Ah, the good old upward redistribution of wealth.

1) Buy up huge swaths of land and ranches
2)Wait for the railroad to build all though your property
3)PROFIT like it's the 1900's!

Welcome to the 1%. While you are evicted and starving, they are feeding off the fat of the land.
Time for a goddam revolution.

Apos: Is it part of some nefarious scheme to outsource the entire state to China? No? Then what's the problem?

The problem is that some low-level journalist is trying to make a career for himself by turning a non-issue into a major breaking scandal. People buying land? I am shocked and appalled!

I pray Jesus Christ blesses them both with malignant anal cancer and that they die painfully as a result.

Another landowner the Wilks brothers have bought out is Theodore Roosevelt IV

He must have done shot all the baby bears.

... with the exception of a small strangely-shaped portion of the map, in front of which their underling constantly stands.

EVERYBODY PANIC: Apos: Is it part of some nefarious scheme to outsource the entire state to China? No? Then what's the problem?

The problem is that some low-level journalist is trying to make a career for himself by turning a non-issue into a major breaking scandal. People buying land? I am shocked and appalled!

a whole .27% of the state!! Subby was told there'd be no math, apparently

sminkypinky: Time for a goddam revolution.

To stop people from buying land that is for sale?

That is the worst mobile website I have seen in a long time.

sminkypinky: Welcome to the 1%. While you are evicted and starving, they are feeding off the fat of the land.
Time for a goddam revolution.

Lol. How dare these guys use the money they earned to buy land from other rich guys in arms
Length transactions!! Outrage!

ben cartwright owned 600,000 acres on the shores of lake tahoe.
BONANZA

oh. and he even got the tv indians to say he was a heap good fair white man to all indians.

imbrial: EVERYBODY PANIC: Apos: Is it part of some nefarious scheme to outsource the entire state to China? No? Then what's the problem?

The problem is that some low-level journalist is trying to make a career for himself by turning a non-issue into a major breaking scandal. People buying land? I am shocked and appalled!

a whole .27% of the state!! Subby was told there'd be no math, apparently

OMG! You didn't have to toss in the numbers. I can barely count to potato, and now you tell me that they bought up THAT MUCH land? Noboby owns that much land. Aside from Ted Turner. But he's adored by the whiners, so he's okay.

the only reason to have a lot of money is to help in acquiring access to

Ron Mexico's Revenge: sminkypinky: Time for a goddam revolution.

To stop people from buying land that is for sale?

Well I guess that they could just take it out of the bank and buy a bunch of wheelbarrows full of gold and hoard it in a vault somewhere offshore but that's not going to help anyone here. By buying land here they're going to paying taxes not only on the purchase but on the land itself on a yearly basis through property taxes.

I find it funny that people like that complain when "The Rich" move money offshore to avoid paying their fair share of taxes and also complain when they use their money to buy something that can never be moved offshore. They have a serious case of class envy and should be ignored because of that.

What the frack are they going to do with all that land?

unlikely: OMGZ people with money buying LAND

STOP THE PRESSES

It does make a difference to the definition of democracy Land ownership is a serious issue and fundamental to civil rights. If you don't understand why, then you probably do not have much business having an opinion about anything in politics, I am sad to say.

Radioactive Ass: I find it funny that people like that complain when "The Rich" move money offshore to avoid paying their fair share of taxes and also complain when they use their money to buy something that can never be moved offshore.

Not only that, but they pay a bunch of taxes on it and don't really need any services so it's quite a bargain for everyone else. You would also think they would be happy that someone is buying land and paying all kinds of transfer fees and taxes to the local/county government.

wasn't this part of the plot of the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie?

Would also have liked to have bought Montana.

Did you all miss the part where they own a hydro-fracking company?

I'm not entirely against *some* development in Montana, because driving through it last summer was pretty eery. It's very very vacant land, other than cows and hamlets. But it's also beautiful country as long as you're not down to your last gallon of gas and desperately searching for a station (no this did not happen to us, but it could have easily). A medium population/infrastructure boom wouldn't be too terrible, I just hope they're not planning to turn it all into an oilfield =/

d23: They will be whining about property tax next. You heard it here first, folks.

The only people who get tax breaks on their property taxes are those who negotiate a deal when they are building thing like factories, malls or some other job and\or tax generating venue where they will be making more money for the county\state than what the land sitting as is would have. Usually it's a good deal for everyone involved.

Did you ever stop to wonder why they have billions, and the US is in trillions of debt and the population is living thru a Depression?

But Lowry, the Wilkses' neighbor at the N Bar, has no problem with the many land acquisitions by his new neighbors and sees the brothers as more friendly and open than the previous owner.

"I figured that was their business," he said of the land buys and rumors of fracking plans. "If they're buying up land, they can do what they want with it."

I wish more people had that kind of attitude.

These guys?



/dnrtfa

sminkypinky: Did you ever stop to wonder why they have billions, and the US is in trillions of debt and the population is living thru a Depression?

Because the government doesn't know how to stop spending money.

sminkypinky: Welcome to the 1%. While you are evicted and starving, they are feeding off the fat of the land.
Time for a goddam revolution.

The nerve of those rich people, paying most of the taxes in this country. Somebody should do something.

leevis: sminkypinky: Did you ever stop to wonder why they have billions, and the US is in trillions of debt and the population is living thru a Depression?

Because the government doesn't know how to stop spending money.

Do you know what happens when large segments of everybody stops spending money?

Every time someone cries "overcrowding", I point to Montana. It's slightly bigger than Finland, and has less than 800,000 people (Finland has 5.2 million). We also have the Dakota's, Wyoming and other states that are barely tapped.

Everybody just needs to spread the fark out.

Sarah Jessica Farker: wasn't this part of the plot of the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie?

Otisburg?

OTISBURG?!?!?!?!?

leevis: The nerve of those rich people, paying most of the taxes in this country. Somebody should do something.

The reason the rich are paying such a large percentage of the tax is because the middle class is shrinking. Why is the middle class shrinking while corporate profits are through the roof? Because when the rich get this rich, the middle class suffers.

Solutions? Remove corporate tax loopholes that let massive corporations like GE pay ZERO tax, and Microsoft, Google, and Apple send most of their profits overseas.

ALL income needs to be taxed as what it is, income. No special rate of tax for ""carried interest", capital gains or dividends. It's all money, it all spends, it's all income. It should all be taxed as income.

We could also do with a few more tax brackets. The very top personal income tax bracket starts (iirc) at around $380k. We need a million dollar and up bracket, a ten million and up bracket, a 100 million and up bracket, and a billion dollar and up bracket. Even if it just added a point or two at each level, it would be hugely beneficial.

hbk72777: Every time someone cries "overcrowding", I point to Montana. It's slightly bigger than Finland, and has less than 800,000 people (Finland has 5.2 million). We also have the Dakota's, Wyoming and other states that are barely tapped.

Everybody just needs to spread the fark out.

Nah, we passed the 1M mark a couple years ago. Yes, the entire state. Shut up.

/Don't short me, bro.

Otisburg mentioned...good

Yellowstone 'calamity' imminent?

Paging Henry Cavill...

ladyfortuna: It's very very vacant land, other than cows and hamlets. But it's also beautiful country as long as you're not down to your last gallon of gas and desperately searching for a station (no this did not happen to us, but it could have easily).

I was moving from DC to Seattle and driving through Nowhere, Montana when my brother called to say our father had died. I pulled over to the side of the freeway and wept, and then got back on the road because what else was I going to do? An hour later a tire on the trailer blew out. We had no cell phone reception and were in the middle of ranch country. We drove slowly for 30 miles before we hit a widening of the road. Two good ol' boys were able to jack the trailer up (they were used to working with heavy tractors) and got the tire switched out in 45 minutes.

Worst farking day of my life.

MooseUpNorth: leevis: sminkypinky: Did you ever stop to wonder why they have billions, and the US is in trillions of debt and the population is living thru a Depression?

Because the government doesn't know how to stop spending money.

Do you know what happens when large segments of everybody stops spending money?

The government raises taxes?

hbk72777: Every time someone cries "overcrowding", I point to Montana. It's slightly bigger than Finland, and has less than 800,000 people (Finland has 5.2 million). We also have the Dakota's, Wyoming and other states that are barely tapped.

Everybody just needs to spread the fark out.

fark that, it's cold and/or windy there

RandomRandom: Microsoft, Google, and Apple send most of their profits overseas.

Which is a huge part of the problem, actually. Thing is, your government winds up spending most of the money it handles domestically, which is a net positive for the economy. As do the middle class, who tend to live month to month. Again, that's a net positive for an economy.

But what your country is _really_ suffering over is the relative lack of manufacturing and the manufacturing jobs that leads to. _That_'s where value gets added, and where the economic growth is.

Mark Galvan: What the frack are they going to do with all that land?

Fracking may indeed be what they are planning to do.

Why bother with manufacturing real stuff when you have patent lawyers and bankers to create real wealth?

KidneyStone: Do you know what happens when large segments of everybody stops spending money?

The government raises taxes?

Economies work through the spending of money in a big cyclic web. A web which includes the government. It doesn't really matter who spends the money. It doesn't really matter why the money is spent. Just so it changes hands as often as possible.