CAP 4 Case Conection

Homesick

By mid-2011, plummeting home prices played a pivotal role in a chronically ill U.S. economy that just couldn't seem to shake the 2008 financial collapse. In the first half of 2011, 1.2 million homeowners received foreclosure notices. With an increasing number of homeowners in financial distress, real estate values plummeted, making it tough for homeowners to refinance to cheaper loans, dampening consumer confidence and spending. Policymakers have considered a range of different options. Among the most radical is buying up vacant properties and bulldozing them to diminish the supply glut and rid neighborhoods of nuisance properties that become magnets for drug users, vandals and other minor criminals that further reduce property values for everyone. But this option would clearly have some significant ethical implications, outlined below:

Proponents of bulldozing

* No one is living in these vacant homes. In most cases, appropriate social services are available for squatters. With every week that goes by, selling the vacant homes becomes less likely. * Literally knocking down houses is the most efficient way to reduce supply. It has worked quickly and effectively in communities that have tested the strategy.
Opponents of bulldozing

* Using tax dollars to create vacant lost seems a poor choice of limited resources. * In a country with more than half a million homeless people, razing homes does not seem to be an ethical choice. * Partially destroying cities in order to save them does not seem logical.
You Decide:

Do you think bulldozing vacant houses is a good strategy to mitigate the housing crisis? What ethical issues are involved?

Si, yo creo que derrumbar toda propiedad que se encuentre en estado de deterioro severo ayuda significativamente a la comunidad. Existe una estrategia que se llama la estrategia del cristal roto donde una ciudad comienza a reconstruirse empezando por las cosas pequeñas por ejemplos casa vacantes, o aceras con huecos. El proceso genera empleos lo que a su vez ayuda a la economia. Algun problema etico relacionado a esta estrategia es el hecho de pensar que estamos eliminando casas cuando hay necesidad para ellas pero por otro lado probablemente sea economicamente mas barato tumbar y construir una nueva que construirr una en severo estado de deterioro.

What are other steps the government or business should take to get the housing market back on track?

El gobierno debe de ofrecer respaldo en el financiamiento de las propiedades y la empresa privada debe de ser mas efectiva en establecer los precios reales.

How does the issue in this case relate to the chapter on economics?

Los issues en este capitulo se relacionan al capitulo sobre economia ya que basicamente se esta hablando de como el gobierno, los individuos y las economias deben distribuir sus recursos economicos de manera efectiva, como tomar decisiones correctas que lleven a generar major ganancias a corto, a mediano y a largo plazo.