• Camelbeard@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    Maybe but there is a market for it. To me it’s crazy people (students) in the Netherlands pay 15 euros a month for a bicycle, while you can find a working second hand one for about 100 euros.

    Same goes for cars, I always save and buy second hand, I would never even consider borrowing for a car. Rather have an older model than debt.

    But some people are different and don’t mind to pay extra for less hassle, like the bicycle thing. They replace it when you get a flat tire for example.

    For some people that’s also what they like about renting a house, roof has a leak? Landlord has to fix it.

    • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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      5 days ago

      The utility of being able to borrow a use-value rather than needing to own it is a real thing, the form under capitalism is the problem, and is where exploitation and usury comes in. Better to have public transit, bikes included, at non-profit rates or even subsized to be free at point of service.

      • jumping_redditor@sh.itjust.works
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        4 days ago

        sure, however ownership still has a place in that public/borrowed goods typically have usage restrictions that make sense for the health of the device but limit its utility. such as using an SUV/truck to do yardwork or repurposing a bike as an elliptical.

        • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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          4 days ago

          Sure, renting vs owning is fully accomodated by public and personal ownership. Private usury is a drain on social wealth.

            • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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              4 days ago

              The overall wealth in society. Usury produces absolutely nothing of value, and purely exists as a legal means to serve as a drain on resources. Landlords are such an egregious example of usury that they have been near universally hated for as long as they’ve existed, even by liberals.

              • jumping_redditor@sh.itjust.works
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                4 days ago

                Theoretically loans are just a form of gambling on individuals repaying the principle (or on making more off whatever you needed the loan for than the cost + interest) and the interest is just an obtuse way of giving the house an edge. Therefore similar to gambling I believe it provides entertainment value, which is rarely calculated accurately.

                • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                  4 days ago

                  No, when I speak of value, I don’t mean some abstract level of personal enjoyment or utility that is unique from person to person. I mean value as represented by raw materials and an average hour of labor in an industry. Trying to abstract away usury as “entertainment” is such a silly justification for a parasitic system that purely exists for individuals to leach off the labor of others.

                  • jumping_redditor@sh.itjust.works
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                    4 days ago

                    it provides short term capital to purchase tools to make more goods, such as a loan to get a tractor so you can harvest/plant hundreds of times more crops as you would by hand. the interest is (in theory) covering the risk of default. also entertainment is the justification for child actors and artists existing.

      • Camelbeard@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        I mean you can always find cheaper, but 100 euros on markplaats will definitely get you a decent bike. I tried to sell my old one (we where moving and I didn’t want to take it with me). It still worked even the brakes and gears, although it was a bit rusty, anyway even for 15 euros almost no one showed up. Maybe it was too cheap.

        • moonburster@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          I would go for the cheaper one and just bring it to the Ns bike repair for a checkup and let a specialist make it very good again. But a 100 bike on marktplaats will indeed net you a very decent and potentially even great bike