Hey everyone,

When most people think of passive income, they picture a landlord, an ice cream shop owner, or a stock investor. All of these these things I find to be unethical.

But I’m wondering if you would consider there to be such a thing as ethical passive income?

Take for example: Someone flipping motorcycles, which is something I’ve considered doing myself. On one hand, if I fix up my bike using my own labor only, and then sell for a modest profit, it seems ethical because it’s by the fruits of my own labor (I understand that if you think deep enough, there is still people in the parts market being taken advantage. However, this is out of my control and an inherent aspect of living in a capitalist nation).

On the other hand, I see the issues with commodifying something vital like transportation. And while I don’t want to take part in that system, motorcycles are more of a recreational commodity (at least where I live where there is 6 months of winter). So I’m not sure if it’s as bad as flipping cars or houses.

In addition, it seems like with such low wages in the U.S., some form of passive income almost seems necessary to ever achieve retirement or avoid selling my labor for 40-60 hrs a week the rest of my life.

I’m interested to hear people’s opinion on this.

  • dukeofprunes [he/him]
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    edit-2
    4 years ago

    my take on stuff like this is, its possible to play the game and try to be good at it while simultaneously hating the fact youre forced to play it and that the rules are bullshit (and even better, trying to get everyone else to stop playing altogether). there's a certain threshold i think where you become 'part of the problem', eg actively resisting attempts to make the rules fairer, but this dont sound like it gets anywhere near that threshold to me. the game is capitalism btw.