Comments by "Wandering Existence" (@WanderingExistence) on "Wall Street's Dangerous New Obsession With Farmland" video.

"The rent of land, therefore, considered as the price paid for the use of the land, is naturally a monopoly price. It is not at all proportioned to what the landlord may have laid out upon the improvement of the land, or to what he can afford to take; but to what the farmer can afford to give." — Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book I, Chapter XI "Of the Rent of Land"
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They're called landLORDs for a reason. Historically feudalism transitioned into having more rights for the Lord's due to their power and prestige, like with the Magna Carta. This type of power change established fee simple private land ownership, creating more legal rights for landlords.
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@HowMoneyWorks That's a great quote. It shows how wealth inequality isn't just about money, it's about a severe inequality of the quality of life. Where people are exploited into toiling their body into dust while billionaires extract the leisure power of wealth from these hard-working people. I love the channel. I would like to request a video on cooperative economics, the Evergreen cooperative in Cleveland or the city of Preston might be two real world examples to look into ✌️
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@Jim-m3z There are areas of development going up around me and I see the still vacant lots and I just think about how their value is increasing due to the work of other people. Land value tax is an important way of allowing the community to capitalize on the spillover value (positive externalities) that the community creates... But I'm sure you knew this already 😜
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@DevoutSkeptic What do you think capitalism already is?
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@RapiBurrito Land is not just like everything else, it has inelastic supply and therefore has a different supply and demand function than other products. The insight is that landlords extract "economic rent" due this inelastic supply.
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@RapiBurrito Go away? You're on my post... You may leave anytime you wish.
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@Jim-m3z I mean, to be fair... Adam Smith is rather outdated. I posted this quote because it is factual, but a lot of Smith is really basic. The years of economic thought have culminated in an understanding of behavioral economics that shows the "invisible hand" is not always that smart. There are lots of psychological biases that prevent the free market from being 'rational'. I also love Henry George, but he was also wrong in his adherence to "free markets". The primary false assumption is that humans can be rational actors.
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@PsyrenXY Democratic socialism ftw.... But you know once to lefts agree, the infighting has to start 😅 I joke, but I am curious what your idea of democratic socialism entails. I would prefer an economy of non-government operated cooperatives and owner-occupancy homeownership. Where the government helps with universal healthcare and UBI, among other similar types of safety net. I know we all have a different vision of what we would like, so what would you want?
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@PsyrenXY What does your vision of democratic socialism include?
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@tony_5156 The history of land and chattel ownership is really interesting. Although I never fully got through it before it was due back, I really did like the book Owning The Earth by Andro Linklater.
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@Jim-m3z Laissez-faire capitalism is inherently incentivized by the profit motive, it will always hold privatized ground rents above the needs of domestic production. Even the father of capitalism couldn't stop that, and the warning of the Lockean Proviso by the grandfather of capitalism didn't do much either. The only way to create a system that stops commodifying land is to move past a system that stops commodifying everything. Capitalism seeks to even commodify the human soul as "human capital" to be rented by the hour for a wage. Capitalism is inherently alienating.
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@Jim-m3z Capitalism still relies on the renting of human beings as chattel. All capitalism is alienation.
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@Jim-m3z All capitalism relies on alienation, wage labor is the renting of people as chattel property.
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@RapiBurrito I can't offer any sight to the blind. It sure is a pity that you can't see how private property is a government sanctioned monopoly privileged (very much like what IP does to ideas). I didn't realize government sanction deeds, like that of the United States Homestead Act, which used government force to steal land from the native population and give it out to European settlers, was "free market"....
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Capitalism is a crime against humanity.
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