As we bring 2012 to a close and look for a Lucky 2013, there are a few important things we can now put behind us, such as the frenzy of the presidential election, the fear of the fiscal cliff…and the worst real estate downturn in recent history.
I believe the buzzword for 2013 will be “up.” Taxes will most certainly be up based on recent actions in Washington. Costs across the board are going up. Inflation? Yup expected to go up in 2013. And finally, yes we expect rents and values to go up as well. So when I tell you things are looking up this year it may have a double meaning!
I know that at this time of the year many of you look forward to our annual Gold Report. Because of the fast pace of information (and the abundance of it), I have decided to retire the Gold Report. However, I do expect to have some new and exciting changes to my monthly letter (blog), website and some forecasting tools for you in the coming months – stay tuned!
If you just can’t wait and love to digest numbers and forecasts here is a link to, 2013 Emerging Trends in Real Estate by PWC and Urban Land Institute.
There are some new rules regarding ADA Laws in California that you need to be aware of. Here is a link to a brief summary provided by a local law firm ADA Law Changes. Please note we will have a follow up discussion of what we need to do about inspection reports and disclosure requirements by July of this year.
Please know that over the next two weeks the CDC Commercial teams are sitting down and discussing our marketing plans, target tenants and goals to achieve for 2013. I am pleased to report that this December was the busiest December we have seen in the last five years (normally December is slow but we were not as slow as previous years). I can only hope this turns into an “up” year in 2013 and that our incomes are all “up” to offset all the other things that are going “up.”
545 vs. 300,000,000 People
-By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them. Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The President does.
You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? John Boehner. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.
If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it’s because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan …
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation,” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.
Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees…
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
