Tag: Follow the Money

Fair Housing

SUSTAINABLE PROPERTY TAX

Jumping up property tax just gets passed on to renters and doesn’t make a dent in conglomerate owner profits.  The article recommended below proposes limiting property tax directly to inflation to achieve “Affordable Housing”.  But this would have to be paired with a partner legislation that would limit rent increases to inflation as well.  In other words, the value of a property stays constant.  It does not increase if a new shopping center is built next door.  As most tenants will tell you, the quality of life if you have to live there drops dramatically.  First there is the years of daily construction noise.  Then you have more strangers invading into your neighborhood.  There is no peace and quiet.  Crime usually increases.  And for this the renter has to pay more.

So the proposal is that no matter what price the buyer pays, property tax would stay constant with inflation, and my proposal is that so would rent.

So when people find a place they can afford to live, they can keep living there.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Utopia/Dystopia

URBAN DENSITY – ITS NOT THAT WE DON’T LEARN, ITS THAT THE RICH DON’T CARE

A 42 story tower where you can “trade a car for a condo” does not sound like affordable housing, which Vancouver desperately needs. It sounds like more wealthy people getting wealthier.  If someone can afford a car to trade, then they do not require “affordable housing”.  And yet metro VC homelessness has spiked sharply, including individuals who work full time jobs.  Rather than do something sensible about it, developers seem to be given preference towards making matters worse.  Note that while the top of the articles say “homeowners”, subsequent articles uses the term “rental properties”.  It is NOT affordable to rent for one’s entire life.

Simple solution to all the media headlining problems (affordable housing, food shortages, climate change) – small town zoning only.  Suburbs.  Local businesses.  1/2 acre minimum per house green space law.  People grow their own food in their own gardens, drive 10 minutes to work every day, and car pool with their neighbor.  Oh my gosh, that sounds like the 80’s!

Western society reached what may have been the most humane society in the history of history in 1980’s.  The Hippies grew up, but kept the dream of an Age of Aquarius in their hearts.  This is the time when I grew up, and those are the values I hold.  People were self-reliant but community oriented.  You knew your neighbors, and for the most part you liked the majority of them.  You knew everybody in town but had space for your own peace and privacy, even within your own home.   People had more freedom to do what they liked, because there was that space to do so.  Nobody thought twice about owning a car and owning a home, even the people on welfare had equity.

And that’s the simple solution – reduce urban density.  Keep the cap on the number of rentals. Tie how much a landlord can charge to square footage, not location.  If the tenant has to live in 450 sq ft, then the most rent can ever be is $450.  If someone wants to make $2500/month, they have to design apartments with 2,500 sq ft.  Simple math.  Not very profitable for the investors, but that’s what Affordable Housing would require.  When existing buildings become places to live rather than conglomerate investments, prices will shrink and housing will become affordable.

RECOMMENDED READING:

 

Robots/Artificial Life

FIRST ANDROID TO BE GRANTED CITIZENSHIP SAYS SHE WANTS TO HAVE A BABY

I presented a paper on robotic personhood more than 10 years ago, and most people laughed at my conclusion.  I said that whether a robot could pass a Turing test or not was irrelevant. Robots would be given citizenship just because people wanted them to have it.  Whether or not robots will become self-aware, feel emotions, or other indices of personhood, Sophia has been granted citizenship by Saudi Arabia.  Now there are problems with robotic personhood.  Robots were created to do work humans don’t want to do (too dangerous) or are unwilling to do (unpleasant, monotonous, repetitive).  So having robot persons do them introduces slavery all over again.

The  first article below points out that at this point of development, Sophia is primarily a chabox like Alexa, not a self aware sentient being expressing emotional desires for her personal happiness. I do not think Sophia has in any way demonstrated “life” as we currently define it, and yet a legal precedence has been set.   Science fiction has become science fact.

RECOMMENDED READING:

VIDEOS TO WATCH:

Animal rights

REPOST: “A DELICIOUS HISTORY OF MEATLESS MEAT”

I really enjoyed this.

A Delicious History of “Meatless Meat”

Looking for some comments on what people think about the new vat-grown meat.  Clean language and consideration necessary for commenting.  Have we reached the age of the Jetsons?  Most of us are ok with technology vs nature on the issue of robo pets but what happens when its something we eat?

 

Also under Animal Rights:

The Rat Race is On!  Rats Learn to Drive!

Foundations for Ethics

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Regarding the Kavanaugh situation, I for one am thrilled that there will be an FBI investigation. Several fascinating issues came up that would not have appeared in merely written statements.

Issue #1

Dr. Ford stated that she did not pay for the polygraph nor is she paying for legal fees. Her lawyer stated to the Committee (i.e. jail time if he lied) that all his team is working pro bono. So I hope the FBI is involved in making sure that every dime of the $700,000 GoFundMe money that was collected under false premise is returned. Otherwise, Dr. Ford would then have been paid $700,000 for bringing the allegation against Judge Kavanaugh, and that would seriously hurt her credibility. So I hope her lawyers have already started the refund process and it will be complete before the vote next week, just so everything is above board.


Issue #2

I hope the FBI can determine who leaked Dr. Ford’s letter. In her testimony she said only three groups had it: Feinstein’s office, her senator’s office, and her lawyers. From Feinstein’s indignation it is credible she did not leak it. The senator from California is too junior to make that much of a political suicide move. That leaves Dr. Ford’s lawyers. Who also failed to tell their client that her request for anonymity was acceptable to the Committee. Ford’s lawyers failed to tell her that in fact the normal way to handle such information as she wished to give the committee was private and her name would not be made public unless there were extenuating circumstances. Which leads directly to….


Issue #3

Lawyers in very expensive suits not taking money from their client failing to act in a manner that guaranteed their alleged sexual assault victim the privacy she requested. That does raise the question of where is the money coming from then? I do hope the FBI investigation uncovers that. There is not one lawyer, but at least 5 that were with Dr. Ford at the hearing, and that kind of time ranks up hundreds of thousands of dollars. Plus the polygraph administrator. Plus the hotel rooms and travel expenses of the lawyers. I certainly want to know who paid for all that. It does seem to substantiate Judge Kavanaugh’s claim that somebody is orchestrating a smear attack on his character. By all means, let’s have an FBI investigation into this entire matter.