this post was submitted on 03 Feb 2026
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A Boring Dystopia

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[–] spongebue@lemmy.world -4 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

What service does the land speculator provide to the tenant?

The ability to live somewhere that otherwise would have been reversed?

I am lucky enough to be able to own a home. I can live here, and nobody else. But if I decided to rent my home out and they paid me rent, they could live here instead!

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 9 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

They could also live there if you sold it to them.

[–] damnedfurry@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Only if they can afford its price.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago

Who gets to originate the claim on property? Who gets to set the price and collect on the sale?

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world -2 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

As mentioned elsewhere, owning isn't necessarily for everyone.

[–] Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Freedom isn't necessarily for everyone has also been mentioned throughout time. Slavery has existed all through history.

That doesn't make it ok but anyone who is an enslavery or aspiring enslaver is going to argue some people want to be slaves.

Removing and restricting the agency of others is never ok. When it's for economic gain, it's always exploitation.

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world -1 points 6 hours ago

The big difference being that one thing being owned is completely inanimate, and the other is a literal human being against their will 🤷‍♂️

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 8 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

The ability to live somewhere that otherwise would have been reversed?

The land speculators do not provide access to the tenant, they prohibit access. That's what inclosure is. You're blocking people from the land on pain of injury and death.

I can live here, and nobody else.

Until the state decrees otherwise, sure.

But if I decided to rent my home out and they paid me rent, they could live here instead!

There are three people and three houses. How do you decide which of the three people owns all three houses and which of the other two pay that first person rent?

[–] spongebue@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

Clearly you are much smarter than myself. Can you tell me why renting land/a home is different than any other object that can be owned? Obviously shelter is a greater need than a chainsaw I could rent at Home Depot, but I thought the basic concepts should still apply?

And again, maybe I'm not smart enough to understand what you're saying, but it seems like land owners (or "speculators", if that's the correct term now 🤷‍♂️) prohibit access to everyone except for tenants, and tenants instead have rights to use that property?

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago

Can you tell me why renting land/a home is different than any other object that can be owned?

For starters, you can't own much if you don't own land. So it becomes a prerequisite for accruing any other objects.

If you're locked out of owning land, you're locked out of owning anything.

it seems like land owners (or “speculators”, if that’s the correct term now 🤷‍♂️) prohibit access to everyone except for tenants

Speculators (or, "land owners", as you're calling them) aren't required to host tenants. They can leave their property vacant without regard to social need.

And landlords can evict tenants for any reason or no reason at all - or raise rents so high that an eviction is inevitable.

A question you need to ask is why the landlord possessed the land to begin with. What allows a landlord original access to property?

[–] running_ragged@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago

People need homes.

You buy a pressure washer, and rent it out, thats a good business. Theres no shortage of pressure washers. I can live without one. I can biy my own relatively easy. Choosing to rent or own is a question of how often I expect to want to pressure wash something.

You can only rent a home that you buy. Which means you had to take it off the market. You can also only rent a home (or room) that you aren’t living in. Which means you need somewhere else to live. You’re taking more than you need, to charge someone else who also needs it, to cover your cost of owning it, maintaining it, and presumably profiting from the difference.

When this is done at scale, you have owners skewing the market to make it harder and harder to buy.

They make more money, buy more properties and make it worse. While renters, and young adults get trapped i to renting because they have no options.

That is what makes it so much different.