People should be legally free to argue for any viewpoint, no matter how “obviously” false and even reprehensible, in order to protect society from being enslaved to a popular but untrue belief. ―Robert P. Murphy
If landlords can’t charge a market rate, they’ll cut corners to maintain profitability. Because rent controls encourage landlords to reduce their maintenance expenses, apartments in rent controlled areas aren’t painted as often, repairs aren’t made as quickly, graffiti doesn’t get erased as quickly, and the washer/dryers in the basement don’t get replaced when they break down.
Under rent control, there are no market penalties for shoddy service because there is a long line of potential tenants. Thus rent control does not eliminate but rather creates “slumlords” who in a market system would have to compete to attract and retain tenants.
—Robert P. Murphy
If an employer has an opening that pays $50,000 in salary, and the Christian applicant will bring in $51,000 in extra revenue to the firm while the Muslim applicant will bring in $55,000, then to discriminate against the creed of the latter will cost the employer $4,000 in potential profits. Discrimination is automatically “fined” in the free market. — Bob Murphy
Government handouts actually perpetuate poverty by creating a culture of dependency. As welfare policy expert Robert Rector put it: The welfare system that has existed for the past thirty years may best be conceptualized as a system that offered each single mother with two children a “paycheck” of combined benefits worth an average of between $8,500 and $15,000, depending on the state. The mother had a contract with the government. She would continue to receive her “paycheck” as long as she fulfilled two conditions: 1. She must not work. 2. She must not marry an employed male.
Walter Williams: The greatest percentage of poverty is found in female-headed households. Over 70 percent of female-headed households are poor. A large percentage of poor people are children (17 percent); fully 85 percent of black children living in poverty reside in a female-headed household.
You don’t help a depressed economy by giving control of its resources to politicians. —Bob Murphy