Let the People Pay in Coral Gables

October 11, 2010 Leave a comment

The Mayor has an important message.

There is a principle in public finance called “benefits received,” in which people who get the benefits should pay the full costs.

We should pay not only the true cost of parking, but the cost of refuse and solid waste collection, using the swimming pool, playing golf and tennis, using the highways, using the parks, using the hotel or restaurant, using water to irrigate our lawns, etc.  Taxpayers should not have to subsidize their neighbors.

Of course, as a community, we must pay for social safety nets and other social benefits and common or public goods like fire and police protection that benefit the entire community, as well as the individual.

We don’t want firefighters to be checking to see if we paid the fire fee before putting out the flames, since our neighbors also benefit by putting out the fire.  Some of the cost may be paid, for example, for fire fees and emergency ambulance services, but their should be a limit to this.

“In this new age of challenged tax revenue, the fact is people keep yelling they want cities to act like businesses,” said Donald Slesnick, mayor of Coral Gables, where starting Monday drivers must pay for an extra two hours of metered parking as well as on Sundays. “We’re starting to act more like a business in terms of pay as you go.”

via Pay as you stop: Parking costs going up – Miami-Dade – MiamiHerald.com.

Filed under Coral Gables, Taxes and Fees

Mortgage Servicer Industry High in the Saddle

October 10, 2010 Leave a comment

This problem of the essential fairness (instead of corruption) of the US foreclosure system was well known for years to those involved in the system.  The huge number of companies and lawyers involved in this out-of-control system is a mirror of the system that helped us take out the failed mortgages.

Florida has evolved a system of fast foreclosure process that again favors banks, developers, real estate agents and associated  industry that wants to rush through the foreclosures to clean out the bad debt, rather than finding a fair and permanent solution to the underlying problem.  See my earlier post, Florida’s High-Speed Answer to a Foreclosure Mess – NYTimes.com.

The only solution to the problem is a scheme of national debt foregiveness (cancellation) of mortgage debt on a large scale.  This will keep people in their houses, will protect the social foundations of our towns and cities, and help people who can, under no circumstances, move on to rental units.  This will also keep house prices from falling even further (this is the big benefit of the system for people who have kept up their payments).

Consumer advocates and lawyers warned federal officials in recent years that the U.S. foreclosure system was designed to seize people’s homes as fast as possible, often without regard to the rights of homeowners.

…

As momentum builds for a national moratorium, the administration has begun assessing the potential impact, examining the threat it could pose for the ailing housing market and the wider financial system.

via Government had been warned for months about troubles in mortgage servicer industry.

Filed under Florida, Housing, National

Mayor Alvarez has Key Supporter–the Miami Dolphins

October 9, 2010 Leave a comment

We were all waiting with great interest, and finally with some astonishment, to hear the opinion of the Dolphins on us paying more taxes in Miami-Dade.  Yes, we need yet another professional team feeding at the trough of public subsidies with our tax money.

“I don’t think a recall effort is going to move the county forward,” team CEO Mike Dee told a meeting of the Coconut Grove Chamber of Commerce at Monty’s restaurant on Biscayne Bay.

“We need to work together to find solutions. It’s easy to point out problems.”

The Dolphins would need County Commission backing to fund a partial roof and added seats for the team’s stadium — a proposal the Dolphins floated earlier this year. Under that plan, Florida’s Legislature would change state law to allow commissioners to raise Miami-Dade’s hotel tax from 6 to 7 percent. Earlier this year, Alvarez said he opposes such a plan.

via Norman Braman’s drive to recall Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez gains supporters – Miami-Dade – MiamiHerald.com.

Filed under Miami-Dade County, Taxes and Fees

Economic Inequality–Not Just an Economic Matter

October 9, 2010 Leave a comment

This is not only a national phenomenon–the culture of political infighting and citizen discontent–but is fully manifested in Miami-Dade and Coral Gables politics.  Democracies solve these impasses by overturning the existing order by elections.

It’s no coincidence that polarization of income distribution in the United States coincides with a polarization of the political process. Just as income inequality has eroded any sense that we are all in this together, it has also eroded the political consensus necessary for effective government. There can be no better proof of that proposition than the current election cycle, in which the last of the moderates are being driven from the political process and the most likely prospect is for years of ideological warfare and political gridlock.

via The costs of rising economic inequality.

Filed under Economy, National

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