Free Republic

Price Trends / WAR OF THE WORLDS (Round # 2): If you use 120 years of data for your time horizon, and assume prices will return to the average, then our residential property bubble will fall 49% from the bubble peak to the long-run average (see above (a) aka “(x) - (z) / 202” aka “Projected Fall Peak to Trend”). This total projected fall is less than the 60% predicted in my recent post based upon 20 years of data and a trend line drawn with the eye (click here to see that post). Property Values Set to Fall 43%...

Owners of properties such as office buildings, warehouses and malls will suffer a surge of painful defaults, write-downs as the market finally faces up to the reality of its diminished conditions. fter spending more than a year in suspended animation, the commercial real estate industry is expected to hit bottom in 2010 with a wrenching thud. Owners of business properties such as office buildings, warehouses and malls will suffer a surge of painful defaults, write-downs and workouts with their lenders as the market finally faces up to the reality of its diminished conditions, according to a report set for release...

Property Values Set to Fall 43% From Current Depressed Levels Michael David White November 02, 2009 Price Trends / WAR OF THE WORLDS: If you use a 20-year time horizon, and assume prices will return to the trend line, then our residential property bubble will bottom after values fall over 40% from current levels (see above (c) aka “(y) - (z)” aka “Loss Today to Bottom”). I make no predictions. I do watch numbers. The chart shows a catastrophe of falling real estate values loaded up on top of our current catastrophe in real estate values. No one would question...

Monday night, the citizens entered the GAR room to voice their opinions on a proposed increase in the local LOIT tax. Over the preceding week, the forum style had changed a bit. At first, any comments to be made by citizens, were to be in writing before....

RENO — The seven-year, no-holds-barred, legal battle between Washoe County and Lake Tahoe property owners will reach a crucial turning point today. Hanging in the balance isn't just the tens of millions in property tax dollars that the county doesn't want to refund to thousands of residents in the wealthy North Shore Communities of Incline Village and Crystal Bay. The scorched-earth legal attack, experts say, has revealed serious, fundamental problems with the state's property tax system, raising the specter it is unconstitutional and will have to be scrapped. The question before Washoe County District Court Judge Brent Adams, however, is...

In a world moving more and more rapidly towards globalization, perhaps we’d do well to review exactly what insures freedom. What is it that makes one free? What sets a free man apart from one enslaved? Do we still hold these truths to be self evident, “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed?” Surely, if it is government’s job...

On Monday evening I had the double pleasure of attending my first Log Cabin Republicans meeting (and dispelling a world of biases!) and hearing Texas Gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina speak. One of the major topics that Mrs. Medina spoke on was her stance on personal property rights and gun rights, which drew a strong, supportive applause from the attendees. However, after asking her a question on the topic, and further discussing with Jerrod Atkinson, a big Ron Paul and Debra Medina supporter, afterwards, I am still not convinced that her position is the right one. First of all, it is...

Proposed tax notices in Broward, Miami-Dade stir wave of protest, with homeowners taking to the streets Thursday and thousands of others calling property appraisers' offices The proposed tax notices arriving in mailboxes in Miami-Dade and Broward counties in recent days have stirred a wave of protest, with homeowners taking to the streets Thursday and others dialing their property appraisers' offices by the thousands. Many homeowners, already feeling pressure from high unemployment, a tumbling stock market and dwindling property values, were angry when they opened their TRIM -- Truth In Millage -- notices to find a property tax increase awaiting them,...

HILLSVILLE — Law enforcement officials don't just threaten to throw people acting illegally or suspiciously in prison. Prosecutors also go after the contents of their wallets or garages. Carroll County prosecutors have implemented several such civil forfeiture proceedings in a variety of cases where suspected proceeds from drug dealing or other illegal activity — in the form of large amounts of loose cash or property — have been found. And on some occasions, the defendants involved in the seizures haven't even been charged with a drug-related crime.

VIVA, housing?! If you look at the numbers now coming out of Washington, you might want to go with the exclamation point at the end of my first sentence. Housing lives! -- although the industry's faint pulse is being helped by relatively low mortgage rates (which aren't nearly as low as they once were) and government subsidies (which can't continue forever). Just yesterday, for instance, the Commerce Department reported that new-home sales grew at an annualized rate of 11 percent last month, which was much better than people were expecting. And if you look under the covers, the annualized rate...

As the effects of the economic collapse began pouring down Main Street, the government last year was left holding a record $2.1 billion in write-offs of small business loans it had guaranteed. Officials expect the number of defaults to rise as the nation continues to climb out of the recession. Records obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act show the public is paying to offset bank losses on small business loans across the country, from a convenience story in the tiny Canadian border town of Houlton, Maine, to a graphic arts design company on the island of Hawaii, more...

In an almost-predictable move, the Obama administration has begun to mull the possibility of buying up homes nearing foreclosure and then renting the homes back to their current occupants. In a Reuters story on Tuesday, U.S. government officials were said to be considering the rental option, thereby reducing the number of foreclosures. Of course, such a move would also increase the property holdings of the federal government. Another possibility reportedly being discussed by Obama officials is to offer extra money--in addition to normal unemployment benefits--to those struggling with their mortgages. The administration didn't comment on whether it would be willing...

N.Y. rulings may loom large in Sotomayor hearingBY TOM BRUNE 11:03 PM EDT, July 11, 2009 WASHINGTON - Guns. Property rights. Felons voting. As Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor prepares for her Senate hearings this week, Republicans have talked mostly about her ruling against white firefighters in their discrimination lawsuit against New Haven, and her ties to a Puerto Rican advocacy group. But Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the top GOP member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said they also will ask her about hot-button issues arising from New York cases when that panel's hearings start Monday. Though less well-known than...

Employers Unnerved by Ruling Upholding the Legality of Guns in Workplace Parking Lots A new ruling by a federal appeals court means managers in a growing number of states must accept what, for many, is a troubling reality---their employees have the legal right to keep guns in their cars at work, even with layoffs on the rise and economic tensions running high, said attorney James P. Anelli, an attorney in LeClairRyan's Labor and Employment Group. On February 18, the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, in Ramsey Winch v C. Brad Henry, reversed a District Court ruling, thereby upholding an...

"Without any assurance that intellectual property will be respected and protected, not only drug makers, but other companies as well, will avoid investing in developing new products since they risk having their investments effectively expropriated by the government”

(snip) The lesson moved into a discussion about Stafford, a small city in Fort Bend County that hasn’t levied a property tax for 14 years. Field listened as others questioned how a community — called home by more than 20,000 people — could function without them. “When you say zero property tax, people don’t believe you,” said Field, who has lived in Stafford for more than two decades. “I still don’t see how it works. I just reap the benefits. I don’t have to understand it.” Stafford stopped levying property taxes in 1995, making it the largest of the less...

Criminal enters business, brandishes gun, business owner pulls gun, criminal challenges business owner, business owner shoots criminal dead.

President Barack Obama stunned C-SPAN journalist, Steve Scully, by admitting that the US Government is out of money. The President’s admission that “Well, we are out of money now” came in response to Scully’s asking “At what point do we run out of money?” Despite the Government’s massive deficits, the President warned “it could get worse if we don’t make up for the lack of adequate health care coverage for all Americans.” Obama did offer a glimmer of hope for staving off insolvency “if we can secure access to the significant sums of money currently sitting idle in 401ks, IRAs...

Someone finally did a study ranking the most free vs. the least free states. How "free" are you? We find that the freest states in the country are New Hampshire, Colorado, and South Dakota, which together achieve a virtual tie for first place. All three states feature low taxes and government spending and middling levels of regulation and paternalism. New York is the least free by a considerable margin, followed by New Jersey, Rhode Island, California, and Maryland. On personal freedom alone, Alaska is the clear winner, while Maryland brings up the rear. As for freedom in the different regions...

When I began my academic career, I was fortunate to work in a department of economics in which several of my colleagues, including Yoram Barzel, Steven N. S. Cheung, and Douglass C. North, had a keen interest in property rights and their implications for economic action. I soon began to work in several related research areas, including contractual choice in agriculture, and over the years a number of my articles and important parts of my books have pertained to property rights in some fashion. Perhaps the most important proposition in the economics of property rights is that people will not...

Surprise, Ariz., doesn't look very surprising. It might be anywhere in the suburban West. Home Depot and Wal-Mart rise like islands from an ocean of pavement, and late-model SUVs gleam in the midday sun. Homes with red-tiled roofs line up like stucco boxes on a giant supermarket shelf. There's little to distinguish this from the hundreds of square miles of housing developments that have sprouted around Las Vegas and San Diego. If it weren't for the palm trees, you could be in suburban Salt Lake City. But only Surprise has the Radiant Church. Inside this 55,000-square-foot behemoth, 50-inch plasma-screen televisions...

GENERAL GROWTH PROPERTIES (GGP) and the Great Basin Bank do not have a lot in common. One is America’s second-largest mall owner, the other a small bank in Elko, Nevada. But both shut their doors within a day of each other this month because of their exposure to commercial property, the most threatening in a line-up of suspect asset classes. GGP filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 16th. Its assets, which include the Fashion Show Mall in Las Vegas (pictured) and South Street Seaport in New York, are high-quality and continue to generate decent income. Its financing structure...

Fire Maine Animal Welfare Chief Petition Drive Urges Tourism Boycott of Maine If Worley’s Draconian Kennel Legislation Passes by JOHN YATES American Sporting Dog Alliance http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org asda@csonline.net This article is archived at: http://eaglerock814.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=35 AUGUSTA, ME – The American Sporting Dog Alliance is calling for the immediate replacement of Maine Animal Welfare Director Norma Worley, who has run roughshod over the rights of dog owners in what can only be described as official oppression by a rogue governmental agency gone mad. Worley has demonstrated a lifetime of animal rights movement fanaticism, and has clearly used her powerful position to crusade for...

Dog Legislation On Brink In Eight States Ohio, California, Indiana, Texas, Delaware, Washington, Oklahoma And Tennessee Legislation that would severely restrict the ability to raise high quality purebred dogs in a home environment is advancing rapidly in several states: · In Ohio, new legislation was introduced this week that defines a breeding dog as any dog that is not spayed or neutered, and creates a new state Kennel Authority with the power to write and enforce regulations without legislative oversight. · In California, the 13th reincarnation of last year’s failed bill to mandate spaying and neutering of all dogs faces...

After more than 10 years of acerbic writing, Foxnews.com columnist Roger Friedman has reached a bitter end himself in a film piracy-related incident. The moral of the story is that, if you work for a company that owns a movie studio, it’s not a good idea to download and review a stolen copy of an upcoming movie. But that’s apparently what Friedman did. The entire entertainment industry has been talking about the stolen copy of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” which was posted on the Internet about a month before the movie’s planned debut. The pirated version was an early, unfinished, special...

One of the favorite mantras of the left is the need to protect people rather than property. But very often the best way to protect people is protect their property. Those with power and influence can steal what they want. Only when property rights are protected do average people have a shot at both liberty and prosperity. There are two major indexes of economic liberty -- Economic Freedom in the World (from a group of think tanks, led by the Fraser Institute) and Index of Economic Freedom (from the Heritage Foundation) -- of which property rights protection is a part....

"Worst of all, the power which Congress delegated to the President enabled him to make criminals out of honest American citizens whose crime would consist only of trying to protect themselves from official debasement of their money. In more fundamental terms, Americans henceforth would be "under the gun" for exercising a fundamental, inalienable right: the right to deal with their own property as they saw fit. Gold, no matter what its special characteristics, is, after all, just another form of property."

In his book, The Audacity of Hope, President Obama writes “Our constitution places the ownership of private property at the very heart of our system of liberty. According to Obama adviser Doug Kmiec, President Obama would appoint Supreme Court justices “in the mold of Justices Stephen Bryer and David Souter”. Bryer and Souter have voted against every property rights case for the last 20 years. In a recent study, data shows that countries that protect the physical and intellectual property of their people enjoy nearly nine times higher GDP per capita than countries ranking lowest in property rights protections. The...

"My country has let me down." That's the assessment of an Arizona rancher who was sued by six illegal immigrants he detained on his property and turned over to the Border Patrol in 2004. On Tuesday an eight-member federal jury in Tucson threw out the claim brought by the six illegal aliens that Roger Barnett violated their civil rights when he detained them at gunpoint on his ranch nearly five years ago. The panel also ruled against the plaintiffs' claims of battery and false imprisonment. But the jury did find Barnett liable on four claims of assault and four claims...

While everyone is distracted with the Pelosi Reid Obama artery–choking, cardiac arrest, Pork Barrel Spending Bill, congress is sneaking-ly trying to pass the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. Left-wing environmentalists are behind this bill to purposely undercut current progress toward affordable domestic energy. Essentially they will be stealing 300 million barrels of proven oil and 8.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from any future use.

HSUS Off To Fast Start In 2009, But Dog Owners Triumph In VA And MT Beware Bills Introduced In NJ, NY, ME, FL, MN, IL, CA, CO, VA, MT, RI And CT - Expect more In TX, MA, WI, MI, IN, OH, OK, AZ And NM by JOHN YATES American Sporting Dog Alliance http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org asda@csonline.net This article is archived at: http://eaglerock814.proboards107.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=16 Dog owners will face unprecedented and potentially devastating challenges in 2009, and it will take dedication and commitment to protect our rights. Sitting on the sidelines simply is not an option. It will take standing up and making your...

Joe Johnson's family has lived and worked on the same property near Columbus, N.M., for almost 100 years. "Our grandfather came here in 1918, right behind Pancho Villa," he says proudly. Yet he also admits, "If it wasn't home, I would move away from it." The Johnson ranch lies right up against the Mexican border, and illegal immigration has turned what was already a hard way to make a living on drought--plagued rangeland into a nightmare of stolen cattle, broken water lines,ruined fences and grass fi res. "In 2005, we had 500-plus people crossing our ranch every day," explains housewife,...

Antoin "Tony" Rezko leaves federal court in Chicago in this Oct. 19, 2006, file photo. Mr. Rezko spent years pouring thousands of dollars in campaign contributions into Barack Obama's climb from the Illinois legislature to Capitol Hill, and helped him raise tens of thousands more. A former Illinois bank official, now claiming whistleblower status, says bank officials replaced a loan reappraisal that he prepared for a Chicago property that was purchased by the wife of now-convicted felon Tony Rezko, part of which was later sold to next-door neighbor Barack Obama. In a complaint filed Thursday in the Circuit Court of...

ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis city leader frustrated with the police response to rising crime called Tuesday on residents to arm themselves to protect their lives and property. Alderman Charles Quincy Troupe said police are ineffective, outnumbered or don't care about the increase in crime in his north St. Louis ward. St. Louis has had 157 homicides in 2008, 33 more than last year at this time.

Been away awhile. Turns out a lot of leftists from DU, Youtube and elsewhere have come on my website to start accusing me of things I never said or meant. Gotta love public school curriculum. With Obama and the Dems taking control, I thought I should bring up an important topic, private property rights and how Democrats plan to use the SSI program in Social security to strip Americans of their assets, homes and even their jobs. The SSI or Supplemental Security Program was started by Richard Nixon in 1974 to federalize welfare. The SSI program was administered by Social...

    U.S. Set to Take Coloradans Land Without Compensation    By Fred Kelly Grant October 24, 2008              At this very hour, Colorado landowners are fighting to prevent the United States federal government from taking their land.  Ignored by the mass media, hundreds of farmers and ranchers in southeastern Colorado are facing loss of their property at the hands of the IRS.  They are victims of “conservation easements” promoted by federal and state governments, land trust companies, and conservation groups.    As landowners dedicated to preserving the open, agricultural use of their land, lured into the “easements” by both the...

The right to property and to the fruits of one's labor is not some privilege dreamed up by the wealthy elite in America to keep others oppressed. It is one of the founding principles of our nation. It serves as the great motivator that keeps the wheels of the economy turning, and is the promise that gives many the will to endure another day's rounds. People who have attained the American dream (now, apparently, anything above the arbitrarily chosen $250,000 sticker price) have done so, almost without exception, through their own ingenuity and industriousness. Or, perhaps, they have inherited their...

from the let's-do-business,-or-we-might-sue deptLast week, Microsoft was kind enough to invite me to sit down, one-on-one with Horacio Gutierrez, the company's VP and Deputy General Counsel in charge of intellectual property and licensing. As you might imagine, given my views on the patent system in general, and Microsoft's gradual embrace of the patent system specifically, he and I disagreed on a fair amount. We agreed that the patent system should be focused on encouraging innovation. We agreed that there were abuses of the system. From there, our views pretty much diverged, though the conversation was fun and lively. Gutierrez began...

Hearing October 23 On Proposed Massachusetts Spay/Neuter Mandate Would Devastate Purebred Dog Breeding Statewide by JOHN YATES American Sporting Dog Alliance http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org asda@csonline.net BOSTON – The Massachusetts legislature’s Joint Commission on Municipalities and Regional Government has set an October 23 hearing on House Bill 5092, which would destroy purebred dog breeding and ownership rights statewide. The American Sporting Dog Alliance is urging all Massachusetts dog owners to immediately contact members of the committee to voice strong opposition to this legislation, and also to attend the hearing if possible. The hearing is set for Thursday, October 23, at 10 a.m. in...

Bobby Prigel says building an organic creamery will keep his farm alive. But preservationists say it will spoil the rural landscape. GLEN ARM, Md. -- Bobby Prigel seems like a poster child for the local-food movement. A fourth-generation dairy farmer, he wants to build a creamery to make organic butter, yogurt, cheese and ice cream. He wants to sell those products to consumers in nearby Baltimore instead of shipping his milk out of state. He wants to make enough money to pass on the farm to a fifth generation. But some neighbors and conservationists are challenging Prigel's plans. Opponents, led...

Walter Ritte, coordinator of Hui Ho’opakele Aina presented 500 signatures September 18 to the Maui County Council demanding funding for an appraisal of Moloka`i Ranch--owner of 1/3 of Moloka`i--as part of an effort to have Maui County illegally use eminent domain to condemn the ranch and hand it over to Ritte’s group. Moloka`i is one of only three communities in the entire United States which were exempted from welfare reform allowing benefits to continue indefinitely.

Hundreds of people whose beachfront homes were wrecked by Hurricane Ike may be barred from rebuilding under a little-noticed Texas law. And even those whose houses were spared could end up seeing them condemned by the state. Now here's the saltwater in the wound: It could be a year before the state tells these homeowners what they mayormay not do. Worse, if these homeowners do lose their beachfront property, they may get nothing in compensation from the state. The reason: A 1959 law known as the Texas Open Beaches Act. Under the law, the strip of beach between the average...

The link to the Michigan page is incorrect, s/b...

HEAVY-METAL superstar James Hetfield of the band Metallica has erected a metal fence on his property on a Terra Linda hilltop, closing off a popular trail and angering hikers, bikers and equestrians. Someone scrawled "SHAME DISGRACE" on the 300-foot-long, 8-to 10-foot-high corrugated metal silver fence adorned with barbed wire at its far edges. "Look at the barbed wire. This a serious fence," said hiker Tom McMillan of San Rafael, as he walked along the shiny behemoth late last week. The fence, at the end of a fire road in the Terra Linda-Sleepy Hollow Divide open space preserve, went up in...

soon all the problems will be erased because a government think tank has looked carefully at the question of second homes and has announced that the rich bastards who have them should be forced to rent them out to underachieving, fat people. I wonder. Did it deliver its findings to Gordon Brown at No 10, or to his second home in Buckinghamshire? And how does it think such a scheme could possibly work? ... Second-home owners would adopt similar tactics here. Or they’d say their country cottage is their primary residence and that their apartment in London is a pied-à-terre....

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The administration of US President George W. Bush has proposed revisions to the Endangered Species Act (ESA) so that the law can not be used to regulate the emission of greenhouse gases. The new regulations would reduce reviews by government scientists that have been mandatory whenever federal agencies propose projects such as dams or highways that could threaten endangered species...

An article yesterday, 'Lost Sovereignity, Oil-rich Fund Eyeing Foreclosed US Homes', talked about how foreign money is now moving to scoop up tens of thousands of discounted foreclosed homes across the country. I caught Letterman the other night when Donald Trump was on. He was saying since our dollar is devalued and everything we have is now a world wide bargain, foreigners are buying up all the choice real estate. He admitted he’s inflating prices to get his best deal, and they’re happy to pay it. Today Mike Cutler brought another related story to our attention. We have done several...

Welcome to Hyattsville, population 15,000, where the downtown looks more like New York City and the neighborhoods more like Iowa. The City Council this spring passed a law reaffirming residents' rights to grow vegetables on front lawns. Three months later, some residents have 8-foot-high corn patches in front of their homes, and neighbors say they don't mind. "I think some people might consider different types of landscapes unsightly, just like different painting schemes or building additions - which may increase or decrease property values - but it is still permitted by our code," Mayor William F. Gardiner said. Residents always...

hursday,Do you ever wonder why America initiated and then dominated the oil exploration and discovery industry. Its because Thomas Jefferson decided that along with the monarchy, the aristocrats and landed titles, the American Revolution would also throw out the (literally) medieval notion that although a man could own his own land, what was under it belonged to the king.

A Pasadena homeowner who fatally shot two men suspected of burglarizing his neighbor's house is cleared by a Harris County grand jury, KPRC Local 2 reports.