Comment by edmundsauto
7 hours ago
We shouldn’t prioritize efficiency when it comes to moral matters. That’s a bad idea for the government.
People’s primary residences are more than just an economic asset. If you don’t understand that, it’s difficult to have a conversation as we have very different starting points about morality.
There is no inalienable right to live in a place because you were there first.
Housing is a fungible good. I have friends and family living in squalor because people have decided sentiment is a valid reason to keep people in these four walls instead of those four walls.
I think people’s primary residence should not be seen as assets in the way they are today at all. The only reason they are is substantial government intervention.
Bullshit. Your comment is wholly nonsensical. Housing is distinctly non-fungible. You can't move a housing unit around from its intrinsic location! Housing exists in a neighborhood and in particular jurisdictions. That is fundamentally unchangeable (I mean unless you've got a mobile home or a historic house that actually can move: that's the exception to the rule.)
Housing is also set up in a particular way. A McMansion is nothing like a 1BR apartment. A condo is nothing like a ranch-style SFH. The aforementioned mobile homes could never serve a family of 12 or be attached to a swimming pool. These are not interchangeable things! They are unlike a barrel of oil or a $100 bill, my dude!
It's true that nobody cares "who was there first", but property ownership confers real rights. The right to stay put, and the right to expel unwelcome people from your property. The right to defend it, or at least have the authorities defend your life and property within. Even renting tenants have rights, as long as their bills are current. It's not a matter of "who is here first" but God-given and gov-granted rights of occupation. In a less civilized place, your property rights would be defended with guns and violence, as against invasions.
Housing is, like, one of the least fungible commodities possible. I don't even know how you say that. How do you define fungible so that it includes housing? Pray tell! Inquiring minds want to know!