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Politics Thread - Ka-tet of 19


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I am wondering too! You're much better than I am so let me know what you find. :yes:

 

will do. am suspecting we will, as with most gifted related searches, find little worth the time spent, but we will try. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

"If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927)

"Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)

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Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

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I am wondering too! You're much better than I am so let me know what you find. :yes:

 

I just noticed the quote edit, bwahahahaha. So so sad. :lol:

 

even using trumpisms?  

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+saying+so+sad&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS699US699&oq=trump+saying+so+sad&aqs=chrome..69i57.5647j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

indeed.

 

HA! Good Fun!

"If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927)

"Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)

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I cant decide if I should pity you or point and laugh. On one had its so so sad that you've reduced yourself to the debating level of an angry 10 year old, on the other hand it amuses me to watch you embarrass yourself. Eh, Ill take a little from column A and a little from column B. :lol:

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Nice strawman. We go from high housing prices in general and housing not really being optional to "I don't have to subsidize your downtown apartment". Which I agree with, but is not the point. Looking elsewhere may be a solution short-term for some people but it doesn't address the root cause. People start moving en masse to nowhereville that currently has great rent, and thanks to houses being just another commodity as you so keenly noted, "investors" will simply start gobbling up real estate there and start another bubble.

 

I'm not defending it, but subsidizing rent is one of the few things that the state can do towards ensuring affordable housing, without going full commie and infringing on your muh property rights. Public housing is another, but then that's unfair competition and the state meddling with muh free markets. Do you have a better alternative?

 

And by the way, it appears you are wrong about rent. A cursory search reveals that median rent prices in Bartlett TN are actually higher than in Memphis.

 

The problem with subsidizing rent is it does not solve the root problem: it costs too much to rent property X. Helping the tenant pay does not change the cost. It also does not incentivize the property owner to lower the rent. Quite the opposite actually. Like I said in the example the property owner figures they we making the payment when the price was $100 a month, they are getting a tax credit that makes it $85 a month, therefore they can afford it if I raise the rent to $115 a month. Do we subsidize some more then? At what point do we run out of everyone else's money?

 

Of course rents cannot be raised like that (generally). I have a one year contract with my tenant. They agree to the price and terms and I agree to the price and terms. At the end of the year we sign a new agreement or part ways. Actually I'm hoping the current tenant might be interested i buying the place but that's another story. The only thing that will bring down the prices is a lack of interest from tenants. When supply is high and demand is low the price drops. Property owners don't charge rent rates in an arbitrary way generally. My townhouse is mortgaged and insured and comes with an annual tax bill and quarterly association dues. I pay all of that myself. So I need to charge a tenant as close to that number as I can get. Over would be ideal but it just hasn't worked out that way. So every month owning a house I don't live in costs me money. But it's better to have something coming in rather than nothing so if I have to lower the price to attract a tenant that's what I do. And did. My first tenant it was a break even deal. This one I had to lower it to attract them. Property owners are competing for tenants. That controls prices better than subsidies ever will.

 

If the tenants start looking elsewhere prices drop. If an area has more interest than properties the prices go up. Subsidizing does not offer relief other than temporary. What might help is extending the homestead tax exemption to property owners who own say 3 rental properties rental properties or less. Lowering my costs allows my to lower my rate. I'd love to offer a 800 sq' townhouse for less than a 2B apartment in the complex next door.

 

BTW, don't go by median prices in Memphis. There is not a whole lot of median to be found in that city. There is nice, not so nice and not a lot in between.

"While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before"

Thomas Sowell

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There is a good chance the Dems will retake the House and the Repubs retain the Senate by 1 vote. I will sleep much more soundly if they do. Same as when the Dems lost the house in 2010. Grmonir is right on the money on this one. Divided government is far preferable one side or the other holding all the cards.

"While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before"

Thomas Sowell

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Eventually inventory will catch up with demand in the Bay Area, and hopefully that will stabilize the market. It doesn't help that we have a lot of cash buyers coming from overseas that see it as an investment opportunity.

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I cant decide if I should pity you or point and laugh. On one had its so so sad that you've reduced yourself to the debating level of an angry 10 year old, on the other hand it amuses me to watch you embarrass yourself. Eh, Ill take a little from column A and a little from column B. :lol:

not sure if you going for irony.  you do be recalling how it were gifted who wanted to go emoji + sarcasm in this thread 'stead o' serious.  am also recalling how last few times gifted has seen some kinda tragic flaw in Gromnir response, it were typical following a comic gifted blunder.  can add another such to tally if you wanna continue. 'course if the mod wants to engage in and even promote this kinda silliness, we will indulge for as long as he wishes to do so.  tacit approval and all that.

 

oh, and to answer earlier query, we didn't find any gifted posts condemning republicans for blocking obama efforts.  after all, such a post from gifted woulda' been noteworthy, but we have no recollection o' such and cannot find.  if gifted would like to show us how he ain't being transparent in his condemnation o' political gridlock, we would appreciate a linky or two. willing to wait.  will we be waiting comic long time?

 

as for housing costs and market forces, am admitted a beneficiary o' the current scheme, so am hardly unbiased.  that said, we would hate to be a young person in 2018 attempting to buy our first home.  as we noted during the recent prez election, our two biggest concerns for US was, and is, wealth disparity and national debt. 'cause o' generational wealth disparity, is exceeding difficult for a young person to purchase a home, particular if mom and pops do not own a home. family wealth is inextricably tied to home ownership in this country, which is why the housing bubble burst near a decade ago were so disastrous.  the current scheme is skewed disproportionate in favor o' the haves vs. the have nots. 

 

as to market forces, such is borked 'cause the banking system is once again borked.  market ain't responding reasonable 'cause loans is not being provided reasonable, just as were the case previous to the last housing bubble crisis.  we seeming learned nothing from the great recession. 

 

our personal situation is unique and hardly useful for drawing general conclusions.  sure, we came from modest means and no history o' property ownership, but we benefited from scholarships, and a whole lotta' luck, to get education and job opportunities not common to our peers.  current situation benefits us great as we have diversified portfolio and enough cash so that if/when there is another housing crisis with tens o' thousands o' folks defaulting, the value o' our property will once again go into the crapper, providing an enormous loss which we may then carry forward for tax purposes almost indefinite while being able to simultaneous purchase foreclosed properties at dimes on the dollar. housing crisis which destroys retirement plans o' many tens o' thousands and ruins credit o' many younger folks actual benefits folks such as Gromnir.  system is borked.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited by Gromnir

"If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927)

"Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)

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One of the things that hurts CA is commuting is expensive. That plus the state's pops are really concentrated. SF is completely surrounded by either water, Oakland (not cheap), San Jose (definitely not cheap), or Santa Rosa/ Vallejo/ and other stuff (not cheap). If you go east of of Oakland towards Modesto it gets rural pretty quick IIRC. Same if you go north towards Sacremento. But if you work in SF that is not a realistic commute.

 

LA would probably easier to live outside of an commute to than anything in the Bay area.

"While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before"

Thomas Sowell

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Similar problems people are seeing here, a lot of the jobs are in Toronto but it is pretty costly to live here and prices in cities in the region are going up.  Add into that the state of commuting, is a practical obstacle. 

 

Maybe with all the gun violence this year, demand may fall :lol:

Why has elegance found so little following? Elegance has the disadvantage that hard work is needed to achieve it and a good education to appreciate it. - Edsger Wybe Dijkstra

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not sure if you going for irony.  you do be recalling how it were gifted who wanted to go emoji + sarcasm in this thread 'stead o' serious.  am also recalling how last few times gifted has seen some kinda tragic flaw in Gromnir response, it were typical following a comic gifted blunder.  can add another such to tally if you wanna continue. 'course if the mod wants to engage in and even promote this kinda silliness, we will indulge for as long as he wishes to do so.  tacit approval and all that.

Sure, knock yourself out. Youre doing a masterful job of embarrassing yourself with zero effort from me. :shrugz:

 

oh, and to answer earlier query, we didn't find any gifted posts condemning republicans for blocking obama efforts.  after all, such a post from gifted woulda' been noteworthy, but we have no recollection o' such and cannot find.  if gifted would like to show us how he ain't being transparent in his condemnation o' political gridlock, we would appreciate a linky or two. willing to wait.  will we be waiting comic long time?

 

HA! Good Fun!

Why would I do that? I don't care at all about your opinion. Of course you will probably just modify this statement in another childish manner, so have fun with that. :yes:

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One of the things that hurts CA is commuting is expensive. That plus the state's pops are really concentrated. SF is completely surrounded by either water, Oakland (not cheap), San Jose (definitely not cheap), or Santa Rosa/ Vallejo/ and other stuff (not cheap). If you go east of of Oakland towards Modesto it gets rural pretty quick IIRC. Same if you go north towards Sacremento. But if you work in SF that is not a realistic commute.

 

LA would probably easier to live outside of an commute to than anything in the Bay area.

a number o' folks in Gromnir's community, which is a good +30 minutes east o' sacramento, regular commute to the bay area.

 

...

 

madness.

 

HA! Good Fun!

"If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927)

"Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)

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How will the Demo-"Helping the working class"-crats ever recover from Trump enacting a $12 Billion dollar bailout for farmers as a Republican?

 

is less a hurdle than one might imagine given the sacred-cow status o' American agriculture.  democrats and republicans has for generations been making all kinda special exceptions for farmers.  

 

is harder for us to do the mental gymnastics which explains how it is republicans invoking all the current deep state silliness when for decades such were the purview o' conspiracy nutters and leftists.  after all, the deep state were a tool o' the military-industrial complex, no? deep state kept minorities downtrodden, women stuck as second-class citizens, and were enriching a small cabal o' mostly family run businesses which had control o' US infrastructure and economy... or somesuch nonsense.   

 

flower_power_by_bernie_boston.jpg

 

fast forward and somehow mister turtleneck is iconic o' deep state 2018?  is the liberals who is secret controlling all levels o' government? yeah, the bureaucracy is resistant to manipulation by the executive branch.  other than at highest levels, career bureaucrats tend to be insulated by practical considerations from the machinations o' party politics.  obama and clinton had similar issues with the bureaucracy as did reagan and trump. bureaucratic indifference is a long way from deep state.

 

somehow the deep state didn't get the memo that they is a tool o' the liberal left.  all those clashes in ferguson and baltimore 'tween cops and minorities were no doubt engineered by the deep state for... well, am having difficulty coming up with a reason, but no doubt the current crop o' trump sock-puppets and conspiracy fans populating this board can explain.

 

 

we followed nancy into the upside down a couple years ago and there is no going back.  facts is alternative and scientific data is politicized.  school teachers need guns to defend from grizzly bears and the president gaslights during a press conference with putin… and gets away with it. don't expect rational or reasonable.

 

but again, more serious, farmers has always been different. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

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"If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927)

"Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)

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How will the Demo-"Helping the working class"-crats ever recover from Trump enacting a $12 Billion dollar bailout for farmers as a Republican?

 

Most farmers would have voted for Trump and vote republican, and US agriculture is also mostly large corporates rather than stereotype moms and pops growing cabbages on a 4 acre block. Despite theoretically being 'free market' there have in modern times always been huge subsidies and protections in US agriculture which results in, for example, high fructose corn syrup turning up in nearly everything 'edible' whether it makes sense or not and maize being used to make industrial ethanol despite it being just about the worst thing to make it from that's still semi practical.

 

The existing subsidy regime in the US is already a great deal more than that 12 billion.

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Hey... I have a farm. Where can I get some subsidies???  :lol:

"While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before"

Thomas Sowell

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a number o' folks in Gromnir's community, which is a good +30 minutes east o' sacramento, regular commute to the bay area.

 

...

 

madness.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

From east of Sacramento to SF? $5 says they would not recognize their houses in daylight. 

 

I haven't been out that way since '93 but that would have been a hell of a commute then. I doubt traffic has improved since. 

"While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before"

Thomas Sowell

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So, let me tell you a hypothetical story. Hypothetically let's pretend there is a state somewhere between Alabama & Kentucky. Now, suppose that state was considering a project for river levee reinforcements on the banks of a large American river that runs north to south and was made famous by Samuel Clemens. Lets assume that river runs past a hypothetical major city in the western quarter of that hypothetical state. Still with me? Good. 

 

Now, this state is concerned about soil erosion following a series of floods of this hypothetical river over several years. So a project was proposed to reinforce the earth levee with a fiber underlayment. In fact, a hypothetical frequent poster on a small computer game forum did a materials cost analysis of this project two years ago. Nice fella. Baseball fan. Hypothetically.  

 

Anyway the proposal was completed and budgeted by the state government of this hypothetical state and then defunded, That appeared to be that. It turns out that two members of the General Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resource subcommittee of this hypothetical state, one with a degree in business, the other theology, are doing a feasibility study of the proposal. The study has a budget of, well let's say half the material cost of the original proposal. So for two years a theology major and business major are studying a proposal that took an Ecologist, Civil Engineer, and a electronics engineer (who literally fell back-asswards into the job) about three days to put together. And wasting a hell of a lot of the tax payers money while doing it. 

 

When the Baseball fan and frequent board poster pointed this out the reply was a dismissive quip "Why make a big deal about that? It's not like it's your money?" Hypothetically. 

 

In other news I am expecting my property tax bill next month. Just sayin'

"While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before"

Thomas Sowell

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a number o' folks in Gromnir's community, which is a good +30 minutes east o' sacramento, regular commute to the bay area.

 

...

 

madness.

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

From east of Sacramento to SF? $5 says they would not recognize their houses in daylight. 

 

I haven't been out that way since '93 but that would have been a hell of a commute then. I doubt traffic has improved since. 

 

these guys are leaving @ 5:30 AM and getting back ~8:30-8:45 PM. is maybe a month during the year when they see daylight at start and/or end of commute. take pittsburg bart partway seems like a popular option.  am not believing we could do such a commute for more than a few months w/o going insane, but am knowing multiple people who has been doing for years.

 

gives some pov on just how bad is housing situation in even nor cal such that folks would willing do such a commute for a nice 3-bedroom in a gated community with a bit o' lawn to call own. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

"If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."Justice Louis Brandeis, Concurring, Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927)

"Im indifferent to almost any murder as long as it doesn't affect me or mine."--Gfted1 (September 30, 2019)

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South Florida was nearly as bad. I chose to move where I did specifically because I could afford to buy land. In SFL I had a 1400 sq house on a half acre. And that is a huge lot by SFL standards. I paid $300k for that. When I moved here I bought 24 acres and built a house on it, and then bought an additional 2.5 acre plot next to me for $220k all told. It's all about where. 

"While it is true you learn with age, the down side is what you often learn is what a damn fool you were before"

Thomas Sowell

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So, let me tell you a hypothetical story. Hypothetically let's pretend there is a state somewhere between Alabama & Kentucky. Now, suppose that state was considering a project for river levee reinforcements on the banks of a large American river that runs north to south and was made famous by Samuel Clemens. Lets assume that river runs past a hypothetical major city in the western quarter of that hypothetical state. Still with me? Good. 

 

Now, this state is concerned about soil erosion following a series of floods of this hypothetical river over several years. So a project was proposed to reinforce the earth levee with a fiber underlayment. In fact, a hypothetical frequent poster on a small computer game forum did a materials cost analysis of this project two years ago. Nice fella. Baseball fan. Hypothetically.  

 

Anyway the proposal was completed and budgeted by the state government of this hypothetical state and then defunded, That appeared to be that. It turns out that two members of the General Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resource subcommittee of this hypothetical state, one with a degree in business, the other theology, are doing a feasibility study of the proposal. The study has a budget of, well let's say half the material cost of the original proposal. So for two years a theology major and business major are studying a proposal that took an Ecologist, Civil Engineer, and a electronics engineer (who literally fell back-asswards into the job) about three days to put together. And wasting a hell of a lot of the tax payers money while doing it. 

 

When the Baseball fan and frequent board poster pointed this out the reply was a dismissive quip "Why make a big deal about that? It's not like it's your money?" Hypothetically. 

 

 

 

I swear to god I have no idea what your hypothetical is trying to say  :grin:

"Lulz is not the highest aspiration of art and mankind, no matter what the Encyclopedia Dramatica says."

 

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