- 17 Jul 2018 02:33
#14933299
I'm specifically referring to rentier class bourgeoisie. A welfare recipient or retiree may subsist comfortably (or not so comfortably) but that's all they can do. A rentier of the elite class is capable of multiplying his capital through leveraging other people's money via mechanisms established for this purpose in capital markets. He is capable of purchasing labor and capital. He is capable of monopolizing vast tracts of land to the exclusion of all others (this is why the right hates public lands so much - they can't grab it). He is capable of purchasing legislators to enact laws that augment the advantages he enjoys.
There's a gray area to be sure. But the typical small business owner typically dies and leaves his business to a few squabbling children, after which it typically disappears in a few years; just because he owns a business doesn't make him any different than a professional or a laborer. They subsist at different levels of wealth, but their assets rarely reach the critical level where their wealth 'takes off' and becomes self-reproducing.
SolarCross wrote:Also how is an interest bearing pension or savings not rentier income? Or indeed state welfare benefits? What about someone who rented out the house they owned but just used the rental income to pay the rent on another place where they lived because for personal circumstances they didn't live in the same place that they owned?
I'm specifically referring to rentier class bourgeoisie. A welfare recipient or retiree may subsist comfortably (or not so comfortably) but that's all they can do. A rentier of the elite class is capable of multiplying his capital through leveraging other people's money via mechanisms established for this purpose in capital markets. He is capable of purchasing labor and capital. He is capable of monopolizing vast tracts of land to the exclusion of all others (this is why the right hates public lands so much - they can't grab it). He is capable of purchasing legislators to enact laws that augment the advantages he enjoys.
There's a gray area to be sure. But the typical small business owner typically dies and leaves his business to a few squabbling children, after which it typically disappears in a few years; just because he owns a business doesn't make him any different than a professional or a laborer. They subsist at different levels of wealth, but their assets rarely reach the critical level where their wealth 'takes off' and becomes self-reproducing.
The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters. -Antonio Gramsci