For the record, this includes the “nice” landlord in your family who’s “one of the good ones.” We’re actually coming for them first just so you stop posting pro-landlord propaganda.
For the record, this includes the “nice” landlord in your family who’s “one of the good ones.” We’re actually coming for them first just so you stop posting pro-landlord propaganda.
I was a landlord for about year. We were moving and someone wanted to buy it but couldn’t get a mortgage until their other house sold. We rented it to them for a year with a clause in the lease giving them right of first refusal to purchase at a pre-determined price. I had a full-time job the whole time, though, and the rent covered the mortgage plus $100 more or so. Was I the baddie? I always pictured “landlord as your primary income source” when I think of landlords.
My opinion? Obviously, there’s a sliding scale of exploitation, but housing should be free, actually. The bank you paid your mortgage to was also exploiting you as well (in fact, even charging you interest). Everything is grim under capitalism.
A former landlord of ours gave us rental with option to buy, so the rent would have contributed to the purchase of the home, and we got a portion of that back when we had to move but couldn’t afford a mortgage. Was this better than most landlords? Yes. Does it make it ok to charge people money to live? Hell, no.
I’m not perfect either though. We all have to live with our mistakes.
What are your thoughts on hotels, or similar short-term housing?
I personally favor returning to a gift economy that is more apt to discouraging the exchange of symbolic currency and the inevitable hoarding of resources it creates, but some might have other thoughts on this
Some video games have different currencies for different purposes, which stop you from taking the gold you hoarded and spending it on this other thing for no effort. Or we could copy something like how PTO from jobs works for “buying” things. Idk how well either would work, but I thought they were interesting ideas.
That’s an interesting idea that lends itself to some nightmares, but maybe good things too. But I feel like people would quickly set up exchanges. If I have hotel credits I don’t want to use and you have concert tokens you don’t want to use , we’ll try pretty hard to find a way to trade.
Seems like unique currencies for different transactions vs. one standardized state currency would certainly be a step in the right direction.
Isn’t that essentially what we have now with foreign currencies? It doesn’t seem to do much to curb international transactions, except create an industry of middle-men exchangers.
Maybe I misunderstood, but I was thinking more along the lines of: I’m a tailor, and you’re a farmer. I need food now, but you will need 3 shirts in the future. I give you tokens to use for the shirts when you need them, and in exchange you give me some food. So it wouldn’t be a state currency, but something we might use for convenience in agreeing to a trade. Admittedly, I just thought this was what was being discussed, and I haven’t given it much further thought.
If we’re doing digital currencies, there could be caps or diminishing returns put on things. I don’t really have a problem with people exchanging based on what they prefer, it’s the accumulation of wealth that could result that’s a problem, and it seems like caps could solve that.
I think a confounding issue is there’s a difference between a landlord that just owns a building and rents it out, and like a property management company that maintains the building.
If I own a building but also tend to the yard, keep the building painted, sweep the lobby, deal with utilities, etc etc, that’s labor and contributing something. It doesn’t give a carte blanc for renting out rooms at sky high prices, but it is in my mind better than someone who does nothing, but happens to legally own the place so they get the money.
Public housing is probably still the way to go, though.