Bernie Starts Cashing in

[Indy Texas]

Yes, because thinking wealthy people can pay taxes at a marginal rate that is greater than 39.6% means you also believe NO ONE SHOULD HAVE NICE THINGS ANYTIME EVER.

[nicholas.slaydon]

This is dumb, who cares if he bought a house.  Unless it's with donor money it's perfectly fine.

Exactly.

[dead0man]

Clintonistas never miss an opportunity to look petty.

[Taco Truck 🚚]

Yes, because thinking wealthy people can pay taxes at a marginal rate that is greater than 39.6% means you also believe NO ONE SHOULD HAVE NICE THINGS ANYTIME EVER.

Why should anyone own three large houses, each of which is worth something like four times the value of the median American home?

Are any of these homes "large"?  You can't judge a home's size by its price tag alone.  I've looked at real estate in the markets where he owns homes and I can tell you for a man his age with his education and work experience those home prices are modest.  That's like chastising someone in Manhattan for owning a million dollar dwelling.  Someone in Alabama could own a home that is worth $150,000 that is more lavish.

The three most important things in real estate are location, location, location.

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http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2016/08/10/median-home-price-breaches-1-million-for-first-time-in-california/

By the logic in this thread we should write off every single left leaning voter in California as a massive hypocrite.

Clearly everyone in California is living in MASSIVE mansions because, ya know, OVER HALF A MILLION DOLLARS!!!

Also it is obvious that when you look at the value of the average septuagenarian's house that indicates how much they bought it for because house prices don't change for 40+ years.

[Hermit For Peace]

So what? It isn't Bernie's fault that the Government overpays Senators. And no sane person would turn down a large paycheck.

So you held Hillary to a higher standard?

I had no problem with Hillary taking her salary when she was senator. I do have a problem with her being paid to give speeches to institutions and corporations that have ulterior motives and are clearly affecting her policy. Bernie on the other hand is being paid by We The People, not Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase.

Exactly how are they "clearly affecting her policy"?

[Taco Truck 🚚]

Are any of these homes "large"?  You can't judge a home's size by its price tag alone.

A four-bedroom house is a large house by any reasonable standard. I'm not just talking about the price tag. Both are relevant.

We may have to agree to disagree.  First of all the number of bedrooms was only mentioned for one house.  Secondly if you have eight kids a four bedroom house is not large.  Thirdly I have seen four bedroom homes that are crack houses and I've seen two bedroom condos that are extravagant palaces.  There are just so many variables that are unknown I don't know how someone can be so emphatic about something like this.  And you need to consider in many places you can't buy a three bedroom house.  There may be some three bedroom homes with a study and/or game room, but I fail to see how that is more modest than a four bedroom home.

Also keep in mind there is nothing noble about crowding in a house.  From a public health point of view I wouldn't crowd my kids into a two bedroom house.  When houses got bigger and had better amenities the burden of disease in this country went down.  What's made a big difference in this country is not the $100K for three months of chemo or the $30K robotic surgery.  It is the simply public health measures.

Also, it would be more accurate to say "scarcity, scarcity, and scarcity" are the three most important factors in real estate. There are very few places in the United States where housing supply is limited by physical constraints, or even by legitimate health, safety, and environmental concerns. Housing is expensive in California because of zoning and other regulations that are favored by incumbent homeowners and landlords, not because we have run out of room to build more housing.

Only problem with this is the expensive markets are where in absolute terms the houses tend to be the most modest.  Listen man, people in Cali who are living in HALF MILLION DOLLAR homes are living in sh-tboxes compared to what you get in the deep south for $200K.  Also I'm going to assume you have never driven in LA.  Millions of people want to move to Cali and there simply is not enough room within a reasonable driving distance to accommodate all of them.  So people pay out the nose for tiny bungalows.  Those homes are not extravagant and they don't have four bedrooms.

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When we are talking about the most expensive real estate markets in the United States, housing prices have increased faster than inflation principally for three reasons: (1) Larger, newer homes with more amenities replacing smaller, older homes with fewer amenities - either by construction of new housing paired with demolition of housing or by renovation of old housing; (2) the treatment of housing as a financial asset, rather than as a consumption good, and corresponding "bubbles" that periodically inflate prices by large percentages that widely vary over time through cycles of boom and bust;  (3) zoning laws and other regulations that limit density and prevent the construction of new housing in desirable locations - either by outright limits on new construction or by driving the cost up to such a point that housing is only built when it can be sold or rented at an extremely high price.

I don't necessarily agree with your analysis but that is really irrelevant.  The fact of the matter is a lot of people Sander's age bought their houses decades ago for a fraction of the current market value.  Simply looking at what the assessed value of a home is and declaring someone a hypocrite is completely illogical.  In fact appreciation is such an issue for many of our country's seniors that in many localities seniors are grandfathered in and don't have to pay current property tax rates... because they simply can't afford it and would be driven from the neighborhood.

In another thread this kind of came up when people were talking about a wealth tax.  I pointed out that a lot of "wealth" in this country is wealth simply on paper and if any move was made to simultaneously monetize even a fraction of it those paper numbers would plummet.

[IceSpear]

Clintonistas never miss an opportunity to look petty.

Are you really so delusional that you think Clintonistas were/are more petty than the Berniebros?

Or are you just so dumb you don't realize Clintonistas are only commenting on this due to the absurd double standard, and not because they actually care Bernie bought a vacation home?

[Figueira]

Reports I've read suggest this was something Jane really wanted, and they got the money from a dead relative of hers.

In that case, I think we should stop caring about this.

[SATW]

Oh, I forgot, you can't be a socialist and have nice things.  Thank you, Atlas.

No, you can do both...and look like a complete and utter hypocrite.

And let's not stop there: Bernie Sanders is a complete and utter fraud.

[dead0man]

Clintonistas never miss an opportunity to look petty.

Are you really so delusional that you think Clintonistas were/are more petty than the Berniebros?

Or are you just so dumb you don't realize Clintonistas are only commenting on this due to the absurd double standard, and not because they actually care Bernie bought a vacation home?

can't it be both?

[This account no longer in use.]

Who care

[Wells]

Sanders bought a house? With money? Hypocrite!!1!!

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Why would someone not choose to live in luxury if they have the opportunity to? Sheesh. Averroes is going off the rails.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Wait... Nix is being serious?

It's one problem I have with people of the economic (populist) left, and always have, this ideas about what is defined as 'enough' for a person to have. I wasn't the biggest fan of Bernie, but he's got children and grandchildren a lot of people to accommodate etc. I don't really see a problem with this?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Fwiw I agree entirely with Averroes. It is in my opinion, immoral to hoard wealth - property especially, as this is a fairly unique type of wealth. I'm not saying it should be illegal or whatever, just that societally should start to examine why we consider it an important "right" to own as much as possible. Why do we worship the accumulation of land for no reason as a status symbol when so many will never, ever own their own place of residence? Does nobody remember the parable of the rich man and the camel through the needle's eye anymore?

[Beezer]

Comrade Bernie has proven to be a bourgeois pig. Anybody got a pickaxe?

[Badger]

I have no problem with this. This isn't a particularly expensive house, nor did he ever call for the nationalization of the wealthy's physical property as much as he did about punishing them with taxes. Good for him, I hope he enjoys the good life there.

Word!

[Landslide Lyndon]

I can see why this incident has raised a lot of eyebrows. But for me what seals the deal as nothing more than another garden variety hypocrite is this:

https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/08/18/20074/how-bernie-sanders-beat-clock-and-avoided-disclosure

As a Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont vociferously argued for political transparency, especially when money was concerned.
Sanders insisted, for example, “on complete transparency regarding the funding of campaigns.” He decried “huge piles of undisclosed cash” benefiting candidates.

But when federal law required Sanders to reveal, by mid-May, current details of his personal finances, his campaign lawyer asked the Federal Election Commission for a 45-day extension.
Request granted.

On June 30, Sanders’ campaign requested a second 45-day extension, saying the senator had “good cause” to delay because of his “current campaign schedule and officeholder duties.”
Again, regulators approved Sanders’ punt.

Now that Sanders’ second extension has expired, spokesman Michael Briggs confirmed to the Center for Public Integrity that the senator won’t file a presidential campaign personal financial disclosure after all.

“We were told that since the senator no longer is a candidate there was no requirement to file,” Briggs said.

[Devout Centrist]

I never supported Bernie, but ARE YOU SERIOUS? My family's home is worth about 750k in Sacramento and I guarantee you it's not a "nearly 1 million dollar house."