Reason I’m asking is because I have an aunt that owns like maybe 3 - 5 (not sure the exact amount) small townhouses around the city (well, when I say “city” think of like the areas around a city where theres no tall buildings, but only small 2-3 stories single family homes in the neighborhood) and have these houses up for rent, and honestly, my aunt and her husband doesn’t seem like a terrible people. They still work a normal job, and have to pay taxes like everyone else have to. They still have their own debts to pay. I’m not sure exactly how, but my parents say they did a combination of saving up money and taking loans from banks to be able to buy these properties, fix them, then put them up for rent. They don’t overcharge, and usually charge slightly below the market to retain tenants, and fix things (or hire people to fix things) when their tenants request them.
I mean, they are just trying to survive in this capitalistic world. They wanna save up for retirement, and fund their kids to college, and leave something for their kids, so they have less of stress in life. I don’t see them as bad people. I mean, its not like they own multiple apartment buildings, or doing excessive wealth hoarding.
Do leftists mean people like my aunt too? Or are they an exception to the “landlords are bad” sentinment?
I’d argue that this is true of all the population but with the stipulation that “incentives” do not need to be monetary. I completely agree that capitalism is not human nature and feel that we’ve essentially brain-washed people to believe that money and material possessions are the reward when in fact it’s all the other things in life that actually matter. I believe that this thinking, which had lots of good reasons for existing during times of scarcity and paucity of resources, can be undone eventually. I think in a post-scarcity world (I’d argue we’re there) where it is normal for people to live fulfilled lives in significant comfort free from financial and work stress those few people who can’t shake the need to competitively accumulate will be rare indeed.
Until then we have a huge problem: we have too much highly efficient prosperity for capitalist models to make any sense at all.
Yes, I’m thinking of fully automated luxury communism.
And thank you for your thoughtful comment. I enjoyed reading and thinking about your perspective.