Display:
This would essentially institutionalize an inherent "rent to buy" option for all of these properties.  US citizens are familiar with that term.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Wed Sep 24th, 2008 at 01:02:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Excellent point.

The key is always to use language which is understood, and not only do I tend to write "financespeak" but it's UK "financespeak".

The proposal also has elements of what I have heard called an "evergreen lease" (not a UK expression).

Sort of an "evergreen lease to buy"

"Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky

by ChrisCook (cojockathotmaildotcom) on Wed Sep 24th, 2008 at 01:48:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Glad I finally understood some of what you have been saying.  Why don't you ask Mig to include a UK to US financespeak translation feature in his pending glossary? :-)

However, I think that a few "worked examples" set forth in common language would help, also.  My biggest problem has been understanding how your system would work in practice.  We have been taught to believe in "marketplace competition."  Why should that competition not extend to the very nature of ownership in society?

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Wed Sep 24th, 2008 at 03:18:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
We have been taught to believe in "marketplace competition."  Why should that competition not extend to the very nature of ownership in society?

Why shouldn't we unlearn what we've been taught?

A vivid image of what should exist acts as a surrogate for reality. Pursuit of the image then prevents pursuit of the reality -- John K. Galbraith

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Sep 24th, 2008 at 03:24:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Why shouldn't we unlearn what we've been taught?
A lot of effort has gone into writing this stuff into everyone's brain over the last 30 years.  I agree that it would be best to write a better message, especially for the younger generations.  For anyone over 30 it may be far more effective to modify the meaning and redirect the results of the existing hard wired brain structures. IMHO.
 

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Wed Sep 24th, 2008 at 03:50:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I'm all in favour of "competition" because I believe that the model I am outlining will actually "outcompete" the conventional one.

The reason is that there are no returns going to unnecessary "rentiers". This is what the Cooperative movement calls the "Cooperative Advantage".

The competition that I foresee is not for pieces of paper representing IOU's/claims over wealth made by intermediaries, but competition for "Quality" instead.

There is no Profit and no Loss within a partnership framework, merely creation and exchange of "Value" in all its forms (and "Money as Debt" is not one of them).

Such a "cooperative of cooperatives"  partnership model would IMHO be what Yunus calls "Not for loss".

Here's an example.

A portfolio of 5,000 25 year mortgage loans @ 6% pa average $200,000 to a total value of $1 billion. Each borrower must currently repay $1303.77 per month or $15,645.24 pa for the life of the loan.

A rental is set at an "affordable" level - (say) an average "affordable" rental of $500 per month or $6,000 pa and this rental is then Index - linked. This gives a total Rental Pool of $30m in the first year, rising with inflation.

This Pool is "Unitised" into (say) a million "Units" or "millionths". Each Unit consists of one millionth of the economic interest / "ownership" of the pool of properties and carries an income of $30.00 in the first year, rising with inflation thereafter.

It is now simply a question of the market price of these Units: at $1,000 per Unit the initial return is 3%. The proceeds of a sale at this price would be $1bn, and this would pay off the debt at 100 cents on the dollar.

At $750 per Unit the initial return would be 4% and the proceeds $750m or 75% of the nominal value of the debt.

And so on.

The key point is that the higher the level at which the initial "Capital Rental" return is set, the less likely it is that it will be paid in its entirety, and therefore the less "certain" it is, and the more risky it is.

Risk does not lead to Reward: Reward leads to Risk.

"Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky

by ChrisCook (cojockathotmaildotcom) on Wed Sep 24th, 2008 at 05:24:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Display:
Login
. Make a new account
. Reset password
Occasional Series