Rising Prices Are Bad, but Plummeting Prices Are Worse: Americans may envy China’s deflation. They shouldn’t (CW: The Atlantic) (archive.ph)

submitted 1 week ago by Philosoraptor@hexbear.net to c/chapotraphouse@hexbear.net

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Living in China is getting cheaper. Because rents in my neighborhood in central Beijing are dropping, my wife and I pressed our landlord to reduce ours by $140 a month in a new lease that we signed last month. He wasn’t too happy about it, but he’s lucky that we didn’t move out. Given the desperation of local landlords, we probably could’ve saved another $500 a month had we switched to a comparable apartment nearby.

BUT AT WHAT COST?

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[-] DylanMc6@hexbear.net 2 points 1 week ago

firing the landowners (as in "hey landowner, new policy today, you're no longer needed - why DON'T you get a different job?") and nationalize land would also work.

[-] FettermansFinalStroke@hexbear.net 3 points 1 week ago

Read Marx’s critiques of Georgism.

[-] ColombianLenin@hexbear.net 3 points 1 week ago

Who will "fire" the landowners? Can you even fire a landowner?

Do you think they will let themselves be "fired" without a fight?

[-] DylanMc6@hexbear.net 0 points 1 week ago

what i mean is that the government would issue a policy saying that all landowners have been stripped of their ownership of their land, and ownership will go to the people - that's how i think it would be handled without a fight

[-] ColombianLenin@hexbear.net 5 points 1 week ago

Landowners have a lot of money. They can pay off government officials so that they rule in favor of them. And if the government doesn't play ball? They can use that money to pay mercenaries to kill whoever fights them.

Colombia is a huge example of this btw. Paramilitaries are a huge force.

[-] DylanMc6@hexbear.net -1 points 1 week ago

well then redistribute the money from the landowners to the people

[-] ColombianLenin@hexbear.net 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

They will not allow that redistribution willingly, are you messing around?

[-] DylanMc6@hexbear.net 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

i'm actually non-binary, and i prefer gender-neutral and feminine terms. i'm being serious. that said, if the landowners CAN'T allow the redistribution willingly, then we'll have to use force.