Ilhan Omar declares war on the very foundation of liberty

[Gary K]

Ilhan Omar has introduced a bill in congress that attacks the most fundamental right of liberty. It's this liberty that created citizens out of serfs and serfdom. Before this liberty there were only the very rich and the very poor. Once this fundamental right was established it brought all other rights found in liberty. This is the right to ownership of property. Once it was established the other liberties we view as fundamental human rights appeared: freedom of conscience, freedom of worship, etc.... All the rest of the rights found in our Bill of Rights.

As the widening gyre that that is 2020 continues to turn, it seems that every day some new disastrous and ill-thought-out proposal is made or policy implemented. Among the chaos, the chorus to cancel rent in particular has stuck out for its sheer insolence and the ease with which it has entered the discourse as a sensible policy solution.

The idea of abolishing rent is not new, but until now it has never really been considered anything but a nutty pipe dream. But with the economic carnage wreaked by the virus and ensuing government lockdown still ongoing it has disturbingly come to be viewed as a conceivable policy option. With tens of millions out of work, the ability to pay for basic necessities like housing is obviously a valid concern, but the callousness of the idea of simply expropriating housing from property owners is disturbing and indicative of darker trends coursing through the body politic in these turbulent times.

One of the most high-profile leaders of the cancel rent movement is Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who introduced legislation in April that basically amounts to nothing other than government extortion of landlords. Christian Britschgi reports that the bill would simply cancel all rent and mortgage payments for primary residencies across the entire country until a month after the federal state of emergency has ended. Attempting to collect rent or reporting the a valid concern, but the callousness of the idea of simply expropriating housing from property owners is disturbing and indicative of darker trends coursing through the body politic in these turbulent times.

After Omar had taken a baseball bat to landlords' knees everywhere, she generously extended a government crutch, with strings attached, of course. Landlords who accepted federal aid in compensation would be required to not raise the rent for five years, and they would not be able to take into consideration someone’s credit or criminal history when taking rental applications. Additionally, landlords would be required to provide tenants with 10 percent equity in the property. The mafia would be proud of such a blatant shakedown.

Fortunately, Omar’s bill has a snowball’s chance in hell of becoming law at the moment, but that doesn’t mean that people will not keep trying to cancel rent. Since the crisis began, groups around the country have called on people to simply stop paying their rent in an attempt to simply force its cancellation. Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary wrote that "this movement is not without merit," but at least pointed out that while many jurisdictions have put a moratorium on evictions, rent that is not paid now will still be owed if the tenant doesn’t want to face eviction when the moratoriums expire.

The rest of this article can be found here.

What this essentially does is make null and void all contracts for when a person rents they are making a contract to pay so much rent for the use of the house or apartment as long as they pay their rent. If this bill is passed all debts will eventually become uncollectable. This is a bill that out and out advocates the destruction of personal property and the legitimization of theft of personal property by the government and individuals. This is the socialist's dream. No private property held by individuals but instead all property owned by the government. That's exactly how things were in the days of serfdom. And these Democrats want to take us right back to those days. The days when only the king and buddies actually owned all property. This is exactly why Friedrich Hayek titled his book, The Road to Serfdom.

 

[chair]

It's a very problematic bill, though not quite in the way that your link presents it. The approach is twisted, even for those who think the government should provide a safety net for people who are having financial difficulties. Rather than financially helping those who can't pay their rent, she wants to cancel rent, and then have the US government help out the landowners (eventually), who presumably are filthy rich and don't ever have financial concerns of their own.

What one would hope will happen is that landlords will realize that they need to lower rents, or accept delays in payment, because it makes economic sense when the country's economy is having trouble. If you evict people when the market is down, you will end up with empty apartments. If the government wants to financially help people- it can go ahead and help them- but let them decide how they want to spend the money.

As an aside, the only government in the world that thinks it can borrow huge sums of money forever, without it ever coming home to roost, is the US. And, sorry to disappoint the partisans here- both parties are guilty of this.

 

[ok doser]

As an aside, the only government in the world that thinks it can borrow huge sums of money forever, without it ever coming home to roost, is the US.

As an aside, you're wrong:

 

[chair]

As an aside, you're wrong:

Thank you for correcting me. (yes, I know it is against the rules here to admit an error. I hope I don't get banned for it). Only fifth worst, and compared to GDP, maybe not even that bad.

Do you think the US government deficit is an issue? IS this sustainable in long run?

 

[ok doser]

Thank you for correcting me. (yes, I know it is against the rules here to admit an error. I hope I don't get banned for it). Only fifth worst, and compared to GDP, maybe not even that bad.

Do you think the US government deficit is an issue? IS this sustainable in long run?

I'm at work now so I'll make this brief. I would support a well conceived balanced budget amendment. I would prefer to see 0 debt. And I'm very surprised to see Belgium right up there. Belgium is generally regarded as a very conservative, fiscally and economically conservative country.