There's not a single US state where a minimum wage worker can afford a 2-bedroom rental

[Stevicus]

This is a novel use of the word, "improved",
which I've not encountered before.
But even worse....you believe it would improve
our lot too? As an intellectual, you'd be one of
the first executed in the purge.

Well, you can believe whatever you want, but it's quite obvious that they improved greatly over what they had before their respective communist governments took over. Quite honestly, you're one of the few people in the world I've talked to who either doesn't know this or believe it. And I've talked to some rather staunch anti-communists who say many of the same things - except most will grudgingly acknowledge that it was still better than the system they had before.

Usually, what they'll counter with is the idea that that Tsarist and/or Nationalist Chinese governments were not really "capitalist" in the American sense, but few of them ever dared to defend or extol the virtues of either regime. So, I'm a bit taken aback by your denial here.

As an intellectual, you'd be one of
the first executed in the purge.

One thing that individualists have difficulty grasping is that, for a collectivist thinker, their own individual well-being or personal fate does not hold much meaning.

Individualists look at policies and proposals and think "What's in this for me?" or "Will this affect me negatively in some way?" Individualists think in those terms where it's all about "me, me, me."

Collectivists think it's all about "us, us, us." What's in it for us, as a whole? I'm just thinking in terms of what is good for our country, not just a small cabal of misers and hoarders who think that they're just wonderful people and deserve a life of luxury and comfort just because they're "worth it."

This kind of self-centered, "special snowflake" way of thinking is just bad for America. I don't think anything good will come of it in the long term.

And yeah, I'm pretty sure that if there ever is any kind of upheaval in America, I'll be on the losing side and will likely be the first head on the block. But we all gotta go sometime, and who wants to live forever?

 

[Stevicus]

It was that @Stevicus guy.
(One of his loopier proposals.)

Which post?

 

[Revoltingest]

Which post?

It would be a consequence of your proposal in post #105.
Such onerous taxation is confiscatory. Owners would lose
properties for back taxes.
You believe leasing is easy...just lower the price a little.
It often doesn't work that way. Tenants & properties can
be a complex fit, & one must wait for a tenant who needs
what is offered. You'd remove the option of giving adequate
time to market the property.

What is your real estate management & development experience?

 

[Stevicus]

It would be a consequence of your proposal in post #105.
Such onerous taxation is confiscatory. Owners would lose
properties for back taxes.
You believe leasing is easy...just lower the price a little.
It often doesn't work that way. Tenants & properties can
be a complex fit, & one must wait for a tenant who needs
what is offered. You'd remove the option of giving adequate
time to market the property.

What is your real estate management & development experience?

I've dealt with a lot of landlords and property management companies before, not just for myself, but also in the work I do (part of which involves providing residential housing services for disabled and mentally ill people). Some were okay. There was one I thought was pretty cool, although he was quite the right-winger - even ran for Congress on the Republican ticket (but lost to Mo Udall). But he was a stand up guy, and I was able to meet and deal with him directly. No BS, a very simple contract, and a handshake, and the deal was made. I paid what I owed him, and when I moved out, both parties were satisfied.

But most of the time, it's not like that. A lot of places are run by property management companies where you don't even get to meet the actual owner or know who it is. They have application fees, administrative fees, and all kinds of other hoops to jump through. It's just rip-off money.

A woman I know was a few days late on her rent, and they really socked it to her with late fees and other penalties. She may not have read the fine print on the contract, but when she moved in, she was in somewhat dire straits and had to find a place quickly, so she probably would have signed anything at that point.

Some might argue that it was her fault for signing the contract and being late on the rent, and that the property manager had every right to impose the extra fees according to the terms of the contract. But it's still pretty heartless, though.

But the lesson should be learned that, if property owners (and by extension, capitalists) favor a heartless, cold-blooded, hardball way of doing things, how can they complain if the response to such methods might be equally heartless and cold-blooded?

 

[Revoltingest]

I've dealt with a lot of landlords and property management companies before, not just for myself, but also in the work I do (part of which involves providing residential housing services for disabled and mentally ill people). Some were okay. There was one I thought was pretty cool, although he was quite the right-winger - even ran for Congress on the Republican ticket (but lost to Mo Udall). But he was a stand up guy, and I was able to meet and deal with him directly. No BS, a very simple contract, and a handshake, and the deal was made. I paid what I owed him, and when I moved out, both parties were satisfied.

But most of the time, it's not like that. A lot of places are run by property management companies where you don't even get to meet the actual owner or know who it is. They have application fees, administrative fees, and all kinds of other hoops to jump through. It's just rip-off money.

A woman I know was a few days late on her rent, and they really socked it to her with late fees and other penalties. She may not have read the fine print on the contract, but when she moved in, she was in somewhat dire straits and had to find a place quickly, so she probably would have signed anything at that point.

Some might argue that it was her fault for signing the contract and being late on the rent, and that the property manager had every right to impose the extra fees according to the terms of the contract. But it's still pretty heartless, though.

But the lesson should be learned that, if property owners (and by extension, capitalists) favor a heartless, cold-blooded, hardball way of doing things, how can they complain if the response to such methods might be equally heartless and cold-blooded?

FWIW, my leases are written in plain English.
I ensure that tenants understand it all (to the extent possible).
For residential tenants, I always had staff review the entire lease before signing.
I believe in full disclosure for a true meeting of the minds.

Commercial leasing is more complex than residential.
- More legal restrictions of use.
- Bank lending considerations.
- Build out specification, financing & construction.
- Insurance requirements.
- Other costs passed thru (eg, trash, utilities, maintenance, common area upkeep).
- Escalation.
- Environmental monitoring.
- Trade fixtures.
- And more.

 

[YmirGF]

Well, you didn't even seem to think that there was a problem a few posts ago. Now you're saying that you already knew and that it's "hardly news."

As for my proposal, I've already offered it. Rent/price/wage controls. Some say that it would be a bad thing, but it's not unprecedented, and such policies were implemented during WW2 and led to the greatest period of economic boom in US history. People who think I don't know what I'm talking about don't even bother to read history. They're the ones who don't know what they're talking about.

NO, I just don't think it is the problem you do. The mindset that a minimum paying job should be able to pay for housing is where your thinking comes off the rails. A minimum pay job should be sufficient to pay for subsidized (low-income) housing. A subtle difference.

I don't really have a big issue with wage/price/rent controls as long as they are very flexible and can be easily adjusted. As per the historical aspect, WW2 ushered in unique conditions with an industrial/manufacturing base, already in high gear, DUE to the coordinated war effort. Paying attention to the historical conditions is one thing, reading history selectively can be extremely dangerous.