93 points
*

CAPITAL-ism is aimed and designed to benefit those with the capital.

permalink
report
reply
44 points

I hate this about our system. To combat this i am sharing equity with the guy that rents a room. I’m tracking how much his rent payments go to paying off the mortgage (which I can make myself, it’s just a larger house with rooms to spare) he will get a check based off the percent he paid off on sale, or a percentage of revenue if we end up keeping and paying it off years later. Finance people think I’m crazy giving up that much equity. I just hated tossing rent money to the void, so I figured now that I’m in a position to change my little corner of the world, I will.

permalink
report
parent
reply
32 points

The finance people (and sadly, many many others) think making the number bigger is a more important and worthwhile goal than making your corner of the world a better place. So good on you for being a compassionate human!

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

It doesn’t matter what individuals think in the system, the system moves regardless because if they don’t take advantage of it, others will and will supercede them. In this manner, Capital functions almost like a god that is actually worshipped.

Individuals being compassionate within a horrible system will not influence the system overall, though it doesn’t mean compassion isn’t worth it.

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

Have you consulted with a lawyer about this? The laws differ from place to place, but I’d be worried the equity you give him may also grant him some sort of claim on the house, which would mean he gets a say on financial things related to the real estate. This can complicate things in the future.

Also - what does “percentage of revenue if we end up keeping and paying it off years later” mean? That after he leaves you will pay him for his share in your house?

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

I have and officially on paper he is a normal renter. Since this kind of deal doesn’t happen there’s really no system so his payout is a handshake deal on sale, as of now only around 8%. As for if the property is kept, once fully paid off he would receive a yearly dividend of what was made off rent, which wouldn’t be much as we won’t charge much above operating and maintenance cost. Truthfully keeping it is the less likely option as we would like to sell so he can walk away with a decent down payment on his own place.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

That’s super cool, I’ve wanted to do something similar like this but never have had the opportunity.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

The Nature of Capitalism… https://youtu.be/WseyrYuD8ao

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

Rich people who lived simply, “not underdeveloped, over exploited.”

The bananas were a nice touch. It’s sickening how politicians are using terms like “banana republic” divorcing them from actual meaning. I almost said, “and kangaroo court,” but caught myself, before typing “court,” since for a lot of North Americans struggling for any justice get that, for instance the college protesters.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

They call countries banana republics, from what could be described as oil and banking republics with just a small modification or two, without a hint of irony.

permalink
report
parent
reply
68 points

Elmo: Let me introduce you to the revolutionary who taught me all this.

*knocks on trash can

permalink
report
reply
26 points

I’m not sure if this is an Oscar reference or a Zizek reference and either way I’m here for it.

permalink
report
parent
reply
16 points
*

I like to think you’d find both of them inside the trashcan of ideology.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

Perhaps they both would find some agreement with Diogenes. If poverty is virtuous why not practice it?

permalink
report
parent
reply
51 points

Great theory until you get removed from your home trying to make a point because the family of 3 with nowhere else to go doesn’t have the luxury of caring about things like this thanks to the broke ass system we all reside in.

permalink
report
reply
15 points
*

Great theory until you get removed from your home trying to make a point

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_strike

When you get the whole building involve, it can be surprisingly effective.

the family of 3 with nowhere else to go doesn’t have the luxury of caring about things like this

You don’t think a family of 3 cares when their rents double over five years while their wages barely budge?

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points
*

No, I didn’t say that. I said a family of 3 is going to take your house if they can afford it and you’re too busy making a point to pay rent.

This is true. So not sure what point any of what you said serves, though you’re not wrong.

Also, my grandma lived inna building where 90% of the tenants did this, came together and made their demands and refused to pay rent all together.

They were all removed systematically.

Not saying it never works, but it’s alot for the average working class American to risk.

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points

a family of 3 is going to take your house if they can afford it

Why do you think anyone can afford these homes?

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

It is virtually impossible to work individually against landlords. Instead, form or join a tensnts’ union. And maybe some orgs opposed to landlordism.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

They’re describing a job in that scenario too lol.

Yes, people lose their shit once they stop doing their job lol. Landlords in their version are effectively building mechanics and paper pushers keeping their property above board so people can live in it. Most of them I knew all had jobs outside of it too because it doesn’t pay the bills lol.

Yes, it would be phenomenal if they dropped all their extra money into the stock market like your average person but they diversified or put it into equity instead since they didn’t trust stock or had houses willed to them.

I get when people talk about slumlords, or giant corpos. But I’ve had to quote it before that the lionshare of them are people like I mentioned above with corpos buying out more and more in recent years because they’re just as poor as everyone else.

Meanwhile even the most liberal people on here get baited thinking they’re scum. Meanwhile billionaires are still laughing at the poors fighting each other thinking one job is better than other or villifying entire professions still.

Unionize. Reform land and property ownership. Vote in as many Progressive > Democrats to help make that happen. Vote yes on school ballot measures even if you get taxes. Run for government yourself if you loathe who represents you. Grassroot campaigns are hard as hell with a huge uphill battle, but poor people aren’t excluded from government.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

Meanwhile billionaires are still laughing at the poors fighting each other thinking one job is better than other or villifying entire professions still.

Landlording isn’t a job.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

Yeah, they’re not going to suddenly gain $50k+ cash for a down-payment to replace their home. Yes, a mortgage should be cheaper than rent but a renter probably can’t save an extra 3 year’s worth of rent to put it down.

permalink
report
parent
reply
37 points

I mean, this is how businesses work in general. If you don’t buy their products/services, then they wouldn’t be able to continue providing them.

I understand that we’re trying to draw attention to exploitative landlords, but if anyone can afford to keep their property regardless of whether or not you pay rent, it’s the exploitative ones.

permalink
report
reply
31 points

The problem is that landlords don’t create value, they seek to endlessly profit off of one time labor. Rent-seeking creates no real Value of any substance.

permalink
report
parent
reply
14 points

That’s the naivete of the Internet talking. Of course landlords create value; they do so in exactly the same way lenders create value: they absorb risk by amortizing upfront costs and charge a premium to do so.

If you didn’t agree that it’s an ethical way to participate in the economy, say that. Don’t try to pass off a moral judgment as an objective truth.

permalink
report
parent
reply
21 points

There’s no Value created by risk, that’s an ad-hoc justification for profiting endlessly off of labor performed one time long ago.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Get him

permalink
report
parent
reply
-1 points

Landlords also do repair and maintenance (jokes aside) to maintain the property in good working order / habitability.

At least, they are generally required by law to do so. Your laws may vary.

Landlords also prep the unit for habitation between tenants and handle all of the paperwork for rent and utilities (depending).

Maintaining housing is very expensive, and many people cannot afford to just drop $25,000 to redo a kitchen or reroof a building when it is required.

So landlords are basically the middle manager between your living at the property, and all of the maintenance and financial details. You pay rent to them for that service.

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

They do create value. They provide maintenance free housing as well as short term housing (short term as in 1-3 years.) Not everyone wants to stay in the same location for 5+ years. If you move around alot It you want to rent is usually the better option.

Now sure you could argue they are over charging for that service but that doesn’t mean they aren’t providing value.

The only reason why we are having issues is because there is a housing shortage that is raising the price and large companies have taken advantage of this by buying up all the houses at the crazy price and renting them out at crazy rent prices eating up the market for actual people to want to buy a house.

permalink
report
parent
reply
17 points

They do create value. They provide maintenance free housing as well as short term housing (short term as in 1-3 years.) Not everyone wants to stay in the same location for 5+ years. If you move around alot It you want to rent is usually the better option.

The ability to rent is useful, but the idea that endlessly profiting off of the same property and doing minor maintenance is creating Value is silly. There’s no Value being created through simply owning something. Maintenance creates Value, yes, but that does not make up anywhere close to the profit of landlording.

permalink
report
parent
reply
12 points

No. It’s not large companies. It’s a sickness inherent in the system and exactly what this is taking about. The only service being provided is leveraging their own credit to get a mortgage from the bank and then paying that mortgage and taxes with rent. They do that because it will decrease supply and increase value. And that’s a parasitic practice done not just by large companies by any means. In my city they even subcontract for maintenance and also pay for that out of the rent. If we’re doing this shit, why exactly aren’t we just letting the renters own their equity for paying the goddamn mortgage. It’s a disgusting system.

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

They provide maintenance free housing…

Keep in mind this isn’t always the case. Landlords where I used to live are increasingly requiring tenants to pay for some maintenance costs. A past landlord had us pay for anything $300 or less.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Robbing tenants of potential equity is not a service.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

In theory, the value they create is in handling all the home maintenance. Of course, many of them don’t do their jobs in practice.

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points

I’d articulate my stance slightly differently, but “handiwork” and even “property management” are real jobs that produce value, but neither of those are “being a landlord”, as evidenced by the fact that the more successful and/or lazy landlords hire managers, etc. and let the “passive income” roll in. The fact that they can outsource even the relatively small amount of labor sometimes associated with their occupation and then still profit endlessly shows that they have a very parasitic social position.

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

Maintenance creates Value, yes, but landlords aren’t maintenance services, they extract by far the bulk of the profits off of owning the home itself and renting it.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

none of them maintain their properties

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Nor does investing in silver, or day trading, or charging interest, or option calls. yet this is how capitalism works. We do not live in a society where value is limited to tangible goods produced.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

We’re using Value a bit diffetently here, Value isn’t necessarily equal to price.

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points

Generalizations that are oversimplified to the point of lacking all nuance are probably untrue because there are bound to be exceptions. Instead, try including ‘many’, ‘most’, or such as an easy remedy.

Specifically, landlords can create value when they handle property management and maintenance (and the related costs) efficiently. It is wrong that greed has made that so rare.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

Generalizations that are oversimplified to the point of lacking all nuance are probably untrue because there are bound to be exceptions. Instead, try including ‘many’, ‘most’, or such as an easy remedy.

The act of landlording creates no Value. There isn’t a “most” there, because it creates no Value, period.

Specifically, landlords can create value when they handle property management and maintenance (and the related costs) efficiently. It is wrong that greed has made that so rare.

Maintenance workers create Value, yes. Landlords are not creating value, here, the workers are. Landlords often pay management firms as well, cutting out all personal involvement. The minor, administrative labor does create Value, but that is incredibly small in the scope of the money expropriated from the renters.

Greed didn’t make this happen, Capitalism did. The Mode of Production naturally led to this, it isn’t a case of especially greedy people taking power.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-3 points

If they don’t create value then they wouldn’t exist in a capitalist market. Their value is that they take the liability of homeownership.

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

That’s not Value. “Risk” and “liability” aren’t Value. Nothing is being produced here. There is risk, and there is liability, but that in and of itself is not Value. Additionally, the “risk” in being a landlord is miniscule, even if we take the false pretense of risk creating value, the difference between the minor risk and massive, endless profits from the same property forever is nonsense, the landlord continues to profit over and above their initial investment.

What do you think Value is?

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Capitalism optimizes for exchange value not use value, also landlordism is a fuedal holdover that hurts capitalism, I would suggest reading the chapters in capital volume 3 on land rent

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

I mean, this is how businesses work in general. If you don’t buy their products/services, then they wouldn’t be able to continue providing them.

Of course people can simply refuse to buy housing and end up on the street, which isn’t dangerous or criminalized or anything/s

permalink
report
parent
reply
-1 points

Additionally the meme is disingenuous. Meant to appeal to emotion. What Elmo and Zoe are conveniently ignoring is that the party who is being provided with housing is the tenant.

permalink
report
parent
reply
26 points

Stop paying rent to see who loses their home. It’s an ugly system.

permalink
report
reply
15 points
*

Who forecloses on the tenant? The landlord

Who forecloses on the landlord? The bank

Who actually performs the eviction? The sheriff’s office

Who therefore truly controls the property?

permalink
report
parent
reply
19 points

Is it Elmo?

permalink
report
parent
reply
14 points

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

Yes.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

Corporate landlords who pick up the property at collapsed values and maximize rent to suppress the ability for these folks to buy property again?

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply

Memes

!memes@lemmy.ml

Create post

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.

Community stats

  • 8.7K

    Monthly active users

  • 13K

    Posts

  • 288K

    Comments