ChestRockwell [comrade/them]

  • 3 Posts
  • 38 Comments
Joined 4 years ago
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Cake day: July 29th, 2020

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  • I did note later in another thread, a comrade had a good revision. The relationship is evil, not the actual person. Here’s what was said:

    I’d categorize the parasitic relationship as evil, but as for judging individual people for the poverty and homelessness caused by that relationship, it’s more complicated as we live under capitalism.

    Again, I’ve got some salt because my landlord kicked me out last year just because he couldn’t extract enough profit from me. Needless to say, his anger at basic tenant protections has stuck in my craw ever since. I’m earnestly glad you’re for social housing/education/etc as well.


  • The amount it appreciated while we were paying the rent that whole time is how I got that 50 percent. Also, the property actually tripled in value 100k to 300k.

    The total maintenance the owner did over the entire time we were there was 1000 dollars. One month’s rent. Add painting and new carpet, ok, that’s like 5k? We paid more than 100k in rent over that time.

    It was pure profit extraction. The owner actually sent us the numbers to justify kicking us out. , His mother made more than him because of property tax, but after reassessing property taxes, he would have _only_been making 300 a month profit off of us. That’s pure profit after everything. He was mad he couldn’t raise our rent by 500 dollars all at once and instead had to do it yearly.



  • a home that my tenants could not afford to buy on their own

    What I’m saying is there shouldn’t be a situation like this in the first place. Your tenants shouldn’t have to come to you to rent, housing should be freely available to all.

    It’s a difference of degree, not of kind. And the goal is to change the relationship to society/production/the state such that this relationship no longer needs to exist. After all, investing in housing/real estate is the one “safe” thing to do under capitalism if you have surplus money. I doubt you’re a true “capitalist” in the sense of having true economic leverage, and the question for you is ultimately, would you side with the workers, your tenants, etc. and willingly join in the socialization of basic human needs? Or will you ally with the capitalists above you and protect private property at all costs.

    A difference in degree but not in kind exists historically. Guatemala. The operations of the United Fruit company through exploitation were very profitable. They “built” them. The new government offered to either buy them out at the rate they had claimed on their taxes or reassess their taxes to redistribute their profits more equitably. Instead, the CIA coup’d them.

    The question for you ultimately is, if given the chance to exit from the exploitative relationship imposed upon you by capitalism, will you? Would you let the government buy you out or raise your taxes to fund collective housing? Or will you instead employ the forces of reaction?


  • My partner and I should have a 50 percent equity in the apartment she rented for 10 years. Instead we were unceremoniously kicked out last year because the landlord’s son wanted to make more money.

    I’d categorize the parasitic relationship as evil, but as for judging individual people for the poverty and homelessness caused by that relationship, it’s more complicated as we live under capitalism.

    I accept this nuanced revision to my more angry framing. I have a personal vendetta, and this is actually the correct take.