Parable - 51 - HD

Susan is the 800-pound gorilla in the kingdom's housing market. If she really is landlady to anything close to "half the kingdom", then she constitutes a "too big to fail" business, and since she owns a controlling interest in her operation (as opposed to being beholden to investors/stockholders), then she has a lot of liberty to operate as she wishes--and tens of thousands of tenants who (in anything approaching a real society) would mount a general strike if anybody tried to take away their cheap housing too suddenly.

ijuinkun

The main problem with doing it this way is figuring out *where* to build the housing, and what kind. The dance of investor and consumer is a messy one, but it creates information: not just how much housing do people need, but what kind, and where. Without that process, the information basically doesn't exist. This is the problem with "central planning" style socialism. I think the real solution is recognizing that every person, by virtue of being a human being, is as entitled to a share of the Earth as anyone else. In a simple, agrarian economy (with roughly equal quality land throughout the considered area), this can be done simply by dividing up the fields evenly. But our economy is dependent on concentrating resources in the hands of those best able to use them; try doing it the agrarian way, and you destroy the economy, starting with agriculture. Far better is simply to charge people as much for the land they control as they are willing and able to pay (as in, try to get as close to the point of plot abandonment as possible without actually triggering it). Charge *only* for the space; don't charge more for an owner who is using the site than for one that's just holding it (we want *them* to abandon it, in favor of someone who will use it). Then redistribute that money on a per-capital basis. Essentially, we're turning that universal right to exist on the Earth into a *financial* benefit, which can then be spent however people see fit. This will provide those with the job of building housing with an incentive to make sure they put it somewhere people actually want to live.

Daryl Sawyer

Whaaat? If not for Picard, Commander Bruce Maddox would *totally* have started mass producing Soong's androids by now, and it would be totally sweet. If not for Picard, Norah Satie would have eliminated the existential threat of people who lie about having a single Romulan grandparent on their Starfleet application. If not for Picard, the colonists of the Cardassian side of the new border would have been relocated, and there would be no Maquis. If not for Picard, Starfleet would *totally* have a cloaking device (a *phasing* cloaking device) by now, and it would be totally sweet. If not for Picard, Starfleet would have a supply a Magical Youth Elixer and wonderful new allies to go with it. All of this is a way of saying... you missed the sarcasm in my first paragraph. :p

Daryl Sawyer

It is so sad and depressing just how valid that point is.

Vasadariu

You’re forgetting that in real life people who benifit from mortgages and loans would work out a way to use legislation against you to prevent you from messing up their gravy train.

davidraziel

What? Picard always made the easy way easy, at least for everyone else. That said, he *did* turn the easy way from "being an asshole" into "doing the right thing". :D

Some Ed

It would be possible to end homelessness by building enough homes and charging basically no rent for them. I mean, if rent was $1 per month, with money otherwise being roughly as powerful as it is today, most mendicants could drastically reduce the length of time they spend with their hands out and actually pay for housing. Rather than just barely being able to survive. I mean, think about it - if you're homeless, all of your clothes are going to suffer additional wear and tear. You're going to need to consume more calories to survive because you'll be out in the cold and need to have the energy to make body heat. You'll be sick more often and have higher medical expenses. And that's just part of the barely scratching the surface of this issue I'm limited to doing, because I'm too affluent to be able to really understand how things are for these people - even if I do understand enough to know that not having a place to live where they can lock their stuff up is a huge economic strain.

Some Ed

Dan, please tell me you're going to post the hd version of the nanase angel and devil pic as well? pretty please?

chris

Picard was only annoying if you were an admiral who wanted, just once, for the "easy way" to go easy. Damn Picard and his insufferable moralism. That said, it makes sense to put your most morally driven in charge of the interstellar armegeddon machines, and your most ambitious in charge of telling them what to do. You provide an outlet for that all too human impulse, while keeping the guys least likely to abuse the power in the position of actually pushing the button. Combine that with Starfleet's "no harm, no foul" approach to insubordination, and we have a winning system.

Daryl Sawyer

Only semi-related, but... Dan, if you make a Sketchbook with a full-body shot of Angel and Devil Nanase in the latest EGS Mainline Comic... Well, I'd appreciate it GREATLY

Kyman201

I never say Picard as annoying. Riker, on the other paw, I frequently saw him as insufferably smug. As for good admirals, there were a couple. Not many, but I do recall a couple

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1VxaMEjRU&t=3s

Paul Lenoue

That's some remarkably expressive art, that is.

Sleep

The solution to homelessness is to build more housing where people want to live, and then let people live there. Everything else is bookkeeping.

Viktor

I dunno. Many see Picard as obnoxiously elitist. And sometimes his strict adherence to the Prime Directive spells trouble.

Stephen Gilberg

I really like this story. :)

Hans Peter Bak