The people who came up with Prop 13 had a stated mission of keeping grandma in her home. Which is fine, but that’s not really where we’re at today. While still keeping grandma in her home here are some straight forward ways to fix property taxes in California. Continue reading
housing
3 posts
Much has been said of the increasing gap between rich and poor. But the past quarter-century has also seen a greatly increased gap between people under 35 and people over 65. A newly released report from Pew Social Trends highlights this: between 1984 and 2009, the average net worth of an under 35 actually fell by 68% (despite the massive booms that are meant to have taken place during that time). The average net worth of an over 65 increased by 42%.
To put it another way, the average American over 65 in 1984 had 10 times the net worth of an American under 35. In 2009, he or she had 47 times the net worth of an American under 35. The figures were not much different in 2005, before the financial crisis began, although the effect of the crisis has been to increase the gap further in percentage terms. See the handy-dandy charts after the jump.
What are the primary reasons for this increased gap?
Ahhh, Texas. Just when you think Florida and Arizona are the last bastions of deep fried insanity, along comes Texas with its own can of hobo beans.
In a story that will make you weep for humanity, officials in Dallas last week sat back and watched as thousands of desperate applicants found themselves in a human stampede to get Section 8 housing vouchers on the waiting list for Section 8 housing vouchers. More than 21,000 people applied for 5,000 vouchers. The DMN story shows how most of the people who showed up are workers with low-paying, minimum wage jobs or are older, handicapped and unable to support themselves. Continue reading