Opinion
AhPihga al
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Page 8
Saturday, June 13, 1981
Thb Michigan Daily
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i
The Michigan Daily
Vol. XCI, No. 28-S
Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom
Edited and managed by students
at the University of Michigan04
A brilliant idea
F ROM THE moment of Ernest Lefever's
withdrawal as nominee for Assistant'A,.E1 t.
Secretary of State for Human Rights,
speculation was rife as to his replacement.
Would Ronald Reagan choose a Lefever.'
double -less personally abrasive, but every bit PE" E KD O LP AND FOMU a titeI E ffk ZQjN ot Kosl5KQLIRl'
as philosophically jaded about "quiet"
diplomacy, "authoritarian" vs. "totalitarian'
oppression, and the thought that human rights
: r igt r.Ragaepodt pubic e rent control game
advocates might be communist-inspired? T hLjjo tr ig
opinion and choose a nominee sympathetic to Rent control was originally For instance, if there was one same reason - the cost involved
the fact that repression, torture and murder conceived as an attempt to available unit with ten potential in making repairs could not be
transcend political shading; that a bullet- alleviate the supposed burden renters, the rent would be the covered by the negligable rent.
placed on the unsuspecting highest amount the renter would
riddled body is just as dead whether shot by tenant by evil landlords. The be willing to pay. Fortunately, Holding down the price of a
thugs of left or right? tenant was traditionally por- this never happens, and the commodity lowers the quantity of
It now appears the administration may solve trayed as being trodden under- reasons is never happens best the commodity produced. If a
the dichotomy with an inspired idea: Why not foot in the landlord's quest for illustrate how the market ceiling was placed on the amount
simply abolish the Human Rights office profit. operates. a farmer could charge for a
tAfter all, why should the United Ye rviewed realistically, rent A free market means that other gallon of milk, the quantity of
altogether? Atral h hol h ntdcontrol presents itself more as a landlords can enter thettselohrgvrmnshwtob ae? aladcaitanakyohp- aktlc.Asoeofhm milk produced would be reduced,
States tell other governments how to behave? ball and chain than a key to hap- marketplace. As more of them and kthe sppl ywouldbnorlonger
Let's give those Argentinians a fair shake! piness. enter to claim a portion of the meet the demand. It would not
Despite inconsistencies, Jimmy Carter's profits, the price will go down. pay the farmer to manufacture
determined and visible support of international New sellers will enter the market milk if he could not recoup his
human rights was credited with having saved Com m hs onias therei s demand an expenditures. He would only
thasrlong asthere is aedmad.Tepand iewatdtols
thousands of lives during his presidential Sense laws of supply and demand are produce if he wanted to lose
tenure. If the Reagan administration ter- the only ones that govern a free
minates the very office which most symbolizes By Mark Gindin market. Gasoline shortages resulted
the struggle against global brutality, it would In a completely free market As competition increases, because the government placed a
Amria as rntawolbetefremin ete equilibrium would. be achieved limit on the amount oil com-
signal to the rest of the world that America has rent would be determined by the at the market value - the cost of panies could charge.Because it
turned its back - that our paranoia over com- landlord. The landlord would the unit plus a profit for the lan- would be stupid to produce
munism leads us to tolerate the most frightful charge the maximum amount dlord. With no profit incentive, gasoline as a loss, the oil com-
violations of human dignity for the sake of cozy possible while still attracting the landlord would not enter the panies bought gasoline at a lower
relations with "friendly" nations customers. If the supply of market in the first place. price outside the country.
relatons wth naions.housing could not satisfy the p rtr Essentially, rent control has
Does such a policy constitute the "return to number of people wishing to rent, the effect of reducing and When the Middle East supply
morality" which candidate Reagan so the price of housing would rise to perhaps eliminating the lan- was cut off, the maximum price
righteously championed last fall? the level people are willing to dlord's profit. When theprofit in- policy and government
nay.- ti i li it d tha m b allocations programs created
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THE L A. TIMES SYNDICATE
Quie
NITED STATES
Department of State
4. H i J.
cen ive is euminacea ,ne num er
of rental units is reduced.
Post-war France is one of the
best examples of how rent con-
trol can go wrong. In 1945 a mon-
th's rent in Paris cost a family
the equivalent of eleven packs of
cigarettes. The price was great -
provided you could finda place to
rent.
Vacancies were rare because
no one wanted to leave such
cheap housing, and the owners
were not allowed to evict anyone..
Often the only way to secure an
apartment was to wait until the
tenant dies. Young people ac-
tually followed old people around
waiting for them to expire. Lan-
dlords were bribed to give poten-
tial tenants first notice in the
event of a death in the complex.
The Franch housing industry
had collapsed years before: It did
not pay to erect a building where
the rent would be ten times lower
than the amount needed to pay
for the structure. The existing
buildings were crumbling for the
gasoline shortages that would
have been impossible under a
free economy: If there is a
demand for a good, the supply
will eventually rise to meet it, or
the demand will reduce to meet
the supply.
The only legitimate way to
lower rent is to encourage com-
petition. More people are served
better With the free market than
controlled prices, whether they
Are the maximum prices or
minimum: Maximum rent
causes shortages, while
minimum wages cause an over
supply of labor, resulting in
unemployment. The full cost of
government policy is seldom
calculated before action is taken.
It seems a shame to let it con-
tinue, let alone ask for more.
Mark Gindin is a staff
writer for the Michigan Daily.
His column appears each
Saturday.
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et Diplomacy's white paper
on human rights
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