Hey, this is something that is eating me up lately and I'm not sure what to do or where to turn. Some context to the title:
I have a very good friend who I've known for years (he and his fiancée are both going to be members of my own wedding party) who I care about a lot. That being said, he comes from a family where his parents started their own company and both they and his brother do landlording on the side. He usually has a cycle of thinking about joining in and then backing out, and he is back in that mindset again. He's very frugal so he's saved up quite a but and after getting furloughed for a while he seems a bit more serious than usual. He's aware of my politics and I think I've been slowly making him see the light, but I'm at a roadblock. How do I tell this guy that I don't think he should be a landlord because they are scum, without also saying that I essentially think his family are scum? Is it even possible? I just feel like I need to say something if I want to call myself a leftist actually dedicated to making the world a better place. Thoughts?
Edit: I think gorn had very constructive advice.
That is a tough one.
It might not be possible, and I think a lot of people living in this system have been conditioned to not see it as leeching. There's also the dimension that property is the true wealth-building mechanism in this system, so they would probably may see it as self-handicapping for idealistic purposes, or even as an unnecessary risk to their security to not do it.If all else fails, maybe you could convince them to only go after commercial property so he is a middleman to a middleman, rather than lording over individuals? Morality aside, isn't this literally the worst possible time to invest in a bubble? Right before a crash? Or were they talking about waiting until the shit really hits?