Is it time to panic yet?
Failed regimes need enemies, the better to offload domestic discontent to The Man Behind the Tree. Distracted by a constant state of war, the populace of Oceana overlooked the oppression of Big Brother. Progressives feed on victims; victims require crises.
Word search “Crisis” in any Leftist publication and be gobsmacked by the deluge of hits. (One such: “Crisis is opportunity,” by Chris Hayes in The Nation.)
If our progressive … acquaintances had their druthers (never enough druthers to go around), the CDC’s tenant eviction moratorium would extend well beyond October 3. It would be permanent. Helzz bellzz, landlords would be rounded up and their properties nationalized.
If it wasn’t the Delta variant it would be Global Warming or Systemic Racism or Sexual Harassment or Unequal Distribution of Wealth or Russian Hacking or January 6.
Faced with the clear unconstitutionality of the CDC’s continued eviction moratorium, the CDC “targeted” 80% of the counties in the USA for crisis treatment. Unilaterally, because not even Pelosi’s Democrats could be bothered to enact the legislative authority.
A crisis is a terrible thing to waste
The on-line Dispatch explicates:
In most people’s imagination, the affected landlords are likely large banks or real estate corporations — but that is hardly the case across the board. A May 2021 Washington Post article by Eli Saslow cited U.S. Census data showing that 8 million rental properties were an average of $5,600 behind on rent and that about half of those 8 million are owned by “small landlords” who “manage their own rentals and depend on them for basic income.”
“According to government estimates,” Saslow wrote, “a third of small landlords are at risk of bankruptcy or foreclosure as the pandemic continues into its second year.”
For 42% of landlords, day-to-day management of the property was performed by either the owner or an unpaid agent, according to the Wall Street Journal. In a regime that divides by race, class, and gender, landlords are disfavored because they own property. I.E., they are not socialists.
Blaska’s Second Law of Progressives is that
their appetites are never satisfied.
Free college and free health care are just the first course. They’re after free housing and a guaranteed income. Where all this comes from is not their worry. Mindless that wherever housing is heavily regulated — as in New York City’s rent price controls — housing is in short supply. (Read & Weep: “Rent control does not make housing more affordable.”)
Blaska’s Bottom Line: If one must monger crises (plural) can we declare a crisis in crime in 80% of our larger cities? (See sidebar on the right side of screen.) If during this Crime and Covid Crisis everyone must re-mask up and show proof of vaccination regardless of race can we also mandate they pull up their pants? Just for starters. For sanitary reasons, of course.
Education
Blaska Policy Werkes 
“Don’t Tax Me; Don’t Tax Thee; Tax the Fellow Behind the Tree” – Sen. Russell Long
How bad is rent control? When a policy is opposed by both Thomas Sowell and Paul Krugman, you know it’s really bad.
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One of your better posts, IMO.
I’m reading that landlords who don’t abide by the unConstitutional eviction moratorium potentially face a year in jail and up to a $250 thousand fine.
You’re right. Leftists don’t care or understand where the money comes. It runs deeper than that though. Their warped thinking seems to be based on a thirst for power and control and a deep-seated hatred for this country and everyday Americans.
Mark Levin explains it quite well. From his new book, American Marxism. Highly recommend!
“Of course, this formulation is especially seductive to the malcontented, disenchanted, disaffected, and dissatisfied. For them, individual liberty and capitalism expose their own shortcomings and failings, and their difficulty and perhaps inability to function in an open society. Marxism provides a theoretical and institutional framework through which they can project their own limitations and weaknesses onto “the system” and their “oppressors” rather than responsibility for their own real or perceived plight.”
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Classical Marxism – attack the rentier/bourgoisie. Marx was never against the elites, he was bankrolled by them.
“You will own nothing, and you will be happy.” One of the 8 points of the World Economic Forum’s projections for 2030. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER04dbt5p74
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Thanks so much for sharing that link. I’d say we are well on our way to this new reality. People are complacent, thinking this is just a phase. It’s not. The small minority of radicals, malcontents, and America haters are getting their way.
Agreed with your premise, and yes, Marxists want poverty for all except themselves. I think in this case the landlords being attacked are mostly middle class?
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You’re welcome Liberty. Yes, the bourgeoisie were/are the middle class. The workers were supposed to overthrow them. It was never about the elites. Bourgeois is defined as:
“of or characteristic of the middle class, typically with reference to its perceived materialistic values or conventional attitudes.”
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Thanks, Michael! I learned something important.
Have you had a chance to read American Marxism by Mark Levin? Highly recommend
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“The small minority of radicals, malcontents, and America haters are getting their way.” And they’ll continue to get it. Today it’s mom and pop landlords, tomorrow it’s the rest of us. What we’re seeing now is the warm-up act. Meanwhile, the same small minority of radicals, malcontents, and America haters are busy hunting down every last one of the patriots who tried to prevent their seizing power on Jan 6th. How many unconstitutional outrages from the socialist left will it take to finally rouse the rest of us to finish the unfinished business of that day?
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Gary,
“What we’re seeing now is the warm-up act”
You’re correct, sadly. If a non-legislative administrator can dictate a mandate for landlords that punishes them with actual jail time, what makes people think it’ll stop there? Why let a little thing like the Constitution or legislator rules get in their way? And with few pushing back, including Republicans, they have become emboldened.
I guess it was more important to focus on Trump’s tweets than the decay that was, and is, occurring right in front of our eyes.
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Michael, I’ve always associated bourgoisie with wealthy capitalists. The term seems to have different meanings for different people?
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I think that was a very successful legerdemain (if you’ll pardon the self-reference).
It’s been awhile since I read Marx – I was leaning socialist/communist as a econ/poli-sci major in my second attempt at University – but he was talking with disdain about the rentier class – exactly the type of people being discussed in this post – people who might own a walk-up or four flat – and their bourgeois values.
Thank you for the book recommendation.
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RE: small real estate investors….
In the late 80’s,I bought a building for my own biz, beat renting bigtime… Sold my biz, they moved it to Chicago, then I went 15 years of feast (triple-Net lease) or empty (Zip, Zero, Nada against the mortgage). Plus, Commercial mortgages are good for 3 years only, so uber fearful of rates in constant flux. Or just plain foreclosure. Stats would prove that this was ubiquitous among small landlords. Imagine the number of folks who bought 4 units here & there, and worked constantly to keep up to codes, maintaining after regular day jobs -plus handling non-payers and whiners. Yep, people think of Biz owners, rental property owner as high-rollers. But that’s not the case and ya’d think with all the stats available, big GUV would, too.
Nope, Gotta hammer the hard-workers for another freebie to the potential future Dem voters…
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What is YOUR crisis?
McAllen, Texas has to deal with thousands of illegal aliens on the regular; 1,700 in a single week.
Many of them have COVID-19 but the Administration doesn’t care, let them all in anyway.
https://www.khou.com/article/news/special-reports/at-the-border/temporary-emergency-shelter-being-built-in-mcallen-near-border-to-house-overwhelming-number-of-immigrants-stranded/273-037a34e0-ce40-4d1f-b239-1030e348f76b
And the mayor of McAllen, unlike a lot of other politicians and bloggers, knows who to point a finger at. It’s not T***p either.
https://nypost.com/2021/08/05/texas-mayor-blames-biden-for-surge-in-migrant-covid-cases/
Population replacement cannot be undone. The Democrats are all in favor of mass, open border migration, to make population replacement happen on a national basis. Illegal entrants are being bused from Texas all the way to North Dakota, on the taxpayer’s dime. I know a man who was in a Texas airport when a column of illegals walked right through under the gaze of Border Patrol officers – no ID, no TSA check – to be put on an airliner departing for the east coast. Oh, and no COVID-19 test, either. Nope. It’s a terrible plague, except with illegals from Honduras have it, then…nothing to see, citizen, move along!
But hey, at least Trump isn’t on Twitter anymore. Partial victory, eh, Mr. Blaska?
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The border crisis is a slap in the face to American citizens. As the rest of us are threatened with lockdowns and landlords with prison time, illegals are allowed unfettered access and
are whisked away across the country on our dime.
Note that Cubans, who are overwhelmingly conservative (because they’ve actually lived the evils of Communism) are not allowed the same privilege as other illegals.
“But hey, at least Trump isn’t on Twitter anymore.”
People were more offended by Trump’s tweets than the fact that illegal immigration (just one of many failed policies) is an actual security & health risk. They hate Trump more than they do the human trafficking, violence at the border, suspected terrorists and gang bangers entering our country, no questions asked.
We already know that Progressive priorities are in line with Marxism and that they’re about appearing virtuous. What’s worse is any conservative who thinks Trump’s loss was somehow a victory. Despising the man’s personality is one thing, but do they not see the destructive path we’re now on? Were Trump’s tweets really that bad in comparison?
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RE: Michael Leger’s informative comment, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER04dbt5p74).
The latest and most up-to-date VID editing programs, (and so many other popular programs in demand), can no longer be bought -Only rented annually. So every year, their cost doubles. BION, even airplane engines are leased, not sold anymore…
Upcoming generations have no interest in owning anything. Not even Drivers’ Licenses, much less owning cars…
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“Upcoming generations have no interest in owning anything. Not even Drivers’ Licenses, much less owning cars…”
What a sad way to live. It’s as if they have no ambition or sense of self worth, and are content to be dictated to by government.
Marxism is no longer a far away concept. It’s already arrived in this country.
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This just in, Covid 19 has a Delta Variant and now we are supposed to be even more scared of the, wait for it … Lambda Variant! Tune in next week.
After one month of the original onset of Covid I said I would not mask, I would not accept house arrest or follow any fear porn. I said I wasn’t protesting Covid but all its subsequent variations. I have not been vaxxed and will not be.
My body – my choice.
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