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If You Are Considering Buying A House, Read This First

Tyler Durden's picture




 

In September of 2011, when looking at the insurmountable debt catastrophe that the world finds itself (which has only gotten worse in the past several years) we warned that "the only way to resolve the massive debt load is through a global coordinated debt restructuring (which would, among other things, push all global banks into bankruptcy) which, when all is said and done, will have to be funded by the world's financial asset holders: the middle-and upper-class, which, if BCS is right, have a ~30% one-time tax on all their assets to look forward to as the great mean reversion finally arrives and the world is set back on a viable path."

Two years later, the financial asset tax approach, in the form of depositor bail-ins, was tried - successfully (as there was no mass rioting, no revolution, in fact the people were perfectly happy to accept the confiscation of their savings) - in Cyprus, further emboldening the status quo, in this case the IMF, to propose, tongue in cheek, that the time has come for the uber-wealthy to give back some ("it's only fair"), and to raise income taxes through the roof (which of course would mostly impact the middle class as the bulk of current income for the 1% is in the form of dividend income, ultra-cheap leverage extraction on assets and various forms of carried interest).

And now, a new tax is not only on the horizon but coming fast and furious to allow the insolvent global regime at least one more can kicking: one which will impact current and future homeowners across the world.

But first, let's step back.

Last week, the IMF did what only the IMF could do: come to the realization that we proposed in 2009, and even the Davosites discussed earlier this year: namely that the middle class is effectively an endangered species, and rapidly on its way to wholesale extinction, and that the polarity between the rich and poor has never been greater. The IMF concluded, with the panache that only this comical organization is capable of, that income inequality "is weighing on global economic growth and fueling political instability."

The WSJ reports:

The International Monetary Fund's latest salvo came Thursday in a top official's speech and a 67-page paper detailing how the IMF's 188 member countries can use tax policy and targeted public spending to stem a rising disparity between haves and have-nots.

 

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde has made the issue a high priority for the fund, warning—along with some of the fund's most powerful shareholders—that inequality is threatening longer-run economic prospects. Last month, Ms. Lagarde said the income gap risked creating "an economy of exclusion, and a wasteland of discarded potential" and rending "the precious fabric that holds our society together."

The IMF's solution? The same as that of socialists everywhere: redistribute the wealth... because apparently socialism works every time, all the time, with stellar results.

"Redistribution can help support growth because it reduces inequality," David Lipton, the fund's No. 2 official and a former senior White House aide, said in a speech Thursday at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "But if misconceived, this trade-off can be very costly."

 

"There's a sense that the burdens of the crisis have been unevenly distributed, that the middle classes and the poor have footed more of the bill of the crisis than the economic elite," said Moisés Naím, a senior economist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Venezuela's former trade minister.

Oh is there a sense? Is that why the Fed has halted its QE program which takes from what little is left of the middle class and gives to those who already have more money than they can spend in several lifetimes. Guess not.

So how does the IMF suggest going about this wholesale, global socialist revolution? Simple: the way we explained nearly three years ago.

The IMF's latest paper doesn't prescribe country-specific measures, but it does offer several proposals that are likely to be controversial. Most notably, the IMF says many advanced and developing economies can narrow inequality by more aggressively applying property taxes and "progressive" personal income taxes that rise as incomes increase.

 

The median top personal income-tax rate across the globe has halved since the 1980s to around 30%. But the IMF says "revenue-maximizing [personal income tax] rates are probably somewhere between 50% and 60% and optimal rates probably somewhat lower than that."

We wouldn't be too concerned about income taxes. After all, one needs to have a job to have income, and as everyone knows by now, jobs also are on their way to extinction, and every central bank everywhere will merely print the money needed to cover the income tax shortfall, leading to that "other" alternative to fixing the debt problem: global hyperinflation (with a little precious metals confiscation on the side: just like FDR did in the 1930s).

But going back to the original point, here is why those in the market for a house should be worried. Very worried. From page 40 of the IMF's paper on "Fiscal Policy and Income Inequality":

Some taxes levied on wealth, especially on immovable property, are also an option for economies seeking more progressive taxation. Wealth taxes, of various kinds, target the same underlying base as capital income taxes, namely assets. They could thus be considered as a potential source of progressive taxation, especially where taxes on capital incomes (including on real estate) are low or largely evaded. There are different types of wealth taxes, such as recurrent taxes on property or net wealth, transaction taxes, and inheritance and gift taxes. Over the past decades, revenue from these taxes has not kept up with the surge in wealth as a share of GDP (see earlier section) and, as a result, the effective tax rate has dropped from an average of around 0.9 percent in 1970 to approximately 0.5 percent today. The prospect of raising additional revenue from the various types of wealth taxation was recently discussed in IMF (2013b) and their role in reducing inequality can be summarized as follows.

  • Property taxes are equitable and efficient, but underutilized in many economies. The average yield of property taxes in 65 economies (for which data are available) in the 2000s was around 1 percent of GDP, but in developing economies it averages only half of that (Bahl and Martínez-Vázquez, 2008). There is considerable scope to exploit this tax more fully, both as a revenue source and as a redistributive instrument, although effective implementation will require a sizable investment in administrative infrastructure, particularly in developing economies (Norregaard, 2013).

And there you have it: if you are buying a house, enjoy the low mortgage (for now... and don't forget - if and when the time comes to sell, the buyer better be able to afford your selling price and the monthly mortgage payment should the 30 Year mortgage rise from the current 4.2% to 6%, 7% or much higher, which all those who forecast an improving economy hope happens), but what will really determine the affordability of that piece of property you have your eyes set on, are the property taxes.

Because they are about to skyrocket.

 

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Mon, 03/17/2014 - 21:58 | 4561555 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

Quebec City has quite a few assholes.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 02:18 | 4562042 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

Oh, but didn't you hear? They're a 'distinct society' and not really Canadian. Canadien, perhaps, but not Canadian.

;)

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 00:16 | 4553958 syntaxterror
syntaxterror's picture

An emergency trip to the doctor due to a motorcycle accident cost me and my girlfriend $22 fucking dollars for multiple visits and the medicine for TWO people. In the NS of A, it would have cost $4000. 

It's no fucking wonder that FATCA, enacted by Foodstamp the Great is making it nearly impossible for expats to open foreign bank accounts. You can't be their debt slave in Thailand can you?

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 03:22 | 4554142 Mrs. Haggy
Mrs. Haggy's picture

22 bucks?!  Is this justifiable because your tax dollars go to the health care system?  If so, then fine I guess.  This statement is just so vague.  Is there insurance involved?  What was the extent of the injuries?  If you're trying to tell me that $22 is a fair price for multiple hospital visits at a competent facility AND medication for two, then you just another one of those parasites that believe health care is a god-given right.  How could any reasonable hospital sustain itself at your rates?  And is $4000 for two people supposed to sound like a large bill?  $2000 per person for an average motorcycle accident actually sounds like a big-time bargain!  Seriously! 

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 18:01 | 4556301 syntaxterror
syntaxterror's picture

Getting stitches shouldn't cost $4000. If you were starving I wouldn't even feed you my shit.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 20:28 | 4556781 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

I'm in Canada and tallying up what % of my tax dollars go to healthcare vs my visits and my income, I'd say that's about what my visits cost me.

$4000 for 2 people is insanely large and not one person in Canada would pay it think anyone should pay it. Ever. It's nonsensically large.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 06:20 | 4554303 effendi
effendi's picture

My understanding is that foreigners cannot buy land in Thailand. 

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 18:02 | 4556305 syntaxterror
syntaxterror's picture

Still enamored with land ownership and paying $5000 in property taxes a year I see.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:09 | 4554206 Canoe Driver
Canoe Driver's picture

Under the system which you describe, which has a history and is not a net overburden, vis other states, only paying property owners were typically given the right to vote.  NH adopted the revenue scheme, but then was forced to punt on the vote issue, which is federal.  Live free or die, my arse.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:12 | 4553332 mademesmile
mademesmile's picture

I have been trying to buy about 15 acres with a modest house barn combo. Taxes should be about 1,600 a year. In this area, they can't get too much more out of people.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:15 | 4553346 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

Raising taxes = increased government spending.

Every time the economy contracts, local governments increase tax rates instead of tightening their belts. They rarely reduce tax rates when times are good. It is a continually ratcheting or a Chinese handcuffs/finger trap kind of thing.

so IMF member countries may go on a tax binge going after the folks with money. Won't they just go on a spending spree and be right back where started? Oh, I forgot. It is not supposed to make sense anymore. We are all doomed.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:22 | 4553354 americanspirit
americanspirit's picture

The only option is to figure out how to crash governments before they have a chance to implement their confiscatory schemes. Here is one idea. If only 10% of the 50 million or so smokers in the US started growing their own tobacco and stopped buying a pack a day, that would be (5,000,000 x $3.00) = $15 Million a day out of the government's revenues. Thats $150 million every 10 days. Etc. That alone could easily bankrupt a lot of cities and counties and make a huge problem for the US treasury. And it is such an easy thing to do. Most smokers have no idea how much of every pack they buy is taxes. Take this power away from the government or stop talking about the goddamned government and how you wish you could do something that would make the bastards scream.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 23:30 | 4553862 analyzer_66
analyzer_66's picture

Tobacco is nothing compared to taxes on liquor. We have a spending problem. Kill the pork and lobbying money… go after corruption in a meaningful way…redo the tax code.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 01:41 | 4554078 zerozulu
zerozulu's picture

You can help yourself more if you do not buy that which you can live without.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 06:34 | 4554311 tip e. canoe
tip e. canoe's picture

spirit, do you still have that GYOT site up?

if i remember correctly, it had all sorts of good info on drying/curing there, but i lost the bookmark.

for me, it ain't even about the taxes really, it's about the purity & quality of what's being inhaled into one's lungs.

an oxymoron for non-puffers i'm sure, but we all got our cross to bear, yes?

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:18 | 4553357 Professorlocknload
Professorlocknload's picture

So, Blackstone wants to tax the hell out of itself?

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:31 | 4553415 I Write Code
I Write Code's picture

Oh, it won't apply to *them*.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:20 | 4553365 Kreditanstalt
Kreditanstalt's picture

None of these governments ever had much interest in protecting private property anyway...

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:35 | 4553434 FreeMktFisherMN
FreeMktFisherMN's picture

I find it amazing how people accept that there is needed an organized system of theft and coercion (.gov) to stop...wait for it...theft and coercion! The state is by definition antithetical to peace and reverence for private property. It relies on stealing from others

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 21:06 | 4553538 Anusocracy
Anusocracy's picture

The animal world lacks the concept of 'their property'. Property in nature consists of 'mine' and 'ours'.

Seeing as though the origin of government is the animal world, it is blind to private property.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:20 | 4553368 q99x2
q99x2's picture

My parents pay about $2,200 per year on a $100,000 home. One of the takes is called a property tax and the other is some kind of tax from the county or township or something. They originally bought the house in 1953 for $10,000 So if the taxes go up they are dead because they are on a fixed income.

But I get that this new tax concerns new buyers amd not the homes of old veterans that are too old to afford it. 

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:54 | 4553501 seek
seek's picture

Might want to check if your state has a deferment or tax lock-in option for those over 65.

My state (AZ) lets you freeze your property value if you're over 65 and make under about 30K: https://www.azag.gov/seniors/property-value-freeze

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:07 | 4554202 Uber Vandal
Uber Vandal's picture

I really dislike the term fixed income.

Unless one works strictly commission sales, or is self employed, everyone is on fixed income.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:14 | 4554211 Canoe Driver
Canoe Driver's picture

Actually, most people have declining incomes, because real inflation always exceeds pay increases, assuming one is not significantly overqualified for one's current employment.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:21 | 4553370 The Chief
The Chief's picture

I fear that local politicians (read: both elected and appointed) might be in for a shock of a very rude kind. In my neck of the woods, our Assesor is hired by the town. He works in 4 or 5 towns inside of one county. Although hired as a contractor, he is still entitled to all the wonderful trappings of a civil service job and retirement.

It takes a special kind of evil motherfucker to be an Assesor....or a County Executive. Or any local pol trying to cook up ways to raise revs so that the proceeds go direvtly into their retirement check or a relatives job.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:24 | 4553381 Kreditanstalt
Kreditanstalt's picture

More likely to pay the salaries+pensions+benefits of your army of unionized civic employees...  http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.ca/2014/03/vallejo-heads-for-another-bankruptcy_15.html

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 01:03 | 4554039 Blankenstein
Blankenstein's picture

Some interesting tidbits from the article:

 

"The California city of Vallejo emerged from bankruptcy just over two years ago, but it is still struggling to pay its bills."

Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/03/vallejo-heads-for-another-bankruptcy_15.html#xR3O2F7o2BPUb51y.99

 

"Amid threats of legal action from the state's pension giant, CalPERS, Vallejo did little during its nearly three-year stint in bankruptcy to stem the growth in its pension bills.

As a result, Vallejo continues to dole out large sums of money for retirees. Except for new hires, Vallejo's police and firefighters can retire at age 50 with as much as 90% of their salary -- for life. Public safety workers who retired in the last five years have average annual pensions of more than $101,000.

And the pension costs are expected to continue to rise, with a projected increase of up to 42% over the next five years. "

Read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/03/vallejo-heads-for-another-bankruptcy_15.html#BT62P0IsCQsHx8b3.99

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:19 | 4554216 Canoe Driver
Canoe Driver's picture

This was all built up on the idea that the private sector would continue to boom, as it did in part thru the late '90's. Government 'needed to keep pace,' or it wouldn't be able to retain the 'best and brightest,' yadda yadda.  When the private sector imploded, the public pension system lost viability. It is now a matter of time.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:22 | 4554220 zionhead101
zionhead101's picture

Public UNION's became bigger than AIPAC in CALIF, and created a non-sustainable system, fuck the prison unions in CALIF are bigger than the NSA :)

 

But this is just State shit, look at the FEDERAL pensions, thank god that ZIO-NEO-CONS can feed their merc army for free on FIAT USD printed to infinity.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:30 | 4553412 Peter Pan
Peter Pan's picture

We are seeing and experiencing the end of ownership in every sense.

You don't own your privacy courtesy of the NSA

You don't own your judicial system as evidenced by the imposition of fines instead of jail time for big bankers.

You don't own your savings as evidenced by haircuts and almost zero interest rates.

You don't own your retirement savings because they hav already been spent on war instead of infrastructure and other investments.

You don't own your 401k's because they are next.

You don't own your vote because the fighting because Democrats and Republican politicians is an illusion.

You don't own your gold and silver because it has been given to the bankers.

You don;t "own" your kids because they have been adopted by a rotten education system and a morally bankrupt entertainment industry.

You don't own your body because it can be searched, probed and x-rayed even if you are an 80 year old grandma.

You only own your soul and even that has the devil's mortgage on it.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:35 | 4553435 novictim
novictim's picture

There is no soul.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 00:04 | 4553937 IridiumRebel
IridiumRebel's picture

Speak for yourself. Don't go trying out for any funk bands there Sam Cooke.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 03:53 | 4554176 UselessEater
UselessEater's picture

Peter Pan -its dehumanisation full throttle

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 10:03 | 4554592 yellowsub
yellowsub's picture

Everywhere else but here takes actions to the streets.

We have the same choice but comfort levels here is still acceptable to let them continue screwing us.  

 

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 20:21 | 4556764 MeelionDollerBogus
Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:31 | 4553414 yellowsub
yellowsub's picture

Let's remember most home buyers are still putting down 3~% because that's all they can afford.  A sizable increase in property taxes will mean many will be in default sooner than later.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:33 | 4553426 novictim
novictim's picture

So, Zero Hedge, I've been saying for years that we need to redistribute wealth from the Top down to the Poor and Middle-class in order to save our market economies.

Choose: Progressive Taxation -- Confiscation -- Inflation VS REVOLUTION.
You cannot have a market if the wealth is monopolized by a few. We are already there.

(Even physicians are finding their pay being cut and their institutions owners advocating the importation of low-payed H1B Visa MDs. No one who earns a living will not see their standard of living declining just so that a few wealthy folks can get even more obscenely wealthy.)

Now you can start giving me the down-arrows.
--It is helpful to know just how few of you are, in fact, real bonafide idiots. Usually I only see -7 so life is good! --

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:45 | 4553465 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

OK, there's your down arrow. I am not poor or middle class so you are talking about taking more from me. I am not rich. Why don't we just have our government spend less and let us all keep more?

Why not have public employees work until they are in their 60's by putting in 40 plus years like most people? I might work another 18 to 20 years. If I was working for the government, I would have just a few years left and be looking forward to 30 to 40 years of a worry-free existence.

I don't give shit anymore, just come fuck me over already. Bunch or worthless cunts!

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:58 | 4553514 novictim
novictim's picture

Fred, Government does not cause Wealth Inequality.  It can choose to correct it though.

Wealth inequality is the natural biproduct of a market system.  

I guess the take home lesson, Fred, is that the market system has no agenda...it has no "reason" to be a system that is fair or one that leads to prosperity for the majority of people.  Chew on that for a bit.

The main goal of Governments in functioning democracies today is Wealth Redistribution...unless the country is overrun with corruption as in the USA.

BTW Fred, the US government is now working for the highest campaign bidder.  As a result, the system stopped looking out for the middle-class and the poor starting in about 1980s...so inheritance taxes were cut, income taxes on the wealthy were cut...leading to where we are now-ECONOMIC STAGNATION

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 21:35 | 4553604 dexter_morgan
dexter_morgan's picture

Really. You're fucking kidding right? Open your eyes to who owns the politicians that keep making the laws to make their owners richer. Get a fucking clue. Like Buffet, for example, is just some kind of genius and not a beneficiary of the crony capitalist system he inherited from his influential daddy and uses to spew shit about how taxes should be raised and then, surprise surprise, another sweetheart deal falls in his lap? Big business and uber wealth needs big and uber government to grow and protect it. They are symbiotic.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 22:32 | 4553739 Georgiabelle
Georgiabelle's picture

There will always be wealth inequality because all men are not created equal. Wealth inequality caused by free market forces is a good thing. Wealth inequality caused by government intervention and TPTB putting their thumbs on the scale is bad. 

"The main goal of Governments in functioning democracies today is Wealth Redistribution...BECAUSE the country is overrun with corruption."  (Fixed it for you.)

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 01:26 | 4554072 Blankenstein
Blankenstein's picture

Yes, great idea, let's make the government larger and increase their power so they can do even more "benevolent" work.  Surely there would be no corruption by officials in our government of goodness.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/whos-afraid-of-sibel-edm...

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 08:32 | 4554414 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

God's work?

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 20:18 | 4556753 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

The government, by the banks and for the banks, dictates all prices, who is legal to own / sell anything, and for what price, even the price of money itself in interest rates.

They are the ultimate controllers of wealth inequality and caused it from start to finish.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 21:01 | 4553525 Marge N Call
Marge N Call's picture

I only regret that I have but one down arrow to give.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 23:15 | 4553841 falconflight
falconflight's picture

Well, I believe it is as simple as Americans pulling their ignorant heads outta their asses and to start spitting upon gov't officials and daring them to do something about it.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 23:21 | 4553850 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

Nowadays spitting on someone can be considered assault. We are more aware of disease vectors I guess. In the days long ago I think it may have been just an insult. The idea is intriguing so keep generating them.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 20:17 | 4556747 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

Is that a joke? For realsies?

Most Murrikinz are so dumb they think abortion is murder, they think global warming is a hoax, they think paper is real money, they think government is going to help them, they think police are justice and they think that democrats and republicans aren't run by the same bankster overlords.

Murrika is finished.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:15 | 4554214 UselessEater
UselessEater's picture

novictumn do not whinge when it comes to bear... let it remain a 'mystery' to you how only the middle class will pay and pay (sarc), so lets get on target and tackle the foundations that protects the wealthy and forms a snug "fight club" mentaility amongst them vs us; and lets focus on illigalising the IMF mafia one nation at a time... its not about redistributing wealth its about not STEALING it and hiding it in the first place through fiat money, fake free trade agreement, elite foundations and private armies that fight physical/pyschological/technoligical wars on behalf of transnational interests

no disrespect intended to you; just a rant!!

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 20:14 | 4556744 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

You can't save a market economy that doesn't even exist.

You can't be a market economy by theft to redistribute: that ends the market so there's nothing to save.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:36 | 4553439 The Wizard
The Wizard's picture

Where did property tax on land and home originate? This is why a land patent is important. Registering any property (labor, home, auto, firearm, etc.) brings said property under a special jurisdiction of the government (king) rendering the property public rather than private. People continually complain about how the government continues to infringe upon their "rights". The first ten amendments were placed there for the people to control the government. Until people learn how to effectively challenge the government on the registertion of property, where there is no law forcing one to register, they have little room to complain. Wake up and learn the law Amerika in order to distinguish the difference between "personal" and "private" property.  

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:45 | 4553468 holdbuysell
holdbuysell's picture

Time for every state to push for a Prop 13 similar to CA's?

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:47 | 4553475 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Agenda 21, not a joke. Just a slow push to destroy monetary infrastructure.

http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/Agenda21.pdf

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 22:23 | 4553724 UselessEater
UselessEater's picture

UN Ag21 is a piece of the globalist puzzle.... Behind The Green Mask is a simple book that made a lot click in my upto then "greenie" head. After reading The Web of Debt, and then experiencing commo green policies being applied to decent rural land in Aust which was deemed 'pristine' and now needed to be 'protected' from the very owners who had kept it pristine (huh?)....wakey wakey.

Maurice Strong is another old man of the ilk of Soros who has helped stitch up Canada and Australia quietly - fortunately Alamba is alert and banned Ag21/ICLEI.

Meanwhile Aust lauds ICLEI/Ag21 and the destruction of private property rights and twists our Constitution/Governmental Agencies to support it. In the '90s Aust boasted in docs to the UN that we were a best practice case for the developed world to follow in how to implement Ag21 whilst circumventing the constitutional separation of powers that prohibted our Federal government from doing just so. Having read many of their govt reports I can comfortably state its a politely-green-dressed up version of Zim's land policies and designed to destroy food independence and usurp the principles of private property.

 

http://www.postsustainabilityinstitute.org/board-of-directors.html

http://www.democratsagainstunagenda21.com/

 

 

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 22:39 | 4553752 Anusocracy
Anusocracy's picture

Abandon all-encompassing governments and let those who want Agenda 21 live with it.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 22:55 | 4553799 falconflight
falconflight's picture

Let's turn them into cattle feed.  Everyone should 'give back' to the community.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 00:52 | 4554018 UselessEater
UselessEater's picture

those who want Ag21 do not understand 10% of Ag21 - if they did it would die.

e.g banning scuba diving, banning access to wildlife zones for hiking and camping

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:01 | 4554192 Mrs. Haggy
Mrs. Haggy's picture

I wonder why?  It's only 351 densely worded pages!

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 10:29 | 4554655 obi wan
obi wan's picture

What do you make of places like National Parks (Great Smoky Mountains for example) being United Nations International Biosphere Reserves? This designation came around in 1976, and I remember all the paranoid crazies back then thought that meant something insiduious..... nothing seems crazy to me any more

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 20:13 | 4556737 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

Agenda 21 is a hoax by the elite. They disclose a lie, you act opposite to it, and those actions are what they wanted you to do all along.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:48 | 4553482 novictim
novictim's picture

Our level of Wealth Inequality is dangerous and we need redistribution.

Wealth Inequality on this scale is fine and we do not need redistribution.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:58 | 4553511 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Let me correct your statement. Another US government Ponzi scam is about to blow-up. Taxpayer funded, mind you.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 20:09 | 4556728 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

The rich robbed the poor.

That's the only redistribution happening and doing more will make it worse.

Find the criminals. Jail them. Take all their stuff.

If you can't find a way to return the stolen loot to those it was stolen from, fuckin' BURN IT ALL.

Now no one will need to argue over who gets it.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 20:54 | 4553500 lynnybee
lynnybee's picture

those S.O.B.'s .....

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 21:24 | 4553585 Cabreado
Cabreado's picture

"Because they are about to skyrocket."

No... not here (US), anyway.

Too local, and not enough headroom for playing games in the control/accountability equation.

And by the time anyone tries to push thru a "national property tax," we'll already be on fire.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 07:54 | 4554375 Bogdog
Bogdog's picture

You hit it. Local prop taxes are high and going higher in my town. BUT, it's incremental. What's mentioned in the article is more akin to a quantum increase in prop taxes. It would never fly. They'll get their taxes in other ways at the fed level: income tax, cap gains, interest, wealth confiscations and capitol controls. I don't see how a NATIONAL property tax could work.

I bought my house in 1997 and it's worth less now than what I paid for it. Though it is paid off. So I got THAT going for me. Fine investment that turned out to be.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 20:08 | 4556727 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

NO one with a brain says it will work. The real question is: will it be started regardless of being able to work, and then fail utterly and still leave a lot of people poor & homeless?

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 21:41 | 4553627 sheikurbootie
sheikurbootie's picture

Renters pay the increase too!  It's NOT JUST property owners.  I pass on EVERY increase in property taxes to my tenants.  I've never had a problem or complaint.  I send a copy of the increased property tax to explain the increase.  The local government is only allowed to increase every 2 years and most years it's insignificant, but 4 years ago it was a whopper of +25% almost across the board.  They don't ever seem to go down with the real market though.  WTF.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 01:00 | 4554032 goldinpenguin
goldinpenguin's picture

I've been a landlord and a tenant and I've never billed or payed a property tax. Property taxes, HOA fees and insurance ( homeowners, flood etc) are all the owners account, he can manage these, at least partially thru appeals, changed coverages etc, the tenant can't. The tenant is obligated to pay a contractually defined amount timely each month plus utilities and user fees, water, maybe garbage.

If a tenant agrees to pay unpredictable and uncontrollable taxes and insurance they're fools buying pigs in pokes.

If a landlord tells a tenant your rent is increasing from $1000 to $1200 next year because my taxes went up and the tenant bugs out and a new tenant will only pay $1000 then the landlords taxes really increased, vacancies are a frictional cost of being a landlord.

 

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:25 | 4554223 Canoe Driver
Canoe Driver's picture

Up arrow for being an intelligent life-form.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:29 | 4554230 zionhead101
zionhead101's picture

Yep, same with me, in my 40 years of landlord never once raised on anybody, and some stayed 10+ years,

Here's the deal I only rented to people whose credit was good enough to buy the house that they were renting from me. So eventually they would always buy.

You raise the rent and you lose, and next tenant just might be an asshole, no fucking way, if you have a good tenant I would pay them to take care of the house.

Essentially you buy all the houses you can when your young on 15 year fixed and get tenants to pay the MTG, and then when the 15 years is up, live a few years on the income FREE, and then sell all and run like hell from the USA.

 

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 20:05 | 4556718 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

Ya, that's very serious. Any tenant could just ruin the place or burn it to the ground, much less be unreliable to pay rent.

Any landlord could give a hassle like enter without notice, break things that are the tenants, claim rent wasn't paid that was, all sorts of nonsense.

Once a landlord and tenant find each other who can trust that won't happen it's almost like finding a good marriage. You don't want to fuck it up.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 21:57 | 4553660 Ms No
Ms No's picture

I was just told by my accountant that they are coming hot and heavy for the property tax deduction.  That's one of the only taxes you can write off.   If they raise property taxes then take away your ability to write it off your getting double screwed. 

Starve the beast and then brandish your pitch fork to its emaciated corpse!

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 22:05 | 4553688 Ms No
Ms No's picture

Oh yeah and some states are taxing RVs as property also, except FL, SD and a few others.  Look into that before you purchase.  I have a dual truck I am seriously considering hitching it up and living with the blue haired old ladies in tennis shoes... screw it. 

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 22:10 | 4553696 Lokking4AnEdge
Lokking4AnEdge's picture

I lived in Florida for 11 years.Two years ago I had enough-on my moderately priced house of $420,000 I paid over $8000 in taxes and $5,300 in insurance.

I moved to Arizona, bought a house for under $300,000 and my tax is just under $3000 with insurance bill of only $440.

I have no doubt taxes here will go up too but at least from a lower base......

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 22:53 | 4553791 falconflight
falconflight's picture

I recently traded in my assessed $264k Texas house and bill of 6,400 for an assessed $210k in NC w/ a tax bill of 1,300.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 19:08 | 4556517 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

Someone ought to plot a time-chart of property tax vs property price, and a map of where the lowest % is at any given moment.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 23:04 | 4553824 DLux
DLux's picture

You lived in the wrong place in Florida. Friend in Tampa pays under 2K on a 2500sq ft house in a nice neighborhood. 

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 22:48 | 4553778 Seasmoke
Seasmoke's picture

Being cash poor and house rich , is not a good thing !!

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 22:52 | 4553790 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

But don't buy a house in Chicago.  Rahm will wreck it for you.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/03/14/youth-poetry-team-obliterates-may...

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 11:04 | 4554755 headhunt
headhunt's picture

Rahm - the Gozer of Chicago

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 23:37 | 4553883 Greenskeeper_Carl
Greenskeeper_Carl's picture

Makes me sick. Basically, you will never actually OWN your house or your property, ever. You could have paid it off a decade ago, but if you don't give the govt their extortion each year, armed men will come and steal it from you, and sell it to the highest bidder.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:15 | 4554213 zionhead101
zionhead101's picture

"owning land' in the USA is a lot like owning paper gold, or bitcoin

Just saying, if you can't shove it up your ass and hide from the DHS when your running post knock&talk, then you don't own it,

 

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:19 | 4554218 zionhead101
zionhead101's picture

Owning land in AmericKKKa, just means the right to pay property tax, and its always been this way.

Want real freedom in life? Don't own shit.

*

What do they say, if it floats, fucks, fly's, ... rent it or steal it, or squat on it, ...

"OWNING" in the USA is just another world for slavery, you never own IT, it always owns you.

*

That's why its smart to own a boat and just anchor where you wish until you get bored with water, then go live ashore in a trailer and park where you wish for free until you get bored, and then end up in some 3rd world country and live like a native and you will be happier than zion-kleptocrat in a bucket goyim blood.

 

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 08:28 | 4554409 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

My oldest just bought a 27 ft sailboat and lives in the Caribbean with his GF! Livin' the dream.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 10:17 | 4554614 headhunt
headhunt's picture

Amen - my parents were taxed out of their home to support union communists eternal money grab.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 23:42 | 4553894 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

But don't worry, none of this will apply for million dollar homes.  Those people are special....

 

Note:  Present value only, not the value after 20% inflation kicks in

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 07:32 | 4554355 pndr4495
pndr4495's picture

There are some houses in very desirable areas of central New Jersey's Eastern coast where a mortgage payment has not been made in nearly 5 years ; but the OWNER of said home is still living in it. These are million dollar plus properties , supposedly. Set against this scene in Jersey are plenty of people who did the right thing morally by selling their modest home when they could. I guess the facts speak for themselves as far as the " specialness " comment is concerned. Special cannot last much longer. The average guy will want "rightness." He will want justice. As G. Edward Griffin has said , " America is in serious trouble. "

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 08:26 | 4554408 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

Joe and Teresa Giudice come to mind.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 23:47 | 4553902 lasvegaspersona
lasvegaspersona's picture

If you want less of something (like home ownership) ...just tax it.

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 23:52 | 4553918 The Pop In
The Pop In's picture

As stated in another comment, the tax increases will be passed on to renters. If a tenant does not like the rising rent what are they going to do, buy? No free lunch. TPTB have this all "war gamed" out a long time ago. If you can beat Big Blue in chess then maybe you can outsmart TPTB. I doubt if there is a place to hide in the not too distant future. TPTB have "continuity of government" plans all set and waiting. Looks like another Dark Ages is on the horizon. "IT" lives.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:13 | 4554210 zionhead101
zionhead101's picture

Not always most places have 'rent control' maybe apartments can pass, but renting is very competitive.

Also you have to be selective as a landlord for 40+ years I can tell you I always made sure to have the best houses for the lowest price, and I picked and choosed only those who had jobs, which meant that 90% of the applicants  had to be rejected,

Most places with high-taxes have rent-control the deal is to fuck hte owner so he  sells, the the zio-neo-cons buy your property cheap, then they come back and register your property as 'historic' and then it becomes just like a MORMON church or a Synaogue, .. tax free shit, ... that's how the game is played.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 19:04 | 4556505 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

when all renters can not pay then all renters will pay less or will pay nothing and all owners will go bankrupt from having no rental income (who had some & budget for it).

Sat, 03/15/2014 - 23:57 | 4553922 slightlyskeptical
slightlyskeptical's picture

And people wonder why people root for Putin.

Since we know what they have done why is it not Bush time?

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 10:14 | 4554607 headhunt
headhunt's picture

I understand the 'romance' of a Putin ideal but he is a hard core communist that would F' the life out of you.

You are but a tool for the communists, an expendable tool.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 19:03 | 4556504 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

Name 1 communist act or statement of Putin. Anything. Bet you can't.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 00:02 | 4553935 boeing747
boeing747's picture

Q99x2,

In 1993, need 286 oz of gold to buy a house, now worths only 74 oz of gold.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 00:14 | 4553952 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

Not sure I see the reasoning.

1)  Property taxes are raised because only rich people have houses and rich people got too good a deal in the "Great Recession" (otherwise known as the middle class rape).

2)  People that own houses get a larger property tax deduction.

3)  Rental rates raise immediately to cover increased property taxes.

4)  People that don't own houses end up paying higher rent, without any tax deduction.

So basically the poorer people get screwed again, this time under the guise of helping them?

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 07:43 | 4554362 Bogdog
Bogdog's picture

You've cracked the code.

 

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 10:11 | 4554600 headhunt
headhunt's picture

Sorry Race - you do not have this right.

The communists have raised property taxes in an effort to claim what they believe is theirs by taxing people out of their property.The 'tax deduction' you speak of is hardly a gift when you compare it to the ridiculous amount of tax paid to feed the union coffers.

Most property owners are not rich or even close to being rich.

I imagine you are young because the communists have made property ownership almost unreachable for today's youth.

Most rental rates are raised to cover property taxes, taxes which are set by the communists.

If you want justice stop voting for communists in democrat and republican clothes - they will continue to suck your income and life's blood from you to feed themselves and their communist union elitists.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 19:01 | 4556502 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

I hope you know there's no one else to vote for in the USSA, right?

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 12:05 | 4554936 mrdenis
mrdenis's picture

In New Jersey a renter gets to deduct 10% of his rent off of his income ....

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 18:59 | 4556494 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

interesting. Where I live in Canada laws forbid raising the rent past a certain % every year and I don't think that limit keeps up with property tax increases. Also we can all claim rent (with receipts) against income tax to reduce it. Only reason I'm not is I don't get a receipt & I figure that helps out my landlord and that works for me too.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 00:24 | 4553971 Wilcox1
Wilcox1's picture

Brilliant.  Raise prices to combat falling revenues when your customer is done for.  

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 00:26 | 4553974 hangemhigh77
hangemhigh77's picture

This should be the new mantra............STOP PAYING YOUR TAXES. STOP PAYING YOUR MORTGAGE. STOP FEEDING THE BEAST.

It should be on billboards, all over the internet, EVERYWHERE.  Two months of this will collapse the banks and the entire crappy system.  We can start hanging banksters and politicians for treason.  we can regain the power in this country and re-institute the Constitution.  All law should be reviewed for it's Constitutionality and any law deemed unConstitutional should be stricken and nullified immediately.  STOP FEEDING THE BEAST. Our government is using our tax dollars to arm themselves against US.  Wake up, stop paying taxes.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:09 | 4554207 zionhead101
zionhead101's picture

yep,

until the reinstate debtors prison and many states they have ....

I agree so long as you live in a non-recourse state, just play the game, and buy on nothing down and rinse and repeat, do it with a car too, ... every 3 years, ...

It's called living like an 'american'

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 09:56 | 4554574 headhunt
headhunt's picture

'Stop feeding the beast' in those terms will only get you thrown in prison with the loss of everything you worked for.

Stop voting for socialists and communists - that is the beast

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 18:40 | 4556437 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

That means you stop voting for good. All elections are rigged for the very much anti-communist anti-socialist anti-capitalist one-party system of Fascism.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 00:32 | 4553986 laomei
laomei's picture

If you are considering buying a house... if it's out west, good luck on ensuring you still have mineral rights with the deed, or one day you'll discover that your land will be fracked to hell and back with nothing you can do about it.  If you are considering buying a house, here's hoping it never had a mortgage touched by MERS, because your deed is basically a forgery and easily contested meaning you own nothing.  And definitely, if you are considering buying a house, get ready to pay rent in the form of property tax on top of everything else... if it's in a neighborhood that might be considered "nice", you get to deal with all the HOA rules as well as the HOA fees (another tax), which will ensure that you can never use your land as you like and if you whine too much they can seize your property auction it off for nothing and kick you to the curb.

 

Property in America: Good jobs, good public schools, good environment, safe (actual safe, not "america-safe"), you're looking in the range of millions for any random shithole.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 00:52 | 4554017 boeing747
boeing747's picture

Like someone already said you can buy a large lot with tiny old house, then build a tree house, dig a big basement (most tax free) or setup a big shed (some cities have size limits for tax free), .gov being fxck you doing this way.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 01:51 | 4554084 knowshitsurelock
knowshitsurelock's picture

Oh the irony.  You sit down at the closing table, your signature creates the money out of thin air, the bank gets paid twice, they clip fees, defer the capital transfer taxes onto you, rehypoticate and leverage the money you just created about 100 times, while you sign a promissory note to pay twice for your domicile, and you register it at the county recorders office and give it to the state to do as they please.

So, who’s the idiot?

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:07 | 4554201 zionhead101
zionhead101's picture

The IDIOT was those who bought the MTG paper.

Madoff said years ago "ALL of America is a ponzi", ... why are we even talking about this?

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 08:21 | 4554400 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

Twice? When I had a mortgage it was more like thrice! The first 20 years is almost all interest. Interest rates have come down.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 05:00 | 4554116 Remnant_Army
Remnant_Army's picture

Monday, November 15th, 2010

"They will hold you in such a vice-grip because they will control everything. You will find it difficult to fight them, as they will control even your bank, your property, your taxes and the food you need to survive."

 

http://www.thewarningsecondcoming.com/global-power-the-anti-christ-and-m...

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 03:03 | 4554121 Kprime
Kprime's picture

No income, no bank, no cell phone. No house payment. No rent. no car payment. no debt. 3 years now.

JOHN LENNON
Watching the Wheels
Album Double Fantasy released in 1980.

People say I'm crazy doing what I'm doing
Well they give me all kinds of warnings to save me from ruin
When I say that I'm o.k. well they look at me kind of strange
Surely you're not happy now you no longer play the game

People say I'm lazy dreaming my life away
Well they give me all kinds of advice designed to enlighten me
When I tell them that I'm doing fine watching shadows on the wall
Don't you miss the big time boy you're no longer on the ball

 I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go

Ah, people asking questions lost in confusion
Well I tell them there's no problem, only solutions
Well they shake their heads and they look at me as if I've lost my mind
I tell them there's no hurry
I'm just sitting here doing time

I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
I really love to watch them roll
No longer riding on the merry-go-round
I just had to let it go
I just had to let it go
I just had to let it go

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 08:19 | 4554399 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

Tell me you are bangin' a Yoko Ono type in the azz?

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 19:31 | 4556605 Kprime
Kprime's picture

I'd tell you, but then they would have to shoot me.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 03:05 | 4554127 Quentin Daniels
Quentin Daniels's picture

The Government and the Banks, working together to screw the last dimes from the population for their clients.

We could probably organize the rope, but there just aren't enough lamp posts to deal with this properly.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:04 | 4554198 zionhead101
zionhead101's picture

patrick.net, what happened ZH your ball's fall off?

Gone full retard and now talking about real-estate,...

This is an IMF article, and IMF rules the world, and wants gubmints everywhere to stay afloat and keep ZIO's in power.

I have been telling friends for years own the smallest fucking house you can, and I have been saying for years that PROPERTY tax will eventually cost more than RENT, so what's the point of owning.

*

Walk away, don't pay MTG 3+ years, and for god's sake don't pay property tax, let the bank pay.

Then buy another house with nothing down and do it again, join the FSA, become a real american.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:28 | 4554227 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

It is a cricticism of the IMF's proposals. Read the end paragraphs.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:47 | 4554248 zionhead101
zionhead101's picture

I know, but its not like the USA zio's didn't already know this, this shit is for 3rd world country's to fuck their little people.

The USA this is already a done deal, hell where I used to live the property taxes are now more than rent used to be every month.

 

Once you get property taxes up to RENT, then it can't go any  higher, and no the landlord can't simply pass it on the courts don't allow that, obviously none of you have ever been fucked in the ass by tenant court system, the renter appears he wins, if he doesn't appear you win, its a boring game.

*

The IMF is owned by zio-neo-con, they're just trying to tell all their colony's how to fuck their citizens, but believe me in the USA, they have already been fucked to death, its game over in the USA.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 09:36 | 4554525 headhunt
headhunt's picture

We ain't dead yet.

2016 will determine if we are serfs or Americans

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 09:50 | 4554556 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

Headhunt, I wish you were correct. But sad to say you are speaking of an America that no longer exists. Obama is proof. He was hope and change, not an insider. THEN look at Syria! What the fuck was that all about? Now Ukraine.

I did not vote for the man and his beliefs I do not hold. This is not our country anymore. We do not have any influence with the Executive branch. We have limited influence with the Legislative branch. It is all bought and paid for. You do not "elect" anyone, but merely "select" from a group that has all been vetted. They are all beholden to others. If they fool the TPTB, to get elected and then come out for the interests of the people, then they will get an assassin's bullet like the Kennedys and Reagan.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 11:00 | 4554744 headhunt
headhunt's picture

Looking for that dark-horse.

If we give up and accept the path they have put us on, we loose.

 

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 14:00 | 4555404 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

Yeh, I could pack it up and play golf all day and drink high balls until the end comes. Or I can work out at the gym, go to the shooting range and otherwise prepare myself for the worst. Right now I am on ZH thinking about the latter. Maybe I can help my children somehow.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 18:32 | 4556407 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

Clearly your idea of "worst" doesn't include drone strikes blamed on Iran and some of those strikes dropping nerve gas or weaponized ebola.

You tell me how they "can't" do that. I'm listening...

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 20:35 | 4556795 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

Yeh, I was being selfish and only thinking of what might happen here in the US. Our country has become an abomination (funny how that word sounds now). I would listen to any ideas you have.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 22:44 | 4557187 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

First of all I think that will happen in the USA. Second, I suggest leaving it. The country.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 18:31 | 4556402 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

CLEARLY with the handling of the banks, the unending Get out of Jail Free cards, Obama was an insider.

Just because you didn't know it in advance doesn't mean it's not reality. That's how it is. Obama is Bush Sr.'s 5th term as Bush Jr. was Shrub Sr.'s 2nd and 3rd terms. Clinton & Hitlary are no better.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 18:29 | 4556400 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

so in 2016 the banks are all shutting down and all fraudulent mortgage claims & foreclosures will end? No?

Then no, 2016 won't look any different than 1996 or 2056.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:36 | 4554236 Catullus
Catullus's picture

The term “efficiency” in economics is often used loosely. At the most precise level, it means Pareto efficiency—a situation in which no individual can be made better off without making some other individual worse off. An efficiency-improving reform in this sense would then be one that makes someone better off and no one worse off. But this is a very demanding test, both in assessing well-being and removing any possibility that someone may be adversely affected by change. Reflecting this, the term “efficiency gain” is often used more loosely to refer to increase in the aggregate level or growth of income; and this is the interpretation in mind here.

Meaning.... "we can't use Pareto efficiency, because we're discussing stealing from one group of people and giving it to another. So those we steal from are going to be necessarily worse off. Instead, we'll assume that magically if we steal from one group and give to another, someway, somehow, there will be an overall increase in aggregate income."

The dipshittery from this is if I steal someone's property (and not just in the usual income manner, but through confiscation of property) and give it to someone else, that someone else's income will go up. And since, you're stealing accumulated wealth to give to others in the form of income to them, if add up all the incomes, they will increase. You don't need to do a study or research for this. These authors are describing this as an increase in efficiency.

This is not serious academic work. This is conniving little shits thinking up ways to rob people.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:51 | 4554251 besnook
besnook's picture

you know, i know several people in several different other countries who have had a family home for 100s of years without fear that .gov would take it away for nonpayment of taxes. a few of these homes are in countries the usa has added to its countries of interest list as security threats to the american way. meanwhile, in the usa i know people who pay more in annual taxes than their original mortgage payments annualized. i know some people who have had to give up old homesteads because tax assessments based upon new outrageous prices just made the property stupid to keep. at some point of intersecting lines there is a point where annual property taxes creates an artificial rent control by effectively capping the value of the real estate as a function of tax, insurance(hurricane states), interest rates, job opportunities, and inflation. you can get rid of the banks and some of the insurance but .gov will ride your ass forever. they have a viagra iv drip. this is the private property myth of capitalism, usa style.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 08:16 | 4554394 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

This is interesting. I have seen something similar play out in one of the few high rise residential buildings near where I live. The units and building are very nice. Incredible views, super ammenities. The units are dirt cheap: $115,000 list price for 2br, 2ba, 1,500 sf. But the condo fees would be $750/mo. They had a few issues recently. The main one being a loose facade. So the assessment is to cover repair and maybe attorney's fees.

Normally these units would probably go for double or more if only the condo fees were more realistic. The fees are more like what you would see outside of DC say in Arlington or something. Not in the midwest US.

 

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 18:26 | 4556382 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

You must be very rich.

I'd have to own a property like that 460 years to make it comparable to the price of what I pay which is far, far more space. Yes, only 1 bathroom but I could certainly pay a shit-ton of cash to add another, have far more square footage, and be far, far ahead. "dirt cheap" indeed. For that kind of money I could continue living in the apartment I have, which is in a house, buy the house off the landlord I have, rent the house out to someone else and effectively live rent-free in the same apartment. Such nonsense... "dirt cheap".

This kind of sets the tone for the kind of commentary I see at least 50% of the time on zerohedge.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 20:29 | 4556784 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

I am a middle class guy who has done fairly well the past decade or so. Moved above what most would consider middle class, but I don't kid myself. I am not rich and don't expect to be. Most people I know are middle class, which today means you are nervous about that day that may come when the dream dies and you are at the mercy of society. We came into this world with nothing and will leave with nothing. Did not mean to offend your sensibilities.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 22:43 | 4557182 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

Your definition of middle-class is very different than mine.

40k-75k/year is middle-class. Above it isn't. Period.

I can't help but be offended by rich fuckers pretending they're not rich. Rich is rich. Period. We all know what a loaf of bread costs, what average wages are, what minimum wages are and that sets the baseline.

 

Mon, 03/17/2014 - 21:55 | 4561548 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

There is a strata called upper middle class. Maybe $100k to $300K. I can't help being offended by being labelled rich.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 02:17 | 4562040 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

Hm, if you insist.

To subdivide strata of the rich seems as pointless to me as verbally subdividing thousands of variations of blue-purple tint.

At least a machine like a video card has a need, mechanically, to do so given the nature of the other machinery it's attached to, but to do so in language seems utterly pointless.

Wed, 03/19/2014 - 22:07 | 4570539 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

Why use middle class? You are either rich or poor.

Why not take advantage of all the knowledge that others have given us? There is

the underclass

working poor

working class

middle class

upper middle class

wealthy

rich

super rich

oligarch

 

Thu, 03/20/2014 - 03:04 | 4571388 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

wrong.

There are those who are above poor and below rich. Those who are poor must have the assistance of others. Those who are rich can afford luxuries and may or may not even have multiple properties to live in, servants, etc.

There's a very, very clear transition, boundary, so large only a blind person couldn't see it, that is not rich and not poor.

While they are shinking there are plenty of people who are not poor and not rich. That's the middle. It's still there.

Your games trying to deliberately under-simplify and over-simplify change nothing.

TO me 100k a year and 1 trillion a year are of no difference. Rich is rich and when it's the result of theft we have a problem. When it's theft from me we have a lynching. Period.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 04:53 | 4554253 noless
noless's picture

I love that the "solution to income inequality" is to grind people on the bottom even harder, they have to want a fucking war if this is their tactic.

Because all that "tax money to be redistributed" will totally end up anywhere near someone legitimately on the agenda list of underserved groups.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 05:02 | 4554263 caustixoid
caustixoid's picture

The state owns all land -- every "owner" (sic) is really a renter. 

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 05:58 | 4554292 zionhead101
zionhead101's picture

Every 'owner' is  a taxpayer, which means he is feeding the COP-shop, which means he is enabling his own slavery,

Funny when you think ownership, really means they own you,

As soon as your OWN,you lose all your freedom,

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 08:09 | 4554386 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

We be share croppin' brother.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 12:50 | 4555101 yogibear
yogibear's picture

"The state owns all land -- every "owner" (sic) is really a renter. "

Exactly. You just lease it. Break the lease and the sherrif comes and seizes your asset and sells it for 50% of the owed taxes.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 05:37 | 4554289 Lin S
Lin S's picture

THIS IS WHY I never get too excited when some guy tells me I need to "buy farmland and get out of the city!  Farmland is THE investment now!"

No, not really.  They will simply tax you OFF of it. 

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 05:57 | 4554291 zionhead101
zionhead101's picture

There is a trick, old codgers use,

Buy all the clear-cuts you can when young, for cash or cheap.

Then sell them on contract to young romantic idiots that want to live in the METH-WOODS for 10% 30 year contracts, ... you will have income all that time, mostly tax free, and the 'buyer' who will most of the time not make payments letting you forclose will be the one who actually is paying the taxes, if he fails to pay taxes you foreclose too

*

forclose is the best of all cuz your turn around and sell it on contract again over&over forever,

I know a guy that used to have a bar, and for 40 years he would sell the bar, and he used to tell me like 'clock-work' the bar would come back everytime in 3 years he would sell it again,... and everytime I got to keep the downpayment and all

 

Welcome to ameriKKKa folks

 

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 13:49 | 4555317 nc551
nc551's picture

Around here the trick is to get 10+ acres and stick 10 goats on it somewhere in a pen.  This allows your property to be classified as a farm which drops the tax rate about 80% less compared to normal residential.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 18:20 | 4556361 MeelionDollerBogus
MeelionDollerBogus's picture

Fool. It's farmland in another country you need, then.

Sun, 03/16/2014 - 06:13 | 4554300 justsayin2u
justsayin2u's picture

The socialist elites will lead us to ruin since every solution is to tax the people more when what they need to support is fewer and lower flat taxes and much smaller government.  This is beyond their comprehension.

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