4 ms·

“In 10 years, you will own nothing and you’ll be happy” What if instead of owning cars, we rented them? Less garbage parked on all our streets when not being u

• baggy_trough 4y ago
  Renting a car is a process that takes at least 10 times longer than it seems like it should. Also, rental car facilities are not on every street corner.
  • GavinMcG 4y ago
    I think the comment is proposing a massive shift toward rental and away from ownership. The landscape would not look the way it does now.
• atwood22 4y ago
  How would you pay the rent for your home in your theoretical world without working a job? You’re paying to live no matter what. At least when you own something you have something to show for your labor. Also, I think there’s a lot of truth to the old adage: “buy real estate, they’re not making any more of it.”
  • tristor 4y ago
    • wing-_-nuts 4y ago
      Funny I didn't read anything in GP's comment that supports this assertion, care to quote or are you simply being nasty?
  • EGreg 4y ago
    That was talking about land, and Georgists were discussing creating one land tax. How many Americans own land? What is the distribution? Oh yeah: https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/05/bill-gates-climate-crisis-farmland https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/05/bill-g... Money is the new land. They are making more of it but they know everyone needs it, and the banking system has a monopoly on it. The “American Dream” was promoted was a way to get the plebs to take out large mortgages (to finance home construction, etc.) and be nice little workers and pay it off (this creates demand for the bank’s finance products and by extension the dollar). At least back then, only one parent worked long hours for corporations, because the culture mostly had women be homemakers and raise kids. Once both sexes started flooding the labor market, wages got repressed and corporations started promoting a new “Lean in” version of the “American Dream” to the men AND women… now everyone’s self-worth and satisfaction was supposed to be determined by climbing the corporate ladder: https://magarshak.com/blog/?p=286 https://magarshak.com/blog/?p=286 Look at these modern ads specifically to US Americans, making them PROUD of how little free time they have… they don’t even try to hide it: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xNzXze5Yza8 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xNzXze5Yza8 This doesn’t lead to more happiness for the population, as measured.
    • atwood22 4y ago
      I agree with everything you wrote, but you didn’t answer the question: what is the alternative?
• marbletiles 4y ago
  Cars are increasingly moving to a more-or-less rental model, with lots of finance and little eventual ownership. But this doesn't solve the "less garbage parked" problem; for that you need short-term rentals and although ZipCar and others are making inroads there are real challenges here: the demand is bursty (everyone wants a car on a sunny weekend) and the model is inconvenient (can't leave stuff in your car).
• acomjean 4y ago
  Zip car is one of many short term car rental firms for city dwellers (at least in boston). There were also some services that allowed car owners to rent their cars short term to other people, but I'm not sure they took off. Zip cars have dedicated parking spaces adding to the value proposition. https://www.zipcar.com/boston https://www.zipcar.com/boston
• chrisan 4y ago
  That's no racket, its just math. There are tons of calculators out there that will help you to decide on renting vs owning. For my anecdotal situation renting has never came out on top.
  • EGreg 4y ago
    Well, allow me to do a few simple math operations for you. (It’s the old math Ph. d student in me lol, I sometimes try to make a simple math argument) Let’s compare B = Buying R = Renting B > R ? To do so, add and subtract R on the left: B - R + R > R ? This operation can be described in the real world as “Buying a house, renting it out to someone else, then renting a similar house anywhere you want” Now we can subtract R from both sides and we get: B - R > 0 ? In other words, is buying a house and renting it out to a tenant better than doing nothing? It turns it into an investment question: is real estate the best investment of your money? It depends on the housing market, the rental market, and the individual situation of the rental, location, tenant, financing, closing costs, broker fees etc. Well, in the real world, if your salary and credit allows you to borrow X, then you should look at what you can invest it in. If you had rented since 2012 and invested all that money into Bitcoin or a stock index, you’d be able to sell it and buy 1,000 houses. So yes, renting could be far better than buying.
• bluefirebrand 4y ago
  On the other hand, if you own a house and don't miss payments, you are left alone to do what you want with the place and have no real risk of someone making you homeless on more or less a whim. If you're renting, your landlord can decide to sell your home out from under you, or evict you to have family move in, or renovate without your choice, or or or. You aren't really in control of your own home when you rent. Most rentals I've lived in wouldn't allow pets for instance. And you can't even choose the color of paint on the walls. It's a joke. So yeah. Borrow money from a bank, buy a house. Paint it whatever you want. Plant whatever flowers you want. Grow your own food. Have pets. Enjoy having actual choice and freedom about your surroundings. In the world of "we only rent" we limit our options by an extreme amount. This extends to cars too. You can't even change the tires on a rented car. And you're limited to only driving what is available for renting. What if I want a sports car? What if I want an SUV? What if I'm doing some yard work and need a truck, but none are available? Seriously if you're ok only ever renting, houses or vehicles, or anything else... How do you apply any kind of agency on your surroundings? You just live by other people's rules and accept the surroundings other people have crafted for you all the time? No thanks. People need stuff that is thier own.
  • EGreg 4y ago
    Of course we should have a choice of buying a house with rented money. Just like we should have a choice to smoke cigarettes privately. I am just saying there is a lot of propaganda to get people to do stuff that is in the bankers’ and corporations interest. People are told en masse what they should be doing: go to college, get a job, pay off a mortgage, own a home. Lean in. Make partner at the firm. Slowly the public is waking up and millennials onwards don’t care so much. They even started to realize that college isn’t essential to an education in many fields, given how much can be learned on the Internet. At least, not the four year college. I wager most people on HN learned far more on the Internet than in college. People are starting to wake up to the idea that renting money from banks also locks you into slavery for decades, and prefer to be free.
    • bluefirebrand 4y ago
      > I am just saying there is a lot of propaganda to get people to do stuff that is in the bankers’ and corporations interest I agree. And nothing fits this description more than "Banks and Corporations should own literally everything and everyone else should only ever rent what they need" If you can't see how "rent everything" plays exactly into the hands of banks and corporations, I don't know what to tell you. > People are starting to wake up to the idea that renting money from banks also locks you into slavery for decades, and prefer to be free. No, see. Slaves owned nothing and had to rely on their masters to provide for them. Slaves were never free, not after decades of work, not ever. Also slaves couldn't decide to terminate their mortgage early, sell their house and relocate. I don't know how you got these backwards ideas about the implications of renting versus ownership, but you really should give some really careful consideration to what you're giving up and what you're gaining if you choose not to own anything. Trust me, you aren't gaining freedom.
• Bancakes 4y ago
  Sure, I'll rent a car. When it fulfills the same specifications of a purchased car. >In my garage by the time I need it >Always fueled up >The same or better condition and cleanliness as I left it >No interior monitoring system / ID unlocks >Can be given to friends/family for no extra charge >Costs $0 to just sit in my garage >Can keep valuables in it safely >0 (zero) terms and conditions of use
  • Anderkent 4y ago
    >Costs $0 to just sit in my garage this is not true of your bought car, you're ignoring opportunity cost for the capital & depreciation
    • Bancakes 4y ago
      What depreciation? I'm not selling my car anytime soon. Lack of profit is not loss of profit.
      • Anderkent 4y ago
        You spent some amount of money on the car, money that you would otherwise have available to either spend or invest, when you eventually replace your car you will get less if anything. So even if the car just sits in your garage you are paying for it (or really already have) this might be less than you would be paying for renting a car (or more! depending on how often you'd need to rent), but it's obviously not 0
• itsoktocry 4y ago
  >For me, the real racket has really been the pushing of ownership on everyone So you think the things you're renting aren't merely owned by someone else? Thanks for a cut of your income, pleb!
  • EGreg 4y ago
    Of course it is. Musicians are signed by record labels. Startup entrepreneurs are signed by VCs. Franchisees are signed by McDonalds. A few make it big. Everyone is told an inspirational story and works hard — while the owners collect the rents. You just believe you can be the owner… but the big owners in this country are usually much better connected than you. They sit on each other’s boards, too. Chances are, you won’t win that game… but they will make money off you competing and trying: https://www.wallstreetsurvivor.com/mcdonalds-beyond-the-burger/ https://www.wallstreetsurvivor.com/mcdonalds-beyond-the-burg...
• AinderS 4y ago
  So like public transport, except vertically integrated to funnel money towards automakers?
• petre 4y ago
  > Less garbage parked on all our streets when not being used You mean like e-scooters?
• matheusmoreira 4y ago
  Capitalism is private property. Capitalism means owning land, physical property, factories, companies, the means of production. If you don't own these things, it means you are alienated from capitalist society. It is irrational for any citizen of a capitalist society to accept such a state of affairs.