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I am finally in the 21st century.

Propoganda, West Ho style

Take a look at the front of this week's paper version of The View From Western Howard County:



After looking at the recent pictures of the site from yesterday's post, would you say that the photo accurately reflects the condition of the lot? I would say that this was a ruse to sell papers, except that this paper is free.

A sight for sore eyes

Two dilapidated vacant homes at the intersection of Rt. 94 and Rt.144 in Lisbon have been demolished and removed. You would think that cleaning up the community in this manner would bring praise, but not everyone is happy.

"The houses were built before the Civil War," said Michael Prosise, a history buff who lives in nearby Daisy Woods. "Now we have a big eye sore."

Below is a pic of the current site. The two houses were sitting on the area that is now sewn in grass seed and covered in straw:


And another:


Other than the McCain sign, I don't see an eye sore on this site. The orange fence looks out of place, but that is probably required by the county to be placed around all demolition sites. What is interesting about this is how several folks in the community have labeled the property owner as a "developer", which for them is akin to being Satan. The guy is a local resident and has owned adjoining property for years. He even grew up in Lisbon and cut grass at these two houses as a boy. His "real job" is building those mini-barns that you see in the background. I guess if he is a developer, having this blog makes me a writer.

Midnight, and I'm waitin' on the 12:05

To paraphrase Jon Stewart: unless you have been living in a cave, you are aware that the financial markets are in turmoil. If you have been living in a cave, congratulations! You have made a sound real estate investment.

As good of an analysis as any that I have seen on what happened can be found here on the Freakonomics blog. A large part of the cause of this mess was the implicit government guarantee of mortgage securities sold by Fannie and Freddie. Essentially, this privatized the profits but socialized the losses in these mortgage investments, which has had far reaching consequences.

I am very much opposed to any sort of bailout for any of the firms that have screwed themselves by relying on the government guarantee of an inflated market. The reason that capitalism works is because the folks getting the profits are also incurring the risk of loss. To use the force of government to undermine this fundamental principle is, in my mind, fiscally immoral. What signal does that send to firms who were driven out of the market because the risks were too great, to see their competitors who ran them of business get a taxpayer handout? There is capital out there in the private market: Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase have all recently purchased large, troubled companies.

I also despise how politicians, most notably John McCain who has really taken an interest in this mess, pretend that they can “do something” so solve this crisis. The only thing he will do is exactly what he did do: run around like a chicken with its head chopped off. Politicians of either party can only draw this mess out and make it worse.

One final rant: I have noticed an increase in attacks on the “free market” system by everyone and their brother. Locally, the hotbed of this seems to be the letters to the editor section of the Baltimore Sun. My favorite letters are those with the witty lines like “Adam Smith’s invisible hand is picking our pocket”. What I find interesting is that every argument that I have heard against the “free market” system applies with greater force against democracy. At least the capitalists in a relatively free market are risking their own capital to pursue their self interests. Politicians who want our votes are just as greedy as anyone else, but they don’t risk their own capital, they risk the capital of taxpayers. Which is why they are discussing a $700 Billion bailout. That is not to say anything against democracy, but there ain't nothing that's perfect.

If you have a vote, you have someone to pay your legal bills

The Villas at Cattail Creek septic issue has made the papers again. This should not be too surprising, because it appears that the developer really screwed the buyers of the homes in this 55 and older community with a shoddy septic system. It sounds like the owners of these homes should be able to sue the pants off the developer.

But strangely, Howard County has taken up the lawsuit itself.

The county's 11-count complaint, filed on Sept. 11, alleges the owners and builders of Cattail Creek engaged in deceptive trade practices and false advertising, misrepresented or failed to reveal key facts and made false statements to buyers, among other claims. The county names as defendants the Villas at Cattail Creek LLC; developers, Donald Reuwer and J. Thomas Scrivener; and NVR Inc., the parent company of the builder Ryan Homes.

The lawsuit seeks to force the developers to comply with a host of demands that include completing an operable septic system by Nov. 15, locking in water and sewer costs for residents at a set rate and repurchasing any homes that residents wish to sell back. Robert Schulman, an attorney representing the developers, said the developers are addressing the septic system and that the county's only motivation for the lawsuit seems to be political. "It's outrageous," he said. "It's a political witch hunt."

I have not been following this case very closely, but it seems very unusual that the Howard County government is footing the legal bills for this suit. I could understand if the County sued the developer because the developer did not comply with zoning or some other county law, but that is apparently not what this suit is about. From what I have read in the papers, the residents of this community have just cause for a lawsuit, and will probably win. Why is the Howard County government taking all the downside risk of suing someone so that private landowners benefit?

Drive by shooting in western howard county!

Slots seem to be very popular in the western part of the county. There are quite a few pro slots signs, but this one is the largest I have seen. The fact that it is attached to a kick wagon really drives home the "pro farming" message that the sign attempts to communicate. The photo was taken from a moving car, which is why it is not centered. What did you think the title of this post referred to?

The slots signs seem to take one of two approaches with their message: pro public school or pro farm. I doubt that slots will have much impact on either. If slots funding is earmarked toward public schools, other sources are funding will more than likely be cut back. The impact on small farms will probably be negligible as well, but who knows. The legalization of marijuana and industrial hemp would have a much greater positive impact on agriculture than slots.

Regardless, I support the legalization of slots because I think that people should be free to spend their money on whatever they choose. I have little patience for those who oppose slots for paternalistic reasons (or those like Gail Bates who oppose slots for religious reasons). However, I think that slots should be run by privately owned corporations, not the government. What the heck is this, the USSR?

Deer Prudence

Did you know that the county has a program for deer "management" in which snipers using silenced firearms stalk deer at night?

In another effort to manage wildlife, the county operates a sharpshooting program, which uses licensed marksmen and noise-suppressed firearms at night in areas where managed hunting is not possible. The schedule for that program has not yet been finalized, but the county does not anticipate adding to last year's list of sites, which included Alpha Ridge Landfill, Blandair Park, Daniels Mill Overlook, Gray Rock Openspace, Rockburn Branch Park, Timbers of Troy and Worthington Park.

According to county's deer management plan (pdf, page 15), the sharpshooters shoot over baited sites that are selected for safety and attractiveness to deer. It costs $91 to $300 per deer removed under this method.

I am not a fan of lethal methods to "manage" wildlife. However, an additional concern about this program is the bit about sharpshooters being used "where managed hunting is not possible". How close to houses are these kinds of hunts taking place? If noised suppressed firearms are being used, there may be no way for the public to know.

Green grass and high tides...

Here is a link (pdf) to a good summary of arguments for the legalization of marijuana. Of all of the many ridiculous laws on the books with their many unintended consequences, marijuana laws have to be the among the most harmful to society. Fortunately, some of our legislators are finally beginning to see the light of common sense.

Talking trash

One of the many services that the county government provides us is trash pickup (and recycling, too). We do pay a trash tax, but it is not related to how much trash we individually produce. No matter how much or how little trash I produce, I essentially bear no additional expense or benefit from any cost savings since the expenses and cost savings are spread over thousands of other taxpayers. Therefore, my only incentive to reduce my trash output is to save the planet. And let’s be honest, that reason alone does not motivate a large number of people to modify their behavior.

If I had to take my trash to a private dump where I was charged by weight or volume I would be much more interested in recycling, composting yard and food waste, and I would be more mindful of the kinds of products that I buy (i.e. I would prefer goods with less packaging). The county government suggests that offering residents plastic recycling containers increases the recycling 25%. Even if that were true (and there is no evidence that it is), it seems minuscule to the environmental benefits that society would get if everyone paid for their own trash removal.

I am sure that many residents would not be jazzed about paying for gas to drive to the dump, so that would only put more downward pressure on how much trash they produce. Or, maybe some neighborhoods would find it efficient to rent a large roll off container like you frequently see at construction sites. Some residents could contract with trash pickup services, but those services would probably be more likely to charge based on the amount of trash they pick up, rather than just raping the county with a flat rate.

Although it is not a sexy idea, privatizing trash removal would make a positive impact on the environment. I would be willing to bet that those who would scream the loudest if trash removal was privatized are the same naive folk who think that the government should spare no expense to end our dependence on fossil fuels.

But he knows not what it means...

Stop Slots President Aaron Meisner, in a Baltimore Sun article, has something to say about slots. Unfortunately, what he says does not make sense:

"It's a regressive, racist tax," he [Meisner] said, noting that most state lottery sales are in heavily African-American jurisdictions such as Baltimore City and Prince George's County.

Slot revenues are a regressive and racist tax? Well, no.

First of all, slot revenues are not taxes. A tax is imposed by a government onto its citizenry by the use of force. If you fail to pay the tax, you will find yourself in jail. Since no one is compelled to play slots in the first place, they are, by definition, not taxes. We would not call greens fees at the local golf course taxes, even if that golf course is owned by the state or county (like Timbers at Troy).

Since slots are not taxes, it does not make sense to apply the “regressive” concept to them. If Mr. Meisner is concerned about regressive taxes, perhaps he should instead rail against the 20% sales tax increase that was passed earlier this year. Sales tax is one of the most regressive taxes out there.

Are slots racist? Meisner suggests that slots may be racist because lottery sales are highest in areas with large African-American populations. If you believe that correlation implies causation, this argument is a good one. If you don’t, then this argument sucks. I think that Aaron Meisner is engaging in emotional button pushing.

Speaking of emotional button pushing, here is another Meisner gem:

The idea is not to get a player's first dollar or even the first $1,000, but to get the player's last dollar, he said.

The machines prey on the poor and those least able to afford to gamble, and that will produce a spike in crime, he said, describing a scenario in which a husband who has lost his paycheck comes home, gets into an argument and beats his wife.

So, Meisner is of the opinion that the poor are too stupid to keep away from the slot machines, so they need government protection. The most ridiculous part of Meisner’s statement is the scenario of the husband that beats his wife after losing his paycheck at the slot machines. That’s imaginative. I can imagine a scenario when a man gets upset over a 20% increase in sales taxes, so he comes home and beats his wife. Therefore, the sales tax increase leads to higher crime. I could totally be a politician.

Update: I had initially written this post in a manner that attributed the anti-slots statements to Delegate Frank Turner. In fact, Aaron Meisner made those statements, not Delegate Turner. Thanks to Kem White for the clarification.

Funny t-shirt

There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don't.

See it here.

We're rich biatch!

Did Stacy Spann do such a good job making housing more affordable that he worked himself out of a job? I ask that questions in jest, of course, but the fact remains that the collapse of the housing bubble has done more to increase the supply of affordable housing than any government agency could ever do. Two years ago, I didn't know anyone who could afford to purchase the house that they owned at the then current price level. That was when affordable housing was the hot issue and all the cool kids were talking about it. Back then, you could live above your means by refinancing your house and cashing out some of that equity. However, times have changed.

At any rate, GGP has announced that corporate tenants, as well as developers who purchase land in Town Center, will subsidize residential housing through rent surcharges and impact fees. These fees will subsidize 20% of the new housing units in Town Center for families with income of less than $120,000 per year. You know, the "poor majority" (as opposed to the wealthy few).

Only in Howard County.

Not cool

I am not a supporter of John McCain or Barack Obama. I seriously dislike them both as political figures. Therefore, I am far less biased than most with respect to statements made about them. With that in mind, I don't think that the Howard County Government has an appropriate statement about John McCain on their website in this recent news blurb.

The piece starts out by discussing the press conference held my O'Malley, Cardin and Ulman at the site of a former landfill owned by the county. (I have a whole lot of questions about the plans that were announced for this site, but that is a topic for another post.) The three called for bipartisan support of federal tax credits that subsidize solar energy. I am not a fan of this idea, but I am fine with the press release so far. However, things got weird and took a twist. The press release concludes with the following sentence:

On July 30 the renewable energy bill was defeated for the eighth time. John McCain missed that critical vote – in fact, he has missed all eight votes on the legislation.

That rubbed me the wrong way. Being an election year, I would expect our politicians to be extra careful about how they use the county website and other county owned resources. They could have provided a hyperlink to a site where the public could see how everyone voted on this legislation and not just one candidate, or they could have left that part out entirely.

If a politician wants to publicly endorse or attack a certain presidential candidate, I think they should be free to do so. I recall that Ulman endorsed Obama early on, and O'Malley "courageously" endorsed Obama after it became clear that Hillary was out of the running. That said, I would hope that these politicians would make their partisan statements on their personal time and with their personal resources.

It is wildly inappropriate to use the county website for partisan attacks, even if the partisan statement was factual on its face. The intent as a political hit job was quite clear.

Update: Based on a comment, I checked here to see how the US Senate voted on this bill. Based on the innuendo on the county press release, I just assumed that Obama voted in favor of the bill, but in fact he did not vote at all. That was not mentioned in the press release.

Pay us like you owe us...

I have noticed that it has become very popular lately to refer to America’s purchase of oil from the Middle East as “the largest transfer of wealth in history”. This myth was made famous by T. Boone Pickens and has been echoed by many seemingly intelligent people, including Mitt Romney last night during the Republican National Convention. Considering that both of these gentlemen are extremely wealthy, I am surprised that they do not understand simple economics (or maybe they are just playing to the gullibility of the pubic).

A transfer of wealth makes one party better off and one party worse off. An example of a transfer of wealth would be redistributing money from Smith to Jones, such as what happens with many forms of taxation and corresponding government spending. In other words, one party gets something for nothing, and the other party gets nothing for something.

On the other hand, when Smith enters into a voluntary agreement with Jones to purchase corn in exchange for soybeans, for example, that is not a transfer of wealth; that is a trade. A trade makes both parties better off. One party sells excess corn for needed soybeans, the other party sells excess soybeans for needed corn.

When those “evil” Middle Easterners get our cash in exchange for the oil that we buy, what do they do with it? Do they spend it in their own country? No, because American dollars are not accepted by the hookers in Dubai. Do they use our dollars to wallpaper their palaces? No, but if they did we would be getting a whole bunch of fuel for the equivalent of a few hundred rolls of wallpaper.

Well then, what do the Middle Easterners do with the money? They send those dollars back to us in exchange for ipods, Dell computers, Microsoft software and all the other goods and services that we make here is the USA. Or maybe they give the American dollars to the Japanese in exchange for some Sony products, but the Japanese buy some cars from GM. Maybe the Middle Eastern folks invest the dollars that we sent them for oil in our capital markets. If so, those dollars are used to build new factories in America and create American jobs. When the Arabs pull their money out of our capital markets, they use the proceeds to buy our Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and our Fender guitars. In other words, when they invest in our capital markets or our real estate, they are choosing to consume our output tomorrow rather than today. However it may go down, those dollars get back to us, and American jobs are created in the process.

If T. Boone Pickens and Mitt Romney want to rail against transfers of wealth, they should take a look at government spending.

The Dock Looks OK

I haven't been down to the bell tower on the Kittamaquandi Lakefront for several months, but CA has done some work since Columbia Compass documented the disrepair that has befallen the dock.

At least most of the major items appear to have been fixed, and nothing that I saw looked unsafe. The large holes that were rotting in the top of the pilings were filled with some sort of wood filler, and there were quite a few new boards and bolts visible in other areas. Generally, the dock is sort of run down looking but it still has some life left in it. Below is a pic showing some of the new boards on the belltower, as well as some Labor Day vibrancy on the shore.



I didn't take any pictures, but it is irritating to see the trash floating around the dock area. There were numerous soda cans and other food containers floating around, and even a chair that appears to have been from the outdoor seating area at Clyde's. Our Country is not a trash can!