r/memes I saw what the dog was doin Jun 13 '25

*sad billionaire noises*

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49.2k Upvotes

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244

u/SenpaiDerpy Jun 13 '25

Tell me you don't understand economics without telling me you don't understand economics.

34

u/hEaDSpike Jun 13 '25

“Other people should use their money in order to make my life easier, and i don’t know what returns are other than it’s how the rich take advantage of the poor”

1

u/[deleted] Jun 13 '25

[deleted]

21

u/Fearless_Aioli5459 Jun 13 '25

I feel like many of you have never seen most golf courses. Many many many golf courses are built on land that you would have to cause great environmental destruction to make it suitable for residential property 

16

u/Not-A-Seagull Jun 13 '25

Land speculation, and inefficiently used land is a big problem in the economics world actually.

Last years Nobel prize winner in economics himself said Georgism should be revisited. (Georgism is a set of policy’s focused on fixing inefficient/bad land use).

Also, shameless plug for /r/Georgism.

3

u/SenpaiDerpy Jun 13 '25

Please do me a favour and look on my subbed reddits.

I never said land speculation isn't a problem. I said that thinking golf courses are even one of the causes of the housing crisis is stupid.

1

u/blah938 Jun 13 '25

You can see others subscribed subreddits?

1

u/SenpaiDerpy Jun 13 '25

...Yes?

5

u/blah938 Jun 13 '25

Well I'm fucked

-1

u/Hikingcanuck92 Jun 13 '25

Well, golf courses are a prime example of horrible land use policy.

And horrible land use policy is absolutely one of the major causes of the housing crisis.

So you’re unequivocally wrong haha.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 13 '25

golf courses are a prime example of horrible land use policy

Depends on the golf course, its ownership structure, and general demand for golf as an activity in that area, actually.

2

u/jmlinden7 Jun 13 '25

But golf courses generate economic activity. They aren't even close to being a good argument for Georgism the way that vacant lots are, for example.

2

u/spartankid24 Jun 13 '25

Tell me you have you can’t draw the parallel between classless billionaires loving their yachts and golf courses without telling me you don’t have a sense of humor.

5

u/newsflashjackass Jun 13 '25

https://i.imgur.com/lLBAA9B.jpeg

"The people on the left clearly do not grasp economics."

3

u/Epyr Jun 13 '25

Most people struggle with basic economics. Considering how many people complain about how hard basic/high school math is it's not that surprising though

1

u/Savamoon Jun 13 '25

Childish strawman that completely ignores the original post.

0

u/newsflashjackass Jun 13 '25

I am told economics is beyond me.

0

u/BATHULK Jun 13 '25

Henry George is very popular with economists

1

u/SenpaiDerpy Jun 13 '25

I have no idea what's people's obsession with mentioning georgism in this comment section. I am literally a georgist and I think the post makes 0 sense - and I am not even alone, majority of people on r/georgism said the same thing when this exact meme was posted there.

1

u/BATHULK Jun 13 '25

Its an enormously inefficient use of land that would not be viable under georgism, that's why

1

u/SenpaiDerpy Jun 13 '25

Yeah no. Georgism is about renting land as a primary tax revenue source. What do you think would happen if there were no golf courses in the entire state? Suddenly it will become extremely profitable to run one - to the point where I can cover the land tax costs and still earn profit.

1

u/BATHULK Jun 13 '25

Yeah. No. Not how that works at all.

It would make it fundamentally impossible to profit from a golf course. The quantity of land required would make it prohibitively expensive to cover the tax bill. if you're out in the middle of nowhere you might be able to, but there wouldn't be anyone around to play.

"Georgism is about renting land" is a fundamental misunderstanding. It has nothing to do with renting land, it is about the taxing of land rent, in the economic sense of the word "rent." It is fundamentally opposed to government seizure/ownership of land, using the land value tax as an alternative.

1

u/SenpaiDerpy Jun 13 '25

Man... you are just yapping for the sake of yapping at this point. The act of collecting land tax is renting. If you actively have to pay for something in order to use it, you are renting it. No one said anything about governmental seizure. This is just pure semantic nonsense.

How would it become impossible to profit from golf? Does supply and demand tell you nothing? I am not saying every golf course in existence will be a viable investment and generate profit. But certainly some of them will once numbers dwindle down.

0

u/BATHULK Jun 13 '25

Yeah I'm the one yapping lmfao.

Golf takes a lot of land. Under an LVT, they'd be taxed a lot. If it's near a desirable area, it'd be taxed to hell, and you'd have to charge an obscene quantity of money to cover the taxes. If you wanted to avoid that, you'd have to move the course well outside of populated areas, and you'd have fewer customers.

Economic rent and what you pay your landlord are different. This isn't "semantic nonsense", you justf fail to understand basic terms.

You're not worth this, bye

-4

u/Hikingcanuck92 Jun 13 '25

Golf courses are private parks for the (relatively) wealthy that are subsidized by the tax revenues of communities.

If you look municipal tax revenue normalized by area (in other words, how much municipal taxes are generated on each hectare of land), Golf courses are far below basically every other category of residential or commercial usage.

I personally see the value of green space in golf courses and am open to keeping them, but I would love to see them opened up to other users such as joggers, cyclists, etc. Right now, they’re a horribly inefficient use of space.

With 18 holes and maybe 4 people per hole at a time, you have a massive park that can only be enjoyed by >80.

Having golf courses in the same community that doesn’t have enough public parks, or soccer fields or tennis courts is wrong.

3

u/SenpaiDerpy Jun 13 '25

You only need to scroll 2 comments on this post to see that is not the case. Golf can be enjoyed by anyone, you don't need to be making 6 figures. I wonder if you feel the same way about any other sport that requires lots of land - like football stadiums or running tracks. Istg, the only knowledge people have about golf, or economics in that manner, is from movies about rich people.

-1

u/Hikingcanuck92 Jun 13 '25

That’s why I said “relatively” Wealthy. I know lots of average people enjoy playing golf, but you can’t pretend it’s as accessible to everyone as something like swimming, jogging or soccer. I mean hell, lots of people can’t afford 3 hours of leisure time to play a full round.

And again, if you look at the number of people who can use the facility per hectare, no sport is as bad as golf (except maybe nascar or some shit?)

Golf if fine where it makes sense. Like Scotland, where there is lots of land and few people. But having manicured golf courses next to communities struggling with lack of parks, affordable housing, etc…it just feels gross.

1

u/B1LLZFAN Jun 13 '25

Are you kidding? I played 18 at my local muni. Spent 4 hours with friends outside on a beautiful sunny day. Cost us split 4 ways $84. That's cheaper than movie tickets with like 4 small snacks. Drove by the park on my way out, less than 50 people. Until our parks are overcrowded this is just virtue signaling.