CommentsCORRUPTION WATCH-Which is more important, data or propaganda? Answer: data…because it provides a map of reality. Then again, propaganda is important since it lets you do what you want.
People dislike data. Facts can be complicated and can often contradict beliefs. But people love propaganda. It’s simple and always supports belief.
A friend illustrated this point to me when I was still in grade school. She said that if someone’s wallet with their lunch money was missing, their teacher would have them pray while the student went to Lost and Found. If she returned triumphant with her wallet and lunch money, the teacher said that God had answered their prayers. If she returned without the wallet, the teacher scolded the class for not praying hard enogh.
Indoctrination from early age prepares adults to follow propaganda and shun facts.
Here’s some propaganda: “Mexicans are rapists, drug smugglers and thieves.” This is a simple lie but it re-enforces the belief system of an angry populace who wants to blame someone.
The data: Our economy is inter-dependent with Mexico’s and we both need an exchange of workers, goods and capital. Thinking about this can give one a brain freeze.
When the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, they knew that the propaganda-generating machines of religions were causing serious harm. In Europe, religious propaganda had led to endless wars, destruction and misery. Thus, our Constitution attempted to keep religion separate from government. This can be viewed as a bargain between the myth makers of religion and the reality lovers of the Age of Enlightenment. While religion would be prohibited from becoming involved in government, the government would leave religious groups alone. This bargain has worked, more or less, for well over two hundred years.
The Founding Fathers, however, could not protect us from secular religions that have seized control of the government, using their power base to endlessly bombard us with myths and lies to close the door to facts and reality. The current religious threat has the most misleading name of “Smart Planning.” It is the religion of the Davos Set, the billionaires who meet each January in the Swiss resort of Davos located in the eastern Alps. The preferable mode of arrival is via private jet.
One would think that these big shots with high and mighty morals would concern themselves with something more than their own care and feeding. Well, actually, no. That’s like thinking King Midas was smart enough to know that turning all his linen into gold would make for a uncomfortable night’s sleep.
The tried and true rule is, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” (Lord Acton 1887) Naturally, billionaires in power prefer the simple lies of propaganda over the complexity of data that outlines reality. Their goal is to put as much your wealth into their pockets as quickly as possible.
Fighting against the lying propagandists is difficult. A lie can be spewed forth in an instant. Just ask Donald Trump or Eric Garcetti. The great thing about lies is that they do not have to make sense or be consistent. A politico can declare his concern for “affordable housing” while having tens of thousands of rent-controlled apartments destroyed.
As millions of Americans have been taught from an early age, “Don’t ask questions,” or, “God moves in mysterious ways.” In Los Angeles, do not ask why you are paying $2,500 per month too much for your mortgage. The great mortgage god in the sky, the unknowable Wall Street, moves in mysterious ways.
Los Angeles rents are skyrocketing while people are moving out of LA. The population creeps upwards primarily due to the birth rate, which is slowing. Newborns do not increase housing demand, but every Family Millennial who moves to Austin, Nashville or Denver does reduce housing demand. Do not ask why, since as an Angeleno, your duty is to do or die. In Los Angeles, this means paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in tribute to Wall Street in the form of excess rent and mortgages. Throughout history, gods hide behind the smoke of propaganda and in the mystery of falsified data, but they have one thing in common: you exist for their benefit.
Admittedly, it is arduous to gather facts and interpret their significance. A government which has fused itself with the religion of Smart Planning has become the origin of much of the misinformation.
Private sources can also have less than pure motivations. As a real estate company, Zillow has a vested interest in people believing that the present exorbitant rents and mortgages are reality based. “Supply and Demand” reflects belief until reality bursts the bubble. Thus, real estate companies publish misinformation to keep people convinced they need to pay higher rents and mortgages as that leads to higher commissions.
No real estate broker wants Angelenos to know that homes north of Franklin Avenue are worth substantially less than $1 million. We’ve got patsies who will pay close to $1.5 million for less than 2,000 square feet when the truth is the home should be worth between $130,000 and $150,000.
Religious wars ravaged Europe over heresies less shocking than the actual value of homes in Los Angeles. In 1974, a 19-inch Sony color TV cost $590, which is $3,101 in 2017 dollars. Today, a 55- inch Sony color TV costs $600, which is $121 in 1974 dollars.
Data is complicated. The comparison of color TVs and home prices is illustrative that the cost of homes (which have not significantly improved) has skyrocketed while the cost of consumer items, (which have been phenomenally improved) has fallen. Analyzing Data requires thinking – not the type snap feel-good judgment that propaganda provides.
A lack of supply is not the cause of the present high housing costs in Los Angeles. A lack of supply cannot be the cause when Los Angeles is facing the double whammy of Family Millennials’ moving away from LA. Each family who moves to Dallas not only is not demanding a home in LA, but their departure adds to the supply of LA homes.
Angelenos cannot decipher this conundrum. Why? Because we are constantly feed falsified data, making it impossible to know which end is up -- except that housing prices are always up. One trick that is played upon us is circular reasoning: high demand increases price; housing prices are up, therefore demand must be up.
No, that correlation is not true. Housing prices can increase while demand is falling. Also, limiting the supply of detached homes for sale will increase the prices of detached homes, but it does not increase the demand for apartments. Thus, a shortage in one segment of the market with high demand does not mean it is necessary to construct more units in a segment of the market with low demand.
Likewise, demolishing tens of thousands of rent-controlled apartments statistically raises the cost of housing by removing the most low-cost units. Even if every displaced person ends up homeless and out of the housing market, the mere destruction of these lowest priced homes raises the “average rental price.” Oh, how they love to BS you with “averages.” Since Supply and Demand reflects people’s beliefs, the more propaganda there is about the average costs of housing, the more people are willing to pay.
Americans are accustomed to “believing.” When priests or politicians tell feel-good lies, people seldom question them. When politicians morph into a priests, we are in double trouble. The Religion of Smart Planning has control of the government, especially of local governments. We have become so indoctrinated that we do not even ask obvious questions.
Why does Los Angeles have the worst traffic congestion in the entire world?
Why does Los Angeles have one of the worst school districts in the industrialized world?
Why is Los Angeles the most park-poor large city in the nation?
Why do all cities around the globe that have adopted the religion of Smart Planning have runaway housing inflation while other segments of their economies are headed to deflation?
While the CPI for Los Angeles was only 2.2% over the last year, it was down 0.2% for last month, while housing prices have soared. Housing is a major component of the CPI – that means non-housing CPI suffered a staggering decline! Apparel, for example, was down 3.6% from last year, which is bad for retail. Since the net profit margin for apparel retail is less than 8%, a 3.6% decrease in one year is foreboding. High housing costs deprive consumers of disposable income.
The time for action is before the downward spiral brings actual deflation. We know that excessively high housing causes harm to the rest of the economy and eventually that drags down everyone – except the Davos Set, that is. They see a crash as a great opportunity to buy.
(Richard Lee Abrams is a Los Angeles attorney and a CityWatch contributor. He can be reached at: [email protected]. Abrams views are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CityWatch.) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
-cw
