California has a ballot initiative that will allow voters to decide whether or not to continue rent control. Rent control is, according to Clark, an enemy of people finding affordable, decent housing and of capitalism itself. When Clark was in college during the early '70s, he paid $249/month for a rent-controlled apartment. Despite rising inflation, his rent only reset from $249 to $257 at that time. Being 19 years old, Clark loved it and thought he hit the jackpot. But if something broke in the apartment, nothing ever got fixed because the owner didn't have enough money. When you interfere with the free market by dictating rents, owners have no incentive to invest or otherwise fix the property up. As a young person, Clark didn't understand the cause-and-effect relationship between rent control and poor living conditions. But now he does. New York is a case study in the drawbacks of rent control. Whenever you try to fix the price -- even though you think you're doing something nice for people -- you're really just asking for trouble.