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Better Living Though Economics
Jan. 28th, 2003 11:23 amI'm doing the Mortgage Refinancing Shuffle, it was only 7 months ago that I last did this little dance. This time I'll be getting a 25-year loan at 6.125%, set to close the day before I take off for Costa Rica. I bought my place less than 2 years ago, so I guess knocking 5 years off the term puts me ahead of the game. I've noticed they valued my place at $25,000 more than I paid for it, that makes me feel good in an Even Though It's Not Real Money way, and we all know to what ruin that can lead.
All the paperwork and numbers are a lot less scary this time around, though I still marvel at the extent of it all. Real Estate Law is vastly, astoundingly complex, all the numbers and percentages and amortizations, all the insurance and liens and guarantees, all the certifications and notarizations, all this for one little condo. This mass of law and regulation that has evolved, grown and beaten into shape through economic theory, political crises and social engineering, it all makes my head spin.
It also makes me think about all the Capitalist nations of the world, and their efforts to free the economies of formerly Communist/Socialist countries. We exhorted Russia to fling open the gates as fast as possible, promising prosperity and higher living standards for all, and in the space of a few years their economy imploded. How could we expect them to immediately develop a private and commercial real estate and tax system for their entire country? Not only laws, but also the robust monitoring and enforcement structures you need to keep it all safe from corruption and racketeering. How could we not know what was going to happen? Of course their economy was going to melt down! Our own system, arguably the best and most successful in the world, has been developed over hundreds of years, and is still changing, continually tweaked and adjusted through legislation, tax cuts, hikes and credits to become this massively complex system. The analogy of the economy being an "engine" is a good one, and have you ever seen an engine run? Small, fast moving parts are interdependent on thousands of other moving parts, you have to constantly watch the fuel mix, the coolant flow, the bearing grease and joint seals, and if you're not careful things can go very wrong, very quickly, with bodily harm to everyone nearby.
I can't shake the feeling that they knew this. That secret cabal of military generals and kings of industry and banking that really runs this country, they knew what would happen if Russia opened up, and they still encouraged it, out of some post-Cold War vindictiveness, superpower jealousy or simple malice.
Say what you will about China, but they have the right idea about going from Communist to Capitalist: don't trust The West, don't let up the iron hand. In China, the CEOs of Enron, WorldCom and Global Crossing would've been lined up against the wall and shot, their mass graves dug by the accountants at Arthur Anderson and Morgan Stanley before those guys get a shovel to the back of the head.
All the paperwork and numbers are a lot less scary this time around, though I still marvel at the extent of it all. Real Estate Law is vastly, astoundingly complex, all the numbers and percentages and amortizations, all the insurance and liens and guarantees, all the certifications and notarizations, all this for one little condo. This mass of law and regulation that has evolved, grown and beaten into shape through economic theory, political crises and social engineering, it all makes my head spin.
It also makes me think about all the Capitalist nations of the world, and their efforts to free the economies of formerly Communist/Socialist countries. We exhorted Russia to fling open the gates as fast as possible, promising prosperity and higher living standards for all, and in the space of a few years their economy imploded. How could we expect them to immediately develop a private and commercial real estate and tax system for their entire country? Not only laws, but also the robust monitoring and enforcement structures you need to keep it all safe from corruption and racketeering. How could we not know what was going to happen? Of course their economy was going to melt down! Our own system, arguably the best and most successful in the world, has been developed over hundreds of years, and is still changing, continually tweaked and adjusted through legislation, tax cuts, hikes and credits to become this massively complex system. The analogy of the economy being an "engine" is a good one, and have you ever seen an engine run? Small, fast moving parts are interdependent on thousands of other moving parts, you have to constantly watch the fuel mix, the coolant flow, the bearing grease and joint seals, and if you're not careful things can go very wrong, very quickly, with bodily harm to everyone nearby.
I can't shake the feeling that they knew this. That secret cabal of military generals and kings of industry and banking that really runs this country, they knew what would happen if Russia opened up, and they still encouraged it, out of some post-Cold War vindictiveness, superpower jealousy or simple malice.
Say what you will about China, but they have the right idea about going from Communist to Capitalist: don't trust The West, don't let up the iron hand. In China, the CEOs of Enron, WorldCom and Global Crossing would've been lined up against the wall and shot, their mass graves dug by the accountants at Arthur Anderson and Morgan Stanley before those guys get a shovel to the back of the head.
