naive questions part 1

[skippercollector]

I've got a long series of questions that I am going to break down into three parts
.
I’ve got some questions that I’ve never seen anyone ask before on a website. I decided to ask them here because they do have a liberal bent. I’ll admit they are also probably naive and idealistic. Some of my questions are inter-related to each other. So here goes:

1. There are hundreds of thousands of empty homes and businesses across the United States that have been abandoned or foreclosed on. They are rapidly deteriorating to the elements. They are no longer owned (or partially owned) by the people who lived in them or worked in them, but rather by the mortgage companies and banks. In addition to the complaints (often justified) regarding banks and the US government and their roles in creating these empty buildings, many of these same complainers seem to have the idea that the only solution for these places is for people to re-buy them and fix them up and use them. But so many of these structures are beyond repair now, or the cost to fix them up would be far more than the value of the property! Sometimes an entire street consists of empty buildings. What would be wrong with letting the property return to its original natural state? Have environmental groups considered buying the real estate themselves, tearing down the buildings, and creating green zones? Also, if some land is then made unavailable, wouldn’t that make the land used for construction higher in value?

2. I read a lot about buying “made in America,” but I am not sure what that means. I’ve gotten the impression from comments I’ve been reading over the years on the Internet that it refers only to the following products: vehicles (the biggest one), new buildings, electronics, large appliances, furniture and perhaps clothing. Does the “made in America” term refer just to the production of these items, or does it also include the textiles used to make them? Why aren’t the following items ever considered--food; books (most of the new purchases I’ve made have been printed in the US, although I don’t know the origins of the paper itself); hosiery (although I don’t know where the thread and cloth are from); or arts and crafts made by individuals to resell (although I again don’t know where the textiles originate from). What about reselling used merchandise at garage sales, flea markets, antique shows or online, when the profits go mostly to the seller and the venue?

[skippercollector]

1. naive questions part 2

3. On a related note, I have been reading since the 1970s about how materialistic Americans are and how we have too much stuff and how much of it ends up in landfills or waterways. Because of the recession, not only is less “stuff” being made and sold, what “stuff” we do have is being used longer and sometimes recycled. I read about how people want factories to open again and start manufacturing more “stuff,” but what if it isn’t needed or wanted, or people don’t want to buy it, or our planet can’t handle any more of the “stuff”?

4. Many articles have been written commenting about how the United States has shifted from an industrial society to a service-oriented economy. Most of the articles act like this is very bad, and I can sympathize with those whose careers were based around manufacturing. But what is wrong with service careers? The image is of a lowly big-box store stock clerk or a fast-food worker, but doesn’t the term “service” go way beyond that? To me, service includes the following fields: education, health care, repair work, sales, government positions including police and fire, entertainers and athletes, even the military.

[skippercollector]

2. naive questions part 3

5. I’ve never found any statistics explaining what the ratio is of employees who work for government agencies vs. employees who work for private industry. Do any of you know? Again, I’ve read numerous complaints that there are too many government workers being paid for by taxes. I think the stereotype is of a bureaucrat at a desk working for a federal agency, but to me, government employees also include the following: the military, police and fire and other types of city-related jobs such as garbage collection, education, health care, not to mention the thousands of elected officials of cities and states and their staffs. Why are these folks being derided?

6. Last but not least, there seem to be some theories regarding the service/government employees that don't make sense to me. There are many who want to reduce the number of government employees. I’ll be the first to admit there’s way too much bureaucracy, but what would happen to all of these aforementioned folks if they were laid off? Wouldn’t that increase the unemployment levels? There also seems to be a related theory that if the public and private industries pay fewer taxes, then more businesses would be created or start hiring again. Would those same new businesses turn around and hire all of these additional out-of-work folks? Or is it a secret hope by the unemployed former manufacturing employees that they’ll get work and it will be the laid-off government and service workers’ turns to be unemployed? By the attitudes I’ve surmised of some of the people who have written on the Internet, I believe that seems to be case.

[peacebird]

3. We check for country of origin when we buy. For instance Melissas oraganics are from Cn

China. With their questionable organic qualifications why would I buy Chinese vegetables?

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Re: question #2

There seems to be resurgent of interest in buying "vintage" stuff ( 1950 to 1970)
( sheets, bedding, cooking ware) and a great site accessible to most is Etsy.
I have not bought anything "new" in decades, bargain hunting for the working "old"/used stuff is a great game,
plus a money saver.
My sense from many many comments here at DU is this is a shared passion.

[SheilaT]

5. A partial response to question #1.

The ownership aspect is an issue. If a property is simply abandoned by the owner, and there's no lien holder, there's going to be some period of time before the city or county or whatever government would actually have jurisdiction, could take title, and then pass it on to someone else. And that sort of thing is probably not much of a priority anywhere.

Where banks own the properties, they seem to see no reason to move ahead with selling the properties. It's costing them nothing, because they don't seem to bother to pay taxes or HOA fees or any of that pesky stuff, so they can just let the properties sit there forever. The banks have also been very slow to go ahead with short sales, which would at least get property into the hands of someone who would take care of it.

[On the Road]

6. You Think the Banks Don't Pay Property Taxes?

I certainly hope governments don't start seizing bank-owned houses. Why on earth would a lender give a mortgage to anyone if risk of the owner's not paying is not only foreclosure, but loss of the collateral? It basically makes a mortgage an unsecured loan.

[SheilaT]

7. I have read somewhere that

banks are not always paying the property taxes and they don't pay the HOA fees on property they own. That last one is a huge problem where there are a lot of bank-owned units in an association.

[trof]

8. Our HOA would file a lien against the property.

We've never actually done it, but we've had to threaten it a few times for residents who just hadn't paid the annual dues after repeated reminders.

With a lien, buyers can't get clear title to the property until the lien is cleared.

BTW, our annual dues = $180.
That's PER YEAR.

Covers upkeep/insurance/taxes on common property.
We have a small clubhouse and a boat launch.

[SheilaT]

10. All I know is that I've read somewhere that

condo associations in parts of Florida are having a very rough time because of HOA dues not being paid on vacant units, including vacant bank-owned units.

You are right that the next owner will be unable to get clear title until the lien is satisfied, but meanwhile the dues are going unpaid.

And it has nothing to do with low or high fees, just the fact that they're going unpaid.

[Warpy]

9. Environmental groups can't afford them. Banks still want the cost of

the pristine structure in 2005. The structures will continue to deteriorate until the city steps in, condemns them, and bulldozes them at taxpayer expense. Then the banks will collect insurance and people will still be on the street.

A better idea is for the Occupy movement to branch out and start setting up squatter collectives in areas where there are large numbers of abandoned properties. Squatters would keep them up to a certain extent and prevent their being stripped for copper by vandals while keeping housing stock available should we kick out all conservatives and get a reasonable economy back. Occupy Housing should be a priority.

The second question is a little thornier. While buying "American" at thrift shops and yard sales might deprive corporations of some ill gotten gains on sweatshop labor overseas, a good thing, the people who are paid for the items will still go out and get new stuff to fatten them. Buying thrift shop stuff is great if you can't afford store bought. Yard sales are great, especially if you're trying to clothe kids and get them enough new toys to keep them occupied. However, there's no real way to deprive the corporate monster of its flesh.