Last month, my wife and I bought a condo in downtown Toronto - all cash, no mortgage. People talk to me as if it's good that the condo will appreciate over time. But how?
This is our permanent home, and I plan to stay here till I die. At age 41, I've never had any debt - not even a credit card, and don't ever plan to. I'm vehemently "anti-debt" (only for myself, no judgment on others) and I will die without ever taking a loan.
If anything, an increase in value will increase my property taxes - a bad thing! From my perspective, I benefit not at all from my house being worth double, triple, or even quadruple of what I paid for it.
It makes no sense to include my condo's value in my net worth. My retirement savings are my stocks and bonds. Including the house value in the net worth appears to be nothing more than a vanity exercise, since it has no impact on my life, which would remain the same whether the condo value doubled or halved. Why should I care?
So CMV on this! I'd really like to know why people are so excited when their house increases in value, and why I should view it as a good thing, or include it in my net worth calculations.
On the fact of it, the Biden administration has essentially been at a legal and ideological war with a large portion of the right, but what really justifies it for me is the why.
Biden started off this battle by being brutally honest with the American people. He made it very clear that anyone who denies elections poses a serious threat ar to the USA by doing so. A good American accepts the results of elections; they don’t deny them. We can disagree on the big issues, but you’re not a good American if you deny that the election was fair without proof. And I think Biden emphasized that point perfectly. If you’re an American who denies elections, American is just a description of your passport, not who you are. An American who didn’t have contempt for everything that we stand for would not deny elections, again, without proof, and especially they would not deny their elections in an illegal manner.
Of course, words should be backed by actions, and, while of course Biden can’t charge anybody, his DOJ has done a great job cracking down on election denial when it’s done in an illegal manner. For example, the DOJ has arrested multiple people on Jan 6 charges and while most are under-sentenced, it sends a good message. Same with the Jan 6 charges related to Trump and charges related to asking Georgia to overturn their election. The government has done a good job of letting the good people know that election deniers will not be tolerated. The best way to stop election denial is to absolutely crack down on it. With the Trump arrests and most importantly the Jan 6 arrests, the government has let it be known that we will not let election deniers harm the very fabric of this country.
Now, to be fair, I’m not saying we can’t complain about the electoral process itself. It’s perfectly fine to think elections should be done in x manner or y manner, but if you want to claim the process was carried out in a rigged manner, then you should have to give proof for your claim. Accusations require proof.
I don’t think there is a topic that is too sensitive or inappropriate to joke about.
This includes death, sickness, rape, murder, genocide, racism, sexism, ableism and so on.
I’m certain I’ve probably heard a humorous joke about it all.
I will say for it to be okay, the time and place needs to be correct. So no unsolicited jokes. Like if you’re in public and start cracking fun of people as they pass by or while on a plane. Not the correct place. In a place of business, also not the correct place. I think it is in bad taste in those and similar situations.
But if a person chooses to indulge in entertainment like a movie, tv show or comedy club, it’s all fair game. Now that doesn’t make any and every joke great.
Writing and delivering jokes is truly an art form. Some people have that talent to deliver tragedy in a humorous way.
So what’s a topic that shouldn’t be made fun of?