Airbnb rentals in Paris contributed $240 million in a year to the local economy, while Crain’s estimates they could have an economic impact worth $1 billion in New York State. Plus, the property owners can earn some income on the side. It’s a win-win-win…except for the established hotels.
For some reason, the laws against renting out your own property strike me as a more fundamental violation of property rights than other regulations.
Of course, when it comes to making me angry at government regulation, shutting down cheap bus service is also right up there.
Stories like these are what make a phrase like “Government is the name for the things we do together” ring so hollow in my ears.
“… Crain’s estimates they could have an economic impact worth $1 billion in New York State.”
But New York has chosen, once again, to back the traditional businesses that have always been there, rather than a newcomer with a different model.
So Airbnb, and its associated economic boost, goes elsewhere.
I wonder how many such entrepreneurs with new business models New York can turn away before New York becomes irrelevant to new businesses. Similar to how Microsoft became so insular in the 1990’s that startups simply chose to ignore it rather than try to deal with a company so closed to any outside influence..
Perhaps a less gilded phrasing, “Government is just the name for the things we gang up to do to our fellow men.”
Lol, I hope Arnold instantly throws that at the next person who pulls “things we do together” on him. I wish I could see the reaction on their face. 🙂
Government is just the name for the place rent-seekers look.
If all the people who rent out their apartments had declared and paid taxes on their income, they might have a better position to argue their case from.
Thank God for what amounts to free bus service here in Bellingham WA. I purchase a disability pass good for 3 months for $45; it enables me to ride the local bus system, which has all the new busses, courtesy of Patty Murray Earmarks; they are hybrid, energy efficient, and have the new comfort-ride braking and suspension system. The bus system is supported by sales tax consistently approved of by the voters. The wealthy of Bellilngham have gifted the poor with transportation. Not many ride the bus, only the poorest of the poor like me, the disabled, elderly and Western Washington University students.
Today I was on the bus, coming back from Bellis Fair Mall, on the 331, and it went through Taco Flats, that is the poorest part of town, where the single moms living on TANF, Section 8 vouchers and Food Stamps live. One physically fit young Hispanic man, with a tub full of dirty clothes dashed across the street to make the bus driver wait at the bus stop. In tow, was an obese, Hispanic single mom, with a gaggle of two children, who made the traffic stop in both ways. He put cash bus fair in for all. And they slipped into seating at the front of the bus. From my seat in the back, I saw two university coeds, shiver in dread at the sight enfolding in front of all. They had the cosmetic look, you know, tanned, and oiled bodies, looking like the Liberalism’s Queen of Sheba, fit, trim and all things young and beautiful, adorned with Pacific Sunwear togs. What a cultural contrast between those at the bottom, and those at the top. I see Liberalism’s upper crust children here in Bellingham, as generally one must have scholastic apptitude to attend Western Washing University with both a high grade point average, high SAT scores, and some outstanding attributes on one’s application. Bellingham’s economy has been one largely of an ocean tide of students coming to attend WWU; there is a fresh inflow of residents to the Sehome and York neighbors where there is a sea of homes rented out to students, where the upper crust students live; only 28% of the students go on to graduate! Well back to the laundry crew on the bus; theyhe got off at the new laundry, that is Q Laundry, which is near Trader Joe’s, located at 810 Alabama Street in Sunnyland Square, which was formerly the Bank of America lending branch office, which underwrote much of the rental property development and improvement here in Bellingham.
I’ve been poor since 1998, and have economic life, largely by the charity of others; in fact my John McArthur Study Bible, and my Witness Lee Recovery Version of the Bible, my only two forms of physical wealth, were both gifted to me! I have no vehicle and have gotten around by bike and bus; but now I am too old to bicycle, so I have only the bus left. Yes, thank God, for what amounts to Liberalim’s charity: the bus fare comes out to be about $0.50 a day; and a dollar a day is all the resource I have for transportation.
I am no Mises Austria Economist, but rather God’s Dispensational Economist. Perhaps one might enjoy my blog http://theyenguy.wordpress.com/about/