Avek:
I agree that government intervention is powerful, and as a private citizen, I hate what happens when the government gets involved in ANYTHING.

Let me give you a history lesson: The government's causing the S&L crisis.

Even the harshest critics agree that the S&L failures due to fraud was around 2%. (including Whitewater and Castle Grande).

The remaining 98% was due to TAMRA. The Tax And Misc. Revenue Act of 1986, which, without any phaseout whatsoever, killed the tax advantages of owning multiple properties. Sounds "fair", right? Stick it to the rich, and all that, right?

Small problem - it left tens of thousands of developers and general contractors, many of whom who are FAR from rich, with properties which were incredibly devalued. They were relying on the booming real estate demand to sell these properties.

Overnight, the demand virtually evaporates. So what do they do? They walk away and declare bankruptcy. I can't blame them - there simply is no other alternative for them. They've got families to feed.

So enough of these little guys go under, and S&L's, which valued properties in a RADICALLY different market are left holding the bag on real estate that is worth MUCH less, because the tax incentive to own it is gone.

So, in an effort to get more money from the rich, the government virtually destroyed the S&L market (and an UNBELIEVABLE expense), and damaged the construction industry so badly that it has took more than 10 years to recover.

So pardon me if I PANIC at the thought of the government sticking its incompetent nose into yet another business.

The law of unintended consequences is a real problem, one the government takes FAR too lightly. Effective governing comes from studying the problem from ALL angles, not just studying the latest opinion poll written to support the predetermined position.

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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."



[This message has been edited by Jon Toner (edited 10-18-1999).]