This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.

Our Current Illusion Of Prosperity

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Frank Hollenbeck via The Mises Institute,

President Obama and Fed Chair Janet Yellen have been crowing about improving economic conditions in the US. Unemployment is down to 5.5 percent and growth in 2014 hit 2.2 percent.

Journalists and economists point to this improvement as proof that quantitative easing was effective.

Pile on More Debt

Unfortunately, this latest boom is artificial and has been built by adding debt on top of debt. Total household debt increased 2.5 percent in 2014 — the highest level since 2010. Mortgage loans increased 1.5 percent, student loans 6.6 percent while auto loans increased a hefty 9.6 percent. The improving auto sales are built mostly on a bubble of sub-prime borrowers. Auto sales have been brisk because of a surge in loans to individuals with credit scores below 620. Since 2010, such loans have increased over 100 percent and have gone from 20 percent of originations in 2009 to 27 percent in 2013. Yet, auto loans to individuals with strong credit scores, above 760, have barely budged over the last year.

Subprime consumer borrowing climbed $189 billion in the first eleven months of 2014. Excluding home mortgages, this accounted for 41 percent of total consumer lending. This is exactly the kind of lending that got us into trouble less than a decade ago, and for many consumers, this will only end in tears.

But we need to ask ourselves: is the current boom built on sound foundations? In other words, do we have sharp increases in productivity or real wage growth?

Productivity increased less than 1 percent on average in the last three years and real wages have flat lined or declined for decades. From mid-2007 to mid-2014, real wages declined 4.9 percent for workers with a high school degree, dropped 2.5 percent for workers with a college degree and rose just 0.2 percent for workers with an advanced degree.

Is the boom being built on broad base investment in plant and equipment? The current average age of working plants and equipment in the US is one of the oldest on record.

Meanwhile, it is now clear that the shale boom was an illusion of prosperity. Oil prices have dipped below $50 with some analysts calling for $20 oil by the end of the year. This is a drop from over $100 from last year. Many shale outfits need oil above $65 just to break even. Massive layoffs in the energy sector are now a certainty. Few realize that most of the gains in employment in the US since 2008 have been in shale states. Yet the carnage is not over. Induced by low interest, investment banks loaned over 1 trillion dollars to the energy industry. The impact on the financial sector is still to be felt.

There Has Not Been a True Home Price Correction

The same is true about current increases in housing prices and construction costs. Following the financial crisis of 2008, real estate prices should have dropped much more than they did relative to other prices. The new reality between supply and demand would have led to a price correction similar to the ones we see in oil prices today or to high-flying internet stocks after the dot-com bubble burst. Housing should then have remained in a slump possibly for a decade or more, until the overhang of empty residential and commercial real estate had been cleared off.

Today, housing is back, with price increases at bubble-era levels and construction activity is picking up. The improvement is being driven by professional investors stretching for yield in the buy-to-rent market and by historically low long-term mortgage rates of below 4 percent. Yet, the overhang of empty commercial properties from the previous boom has not disappeared. It has just been left in limbo, because of the “extend and pretend” strategy of banks made possible by the central bank’s massive printing over the last six years. The number of vacant units (table 7) in the US still stands at over 18 million units — a level reached back in 2008–2009. As of 2014, the number of units held off the market was still at a record level of over 7 million units.

Will Easy Money Fix Everything?

Current policy coming from the Fed seems to be geared to create a never-ending series of booms and busts, with the hope that the busts can be shortened with more debt and easy money.

Yet one major driver behind the financial crisis in 2008 was too much debt - much of which led to taxpayer-funded bailouts. In spite of this, the best the Fed can come up with now is to lower interest rates to boost demand to induce households and governments to borrow even more.

Interfering with interest rates, however, is by far the most damaging policy. The economy is not a car, and interest rates are not the gas pedal. Interest rates play a critical role in aligning output with society’s demand across time. Fiddling with them only creates an ever-growing misalignment between demand and supply across time requiring an ever larger and more painful adjustment.

 

- advertisements -

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Thu, 04/02/2015 - 00:57 | 5951321 NidStyles
NidStyles's picture

So when does the Amero come into the picture???

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 01:03 | 5951325 Four chan
Four chan's picture

ayn rand's question "at cost to whom?"

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 22:37 | 5951091 OldPhart
OldPhart's picture

Was having home re-financed to pull equity and do some work around here ($100k out) and buy about $30k in PM.  They changed the rate upwards by from 3.7 to 3.9.  Told them to go fuck themselves.

They couldn't believe I wasn't desperate to get my hands on debt.

Fuck it, I'll pay the house off...it'll only take five more years.

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 22:45 | 5951108 cherry picker
cherry picker's picture

That was a smart move.

When things fall, it is nice to have a roof over your head.  Shingles and insulation beats PM for keeping you warm and dry :)

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 05:10 | 5951470 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

I don't think you read his post correctly.  He said he refinanced his house and bought some pm's, 30% of what he refinaced.  He took on more debt, I don't know his circumstance and what he can afford, so when you say "it is nice to have a roof over your head." I'm not sure he made the right move.  His propertys' value coud decline in the next downturn which would put the roof over his head in jeopardy.  It depends where you live.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 06:04 | 5951497 cherry picker
cherry picker's picture

The way I read it, he was going to refinance, then they upped the interest rate which is not unusual when they go through the process, and he declined the deal, didn't want it that bad as he only has five years of payents left on his existing mortgage.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 08:40 | 5951690 BigJim
BigJim's picture

Yeah, that's how I read it too.

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 23:12 | 5951174 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

Actually, you should have taken the deal and put it all in PMs, lead and steel (BMs-"Bang Metals"), and food and water.

Especially PMs, as they are at "Crazy Eddie" prices.

Just my two cents.

The banksters need to repay us.

 

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 23:42 | 5951227 J S Bach
J S Bach's picture

When you're on the "up" side of a Ponzi scheme, all seems well.  (Even though those in the know know that they're guilty).  However, when that Ponzi scheme finally tips, that "illusion of prosperity" quickly disappears.  Those in this spectrum (the majority) will find themselves stunned and amazed - not unlike their grand parents and uncles who chose 10th floor windows as opposed to having to pay their debts of greed.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 07:21 | 5951553 new game
new game's picture

PM=9mm, 380, 22, 762, 45 ect.(by the 250 350 and 500 case)

do a chart

next dumb ass to go ballistic (pun intended) will be next

leg up in price discovery.

when the time comes to sell

or barter

it won't be difficult to "unload".

 

ha...

 

9mm, 100 pack win, 2005, 11.00

now 24.00

oh, yea s and p 666(if you timed it perfect)

now, 20xx, but i'll take my PM anyday.

stack on, boxes that is...

cx4 or or sub 2000 depending on budget

and a 19 and a 19(s&w) short range

308 for some real fun

22 for shits and grins

and alley sweeps

1 oz of gold=5000 9mm, your choice...

10 oz=50k, enough already...

ha

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 22:40 | 5951100 Creepy A. Cracker
Creepy A. Cracker's picture

So this is why there are so many states legalizing pot.  Alcohol wasn't enough to deal with it.

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 22:47 | 5951117 PeeramidIdeologies
PeeramidIdeologies's picture

The next QE has to be Quanitative Entrepenuership. If anyone should be getting a hand out this is where it should be going. Think about it. Best idea I've had in years.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 03:55 | 5951446 Imagery
Imagery's picture

Well, as a 30 yr entreprenuer who has seen the ups and downs, i will tell you all my peers are gone.  I guess really i am too i'm just not smart enough to realize it.  The first thing QE and TBTF WS Finance destroys is entreprenuership - BY DESIGN.

Those fu<ks can't organically produce any service or product that society needs so they stick with the sure-thing thefts that are fractional reserve banking, infinite rehypyoths, Off Bal Sht Derivatives, etal.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 06:00 | 5951490 PeeramidIdeologies
PeeramidIdeologies's picture

It's slavery plain and simple. It has been developing for decades as far as I can tell. I'm relatively new to this scene but growing up the last thing on my mind was becoming a wage slave. I've have made a couple of attempts to break the mold so to speak, but it's always a fleeting moment. The system is right there to wrangle you back in. I guess I grew up in the wrong side of the game. But I find myself stuck with the question of; How in the hell did we let this happen?
Which always leads to; How in the hell are we going to fix it?
From what I can tell this is the last question on anyone else's mind. The only thing I see out there is a desperate greed to obtain as much as possible before the whole thing comes down. Like looters during riots, except these pieces of shit wear suits and have gov. Certificates to steal.

Don't even get me started on private equity. How much capital is being sunk into more ass sniffing social media crap?! All of the top entrepreneurs in NYC/ Silicon Valley are making big $ with this, no value to it what so ever.
I try to watch that Dragons Den. Can't handle that either, people asking for 10g to distribute cheap consumer gimmicks. Where are the real problem solvers? Who is tackling the big issues? We'll leave that to the politicians eh?!
That's why I post at ZH. It seemed like somewhere that people understood what was happening out there, and it SEEMED like there as an initiative to do something about it. Instead it's the Tyler's and their friends playing their little games....think your pretty clever eh Tyler's. Hiding behind your Internet. You guys must be some bored wasting your time on a low life like me.
Anyways I just missed the fukin bus ranting away like an idiot. Good ol'ZH. Big hallow shoulder to cry on

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 06:03 | 5951494 PeeramidIdeologies
PeeramidIdeologies's picture

And what the hell is this maintenance mode nonsense? You know I would love to hear about any other Zh'ers personal experience with this website. I highly doubt I'll ever get any closure on my experience here, but it would be consoling to know I'm not the only misfit here haha

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 06:41 | 5951526 negative rates
negative rates's picture

We're mostly misfits here, but we are on our way to becoming great pretenders. There is a timer, there is a fellow who picks up all the trash the people have throw out during their sinners life, he cares not of the reasons for the waste, or for the guilty who threw it, or made it. He just wants one more try at reducing the need to throw the trash or waste the resource. Tip of the day, prep bitches.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 07:18 | 5951559 BoPeople
BoPeople's picture

Well said. I have been kicked off this web site several times for offending the wrong people... or possibly getting too close to the truth.

You are searching, so you are on the right track.

As for ZH, it is another side of the same coin. Those who are controlling us want a dialectic so that we cannot unite and then they want to control both sides of the dialectic. Bankers, anti-bankers, what does it matter if they control both sides of the argument.

However, what I doubt they realize is that by creating the dielectric and the stress, they are actually playing into the hands of a larger plan that allows us to grow and progress spiritually. Do not laugh. Whether we are rich or poor ultimately means nothing. Because life on this world is meant to be temporary and it seems that a part of growth is coming to the realization that we can be happy with ourselves and the world regardless of these dialectics and the outside influences that torment and test us. Also, that we can have money or not without being corrupted by it.

I can tell you from experience that once you start searching and you find that what we have been told does not make a lot of sense and you look for answers and you keep with it you will almost magically be led progressively through a series of learning experiences. I suspect that most people do not have the patience or desire, but it seems that you do. GL on your quest.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 10:01 | 5951947 PeeramidIdeologies
PeeramidIdeologies's picture

Man oh man... I'm am on the wrong path.. I know because I was on the right path a couple years ago. It is situation allfukedup now.
I'll give you credit though, your ballsy or dumb, getting spiritual around these parts. They will weaponize that faster then you can say have some decency. They get off on that here I know it.
The only thing that makes sense to me is that I get paid for the work I put in and the results I accomplish. Personal journeys do not apply on a financial blog.

I don't know what buddy is talking about the trash collector up there, but I'm referring to these people infiltrating my life and what? Trying to create leverage? Use me as a ginea pig? I wouldn't care if they were paying like the good capitalists they claim to be. I'll be your little whore then assfukers. Hell I'll even come to your house, we can set up the octagon. See what's what in the real world.

Step up Tyler's. Or I'm gonna bring it to you until the roof blows off this motherfucker.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 12:13 | 5952418 BoPeople
BoPeople's picture

They have not kicked me off "again" ... yet.

One would then assume that either what I am saying does not matter to them or I am playing into their hands.

By coming at them aggressively you will be playing into their hands... your choice.

ZH has changed over the years. The Tyler(s) have changed. The most logical explanation is that it is run or controlled by the same people it feigns to criticize ... because it does not really matter.

7 years ago after Lehman, I got really, really disillusioned and then really, really pissed. It was pretty easy to follow the government path of betrayal that lead to the crash and bailout (Gramm-Leach-Bliley and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 were key). I said some things online back then. So, next thing you know, I get followed, have a nice conversation with a couple from the State Department, another guy who was a DIA profiler and then get the double check coming back into the country from London.

7 years later it has become clear to me that what these people are doing really doesn't matter to me. They clearly do not get it and I can try to help them, but they are under no obligation to listen. Their view of things is about .0000000000000000001% of reality. Yep, every time I think I have it, I get thrown another curve ball and have to learn something new and it will probably take me another 18 years of learning before I can even start to think that I get it.

You have free will. Do what you want.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 18:12 | 5953756 PeeramidIdeologies
PeeramidIdeologies's picture

Interesting. I want to be kicked off. I needed to be kicked off a year ago. I even asked for it. I have always been a little paraniod, I think you would have to be crazy not to be these days, and I've had a bit of a crazy life to start with, but this whole experience has just got way out of control. I honestly can't tell what is real and what is in my head anymore, but there are definitely more then a few incidences that I know were beyond coincedence. But it's too bazar to rationalize. I can't even talk to anyone about it because it's sounds too fukin crazy, makes me feel crazy, look crazy, apparently act crazy.. Can't look at a screen anymore without feeling like someone is recording my moves. I think it's even created a little arrested development... It's all bad.

My problem is that I not an asshole by nature. I have to try to be rude. I doubt I have it in me to get officially booted lol the other side of the problem is that I have been lead along at this website in strange ways, with possible opportunity that someone like me wouldnt normally have exposure too. I think.
If it was a misunderstanding that's fine. I'll fuck off no questions asked. I Just can't walk away on my own accord. Regular life is too blasé.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 23:52 | 5954572 BoPeople
BoPeople's picture

Everything is an experience. My advice is just learn to love the experience, whatever it happens to be ... even what would normally be considered unpleasant things.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 07:26 | 5951569 new game
new game's picture

misfits anon. ma. group meetings ongoing...

10 step proccess.

come to realize a banker greater than me

i am powerless, ha...

debt is the first sip, ha...

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 10:01 | 5951948 DanDaley
DanDaley's picture

ZH is the end of the line. Please watch your step as you exit. From here on you're on your own.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 11:29 | 5952245 PeeramidIdeologies
PeeramidIdeologies's picture

Who's leaving? I'm just getting warmed up. I suggest you stand back

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 23:04 | 5951161 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

The banksters stole everything including prosperity and the future.

The banksters need to repay us.

 

Guillotines are also time machines.

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 23:07 | 5951168 q99x2
q99x2's picture

Dude they're buying time while they build up the military to kill us and the rest of the world. The one thing the elite aren't is prejudiced.

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 23:46 | 5951240 forwardho
forwardho's picture

2008 found .gov with their pants around their ankles. There were no plans for the disposition of Millions of idle workers. They have bought With bogus credit the means to Control those Millions. The 1.5 Billion rounds of ammo purchased by the domestic security forces are not to protect us from external threats. But the scariest program brought online is the ACA. After reading it can be seen as a means of mass liquidation. . Gov is, at this point, only concerned with continuity of .gov

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 04:28 | 5951461 indygo55
indygo55's picture

Right! There are too many humans on earth. Thats because they allowed it. Assumiong they are in control which they are. But they fucked up. They in all their brilliance could have figured out that the population could have been controlled a long time ago. But they are pretty fucking stupid and they were too busy playing polo (metaphore) so they need to cull the herd and they sit around trying to come up with a plan to do that without triggering an outbreak of (wake up). They are too fucking stupid and missed the opportunity and now everyone knows what they are going to do, namely kill off a few billion of us. They got the bunkers and the underground cities and this shit is going to get real pretty soon so get ready motherfuckers. 

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 23:22 | 5951181 Seize Mars
Seize Mars's picture

Sorry, OT:

BUSTED WIDE OPEN.

Here is a video talking about how the crew can open a locked cabin door in an Airbus 320:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=288&v=ROIH3KCEIvs

they can open it from a keypad on the outside of the cockpit.

The government is lying, again.

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 23:29 | 5951203 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Be specific as the word was that a pilot or co=pilot could over=ride for 5 minutes with a the touch of a button or toggle as a deterrent for Terrorist.

But probably most system can be over ridden by an aggressive individuals. That seems to work both ways, but a totally outside force is unsuspected and not implicated if it can remotely over-ride all systems.

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 23:59 | 5951255 Seize Mars
Seize Mars's picture

Wrong. Go to this site: http://82.221.129.208/ and download the wmv file. There is no 5 minute override.

This is an Airbus training video. The cockpit cannot lock itself in. The government is lying.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 01:33 | 5951355 OldPhart
OldPhart's picture

From my reading, local europe flights don't have that sort of set up.  It's basically a thick steel door with with cross bars.  US local flights and international flights have the fancier locks.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 04:34 | 5951465 indygo55
indygo55's picture

This is all bullshit. The plane along with every other fucking airliner built since 1990 can be controlled by remote control. Why has this not been headline news? Who is so fucking stupid that they dont ask why the French athourities didnt take control of the plane and land it safely? WHY??

Why doesnt anyone ask this question? Are we that fucking stupid? Its a fact. Who is awake? Jeeze, this is a widely known fact and no one asks about it.

Good fucking luck.

We are doomed.

 

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 07:29 | 5951572 22winmag
22winmag's picture

Yes, and when a doomed plane is not remotely controlled, it has an MK co-pilot who cuts the fuel and noses the plane over.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 04:49 | 5951468 SHRAGS
SHRAGS's picture

Yes, the door can be unlocked from the outside, HOWEVER, there is a DENY position [two position toggle UNLOCK or DENY] that overrides the time delay override code.  The cyclical can then be started over.  The bottom line is that a pilot can prevent entry into the flight deck indefinitely by repeatedly using the DENY position.  The override code is tested before first flight of each day.  Both Boeing & Airbus use similar lock mechanism, the only difference is the keypad itself.

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 23:18 | 5951182 Longduckydong
Longduckydong's picture

What illusion are you referring to? I've nearly doubled my savings in 3 years via equity investments. I sold most of my equity holdings last month and bought a beach house for cash and paid for both my kids college educations. Seems like properity to me. What am I missing?

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 23:29 | 5951202 mayhem_korner
mayhem_korner's picture

 

 

A nail gun.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 02:23 | 5951396 SeattleBruce
SeattleBruce's picture

"Seems like properity to me. What am I missing?"

And the other 99% of the nation?  What about them?  Oh - they don't matter?  Too bad for them, right?  Poor schmucks.  They will matter some day soon though.  There is something called the greater good, and it doesn't always solely involve providing for just one's own flesh and blood.  Of course we, and you, need to provide for our families, but the nation is crumbling under the weight of corruption and massive debt in the meantime.  Where will your kid's college education take them when that debt reality hits the fan?

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 08:35 | 5951656 Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer's picture

What are you missing?

The man.

The man just hasn't come around to visit you yet. But rest assured, he will visit you someday. And it will be when you least expect him.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 11:40 | 5951718 BigJim
BigJim's picture

 What illusion are you referring to? I've nearly doubled my savings in 3 years via equity investments. I sold most of my equity holdings last month and bought a beach house for cash and paid for both my kids college educations. Seems like properity to me. What am I missing?

What you're missing is that this rise in equity prices was created through a zero-sum transfer of purchasing power from existing holders of the currency (via QE), to financial institutions that used it to bid up the price of financial instruments. ie - you managed to surf a wave that was engendered by criminals for their own purposes.

Or let me put it another way. Someone ram-raids a television warehouse with an artic and steals a few dozen pallets of TVs. You walk up and grab a single TV and get away before the cops show up.

Still 'missing' the picture now, bucko?

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 23:34 | 5951214 Sock Monkey Posse
Sock Monkey Posse's picture

The beach house and the college edjumacations were grossly overpriced?

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 23:46 | 5951243 chosen
chosen's picture

Back in the USSR.  Let's see, centrally planned economy, no relation between production and wealth, huge military expenditures, out of control spy network, media brainwashing, massive police state.  Yep, we're in the USSR.

Wed, 04/01/2015 - 23:53 | 5951253 adr
adr's picture

When you can't make real prosperity you have to create an illusion of it.

If you don't people will see reality and not like it very much.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 01:48 | 5951371 franciscopendergrass
franciscopendergrass's picture

I dont know if easy money will fix everything but a easy woman on a saturday night sure fixes a lonely night

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 03:33 | 5951432 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

Picture tapeworms, leeches, tick, fleas, and mosquitoes on meth.

That is the kleptoligarchy and .gov feeding on the body of the U.S.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 04:45 | 5951467 Sandmann
Sandmann's picture

What passes for Monetary Economics at The Fed is more a Fund Manager approach than a Manufacturer; more along the lines of given inflows of money I will buy Stocks or Bonds rather than I see prospects of buying machines and adding capacity. It is probably the financialisation of the economy that has rendered it simply a question of Rebalancing Portfolios to add liquidity so noone liquidates positions.

One might say it is the demerit of Finance and Real Life using the same nominal currency - maybe there needs to be a Casino Chips Currency and a Metalbender Currency with only one underpinned by the US Taxpayer ?

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 07:24 | 5951542 BoPeople
BoPeople's picture

I really do not have a problem with low interest rates. In a lot of ways it is more fair for a population to have low or no interest on loans.

The problem lies in the ability of one caste of people to be able to create and use money at no cost and to even be able to pay themselves with the money they create and to give it to their crony friends at virtually no cost ... Then for the rest of the population to have to pay the banking caste and their cronies 3% to 20% per year for the privilege of using the money that was created from nothing, with no effort.

What gives the banking caste the right to parasitically put the working caste into debt slavery? What gives them the right to decide who gets money, who becomes a debt slave and who becomes a wealthy elitist parasite? The banking caste decisions certainly have nothing to do with who is smart, ambitious or deserving ... only who they favor as their cronies. Begs more questions, eh?

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 10:57 | 5952123 Thisson
Thisson's picture

You should have a problem with a low interest rate if it is set by mandarins rather than the market.  Interfering with the price of money is interference with the price of everything and that leads us into the quagmire of the "socialist economic calculation problem."

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 08:47 | 5951603 Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer's picture

As evidence to support this article - I live in Texas. In 1999 I bought my home for 345,000 (its acreage, mostly). Thats what the home was assessed for in property taxes. The assessment went up about 5% a year until the financial crisis of 07/08 and the assessment went down to 237,000.

Since then, they have been bumping the assessment UP, 10 percent every year for the last 7 years... and now the property tax assessment is 461,000.

Tax assessments from 345k, down to 237k, and back up to 461k... over 15 years?

I've never put the place up for sale. We didn't do a damn thing but mow the grass, take out the trash, and sweep the floors, etc.

Booms and Busts? I'm just sitting here paying property taxes...wondering what the hell's going to happen next.

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 10:17 | 5951981 Clowns on Acid
Clowns on Acid's picture

Arthur - thats called getting screwed in real time. Not quite HFT...but

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 10:58 | 5952127 Thisson
Thisson's picture

Dispute the assessment?

Thu, 04/02/2015 - 14:03 | 5952834 Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer's picture

Yes, we faithfully dispute the assessment... every year. But we haven't had any success with the county tax assessor the past few years. We finally turned it over to a legal firm to represent us in protesting our property taxes (you agree to pay them a contingency fee equal to 50% of your tax savings achieved through administrative hearings for the protested tax year). Unfortunately they haven't been able to reduce our assessment in these administrative hearings. At least we haven't had to pay them anything... for they've not been successful,either.

On second thought, ya got me to thinking; maybe I will sell this SOB and buy a brand new shiny dumpster to live in... and we'll see how much tax they wanna charge me for that!

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!