Category: Co-ops

The myth-maker: Part 2, the disappearance of wealth

27 December, 2012 (18:02) | Alphonse Fletcher, Apartments, Co-ops, Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, Income verification, Litigation, money management, New York City |

[Continued from yesterday's Part 1.]   By:David A. Smith   Yesterday’s post, using a prurient-interest story from Fortune (October 25, 2012) that played up the nasty allegations and played down the financial improprieties, chronicled the rise of Alphonse ‘Buddy’ Fletcher to an apparent pinnacle of social and financial success, a mountain he climbed, I believe, [...]

The myth-maker: Part 1, the appearance of wealth

26 December, 2012 (10:00) | Alphonse Fletcher, Apartments, Co-ops, Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, Income verification, Litigation, money management, New York City |

By:David A. Smith   2) You can’t cheat an honest customer, but it never hurts to try. Ferengi Rules of Acquisition   Let us suppose, as Leopold Bloom once said to Max Bialystock, that you are a dishonest man.    Let us suppose no such thing   You didn’t set out to become one.  It [...]

Juicy rationalization: Part 2, Just change one screw

6 November, 2012 (09:10) | Co-ops, Condos, Incentives, Local issues, Loopholes, New York City, real estate taxation, Rent control, tax incentives, tax shelters, Theory, US News |

[Continued from yesterday's Part 1.] By:David A. Smith   I don’t know who to trust.  I don’t know who likes me. Well, you don’t have that problem here.  You know I don’t like you. –The Big Chill   Yesterday’s post demonstrated, as evidenced but not analyzed in a New York Times (October 15, 2012), that [...]

Juicy rationalization: Part 1, New York’s $37,500,000 gift to Sandy Weill

5 November, 2012 (16:44) | Co-ops, Condos, Incentives, Local issues, Loopholes, New York City, real estate taxation, Rent control, tax incentives, tax shelters, Theory, US News |

By:David A. Smith   “Rationalization is more important than sex.” “Come on, nothing’s more important than sex.” “Oh really?  Have you ever gone a week without a rationalization?  Personally, I can’t get through a day without three or four really juicy rationalizations.” –The Big Chill   While for every loophole there may be a hundred [...]

Everything but the kitchen sink?

23 May, 2012 (10:56) | Co-ops, Condos, Configuration, Housing, Innovations, New York City, Rent control, Rental, Theory |

By: David A. Smith   Beware of this alien invader   If our metaphorical frog never jumps out of slowly boiling water, the reverse is likewise true: the slowly freezing frog becomes gradually insensible to worsening conditions, as is observable in this aren’t-we-hardy lifestyle profile from The New York Times:   Among the indignities that [...]