3 ms·
If I know what everyone's getting and I'm a landlord what's to prevent me from pocketing all of it?
by tjpnz 3y ago
If I know what everyone's getting and I'm a landlord what's to prevent me from pocketing all of it?
- Abekkus 3y agoPeople with basic income have time to take part in politics, to regulate away such monstrous landlords. Landlords already know this, and will pay to prevent it.
- voakbasda 3y agoPeople that don’t want to work will suddenly become engaged in the political process? Sounds like work to me.
- seabass-labrax 3y agoIn addition to the people who don't want to work, there's the people who can't work (due to disabilities, family care responsibilities, discrimination in the workplace etc.), and the people who could get more done without a job in the private sector (volunteers, artists, and... politicians!).
- lo_zamoyski 3y agoThe kinds of people who would benefit from UBI in this way are often the people least qualified or capable of engaging in politics. (Though in general, the credentialed class is full of people who don't understand the philosophical presuppositions either. The failure of education.)
- gwervc 3y agoNothing. This is exactly was happened in France where there is welfare money for housing (APL): landlords raised prices saying that rented are helped anyway. In the end the situation is better for landlords, equals for people getting the welfare money (not everyone), and worse for people who don't.
- CorrectHorseBat 3y agoMore supply of housing would help in that case
- XorNot 3y agoIt does get into elements of the basic problem though: i.e. would the government be (in the short/medium term) better off using that money to subsidize housing construction ? I believe a UBI is our future, but I'm not entirely convinced we've actually hit the societal-scale productivity necessary to support it yet
- Grokker 3y agoThen we already know that our major grocery chains will do exactly the same thing, based on their current behavior. Unless UBI is handled with care the average recipient will just be a middle person between the government and the greedy.
- crazygringo 3y agoSee my sibling comment that shows the math (I don't want to repost a full comment): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37975412 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37975412 But to answer you as a landlord specifically, supply and demand will prevent that. There will be a one-time inflation event where you will raise your rents to a small degree, but you certainly can't pocket "all of it". Supply and demand will continue to exist just fine -- if you attempt to double your rent, everyone will simply move to a different landlord that raised prices by just 10%. But poor tenants will be helped massively. (Again, see my linked comment for the math.)