• BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca
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    10 hours ago

    The billionaire fortunes pale in comparison to the trillions of dollars of unearned appreciation owned by regular home owners.

    It’s the unearned part that matters most, at least capital investment has some benefit to the economy. Real estate appreciation adds literally zero value to the economy.

      • BeNotAfraid@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        By Purchasing up and holding the supply empty, artificially creating the housing crisis by lobbying against affordable housing construction and exploiting the rent economy of our cities. The rich are outcompeting us for resources.

        • entwine413@lemm.ee
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          9 hours ago

          What do regular home owners have to do with it? Most regular home owners only own one home.

          • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca
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            6 hours ago

            I’ve made a million dollars in appreciation on my home in the last 15 years.

            Are you telling me just because I own one home, that I’m not part of the problem?

    • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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      6 hours ago

      Capital investment strips wealth out of the worker/consumer economy (where it is traded for goods and services, and becomes someone’s paycheck) and transfers it to the securities market (where it is used to convert worker productivity into more capital)

      Capital investment is only beneficial to the economy when the working class holds the capital.

      • BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca
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        6 hours ago

        That’s observablt false. Capitalism has lead to a massive improvement in living conditions for countries that have implemented it

        Yes it also has downsides, but pretending it doesn’t do anything good is rediculous.

        • Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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          6 hours ago

          Your observation is only true where the working class controls the capital. Your point would be well taken if we all had significant shares providing passive income. Buy not even the wealthiest of the working class controls a share of capital proportionate to their productive output.

          The worst injustices injustices in history have been perpetrated by oligarchs of some shape or another. We are in the middle of such an era now.

          And the word is “ridiculous”.

    • zbyte64@awful.systems
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      8 hours ago

      You got me. My being in debt to a bank for rest of my life is worse than anything Bill Gates has ever done on Epstein’s plane. I’m doubly guilty because I have kids, can you imagine how much unrealized wealth they represent?