Posts Tagged ‘realtor’
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
There are typically three main issues that can stop a potential real estate transaction dead in its tracks – the home inspection, the mortgage approval, and the appraisal. Let’s talk about appraisals.
The problem with appraisals in today’s real estate market is that properties sold via a short sale, sheriff sale, or foreclosure are being used as comparables when evaluating the price of a regular home. About 25% of realtors have had a sale fall apart because of a low appraisal. The National Association of Home Builders reported that 25% of their new home sales likewise were shot down by low appraisals.
In 2009, over one third of all home sales nationwide were either foreclosures or short sales. A short sale, of course, is when a lender let’s the property sell for less than the amount of the loan, figuring its better to unload the property quickly, get some cash, and move on. These properties, on average, are selling for about 25% less than a property not in distress.
In an appraisal, the appraiser uses an approach in determining value by comparing similar recently sold properties in the same area. Allowances are made for differences, such as more or less bedrooms, a detached garage, swimming pool, etc. In a normal real estate market, where foreclosures are rare and short sales nearly unheard of, this is an effective method to determine true value.
But in today’s topsy turvy real estate market, appraisals show no differentiation in a distressed sale vs non-distressed sale. And therein lies the problem. They are, after all, two different markets. And so, the family that always paid their mortgage is being penalized because their property is being weighed down by those that didn’t or couldn’t handle their financial responsibilities. Is that fair?
Buyers attempting to purchase a conventional property nowadays basically have three options when the appraisal comes in under the agreed upon price. Either make up the difference in cash, get the buyer to lower his price, or do a cash-only deal (using a home equity if necessary).
Until the real estate world returns to normal, “appraisal” will continue to be a four-letter word to realtors, builders, buyers, and sellers. Let’s hope the end is near.
- Mountain Man and City Girl
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: appraisals, blog, distressed sales, foreclosure sales, Jewell Real Estate Agency, New Jersey blog, New Jersey real estate blog, real estate blog, realtor, short sales, Wildwood real estate
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Saturday, January 2nd, 2010
Like all our fellow realtors, we know that there are all different calibers of realtors. But when you really think about it, what makes a certain percentage of realtors stand above the crowd is PASSION.
My wife Joyce and I opened our first office in 2000, then 10 months later opened a branch office. Later this month will mark the 10th anniversary of us working six days a week – we try to take Wednesdays off together but often spend half the day on our cell phones – and answering our phones 6am to 9pm every day of the year. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. We must be crazy to be accessible 15 hours a day, right?
But, you see, real estate is our life, our passion. Our kids are grown and gone and now we have the freedom of a 20-something childless couple, although our combined ages is 120. To avoid being kicked in the shins, I won’t say which one of us is older.
We are both early risers, so having our cell phones unplugged and turned on by 6:00 in the morning is no problem. We find that many of our clients, stuck in rush hour traffic around Philly or NYC, make use of this time to call us and discuss the transaction we’re working on together or the properties they want to tour on the weekend.
Nighttime phone calls don’t crimp our lifestyle either. Okay, we may be in the grocery store or a restaurant, but we’ve closed deals standing next to the broccoli and cauliflower display. Our norm, however, is that we’re sitting on the couch together watching a cable movie or nature program. Folks like to call us around that time after they’ve put their kids to bed and they finally have some quiet time.
In the warm weather months when the daylight hours last longer, we do have one other distraction in the evenings. We jump in my pickup truck, select a town, and cruise up and down neighborhood streets seeing “what’s new”. We notice new construction and homes newly put up for sale. We talk about it like two excited teenagers. And since the weather is warm, families are outside in their yards and we wave and our real estate signs on the truck doors get noticed. More than once someone has waved us down to talk about the current real estate market. That’s social networking in its purest form, I guess.
I know there are many, many other realtors across the country with passion for their trade. Obviously, any realtor who takes the time to read and contribute regularly to Active Rain has that passion. So do those who read the real estate trade magazines from cover to cover. And those continually participating in some sort of continuing education and earning additional designations.
To all of you, I tip my hat. Together, we’ve taken real estate sales from being a job to a profession we’re proud of. And love.
- Mountain Man and City Girl
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: blog, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Jewell Real Estate Agency, lifestyle blog, Mountain Man and City Girl, real estate blog, realtor, Wildwood real estate
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Friday, December 25th, 2009
Joining their fellow banking CEO cohorts, the heads of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were approved for $6 million in pay each for 2009. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to refresh your memory, purchase bundles of mortgages to ensure that money is always available to lending institutions which give loans to homebuyers. They are quasi-private companies backed by the federal government.
Fannie CEO Michael Williams and Freddie CEO Ed Haldeman each received $900,000 in salary and another $3.1 million in salary with payments deferred to 2010. That’s $4 million apiece. Each also is eligible for another $2 million in performance incentives. Considering that Fannie and Freddie needed a combined $111 billion, yes billion, in federal bailout money, one wonders exactly what their performance bonus was contingent upon. Perfect attendance? Turning their homework in on time? Spelling their names correctly?
The argument by their cheerleaders is that the former CEO’s of the two companies, who were both fired in September, 2008 when the bailout money was proposed, made a lot more money. The Fannie CEO received $10.2 million in 2008 and the Freddie guy nailed $13.1 million. It practically took an act of Congress to stop them from awarding themselves another combined $24 million in termination pay.
The case for Williams and Haldeman continues that each would command up to $10 million in yearly pay in the private sector. The argument typically concludes with, “No one else would do the job for less money.”
Bullfeathers!
I’ll do the job for one year for a measly $500,000. I’ll move to Washington, DC for one year, rent a condo, and work 365 straight days. A lot of qualified people would do the same thing. And I’ll donate $100,000 of that money to DC soup kitchens for the homeless. That would make my take home pay about $250,000. Not extravagant, but fair!
I really get tired of hearing how top company management and all government workers – federal, state, and municipal – feel justified in making a lot more money than their small business and working stiff counterparts because, “No one else would take this job.” And the benefits they receive, including health insurance and retirement packages, are way beyond reasonable and equitable.
Is anybody mad yet?
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: blog, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Diamond Beach, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, New Jersey blog, North Wildwood, political blog, real estate blog, realtor, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Thursday, December 24th, 2009
The legendary battles between developers and environmentalists are well documented, but the two aren’t always polar opposites. The Tejon Ranch is a good example of the two marrying and having a happy ending.
Tejon Ranch is the largest private land holding in California, measuring around 270,000 acres, or over 400 square miles. The massive Kern County tract had not been viewed by the public for 140 years. The property is located along the main north-south route on the West Coast, Interstate 5, situated 60 miles north of Los Angeles and 30 miles south of Bakersfield. It is at the confluence of four ecosystems – the Mojave Desert, Sierra Nevada Mountains, Central Valley, and South Coast, so it is a wildlife corridor of magnificent proportions.
Last May, the Tejon Ranch Company penned an agreement with five of the most important environmental groups – including the Sierra Club and Audubon Society – to set aside permanently 90% of the property. So far, 178,000 acres have been established as Open Space or a conservancy, with an option on 62,000 acres more at fair market value.
What the Tejon Ranch gets is the unhindered ability to develop part of the remaining land, which is all located along I-5 at the western edge of the ranch. They already have tenants in parts of the 1,450-acre Tejon Industrial Complex, including IKEA with a 1.7 million square foot warehouse. Oneida and Famous Footwear also call the complex home.
Tejon Mountain Village, which developers hope will eventually contain 23,000 homes and 70,000 people in 18.4 square miles of newly-hatched city, was just approved October 5th by the Kern County Board of Supervisors. There will also be resorts and golf courses, plus hiking and equestrian trails in this “environmentally sensitive mountain resort community”.
Within the preserved portions of Tejon Ranch the bears, bobcats, mountain lions, pronghorn antelope, and more will be able to continue to roam free amongst the many diverse habitats. The Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from the Canadian to Mexican borders, will shift 39 of its miles to the breathtaking Ranch, something previously only dreamed of.
The Tejon Ranch concept, which will create 1,500 additional permanent jobs and 1,600 construction jobs, appears to be a win-win for everyone concerned. Isn’t it great when there is intelligent compromise that both spurs the economy and preserves our precious earth?
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: california, california real estate, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, developers, Diamond Beach, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, nature blog, opinion, political blog, Real Estate, real estate blog, realtor, tejon mountain village, tejon ranch, Wildwood real estate
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Sunday, December 13th, 2009
The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), a consumer protection statute enacted in 1974, will have a new face beginning January 1, 2010. RESPA was basically designed to give effective disclosure to homebuyers and sellers prior to initiating the real estate purchase process, so there were no “surprises” at the closing table.
The new RESPA reforms are aimed at giving the consumer better information earlier in the process and the ability to shop for the best deal by comparing service providers.
Potential buyers need only give six pieces of information – name, monthly income, social security number, property address, sale price, and loan amount desired. They can do this with several banks or lenders and get a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) within three days. The GFE results can then be compared side-by-side so the consumer then can make an informed decision on which scenario and providers to use.
The GFE has three parts – charges that can not increase, those that can only increase a maximum of 10 percent, and those that can change at settlement if you don’t use the service company identified by the lender.
That said, here’s the downside of the new RESPA.
There will need to be a huge increase in communication between the lender and whoever is doing the closing – either a title company or attorney. That’s a scary thought, especially when a lawyer is involved.
The other concern we have as realtors is that lenders – who are often located 100 or 200 miles from us here in Cape May County – are going to be supplying names of home inspectors, termite inspectors, etc., to the prospective buyers. The only way we can sidetrack a potential logistic fiasco is to give these buyers a list of reputable local puveyors to submit to the lender upon first contact.
The new HUD-1 Settlement Statement used at closing, which is now three pages instead of two, also has two drawbacks. Closings will take longer and the HUD-1 is less detailed and more about total costs.
The federal goverment received 12,000 public comments prior to designing the new RESPA and its GFE and HUD-1 forms. Once realtors, title companies, lenders, attorneys, sellers, and buyers get used to the new format and procedures, hopefully all the parties concerned will be pleased.
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: Cape May, Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, condo, Diamond Beach, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Middle Township, mountain man, Mountain Man and City Girl, nature blog, Real Estate, real estate blog, realtor, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Saturday, December 12th, 2009
Most people would agree that the real estate market of the last 15 or 20 years has been fueled by the Baby Boomers. As you know, that’s the 80 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964, and now ages 45 to 63 years old. They’ve had careers and saved money and invested in real estate, stocks, and retirement plans, amongst other things.
The next generation has been called “Generation X”, originally called the “Baby Bust” due to the low birthrate in America. They were born from 1965 to 1979, with the latter half mostly children of early Baby Boomers. They are now 30 to 44 years old, but they are just 48 million strong. With the average age of a first-time homebuyer pegged about 33 years old, they are filling that niche right now while the Baby Boomers upgrade to add vacation homes or downsize to smaller homes as “empty nesters”.
The next group to arrive was Generation Y, those born between 1980 and 1995. Now 14 to 29 years olds and children of the latter half of the Baby Boomers and the early Gen X’ers, they will be the next group to arrive on the real estate scene. The exciting news for the real estate industry and the economy of the United States in general is that there are 74 million of them. They should eventually have the economic impact equal to that of the Baby Boomers. Tattoos and piercings and all, this generation will soon enter the first-time homebuyer market and take their place on the economic ladder until they are perhaps 60 years old or so.
As the population demographics shift from one group to another, there will always be a new generation to carry the day. Isn’t that why we reproduce?
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: blog, Cape May, Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Middle Township, Mountain Man and City Girl, North Wildwood, ocean, opinion, Real Estate, real estate blog, realtor, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Friday, December 11th, 2009
Nearly a year into the Obama administration I think Americans can see that the No.1 issue in the nation’s mind – the economy – is still sputtering. Bank bailouts and all that stuff just aren’t working fast enough.
As Mighty Mouse used to say, “Here I come to save the day!” So here’s my simplistic approach to ending the Recession.
The United States of America has the highest bond rating possible – AAA. That rating means that the U.S. is not likely to default on debt. Thanks to the Bretton Woods Accord back in the 1970s, the U.S. dollar is no longer backed by the gold in Fort Knox. The American dollar – of which there are 829 billion – is backed by the government’s ability to generate revenue to pay down it’s debt.
New dollars are issued when the Federal Reserve elects to fund the purchase of debt, which is usually through U.S. Treasury Bonds. Done in excess, this can cause inflation, but bear with me.
The net worth of Americans is currently $53.4 trillion. Prior to the Recession, it was $64.5 trillion. In other words, we’ve lost 17.2% of our worth. By the way, $348 billion of our collective $53.4 trillion is household real estate holdings, i.e. your house.
That’s the background, now my proposal.
Let’s give each American household $10,000 tax free. With 105,480,101 households, that’s $1.05 trillion.
There are 7.7 million businesses in America. Let’s give them each $100,000 tax free. That’s a mere $770 billion.
So add it up and the American government can print and distribute $1.82 trillion. This isn’t money raised by taxes. We’re just gonna print it and give it out. There’s just one stipulation – the money can’t leave the country. It can’t be sent to relatives in Nicaragua or used to hire workers in China. It has to be spent in the 50 states.
Think of the ramifications. The boost to the economy will be incredible. Some people will pay down debt or save their homes, while others will buy TVs, cars, and yes, useless junk. Some might even use some of the money for booze, cigarettes, and methamphetimines, but that can’t be helped.
All this will turn into many of the 7 million people laid off from work since the beginning of the Recession getting gainful employment again. For every dollar currently in circulation, there will now be three dollars. Banks will start lending again and the good times will roll. States will see an increase in sales taxes collected, easing their budget pains.
The nay-sayers will yell that my plan will cause inflation. Sure, it will. But it’ll be manageable, maybe 10% at most and it will be a one-time thing, just like my giveaway windfall. But the trade-off of jobs and reduced personal debt is well worth it. The American economy will have the jump-start it needs.
Some might call my plan crazy. But at least I have a plan.
And I bet you’re smiling and already thinking about how you’d spend your $10,000.
- Mountain Man
http://www.MountainManandCityGirl.com
Tags: blog, Cape May, Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Diamond Beach, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, lifestyle blog, Middle Township, mountain man, Mountain Man and City Girl, North Wildwood, ocean, political blog, Real Estate, real estate blog, realtor, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Thursday, December 10th, 2009
If you have credit cards – and who doesn’t? – you probably got a notice in the last few days from Bank of America. The letter said that your credit line has been reduced to a few hundred dollars. The tens of thousands of dollars of available credit or cash you had the week before is suddenly gone! Merry Christmas.
Chase Bank and Bank of America, which merged with Merrill Lynch in 2009, pretty much have the credit card business all to themselves. These two giants of the financial world control the credit destiny of tens of millions of Americans.
So why would Bank of America suddenly cut off five or ten million hard-working American families from having credit lines?
This past Tuesday, December 8, Bank of America paid back the $45 billion it got from the U.S. Government in the big bank bailout. It did it with about $19 billion in cash and the balance by selling off securities. To make sure they had the cash on hand, B of A apparently needed to make sure you couldn’t borrow any of it.
Here comes the kicker.
Bank of America paid back the $45 billion to the U.S. Treasury so that they would no longer be bound by the rules that were instituted as a condition of using the bailout funds. Since the CEO of B of A recently announced his resignation as of December 31, the board of directors has been searching for a new CEO. It seems they feel that they can’t offer “proper incentives” to attract a quality CEO and accepting the government grant money limited the bonuses allowed to be paid to the company’s top management.
So, to make sure they can offer their new CEO $50 million or $100 million in bonus incentives, they cut off the credit of millions of American families!
Where’s the public outrage?
- Mountain Man
Tags: blog, Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Mountain Man and City Girl, North Wildwood, ocean, opinion, political blog, Real Estate, real estate blog, realtor, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
In the October 2009 issue of New Jersey Realtor, the magazine did a typical pre-election article asking the governor candidates – incumbent Jon Corzine and challenger (now Governor-elect) Chris Christie – a series of position questions.
Their answers were mostly, well, carefully worded non-answers or non-commitals.
The first question asked was, ”what steps will you take to reform our property tax system?”
Gov Corzine gave a long-winded eight paragraph account of his accomplishments in office, but sidestepped the actual question. Christie gave a better answer, but limited his solution to “a smaller, leaner, more efficient government” and that he would keep the property tax rebate in place.
The second question dealt with repealing the Realty Transfer Fee, which averages $2,958 for each transaction.
Christie called it “one of the best examples of a tax that was imposed to capitalize on a booming real estate market that has now proven to be incredibly damaging”. Good answer, but he stopped short of proclaiming he’d repeal it. Corzine again completely avoided directly addressing the question.
The next question asked, “Do you support efforts to partially eliminate the property tax deduction?” and would they support “imposing a sales tax on rentals or professional services?”
Corzine basically said, “Leadership is about making difficult choices” and “I cannot guess what actions we will be required to take”. Typical incumbent evasiveness! Christie did step up by saying, “I do not support either the further elimination of the property tax deduction or expansion of the sales tax or any other tax.” He stopped short of saying he’d veto such attempts.
The fourth question was “What actions will you take to encourage stabilization and growth of the real estate market?”
Christie spoke of “restoring the vitality of our cities” and “an elimination of the outrageous quotas and requirements of the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH)”. Good answers, but they don’t really address stabilization and growth. Corzine talked about business development and his Economic Stimulus Act of 2009, but it fell short of being reassuring.
The final query was concerning the government’s right of eminent domain, especially seizing a person’s property and giving to another private property owner for redevelopment purposes.
Both candidates gave “feel good” two sentence answers, but no concrete proposals. Hmmm.
I must admit that I voted for neither of these candidates but instead voted for an alternative choice, which pollsters interpret as a dissenting vote. I guess I’m becoming increasingly disenfranchised from the system. Can you blame me?
Governor-elect Christie has inherited a giant pile of chicken manure. Let’s see if he can turn it into chicken salad.
- Mountain Man
Tags: Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Real Estate, real estate blog, realtor, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Monday, December 7th, 2009
While most folks are struggling to make ends meet in this depressed economy, New Jersey government and municipal retirees are cleaning up. In fact, 428 retirees pull in over $100,000 per year in pension money.
In 2008, the median pension in New Jersey was $61,800 for police and fire retirees, $81,700 for State Police, and $43,200 for teachers. These figures are more than the salary – yes, salary – of the average New Jersey worker, which is $37,900.
In a state with an $8 billion budget deficit this year, the $5.7 billion in pensions is an unfair drain on taxpayers. To add insult to injury, the state and many municipal governments have failed to keep up with fully funding these pension funds, meaning the public will get increasingly larger bills each year.
So what to do?
Obviously, the system needs to be changed. The thought that a fireman or policeman can work from age 21 to 46 and collect substantial sums of pension money after this 25 years, then start a second career, is unconscienable. Newly hired state employees, who could retire at age 55 as of 2001, have seen outgoing Governor Corzine increase that back to age 60.
It appears that legislators are fearful of reigning in the money grab by retirees. So taxpayers will continue to fund this act of greed through real estate taxes, which are already the highest in the United States.
There is one group that won’t be funding the pension through real estate taxes. Did I mention that one-third of these pensioners have moved out of New Jersey?
- Mountain Man
Tags: blog, Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Diamond Beach, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, North Wildwood, ocean, Real Estate, real estate blog, realtor, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Monday, November 30th, 2009
When the recent “Veterans Day Storm” slammed the east coast November 11-15, some Cape May County island homeowners suffered water damage and wind damage to their properties. For most, it was business as usual and they cleaned up the mess and moved on. It’s life at the shore for those in the few scattered low-lying streets in Wildwood, North Wildwood, and West Wildwood.
The beaches are another story. So that local governments could score Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) money, New Jersey Governor Corzine obligingly declared a state of emergency. The damage to Cape May County, originally ballparked at $89 million, was determined to actually be $27.3 million. Those beach erosion figures are based on $10.40 per cubic yard of sand to be replaced. Sand for dunes is calculated up to $20 per cubic yard.
The bigger question here is whether the U.S. government should be subsidizing beaches. Is it fair to someone living in Iowa to pay for beaches in Avalon rimmed with $4 million vacation homes?
What would homeowners who cry for FEMA beach funds in their communities think if the federal government started funding ski resorts? Heck, they want snow by Thanksgiving to have a good year. Should we be subsidizing snowmaking operations at the hundreds of ski slopes throughout the U.S.? Let’s take it a step further and put refrigeration lines under each ski slope. That’ll make the millions of American skiers happy.
While we’re at it, why not have FEMA subsidize all the golf courses in America? In a drought, ship in tanker trucks of fresh water from the Great Lakes and major rivers. That would please the 24 million Americans who play golf. They want lush green golf courses, not those spotted with burned out patches of grass.
Do you see my point?
With oceans rising as the Arctic, Greenland, and Antarctic melt, the beach erosion problem has intensified. Many local shore towns will be doing two beach replenishment projects this year. Ten years from now, it may necessitate three or four a year, which isn’t going to happen. FEMA will finally say, “No Mas”.
So it’s time to be proactive.
Where beaches habitually wash out in storms, it is time to rip rap with massive walls of boulders, much like the seawalls recently constructed at the north end of both North Wildwood and Avalon at the inlets. FEMA should offer to pay for the rip rapping of the ocean. Sure it means less beaches, but once the seawalls are built, the beaches will come and go. After all, beaches are always in transit. It’s just in the last 100 years that civilization decided they’d try to tame Mother Nature.
There will always be plenty of beaches in Cape May County, but people will have to search them out. Here today, gone tomorrow, but another beach pops up a mile away. And certain beaches, like Wildwood, which is over 1,000 feet in depth, will always be there.
Like it or not, the days of FEMA beach handouts are numbered. As they should be.
- Mountain Man
Tags: Cape May, Cape May Court House, Cape May Court House real estate, Cape May real estate, Diamond Beach, Jersey shore, Jewell Real Estate Agency, Middle Township, North Wildwood, ocean, real estate blog, realtor, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood real estate
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Thursday, January 17th, 2008
Most people get into politics for all the right reasons. They want to make a difference, give back to their country (or town, county, state), stand up for the common man, put common sense back into government, affect positive change, lower taxes. Blah, blah, blah.
But once they get into office, their psyche changes. Sometimes gradually, sometimes overnight. They fall into the trap of us (government officials and backers) vs them (interfering citizens). They segregate and insulate themselves from the very electorate that thrust them into office.
Politicos feel that they know what’s best for everyone, so their will must be done. They have some “vision” that is unequivocally correct, and it must be implemented despite any objections. The infidels just don’t know what’s good for them.
Of course, the “good old boy” network also comes into play. That means not only business as usual, but business trumps the environment, fair play, and the will of the people. Decisions must always consider first how it affects business. After all, it’s affluent businessmen who make campaign contributions.
Our system needs to be cleaned up. No, … disinfected! First step, get rid of the two party system. We need a 10 party system (or whatever). We need all campaigns to be on equal footing, which means the government will subsidize elections and no private contributions will be allowed over $500 (or whatever).
We need accountability. We need local and county government meetings to all be televised. Why do most politicians so adamantly oppose televising their meetings? The answer: Because they don’t want too many opposing voices. If Joe Public has to actually get off the couch and come to the meeting, he’ll opt to stay home and mind his own business.
Until real change takes place in our system, we’re no better than the tyrannical British we expelled over 200 years ago.
- Mountain Man
Tags: opinion, Politics, realtor
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