The Irresponsibility of the Wealthy

[knip]

tis a waste to be sure

not quite as sure i would want to live in a world with a cap on earnings, though...the way to feed the homeless is through taxation, but if they are as high as you seem to propse with your $3 mil example, then it would become like britain where the super wealthy just move away


so just screw the bourgeoisie, as usual

[microbe]

it would become like britain where the super wealthy just move away

You are 25 years behind the times!!! Thatcher changed the tax regime in Britain and it has stayed the same since. Top rate of income tax is 40% - in the rest of Europe it is about 70%. There are other types of tax but Britain is a refuge for the wealthy and greedy now and it looks unlikely that it will change back to any fairer system. It is interesting to note that taxation in general was RAISED by Thatcher year upon year but that it was LOWERED substantially for the very wealthy. This is repeatedly reported in the press as Thatcher lowering taxation. Guess who owns the press!!!??

I wish the super wealthy would all fuck off like they keep threatening to do if taxation is made fairer. They are NOT needed like we are constantly told. Earnings in excess of a million dollars a year should be taxed at greater than 100% as a punishment in my opinion. Thet do not EARN it anyway - they just get PAID it.

[Arcadia]

that´s 425 pesos! more than half my salary in one month! don´t pay it, doreen, it´s an abuse.

[Arcadia]

oh... you already pay it...! demand the house owners or make the state pay for it , instead!

[mtmynd]

As the norm, there are 2-ways of looking at this, Dor' -

1) In agreementm - that is way too much room for a small family, etc, etc..

2) Think of the jobs that came out of building those McCastles! The laborers, the manufacturers of everything that goes into housing, the profits those same people made off those that invested in those absurd palaces... their money did go somewhere!

(plus... the homeowners, mortgaged to the hilt, are hoping for a return on that investment in the future... you can bet yer wompies on that! )

[firsty]

and this is where it all pays off, instant karma.

the bottom is about to fall out of the housing market big time. why? gen x is the first generation not to be assured of a better standard of living, overall, than their parents. woo-hoo! that means that people like me, still renting at 35, are never going to pay a million dollars for a house or, even better, never going to pay a quarter of a million dollars for a two bedroom cape cod. and the glut of expensive houses bought by these upwardly mobile fools is huge. supply is about to tip over demand in a huge way. i figure within ten years, those McMansions will be abandoned for cheap condos, it will be cheaper to just leave than to try to sell them, and squatters us will finally get a cathedral ceiling for which to fill with our marijuana smoke. ha HA!

[knip]

hehe firsty

with my upcoming move to BC, i have decided to exit the home owner's realm and rent from here on in, or at least for the next little while, and invest the equity

at 45, this is partly because of the issues you mention, but also because i'm trying to simplify, and why spend my weekends maintaining my house if i can get the owner to do it? (assuming i can)


but i'm just tired of owning - it's not all it's made out to be...and certainly doesn't simplify things

[mtmynd]

Firsty - the eternal optimist! Keep on!!

[firsty]

actually, it's 100% true, i mean not so much obviously about the result, but it's true that the housing market is fucked. recent months have shown that to be the case, and predictors see it collapsing.

[mnaz]

"Predictors" have seen the housing market collapse for years now.
Still no collapse.

And if there is a collapse, don't forget.... rents will escalate. People gotta live somewhere.

[firsty]

mnaz, i think i miss your point. i dont mean actual houses will collapse. just that supply is outrunning demand, prices come down.

[mnaz]

Yeah.... the dreaded "housing bubble". It's real, I suppose. But I think it's exaggerated by the "predictors". Real estate isn't quite the volatile, speculative house-of-cards that stocks are. But some housing markets have seen substantial speculative investment. I see the "housing bubble" as local-market-specific. Those markets which have been over-speculated will see some sort of price "correction" as rates rise. But I think most areas will just see a flattening of prices-- no big "collapse".

As for rents.... Well, people need to live somewhere, so if they don't buy, they'll rent instead, thus increasing rental demand and fueling a surge in rental prices.

That's my take on it.

And yes-- McMansions are a joke. Who are they fooling?

[abcrystcats]

Doreen, I'm clueless. WHAT do they do with all that space?

And why don't they spend their money keeping the roads clean instead?

I'm not joking, I'm serious.

We had a 30,000 square foot monstrosity in the Thousand Oaks area. I'm sure it's still there. He had a guardhouse, fully manned, to make sure unauthorized people didn't go up. According to rumor, this was the guy who invented automatic debits out of your checking account. The joke was .... he didn't pay my brother's company -- who installed his computerized home control system, and he couldn't afford to fully landscape the land leading down to the main road, from his home. He owned the land, but couldn't landscape it.

Some people are just narcissists. They are into their own comforts and they are not interested in any kind of social responsibility. Most of these people become corporate moguls or politicians.

Microbe: Ya know, it'd be interesting, wouldn't it? SOME of the super-wealthy are needed, and some are just bullshit. I'd like to see which ones had an actual JOB, because I know some DO have one. Wealth does not necessarily make waste, but wealth does not necessarily make need, either. I wouldn't want to can them all.

[knip]

so i'm wondering

is it the free choice to negotiate a salary we are supposed to be against, or is it the handing down of money through inheritance?

[firsty]

i think wealth is ok. it's what one does with that wealth.

if hollywood producers took the money from ONE film and instead spent it in a worthwhile manner, they could save millions from starvation.