originally posted by Jay Miller:
So, anyone know how the credit markets are today? Interbank lending rates down?
The stock market is certainly exuberant.
Which ties interestingly back to my first post.originally posted by SFJoe:
Once you've nationalized the banks and insurance companies, you're on the hook.
Even if you did so with great reluctance and vividly expressed regret.
originally posted by David M. Bueker:
originally posted by Zachary Ross:
As part of his slate of conservative tax cuts, Sarkozy in France proposed a mortgage-interest tax deduction, but the Constitutional Council, the highest court in France, ruled it unconstitutional on the grounds that it would give property owners an unfair tax advantage.
Of course we need the socialists to tell us what to do.
originally posted by Zachary Ross:
originally posted by David M. Bueker:
originally posted by Zachary Ross:
As part of his slate of conservative tax cuts, Sarkozy in France proposed a mortgage-interest tax deduction, but the Constitutional Council, the highest court in France, ruled it unconstitutional on the grounds that it would give property owners an unfair tax advantage.
Of course we need the socialists to tell us what to do.
Wouldn't hurt to listen.
originally posted by VLM:
Um, I'm pretty sure we're all socialists now.
originally posted by Jay Miller:
Of course a complicating/mitigating factor in the regressiveness of the mortgage interest rate deduction is the existence of property tax.
No need to be shy. Expertise welcomed, by me at least.originally posted by Cole Kendall:
While I hate to pull out my economist card
As an example, assume that the sales tax on wine went to zero.
originally posted by Cole Kendall:
While I hate to pull out my economist card, there is a difference between who writes the check for a tax and who "pays" the tax. Just because property owners receive the tax deduction for mortgage interest does not mean that some of the benefits of the deduction do not accrue to renters (assuming the market for renting property is somewhat competitive).
Though the rates are falling, the differential between the rate at which banks lend to each other and official central bank lending rates remain high, signalling a strong degree of mistrust still exists. In the U.S. the base central bank rate is 1.5 percent, in the euro area it is 3.75 percent and 4.50 percent in Britain."
So better but still not there yet.
originally posted by .sasha:
NWR: mortgage interest deductionsmight there be a process of natural selection involved here? it seems the tendency towards ownership is synonymous with certain ambitions which may ultimately benefit all, and should therefore be encouraged ( a much better word than subsidized imo )
but what do I know, I am just a parasite immigrant
originally posted by Cole Kendall:
Libor, like a lot of other things that are tracked carefully, is not what is once was. While I am only an observer, the word I have heard is that the Libor you see on the screens is not the same for all banks. But I would appreciate any information from those who actually are in these markets.