and what do landlords live on? HUH? We own and operate a small self storage system. If the government come through and tells us to suspend rent, I am going to go tell them to take a flying eff.
The problem with American people is that they live above their means and we elect grubby ass politicians that make the country do the same.
What needs to be done is what I have been raised on, tighten your belt for hard times. Meaning, stop spending what you do not have to spend.
I agree with you completely that this sham has been blown way out of proportion. The wool has been pulled over the eyes of PDJT of the deep state early on and he had no way to change course.
This is going to get rougher before it gets better. Tighten that ol belt.
Here is how I see it. The government has come in and taken away the livelihood of millions of people.
If you work in just about any job, you slip and fall and break your back - the employer has workers compensation insurance to cover the cost. The employee is out of work and needs compensation, and the employer doesn’t have to pay the out of work employee out of pocket for no work.
In this case the government has put potentially millions, or tens of millions, out of work.
I don’t presume to have every answer for every situation. If you have no debts and need rent money to live, fair enough. You deserve compensation too. But the fact is many of your tenants are going to take a bath if this quarantine lasts for any serious period of time. You aren’t going to collect rent from people with no money anyway. So what you gonna do? Evict them? Your right under normal circumstances. These are not normal circumstances. If you evict them, can you even find suitable replacements?
FWIW, my logic goes up and down the line. If you owe the bank mortgage payments they are suspended too. If you own the land free and clear and rely on the rent to eat, well yes you deserve compensation just like your tenants.
Normally I would say let the market figure this out. But the government has massively intruded on the market. They have literally shut down 100,000’s of businesses. What are these businesses and employees supposed to do?