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On the contrary, I'm not a landlord precisely because I understand that game, and I prefer a nice game of chess. People who don't empathize with you aren't alw
by throwawayjava 9y ago
On the contrary, I'm not a landlord precisely because I understand that game, and I prefer a nice game of chess.
People who don't empathize with you aren't always misinformed. Sometimes there are fundamental moral incongruities.
There are apt analogies of "the system is fucked and I'm just working in it" throughout US history.
- ryanwaggoner 9y agoAh, but I’d argue that you are playing that game, because it’s just incredibly basic supply and demand. So whether you have a job or provide jobs or own or rent or buy things at the store or sell things online, you’re playing this game too. And you only get to play your side because someone else plays the other side. Seems pretty morally incongruent to call them irredeemable for voluntarily selling or buying from you, doesn’t it? Edit: for example, if you’ve rented or bought, you’ve contributed to the demand that makes the market price go up. If you were a landlord, at least you’d be helping provide supply that keeps the price in check :)
- throwawayjava 9y agoNot all markets are as susceptible to rent seeking as the... rental... market. Distinguishing between rental markets and less pathological applications of market mechanisms is not exactly novel economic doctrine. And in fact, you'll have a hard time finding a tradition of economics without its own giant calling out landlords.
- kelnos 9y ago> If you were a landlord, at least you’d be helping provide supply that keeps the price in check Landlords don't provide supply. Homebuilders do. It's pretty rare that those are one in the same in a market like SF.
- ryanwaggoner 9y agoIf there were no landlords to buy and then lease those properties, the rental market would not exist. Just like Ford builds cars, but they don’t create the car rental supply. Enterprise, Hertz, etc do. The cars are the capital asset being rented, not the supply side of the rental market.
- kelnos 9y agoI don't think you understand what "supply" means. I'm not saying landlords don't fulfill a valuable part in the housing puzzle, but saying landlords "supply" housing is absurd.
- ryanwaggoner 9y agoI didn't say that. I said they supply rental housing, which is a distinction. And that's 100% true. Landlords 100% supply rental housing. To claim otherwise is absurd.
- lazyasciiart 9y agoSo, where do you live that isn't contributing to gentrification or increasing housing costs? In a tent under a freeway?