Well, we could cancel student debt and regulate the price of education, either directly or through free state college. How can we solve America’s heath-debt crisis? We could cancel health debt and create Medicare For All. How can we solve America’s homelessness crisis? We could build houses and let homeless people live in them. How can we solve America’s wage-stagnation crisis? We could raise the minimum wage and/or create a federal jobs guarantee. How can we solve America’s workplace abuse crisis? We could allow workers to unionize. How can we solve America’s price-gouging greedflation crisis? With price controls and/or windfall taxes. How can we solve America’s inequality crisis? We could tax billionaires. How can we solve America’s monopoly crisis? We could break up monopolies. How can we solve America’s traffic crisis? We could build public transit. How can we solve America’s carbon crisis? We…Pluralistic: Rent control works (16 May 2023)