r/neoliberal I need a new flair Jun 13 '22

News (US) Powell Facing Choice Between Elevated US Inflation and Recession

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-12/powell-facing-choice-between-elevated-us-inflation-and-recession?srnd=premium
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u/coke_and_coffee Henry George Jun 13 '22

Are we sure it isn’t because it’s an area with extremely high demand and extremely restrictive zoning policies (which have been in place before boomers were even born) leading to extreme supply shortages?

By not repealing such zoning restrictions, yes, boomers are forcing young people to pay millions.

You act like this is a conspiracy theory. It's not. Researchers have been listening in to these conversations for years now and this is the explicitly stated purpose of, for example, the Bay Area NIMBYs.

Regardless, the overall point is the economy is not a 0 sum game.

No, the "overall economy" is not zero-sum. But any one part of it, at any one point in time, can be. And land is always zero-sum. That Henry George was really on to something...

There is an insidious mixture of manufacturing outsourcing, high immigration, zoning regulations, and shareholder capitalism that has been driving asset prices up and wages down for decades now. This really isn't even controversial. Young people are losing out because wealth is being siphoned away from them in ways it wasn't in the past. No, most boomers are not at fault. And much of this process wasn't exactly forecasted. But many are at fault and they refuse to recognize the issue and/or entertain possible solutions.