this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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As many other things on the internet, the original idea was great (renting your couch or a room in your house for tourists to accommodate and feel a local experience, but once it reached the masses, and speculative companies bought properties just to rent them and pay cheap labor to maintain the rooms, it became BS one more time.
No matter what those whose drive is pure economical touch, they always ruin it.
Money doesn't turn people evil. Humans are inherently greedy. Money is the scalpel that exposes our true self.
Here's a hint, capitalism isn't the problem. Capitalism allows us to do what we want, which means we can be greedy. Freedom is a two edged sword. One that I will gladly take cuts from while it enables our way of life. No one else is responsible for your safety but you.
Capitalism is definitely the problem here. When profit above everything is the goal and how the system operates it’s always going to lead to things like this. Capitalism doesn’t “enable our way of life”, advances in technology allowed that all capitalism does is ensure the majority of those gains are going to the people at the top instead of society as a whole.
I dont think people are inherently greedy. We are taught from a young age the need for money which in turn makes people greedy. Ie nurture not nature
If people grew up on small farms with only a bartering system, i dont think people would hoard resources nearly as much.
It may be i want to see the best in people but i do believe most people would rather help others than not.
Bartering isn't any better than using fiat. Fiat allows economies to function at a level bartering can never approach. To say we 'need' money exposes your ignorance.
I really hate when people make this claim that humans are inherently greedy. I usually find that the people who believe in this are greedy people who want to believe that it's natural. It's a way for them to feel less guilty about a quality that can be deemed unsavory.
It doesn't take much to find evidence that goes against this claim. Buddhist monks who take vows of poverty, teachers who teach to help children despite low salaries, family members who spend money to help other family members, true Christians who follow the footsteps of Christ, and the list can continue.
In addition, consider this, almost all of animalia on Earth takes only what they need. Lion prides aren't hunting prey to the brink of extinction. Bees take only what they need to maintain a healthy hive. Historically, most Native American tribes only took from the land what they needed to live.
No, humans are not inherently greedy... Humans are inherently adaptable. This is something all animalia shares. And currently, our societal systems rewards those who make and hold onto the most money that they can. What this means is most of the "successful" people in our society are likely somewhat greedy. This causes some of us to believe that greed is necessary to survive, but most of us focus on being happy and having enough money to maintain that happiness. Money promises security, and security helps keep people happy; but you don't need to be a multi-millionaire in order to be secure.
Money is not evil, it becomes evil when it becomes the primary purpose of doing something. Like if I choose to fix bikes in my home town the money is there to offset the costs but if I choose to make money fixing bikes in my home town then the purpose is entirely different.
It's also obvious that most of the savings in the US anyway go away when you're running it as a business. AirBnB has basically turned into VRBO, but apparently sketchier.