The landlord had told them he wanted to raise the rent to $3,500 and when they complained he decided to raise it to $9,500.
“We know that our building is not rent controlled and this was something we were always worried about happening and there is no way we can afford $9,500 per month," Yumna Farooq said.
I know no fucking capitalist would bring “being a good person” into a conversation about economics, which you clearly don’t, so…
Then you don’t know a lot of people nor know much about economics. Economics isn’t separated from the rest of society, it exists within society. The world is full of capitalists who also have opinions on what is and isn’t good and moral and know that people spending that money attributes to goodness and badness. For example, this is how taxes are often used, to incentivize good behavior and penalize bad behavior.
I think you need to spend sometime away from the internet and start talking to actual human beings around you, as you seem to be stuck in some weird anarcho-capitalist online bubble.