While the basic idea behind hedge funds (investors pooling money to make larger investments) is not anti-capitalistic, the ways in which some hedge funds manipulate stocks is (https://youtu.be/45dassYHhy0). When a hedge fund shorts a stock, for example, that stock is not responding to actual market pressures but rather artificial pressure so the hedge fund can make money. Some hedge fund behavior also makes them "too big to fail," which unfairly protects them from capitalistic market forces (https://youtu.be/vD2WJTIEVv0).
I think when hedge funds purchase blocks of houses for well above their market value, those companies are doing the same kind of thing in a different market. In capitalism factors like supply (both quality and quantity) and demand are supposed to drive prices, but in this case a company is manipulating the housing market in ways that benefit itself at the expense of others. And as the Gamestop/ Discord saga illustrates, these hedge funds are able to do what others are punished for, which I also find un-capitalistic.
How is a hedge fund buying houses not capitalism?
That's a great question.
While the basic idea behind hedge funds (investors pooling money to make larger investments) is not anti-capitalistic, the ways in which some hedge funds manipulate stocks is (https://youtu.be/45dassYHhy0). When a hedge fund shorts a stock, for example, that stock is not responding to actual market pressures but rather artificial pressure so the hedge fund can make money. Some hedge fund behavior also makes them "too big to fail," which unfairly protects them from capitalistic market forces (https://youtu.be/vD2WJTIEVv0).
I think when hedge funds purchase blocks of houses for well above their market value, those companies are doing the same kind of thing in a different market. In capitalism factors like supply (both quality and quantity) and demand are supposed to drive prices, but in this case a company is manipulating the housing market in ways that benefit itself at the expense of others. And as the Gamestop/ Discord saga illustrates, these hedge funds are able to do what others are punished for, which I also find un-capitalistic.
What do you think?