I’m not necessarily saying that all of the farms are owned/run by the respective social media platforms, though here is an article that touches a bit of what I’m trying to say. Another instance that I can think of was [reddit tried an astroturf campaign to try and make folks less critical of the API changes reddit tried an astroturf campaign to try and make folks less critical about the API changes

This, along with keeping in perspective that troll farms exist and operate on social media because more interactions mean more usage, and more usage means more value to the platform because these numbers prove people are using it. So the trolls causing friction make the platform owners richer, the trolls try to go viral on bad takes (for clout or other direct financial gain by ‘influencing’), and this is how and why there seems to be so many people seeming to be ‘extreme’ (while some certainly are, others are emboldened and just follow their lead when it seems that there’s no negative consequence). End of the day, if someone’s trying to get your goat, don’t let them buy it with bullshit.

The alternative would’ve been where banks don’t own half of everything, but here we are. Next best thing would be that government would’ve kept prices in check, but instead are incentivized for prices to go up because even after it’s paid off the owner is still responsible to pay property taxes. If those taxes went toward preventing homelessness, I think would make more sense.

Not OP, but the normalization of something necessary requiring to borrow a lump sum and take 20-30+ years to pay off plus interest. Even the valuation of homes is ridiculous in itself, since those numbers are somewhat based on subjective values or “how much can I get away with charging?”. Sure, you have a baseline of materials and labor but the subjective part is just what’s around that property. Even if you lived in a shed and someone builds a mansion next door, now your value magically goes up? It’s a gimmick that only further drives inflation with fluff being added to demand. The shift of practically all US housing markets from the pandemic (people changing employment, vacancies created from those who died) went into a boom because companies or those with extra money started buying the excess supply so fast that it inflated demand. I’ll stop ranting but I think it’s all ridiculous and unsustainable and would like to mention that renting is just a subscription of residence.