My husband was able to retire fairly young from a government job.

Laws governing real estate agents are left to each state to determine such as what counts as proper paperwork for a transaction and even how long a broker has before they're required to get back to you.

The real question is - will the government get involved if they feel this will discriminate against buyers with less income, veterans, or other protected classes.

As an owner of one rental property, I found out that I was/am supposed to send a 1099 to a contractor who did some work for us on our rental property last year, and file a 1099 on that same contractor with the federal government.

The economy is thriving in several areas -- pharmaceutical, medical, IT, Distribution centers, manufacturing, government defense, sports, convention center -- a wide variety, so we aren't depending on only one type of industry. 

Absolutely not and hence the hotel association is right to be concerned and demand that the government take preventative action.

An accepted/established practice that is shaken up by government ruling/intervention during an age like this has the potential to be path altering.

Maybe if there were a crime spree terrorizing the entire county, but I'm not even sure about that.The bottom line, in business and in government is, "where is the money going to come from?"

The assumption here is that the US government will continue to be a government and will not default on its loans.

Why can't you simply escrow the costs of the road repairs with the local government or provide them a letter of credit to accomplish this?