The government of Catalonia wants to ban housing speculation. It is currently studying the constitutional legality of banning the ownership of more than one home in areas where the housing crisis is acute. These areas include inner city neighborhoods but also rural and coastal towns where the spread of Airbnb-type tourist apartments has caused housing to become unaffordable to locals.
This is very welcome news. Why should people be allowed to make money merely by buying and selling something that is a vital necessity? If at least decrepit homes were improved to make them livable, then fine, a reasonable profit deserves to be earned. But the fact is that many speculators avoid making any improvements whatsoever because they are interested only in property flipping or profiteering from the lucrative tourist rental market.
Capitalism is fine as long as profiteering, monopolies, and obscene CEO salaries are not tolerated. If environmental and public health isn’t harmed, and water, food, and shelter are affordable to working people together with affordable health care, then it’s a fair system. But that is not the case. Capitalism is all about profiteering, monopolies, and obscene CEO salaries. It’s all about getting away with environmental destruction and paying the majority of workers a wage that is insufficient for a family to live on. It’s all about making the rich richer and the poor poorer. Frankly, capitalism sucks, and its abuses need to be curbed.
If we can agree that driving while drunk should not be tolerated, then why do we tolerate people who make money without providing a service or without producing anything? Why do we tolerate an unproductive business activity that only drives prices sky-high? Real-estate speculation is an unethical activity that should always have been illegal. Better late than never.
Criticalista 