If You Can’t Afford the Rent, It’s My Problem, Too

Re:If You Can’t Afford the Rent, It’s My Problem, Too by mochomocha on Wednesday March 27, 2019 @12:11PM (#19502394)

In San Francisco the return on land is so much higher than the return on work. There's no scenario under which this leads to a healthy society. NIMBY excesses created a modern feudalism. Why would the new hard-working generation subsidize the previous one and suffer taxes order of magnitude higher than the previous one (through property tax for example)? This is like a Ponzi scheme. There's nothing fair nor sustainable with this model. That's when in a properly working society you would have the State or Government take over and override the local policies to implement what's good for the greater good. Not what's good for the SF boomer wanting to sell his shack for 2M and retire in Florida. A couple of billionaires in Atherton should have no say on Caltrain improvements that could benefit millions of working people at the expense of a couple of trees in their backyards.

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Re:If You Can’t Afford the Rent, It’s My Problem, Too by ModernMech on Wednesday March 27, 2019 @12:18PM (#19502492)

I realized this when my landlord came home with a brand new Mercedes SL one day, and I was still taking the N to work despite having a 6 figure tech salary. I was basically subsidizing his car payment. I worked at a 6 person startup that received a few million in funding, and between our personal rents and the rent of our office, probably around 40% of that investor money went into the pockets of landlords. If our startup was somewhere cheaper, yeah we wouldn't have raised $X million, but we wouldn't have needed that much just to exist.

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Re:If You Can’t Afford the Rent, It’s My Problem, Too by nradov on Wednesday March 27, 2019 @03:06PM (#19504750)

Peter Thiel: Majority of capital poured into SV startups goes to 'urban slumlords'

https://www.sfgate.com/expensive-san-francisco/article/peter...

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Re:If You Can’t Afford the Rent, It’s My Problem, Too by rootusrootus on Wednesday March 27, 2019 @02:01PM (#19503889)

Sounds like the solution is to become a landlord ;-)

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Re:If You Can’t Afford the Rent, It’s My Problem, Too by asdff on Wednesday March 27, 2019 @05:03PM (#19506000)

Right after I get approved for my small loan of one million dollars to buy a 2br bungalow that will turn to dust the next earthquake.

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Re:If You Can’t Afford the Rent, It’s My Problem, Too by throwawaysea on Wednesday March 27, 2019 @01:41PM (#19503578)

> There's nothing fair nor sustainable with this model.

This is an opinion and not fact - it's how it looks from your perspective. The line between what is a smart investment and unfair feudalism is pretty gray, and I am betting people decide how to frame the situation based on how it personally affects them. That is, I am betting everyone is acting in a self-serving manner.

> Not what's good for the SF boomer wanting to sell his shack for 2M and retire in Florida.

This statement comes off as ageist. Why is it wrong for the SF boomer to want to make a gain off their investment and retire elsewhere? This is a core mechanism of every modern society.

> A couple of billionaires in Atherton should have no say on Caltrain improvements that could benefit millions of working people at the expense of a couple of trees in their backyards.

You are cherry-picking. It isn't just a "couple of billionaires in Atherton". But even if it were, why can't they choose to defend their quality of life? Why does everyone have to live in the bay area? This all comes off as people feeling entitled to live in a highly-desirable region, but on terms that suit them.

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