[MD] Capitalism: A Question of Morality

[Khaled Alkotob]

> >[Dan]

> > > What is the right thing for the land? What about the farmer who 
> now leases the land for crop production - isn't he entitled to some
small
> > > measure of loyalty?

> > > How would you advise Roy? What would the MOQ say about this?

Well I thought about that. In a way, thanks to that farmers renting of
the land for the last few years that had kept the money flowing. i had
thought about that. I a way he was his partner in keeping the cash coming
when maybe no other sources were available ( maybe?).






[Khaled earlier]
> >Well I live here in California's Central Valley where things get 
> even more complicated. Do to what is know here as proposition 13, the 
> taxes are assessed on the land by the original purchase price. So if he

> bought it at 1,000 and now it's worth a million, well he only pays
taxes 
> on the $1,000.
> 
[Dan]
> 
> Wow. That's got to stress the infrastructure. I mean, someone has to 
> pay for roads and schools and myriad other things we all take for
granted. 
> And those  costs go up every year. How do they do it?
>

Well here are 2 points of view to this:

A person plans to retire along the California coast, so in the mid 1970
he and his wife buy a house along the coast for under 100K. 
Twenty five years later, they sell it for about 500k and move close to
the water in a house they buy for about 700K. It's now the year 2000. it
took about 25 years for the house to be worth 5-6 times the original
price. Their taxes are now for the 700K house.
Today, that house is worth about 4-4.5 million dollars. at 1% property
tax that's $40,000 a year in taxes. They are retired. No kids in the
local schools, the cost of the upkeep on the roads and the police surely
has not gone up 8-10 times in the last 6-7 years. Whatever happened to
the American dream of work hard invest in your future so you can plan
your retirement. 

A close friend of mine bought a house 5 years ago at 75K, it's now worth
325K. His salary hasn't gone up in five years. Why should he get
penalized just because the housing market went crazy.


The flip side is, a person buys a lot in town, and the area develops and
values goes up he leaves the lot barren. renting only to the Christmas
tree people once a year. Had that person been assessed the current
property tax, he would have had to develop the lot ( make it viable to
the community to) instead of just leaving it as an eyesore the rest of
the year.



[Dan}
> They say our oceans are dying and there will be no more wild seafood 
> within 
> 50 years. 50 years! We have some hard choices to make.
[Khaled]
someone in this group had a link to the story about that. very alarming.


[Khaled previously]
> >1. Help his friend start the nursery

[Dan]
This isn't an option. The nursery man isn't a friend, only a 
> interested  party.

[Khaled]
What I meant is to help the buy who is currently renting it for corn and
soy switch over to the nursery business.
By the way, you mentioned the land becomes useless for general farming
after being a nursery. Why?


I am glad your posted this subject. It's something that hits very close
to home here in  Central California. We built dairies that in the end can
be classified as a super fund site. The Nitrates they leach in to the
ground water is a big problem. The latest snake oil they are trying to
sell us here in Ethanol.

the best government estimates say that it takes 4 gallons of energy to
produce 5 gallons of ethanol. ( Planting, lowing, water, growing the
seeds, harvesting, processing, transporting). The 2 naysayers, one out of
Columbia the other out of Berkeley say it's the other way around, it
takes 5 gallons of fuel to produce 4 gallons of ethanol. The only reason
it's financially viable now is do to a welfare system ( tax subsidies).

take care

Khaled