> It has been abolished in places - Cambridge, Mass., and Santa Monica
> come to mind. And it's being gradually abolished in New York City,
> through vacancy decontrol. And there's been no popular uprising in
> any of those places, has there?
No, but that doesn't alter the likelihood that the governments of the State of New York or the City of Los Angeles would discard their rent controls instantly if they thought their populations would stand for it. Leaving aside the unfortunate leftist tendency to see everything in terms of cronyism and corruption (and developers and landlords are very kind to politicians everywhere), the enhanced tax bases alone would make it well worth their while. Or do you see some reason other than popularity that these laws remain in place after decades of maneuvering by the propertied classes to abolish them?