What do you know or think about the freedom floating city?

Yellowbird RS · 07-13-2005, 10:40 AM

Yellowbird RS · 07-13-2005, 10:43 AM

Moneyguy1 · 07-13-2005, 10:49 AM

If anything happens to it, it sill make the Titanic seem insignificant.

Like any machine..If anything can go wrong, it will.

ubiquity0 · 07-13-2005, 10:50 AM

It would make a good prison.

Moneyguy1 · 07-13-2005, 10:58 AM

FIll it up with real bad guys and sink it!!! What a concept!!!

mikester · 07-13-2005, 11:16 AM

ever seen a carrier landing go bad or for that matter any landing go bad?

Yeah - BAD idea.

Neilk · 07-13-2005, 11:22 AM

Yeah, I want to live in an 8 story parking garage!

legion · 07-13-2005, 11:24 AM

I think if this thing ever does get built, the initial investors will be laughing all the way to the bank.

MikeSid · 07-13-2005, 12:41 PM

The concept of "freedom" and the thought of being confined to a 10 story airport seem to me a bit incongruous.

scottmandue · 07-13-2005, 12:55 PM

I would be willing to give it a try, but then I'm an outside the box kind of guy.

I think many of you are underestimating the size of this thing:

With a design length of 4,500 feet, a width of 750 feet, and a height of 350 feet

18,000 living units, with prices in the range of $180,000 to $2.5 million, including a small number of premium suites currently priced up to $44 million.
3,000 commercial units in a similar price range
2,400 time-share units
10,000 hotel units
A World Class Casino
A ferryboat transportation system that provides departures every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day, to 3 or more local cities giving ship residents access to the local neighborhood and up to 30,000 land-based residents a chance to spend a day on the ship.
A World-Class Medical Facility practicing Western and Eastern medicine as well as preventive and anti-aging medicine.
A School System that gives the students a chance to take a field trip into a different Country each week for academic purposes
An International Trade Center that gives on-board companies and shops the opportunity to show and sell their products in a different Country each week.
More than 100 acres of outdoor Park, Recreation, Exercise and Community space for the enjoyment of residents and visitors.

A bit more than a parking garage or a prison.

dhoward · dhoward's Garage

"Iceberg! Dead ahead!"

ubiquity0 · 07-13-2005, 01:04 PM

I guess its not really like a prison. Prisons have yards that are open to the sky & outdoors. This thing has 100 acres of parks... underneath a concrete landing strip. Think of all those succesful urban parks underneath freeways & thats the type of environment they're proposing.

A 675 sq ft apartment with "hallway view" for $367,000 ? I think I'll hold on to my checkbook. And at 4500 feet long & 750 feet wide there are going to be an awful lot of hallway views!

teenerted1 · 07-13-2005, 01:56 PM

did anyone read the first sentence

"The Freedom Ship has little in common with a conventional ship; it is actually nothing more than a big barge."

isn't that what they move coal up the Mississippi with

arcsine · 07-13-2005, 02:19 PM

An interesting idea but I don't think it will be built.

And I don't think it would work long term. The ocean is a difficult environment to exist in. Just dealing with corrosion will be consuming. Not to mention keeping infrastructure going (HVAC, desalination, propulsion, refuse, power generation) on something the size of a couple of skycrapers with an airport on top. And then mix in a few storms, hurricances and the random giant squid.

But it does raise a question: The closest logical relative to something like this would be an aircraft carrier. While their propulsion systems are designed for extensive sailing time, what is the longest time the rest of the ship holds up without needing to be in dock for maintenance and how long are those maintainance cycles?

island911 · 07-13-2005, 02:23 PM

this is a monument to over taxation.

For those who don't know, the idea is to give people a way to circumvent tax law.

ubiquity0 · 07-13-2005, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by SoCal911SC

Because if you are a US citizen, don't you pay federal income tax to the US govt no matter where you are residing in the world, on income that you make anywhere in the world?

I think you qualify for rebates for periods you are living in another country. Living on a boat doesn't qualify though- you'd still have to pay federal income tax. I guess you'd save on state income tax, but given the typical maintenance fees of ~$10,000 per year it wouldn't be worth it

.

island911 · 07-13-2005, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by SoCal911SC
How would that work? .. .

I dont recall the details. Fairly convoluted ... something about ships at sea . .. old maritime treaties and all.

MikeSid · 07-13-2005, 02:47 PM

The problems with this idea are too numerous to list. And the tax relief potential is a fools paradise. What? Freedom Ship is "free"? I suppose the props work off of huge solar panels. Is there a Frredom Ship fire department?

It's a ridiculous scam with about as much merit as becoming a citizen of an abandoned French Island in the South Pacific that is underwater half of the year.

In the standings of stupid ideas, this ranks just below the "jump to conclusions mat"....not that there aren't buyers for both of those ideas!

ubiquity0 · 07-13-2005, 02:48 PM

I think Americans are out of luck in this respect, although other countries would allow it:
http://www.globalpolicy.org/nations/exprment/0425rsea.htm

"Apart from the numerous other amenities, the World may offer one that would be certain to make the voyage more enjoyable for the wealthy inhabitants: tax avoidance. "There is a tax spin on this," said John Whiting, a tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. "Most countries basically work on a residence basis. If you're resident there for half the year, you're resident there and taxed there. You could build a scenario that if you're on a cruise liner that circles the earth, calling at various points - you drift around the world, drinking gin or whatever - you're never resident anywhere. Clearly that has some interesting tax possibilities."

Not for the 40 percent of World residents who are American. The United States is one of the few countries that tax citizens on worldwide income, wherever they live. For citizens of most countries, however, "in principle it can be done," Mr. Whiting said. Tax authorities assume that citizens who are not resident at home will be resident in some other country that will probably tax their earnings, but tax codes do not explicitly state that citizens must have residency somewhere and that if they do not, then they are taxed in their country of citizenship. "