Harris unveils several new economic policies

[Economy 53,162]

I like:

- Capping drug prices

- eliminating some medical debt

- the child tax credit

 

Need more info on the grocery price gouging though. How do you measure what you consider price gouging. How do you identify it and determine that? That can be complex

 

Im also iffy on the first time home buyers credit... here in Canada help for home buying has proven to only heat up real estate even more. Im more pro policies to increase affordable housing supply to help more broad access rather than providing the market with even more liquidity to prop the market higher. This seems more pandering to certain voters than actual logic or practicality

[PartySick 174,812]

17 minutes ago, Economy said:

Im also iffy on the first time home buyers credit... here in Canada help for home buying has proven to only heat up real estate even more.

That's the part I'm most iffy about too but in my head it makes sense 'cause, like...financial aid doesn't make college more expensive, medicare doesn't make healthcare more expensive (the opposite now, actually, thanks to Biden and Harris), so it stands to reason as long as the proper regulations are in place to prevent artificial hikes in price, a $25k credit to purchase a home shouldn't hurt, right?

I saw a headline already of some Repuke talking head saying "well, she just made every home in the US cost $25k more"

[Economy 53,162]

8 minutes ago, PartySick said:

That's the part I'm most iffy about too but in my head it makes sense 'cause, like...financial aid doesn't make college more expensive, medicare doesn't make healthcare more expensive (the opposite now, actually, thanks to Biden and Harris), so it stands to reason as long as the proper regulations are in place to prevent artificial hikes in price, a $25k credit to purchase a home shouldn't hurt, right?

I saw a headline already of some Repuke talking head saying "well, she just made every home in the US cost $25k more"

I dunno... first of all costs of colleges and healthcare are way higher in US than in most developed world so i question if mixing private business with public subsities doesnt in fact raise them artificially a bit...

 

But even if the answer can be said as a no with 100% confidence I dont think its even remotely an apples to apples comparison.

 

College and healthcare are services sold with a set price tag. Yes it can be raised or lowered just like the price of any other good and service can be adjusted with with supply and demand but its a set price tag

 

Real estate on the otherhand is literally an auction where highest bidder takes it. The listed price isnt even really a true price tag. It can be sold under asking or over asking depending on what the bids were able to bring in.

 

So I personally still am more in favour of spending the money in subsidizing the building of more affordable units and add supply that way to help housing cost issues at their core rather than randomly giving ppl money to bid into an already over heated market

 

Fix the root cause (supply, investors and speculation) rather than trying to band aid the symptom with handout checks that wont fix the core issues

[PartySick 174,812]

11 minutes ago, Economy said:

I dunno... first of all costs of colleges and healthcare are way higher in US than in most developed world so i question if mixing private business with public subsities doesnt in fact raise them artificially a bit...

 

But even if the answer can be said as a no with 100% confidence I dont think its even remotely an apples to apples comparison.

 

College and healthcare are services sold with a set price tag. Yes it can be raised or lowered just like the price of any other good and service can be adjusted with with supply and demand but its a set price tag

 

Real estate on the otherhand is literally an auction where highest bidder takes it. The listed price isnt even really a true price tag. It can be sold under asking or over asking depending on what the bids were able to bring in.

 

So I personally still am more in favour of spending the money in subsidizing the building of more affordable units and add supply that way to help housing cost issues at their core rather than randomly giving ppl money to bid into an already over heated market

 

Fix the root cause (supply, investors and speculation) rather than trying to band aid the symptom with handout checks that wont fix the core issues

Well, they're higher 'cause they're not regulated/mixed in with public subsidies like in other countries  a drug that would cost you $20 in Canada would cost an American $400+ currently, even if it's manufactured and sold by the exact same company, 'cause the government just allows that to happen

Buuut anyway, housing is way more expensive in Canada so why is that? Do y'all have options like this? A lack of regulation? Or is it literally just a scarcity thing?

Also, when these plans hit her site in proper detail you MUST review them for us

[Economy 53,162]

18 minutes ago, PartySick said:

Well, they're higher 'cause they're not regulated/mixed in with public subsidies like in other countries  a drug that would cost you $20 in Canada would cost an American $400+ currently, even if it's manufactured and sold by the exact same company, 'cause the government just allows that to happen

Buuut anyway, housing is way more expensive in Canada so why is that? Do y'all have options like this? A lack of regulation? Or is it literally just a scarcity thing?

Also, when these plans hit her site in proper detail you MUST review them for us

I agree thats the main issue but i dont think that proves or rules out whether or not medicare or scolarships can raise cost even more by adding demand ppl couldnt provide without it (thats not to say im against medicare tho but my point is one doesnt prove the other)

 

As for real estate in Canada i think its many different factors, u cant really blame one single thing. I believe its:

 

- labor shortage in construction for the last 20 years as not enough ppl wanna do this work

 

- restrictive zoning laws and extensive red tape slowing constructiom approvals and raising its cost (a condo in Toronto from application to completion famously can take up to 10 years)

 

- Nimby culture is as strong in Canada as it is in the US preventing a lot of densification in suburbs from taking place that could provide more housing

 

- obsession with realestate as a must in life otherwise your a failure and seeing homes as an investment rather than a place to love and wanting your equity to grow. Thats a cultural and attitude problem many nations share but based on what I saw in Europe, its definitely worse here

 

- increasing role investors are playing in real estate and they can outbid everyday people more easily

 

- population is booming really fast which is a bad combination when yoy have an issue getting housing built. For reference, population grew 1.3M last year but less than 300k housing units were built so thats over 4 people per built unit. Considering half the built ubits these days are tiny 400sq foot condos that can barely fit 1 person... growing population over 4 times more than units is unsustainable

 

All factors play a big role. But purely going off of my opinion (but many experts agree) our slow construction is the biggest culprit of all because even if you got rid of speculators, when you have a severe housing shortage people will have to outbid eachother to prices that are not affordable to many

 

This is why i dont believe we will ever have a US style crash like the 2008 crisis despite our prices being even more out of whack. The US overbuilt during the boom. We are STILL underbuilding DESPITE the boom so we remain in shortage

 

Im a market this tight even if some distressed buyers gotta sell or banks take over homes, there will be 5 interested buyers for every person that has to foreclose preventing any price drop from ever being too extreme