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But there is also a second way to make money. That’s the rentier way: by leveraging control over something that already exists, such as land, knowledge, or money, to increase your wealth. You produce nothing, yet profit nonetheless. By definition, the rentier makes his living at others’ expense, using his power to claim economic benefit.
For those who know their history, the term “rentier” conjures associations with heirs to estates, such as the 19th century’s large class of useless rentiers, well-described by the French economist Thomas Piketty. These days, that class is making a comeback. (Ironically, however, conservative politicians adamantly defend the rentier’s right to lounge around, deeming inheritance tax to be the height of unfairness.) But there are also other ways of rent-seeking. From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, from big pharma to the lobby machines in Washington and Westminster, zoom in and you’ll see rentiers everywhere. Studies conducted by the International Monetary Fund and the Bank for International Settlements https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft...15/sdn1513.pdf - not exactly leftist thinktanks – have revealed that much of the financial sector has become downright parasitic. How instead of creating wealth, they gobble it up whole.
Assets, whether real, financial, or intellectual have a value that may be sold, leased, or shared for payment. This is logical, fair, and a time honored way to use assets to help others create wealth.
The homeless... we have tons in the mountain west region looking for handouts at every corner.
How many homeless does it take to match a rent seeking heavy hitter in banking, tax avoidance, and big pharma etc.? Why even cats can collect rent and homeless people cant? Who does more harm - a homeless person or Martin Shkreli and such?
I rent a room in an overcrowded (11 ppl in small 3BR) house from someone who doesn't own the house. He rents it from an absentee landlord, lets his adult daughter, her boyfriend, and their infant live in the house for free, lives for free himself, and charges the rest of us enough rent to cover his costs. You don't even have to own anything to be a rentier.
Assets, whether real, financial, or intellectual have a value that may be sold, leased, or shared for payment. This is logical, fair, and a time honored way to use assets to help others create wealth.
A good way to freeload for generations to come, all it takes - to control the assets. The assets are worthless by themselves unless there are suckers willing to work for them. This ancient wealth building secret is disguised in the developed countries, but it is fresh, unmasked and raw in the developing and former soviet block countries where (wannabe) "elites" wage real wars over control of national assets assuring their and their kids freeloading rights for decades to come.
I rent a room in an overcrowded (11 ppl in small 3BR) house from someone who doesn't own the house. He rents it from an absentee landlord, lets his adult daughter, her boyfriend, and their infant live in the house for free, lives for free himself, and charges the rest of us enough rent to cover his costs. You don't even have to own anything to be a rentier.
Although, this guy does do some work - he collects the rent and pays it to the owner, he collects some sort of payment to keep the power, water, etc. bills paid. If the water heater quits, no doubt this "rentier" will be the one who organizes getting it fixed. The guy is, in effect, a manager.
He's not really helping his daughter and her family, not permanently, but he is, from a "tactical" point of view keeping the wolf away from the door. He's not getting rid of the wolf completely, but he's keeping him back enough that he does not bite the daughter right now.
So, people who provide money for loans, knowledge to increase our quality of life and other things, and provide a roof over other people's heads, are the biggest freeloaders?
How many homeless does it take to match a rent seeking heavy hitter in banking, tax avoidance, and big pharma etc.? Why even cats can collect rent and homeless people cant? Who does more harm - a homeless person or Martin Shkreli and such?
Big financial firms who go bankrupt, get bailouts, then the CEOs write themselves record bonuses...
You probably have single individuals who "seek" more "rent" than an entire city's worth of homeless.
So, people who provide money for loans, knowledge to increase our quality of life and other things, and provide a roof over other people's heads, are the biggest freeloaders?
It is not their money, they just extract value from the public asset called "money" and "financial system" frequently without slightest regard to wellbeing of the asset they parasitize on. Same with corporations privatizing public research. Define quality of life? At this point rent extraction pretty much undo whatever "advances" you could claim exist out there leaving widespread anxiety in the air and Prozac in drinking water.
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