From: hulsey@dbsun.uucp (hulsey)
Subject: Re: The price of freedom
Organization: BioMerieux-Vitek, St. Louis Mo.
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 16:07:07 GMT

best@anasazi.com (Mike Best) writes:
>
>I liked your train of thought on the cause of the S&L failure and neither
>of us can estimate what portion of the problem each item caused.  However,
>your entire well thought out scenario failed to even mention the tax law
>change devaluating real estate, why?

Honestly, because I didn't know.  I have since been educated by Mr. Best
and Mr. Crossman on law changes that took place while I was a poor college
student (no three-weeks at the beach divestures for me, more like
landscaping during the summer) and not following politics.  When I bought
a house, I thought it was unfair that gains would be taxed and losses
would not be deducted from taxes, but I had assumed it was always that
way.  Silly me.

So in fact, the 1982 tax law change made real estate more attractive and
worth more, and the 1986 change made it less attractive and worth less.
This temporary bubble was a major cause of the S&L crisis.  Perhaps
the changes should have been made gradually, or perhaps not at all.  It's
a tough call to say which side is right.  I don't know.

>I submit that the investments were unwise because Congress can't keep 
>their hands off the tax code, now why is that?  (talk about corrupt
>behavior, driven by money! You'd think it was a Republican controlled
>House of Reps).   The S&Ls should have known better than to invest in
>anything because if it's big enough for the Congress to get wind of...

Believe me, I have no love lost for my Congressman (William Clay, check
bouncer, extrordinaire) or the representative from the 3rd Missouri
district, just to the south, Mr. Richard "Tax and Spend" Gephardt.
Living in the district next to a powerful representative is no fun, in
Texas, I lived in the district next to Jim Wright's (Dick Armey's).  We
got diddley-squat from the government, while Wright's district was second
in the country in per-capita goverment spending, behind only D'Amato's in
New York, I think.  So far, there is no incumbent at any level that I am
willing to vote for.  The closest one currently is Senator Bond.  I would
love to clean out the House and start over.

I think Thomas Jefferson said that we should have a revolution every few
generations to clean things out.  Maybe it's time to have one :-)

The Democrats are too populist, but the Republicans are too authoritarian.
Traditional conservatives would be horrified at the power that has been
concentrating in the executive branch.  If the Democrats win the White
House in November, you'll see conservatives criticizing the excess power
of the Presidency, because it is not in "friendly" hands.

Of course, the power of the unelected bureaucrats is the scariest of all.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
hulsey%dbsun.uucp@wupost.wustl.edu (Jim Hulsey)   TBDBITL '84 ('85 Rose Bowl)
An Ohioan living in Misery (Missouri, same difference)

Watch what you say!                Won't you sign up your name
They'll be calling you a radical   So you can be their dependable
A liberal, fanatical criminal      Respectable, presentable vegetable
--  Supertramp "The Logical Song"
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