[uglygoblin]

This is reductive and the reality is the system typically fights hard against socialistic policy so we end up with half solutions like a moratorium instead of the government paying the rents on behalf of the tenants. Now you claim "Socialism. Bad." because of it.

[at_a_remove]

Hey, speaking of reductive ... your interpretation of what I said is a great example of that.

As the parent poster said, most landlords are small-timers, but they get caricatured as New York slumlords scarfing down caviar while their tenants flinch over continually sparking bare wires flicker from a partially torn down kitchen wall. We have seen how the legislation passed for relief got warped to pay out to the big timers (just think of those hotel chains) instead of focusing on the smaller folks.

But when I bring up points like this, I just get the "well, if we abolished private property and everyone had a government-issued home ..." And the parent poster has had experience with that kind of comeback.