4 ms·

Losses will be socialized like they always are. Homeowners are too politically powerful. No government will let them bear the costs of their decisions.

jjav 3y ago
> Homeowners are too politically powerful. Could you be more specific, in what ways does one homeowner have more votes than one renter? Or if there are special elections where only homeowners can vote, could you give some citations to those? AFAIK everyone gets one vote, regardless of home ownership status. Am I wrong?
- pcthrowaway 3y ago
  For whatever reason, homeowners in Canada are much better at mobilizing to vote than non-homeowners. Probably because non-homeowners are busy working 60+ hours a week to pay the rent seeking homeowners
- Tiktaalik 3y ago
  Those wealthy enough to own homes are more likely to have the time (especially if retired!) to be able to organize, communicate with their representatives and assuredly to vote in an election. In contrast the poorest working class people (renters) that are struggling just to survive, are more likely to be so busy working multiple jobs, commuting etc, that they literally do not have the time to vote in an election. Additionally because of this, the two parties that have traditionally formed government, rarely even acknowledge the issues of the working poor, which means that the working poor are even more dissuaded from participating in the process, because regardless of who wins they can be assured that neither party is interested in policy change that would help them.
  - jjav 3y ago
    The picture you paint is that homeowners are the independently wealthy rich people with tons of idle free time, while renters are all very poor working multiple jobs. In reality the vast majority of homeowners are regular working professionals, working those 50-70 hour weeks to pay the mortgage.
- phoenixreader 3y ago
  Yes, and 2/3 of the households in Canada are home owners.

jjav 3y ago

> Homeowners are too politically powerful. Could you be more specific, in what ways does one homeowner have more votes than one renter? Or if there are special elections where only homeowners can vote, could you give some citations to those? AFAIK everyone gets one vote, regardless of home ownership status. Am I wrong?

pcthrowaway 3y ago
For whatever reason, homeowners in Canada are much better at mobilizing to vote than non-homeowners. Probably because non-homeowners are busy working 60+ hours a week to pay the rent seeking homeowners
Tiktaalik 3y ago
Those wealthy enough to own homes are more likely to have the time (especially if retired!) to be able to organize, communicate with their representatives and assuredly to vote in an election. In contrast the poorest working class people (renters) that are struggling just to survive, are more likely to be so busy working multiple jobs, commuting etc, that they literally do not have the time to vote in an election. Additionally because of this, the two parties that have traditionally formed government, rarely even acknowledge the issues of the working poor, which means that the working poor are even more dissuaded from participating in the process, because regardless of who wins they can be assured that neither party is interested in policy change that would help them.
- jjav 3y ago
  The picture you paint is that homeowners are the independently wealthy rich people with tons of idle free time, while renters are all very poor working multiple jobs. In reality the vast majority of homeowners are regular working professionals, working those 50-70 hour weeks to pay the mortgage.
phoenixreader 3y ago
Yes, and 2/3 of the households in Canada are home owners.