There was an even better article in this weekend's Wall Street Journal about Portland's "Bum Hilton". If nothing else, it makes the decision makers at City Hall look even more divorced from economic reality than they already are. That should not be a surprise to most regular readers of this message board.
In the article it points out that Portland has the distinction of having the most homeless per capita of any city in the U.S.; as well as Oregon being No. 2
for Food Stamp recipients. Way to go Blue Oregon!

The Mises site also has an excellent article that dissects some of the fiscal/monetary policy issues raised in yesterday's discussion on the Reich testimony. Keeping the Ron Paul reference in mind, one of the site's authors says,

"But here is the problem: despite Krugman's complaint that government spending is not high enough and despite his defense of Bernanke's actions against criticisms from people like Ron Paul (whom Krugman never misses a chance to smear with false allegations), the truth is that the Fed and the Obama administration are at the end of the tracks, and their train cannot go any farther. Even though the Fed and the government have thrown billions of dollars at the housing market to try to keep housing prices from falling, prices are falling."

"Furthermore, even though Krugman admits the 'recovery' is running out of steam, he blames people like Ron Paul because they don't believe the Fed should be in the money-printing business. What Krugman and Bernanke refuse to even acknowledge is that the scheme of diverting resources to prop up the failures of the last boom's malinvestments is a colossal failure, and until government policymakers stop trying to reflate the failed boom, there will be no recovery."

Good reading. Check it out at....

http://mises.org/daily/5278/The-End-of-Bernankes-End-Game

Hi Jack -

The Mises post is riffing off the piece I wrote which appeared in this weekend's Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703937104576303033608531702.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Love the blog,

Ethan

P.S. Thanks for the nice comment, Dave A.

We don't need a think tank to point out the negatives of Portland providing a over the top handout, vs. Portland lending a hand.

Well meaning endeavors can and often do end poorly, sometimes making a growing problem only worse.

I like how they spent $360,000+ per studio apartment when they could buy building after building of studio apartments downtown for under $100,000 per unit. Even large, luxury units sell for far less than $360,000/unit.

The median price of an apartment unit in Portland was under $70,000 in the first quarter of 2011 and was around $55,000 in 2009 when this project was funded.

Orlando and LA shelters are charging $6 or $7 a night for a bed and a meal. The shelter managers pointing out that most homeless people are not entirely destitute. Some have jobs, and most get some form of social security income. "It depends on how they want to spend the money they do have" says one shelter manager.
Meanwhile the fat cats get richer building empty condos and toy trains to nowhere, and the rest of us get stuck with the bills run up by the very rich, and caring for those who cannot care for themselves.

Ludwig von Mises is an Austrian economist who has been getting more attention since 2008. (No idea what the "institute" is doing/saying in his name.)

Here is the quote I see the most often these days:

“There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit (debt) expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit (debt) expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.” – Ludwig von Mises

Note that according to him, we're still putting off the catastrophe through continued credit expansion by the Fed/Treasury (i.e. the worst is still coming.)

I would have a much easier time accepting this expensive homeless shelter (which will house a tiny percentage of the people on the streets) if our politicians would at the same time act to reduce bad behavior on our streets, like restricting panhandling, banning donations to panhandlers, confiscating stolen shopping carts. If our sit/lie law doesn't comport with the Oregon constitution, our city council should be fighting to amend the state constitution so that Portland can have an effective sit/lie no loitering law. Instead, our city council just doesn't seem care about these issues.

Ludwig von Mises is an Austrian economist who has been getting more attention since 2008.

Von Mises was an Austrian economist. He died in 1973 but many of his ideas are timeless.

Yes none. I actually did realize that he is dead. Just wrote that sentence poorly.

Stuart: "Instead, our city council just doesn't seem to care about these issues."

It's the same attitude as the police show in Jack's recent post about property crime in Buckman. Our city just shrugs about the big quality of life things like crime and schools, and seems to take the attitude that Portlanders just complain too much.

But on the non-essential things like bicycling and condo development the city can't get involved enough, spending tons of money and aggressively pushing changes.

A dead guy defending Ron Paul against Paul Krugman? Seems about right.

Ethan, you're a rock star. Great job.

I think Stuart elucidated the best points about why people are negative with projects like this, especially in Portland.

A dead guy defending Ron Paul against Paul Krugman? Seems about right.

Ron Paul doesn't need a dead man to defend him; thousands of people who he brought into this world are more than willing to vouch for the good doctor.

Mises video library is HERE!