Dave Fletcher put up a couple of great posts today on the topic of mortgage fraud. This is a growing problem in Utah that I have seen happen far more often than it should be happening in our state. The most immediately beneficial solution to problems with mortgage fraud would be for Utah to become a full-disclosure state on real estate transactions. (As a side note this change would also greatly help with solving many of the property tax assessment inequities that plague our state.)
Currently when property changes hands in Utah there is no requirement that any of the terms of the sale be disclosed. Any sales that aren’t done through a Realtor, and therefore are never entered into the multiple listing service Realtors use as a database for listings and sales; remain a mystery to everyone other than the parties in the transactions. Utah’s non-disclosure status makes us a prime target for bad guys who want to perpetrate scams or money laundering. It is just so much easier to get away with illegal activity in our state than it is in most others.
Getting good anti-fraud legislation through our legislature has been incredibly difficult. I argue that the main reason for this difficulty is that a large number of our legislators are either Realtors or they take lots of campaign money from the Utah Board of Realtors. This powerful business interest benefits greatly from its monopoly on market data and they are loathe to allow any changes to the way the real estate business is regulated in Utah.
Here is a presentation put together a couple years ago by the FBI and the Division of Real Estate for our legislature encouraging them to make the change I argue for in this post along with others to bring an end to mortgage fraud in Utah (thanks again to Mr. Fletcher for providing the link). Here’s hoping the legislature begins to give this problem the attention it deserves.
I voted today. You should too! Find out where you can vote early and enjoy the short lines and get an “I Voted!” sticker before all your friends and family.
UPDATE 10/20/2007: It looks like David at Pursuit of Liberty has come to much the same conclusion as Paramaphil and I. A vote against Referendum 1 makes more sense than a vote in favor of fiscal irresponsibility and poor implementation of a voucher program.
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Paramaphil over at Green Jello has had a change of heart on vouchers after what seems to be a lot of study and consideration. I agree with his hopes and concerns about the future of school choice. I think it will be possible to develop some form of school choice in the future that isn’t as blatantly unfair as the current plan and that is more fiscally viable as well.
Paramaphil’s defection from the pro-voucher camp is a good event to bring up another topic. Voucher supporters have resorted to ad hominem attacks on me and other voucher opponents associating us with the teachers’ union. Not everyone who disagrees with HB148 is a UEA stooge. Some of us are just interested bloggers who see a bad plan and are opposed to it. I’m glad UEA has played such an active role in working to defeat this voucher plan but I have to admit that I’m still not a big fan of the union. I think there are many things UEA has done to deserve the bitterness with which it is viewed by many small government activists. Their opposition to merit pay and several other clearly needed reforms is harmful to our schools and needs to be beaten down. I just want the record to be clear that my distaste for HB148 doesn’t make me a big fan of UEA’s tendency to sometimes act in its own best interests instead of the interests of the children our public school system is tasked with teaching.
I don’t think there is enough scientific data available from any source to justify the costs of governmental action to deal with the problem of global warming. The scientists who are working on providing that data might deserve a Nobel Peace Prize but Al Gore sure doesn’t.
The idea that Gore’s movie qualifies him for a share of the same award given to real scientists is asinine no matter what Ed says.
Hat-Tip: CATO
Against Utah Vouchers seems to have some pretty good evidence that Parents for Choice in Education paid a notorious Utah political spammer to spam for them. Just when you thought they couldn’t sink any lower…
Hat Tip: The World According To Me
UPDATE 10/07/2007: Jesse did a great job summing up this story here. Really excellent research and blogging.
Bob Bernick Jr. did a great job in this piece making what I think is the best argument against Referendum 1.
The cost of vouchers for students who never would have gone to public schools in the first place will likely far exceed any savings promised by this plan’s supporters. That means we will be using tax money from the general fund to subsidize many students from families who historically haven’t needed any public help paying for private school. Why should taxpayers be stuck with paying for this new entitlement?
Vouchers are a bad idea for Utah.
Hat Tip: Democracy For Utah
Here is a news story that discusses some of the potential benefits and pitfalls of year-round school. On the whole I think implementation of this idea would be a pain in the rear for me and my family but I think I support the idea for my school district because the financial benefits that could result from this plan for taxpayers and public schools seem too good to ignore.
I don’t know why but some Board of Education members seem to be against this idea…I suspect the story above may be blowing the disagreement way out of proportion.
I can understand the consternation of some school officials at having yet another mandate shoved down their throats by the legislature. In the end though taxpayers deserve a break and if something like this could really help the state deal with some of the scary demographic statistics we face in the near future than I don’t have a problem if their egos are a little bruised. Of course I haven’t seen all the information available on the idea or heard all of the potential problems but from what I have heard a year-round school calendar seems like a pretty good idea.
Grudging Hat-Tip: Mark Towner’s Political Spyglass…it is beneficial to readers and original content providers if bloggers provide links to articles instead of copy-pasting the whole things on their web pages.
