From the Phoenix Realtor Forum, the monthly newsletter of the Phoenix Association of Realtors:
Alas, the plague is a swarm of vampire-like locust Realtors. These are RAPAC’s objectives, according to the article, with interstitial commentary by me in bold text.
- Mortgage Interest Deduction: NAR opposes any changes that would limit or undermine current law.
That is, people who don’t buy homes on credit, including people who own their homes outright, people who rent and working poor people living in mom’s basement or in their cars, should subsidize the incomes of very wealthy people. If this doesn’t make you sick, you’re much too sick already.
- Capital Gains Exemption: NAR opposes any changes to the capital gains exemption on the sale of a home.
How much does the NAR hate real property? Why isn’t its position to eliminate all taxes, or at least all taxes on real estate?
- Depreciation/Tenant Improvements: NAR supports efforts to establish a permanent rule that more accurately reflects the depreciable lives of buildings and to conform amortization periods for tenant improvements more closely to the term of the lease.
More tax subsidies for the rich, rather than getting rid of taxes altogether.
- Government-Sponsored Enterprises: NAR is recommending that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be converted into government-chartered, non-shareholder owned authorities.
Because it’s harder to hide the corruption if the SEC is pretending to pay attention to FannieMae and FreddieMac.
- Mortgage Loan Limits: NAR supports making the current higher loan limits and formula permanent.
Rich people need more subsidies!
- FHA/Federal Housing Administration Programs: NAR is a strong supporter of FHA’s single- and multi-family programs.
Poor people need subsidies, too!
- NAR Credit Policy: NAR is calling on the credit and lending industries and regulators to reassess the entire mortgage lending policy structure and look for ways to increase the availability of credit.
Because not enough unqualified buyers were rooked into buying homes they couldn’t pay for the last time we pulled these stunts.
- Short Sales: NAR continues to push the lending industry to expedite short sales.
Criminal penalties if they don’t? Don’t laugh. Government is nothing but force. If we are doing anything other than negotiating by means of the persuasions of the free market, one party is holding a gun — by proxy of government — on the other.
- Natural Disaster Policy: NAR supports a federal program that promotes the availability and affordability of property insurance nationwide and coordinates the mitigation of property against natural disasters, as well as post-disaster assistance.
Stupid people must be rewarded for living where no one should live, and they must be rewarded a second time for moving back after the predictable disaster ensues.
- Energy Efficiency and Climate Change: NAR supports improving energy efficiency through voluntary incentives in lieu of individual building mandates. Commercially reasonable approaches that advance market and smart-growth principles of protecting private property rights and maintaining real estate affordability and availability. Additionally, NAR supports educating property owners and consumers about the benefits of energy efficiency.
How about this?: Get rid of the EPA, OSHA and the Department of Energy. Better yet, how about this?: Get government out of real estate altogether.
- Commercial Real Estate Lending: NAR supports protecting and enhancing the flow of capital to commercial real estate. NAR believes Congress should consider legislation aimed at improving commercial real estate markets. These include increasing the cap on credit union member business lending (MBL) and improving lending access through the passage of the Small Business Lending Fund.
Rich people cannot possibly ever get enough subsidies!
Obviously, none of this is actually about the people who seem to be affected. It’s about nothing but churning the real estate markets with otherwise unwarranted transactions, this to gin up business for agents and brokers who, in the undisguised opinion of RAPAC, have nothing of value to bring to the marketplace without the imposition of criminal force by government.
And that, doubt it never, is the real plague…
Roxanne Ardary says:
■Government-Sponsored Enterprises: NAR is recommending that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac be converted into government-chartered, non-shareholder owned authorities.
Because it’s harder to hide the corruption if the SEC is pretending to pay attention to FannieMae and FreddieMac.
Hmm. I thought it was some sort of power struggle. An unrelated group of bankers/shareholders didn’t like the other group cashing in on the good times and getting the government bailouts in the bad.
June 29, 2011 — 1:35 pm
Steve says:
“Lay down with dogs and you wake up with fleas? Worse. If you decide to rape the taxpayers via NAR’s RAPAC scam you get… plague!”-
How do you come up with such titles it has me in splits come on, your satire and sarcasm is so good
July 1, 2011 — 5:42 am
Jim Klein says:
I don’t see the problem. Human action is about achieving goals and values. So the less value you produce, the more you should be subsidized; the more you produce, the more you should be regulated and taxed.
If you’re so smart, let’s see you come up with a better way to grind production to a halt.
July 4, 2011 — 8:01 am