jkolio

People might reply, "Well, take the risk," without acknowledging that risk is two-dimensional. There's a range of success and and range of consequences. Something traditionally considered "high risk", like investing millions of a billionaire's money in a start-up, might have low consequences for the direct investor. It sucks if the start-up fails, but they're still a billionaire, probably. Their lifestyle doesn't change substantially. Compare to a low-income worker choosing a car: maybe a cheap used one that could break down at any time, or a more expensive one is less likely to break down (if you stay up-to-date with expensive maintenance), or a much more expensive new car that is unlikely to break down (but that puts them in a substantial amount of debt). In every case, there's a way for the prospect to go sideways in a manner that would likely end with the worker losing their job, with (statistically-speaking) no savings cushion. However you rank the risk of each (at least one being the lowest financial risk), you have high negative potential consequences.

If housing prices drop and a crisis ensues, government/central banks lower interest rates and provide stimulus in the form of grants/loans/monetary expansion to prop them up. It becomes clear that the only way to make housing affordable is for authorities to have the political courage to let a crash happen.

That's a single plot, increasing density by maybe a factor of 6, at absolute best. If enough units come onto the market to relieve the so-called shortage, prices necessarily drop.

In any case, the problem might very well be, directly, that prices are too high, because it has invited speculation and warehousing. Inventory as the crux might be wrong.

One of the funniest moments in modern music history, to me, was when Kim Dotcom got a bunch of superstars to sing on a track about how much they loved MegaUpload. One of the least funny moments was when the RIAA and MPAA essentially directed American and New Zealand authorities to raid his house, shut down the MegaUpload website, seize all the servers, and jail a bunch of his employees (Kim himself only barely escaping extradition).

Episodes like that really do make me fearful of what corporations might push government to do. If they want to get you on something that isn't illegal, they'll try to make it illegal. If it's already illegal, they'll try to make the punishment as severe as possible. Oversight of, and accountability from, these entities is paramount.