Yes, it is socialism, and yes, it is happening here

Simon's post about forced change being wasteful was so good that I'm glad I haven't had time to blog. However, the whole issue of the government forcing change on people is a pet peeve, and I recently read a horror story about New Jersey (where else?) legislation forcing local governments to provide "affordable housing": Actually, the landmark bill Corzine signed last week reformed the state's affordable-housing policy by doing two things. One, it requires every municipality in New Jersey to provide for poor, as well as moderate-income, families. (Before, towns got around the requirement by building only for moderate-income residents and seniors.) My initial reaction was that this makes no sense. It is not the government's function to build housing, and local governments are supposed to be run by the people who live in the... [read full story]