Ravenwood - 03/21/07 06:00 AM
This looks like a great idea for a TV reality show:
Japanese billionaire Genshiro Kawamoto has selected the first four of eight Native Hawaiian families that will each rent one of his multimillion-dollar homes in the exclusive oceanside Kahala area for $150 a month.I would bet dollars to donuts that Kawamoto ends up with ramshackled houses at the end of all this. Apparently it happened before when he did this, but he blamed the property manager.The low-income families could move into the furnished Kahala Avenue homes, purchased in 2005 for $2 million to $3.4 million each, as soon as this weekend.
"They will be living in heaven now," said Kawamoto, a 75-year-old real estate tycoon.
At best, this is a poor use of resources. Kawamoto has spent millions to help EIGHT low-income families. With that kind of cash he could have purchased modest homes and helped many more. Better yet, give that money to local shelters and charities to use effectively and help hundreds of families instead of just a few.
Category: Liberal for a Day
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I bet this will make my grandmother so very happy. She's not on Kahala, but her house is just on the other side of the country club. She pretends to be a good knee-jerk liberal, but I imagine that stuff like this probably irritates her even if she won't admit it.
Posted by: Bitter at March 21, 2007 9:41 AM"Apparently it happened before when he did this, but he blamed the property manager."
What do you want to bet that when it happens again he still will blame anyone other than the residents?
Cognitive dissonance: The philosophy cannot be wrong! Do it again, only harder!
Posted by: Kevin Baker at March 21, 2007 9:51 AMJust goes to show that you don't necessarily have to be smart to be rich.
Posted by: BobG at March 21, 2007 12:41 PMThe premise is no different than when the government hands out housing subsidies (e.g., Section 8). The occupants have no investment in the property, not even monthly payments or a security deposit, so they have no incentive to keep the property in good condition.
That being said, it's his money, and if he wants to piss it away, so be it. I agree with you, in that if he wanted to make a bigger impact with that kind of money, he could have spent it in many different ways.
He will learn that for people to take pride in something, they need to have an ownership stake. All he is doing is perpetuating the notion that, "If you're poor, someone else will come along and ease your misery". Clearly, that approach has not worked for the past 40+ years.
Posted by: The Other Mike S at March 21, 2007 12:56 PMWon't the IRS want to charge a "gift tax" or something? They go after the person who catches a homerun, seems to me they would be all over this.
Posted by: joe at March 23, 2007 9:18 PMjoe: There's a fairly high $ limit before you incur gift taxes, although the rent on a multimillion oceanside mansion might exceed it. But I suspect what K. did was to set up a no-profit charitable foundation, and donate use of the houses to it. That makes the donation tax deductible rather than taxable. You can darn well bet that he didn't get rich without either watching such things himself, or hiring someone to handle them for him.
Posted by: markm at March 26, 2007 11:52 AM(c) Ravenwood and Associates, 1990 - 2014
