Other than peace of mind for future generations of relatives, however, there is really little to gain by an extension of the copyright period. The original creator of the work is gone, so he or she will not be complaining, and the original copyright act went fifty years beyond that person's death, so an extra twenty years does not gain much. What it does do is stop people with ideas that are creative and unique to some degree but would also play on or work with an older idea from getting those ideas to market and into the hands of readers and consumers.
This actually hurts the public as a whole, and people do not even realize it. It can also hurt creative people like writers and inventors of great ideas because they cannot do anything with those thoughts for an extra twenty years. Depending on their ages, they might not even be around to do something with those thoughts when that twenty years is up.
Should states be able to have homestead exemptions much larger than the federal exemptions and those of most other states?
In the debtor haven states there are huge homestead exemptions, sometimes as much as $25,000 to $50,000 or more, depending on the cost of the home. These are much bigger than what federal bankruptcy laws allow, which means that these people are sometimes able to file bankruptcy while keeping huge, expensive homes, or they hide their assets by putting all their money into their home to avoid paying anything.
States...
Federal law should always come before state laws, and if the federal bankruptcy laws list a certain amount for a homestead exemption then that is all that a person should be able to have for bankruptcy purposes. If the states want to give bigger exemptions for taxes and things, that is certainly their business, because the taxes belong to the states.
States choose to have large homestead exemptions to bring people to their state. Even though they get less tax revenue per home, they get more homes, so they get more money. people want to live in a place where their taxes are low, and states that have large homestead exemptions often find other ways to tax people so that they still get the money that they need. There are both advantages and disadvantages to both larger and smaller homestead exemptions for states.
A large homestead exemption will bring in people, while a smaller one brings in more revenue per home for the state. Depending on the demographics or the people who live there, one option or the other might actually be more beneficial for all. The state should find that option.
Bibliography
Cheeseman, Henry R.(2003). Contemporary Business & E-Commerce Law, 4th Edition, Prentice Hall ISBN: 0-13-034852-X
