The government tore down the building and built other ones at much higher cost. Most of those who had previously occupied these buildings could not afford the new ones. To limit the cost to tenants, rent control measures were initiated, but of course such controls only prevented new housing from being built, and massive shortages developed. Landlords who can sell do so at a loss and get out. But rent control is only the most notorious form of regulation.
New regulations are constantly intro-duced to make ownership of rental property more burdensome.
With new regulations being continuously enacted, the landlord's margin of profit, already precarious, often disappears entirely. Moreover, it profits the tenants to break some pipes or destroy some electrical fixtures because they don't have to pay rent until these are repaired. In a recent Roper public opinion poll, people were asked their opinion of each industry. But mining was, and is, more heavily regulated in the United States than in any other industrial nation. Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan decided to build a new copper smelter in Texas City, Texas.