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Reason I'm asking is because I have an aunt that owns like maybe 3 - 5 (not sure the exact amount) small townhouses around the city (well, when I say "city" think of like the areas around a city where theres no tall buildings, but only small 2-3 stories single family homes in the neighborhood) and have these houses up for rent, and honestly, my aunt and her husband doesn't seem like a terrible people. They still work a normal job, and have to pay taxes like everyone else have to. They still have their own debts to pay. I'm not sure exactly how, but my parents say they did a combination of saving up money and taking loans from banks to be able to buy these properties, fix them, then put them up for rent. They don't overcharge, and usually charge slightly below the market to retain tenants, and fix things (or hire people to fix things) when their tenants request them.

I mean, they are just trying to survive in this capitalistic world. They wanna save up for retirement, and fund their kids to college, and leave something for their kids, so they have less of stress in life. I don't see them as bad people. I mean, its not like they own multiple apartment buildings, or doing excessive wealth hoarding.

Do leftists mean people like my aunt too? Or are they an exception to the "landlords are bad" sentinment?

I’ve known a few in the U.S., and even worked at one. Maybe people won’t become billionaires doing this, but why wait for a complete overhaul of society to implement more of what are good ideas.

I’d also like to see more childcare co-ops, or community shared pre-k schools. Wheres the movement to build communities and pool resources around these business models in the US? In short, co-ops are the closest socialist/communist business model that’s actually implemented in the U.S., so why are more leftists not doing this?

So there's a ton of countries that I've heard have had truly unaffordable housing for decades, like:

• The UK
• Ireland
• The Netherlands

And I've heard of a ton of countries where the cost of houses was until recently quite affordable where it's also started getting worse:

• Germany
• Poland
• Czechia
• Hungary
• The US
• Australia
• Canada
• And I'm sure plenty others

1. It seems to be a pan-Western bloc thing. Is the cause in all these countries the same?
2. We've heard of success stories in cities like Vienna where much of the housing stock is municipally owned – but those cities have had it that way for decades. Would their system alleviate the current crisis if established in the aforementioned countries?
3. What specific policies should I be demanding of our politicians to make housing affordable again? Is there any silver bullet? Has any country demonstrably managed to reverse this crisis yet?

And, should I change?

I'm 38 years old, single, not interested in starting a family (my mother was a drama queen and I couldn't live that again with a partner or a child), don't own any property, not really a consumerist person, I max my 401k and save 70% of my net income because most of the stuff society tells me to buy is irrelevant to me (I still own clothes I bought 20 years ago and they still fit me), don't need a car and use a bike or public transportation, I prefer to cook at home because it's cheaper and I can choose what I cook. I stopped drinking alcohol 10 years ago. I'm definitively not an extrovert.

I majored in philosophy because I liked it and I still do, but never found a job with my major. I tried being a high school teacher, but teenagers are way too much for me. Nursing, what I do now, is a versatile and safer job, even if I think it's slowly killing me.

I feel cheated in life.

For 15 years I lived paycheck to paycheck paying off my debt, often having to move due to increased rent so this might be my way of coping with trauma. I still feel I'm way behind most people my age. I feel like a loser because I imagine them knowing better than me what they want in life.

It's true that comparison is the thief of joy, but I cannot stop ruminating about this.

If you read my post history you'll realize I don't really care about my job, but stay because I need a paycheck and I like having a big rainy day fund. If I was a millionaire, I'd stop working. I don't like any job.

It might be true that I'm autistic, because close human connections where never that important to me and most people I work with are not close to me, but as I'm nearing 40 I'm starting to think if my destiny is going to be to live and die alone in a nursing home. Sometimes this scares me, but I always go back to my apathetic, indifferent self, like I'm on some kind of drug that makes me not feel anything, neither good or bad, like my emotional brain is underdeveloped.

What I don't want to be is this desperate loner craving for any kind of human attention turning to post his whole life online hoping a good Samaritan comes and saves me. First because it's pathetic and secondly because that's never a good foundation to build a friendship, I'd be inviting a predator, another crazy loner, a newborn Christian to save me with god, somebody trying to scam me with a MLM scheme or an antivaxer into my life. And I'm not a 20 year old discovering the world, I'm almost 40.

Every woman I've been attracted to has ignored me and every woman that showed an interest in me wasn't good enough to me: she could be eager to make a connection, put an interest, even pretty and genuine but I cannot fake being in love or feeling attraction. I always ended up considering them as friends or acquaintances. I'm too old and too introverted (autistic?) to visit a club and try to impress a woman to go out with me.

I don't think this is depression, depression would be me not going to work not even calling in sick.

It seems clear I need a friend, but I don't know how to make friends anymore. I focused so much on surviving that I stopped caring about anyone else.

Except the obvious fuck spez / steve huffman stuff, what are the things that get you banned on reddit, but is okay on most major instances Lemmy?

Specifically, I want to know where is the line drawn, regarding the recent NYC Shooting incident involving the corporate shithead.

ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ

lol okay here me out, I am enough capable of looking up info on these communities myself through probably one or two web engine searches, but then again we also have to consider that:

• It is a funny title.
• I keep forgetting it.

So really though, what I wanted to know was are we able to communicate with people on the *don instances?

Teach me of this world 🔭

Was originally thinking of posting Lenmy content on Reddit to less directly advertise Lemmy, but in the communities I follow, its almost exclusively content or already posted to, or directly originating from Reddit. This got me wondering if there were any niches that Lemmy serves better than other, larger platforms.

Let's face it, the dems don't care about the commoners, the republicans are actually pure evil, everyone was happy when that shitstain CEO got shot.

Maybe we should build on this momentum we have to drive actual change at the political level.

my first act as president in 2029 would be to issue a full and unconditional pardon of the billionaire killer.

edit:

well alrighty then, followup question, does anyone want to join my newly formed political party? I'm going to start working on drafting our mission statement, or manifesto or whatever it should be called.

Further Edit: I set up a lemmy community for us to post shit about it. If you want to join, that's our official, unofficial space. https://lemmy.world/c/newpoliticalparty

I just saw this post about landlords being parasitic. While I agree in some points - mainly that by owning more property than you need for yourself, you’re driving up the price for others who want to buy a property. However, I don’t want to buy property when I move. I don’t have the funds for it, and I’m happy with a rented flat. Sure I want to get my own property at some point, however I’m also sure I want to move at least two more times in my life. Buying and selling each time sounds like a lot of hassle. Also, I live in a shared flat, that just sounds like a legal nightmare if the ownership changed every time someone moved out. How does this fit together? Are there solutions to this that don't require landlords to exist?

*Edit: JFC, I've been physically ill at the thought that I was just trying to justify choosing something that was just shitty behavior. I haven't even been all that comfortable talking to my therapist about it as much as I've needed to. And reading every single response (so far)..... well i'm in literal tears over the relief I feel not being alone in thought. Thank you. *

To clarify, they want me to use the money to buy a duplex / other property for me take care of (for the entire place) and to renovate and to live in, while renting out the other unit/room/whathaveyou so that I don't have to worry about property taxes or the basic necessities of life.

(feel free to ignore this paragraph explaining my anxities and ignorance)The entire topic of inheritance and the circumstances leading to one has caused several of my worst panic attacks when it has been brought up in the past. (Bad enough to require medication assistance to regulate) And thankfully, this family member was aware and stopped bringing it up as they were in the habit of doing. Over the last 2 years I've come a long way with my issue and getting help fortunately, which has proven to be useful in this context recently. Their health recently took a scary decline, I've been able to regulate myself in the discussions that have followed, within reason.

I haven't yet been capable of asking the specifics on how much money it will be, or if there will be any trusts or whatever etc. And honestly, I don't think I'll be able to in the near future. But the way they talk about it, it sounds as though it will be enough to at (at least almost) pay for a small duplex type of situation.

I'm currently unhoused, and have been for over a year, so there is no love of capitalism in me, much less any desire to "be a landlord". I feel very ethically convicted against becoming what I think of when I think of Landlords, even one of those local 2-3 property owning ones.

Unfortunately I feel that clashing with the rest of values surrounding honoring the wishes of what is currently my last surviving relative (who I still remain in contact with and love dearly). Not to mention whatever might be a part of any legal stuff pertaining to her will. (which I know hardly anything about and still makes me panicked just typing about)

My main question:

Is it ethical to own a property that I live in, provide the standard maintenance for, and work on renovating.... and also rent out part of it?

I value my ethics, and part of that has always been assessing the nuances thoughtfully. When I think about the specifics of this, I find difficulty in framing that situation as the role of a landlord. Landlord being defined, at least the way I think about what a landlord is / the way other people use it.

My followup question:

Is anyone who is paid money that is for sure another person's "rent money" considered a landlord, regardless of it being the only property they own? Even if they also live there?

*Edit 2: for only those in such a position, I have no shame sharing this link since the 1st time was many months ago https://gofund.me/9bd76285 *

As opposed to ever needing to dip their toes in "illegal" conduct and making their income streams unsound or too risky in terms of legal liabillity by doing dumbass wild-West ransoms like they're new-timey bankrobbers

sometimes, even if i don't dream of anything, i wake up feeling like i got a lot of friends or talked to a lot of people or got popular or something like that and got like a million email notifications and stuff!! has anyone felt like that before??

Really wanna go all Austin Powers on it molé molé molé style with a stick

Can I at least exfoliate it daily until it has worn away?

I discussing the topic with one of my most knowledgeable friends and would like to see some other outlook.

Inportant fact to consider is that: Political gerrymandering is a "non-justicable political question" according to the supreme court, meaning the courts claim they have no constitutional power to decide this, and its up to congress (via passing a bill with the president's approval) to decide if it should be legal, and in the mean time, it's currently legal.

Republicans have been gerrymandering in red states.

Democrats in blue states on the otherhand, are either currently using non-partisan or bi-partisan commitees/commissions to draw the districting maps, or are in the process of switching to said methods of drawing the districting maps.

This mean that the house would become tipped in favor of republicans.

California and New York surely has a lot of red districts that we can gerrymander out of. The question is: Should Democrats do that? Should Democrats play dirty like republicans have? (Again, supreme court have said that political gerrymandering is legal)

Because I fear that we would have republicans perpetually in control of the house even if Democrats have the most votes nationwide.

So I’m pretty sure most of you guys also came from reddit. Or at least, a majority of you did. So I think you all understand how addictive it can be. I’m not going to lie, in the past few years I really liked to go up every now and then to troll stupid and harmful people. But lately, I realised it’s all a waste of time because it’s not like I can actually hurt them - I mean I did manage to hurt them but only because they were dumb enough, but it’s not like I can actually “”act upon my judgement”” or any other cringe thing an edgelord can think about. But yeah, I’ve grown tired of negativity, and I want to be a… wholesome person, I think. But sometimes when relaxing, I get the urge to hop back on Reddit to troll some people just because, which I don’t want. I mean don’t misunderstand me, I didn’t entirely gave up on Reddit bc I still have an account there and I do go up if I want to see gaming shit or anything related to my niche interest, I’m just avoiding some specific subreddits. So what should I do? Does anyone else have similar feelings as I do?

This is a genuine question.

I have a hard time with this. My righteous side wants him to face an appropriate sentence, but my pessimistic side thinks this might have set a great example for CEOs to always maintain a level of humanity or face unforseen consequences.

P.S. this topic is highly controversial and I want actual opinions so let's be civil.

And if you're a mod, delete this if the post is inappropriate or if it gets too heated.

I'm very confused about quitting my current position as a nurse. This is not a typical one man job, but you need a team. I'm pondering staying for some members of the team:

I get along with 40% of the staff, 30% of staff are absolute slackers who master the social game and get away doing way less than the rest and go smoking with my manager, who enjoys and needs the attention. I'm indifferent to the other 30%, who also work well.

I know I may not sound like a reliable narrator, it's just that I don't want to get anywhere near this 30% of lazy, childish, gossip staff.

I had a meeting with management with my union representative present. Long story short, I told management as soon as I find a new job within the same hospital system, I'd stop working at my current unit with my manager. She forgives the ones she likes and treats me differently, I'm not likable and being forced to give attention to people I'm indifferent to is very tiring. I'm there to work, she seems to expect I give her attention and stop doing my job to ask about her weekend. Not gonna happen.

Day 1 post meeting: manager and all her friends ignore me, go somewhere else when I enter the room.

Day 3 post meeting: friendly call from manager asking if I can come in on a free day, cause somebody called in sick.

Every other interaction with my manager since day 3 has been friendly, which is something new.

I have no problem working with people who understand they're at a workplace to work, because we all need the money and want to go home afterwards, it's the lazy ones that sit, talk and then expect me to do their job the ones I hate with a burning passion.

Since the meeting I've decided to use my current unit to learn as much as I can before I (possibly?) leave. Not because I suddenly feel this is a calling, but because the more I know about my field, the easier is gonna be to find a new job, either within my system or in a new one. I've also discovered I like explaining patients what happens to their bodies after their operation and how medicines work.

But I don't dislike the whole unit, I just want to keep my manager at a distance and don't work with that 30% of slackers.

Since you, ya know, boiled it?

Title pretty much says it.

Can I at least fantasize about Democrats frantically creating procedural bulwarks and safeguards between now and inauguration day that will have some effect and not be immediately swept away by the incoming administration?

To what degree can they have any impact on the next four years, and do we think they are pulling all the levers they can?

Maybe I’m just face-blind or being dense but the photos from the scene of the crime look like a different dude than the ginning hostel check in guy. The jackets and backpacks are different. Although people can have multiple jackets and backpacks. We don’t see much of the shooters face but the eyebrows look different. Although, people can pluck/shave eyebrows. I guess the happy hostel guy would have come forward and been like “WTF?” and “I have an alibi” if it wasn’t him?

Curious since it's being talked about in the news.

It's almost nostalgic, for the wrong reasons. It came upon me a few minutes ago to realize this. They go parallel with eachother that 20 years ago, people had the same exact defeatist reaction when George W Bush got re-elected when people thought he wouldn't.

Now, 20 years later, when people thought Trump wouldn't get elected again, here we are.

Their jokes about assigning gender to babies and to being transgender, dressing in drag, like all of it was a send-up.

Sure, they did punch down if you were a person who were in those groups, but the fact that it was large enough social event to be relevant enough to be a comedy skit on a television show or a movie seen by millions implies that there were some serious things going on back then that they could see and wanted to address.

What the hell was going on that put all of those things in their mind?

Articles say the gun issue wasn't likely to result in prison time, but when it comes to the tax issue all they say is "maximum of 17 years". The max is not the typical sentence, which is what I want to know. Realistically what was Hunter BIden facing?

The GOP lost every swing state wide election this year except for 1 (PA-Senate). And even that was razor thin in a Red Wave year.

They lost Governors/Senate races in

Arizona Nevada North Carolina Michigan Wisconsin

I know it’s normal for the presidential candidates to receive the most votes on a ballot. But even the Dems that won these races weren’t too far behind Kamala Harris. Yet the Republicans candidates were way behind trump.

Why is this? Do these people literally go to the ballot box just to vote trump and leave?

The thongs I use for sport with leggings and work are a mix of polyester and spandex. I want them to last as long as possible.

I experimented a bit with one: I made a baking soda paste, applied it to the stained parts, let it sit for an hour, hand scrubbed it, rinsed in cold water, pressed the thong to get rid of as much water as possible, let it to air dry. Am I being too careful?

Baking soda removed all stains.

Do you only hand wash your undies?

The Nato chief is saying that North Korea is getting access to Russian missile and nuclear technology, in exchange for troops. If this is true, should South Korea launch a preemptive attack on North Korea before these new technologies are properly integrated and utilized?

https://downdetector.com/

I assumed my internet was down until I opened Lemmy. Looking around, I'm seeing complaints about google and google services (gmail, drive, etc.)

Wouldn't the body reject them, and/or get infected around the implant area?

Prominent people like Politicians, CEOS, etc...