The Innkeeper's Dilemma
Who should be evicted to provide a room for the lady expecting a baby? And what if someone needier came along? Ultimately, would Mary have given up the stable? The story of the Manger is presented without discussion. When need is the standard of judgment, the problems are not easily resolved.
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If the inn keeper had been astute, he would have foreseen the new tax law would cause an influx of people from out of town and would have raised prices to the point there would be a room available for anyone who wanted one and could pay the high price. Then people could decide if they wanted to split the cost with another traveller or pay the high price for their own room. If this happened on a regular basis, the high rents would entice people to build new inns or rent out rooms of their houses in future years. Maybe there were anti-price-gouging laws that prevented that. I know nothing about the real answer but my wild guess is value was so closely tied with lang in that region that they had no concept of moderm markets. 1 acre of land was 10 oz of gold, in their minds, and from that one night in the inn was one-tenth oz of gold, and thoseo were wrongly seen as immutable laws of the universe.
Those who say it should be done by need, do not think it thru,
Who determines the scale of the need?
In this case it could be the innkeeper, he had better work out strict criteria or he will soon end up in need himself.
That can work ok on the face of it. He can make his own rules to choose between the pregnant woman, the carpet salesman, and the elderly with consumption needing protection from the cold. That is the micro view.
The macro view is that all inn-keepers will find an increasing demand for rooms by needy travelers, some being caught out by events, some will start a journey relying on being able to demand accommodation.
Soon Caesar will require that the needy be looked after, innkeepers will then have to break contracts with those who have booked and can pay. The tourism and welfare department will set the rules for selecting among the needy to accommodate and from those who can pay but are not needy enough and are to turned out or turned down. There will be prosecutions and court cases.
Lots of job creation in the public sector and court system - But see the 'broken window fallacy'.
All those extra jobs are to be paid for by the carpet salesman and the innkeeper in taxes, and note that their gross income goes down.