This is the economy as a whole
Except they aren't actually occupying the pool, just gatekeeping it. They still have to find tenants in order to actually make money.
In other words, the real problem -- the only reason they can charge exploitatively high rents in the first place, the outsize profits from which is fueling the buying spree -- is lack of supply in places people want to live. As fun as scapegoating landlords is, it doesn't actually fix anything. The way to actually solve the problem is to allow denser zoning!
That won't solve the problem, they'll buy all of those too.
I think the key is to tax the absolute dog shit out of houses after your first or second. A company can own a house but unless the company lives there, tax the dog shit out of it.
Make it so that houses are reasonable for people to own and live in but speculators are out here subsidizing all our schools, parks, and roads.
How long until Google Cardboard is repurposed from being a cheap VR alternative to being a cheap housing alternative? 🤔
Never because Google officially moved away from 'Don't be evil'.
That'd be pretty evil though.
I don't think providing plans, and not even the materials for, building a cardboard house isn't evil.
Capitalism
I feel like calling it capitalism gives it too much credit. The arguments in favor of capitalism is that competition increases efficiency and production and lowers prices. That's not happening with the real estate market, it's full of monopolies, collusion and trust and to actually allow for capitalism you need government intervention to break that up and fight the consolidation of wealth and power. What we have is a mercantile plutocracy. Capitalism has its own problems too, but this isn't even that, and even with those problems it's a step up from the corrupt bullshit we're dealing with here. I think calling it capitalism gives them more footing in arguments than it deserves. We should call it what it is, a corrupt plutocracy of elites.
Corruption and all the bad things you've mentioned are capitalism's fuel. Capitalism doesn't work without being horrible. That's just how it is. The pursuit of infinite profit in a finite medium is just impossible, so capitalism resorts to shitty practices and fucking people's lives to keep the profits coming. Until the bubble bursts and all the peasants are more fucked and the rich are ok. There is no way around. I called it capitalism because capitalism is horrible.
Can us standing on the outside of the the pool piss into it?
That only causes you to lose your security deposit and then rent goes up after they send in some sketchy fuck to do an inspection while you're not home.
They're monopoly pro players
should have cropped the dedicated
residential housingkids pool to the right out
