[nightski]

I'm not convinced. Passive income is a form of arbitrage. It means there is an inefficiency in the market and that person is fulfilling it. It's pretty rare that continues indefinitely without any effort. There may be a lot of people trying for passive income but the ones who actually achieve it are very rare. Even being a landlord can be a lot of work.

Things like fractional reserve banking, the stock market, these are actually all a way to increase liquidity. A forcing function so that people do not sit on cash and instead let it flow back through the economy. Hardly parasitic/leeching, it's actually fueling the engine of our economy.

[badpun]

Broad (stock) index investing is pretty much passive income. So far, the indices (SP500 etc.) have been performing pretty well and the strategy panned out. It may change in the future though.