NAR & Government
I have been a REALTOR for over 34 years now. The National Association of REALTORS is our membership body. You have to be a member of NAR to be a member of the state associations (MAR), the local real estate boards (in my case, North Oakland County Board of REALTORS), and most importantly the multiple listing service (MLS).
In the October issue of REALTOR Magazine, the Editor in Chief, Stacey Moncrieff opined of her belief in government and how it basically takes care of us: clean water, air, safety, and other things. My email response:
Where to start? The problem with most pro-government people is that you assume that without government nothing gets done and people can't or won't take care of themselves, or will DIE. What arrogance. Clean drinking water? I'm pretty sure that I would have clean water sources, like my well, without governmental help. Clean air? Supposedly its so bad now WITH government that pollution and climate change is going to kill us all. Combat poverty? You mean the nearly $5 trillion dollars that has been confiscated from the haves and thrown at the have-nots (well, the have-not's bureaucracy anyway) since Johnson's administration isn't doing the job? That's government at work. Keep us safe? Been to Chicago lately or the southern border, or want to have some home protection that the 2nd Amendment guarantees but the Obama administration is doing its best to get rid of? That's government at work right now, too. Smart policies? The law requiring landlords to go through testing and licensing before they can remodel a home is totally preposterous. Where was NAR on that one?
Every time Washington, Lansing or the local village council passes something they tout as a positive the negatives outweigh those same positives. Every law they pass is another restriction on some one or some thing. Does Cash for Clunkers ring a bell? Go check out the prices and availability of used cars. Bailouts? Stimulus packages? Rousing successes. Obama's joke of a jobs bill? Designed to a) retain the teacher and union vote that we non-union independent contractors pay for, and b) a tool to blame Republicans for even though its his own Senate Democrats who won't bring the bill forward. A joke - and this is your faith in the current government.
The biggest NAR critics take issue with NAR's present and past policies because with almost every issue NAR has come down on the side of more government. In the past NAR has cheered every lowered interest rate (artificially low thanks to the Fed), which led to ever increasing up-tick in sales and prices which led to the bubble not just bursting but exploding, made sure the MID stays in place (subsidized by non-homeowner tax payers), and fought anything meaningful in the tax reform area (flat tax). NAR now has joined the 35,000 other lobbyists (influence peddlers and buyers) to help the politicians (moochers, looters, and crooks) make the "right" decisions (passing laws that help those who contribute the most to their campaign).
Not once, in my memory, and during my 34-year membership, has NAR pushed for ANY type of governmental reform that wasn't replaced with more and bigger government.
Ms. Moncrieff, you give your own views away - clearly - by stating you were "insulted" by Reagan's nine words. Now you laugh. But there are many people who get up at 6:30 every day to get an early start at work - to pay up to half of their hard-earned income to pay taxes to a corrupt and over-reaching government. A government that has grown way beyond its useful scope.
I guess the biggest irony of all is that NAR has forever been in bed with government, far too intrusive at all levels, while representing one of the biggest groups of rugged individuals who are hard-working, with no benefits, few demands, and only a desire to be left alone to pursue their goals and dreams on their own terms, make our own decisions of where and on what we spend our 16 hour workday commissions on, and keep the government out of our pockets.
If NAR wants to do something for real estate AND the country they should begin to back sound fiscal policies, not this big-government Keynesian crap, and lead us to a much-needed overhaul of the bloated, corrupt and ready to explode bubble that is the U.S. Federal government.
In the October issue of REALTOR Magazine, the Editor in Chief, Stacey Moncrieff opined of her belief in government and how it basically takes care of us: clean water, air, safety, and other things. My email response:
Where to start? The problem with most pro-government people is that you assume that without government nothing gets done and people can't or won't take care of themselves, or will DIE. What arrogance. Clean drinking water? I'm pretty sure that I would have clean water sources, like my well, without governmental help. Clean air? Supposedly its so bad now WITH government that pollution and climate change is going to kill us all. Combat poverty? You mean the nearly $5 trillion dollars that has been confiscated from the haves and thrown at the have-nots (well, the have-not's bureaucracy anyway) since Johnson's administration isn't doing the job? That's government at work. Keep us safe? Been to Chicago lately or the southern border, or want to have some home protection that the 2nd Amendment guarantees but the Obama administration is doing its best to get rid of? That's government at work right now, too. Smart policies? The law requiring landlords to go through testing and licensing before they can remodel a home is totally preposterous. Where was NAR on that one?
Every time Washington, Lansing or the local village council passes something they tout as a positive the negatives outweigh those same positives. Every law they pass is another restriction on some one or some thing. Does Cash for Clunkers ring a bell? Go check out the prices and availability of used cars. Bailouts? Stimulus packages? Rousing successes. Obama's joke of a jobs bill? Designed to a) retain the teacher and union vote that we non-union independent contractors pay for, and b) a tool to blame Republicans for even though its his own Senate Democrats who won't bring the bill forward. A joke - and this is your faith in the current government.
The biggest NAR critics take issue with NAR's present and past policies because with almost every issue NAR has come down on the side of more government. In the past NAR has cheered every lowered interest rate (artificially low thanks to the Fed), which led to ever increasing up-tick in sales and prices which led to the bubble not just bursting but exploding, made sure the MID stays in place (subsidized by non-homeowner tax payers), and fought anything meaningful in the tax reform area (flat tax). NAR now has joined the 35,000 other lobbyists (influence peddlers and buyers) to help the politicians (moochers, looters, and crooks) make the "right" decisions (passing laws that help those who contribute the most to their campaign).
Not once, in my memory, and during my 34-year membership, has NAR pushed for ANY type of governmental reform that wasn't replaced with more and bigger government.
Ms. Moncrieff, you give your own views away - clearly - by stating you were "insulted" by Reagan's nine words. Now you laugh. But there are many people who get up at 6:30 every day to get an early start at work - to pay up to half of their hard-earned income to pay taxes to a corrupt and over-reaching government. A government that has grown way beyond its useful scope.
I guess the biggest irony of all is that NAR has forever been in bed with government, far too intrusive at all levels, while representing one of the biggest groups of rugged individuals who are hard-working, with no benefits, few demands, and only a desire to be left alone to pursue their goals and dreams on their own terms, make our own decisions of where and on what we spend our 16 hour workday commissions on, and keep the government out of our pockets.
If NAR wants to do something for real estate AND the country they should begin to back sound fiscal policies, not this big-government Keynesian crap, and lead us to a much-needed overhaul of the bloated, corrupt and ready to explode bubble that is the U.S. Federal government.
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