May, 2019 When Financier Robert Smith spoke at the Morehouse College graduation this weekend (May 19, 2019), he told the 400 graduating students that he intended to pay off all of their student loans, to the tune of roughly $40 million dollars. The surprise news rolled through the room like a tsunami. Smith hadn’t even…
March 2019 Psychology teaches us that our subconscious mind is much more responsible for what we think and do than we believe. My metaphor for this is a rider on a bucking bronco. The rider represents our conscious mind (which is usually what we mean when we say “I”). “I” is spending every ounce of…
March, 2019 I’ve been listening to NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) arguments since I was president of the Auburndale (Newton) Community Association in the mid-70s. The opponents almost always make the same two claims. 1. If whatever is proposed is built it will “ruin the (insert adjective) character of the community”. 2. It will…
February 2019 In a series of decisions 50 to 60 years ago, The Massachusetts Supreme Court forced the cities and towns of the state to change their method of assessing property for purposes of taxation. It had become common practice for cities and towns to assess property at much less than full value. So, for…
January 2019 If assessments were accurately calculated, about 40% of homeowners on Cape Cod and the islands would be paying less property tax. I have every reason to believe that is also true for all Massachusetts cities and towns. State law requires that assessments reflect the current market value of a house. But the only…