Wealthy businessmen flaunting their yachts naturally stirs up outrage. Brandishing one with a name that appears to be dunking on your businesses' consumers, though, is an explosive mix.
Posting to the r/VictoriaBC subreddit, a Redditor identified a luxury yacht that they said belonged to local businessman Kris Mailman. In their caption, they explained that Mailman owns two companies, Seymour Pacific and Broadstreet Properties. The Redditor asserted that the businesses have over 15,000 rental units combined, starting at $1,800 per month. They concluded that Mailman's companies are clearing at least $27 million monthly.
They implored viewers to take a closer look at a photo of the yacht. Its name — Rent Spent — infuriated the original poster.
"What does this say about the owner's character, his ethics, his empathy, his connection to others less financially endowed?" the OP asked.
Even ignoring the provocative name, the OP was frustrated by the lavish purchase. They characterized it as "tacky, flippant, obnoxious and arrogant, all in plain sight and with little compassion or modesty exercised."
There's no doubt that the name was a reminder of where renters' money goes and the realities of inequality, but large yachts are problematic in their own right. A fully stocked yacht is by far the "worst asset to own from an environmental standpoint," per The Conversation. Bloomberg noted that yachts have been called a form of "ecocide" due to factors such as their carbon pollution, wastewater, and exhaust.
Canada has taken notice of the carnage and enacted a tax on the importation of luxury yachts. Lavish purchases and public displays of wealth in the form of publicly docked superyachts by celebrities such as Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos have outraged citizens wherever they crop up.
Commenters on the subreddit had a spirited debate about the yacht and its owner.
One commenter offered a harsh appraisal of Mailman and his business practices before concluding: "He built a successful company, no doubt. But they hoard the wealth in a disgusting way."
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Definitely 👍 A more charitable user wrote: "OP missing a key point - Mailman developed most of those 15,000 units. We need developers building rental units as long as the government doesn't want to."
Another commenter wasn't having that: "Everyone defending this guy who clearly [leeches] off society at the expense of the most vulnerable. People are wild."
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