You can sublet and pay people in cash for a lot less than the official renting price. This is particularly true in places with high real estate prices like LA, NY, NJ and SF where there is rent control. Thus it incentivizes long-term tenants to sublet for a sub-market price.
You can't really buy a house in such a fashion though.
I agree but you can't say this sentiment out loud in some US big tech companies. In fact, saying it out loud may lead to social outrage + job loss + career suicide.
A closely related issue to the main one being discussed here.
Your conclusion sounds completely absurd, but I agree with you. In fact, even walking around in groups of 3 is dangerous if you keep talking because what you said might be interpreted as offensive and all 3 people would hear it.
I guess I don't understand what you would propose as a solution...
Current situation is obviously not working.
Right now the following is happening:
1) Ladies get harassed by those with more power because it's a way to get dates. They could potentially lose their job/opportunity if they disagree to go on a date. This leads to 2.
2) Men get false accusations because women do not currently have to provide proof for low rank employee harassment cases.
3) Culture is changing in such a way that more and more things are considered offensive to say.
4) People are choosing to have fewer 1-on-1 (or at all) interactions with coworkers because of these issues. It's unfair to discriminate against just some coworkers because you might suspect they will be trouble. As a result, you might be forced to not have 1-on-1s. Might be forced to give up all non-strictly-work-related conversations with everyone at work.
At my current work, all of us are now walking as a group to lunch in silence. It is extremely awkward but it seems like this is the only possible outcome of such a system.
I guess my own current solution is to leave US/Bay Area for basically any other country. I rather not deal with these dangers since I want to have friends at work and any non-work related conversation might be considered offensive by someone in a group of 20 or so people.
You can't really buy a house in such a fashion though.