Chicago, the premier city of the American heartland, is in deep trouble, with the police losing control of the streets and now the jail.  Now comes word of an effort to strangle the supply of affordable housing in the city.  W.J. Kennedy of Chicago City Wire reports:

Two weeks ago at the Mount Pisgah Baptist Church in Bronzeville, a coalition of 20 community groups calling themselves the "Lift the Ban Coalition" led a meeting to push for the repeal of the state's 1997 Rent Control Preemption Act, and for enactment of a rent control program. 

That's right: the State of Illinois actually pre-empted the power of the City of Chicago (or any other Illinois municipality) to impose rent control.  But State Rep Will Guzzardi, officially a Democrat but very socialist in outlook, introduced a bill to overthrow the ban.

Imagine!  Before the world's eyes,  Venezuela starves and collapses into a brutish fight for daily survival, all because price controls have pushed prices below the cost of production.  When that happens, no more production, which means starvation, no toilet paper, and increasing panic and repression.

With rent control, the process takes a bit longer.  First, maintenance is cut by landlords, because rent revenue does not cover everything.  Then properties deteriorate.  Sooner or later, the existence of the building becomes a liability, and it will burn or otherwise be removed from the housing stock because nobody will take care of a building that does not generate net positive revenue.

The lethal combination of crime, poverty, and rent control caused New York City's South Bronx to erupt in flames, as abandoned buildings were torched one after another, even during the 1977 World Series played at Yankee Stadium there.

Even without this incentive, Chicago is already slumming itself up.  Orkin has named Chicago the "rattiest city" in America for the third year running:

The pest control company released this year's list of cities and Chicago is at the top for the third year in a row.

The rankings are based on the number of treatments performed by Orkin from Sept. 15, 2016-Sept. 15, 2017.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel's budget for next year includes adding more city crews and an extra half a million dollars to get rid of the rats.

Full list of rattiest cities in U.S.:
1. Chicago
2. New York
3. Los Angeles
4. San Francisco - Oakland
5. Washington, DC
6. Philadelphia
7. Detroit
8. Baltimore
9. Seattle - Tacoma
10. Dallas - Ft. Worth
11. Denver
12. Minneapolis - St. Paul
13. Cleveland - Akron
14. Atlanta
15. Boston

Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't see any cities run by Republicans on this list.

In fairness, Chicago has been fighting rats of all sorts for years.  Who can forget this classic picture of the (now incarcerated) governor of Illinois, taking out the garbage in his alley?

Hat tip: Peter von Buol