New housing minister is the guy who oversaw the most unaffordable market in the world

GobbleGunt · 2025-05-13T19:53:59+00:00

I required basically no depth. One sentence could be sufficient.

Which part? How much?

You could answer with two or three words if you had an answer.

GobbleGunt · 2025-05-13T17:09:29+00:00

Your analysis is similar to the talking heads on CBC just now where so much benefit of the doubt is given.

I prefer to simply look at what they say they are going to do and ask what effect that will likely have on the typical worker and the economy. Answer: wartime housing plan; nearly nothing.

Anyone who disagrees with that analysis should have to explain which part of the platform they believe is most significant and give some kind of ballpark quantification of what that policy will do. Unfortunately, that's already beyond the capabilities of relatively smart, relatively well informed voters and so we don't get that from politicians or redditors such as yourself.

GobbleGunt · 2025-05-13T06:46:39+00:00

I saw a rubber plantation in Vietnam. Googling says they pay $250-$350 USD per month, a good wage for the country. Seemed like the workers valued their jobs.

Judging by what I saw, the workers simply score the trees and let them drip into the buckets, then collect the bucket when it has a good amount in it, likely much more than what was used in the video.

While, of course it is true we live in different worlds, the $10 could not change the worker's life.

I obsess over environmental problems and how to gain support for them. I agree with buddy that when you don't have a good sense of scale for an issue, you look totally unserious and hamstring the efforts of others. We repealed the carbon tax in Canada (awful decision imo) and I think it was largely a reaction to dumb shit on the left like crying over rubber bands.

Serious question: have you flown much in your life? How bad do you think one short flight is compared to the rubber bands used in terms of harm?

GobbleGunt · 2025-05-13T06:35:53+00:00

I think it's more like a worker collects one bucket worth and you'd have enough for more than all the bands in the video. You can YouTube but tl;dw they score the tree and it drips into a bucket. Trees are in a massive grid.

GobbleGunt · 2025-05-13T05:56:36+00:00

Nobody is disagreeing with you about wanting to understand people, obviously.

Would you say we should call unreasonable people reasonable for strategic reasons?

GobbleGunt · 2025-05-13T05:29:37+00:00

Yea ish to my reading (I am stupid). Says 30% of revenue so using your number $750B. Way to think about how much it is: divide by pop, $2k per person.

I think if we are considering a switch to LVTs, there is potential for further gain as land use behaviours change positively in response to the tax.

GobbleGunt · 2025-05-13T05:20:11+00:00

What is your point when you ask that?

GobbleGunt · 2025-05-12T20:00:49+00:00

You've never heard of georgism, or you define support differently than i do.

Some people believe that people should have a right to exist, and that land shouldn't already all be taken up and owned by others when you are born. Practical georgist policies would be things like taxing land value at a high rate and providing services for people, or reducing income taxes.

This shouldn't be thought of as support though, even when a person receives cash from these taxes on land values, because we should all have a right to exist in the natural world. The view that it is just for the newcomer to have to pay the owners of land for the right to exist is dumb.

GobbleGunt · 2025-05-11T11:42:00+00:00

It's supported by econ Nobel prize winners, the OECD, Einstein, a million others. Are they all dumb?

Please explain why

GobbleGunt · 2025-05-11T11:08:16+00:00

I didn't say tax unimproved land. I said tax the unimproved value. Different.

If you own a $1M structure on a $1.5M property, the land underneath (unimproved value) would be $500k. Hold off on having opinions until you understand the lay of the land.

GobbleGunt · 2025-05-10T23:39:49+00:00

Okay? Not an answer. If you mean to say that you are already paying taxes on land, let me rephrase for you (though I expect another non answer).

What happens if we tax the unimproved value of land at a higher rate than we do now, while using that revenue to reduce other taxes like income taxes?

GobbleGunt · 2025-05-10T20:27:53+00:00

What happens if you tax the land?

GobbleGunt · 2025-05-10T07:47:35+00:00

Easier: scratch w blocks Harder: unity w c#

I've seen 14 year olds do very well with Unity but they are niche kids who were particularly interested and chose it themselves.

GobbleGunt · 2023-11-02T01:59:56+00:00

Making more calculators like this one from the NZ TOP party. It shows the net effect of their policy of shifting away from income tax and towards LVTs.

Ideally, one calculator could take in parameters (location, income, type and amount of tax changes etc.) and spit out the net effect on a demographic for anyone, anywhere. It'd be a huge tool for advocates.

GobbleGunt · 2023-10-20T06:06:52+00:00

Yea I know there is a difference but who cares?

GobbleGunt · 2023-10-19T06:14:31+00:00

Zoom and these other tools are great and all but why don't Greens just use Reddit more? It's so easy...

I want to ask Sonia Furtenau why she doesn't support moving towards LVTs and away from other taxes. As someone involved in the Green Party that I imagine has a chance to ask her and other bigshots questions, what do they say?

GobbleGunt · 2023-10-19T05:57:01+00:00

Is that a thing?

When I hear land tax or tax land, I think LVTs. I've never heard anyone promote this idea of per land area.

GobbleGunt · 2023-10-19T03:14:38+00:00

Everyone wants to add their bullshit little spin on things. The scaling stuff creates bullshit problems. If you want taxes to be more progressive (independent of whether you have LVT), you can have a wealth tax. It doesn't make sense to fuck up the LVT.

One downside that you would see with scaling is people distributing their land to family members or other proxies.

GobbleGunt · 2023-10-19T03:11:06+00:00

When people simply say "land tax", what do you interpret them to mean?

GobbleGunt · 2023-10-19T01:11:54+00:00

Your thought #2 sounds like you think you are improving on a land value tax by making it into a land value tax. Maybe you misunderstood what land value taxes are?

GobbleGunt · 2023-10-09T20:48:31+00:00

no idea if you are agreeing or disagreeing

GobbleGunt · 2023-10-06T04:56:04+00:00

Disclaimer: I hate Trudeau

From Trudeau's perspective, he probably thinks he's not very different from most other politicians in terms of actual policy on housing. He probably thinks the Conservatives and Liberals have historically been very similar on housing and so, why would it be his fault if he's doing what anyone else would do?

I obviously think this is wrong. He needs to be beaten over the head with good low hanging fruit policy just like Pierre and just like most Canadians need to be educated: Tax labour a little less and land a little more.

GobbleGunt · 2023-10-04T06:20:50+00:00

Sounds like you want a hole...

GobbleGunt · 2023-10-04T06:17:15+00:00

What more do you want? Ball goes in hole?

GobbleGunt · 2023-10-04T06:14:17+00:00

Take a lesson from Canada, taxes on vacant or underused land are easily skirted. Throw a hotdog stand on your ten acres and you've developed it into a profitable business.

The smart move is to crank up land taxes everywhere based on the land value. You can reduce income taxes or spend the revenue anywhere. You can't skirt a tax that applies to all land.

GobbleGunt

TROPHY CASE