Tag Archive | "Rob Viglione"
Posted on 12 June 2010. Tags: barack obama, blog political, blog real estate, california real estate, class warfare, credit cycle, Economics, Fannie Mae, financial system, fiscal policy, FNM, freedom, home prices, homes manhattan beach, housing policies, housing policy, housing prices, HUD, income manhattan beach, inflation, liberty, manhattan beach, manhattan beach homes, manhattan beach income, manhattan beach property, monetary policy, money, mortgage, mortgage deduction, obama, political blog, political economy, Politics, politics blog, politics real estate, prices housing, Real Estate, real estate blog, real estate economics, real estate prices, real estate tax, Rob Viglione, socal real estate, socalrea, socialism, southern california, tax, tax real estate, taxation
The White House is urging Congress to limit, or cut, the once untouchable tax break for mortgage interest. In traditional class warfare parlance, the White House cap on mortgage interest deductions will fall only upon the wealthy. Let’s not drink the Obama Kool-Aid – the effects of this legislative move will impact everyone.
The Obama administration is proposing reducing deductions for homeowners who earn more than $250,000 pear year. Since I’m a southern California Realtor®, I’ll bring up an example from my local market – the South Bay; in particular, Manhattan Beach, CA.

Chart from LA Times Local Neighborhoods.
Manhattan Beach is a wealthy southern California city, nestled along a prime beach-front location. With 38% of Manhattan Beach residents earning over $125,000 per year, we expect this legislative change will materially impact our local market.
When many home buyers calculate the amount of home they can afford, mortgage interest deductions on income factor heavily into capital service capacity, i.e. how much mortgage they can comfortably afford to pay every month. If a high income earner is in the 34% income tax bracket and has a $5,000 per month mortgage, of which, say, roughly $4,000 is comprised of interest payments, the net annual benefit of the tax break is $16,320, or $1,360 per month.
with a simple 5% mortgage rate, the effect of removing the tax break amounts to reducing home values by $326,400, or 34%, the marginal tax rate. These are very simple assumptions; the reality of this legislative change will likely not be as severe. Higher end properties will likely be impacted the most, with falling price levels manifesting in some way throughout the entire housing market.
President Bush attempted to eliminate the mortgage tax break in 2005, but was stopped by Congress. The Obama administration tried this same legislative change with last years budget, but met similar obstacles. Given that the real estate market is in such turmoil, and that so many people gain advantage from perpetuating this tax break, it is unlikely the White House proposal will be accepted by Congress.
What Does The Mortgage Tax Break Mean For The Economy?
There is no free lunch in economics weve all heard that term, right? The same is true for tax breaks, or any legislative market manipulation. Enabling borrowers to write off interest payments from their income tax liability increases incentives to borrow money to buy real estate. This ultimately skews capital structures in that less equity investment is made with purchases relative to debt assumption. Increasing debt levels simultaneously increases prices and risk. In essence, the mortgage tax break causes housing to be over-capitalized, siphoning disproportionate capital resources from other parts of the economy.
Eliminating the tax break makes good economic sense; however, the result will inevitably be a deflation in housing prices. The magnitude of the deflation is uncertain. Given that real estate markets are already on shaky grounds, reducing, or eliminating, policies that support home prices can potentially lead to a market route.
All things considered, it is too bad President Bush was not able to repeal this tax break in 2005. That was probably the best time to moderate an over-heated market, and realign national capital resources in a relatively stable environment. We may have missed that opportunity for some time.
Posted in Investing, Politics, Real Estate
Posted on 02 February 2010. Tags: American industry, American manufacturing, budget deficits, buy canned goods, buy disaster supplies, buy freezed-dried food, buy gold, buy silver, capitalism, congress, corporate subsidies, cost of labor, currency debasement, currency depreciation, current account, de-evoling economy, decline of the dollar, decreasing cost of labor, dollar, dollar decline, domestic goods, economic meltdown, Economics, economy, economy de-evolving, fall of the American Empire, federal reserve, fiat currency, finance, financial meltdown, free economy, free enterprise, freeze dried food, freezed-dried food, gold, gross domestic product, high unemployment, hyperinflation, industrial base, industrial base revival, inflating the money supply, inflation, inflation hedge, labor costs, labor unions, laissez-faire, libertarian, Lynn Tilton, manufacturing, manufacturing economy, manufacturing revival, market equilibrium, money supply, paper currencies, Patriarch Partners, political economy, political patronage, precious metals, prepare for disaster, printing money, protect against inflation, protect from inflation, public spending, rampant deficits, revival manufacturing, reviving the industrial base, Rob Viglione, silver, Spending, stock up on food, store food, store supplies, subsidizing industry, trade balance, trade deficit, U.S. dollar, unemployment, USD
Politicians love to preach about the virtues of an industrial base. They do it for three reasons: Industrial firms are great sources of subsidies and political patronage, such patronage buys support from organized labor union voting blocks, and it actually does make sense for countries to produce real things of value. Since WWII America’s industry has steadily declined as a percentage of GDP, but the winds of change are blowing. Continue Reading
Posted in Economics, Featured, Investing, Politics
Posted on 20 September 2009. Tags: 5 Steps To Freedom, Alan Greenspan, Big Brother, capital gains, capitalism, cash flow, Constitution, consumption, corporate taxes, create your own currency, cumulative taxation, currency, currency debasement, cut dependence on institutions, dollar, economic freedom, economic growth, Economics, effective tax burden, federal reserve, FI, financial freedom, financial institutions, financial intelligence, financial slavery, free enterprise, freedom, government, growth, income, income taxes, individual freedom, Individual Retirement Account, inflation, Investing, Jeff Nabers, liberty, middle class, nation of serfs, perpetual inflation, Phoebe Chongchua, Politics, property rights, punative taxation, purchasing power, Real Estate, real estate investing, regulation, regulations, revenue participation, Rob Viglione, royalty financing, Savings, self-directed IRA, serfdom, slavery, small business, socialism, solo 401(k), speculation, taxation, USD

The shackles of serfdom are being silently fastened to America. Every dollar Congress spends beyond its budget, every Federal Reserve Note printed, every tax, regulation, and government intrusion into our lives renders us less free. Ever wonder why it feels like it’s increasingly difficult to make ends meet? Remember the days when one spouse could work, the other raise the kids, and still save for a comfortable retirement? Those days are gone, but why? What’s next? The 5 Steps to Freedom: How To Cut Your Dependence On Institutions And Escape Financial Slavery, by Jeff Nabers explains what happened to our once prosperous society and how we can all take definite steps to escape what is to come. Continue Reading
Posted in Economics, Investing, Personal Finance, Politics
Posted on 12 July 2009. Tags: Big Brother, civil disobedience, compensation, congress, consequences, consumers, corporate taxes, currency debasement, deficit spending, depession, domestic, Economics, effective tax burden, embedded taxes, employee, entitlements, excise taxes, fair tax, federal, federal reserve, feudalism, fixed income, foreign, freedom, frguality, gold, government spending, income taxes, inflation, inflation risk, inflation tax, international socialism, labor market, labor productivity, liberty, lifestyle, local, marginal productivity, Medicare, monetary policy, monetizing debt, money supply, net wealth transfer, payroll taxes, philosophical implications, Politics, progressive taxation, property taxes, purchasing power, recession, regulations, regulatory burden, Retirement, revolt, Rob Viglione, sales tax, Savings, securities, serfdom, shareholders, slavery, social security, socialism, southern california, speculation, state, stimulus, tariffs, taxation, transfer taxes, treasuries, Treasury, U.S. dollar, Uncle Sam, unemployment, USD, wages
This article is dedicated to the growing segment of American society that is awakening to the ideas that we are increasingly overworked and overtaxed. My goal is to determine an effective tax burden on the average middle-class American. I will leave it to the reader to judge relative severity of the burden as measured against associated “benefits” to which he is “entitled” from the system. Continue Reading
Posted in Economics, Featured, Personal Finance, Politics
Posted on 21 April 2009. Tags: abuse of power, ACLU, alternative investments, American Civil Liberties Union, AmeriCorps, authoritarian, auto bailout, automakers, bailout, barack obama, Big Brother, bills, bisexual, bond auction, bond sales, bonds, budget deficit, buy apartment building, certification, Chrysler, condors, congress, control the Internet, credit markets, credit speads, Cybersecurity Act of 2009, debt, deflation, democrat, Detroit, dictatorship, eavesdropping, economy, Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, expenditures, federal spending, fiscal policy, gay, General Motors, GM, government power, guide to investing, how does government effect markets, income properties, inflation, internet freedom, Investing, iron condor, IT professionals, Jane Harman, Jay Rockefeller, legislation, lesbian, liberals, license, market insurance, monetary policy, monitor, national security, National Security Agency, National Service, nationalization, NSA, obama, Obamanomics, Options, paid volunteers, petition, poker, policy, president, private sector, protect against inflation, protect portfolio, public schools, public sector, public service, Real Estate, regulate, Rob Viglione, Rounders, Savings, school computers, Senate, servitude, shut down, signed into law, slavery, Socialists, spot the sucker, stocks, Ted Kennedy, Tennessee, thugs, trading system, transcripts, transgender, Treasury, unemployment, Web, web sites, West Virginia, wip out life savings, wiretap
Sen. Rockefeller proposes bill that would give government sweeping powers to control, monitor, and regulate the Internet, ACLU demands public schools stop blocking gay web sites on public computers, Rep. Jane Harman calls incriminating NSA wiretap “abuse of power,” National Service legislation signed into law that will cost $6 billion over 5 years by hiring “paid volunteers,” government will need to issue $2.4 trillion in new Treasury securities in 2009 to meet budget shortfalls and bailout program requirements, and U.S. to give another $5.5 billion to automakers… Continue Reading
Posted in Featured, Freedom Under Fire
Posted on 21 April 2009. Tags: authority over networks, Big Brother, Bill of Rights, business standards, certification, communications, compliance, congress, Constitution, Constitutional Republic, contact Congress, contact your representatives, contracts, control the Internet, critical infrastructure, cyber, Cybersecurity Act, Cybersecurity Act of 2009, democrat, digital data, domain names, executive authority, federal, find representative, find your Congressman, freedom, individual freedom, information security, information technology, internet, intrusion, IT licensing, IT professionals, Jay Rockefeller, liberty, license, National Institute of Standards and Technology, national security, NIST, power, president, privacy, regulate, restore the Republic, Rob Viglione, S.773, security, Senate, shut down the Internet, standards development, trade freedom for security, Web, West Virginia
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced a bill in the Senate on April 1st calling for sweeping powers for federal regulators to “secure cyber communications.” The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 (S.773) would give government authority over all networks considered part of the nation’s critical infrastructure.
The usual threats and scare tactics are used to justify giving Big Brother greater powers, including giving the President the power to shut down portions of the internet he deems a threat to national security, and access to vast amounts of digital data currently legally off limits.
Industry experts criticize the pervasive intrusion into private business standards and practices that would result from some of the finer points of the legislation, including a section that grants government exclusive licensing rights to IT professionals.
Here are the basics:
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) standards development and compliance.
- Licensing and certification of IT professionals.
- Regulation of domain name contracts.
- Executive authority to “shut down the Internet” when in interests of national security.
The bill is still in its infancy being referred to Committee, so now is the time to stop it! Take the time to write or call each of your Congressional representatives. You can look up your representatives’ name and contact information using this tool.
Here is a sample letter you can cut and paste to use as your own:
Details of the Cybersecurity Act of 2009 (S.773) have recently come to my attention. I am writing to voice my utter contempt for this proposed legislation and wish to document opposition to what I consider unacceptable expansion of federal authority into the cyber domain.
S.773 would give the federal government excessive power in regulating the Internet. The power to unilaterally shut down private networks, to garnish unprecedented digital data currently outside the realm of legal authority, and intrusion into commercial practices of professional certification are unacceptable.
Please take serious consideration in evaluating this measure. I urge you to support freedom of the Internet, individual privacy in digital information, and continue to let the private sector make certification and employment decisions without federal coercion.
We must actively fight the erosion of liberty and individual freedom, preserving the values that made this country great. Thank you for your time!
Take a moment to leave a comment below to voice your support for this movement!
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Watch Sen. Rockefeller discuss the bill below. It is not at all evident he truly understands what he’s talking about, yet this man wields power to control us all:

Posted in Politics
Posted on 20 April 2009. Tags: alternative investments, bank bailout, banking, banks, barack obama, bonds, budget, Bush administration, Cabinet, capitalism, Caterpillar, chairwoman, Citigroup, combines, congress, Crash Proof, credit crunch, credit spread, criminal, crisis, cut federal spending, debt, Deere & Co., deficit, democrat, department head, economic collapse, Economics, espionage, exports, farm equipment, federal, federal reserve, financial crisis, financial industry, financial system, fraud, free trade, freedom, globalization, government, Greed, guarantee, House Intelligence Committee, housing boom, imports, intervention, iron condors, Israel, Jane Harman, liberty, lobbyist, lobbyists, market insurance, market neutral, meltdown, MIT, monitor bailout program, municipal debt, National Security Agency, Neil Barofsky, NSA, obama, option, option strategy, peter schiff, Peter Schiff was right, Politics, power, President Obama, professor, protectionis, Putin, Real Estate, Rob Viglione, Russia, selling insurance, selling options, selling options for income, Simon Johnson, socialism, special investigator general, Spending, state, tariffs, TARP, too big to exist, trade, trading system, treasury bonds, Troubled Asset Relief Program, trucks, U.S. Treasury, unprecedented
Rep. Jane Harman exchanged favors for power-aided Israeli lobbyists accused of espionage, top government investigator says that bank bailouts are open to fraud, Obama tells Cabinet to cut spending by 0.02%, U.S. Treasury estimates it has lost $900 million of taxpayer money from holding $301 billion in Citigroup junk assets, Russian tariffs take toll on U.S. companies, and could the U.S. be headed for a Russian-style economic collapse circa 1998? Continue Reading
Posted in Featured, Freedom Under Fire
Posted on 19 April 2009. Tags: affluent, back door to nationalization, banking, banks, barack obama, bonds, budget deficit, budget gap, carbon cap-and-trade, carbon emissions, Caribbean, charity, China, Chinese, climate change, congress, credit cards, currency, debt, deduction, diverisfy, economic adviser, Economics, Energy Secretary, equity, exemptions, federal revenue, financial industry, free enterprise, free market, global warming, greenhouse gases, Health Care, income tax, interest rates, international, Larry Summers, loans, monetary system, nationalization, nationalize, policy, Politics, Premier Wen Jiabao, President Obama, private sector, protectionism, public ownership, public policy, reserve currency, reserves, revenue raising plans, Rob Viglione, secondary market, socialism, Steven Chu, tax loophole, Tim Geithner, too high, Treasury, USD, usury, water levels, write off
U.S. Treasury Dept. considers converting loans to equity ownership in major U.S. banks…is this a backdoor to nationalization? Congressional push-back to Obama’s revenue raising plans is leaving $1 trillion gap in budget, Obama set to take on credit card companies for charging interest rates that he considers too high, the U.S. Energy Secretary warns that some Caribbean islands will disappear because of Global Warming, and China issues another condemnation of U.S. economic policies…threatens to diversify currency reserves out of USD… Continue Reading
Posted in Featured, Freedom Under Fire
Posted on 18 April 2009. Tags: 10th amendment, Big Brother, Bill of Rights, Brandon Creighton, call to action, campaign for states rights, congress, Constitution, delegated, federal, federal government, federal power, find your representatives, free society, governor, HCR 50, home of the brave, House Concurrent Resolution, interference, land of the free, legislation, letter, mobilize, oppressive, Politics, power, prohibited, public servants, reaffirm, Rep, Republic, Rick Perry, Rob Viglione, state sovereignty, states rights, tenth amendment, Texas, The Freedom Factory, union
CALL TO ACTION:
On April 9th Texas Gov. Rick Perry joined state Rep. Brandon Creighton and sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in support of states rights under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The Tenth Amendment states:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
In his speech Gov. Perry states “I believe the federal government has become oppressive. I believe it has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion in the lives of its citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state.”
The Freedom Factory is launching a campaign to get every state government to adopt comparable legislation, reaffirming their legitimate rights within the context of a free American Republic.
We need to spread the word, to mobilize residents from every state in the Union to remind our public servants that we will not tolerate erosion of our rights and the Constitution that guarantees them.
Here’s a sample letter you are urged to send every public servant in your jurisdiction. Send this to your state’s governor and state legislatures, and leave a comment below to sign our petition:
The federal government has grown too big and too powerful, infringing upon the legal sovereign rights of our state affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. There is a resurgent federalist movement best highlighted by the Texas Legislature that I want implemented in [list your state]. The Texas legislature will soon be voting on House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 that reaffirms state sovereignty. We need similar legislation in our state.
No one in Washington D.C. knows how to run our state better than our own residents. I am tired of our government bowing to federal authority. I demand that we reassert our right to self governance. I urge you to do all you can to support this movement and regain control of our state from Washington D.C.
The residents of this state need you to protect them from a growing central government. I hope that you have the courage to stand up for those to whom you are responsible.
Here’s a great resource for finding the names and contact information for your elected representatives. Take a few minutes to cut and paste the sample letter into an e-mail and let these lawmakers know we mean business. Enough is enough!
Please join our cause and subscribe via e-mail if you want to continue following these updates and fight to preserve our Constitutionally protected freedoms.
You can read more about Gov. Perry’s speech here, or watch it directly below:
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Posted in Politics
Posted on 18 April 2009. Tags: Austin, Big Brother, Bill of Rights, boil a frog, checks and balances, Constitution, cut spending, economic growth, federal, fiscal policy, HCR 50, House Consurrent Resolution, legislature, lower regulations, lower taxes, oppressive, petition, Politics, power, private sector, regulations, repressive, restrain, Rob Viglione, Sam Houston, secession, sovereignty, state laws, state legislature, states rights, taxes, tenth amendment, Texas, tyranny, Washington D.C.
4/9/2009 – AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry joined state Rep. Brandon Creighton and sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in support of states rights under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Join our crusade to RESTORE THE REPUBLIC and subscribe to E-mail updates.
Click here to petition your state to follow Texas’ lead!
Highlights from transcript:
I’m here today to offer my unwavering support to the millions of Texans that are tired of Washington D.C. trying to come down here and telling us how to run Texas.
The 10th Amendment was enacted by folks who remembered what it was like to have a very repressive government, to be under the thumb of tyrants and an all powerful government. Unfortunately, the protections it guarantees have melted away over the course of the years.
You’re prob familiar with that old adage of how to boil a frog: You just get him to sit there in that pot and you turn up the heat a little bit by a little bit, before you know it the frog doesn’t realize it, but he’s done.
And since the U.S. constitution has been ratified the federal government has been slowly turning up the heat, and they’ve eroded the notion of states rights.
Texans know best how to govern Texas. We’re proof that good things happen when government lowers taxes, and lowers regulations, it reduces spending and encourages private sector growth.
I happen to believe that the constitution does not empower the federal government to overrule state laws without restraint. I agree with Texas’s 7th governor, Sam Houston, who said “Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may.”
I believe the federal government has become oppressive. I believe it has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion in the lives of its citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state.
Posted in Politics