Corporate landlords are taking over, making life unaffordable: Economist Michael Hudson explains why

Private equity funds and other Wall Street investors are buying up homes across the US and the West, driving up rent and the cost of living. Economist Michael Hudson explains how these corporate landlords are a result of the system of financialized capitalism, dominated by an unproductive rentier class. He is interviewed by host Ben Norton. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJd0d7Uda2M Transcript: https://www.geopoliticaleconomy.report/p/corporate-landlords-rent-michael-hudson Part 1 of this interview: https://www.geopoliticaleconomy.report/p/world-us-financial-colonialism-economist-michael-hudson Read Michael's article "How the Global Majority can free itself from US financial colonialism": https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/07/17/michael-hudson-global-majority-us-financial-colonialism/ Michael's website: https://michael-hudson.com/ Topics 0:00 Cost of living crisis in West 0:30 Blackstone: largest US landlord 1:07 Blackstone CEO is Trump donor 1:49 Investors buy up US homes 2:36 Wall Street buys single-family homes 3:54 Wall Street buys up neighborhoods 5:31 Homelessness rises in USA 6:06 Blackstone buys up homes in Spain 7:34 Introduction to Michael Hudson 9:12 Highlights 10:43 Interview starts 11:58 Feudalism, capitalism, & rentier class 16:58 Adam Smith, David Ricardo, & Karl Marx 19:10 Difference between value, price, & rent 21:33 Bankers, industrialists, & landlords 27:34 Theory of comparative advantage 28:20 Problems with economics education 30:57 Profits vs rent 32:48 Financialization and GDP 37:21 Adam Smith in Beijing 38:47 Peter Thiel defends monopolies 40:20 China's reform and opening up 43:06 China's public ownership of finance 44:25 Need to tax land rent 50:45 China's industrialization 53:54 Passive income (ie, rent seeking) 56:01 Mainstream "junk economics" 59:07 Outro