I know a Gen Zer who’s hoping her Gen X parents will leave her their house and their 20+ acres of land, but it ain’t gonna happen. When they reach retirement age they’re going to sell it all and that’s going to be their retirement. Retirement is expensive, and the longer you live the more expensive it is, especially if you get sick, and you will get sick, eventually.
It’s admirable that you are trying to help some service men and women, and not merely looking to make the highest possible profit for yourself. I’m sure you’re not the only landlord who isn’t motivated primarily by greed, but many, if not most, are, because they are incentivized to be.
When the goal is maximum profits, it incentivizes business owners of all types to generate as much revenue as possible (and in the case of housing, that means increase rents as much as possible) and cut costs as much as possible. That’s why many people are paying more and more for lower and lower quality housing.
The problem is the profit motive. And we can’t just hope that all landlords will decide to be more like you, not when they have every incentive to be as greedy as possible.
So yeah, I need serious “profit” just to break even.
That’s a contradiction in terms. To break even is by definition not a profit. To make a profit, you need a surplus after you minus expenses from revenue. If landlords were content to just break even, I wouldn’t necessarily have a problem with them. In fact, I think not-for-profit housing could go a long way in addressing the housing affordability crisis.
I have a real problem with landlords. It feels like an especially predatory business. Some things just shouldn’t be for profit. I mean, when you own something that people universally need, and charge as much as you possibly can for it, to maximize your own profit, for nothing other than just being the owner, it feels really scummy.
Auto mechanics were also not affected, since they’ve been using the same computers since the Carter administration.
As I’ve said many times: I don’t hate Windows, I hate Microsoft. If Windows were owned by a not-for-profit, or a consortium or some other democratically run organization of interested groups, I don’t think I would have any need for Linux. But, as it is, Linux is absolutely necessary. I hope some day that Windows is replaced by a Linux distribution that is owned and maintained by an organization that gives all stakeholders, including and especially end users, a tangible voice in its management.
Nintendo doesn’t want you to play their games if you’re not willing to follow their rules. Ok, that’s their prerogative, but that means I will not be playing their games…at least not their new ones.
I prefer playing on my Steam Deck these days, and I really don’t want to buy another handheld just to play Nintendo first party titles. I’m going to play some of my favorite classic Nintendo titles on my Deck using emulators and just not play the new stuff. I’m sure they’re great games, but so what? There are lots of great games. I’ve got a huge backlog of great games already in my Steam library, and 20 more on my wishlist. If Nintendo some day decides to make their titles available for Steam Deck or PC, I’d consider buying them, but since that’s extremely unlikely to happen, I think I’m just done with Nintendo.