5d ago

All landlords, all healthcare execs

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.

28 comments

dont forget nestle and water
- And Coca-Cola for hoarding water in Chiapas, not to mention its Colombian death squads and links to Israel

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 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.

Good landlords are like good cops: they aren't.
- "I'm as anarchist as they come"
  defends the existence of landlords
  
  It's the exact same argument as with cops, I don't see how you can come to a different conclusion. Individually they might be courteous, but they choose to be part of a fundamentally unethical system and their very existence is an injustice.
  
  It was a one-liner joke. You're not wrong at all, but it was just a single sentence that encapsulated both ideals. It didn't warrant an exposition.

Water's next.

Farmers a little worried after seeing what happened during the Cultural Revolution: ...
- No one has mentioned Maoism. You might want to question why you thought this.
  (The current qualities of corporate farming can be exploitative too though and has had a devastating effect on farmers ability to provide, which I've witnessed firsthand here in South Dakota.)