This commentary by Roberta Gutierrez is really something. Supply
and demand is not an interesting concept; it is the way the world
works, except when some government authority decides it is "unfair"
and puts some controls on, which invariably makes things worse. Often
a lot worse.
What any item or service is worth is what someone else will pay
you for it. Government meddling in the marketplace sets a "political"
price, resulting in either the buyer or the seller being robbed. Once
politicians get in this business, it is almost impossible to get them
out of it. The power "deregulation" she quotes was a typical
political maneuver, as the politicians fixed the selling price but
not the buying price, which was crazy, and we know the result.
She should make a little study of the subject she pontificates
about. There is a new print run of Adam Smith's "The Wealth of
Nations"; I can assure her that she will find it interesting reading.
President Bush signed a farm subsidy bill causing strong protests
from other nations, to which I would like to add my own. Now I (that
is all of us) am being taxed to pay this subsidy, and then we are hit
again when we buy the goods whose price is now inflated by the same
subsidy, so the poor citizen gets a double whammy in the pocketbook.
Such is the result of government meddling in the marketplace. How
wonderful! I am sure we could use more of it!
So if the city government forces price control on rents in
Glendale, homeowners such as myself are going to pay a
disproportionate share of the taxes levied to run the city. I
strongly object to that, and intend to let the City Council members
know it.
If, as she has claimed, there have been large rent increases in
Glendale, and the apartments are still occupied, it would seem that
the previous rent was below market price. If the rent increase is out
of line, the landlord ends up with an empty apartment, which makes
him lower the rent, does it not? So full occupancy tells you
something.
The renters and landlords I know in Glendale seem to get along
fine, without any of the animosity she shows in her letter, where all
landlords are greedy and all renters are victims, and thus virtuous.
If only life was that simple!
So she says there is a critical shortage of that wonder- ful
euphemism, "affordable housing" in Glendale. Affordable to whom? What
does this mean? Is affordable the same in Beverly Hills, Pacoima and
Glendale? Obviously not. If you cannot afford Beverly Hills, you look
