I’m getting the feeling that you’re from the US based on your distrust of the government, which in your case, I guess is fair.
But I think the person you’re replying to probably has in mind a situation that is much better than the current one in the US before we even start seriously considering buying up private property for the commons. The obvious first candidate would be utilities like water/power/internet. Without a profit motive or investors to pay off, they will offers the best service at the lowest price. Not to say private alternative wouldn’t exist, but that you would always have the cheaper public option to fall back on, and also keep the private alternatives from jacking up prices only the make a profit.
Public housing could work in a similar way, where you have the option out there on the housing marketing, in addition to banks and private sellers. For instance, in my city, we have public housing that is $8/mo. I lived in one of these public cooperatives with my folks until my teens, and it was great. Really gave us a leg up when we needed it.
PS. I recommend turning off visible vote counts. Downvotes were getting under my skin too, but now all I see are comments.
I’m getting the feeling that you’re from the US based on your distrust of the government, which in your case, I guess is fair.
But I think the person you’re replying to probably has in mind a situation that is much better than the current one in the US before we even start seriously considering buying up private property for the commons. The obvious first candidate would be utilities like water/power/internet. Without a profit motive or investors to pay off, they will offers the best service at the lowest price. Not to say private alternative wouldn’t exist, but that you would always have the cheaper public option to fall back on, and also keep the private alternatives from jacking up prices only the make a profit.
Public housing could work in a similar way, where you have the option out there on the housing marketing, in addition to banks and private sellers. For instance, in my city, we have public housing that is $8/mo. I lived in one of these public cooperatives with my folks until my teens, and it was great. Really gave us a leg up when we needed it.
PS. I recommend turning off visible vote counts. Downvotes were getting under my skin too, but now all I see are comments.