i don’t think your point is a valid retort; when you’re paying a landlord you are receiving something of value that you want for yourself, just like when you pay for a cheeseburger.
> when you’re paying a landlord you are receiving something of value that you want for yourself
No I don't. I receive a temporary lease to something of value that is fundamentally necessary for meaningful existence in modern society. Landlords are pure middlemen - and while there's a place for middlemen in society to provide initial capital, at some point that value dwindles down to zero as that initial investment is repaid, and then dwindles past zero as the landlord continues to parasitically rent-seek despite contributing nothing that the tenants themselves could accomplish for far cheaper.
Your retort to my retort would be valid (or at least actually equivalent to your cheeseburger analogy) if - in exchange for my rent checks every month - I received ownership stake in the property and/or the company that owns it. Such an arrangement has more in common with a housing cooperative than with a typical landlord/tenant relationship.
Quite a few of us already do that for people who don't even so much as draw lines on paper. (cough cough landlords cough cough)