patrick.net

rootvg says

Patrick, I don't feel that I'm a victim.

My wife and I came from working class backgrounds in Ohio. We both graduated from the same state university people used to call "Hilltop High" because of its reputation as a commuter school. I took five and a half years to get through school, she did a Bachelors and Masters in four because she had scholarships, loans and an assistantship.

As economically bad as things usually are in the Rust Belt, we don't see the sort of whining and complaining and gnashing of teeth there that we see out here. Why? There are too many overeducated, overcredentialed, arrogant personalities here who think they know better than everyone else and who think "the system" (whatever the hell that means) is trying to oppress them and owes them something.

As I keep telling you, she and I come from fairly modest backgrounds and we're doing just fine.

This one time this one guy worked hard and got rich so shut up Patrick!

Patrick your blog has jumped the shark in the last year when you starting putting politics into it.

Its impossible to change someones mind about politics. But you CAN get people to look at rent/vs buy differently and how to handle the RE transaction.

You REALLY REALLY need to stop all the politicking - its hurting the patrick.net brand..... Pissing off 50% of your vistors for no reason other than 'politics is your hobby' is financially stupid. You might be having fun....but its killing your blog and name brand....

If the dems are so great why is pot still illegal? same party.
Why are the banks still in charge? You can STILL get a zero down home loan (from the feds). The dems are terrible only Rob Paul is honest....so he cant win.

If was paying patrick to run this site I would fire him! haha.
Imagine you go to the store to buy something and get hit with political BS and nonsense! unacceptable!

I vote democrat because I'm lazy, don't want to work, expect a handout and want to take from those who actually work. I refuse to contribute and want to be rewarded for it. I want a bunch of services paid for by other people's money.

And also, I want the government to run my life because I'm too stupid to do it myself.

I agree with the above comment.

Patrick what the hell are you doing?!?!

You have managed to piss me off as well.

I was born into a very poor family. I did not enjoy living on Ramon noodles and having to wear second hand clothes growing up. So I decided to change that when I turned 18.

Over the years I have woked my tail off buying, renovating, renting, and selling real estate. A number of these deals required me to risk everything I owned. I now have a multimillion dollar net worth. So I guess according to you and the democrats I am now one of those rich bad guys and I need to PAY.

I have already payed hundreds of thousands in taxes, yet you seem to think I need to be punished even more and pay millions (or better yet how about everything I own) to the government. Only to see them squader it on useless programs and give it away to people that don't desrve it and haven't woked a day in their pathetic lives.

Should there not be some kind of incentive to take a risk? (a "lower" tax rate) A paycheck is "safe" and should be treated as such.

Are you aware of the fact that over 50% of Americans pay ZERO income tax. How fair is that??

Patrick, are you willing to risk everything to earn more than a paycheck? And if you do, is it fair that in exchange for that risk you should have to 58.5% (35% Federal Tax, 15% Self employment tax, and 8.5% State Tax) of whatever you earned through blood sweat and tears to the Government? Let's not forget about poperty taxes and the "Franchise Tax" on any LLC or Corporation(The tax based on gross income - you are taxed whether or not you make a profit in the State of California)

So, please, do me favor and quit telling me I don't already pay my "fair share".

I think we need the old "FDR Democrats/New Deal Coalition" back. Sans the racism.

I tend to agree that the Democrat's embrace of the New Left 60's radicals alienated much of the country. That's how we got the Reagan Democrats. The 1968 riots at the Chicago Democrat convention were are real turning point in the political direction of the nation. That was the beginning of the end of the New Deal Coalition.

Why did the Dems embrace the New Left radicals? Because that's where the money is. (Hmmm...I'm noticing a pattern here.) Your average blue collar Democrat in the midwest doesn't have as much money as a trust-funder or software executive living in San Francisco.

A lot of people vote Republican because they can't stomach the radical base of the Democrat party.

Of course these days, the Republican base has gone batshit crazy too.

Seems like we have two crazy parties under the control of the 0.1% that pretend to care while laughing all the way to the bank (assuming they don't already own said bank).

rootvg says

The problem is that, due to immigration and a few other issues, we now have a pie that's too small and our economy is becoming more competitive.

Let me smack you with some facts. The US economy (as shown by real GDP growth) has grown roughly threefold (317%) since 1970. (4.2T to 13.3T) Over the same time period, US population has grown from 200M to 313M. This is roughly a 1.5 times increase (157%)

That is GDP per capita in real dollars was roughly $21,000 in 1970 and it is roughly $42,500 today.

The size of the pie has grown at roughly twice the rate as the number of people eating it. Do you still think immigration (population growth) is the cause of increased competition? How do you explain that?

Your point is there is a "crowding out" of wealth caused by immigration is flatly wrong. There is a "crowding out" but it is by the ultra wealthy. A larger share of the pie is going to a smaller percentage of the population

The picture in the OP is a visual depiction of the problem. He is, quite plainly, too stupid to know what is good for him. I wouldn't have a problem with this except because he and I get the same number of votes, his stupidity is actually making things worse for me too.

The guy on the left is the reason why I have more education yet less job security and a lower salary (in real terms) than my father did when he was my age. The guy on the left is the reason why it is accepted that I will work longer until eligible for SS and medicare (if they exist at all) than my father will have to. The guy on the left is the reason why students today need $50k in higher education to be "qualified" for the jobs their parents did straight out of high school. The guy on the left is the reason health care costs more monthly than my home, car, and student loan payments combined.

The guy on the left is does all of this by being so ignorant about who his real enemies are. Of course all of his friends in the South don't complain...they are the decendents of the people dumb enough to be convinced that fighting the Civil War was about state's rights and not about protecting the property rights of a few rich slave owners. Stupid breeds stupid.

I wonder if the guy on the left is a depiction of you. It sure looks like it based upon your immigration argument.

Don't bother calling me an ELITIST. Even if it were true you couldn't do anything about it and you're not gonna change me and being me works really damn well. Go bother someone who gives a fuck.

Talking politics is bad for business.

I won't be donating to patrick.net again until this becomes a REAL ESTATE ONLY site.

If he were to cram this site with football stories or porn it would be equally annoying. People do not come here for politics.

AND ANYWAY its the dems 'keeping a floor under house prices' (exact Obama quote!!!!!) Hows does Patrick reconcile the dems proping up RE massively with never ending creative gimmicks to make patrick a permanent renter? (I know....healthcare.....zzzzzzz)

The sad part is talking politics is more of a waste of time than porn...... why why why why patrick?!?!

Don't think I'm such a great fan of the Democrats either! They were the bigger Fannie/Freddie government-guaranteed debt supporters, which was of course a disaster.

As for covering politics, the housing bubble is politics. Always has been.

PockyClipsNow says

Talking politics is bad for business.

I won't be donating to patrick.net again until this becomes a REAL ESTATE ONLY site.

If he were to cram this site with football stories or porn it would be equally annoying. People do not come here for politics.

AND ANYWAY its the dems 'keeping a floor under house prices' (exact Obama quote!!!!!) Hows does Patrick reconcile the dems proping up RE massively with never ending creative gimmicks to make patrick a permanent renter? (I know....healthcare.....zzzzzzz)

The sad part is talking politics is more of a waste of time than porn...... why why why why patrick?!?!

I think healthcare as an immediate political concern is going to go away or at least take somewhat of a back seat to the unemployment and debt/deficit issues.

We have to support our currency. I'm already seeing quite a few articles over the past several weeks about the Fed and a change in monetary policy. We have to wring out all this slop.

The lefties are about to go back into their cage. We can't afford them.

If I work hard and actually produce something valuable and create a lot of income, my tax rate goes up to 35%.

If a billionaire does absolutely nothing useful and gets another billion in unearned income taken from the work of other people, he still pays only 15%.

You're telling me that's fair, and helps balance the budget?

But the dividends have already been taxed once as corporate tax, taxing it again is probably netting the government more than your 35% (which I doubt many of us are paying). And you discount the fact that investments is what finances others to be "productive".

You do not get taxed at your income and then get taxed again for moving your money from checking account to savings account do you?

Capital gains should probably be taxed higher, and corporate loopholes removed.

Its true housing bubble is 'government created' but look at the CR blog - he is a professional, I would invest in his blog before patrick.net (assuming they were public companys...) due to he doesnt piss off half his readers on a daily basis for 'no reason'. Just my 2 cents!

I truly believe people want a return to normalcy. That is, not what people in the Bay Area think is normal (because it isn't) and not necessarily what people in Texas think is normal...but what people in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Tennessee think is normal. That's middle America.

I think people want the mid eighties back, in the most desperate way.

jerrypap says

Are you aware of the fact that over 50% of Americans pay ZERO income tax. How fair is that??

Yeah, but those people are dirt poor, and you wouldn't want to trade places with them. Since the income tax was created solely for the purpose of taxing the rich to pay for social services to the poor that makes sense. What doesn't make sense is that 50% of Americans are so damn poor. Why is that?

Sure, maybe 10% are lazy asses and another 10% are sick and disabled, but that still doesn't explain why so many Americans are poor.

Dan8267 says

jerrypap says

Are you aware of the fact that over 50% of Americans pay ZERO income tax. How fair is that??

Yeah, but those people are dirt poor, and you wouldn't want to trade places with them. Since the income tax was created solely for the purpose of taxing the rich to pay for social services to the poor that makes sense. What doesn't make sense is that 50% of Americans are so damn poor. Why is that?

Sure, maybe 10% are lazy asses and another 10% are sick and disabled, but that still doesn't explain why so many Americans are poor.

There's something else going on here that no one's talking about, which is the level of change technology has forced on workplaces and the incredible level of technological illiteracy that's out there especially among the younger Baby Boom set and then in less well off, less well educated parts of the country.

I don't know what you do about that. Maybe you can't do anything.

David,

I think much of what you say is technically correct.

But here's the problem: people aren't going to vote for a political movement that calls them stupid. Even if it's (possibly) true. That's "the matter with Kansas."

Remember Obama's comments about Guns and Religion? That was the best sound byte the Republicans could have hoped for.

The Democrats would regain their "permanent majority" status they had from FDR to JFK if they quit alienating the White Working Class.

Kerry probably would have won in 2004 if it weren't for the Gay Marriage issue. Who fired the first shot in that war? It wasn't the Republicans. Rush Limbaugh is on record saying that the gay marriage issue was "a dream come true." And thousands of Christians in southern Ohio proved him right.

It's these hard-left social issues that are killing the Democrats in places outside of California and Massachusetts. For all of the talk of celebrating diversity and experiencing new cultures, that philosophy doesn't seem to include any real interaction beyond the safe confines of Coastal California and the Northeast Corridor.

I'm sure all these useless idiotic FAKE left right discussions will save us from the coming collapse.

or not.

jerrypap says

I was born into a very poor family. I did not enjoy living on Ramon noodles and having to wear second hand clothes growing up. So I decided to change that when I turned 18.

Over the years I have woked my tail off buying, renovating, renting, and selling real estate.

Impossible, you must be fucking lying because Poor people aren't supposed to escape the social teat. If you flung up the social ladder, then the Liberals did their job wrong.

The general system has already failed and we now live in the aftermath of a twisted corrupt corporatocracy. We all know it. Even if the people somehow mounted an offensive to try to change it, the government would do anything and everything to save itself. Syria is a cakewalk compared to what would happen here.

The big bad US industries try to portray themselves as super dynamic, fantastic, innovative, etc . But what's funny is most of them are on welfare. The government programs that feed these industries are in parentheses: healthcare (medicare/medicaid), banks (the Fed), agriculture/grocery (subsidies/ foodstamps), housing (the Fed/ Fannie), pharma (Medicare drugs), defense (US miltary), education (student loans and subsidies), oil (subsidies, givaways). For example, the oil industry extracts oil from public lands and then charges us $120 a barrel for our own oil. The list goes on...

Zakrajshek says

For example, the oil industry extracts oil from public lands and then charges us $120 a barrel for our own oil. The list goes on...

But the Saudi's can't seem to get it out of the ground for much cheaper. It's a competitive market. Oil is expensive because it's being rapidly depleted and everyone is addicted to it. Including me.

That is true about Kerry...and we saw it coming.

This is the whole problem with the Democratic party fathers binding themselves to people whose entire political and social philosophy and lifestyle seem to live for rebelling against middle America. It's absolute suicide. It's nuts...but here again, so is about a quarter of California and about three quarters of San Francisco. They control the party these days.

When Democrats are completely out of power in January, there are going to be some very important meetings on Capitol Hill. I would LOVE to be a fly on the wall there.

rootvg says

When Democrats are completely out of power in January, there are going to be some very important meetings on Capitol Hill.

I certainly hope so. I think we need a major "shake-up" and re-alignment in American politics if we hope to make things better in this country.

wthrfrk80 says

rootvg says

When Democrats are completely out of power in January, there are going to be some very important meetings on Capitol Hill.

I certainly hope so. I think we need a major "shake-up" and re-alignment in American politics if we hope to make things better in this country.

One of those changes may well be the rise of the Green Party. I've had an account at Democratic Underground for years and they talk about this all the time.

Another one may be the beginning of a secessionist movement in California or possibly the splitting of California into one or more states.

These queers, malcontents and professional rock throwers out here aren't going away. If we marginalize them by putting both of their Senators and most of their Congressmen in a semi-permanent minority status (that's what's setting up), something nasty is gonna happen.

TPB says

jerrypap says

I was born into a very poor family. I did not enjoy living on Ramon noodles and having to wear second hand clothes growing up. So I decided to change that when I turned 18.

Over the years I have woked my tail off buying, renovating, renting, and selling real estate.

Impossible, you must be fucking lying because Poor people aren't supposed to escape the social teat. If you flung up the social ladder, then the Liberals did their job wrong.

My biggest challenge every step of the way has all been related to onerous and typically nonsensical government restrictions - regulations, taxes, and a thousand other government policies that sometimes make it near impossible to get ANYTHING done.

If I attempted to start from nothing today with all of the new onerous regulations such as the new Dodd Frank banking bill (The Grand Daddy of them ALL), it is likely I would remain on the "social teet" forever more.

rootvg says

Another one may be the beginning of a secessionist movement in California or possibly the splitting of California into one or more states.

There is already a movement here in far Northern California and Southern Oregon to create a new state called Jefferson State. We have ZERO representation now and are completely at the mercy of liberal whack-jobs to our south. With all of their ridiculous socialist ideas that are actually becoming law, I am to the point of being ashamed to even admit I live in California...

wthrfrk80 says

But here's the problem: people aren't going to vote for a political movement that calls them stupid. Even if it's (possibly) true. That's "the matter with Kansas."

I'm not running for office and I know this. You see the problem as Democrats alienating the white working class. I see that as untrue...the democrats are the only party fighting for the working class...propogandists have convinced the dipshit white working class in middle america to fear brown people: "They are the terrorists," "They are taking your jobs, we have to protect the borders," "Affirmative Action is keeping you from working," "Forcing banks to lower lending standards and giving loans to brown people is what caused the housing crash," etc.
The fact that Democrats aren't lying to white middle america is not the problem...
That the white working class in places like Ohio, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Georgia among other places are not smart enough to fact find for themselves is the problem. Guys like Sean Hannitty and Limbaugh use this stupidity...

I am a former Republican who grew up and went to college in Ohio so I know exactly the type of person being manipulated.

I have arguments with family and friends in Ohio everytime I go home about how their taxes have gone up under Obama. Now anyone who works with the tax code will tell you this is impossible since taxes have not increased anywhere under Obama and given the payroll tax reduction they have actually decreased. That's not important to them. They heard on Limbaugh 'bout these libruhls raising their taxes so that is what they believe.

Meanwhile they believe God will deliver Rick Santorum riding in on his dinosaur to save them from the terrorists. Maybe a bit of an exaggeration but not much...

All you need to know about these people is they elect politicians who do not believe in evolution yet do believe that Obama was not born in the US or is a Muslim. There are many more white working class people on the coasts in so-called blue states and a much smaller percentage of them are swayed by the propaganda.

But I digress...what I am saying is not that Democrats call them stupid, it is that Republican propoganda tells them at every chance that the libruhls think they are stupid. And they believe it. Fact is, they are stupid and Republicans think it too.

jerrypap says

Dodd Frank banking bill

Because Affirmative action didn't kill Whitney.

david1 says

convinced the dipshit white working class in middle america

david1 says

That the white working class in places like Ohio, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Georgia among other places are not smart enough to fact find for themselves is the problem. Guys like Sean Hannitty and Limbaugh use this stupidity...

Thank you for making my point.

Even if they are stupid, it's best not to call them that if you want their vote.

A lot of McDonald's customers are stupid too. But the cashiers generally don't call them "stupid" to their face.

david1 says

Republican propoganda tells them at every chance that the libruhls think they are stupid. And they believe it. Fact is, they are stupid

Priceless.

I don't like the fact that government makes income taxes at 35%, but capital gains only at 15%. Seems like a one way street.

PockyClipsNow says

'middle class' is democrat code word for 'governement and union employees'. eff them.

We're all middle class. And I've never worked for the government or under a union. Have you?

im a ron paul nut job so i reject the R and D parties

NO, I just want the fucking government telling me everything I HAVE to do!! NOT! You people are a bunch of arrogant fools who think you know it all. The country is NOT California! You'd be the idiots going to the camps because the government told you too because you'd "feel" better about yourself! Make me GAG!

sheltielover1 says

NO, I just want the fucking government telling me everything I HAVE to do!! NOT! You people are a bunch of arrogant fools who think you know it all. The country is NOT California! You'd be the idiots going to the camps because the government told you too because you'd "feel" better about yourself! Make me GAG!

wtf are you talking about??

tatupu70 says

sheltielover1 says

NO, I just want the fucking government telling me everything I HAVE to do!! NOT! You people are a bunch of arrogant fools who think you know it all. The country is NOT California! You'd be the idiots going to the camps because the government told you too because you'd "feel" better about yourself! Make me GAG!

wtf are you talking about??

If you don't understand this is a description of our out of control, big-brother liberal government you are part of the problem!

sheltielover1 says

tatupu70 says

sheltielover1 says

NO, I just want the fucking government telling me everything I HAVE to do!! NOT! You people are a bunch of arrogant fools who think you know it all. The country is NOT California! You'd be the idiots going to the camps because the government told you too because you'd "feel" better about yourself! Make me GAG!

wtf are you talking about??

If you don't understand this is a description of our out of control, big-brother liberal government you are part of the problem!

Well, they ARE part of the problem.

I want to see what happens when Republicans take the Senate and White House in November, leaving the largest state in the nation completely without majority representation in either the executive or legislative branches of the Federal government. Most Californians don't yet understand what that will mean but they're about to find out.

sack says

But the dividends have already been taxed once as corporate tax, taxing it again is probably netting the government more than your 35% (which I doubt many of us are paying). And you discount the fact that investments is what finances others to be "productive".

You do not get taxed at your income and then get taxed again for moving your money from checking account to savings account do you?

The corporation doesn't immediately give you a dividend when they realize profit. They don't come to you and ask for money when they lose money, do they?

Dividends are taxed because you're receiving a profit at that time. It's not double taxation because it just don't matter that the corporate profits have already been taxed. That's just absolutely irrelevant. You're taxed when the money becomes yours. It's pretty simple.

sheltielover1 says

NO, I just want the fucking government telling me everything I HAVE to do!! NOT! You people are a bunch of arrogant fools who think you know it all. The country is NOT California! You'd be the idiots going to the camps because the government told you too because you'd "feel" better about yourself! Make me GAG!

I don't understand where all this hatred of California comes from. California is hardly the crazy liberal utopia people think it is. It voted for a Republican president from 1968 to 1992. Since 1975 CA has had two Democratic Governors, (Jerry Brown from 75 to 83, Davis from 99 to 03, and Brown from 11 to present). People claim that Schwatzenegger won because he's so recognizable, but it also helped that he was just a Republican (and pro-choice), not a batshit insane Republican.

Gay marriage was legalized through lawsuit, not vote, after it was outlawed by way of prop 8. Medical marijuana was legalized but statewide decriminalization failed. We have prop 13. We passed 3 strikes. We passed prop 187, which was later ruled unconstitutional, but that doesn't change the fact that it passed in the first place.

Fact of the matter is that CA is not liberal crunchy granola utopia. It's got some pockets of that, but it's also got some strong conservative strongholds. The major difference is that a lot of the conservatives in the state aren't the extreme rightwing nutjobs that characterize the current Republican party.

Overall, CA is pretty moderate.

rootvg says

I want to see what happens when Republicans take the Senate and White House in November, leaving the largest state in the nation completely without majority representation in either the executive or legislative branches of the Federal government. Most Californians don't yet understand what that will mean but they're about to find out.

Oh, many Californians understand what that would mean, just many Republicans do not.

*hint* - reread the OP pic

tatupu70 says

sheltielover1 says

NO, I just want the fucking government telling me everything I HAVE to do!! NOT! You people are a bunch of arrogant fools who think you know it all. The country is NOT California! You'd be the idiots going to the camps because the government told you too because you'd "feel" better about yourself! Make me GAG!

wtf are you talking about??

This must be what david1 was referring to.

WTF HAS HAPPENED TO MY REAL ESTATE SITE! lol