MORE ON THE WEALTH GAP and SWEEPING UP THE DUNG LEFT AFTER THE RICH-PERSON, POOR-PERSON POST OF 25 JULY.
EMR was hoping that the RICH-PERSON, POOR-PERSON post of last Sunday (25 July) would generate substantive ideas on how to narrow the Wealth Gap.
No such luck.
There HAVE to be better answers than
Dictator / demagogue – driven socialism on the one hand, and
Demise of civilization driven by “I have mine” greed, xenophobia and 18th century concepts of rights without commitments to 21st century responsibilities
on the other.
Before going on, let us clear the air on the issue of “over regulation” of shelter being responsible for kicking off the Great Recession:
EMR received a note from a housing professional in Austin (that is in Texas) and here are some quotes:
“When you clean up the RICH-PERSON, POOR-PERSON post please toss out all that trash about how land use controls are what have saved Texas from high foreclosure rates.
“At least set the record straight:
“There are three major reasons that the foreclosure rate is lower in the Texas’ Regions that had growing economies than in other southern states:
“1. Very stringent usury laws that have the impact of controlling the use of second mortgages, the size of down payments, the cash one can take out of a refi, multiple dwelling investments, etc.
“2. Very high property tax rates that make running up the price of housing an unattractive idea for everyone but flippers who are caught by the usury laws anyway.
“3. Texas has squandered vast sums of oil revenue on roads and expressways rather than spending it on quality of life investments. Houston, for example, has three beltways, multiple radials, including toll roads and still is near the top of the Texas A&M congestion measures year after year.
(EMR addressed the gross overbuild and dysfunctional design of Texas’ limited access roadways in Column # 50 Interstate Crime, 14 March 2005.” (All columns are now accessible from the RESOURCES page at www.emrisse.com)
The Texas roadway building extravagance opened up vast areas in ‘the next county out’ and so there has always been an over build of Wrong Size House, Wrong Location.)
“’The reason for fewer foreclosures is less regulation’ myth is just the latest zone of deception that has been a hobby horse for ideologies and idiots on the topic of ‘onerous regulations’ for years.
(That is especially true for those who write for and quote “The New Geography” – Kotkin, Cox, et. al. As EMR has pointed out, the lack of regulation has generated not one whit of difference in settlement patterns at the Dooryard or Cluster scale in Texas vis a vis other states – just more scatteration due to excessive road building.)
“There have not been the high foreclose rates in Texas like there have been in California, Nevada, Arizona, Geogia and Florida.
“However, Texas has quality of housing for those at the bottom of the food chain on a par with Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama.
“The idea that less regulation is a solution for Affordable and Accessible Housing is worse than wrong, it is fraud and borderline criminal because so many at the bottom of the food chain are deceived by these misrepresentations.
“Those at the bottom of the food chain cannot afford big, scattered, detached dwellings in Texas any more than they can anywhere else.
“While housing is less expensive in Texas, lower income families spend more to own and drive cars than they do on food or housing – and in some cases both.”
That pretty much wraps up the “over-regulation” issue.
By the way on the topic of Affordable and Accessible Housing, she recommends a new report from Todd Littman
www.vtpi.org/aff_acc_hou.pdf
On the topic of settlement pattern dysfunction and its most vocal apologist (Joel Kotkin), it is worth reading about the recent debate between Kotkin and Chris Leinberger at
http://www.fastcompany.com/1668425/america-in-2050-urban-or-suburban-both-neither
In a recent Blog post, Leinberger says that after this debate, he realized that he and Kotkin actually AGREE on many aspects of the shape of the future, they just use different Vocabulary.
Robust Vocabulary and comprehensive Conceptual Framework – understand the need for them or flounder in Geographic Illiteracy and Spacial Ignorance.
OK, enough about cleaning up after the last post, lets see if there are not SOME ideas for narrowing the Wealth Gap. Please do not bother with more blabber about ‘freedom’ and ‘rights’ without responsibilities. Also avoid tossing rocks at empty pigeon holes.
How about some REAL insights into how to narrow the Wealth Gap and provide a safety net without abandoning a market economy and democracy.
EMR