And you don't seem to be able to comprehend the fact that rent control DOES impact Manhattan's housing supply in a way that makes new builds inaccessible to a majority of the population.
A few points that seem to have gone straight over your head:
- Not only is there no economic incentive to create new affordable rentals
- the existing stock of rent controlled apartments is decreasing as condo conversions are far more profitable
- those apartments that remain rent controlled are in poor state because there is no incentive for proper maintenance (and in many case no funds as the low rents can't cover the cost)
- it lead to higher rents in uncontrolled units
Harm Caused by Rent Control
1. Inhibition of New Construction
2. Deterioration of Existing Housing
3. Reduced Property Tax Revenues
4. Substantial Administrative Costs
5. Reduced Consumer Mobility
6. Consumer Entry Costs
Social Implications of Rent Control
1. The Substantial Costs of Rent Control Fall Most Heavily on the Poor
2. Higher Income Households Benefit Most from Rent Controls
3. Rent Control Promotes Housing Discrimination
4. Rent Controls Unfairly Tax Rental Housing Providers and Other Real Estate Providers
5. Effective Alternatives to Rent Control Exist
A detailed description of all those points can be found here if you're interested:
http://www.nmhc.org/News/The-High-Cost-of-Rent-Control/
Absolutely not. With regards to income inequality, it's not necessarily a bad thing. If a rich person's quality of life increases by 500% but a low income earner's quality of life increases by "only" 100%, his quality of life still increased 100%. The problem with your collectivist socialist way of thinking is that incomes must increase in a uniform standardized manner or else it's "unfair".
And with regards to debt. That's not because of capitalism. Under capitalism when there is excessive debt and misallocations of assets the market mechanism is able to act through price signals and correct itself. What we have instead is government action which blurs and distorts these price signals through, for example, artificially set interest rates, debt backing/guaranteeing, bailouts, debt relief, etc.
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