Sunday, May 26, 2013

'Nuf Said

Lede paragraph in Anna Oakes' story on the Boone housing study:
A draft housing analysis commissioned by the Boone Town Council concludes there is currently a surplus of student housing in Boone and that the oversupply is projected to increase.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree that there is an oversupply of student housing in Boone, but the prices students are having to pay is out the roof. One would hope that the price would come down.

Anonymous said...

The price will come down for all types of housing. It's called the law of supply and demand. If there is more student housing than needed, prices will fall and the surplus will be converted to other types of housing. It is called the free market and it always works if allowed to.

Anonymous said...

Anon 6:32.....
"if allowed to" is key! The market will always self correct - eventually.

Even when it isn't "allowed to", it will eventually do so anyhow when the central planning economy fails completely.

When government deigns to decide what products are needed and must be produced, and which products are not needed and may not be produced, or when government decides what prices a product must sell for, the market is disrupted and will eventually fail.

God, the arrogance of these public officials who, with NO financial stake in the game. attempt to decide what is best for us!

Welcome to central planning in the People's Republic of Boone!

Anonymous said...

"It is called the free market and it always works if allowed to"

Unless it doesn't. Then its called a market failure. Any reputable capitalist recognizes this, and would suggest that these failures are the appropriate time for some sort of governmental intervention. Unaffordable and unavailable housing is often an example used in describing market failures.

God, the arrogance of these public officials who, with NO financial stake in the game. attempt to decide what is best for us!

While we can all appreciate that entrepreneurs take risks when they act (as one would expect) in their self-interest, the arrogant public officials may not have a financial stake in the game, but they do have a stake in protecting citizens from the unintended consequences of those investments and actions. That's called a negative externality. Any reputable capitalist recognizes this and would suggest that when a contract cannot compensate for the damage then some level of government intervention is necessary.

I wish some people would quit being so selectively ignorant and remember only the parts of the Econ 101 textbook that suits their purposes.

Anonymous said...

There is no such thing as a market failure in a free market. There are corrections due to over supply and decreased demands. A free market is controlled by real wold conditions. This means both positive and negative feed back. If there is an over supply of something such as student housing, then the oversupply will be converted into something for which there is a demand such as affordable housing for non students.

Anonymous said...

"There is no such thing as a market failure in a free market."

And liberals are accused of living in a fantasy land...

Anonymous said...

The market does not fail. Those portions that are out of adjustment correct themselves.

liberals are not accused of living in a fantasy land. They are usually proven to do so.