• Hot Saucerman@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Happy Fake Labor Day to the Americans, because their government wants to hide real labor day from their citizens so they don’t have to educate them about the Haymarket Affair.

    Labor Day being in September is absolutely about erasing labor history. If more people knew labor history, more people would understand why All Cops Are Bastards.

    • socsa@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      You are correct, the American website Wikipedia definitely does not have an article on Haymarket

      • Hot Saucerman@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        The average American has a seventh grade reading level (with 54% of the population with less than a sixth grade reading level), and you expect them to be educated enough to 1. know what it is and 2. look for a Wikipedia article on it?

        Jesus, half this fucking country doesn’t even live in reality anymore. Somehow, they’re supposed to just know that it’s on Wikipedia.

        • socsa@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          So you want like some mandatory Ludovico Technique for this piece of information, or what? There’s literally a library of Congress article. It has been part of AP US history for as long as I can remember. I’m not even sure what point you are trying to make. That there are tons of wilfully ignorant people in the US (true)? Or that this piece of history has been censored (objectively false)?

          • Hot Saucerman@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            Erasure is different than censorship, and I think you’re intelligent enough to know that. I took that AP history class, and it was super biased against the workers, so that’s kind of a joke to reference.

            Also, if we’re talking about a country with a seventh grade average reading level, we’re mostly talking about people who have never taken an AP fucking US history class.

            Choosing the September date is part and parcel to why more people don’t know about it, because it’s not generally part of the public consciousness or conversation. That’s called erasure, not censorship.

            • Zuberi 👀@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              1 year ago

              If it was an AP class, that shits not getting to the ears of who really needs it most.

              I would argue that it’s completely erased in most States

              • Hot Saucerman@lemmy.ml
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                1 year ago

                I mean we’re talking about a country that is literally in the process of redefining the history of slavery and running with “but the slaves learned valuable skills!” Yeah, I’m trying to meet these people at their level, but it’s clear that in huge swaths of the country, it isn’t talked about, period.

      • MindSkipperBro12@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        be me american sees OP comment googles haymarket affair first result is Wikipedia article for haymarket affair 😐

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    One thing I’ve learned on reddit is that you never tell people on platforms like that or even this one that you’re a landlord. You could be the best landlord, never raise a reasonable rent, keep a well and promptly maintained property, and LanDlOrDs aRe The ScUm of ThE Earth!!1! is all you hear.

    • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Small-scale landlords also usually have full time jobs and use rent to supplement their income. Not every landlord is just rolling in cash.

      • dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        Being a landlord, making money off of the hard work of other people, and still having enough time to have a full time job “on the side” means you don’t need to be a landlord because it obviously isn’t an important job that you have to dedicate time and attention to.

      • TheDoctorDonna@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Choosing to use a basic human right as a form of income is scummy. All landlords are scum, whether they are rich or not.

    • BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      The very idea of being a landlord is pretty evil though? Like in a housing shortage you’re hoarding property and profiting off it.

      • TheSambassador@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        So while I generally agree with your sentiment, there are some obvious ways that sometime could be an ethical landlord.

        What if you have a house that’s too big, so you convert a floor into an apartment? You’re adding to the number of housing units available. Should you be forced to sell a portion of your house/building to whoever wants to live there? Or should you be able to rent it out to someone at a reasonable rate? Do we want rules that discourage people from potentially adding units to the market?

        I feel like the “all landlords are evil” narrative is way too simplistic, and that simplistic view turns off people who would otherwise support reasonable limits on landlords and housing ownership. Like, it’s obvious that we need limits and taxes on people who own multiple properties, and it’s obvious that there are companies that exploit renters and drive up prices, but it’s all more complicated than just “landlords evil lol”.

        • Mawks@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I rent my property because it’s the only way I could’ve bought it at my age and I use that money to pay for the mortgage of it while I live somewhere I don’t want to (under parent’s wing in a crappy city) but angry people rarely if ever consider all scenarios

          • TheDoctorDonna@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            So you’re keeping home ownership away from someone who can afford to pay your mortgage is what you’re really saying.

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              1 year ago

              How did you come to this conclusion? If someone is renting it means they they can’t pay for mortgage. Otherwise they would’ve done so. He said, that he needed to make a 20% payment to even get the mortgage. Idk how much money that was for him, but where I live that would be around 130k$. Clearly not everyone has that kind of cash.

              And what’s your solution? Disallow renting properties for which mortgage wasn’t posted in full?

              • TheDoctorDonna@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                If you buy it, live in it. Stop contributing to the housing crisis. Greed got us here, it certainly won’t get us out.

                • aikixd@lemmy.ml
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                  1 year ago

                  So disallowing renting. So you don’t control your property, which means you don’t own it but lease it.

                  This is problematic, since not being able to open your house is worse than having difficulties with obtaining it. I agree that generally having some people own a lot of housing units is bad, but not being able to own a house means communism. And not as a scare, but quite literally, as in definition.

      • Catsrules@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Your assuming everyone wants to own property over renting.

        House and property ownership has a lot of responsibility and expenses involved. Your water heater breaks well there is $1000+ your roof needs replacing there is 30K. All of that goes away when you rent as it isn’t your responsibility.

        If you own property it can be harder and more risky to relocate. I know a few people that bought in 2007 and then were stuck as they couldn’t afford to move because they were upsidedown on their house.

        Not saying renting is all sunshine and roses. I personally would rather own then rent but home ownership isn’t for everyone.

        But I do think it is a major problem when you have a few companies buying up all property so no one else can afford it. But I don’t think being a Landlord is inherently evil.

            • TheDoctorDonna@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Correct, but only one mountain can be climbed at a time. We have more reliable food sources than housing sources right now.

          • Catsrules@lemmy.ml
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            1 year ago

            In a perfect world sure, government is fully funded and runs smoothly people care about the everyone etc… etc…

            But in reality I really would be very hesitant to want to live in that world. It is very scary to have a single organization control all your housing. At least with the way it currently is if you don’t like your landlord you can go somewhere else. If the government owns everything your kind of stuck dealing with the same organization no matter where you go. Governments are not immune to corruption and can screw you over even worse in some cases then an organization.

            In my opinion the best solution is many private citizens and small rental companies combined with government enforcing laws protecting both parties. However one big issues I am seeing is huge companies buy up everything in a small area and build a monopolies on rentals. That isn’t good either.

      • grue@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Like in a housing shortage you’re hoarding property and profiting off it.

        Housing shortages are caused by bad government policy: namely, low-density zoning. Direct your anger towards the entity that deserves it, and make them fix their fuck-up.

        (Note: I’m not making some kind of Libertarian “all government is bad” argument here. I’m saying that in this specific case, the laws need to be changed.)

      • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        No, certain corporate landlords, like Blackrock, is even. Most small-scale landlords are not inherently evil because they rent out their properties. Having a few is not “hoarding.”

      • Aux@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Where would people live then? Those don’t want to buy. Under the bridge?

    • grayman@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Anyone with a mediocre amount of business sense or anyone that actually owns / owned (or pretends they own via a mortgage) real estate knows exactly how terribly difficult it is to just keep everything running.

      This alone explains why reddit and such have no damn clue why renting is so expensive.

      • dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        Why is it difficult to keep things running? Keeping the plumbing, electrical, and building amenities in order is part of your legal responsibility. Don’t like it? Get a real job. People HAVE to have a home. You don’t HAVE to make money off it.

    • GreenBottles@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      never mind the fact that that landlord probably worked hard to buy his first property and subsequent properties to self-employ themselves in the first place

    • dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      Why would someone become a landlord in the first place? You’re not born with a title deed in your hand, and if you were given income property by a family member, you’re still profiting off of the hard work of others. The only reason someone would choose to go out of their way to invest in rental properties is because they see an easier way of making money than having to go out and work for it like an honest person. “Mom and Pop landlords” aren’t a thing. If you have the funds to buy an entire second property, you aren’t just a “mom and pop”, youre in the 1%.

      • UnverifiedAPK@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        If you have the funds to buy an entire second property, you aren’t just a “mom and pop”, youre in the 1%.

        This just in - every blue collar business owner with a shop is in the 1%

      • Captain_Nipples@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Why do anything and sell for a profit then? And owning rental properties is work. A lot of work. And you’re wrong about the 1% thing

        • Stuka@lemmy.ml
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          Yeah but see if you stock the grocery store shelves, you’re profiting off the hard work of the people who actually made the food…so you’re scum!

      • huge_clock@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        You either put your money in a savings account at low interest rates or invest in something else.

      • GratefullyGodless@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Why would someone become a landlord? My uncle took out loans to buy distressed properties sold at auctions, and then he would put in the “sweat equity” to fix them up for renting out, all while working his full time job. So, he would work all day, and afterwards would manage those buildings doing all the maintenance and cleaning himself.

        Why did he do it? He did it to make money…so he could send his son to college, so hopefully his son wouldn’t have to hustle a full time job and a busy part time job as well. My uncle worked his ass off to make a better life for his son, how selfish of him.

  • Zengen@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    All the landlords I know have more than 1 job. My boss is the landlord of 7 rental properties. He also owns a local breakfast diner and his ass is there every Sunday on that grill flipping eggs and bacon with his employees. He also owns a private security business. If one of the guards calls out sick. Its him that covers their shift. And he pays himself for those hours at the same wage he pays the employee hes covering.

    My uncle. Owns 2 rental properties. He also runs an electronics recycling business where he loads and hauls E-Waste and he does that and all the manual labor of it by himself.

    My old landlord. Young guy about 30. Boughtkmy building from the previous slumlord owner during the pandemic. Dropped 25k putting brand new stairs and decks on the building for safety. During a time where the average going rate on the market for a 1 bedroom apartment was 1100$ he chose to leave all of our rents at 700$ a month because he didn’t feel right about screwing people.

    I am not a landlord. I have no desire to be a landlord. But not every landlord is a lazy sack of shit.

    • Protoflare@lemmy.world
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      Agree. My mother owns a lot of land in the suburbs of my city. She sold a large amount of land in order to fully pay for my entire undergrad. She could leave her day job right now, but she really likes what she does and thinks of landlording as a side job for her in order for me and my sister to have a comfortable life.

    • bonus_crab@lemmy.world
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      there were kind and hard working slave owners too. the institution itself is bad.

      realestate is simply the best and safest investment you can make in most of the civilized world today, in the same way that owning land and buying slaves to work it was the best investment 300 years ago.

      At the end of the day its just waste. If money spent on housing isnt going towards making more and better housing you end up with a choke in supply that raises the price of housing, which hurts the efficiency of society as a whole .

      Maybe if renting is only allowed for the party that built the house, it has to be rent to own, and is only allowed for say, 50 years after its construction. Have building codes to ensure it’ll be solid for a long time. With that investing in realestate could be both profitable and societally beneficial.

    • mycorrhiza they/them@lemmy.ml
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      Your boss works one regular day a week and covers the occasional shift for a sick employee, but the rest of his income comes from the labor of his tenants and employees. I’m sure he’s a nice guy. I’ve had nice bosses and landlords. But there’s a pretty unequal exchange of labor here. With surgeons and most other high-paid workers, the high wage pays for student loans and years of unpaid student labor.

  • PeleSpirit@lemmy.world
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    The good news here is that a lot of people don’t even know they’re landlords or are from another country. It’s not the rinky dink landlords we have to worry about, it’s the corporation landlords that are ruining everything.

    • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      My slumlord individual landlord was much worse than the corporate landlord I have right now. Mileage varies significantly between corporations that run rental companies. I’ve also had rental agencies that were shit.

      • PeleSpirit@lemmy.world
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        It’s not how they treat you but I’m glad you have a good one, it’s how they’re ruining the real estate market for people to purchase new homes. They buy all of the single family and rental properties for airBNBs or tear them down to build luxury only condos. Also, they’re not really luxury condos. Hopefully your city has anti slumlord laws as well.

        • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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          That’s a good point. I could probably just buy a house if all the corporations weren’t buying up properties and inflating prices.

        • Hot Saucerman@lemmy.ml
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          It’s also how they turn to technology to make it harder to really feel like you’re actually renting. Instead of keys, you have a door with a code, but you don’t control it, so if you’re even five minutes late with rent, they’ll change the code and lock you out. Just like with places like Google, it’s about removing humans and having a lot of this shit automated, despite how dehumanzing the automation is to the people who have to use such services. When you’re being fucked over and can’t even find a human to talk to, it’s dehumanizing.

          • PeleSpirit@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Here in Seattle, they were caught price fixing all of the rents as well. Basically, they all used one software that was supposed to tell you what others are charging so you could adjust your prices. Instead, they would all use it to raise the prices at the same time. It’s an evil industry.

            • Hot Saucerman@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              It’s an evil industry.

              People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. -Adam Smith

        • Fried_out_Kombi@lemmy.world
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          What’s ruining the real estate market is the fact it’s literally illegal to build enough housing on the vast majority of urban land (same situation in Canada, too). Add in insane parking minimum laws, setback requirements, lot size minimums, etc., and what you get is artificial government-mandated ultra low-density sprawl.

          It’s the ultimate form of regulatory capture to protect the “investments” of speculators and homeowners. Typically under the guise of “protecting property values” or “protecting neighborhood character”. Just consider: who benefits most from artificially restricting new competition than the owners of existing housing? Restrict new supply so that you can see the value of what you already possess go to the moon… all at the expense of the rest of society, of course.

          If you have 9 homes for every 10 households, price will go up until one of those households is priced out of the market. If we built more and made there be 10 homes for every 9 households, landlords – corporate or not – would be stripped of their market power to raise rent.

          The evidence backs this up. Any new housing, even “luxury” or market-rate, improves affordability:

          New buildings decrease rents in nearby units by about 6% relative to units slightly farther away or near sites developed later, and they increase in-migration from low-income areas. We show that new buildings absorb many high-income households and increase the local housing stock substantially.

          And more flexible zoning helps contain rising rents:

          But what happens to rents after new homes are built? Studies show that adding new housing supply slows rent growth—both nearby and regionally—by reducing competition among tenants for each available home and thereby lowering displacement pressures. This finding from the four jurisdictions examined supports the argument that updating zoning to allow more housing can improve affordability.

          In all four places studied, the vast majority of new housing has been market rate, meaning rents are based on factors such as demand and prevailing construction and operating costs. Most rental homes do not receive government subsidies, though when available, subsidies allow rents to be set lower for households that earn only a certain portion of the area median income. Policymakers have debated whether allowing more market-rate—meaning unsubsidized—housing improves overall affordability in a market. The evidence indicates that adding more housing of any kind helps slow rent growth. And the Pew analysis of these four places is consistent with that finding. (See Table 1.)

          In addition, we can tax land:

          Land value taxes are generally favored by economists as they do not cause economic inefficiency, and reduce inequality.[2] A land value tax is a progressive tax, in that the tax burden falls on land owners, because land ownership is correlated with wealth and income.[3][4] The land value tax has been referred to as “the perfect tax” and the economic efficiency of a land value tax has been accepted since the eighteenth century.[1][5][6]

          It’s a progressive, essentially impossible to evade tax that incentivizes densification and development while disincentivizing real estate speculation. Oh, and it can’t be passed on tenants, both in theory and in practice.

          And even a milquetoast LVT – such as in the Australian Capital Territory – can have positive impacts:

          It reveals that much of the anticipated future tax obligations appear to have been already capitalised into lower land prices. Additionally, the tax transition may have also deterred speculative buyers from the housing market, adding even further to the recent pattern of low and stable property prices in the Territory. Because of the price effect of the land tax, a typical new home buyer in the Territory will save between $1,000 and $2,200 per year on mortgage repayments.

          [email protected]

          [email protected]

          • PeleSpirit@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            “Blah blah blah,” again? So you’re going to ignore that there is a shit ton of empty luxury homes and the price fixing? This isn’t my first rodeo, I’ve heard all of your arguments before and yes, they can be added into the mix but those aren’t the main focus.

            • Make it so airbnb’s can only be operated by an owner that lives on site and one other location and for 2 units total for that owner.
            • Corporations can only own a 20 unit (10-30, that number has to be researched) or more apartment building and then have to operate as a hotel if they’re running airbnbs. If condos or apartments, they have to provide all levels of income.
            • Condo or rental high rises being built can’t buy their way out of providing all income units.
            • No more price fixing or extreme legal consequences.

            I have found that the people calling for just changing the zoning laws usually have a bulldozer right behind their shoulder waiting to be sent.

            PS Trickle down housing doesn’t work. The end.

            • Fried_out_Kombi@lemmy.world
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              Yes, there is price fixing. You know how that works? By artificially restricting competition through regulatory capture, aka restrictive zoning.

              All the evidence point to zoning reform and actually legally allowing things like missing middle housing to be effective ways to control rising rents. If you clicked on one of the above links, you’d see this table:

              Also recall from the same report:

              In all four places studied, the vast majority of new housing has been market rate, meaning rents are based on factors such as demand and prevailing construction and operating costs.

              https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2023/04/17/more-flexible-zoning-helps-contain-rising-rents

              You’re entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.

              I have found that the people calling for just changing the zoning laws usually have a bulldozer right behind their shoulder waiting to be sent.

              Well you didn’t even read the second half of my comment where I also called for taxing land.

              PS Trickle down housing doesn’t work. The end.

              Ah, yes, the old trick of calling everything you don’t like “trickle down”. Should the solution to the toilet paper shortages of 2020 have been to lock down new supply and wage a moral crusade against toilet paper scalpers? Or just actually get supply back to normal to avoid the whole situation in the first place?

              • PeleSpirit@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                the vast majority of new housing has been market rate

                Hmmm, market rate is determined by price fixing so the people living there have to make more so they can live there and then the rent is price fixed up, and so on, and so on, and so on…

                Raising taxes doesn’t help anyone in the short run since by the time it gets to being put towards something, it would probably be tax breaks for the tech companies. You’re right, I skimmed your comment because I knew what your goal was and you’d say anything to try and reach that goal; Build so there is money for investors, open the zoning laws all across the board so you can bulldoze and build more luxury apartments that families don’t want and the middle class and lower can’t afford. Trickle down housing takes 30 years to see results, all of your points are meaningless to me because you’re not operating in good faith.

                • Fried_out_Kombi@lemmy.world
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                  Hmmm, market rate is determined by price fixing so the people living there have to make more so they can live there and then the rent is price fixed up, and so on, and so on, and so on…

                  Look at the chart I showed in my last comment again. Clearly landlords in Minneapolis aren’t raising rents in perpetuity. Gee, could that be because they abolished single-family zoning in 2018, and they’re already seeing a stabilized rental market despite being a large, desirable, high-QoL city? So much for your assertion that it “takes 30 years to see results”.

                  Raising taxes

                  My goal isn’t raising taxes. My goal is to replace bad taxes like sales, income, and property taxes with good taxes like land value taxes, carbon taxes (and other taxes on negative externalities), and severance taxes.

                  all of your points are meaningless to me because you’re not operating in good faith.

                  My guy, who do you think I am? Do you think all YIMBYs are actually just a secret cabal of developers rubbing our greedy little YIMBY hands together to demolish your historic gas stations and parking lots?

                  I’m a fresh-out-of-grad-school engineer who rents an apartment in a major city. I’ve seen the power of YIMBYism first hand, as I was able to negotiate down the landlord on rent before signing the lease, because there was a credible threat of me leaving and finding somewhere else cheaper. The reason why? My city, Montreal, is the most affordable major city in North America, with some of the lowest barriers to density, and extensive neighborhoods of “missing middle” housing (e.g., townhouses, plexes, low- and mid-rise apartments). All despite being a very desirable, very high-QoL city. Turns out having options gives you actual negotiating power against your landlord.

                  If you have all the fear of homelessness and your landlord has no fear of vacancy, then your landlord has all the power over you. If you have plenty of options, and your landlord has a credible fear of vacancy, you will have actual negotiating power. NIMBY policies only serve to empower landlords and weaken tenants.

                  Unlike you, I want to actually grant tenants (myself included) more negotiating power against their landlords by granting them more choices in housing.

                  Further, do you legitimately believe the current crony capitalist system has produced enough housing in America and Canada? Or is it possible vested interests have captured local governments to artificially limit supply and thus limit competition, and that NIMBYs like you are the pawns to protect their speculative investments?

  • WetBeardHairs@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Sorry, I couldn’t hear your pleas from my speedboat. Oh, you were busy working because I set your schedule to work on Labor day? Obviously we’re of two different classes of people. /s

    • socsa@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I have a few rentals. Only one of them was purchased as a straight up investment. The others were just the places where I used to live. I also have a job. Theaye posts are honestly pretty childish. I rent my places out more or less at cost, and often take applicants who are seen as too risky by most landlords (I basically guarantee my own rentals, because I don’t really need the cash flow). I see it more as community service than a revenue stream.

      That’s why I just think this shit is childish. Almost everyone I rent to is in no position to buy. I guess they’d just be homeless without landlords. I’ve had people who have literally been turned down 50 times, who were living in their car, and broke down crying when I told them I’d rent to them without a co-signer.

      • Lifecoach5000@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Very thoughtful and agreeable comment. Fuck any greedy landlords and corps for buying up properties and driving up housing costs, but landlords and rentals do need to exist for people who need temporary housing or aren’t in the position to buy.

    • ITypeWithMyDick@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Usually not, I try not to mingle with the…riff raff…who we allow to occupy our homes. And when they forget the manditory tip, whelp out to the streets with you since you can’t manage your finances.

  • pm_boobs_send_nudes@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The amount of communists in this thread is simply astonishing. I thought we had accepted the concept of property rights. Why even stop at immovable property and not movable?

  • JJROKCZ@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Is there a version of this with proper English? It doesn’t help the plight of the labourer to speak so poorly

    • CazRaX@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Language elitists about me more than most, especially English ones considering the massive mutt that the English language is. There is no proper English just what some think is proper because they have nothing else.