4 ms·

What do you mean by idle investments? land is presumably rented out to farmers so its not idle

• coldtea 9y ago
  Land could be real estate, which, if not just sitting idle, it's still the epitome of rent-seeking. Plus, land rented to farmers is productive because of the farmers, not because of the land -- and would still be a sinkhole of money from the middle class (the farmers) to the rich person doing the renting, not entering circulation like the money a farmer would make (to buy animal food, seeds, whatever, and to live their family).
  • walshemj 9y ago
    You know that a large proportion of the returns from the stockmarket are made by reinvesting dividends. "rent seeking" seems to either be used by people who don't understand how trade/investment works or want something or subsidies' or its a dog whistle that tends to go with gold bugs, cryptocurrency fantasists and then on to much less pleasant things
    • coldtea 9y ago
      Err, "rent seeking" is an established term of mainstream economics and well studied. Not sure what you're going about re: gold bugs, and "less pleasant things"...