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The Architect sent me the exterior drawing of my dream house. I am super hyped and almost cried. Ten years of dreaming and drawing this house in my head, finally revealed by a professional’s awesome hand. I gave my rough sketch of the layout, what goes where, then my architect drew the floorplan and this exterior sketch based on the floorplan.

Emotional Moment

I worked tirelessly since I was 18, starting from a auto parts factory in Kansas during the summer break. Number of part-time jobs while going to school. I worked as a writer for a Korean magazine, TV network as a reporter, retail store owner, and several businesses. Luckily, most of micro businesses that I started survived. Some actually blow up as many business person dreams. Naturally, better the business, depressing I felt. Instead of enjoying the money flowing in, I felt jailed in my own business.

I tried hard to find better purpose of running a business to get out of the depression. Participating in policy making, creating community events, and stronger organization building. I later found that no other business colleagues or competitors felt that way. For them, the pleasure of running a business is continuous growing and expending. I felt alone. I lost my interest in business and my business starts to fall apart.

When I fell apart, that’s when I began to feel the cold reality of the capitalism. I had warehouse full of equipments and products. All that was my assets and what I have earned, but it all became trash when I missed a few warehouse rent payment.

My business didn’t failed, I just wanted to free myself for awhile and release myself from my own jail for awhile, but none of that mattered to my landlord. Regardless of my will, my physical condition, or market situation, I had to pay the rent faithfully every single month.

I thought, ‘only if my garage in the house is bigger, ten times bigger, I don’t have to risk my assets to the landlord.’

My wife runs a luxury wigs and medical wigs for cancer patients. She doesn’t want to have walk-in customers like many beauty supplies do. She rents a retail space for only a handful of her customers. I opened that store more than twenty years ago and we paid more than $1.8 million while in that shopping center. I and six other shop owners who rent in the shopping center often said, “my gosh, we could have built ten shopping centers like this with out rent money, only if we knew.” My wife can run her business in our garage but our garage door cannot be altered to look presentably as a professional shop. The county doesn’t allow it.

My son is a video producer and he needs a space to store his video equipments and do the editing work on his computer. Every once in awhile, maybe once a week, he and his clients need to get together to plan the video. All he needs is a garage decorated presentably and replace ugly garage door with glass walls and door. But he cannot do that because our county doesn’t allow it. He is forced to rent a commercial space and be a slave to his landlord.

Capitalism for Capitalists Only

About a hundred years ago, Henry George warned about this landlord bs. In his famous book, he said the land should be owned by the government or must be taxed substantially to justify the three elements of production, the land, capital, and labor. The capitalist with all their money turned his voice down.

The result is what we see and feel today. They changed how we live by separating where we live and where we work. They call it, “residential zone and commercial zone.” that we used call, “town.”

We used to have beautiful town in every part of the country, didn’t we?

We used to have our stores on the first floor and houses on the second floor. We used to have back alley where we parked our cars.

By separating residential zone, we were influenced or forced to buy a new house with 30 years of mortgage. Most of us have ups and downs, what percentage of people will be able to guarantee their health or situation will have consistant income and stable life to pay mortgage for that long? About half of us were destined to fail the idea of freaking mortgage. When and if we do fail, bank keeps either the money or the house and we lose not only the house but all our furnitures we buy to living in it.

By separating commercial zone, only the big capitalists can afford to buy the huge land where they monopolize the development. They don’t sell individual units of the retail or office spaces and we don’t have much options except to rent a space become a slave. Once the rent starts, there is no luxury for us to stop and rest. To pay the rent every single month, we must go on until you can no longer hang on to it. Landlord then simply change the tenant.

Some countries doesn’t allow that. The commercial buildings, as well as the residential building are almost forced to sell in pieces to each occupants. Once all occupants move in, then they form a co-op to manage the building. This system works in favor of business owners since the ownership of the unit becomes his/her retirement fund.

Since we are not the “some countries,” we must find other ways to get out of that mouth trap.

My Crazy Dream

I found a small piece of land about ten years ago. I bought it quite cheap since the previous owner passed away and their children had disput over the assets. I mean to save enough money to build my house+workshop there. Since I don’t want to borrow money from any bank, I wanted to build little by little whenever I have extra money on hand. But the county doesn’t allow me to do anything on my own land until I have a complete set of the building plan which I am obligated to build in a short time.

I thought we are living in a country of freedom, I learned that we are not. For last ten years, there were not much that I could do with my own freaking lot.

Luckily, about 150 acres of land behind mine began the development by one of gigantic development company now. I now have opportunity to follow their process and build my dream house.

With all that I said above, how can I not be emotional when I see this beaaaaaatiful drawings from my architect? I love it, and I am totally pumped.