One of the strangest phenomenons of the modern age is how willing regular folks are to subsidize the lifestyles of the wealthy. I favor limited government but if government is going to be involved in the lives of the citizens it ought to be in providing oversight so insurance prices are based on the actual risk of loss for specific property use and location.
But no, government loves Socialism because that allows the politicians and their wealthy friends to pass on costs to the general population. We experience this most directly with health insurance. But the socialization of risk and costs is a general fixture of Big Government.
His post was more in line with "if you can't afford it, don't cry to us for help." This has nothing to do with subsidizing the wealthy.
At its most basic level, housing is a primary necessity. But at some point there are luxury and convenience add-ons that--due to market demand--will only be able to be properly risk-abated and paid for by people who have that means.
It's like someone owning a Lamborghini and complaining about the insurance premium. If you are in that category, you need to downgrade to something more suitable for your lifestyle.
That we even have to say this is a reflection of the entitlement and ignorance in our society of how markets work. Most of it is just pure envy, but a good portion is just ignorance of economics.
I think I am saying both. We shouldn't subsidize the wealthy and the current tax code certainly does that. We also shouldn't cry for help to the government every single time there is a failure, or some sort of disaster. There are disasters that are worse than others for sure. Hurricane, earthquake etc, government ought to be involved in getting electricity, plumbing, etc back up and working ASAP. Agree strongly with your Lambo example!
Every state should have its own State taxpayer funded disaster fund. The Feds role in disasters should only be at a macro level. We have forest fires here in NC, so we should be prepared for them, but we really don’t need to worry too much about earthquakes or tornados. California has a fantastic geography, but they also have great natural disaster risk, so they should fund their own disasters. Same thing with Florida. It used to kill me when Chicago would get Federal aid for blizzards.
Not only does the tax code subsidize the wealthy, the Feds somehow escape scrutiny for not indexing the entire tax code for inflation, which is a further tax on the poor and middle class. Almost no one brings this up, and we just went through another tax season where the common man really got screwed by the non inflation indexed tax code.
Ypu would think with all the talk about climate change and rising ocean levels that local governments would restrict building on coast lines and in flood zones. I have not seen a single government entity do this because they all want more tax revenues. So much for the government wanting to help.
I agree that market forces should prevail in insurance, but now that the govt has introduced its heavy hand, we are way beyond that. In CA auto insurance is terrible bc so many cars are jacked and other people drive without insurance, so my UM coverage goes up. Or when a guy applies for a permit to cut down his trees near his house in the mountains, on his property, and the house burns down totally bc the permit has never been addressed, is that his fault? All the more reason why I believe govt should be as small as possible. They are wrecking the dynamics of a free market.
Not just the coasts. Don’t forget national flood insurance. Everyone should get to live in a flood plain if they want to. It looks like FL is making some progress getting new insurers in the market due to some legislative reforms. FL was full of insurance fraud.
I own a South Florida home, 350 feet from the shore of the Atlantic. I strongly disagree with Jeff.
Imo, it's it the national interest for Americans of all means, to help me rebuild after a Cat 5 propels my upstairs addition into another time zone. For one, my lifestyle acts as inspiration for millions of others in forlorn Midwest cities. If Democrats in Cicero can't look at my Instagram and think, "maybe I too should become a Republican so I can live near the beach and have a girlfriend on OnlyFans", then we're sure to become a failed communist nation where hopeless proletariats dream of not only eating the rich, but feasting on us average ne'er do wells, too.
Plus, my rebuild will be stimulative. To me, Building Back Better means the freedom to choose those marble backsplashes with fancy turquoise engraving that for now, are only available to guys like Ken Griffin and Jeff Bezos. Why import millions of Venezuelan tradesmen and gang members to fight for the Ukraine or displace American Blacks from public housing, when instead they can be paid an honest wage by Uncle Sam to replace my original master bath with one of those Wisconsin made, eight nozzle showers?
I realize Jeff has an axe to grind. He moved to the world's largest sand trap, immune from natural disasters but filled with California transplants who're so reminisant of Barbara Boxer that they've elected Catherine Cortez Masto. But, if right minded Nevadans want Florida to remain Free, then you should advocate bailouts for the State whose immigrants support Trump, rather than the La Raza takeover of American institutions.
I like a lot of what you said, but I do think that property taxes should be deductible for people at the lower income scale. It’s not really “fair” per se, however with all the other costs included in basic living it makes life for people at that end of the scale a bit easier while costing wealthy people almost nothing. If we are going to have tax policies for social welfare, let’s reward good behavior, like home ownership. Another thing about the Kinison joke (and I love the guy), but starvation of Ethiopia was another result of socialist policy. Social justice I guess. 🤷🏼♂️ It’s easy for someone with means to tell indigent poor people to “move” and laugh about it. The reality of it is not always so amusing. Especially if you live where those people want to move and you’re poor already. This fact alone is the main reason I think Trump may actually win. A lot of his chances hinges on the scale of vote fraud in major cities and those people are super pissed at Democrats over illegal immigration. They can stay impoverished or roll the dice on the Bad Orange Man. They’ll have to pick their poison.
In a perfect world... Instead, we get politicians, legislators who believe they are Santa Claus, always ready to get you that shiny new thing for free--and socialize the cost. Because fairness...
Again, spot on. Down here, in SE Florida, I am so sadden by the angst my neighbors have concerning their "over priced" home owners insurance rates. Without mentioning the obvious (our location) I do ask them "If you're 1200 sq. ft. condo is now worth a million dollars, why don't you want to pay for it's insurance coverage?"
Let them eat, low fat, yogurt based, egg white only, north peruvian wild yack yeast, pigmy produced pudding filling with 3 month old llama milk based frosting....Cake.
A friend of mine just sold his place in the skyline area. About 20 min from the silicon valley floor. He lived there about 20+ years. On his way out the door, the lucky buyers now pay 30k per year for insurance, whoa. Not a big home, just in the mountains.
The insurance companies are piling on in CA. Sure, risk on (or is it), but the climate change hysteria is a license to slap it to those that they can.
The water and electric companies also piling on. Our 'green' charges now ad 30% to the utility bill. Water co has been piling on charges since dry years, despite the wet years. Climate change hysteria rules. We are swimming in water for 2 years now. Another 5 years of swimming in water? Climate change hysteria won't change anything.
Now, they are winding up to gun the EV owners with taxes for the miles they drive. Ha.
Thank you for saying this!
One of the strangest phenomenons of the modern age is how willing regular folks are to subsidize the lifestyles of the wealthy. I favor limited government but if government is going to be involved in the lives of the citizens it ought to be in providing oversight so insurance prices are based on the actual risk of loss for specific property use and location.
But no, government loves Socialism because that allows the politicians and their wealthy friends to pass on costs to the general population. We experience this most directly with health insurance. But the socialization of risk and costs is a general fixture of Big Government.
I don't think this is what he was saying.
His post was more in line with "if you can't afford it, don't cry to us for help." This has nothing to do with subsidizing the wealthy.
At its most basic level, housing is a primary necessity. But at some point there are luxury and convenience add-ons that--due to market demand--will only be able to be properly risk-abated and paid for by people who have that means.
It's like someone owning a Lamborghini and complaining about the insurance premium. If you are in that category, you need to downgrade to something more suitable for your lifestyle.
That we even have to say this is a reflection of the entitlement and ignorance in our society of how markets work. Most of it is just pure envy, but a good portion is just ignorance of economics.
I think I am saying both. We shouldn't subsidize the wealthy and the current tax code certainly does that. We also shouldn't cry for help to the government every single time there is a failure, or some sort of disaster. There are disasters that are worse than others for sure. Hurricane, earthquake etc, government ought to be involved in getting electricity, plumbing, etc back up and working ASAP. Agree strongly with your Lambo example!
Every state should have its own State taxpayer funded disaster fund. The Feds role in disasters should only be at a macro level. We have forest fires here in NC, so we should be prepared for them, but we really don’t need to worry too much about earthquakes or tornados. California has a fantastic geography, but they also have great natural disaster risk, so they should fund their own disasters. Same thing with Florida. It used to kill me when Chicago would get Federal aid for blizzards.
Not only does the tax code subsidize the wealthy, the Feds somehow escape scrutiny for not indexing the entire tax code for inflation, which is a further tax on the poor and middle class. Almost no one brings this up, and we just went through another tax season where the common man really got screwed by the non inflation indexed tax code.
Ypu would think with all the talk about climate change and rising ocean levels that local governments would restrict building on coast lines and in flood zones. I have not seen a single government entity do this because they all want more tax revenues. So much for the government wanting to help.
or, the thesis that sea level is rising is bunk!
I agree that market forces should prevail in insurance, but now that the govt has introduced its heavy hand, we are way beyond that. In CA auto insurance is terrible bc so many cars are jacked and other people drive without insurance, so my UM coverage goes up. Or when a guy applies for a permit to cut down his trees near his house in the mountains, on his property, and the house burns down totally bc the permit has never been addressed, is that his fault? All the more reason why I believe govt should be as small as possible. They are wrecking the dynamics of a free market.
Not just the coasts. Don’t forget national flood insurance. Everyone should get to live in a flood plain if they want to. It looks like FL is making some progress getting new insurers in the market due to some legislative reforms. FL was full of insurance fraud.
no doubt!
I own a South Florida home, 350 feet from the shore of the Atlantic. I strongly disagree with Jeff.
Imo, it's it the national interest for Americans of all means, to help me rebuild after a Cat 5 propels my upstairs addition into another time zone. For one, my lifestyle acts as inspiration for millions of others in forlorn Midwest cities. If Democrats in Cicero can't look at my Instagram and think, "maybe I too should become a Republican so I can live near the beach and have a girlfriend on OnlyFans", then we're sure to become a failed communist nation where hopeless proletariats dream of not only eating the rich, but feasting on us average ne'er do wells, too.
Plus, my rebuild will be stimulative. To me, Building Back Better means the freedom to choose those marble backsplashes with fancy turquoise engraving that for now, are only available to guys like Ken Griffin and Jeff Bezos. Why import millions of Venezuelan tradesmen and gang members to fight for the Ukraine or displace American Blacks from public housing, when instead they can be paid an honest wage by Uncle Sam to replace my original master bath with one of those Wisconsin made, eight nozzle showers?
I realize Jeff has an axe to grind. He moved to the world's largest sand trap, immune from natural disasters but filled with California transplants who're so reminisant of Barbara Boxer that they've elected Catherine Cortez Masto. But, if right minded Nevadans want Florida to remain Free, then you should advocate bailouts for the State whose immigrants support Trump, rather than the La Raza takeover of American institutions.
I like a lot of what you said, but I do think that property taxes should be deductible for people at the lower income scale. It’s not really “fair” per se, however with all the other costs included in basic living it makes life for people at that end of the scale a bit easier while costing wealthy people almost nothing. If we are going to have tax policies for social welfare, let’s reward good behavior, like home ownership. Another thing about the Kinison joke (and I love the guy), but starvation of Ethiopia was another result of socialist policy. Social justice I guess. 🤷🏼♂️ It’s easy for someone with means to tell indigent poor people to “move” and laugh about it. The reality of it is not always so amusing. Especially if you live where those people want to move and you’re poor already. This fact alone is the main reason I think Trump may actually win. A lot of his chances hinges on the scale of vote fraud in major cities and those people are super pissed at Democrats over illegal immigration. They can stay impoverished or roll the dice on the Bad Orange Man. They’ll have to pick their poison.
they get public schools and public works.....FairTax.org changes that whole thing!
I’m trying to “like” your comment by tapping on the heart, but it doesn’t seem to take. Seems to be a problem with substack these days.
“A neighbor has cut down all of his trees near his place and installed an outdoor overhead sprinkling system powered by propane.”
Am I the only one who sees the potential failure point in this particular system? ;-)
You'd have to see the property. He put the overhead stuff on his roof and in trees surrounding the property.
In a perfect world... Instead, we get politicians, legislators who believe they are Santa Claus, always ready to get you that shiny new thing for free--and socialize the cost. Because fairness...
Again, spot on. Down here, in SE Florida, I am so sadden by the angst my neighbors have concerning their "over priced" home owners insurance rates. Without mentioning the obvious (our location) I do ask them "If you're 1200 sq. ft. condo is now worth a million dollars, why don't you want to pay for it's insurance coverage?"
Let them eat, low fat, yogurt based, egg white only, north peruvian wild yack yeast, pigmy produced pudding filling with 3 month old llama milk based frosting....Cake.
A friend of mine just sold his place in the skyline area. About 20 min from the silicon valley floor. He lived there about 20+ years. On his way out the door, the lucky buyers now pay 30k per year for insurance, whoa. Not a big home, just in the mountains.
The insurance companies are piling on in CA. Sure, risk on (or is it), but the climate change hysteria is a license to slap it to those that they can.
The water and electric companies also piling on. Our 'green' charges now ad 30% to the utility bill. Water co has been piling on charges since dry years, despite the wet years. Climate change hysteria rules. We are swimming in water for 2 years now. Another 5 years of swimming in water? Climate change hysteria won't change anything.
Now, they are winding up to gun the EV owners with taxes for the miles they drive. Ha.
I'm telling you, they eat their own in CA.