this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2024
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Lefty Memes
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All forms of work a valid? Even CEOs? What about landlords?
Being a landlord isn't work, that's being a parasite.
You put it more succinctly than I could haha.
I would go further and say that anything that people point to as a positive thing that an individual landlord might do like (like, ohh but they go around to this old widow's house to check on her and fix things around the house) are good work, but have nothing to do with extracting rents. You could do that and just let people live on their patches unmolested.
PS Damn it I did it again. I just went on and on ... I'm going to my partner's family reunion tonight and I'm really nervous about it. Apparently they're kind of bullies, I'm going to get eaten alive lol
You're going to be fine. I believe in you. Remember that your partner loves you and so their family will love you too. Just be yourself and everything will fall into place.
Thanks, that actually did give me a much needed boost. I hope you have a great weekend!
Thanks again for this. And it actually was fine. Everyone was perfectly lovely and made me feel included.
Yay, I'm glad.
Question: my landlord ethically renovated and rented out a historical building. There are a lot of nuances with the upkeep that none of the tenants would necessarily be qualified to handle on their own. The landlord has educated themselves on the historical and legal needs of the building, sourced period accurate replacement parts for repairs, renovated and continually upkeeps an antique elevator, organizes cleanings and inspections for our antique windows, and a whole lot more. At times that tenants have experienced financial hardship (pandemic), they have even adjusted rent to match financial ability.
How is that not a job?
No doubt that some (maybe even most) landlords out there exploit their position to get money for nothing, but there are also those out there who are doing the job properly as a caretaker for the property.
The parts that are work are the job, but extracting rents for owning something is not work. I realise it's not a clean break, but the idea is landlords usually get a lot more value than they put in.
Whereas most of us work jobs that take more value from our labour than they'd ever actually pay us for.
In my opinion, the work and the liability are both part of the job. If something goes terribly wrong in this place, I am not on the hook for it. I can call them at any time to report a problem, and they are now going to be the ones to have to fix it—not me.
That is a benefit I get from renting that I wouldn’t have if I owned the place. Even cooperatives, which I have lived in several times before and that eliminate the existence of a traditional landlord, are not without the need to collect additional funds to offset the liability of major repairs in the future.
It seems like the primary difference with a landlord is that a salary gets calculated into that, and people often perceive that salary as too high.
Compensation regulation seems more reasonable than cursing all landlords, in my opinion. I think there is a realistic use for people who want to be a steward of homes for other people who aren’t ready for the responsibility of ownership.
I disagree that all landlords are parasites. It used to be boarders were extremely common. It can be a go between jobs or locations or whatever, that was its original intent. Having one or two properties is fine, it's the mega corporations buying up entire cities and then pretending to be small owners renting them as air bnb's and such that are the problem. Slum landlords, across the board, are shit as well.
Not contributing to society yet using what others have worked for. What would you call that?
Leadership is valid when you're elevated there by the consensus of your peers. That person might have the title of CEO or President. In a lefty organization that's still in a society with currency, they wouldn't have 10,000x the pay of the median worker. They might not even have 10x the pay.
I got caught up on that one too. I think it could be argued that CEO is a job, and landlord is a title. Neither of those necessarily implies work.
But there might be some things that these people do which could be considered work.
So like if you were to hypothetically divorce these from money, you could say that, I dunno: reading tech articles and going to conferences and talking about how your co-workers are implementing the tech, is work; or fixing up a house, or keeping tabs on a block of houses and making sure they're actually maintained, is work.
Maybe it is a stretch.. I do think there are "bullshit jobs" which would not exist (certainly not in the current form) without capitalism. Like there would be no demand for them outside of accruing capital for people who don't need it
There are different types of CEO’s. I played that role for a startup once, and it was one of the more difficult jobs I’ve ever done. The responsibility takes its toll.
I’m sure there are fat cats at the top of established businesses that do nothing, but I’m not convinced that it is typical of even 50% of people who do that job.