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by shawnee_ 3509 days ago
My landlord takes the risk of owning the property, and I pay a premium for that.

You pay a premium so your landlord can take risk to get the most lucrative profits? Why, you are a benevolent renter, aren't you?

By your logic, owning a small company with some employees is passive income and "bad",

That is not at all what I said; your reading comprehension needs work. Owning a company with employees[1] means you are responsible for allocating the income into business profits among your employees. Most people who scrub toilets and wash sheets for AirBNB rentals are NOT employees or the owners of the properties. Along the same lines: the right way to treat employees involves giving them part ownership of the company they are working for, and thus they are rightfully entitled to some of the income from business-generating assets. Landlords do not do this. They farm out the work required to manage or maintain the assets, and demand the lion's share of the profit.

[1] There is a definite legal definition of "employee", and you don't seem to understand what that is. See the IRS's definition. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employe...
1 comments
RHSeeger 3509 days ago
The definition of employee had nothing to do with my point. Rather, I was saying that just because someone is in a purely "owner and manager" position doesn't make them a bad person for wanting some (or all) of the profits. The profits are what's left after you pay out what's necessary to run the (company, housing, whatever) and, as owner, you get to decide who/what that money goes to. As long as you're paying the people that do the work for you (and it doesn't matter AT ALL if they're employees, contractors, or other) a fair amount, you're doing fine in my book.

> Why, you are a benevolent renter, aren't you? To some extent yes. I believe my landlord charges me enough to cover what it costs him to pay for/maintain the place I live, plus some amount for the risk he takes on in owning it (major repairs, etc), plus some amount of profit that I find reasonable. Not all landlords set <some amount of profit> at unreasonable levels.

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