Here's the issue that all of you who are suggesting that landlords are immoral have to deal with: in the US system, there can only be three outcomes: you own the home, the bank owns the home, or the landlord owns the home. If you get all of the anti-landlord legislation passed, than the landlord will either sell the house to a foreign investor or a slum lord, or declare bankruptcy and have the bank take it.
The bank doesn't care about you, unless you're a preferred investor, which, most renters, aren't. The bank is going to hire a property manager who'll maximize profits, meaning that said manager won't care about the investment, the state of the apartment building. The bank wants to get rid of the apartment building, and seek maximum value in the meantime, so it's not going to replace stuff, unless the situation's truly dire.
And even if you kick out the landlord and the bank, most renters in America aren't educated to deal with everything that could go wrong with the property, don't have a background in insurance laws, don't understand how to deal with slip and falls, and will most likely be charged to the max by repair crews. And that's not even taking into consideration the sheer amount of regulatory laws that Democrats in California love passing.
Furthermore, who's going to pay to deal with a rat infestation on the first floor of the apartment building? Is everyone coming together? What if you have someone with a contagious disease that infects everyone? Welcome to US Healthcare and its billing system. And I'm just getting started.
America needs landlords, and if landlords don't make at least a 10% ROI, they aren't going to be good landlords. If I can't make the minimum ROI I make, why would I keep the investment? BTW, I'm not a landlord, I was thinking of being one, but then Proposition 15 was placed on the ballot. Now California gets $0 in investment from me.
The reason I'm saying that we need a rent and mortgage freeze, isn't because I love giving away three shit. I don't. I've had it with freeloaders and scam artists. It's because of the pandemic, the levels of potential homelessness are several times the norm, and that's before hitting the nadir. Think we have too many homeless now? In January of 2018, we had half a million. In the worst case scenario, we could have two hundred times that number.
And that's why I'm annoyed with politicians on both sides of the aisle, especially when the solution is so fucking simple:
Step 1: Rent and mortgage freeze extension
Step 2: Allow landlords who are affected by it to deduct it from their property taxes, and their federal income taxes
Such toughness, much wow. And any Congressperson who doesn't understand this, is either an idiot, sucks corporate cock so hard that he/she is blind, or hates America. And I'm saying this as someone who won't even benefit from the program, because it's the only sane thing to do. Let me repeat that: it is the only sane solution. If you see a train coming, get off the tracks.
And for all you Romney/Lincoln Project supporters, read the Romney Trust Act, and realize something: amidst COVID-19 pandemic and massive unemployment, they want to destroy your Social Security. Those are their true colors. Who am I supporting? At this point, anyone who's honest and sane. Not these bozos:
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/ ... rus-reliefSocial Security advocates who breathed a sigh of relief when Senate Republicans rejected President Trump’s demand to place a payroll cut in the latest coronavirus relief bill exhaled too soon. The version unveiled Monday by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) incorporates a provision even more menacing for Social Security (and Medicare too). This is the so-called TRUST Act, which was crafted by Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and has been bubbling along in Capitol Hill corridors since last year.
The TRUST Act is a device to tamper with Social Security behind closed doors and in a way that would allow senators and members of Congress to wreak havoc on the program without leaving fingerprints. The TRUST Act is now a provision of the HEALS Act — the Senate GOP’s opening bid on coronavirus relief. So it’s timely to give it a close look. We’ll start by pointing out that Social Security advocates are universally opposed to the measure, which they see, correctly, as an expression of longtime conservative hostility to the program.
“In the midst of a catastrophic pandemic,” says Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, Republicans “should be focused on protecting seniors, essential workers, and the unemployed. Instead, they are plotting to use the cover of the pandemic to slash Social Security.” The TRUST Act — the acronym stands portentously for “Time to Rescue United States’ Trusts” — would work by ginning up a sense of near-term emergency about the finances of Social Security, Medicare and the federal highway trust fund.
Translation for those who don't speak Romney bullshit: Medicare Fund expires in four years. Social Security has at least a decade of life left, if not more. By tying the two together, they can kill Social Security under the presidency of either Trump or Biden, walk away, and you won't even know which politicians did it. But remember, Romney cast a meaningless vote to impeach Trump, so donate your Social Security to Romney's umpteenth Middle Eastern War, and if you don't, he'll try to take it through lobbying. Amidst the fucking depression and pandemic.