[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by jfman

Is it their own money or are they borrowing it?

Fundamentally rents represent a transfer between genuine wealth creators and entrepreneurs to asset holders. Who in turn take their profits (and borrow against their assets) to carry out the same wheeze elsewhere - fundamentally because land is an asset in short supply.

It's long overdue that this imbalance was removed and if Covid-19 accelerates that then there's maybe something good to come from it.

Why should borrowing money (which repaid to the lender) turn the borrower into a parasite?

The entire economic system in heavily populated small land-mass countries depends on this revolving door. When the economy becomes stressed as it is now and goes out of balance, landlords are placed into difficulty because their income stream needed to repay their investment debt has disappeared. You know that, of course. But no parasitism in that.

Your last sentence will indeed re-balance the equation and ultimately will hit the lenders as much as the landlords - indeed the lenders will become the landlords!