friend of the built environment

We are Not Japan: Simon Johnson digs deep into why both stimulus-happy debt-loving wallflowers and tax-cut-loving get-yer-govt-off-my-food-stamps-preachin’ wingnuts should diversify their silver-bullet holdings:
The Japan-US comparison is not generally compelling, particularly as Japan ran a current account surplus even during its destabilizing capital inflows of the 1980s.  The current US experience more closely matches the experience [...]

Urban is Sustainable.
My hubby commented recently that my “conversion” to urbanophilia was somewhat a sudden surprise to him.
One reason had to do with my foiled attempt at suburban homesteading, where I failed miserably to coax anything approaching a single meal out of my local soil. Career specialization one, me zero.
The other reason was that I [...]

Some interesting statistics about Canada’s Permanent Resident immigrants over the past decade:

The 2003-2006 boom years did NOT reduce the flow of Americans north, despite popular perceptions that Canada’s economy was “in the pooper” at that time (perceptions that helped bring the Harper government into power).
The supposedly empty threat of lefty Americans to move north after [...]

Microsoft Word sucks. Everything about it sucks. It’s like iPhone’s spell-checker on steroids, after having sex with Jupiter. With an extra buttraping by several unwashed armies of desert nomads. I’ve decided to start using Notepad to write my letters and memos.
I need to get work done, but can’t seem to obtain a 15-minute span of [...]

Paul Krugman Sez:
…[T]he best quarter-century of growth America has ever experienced, the postwar generation — which happens to be the era during which many of the founders of neoconservatism came of age! — has gone down the memory hole. After all, it’s impossible [according to modern econ theory] that living standards would double under a [...]

A little late for a Halloween entry, but true nonetheless:
Seriously Wall Street, it’s like watching a vampire feed and on top of it, the entire U.S. middle class turned into the walking dead. Do you think comatose, tapped out Zombies are going shopping anytime soon?

I’m skittish on long-term inflation, but was contemplating today, as ‘official’ unemployment passed the 10%-mark (an amazing feat considering at 30s-era measurements we’re probably well past depression-era unemployment levels), how policy could be used to stop what has turned out to be a much longer deflation than I personally expected.
Paul Krugman’s wonkish missive today inspired [...]

This is the sexiest thing I’ve seen in days…
Especially telling is how very short-lived the Bush boom-time was to the job market.

Incidentally, the same day we learn that consumer credit (exclusive of mortgage debt) contracted for another month in a row (and contracted more than forecast), my main rewards card issuer informed me that they will begin placing a 7-business-day (aka 9-12+ calender-day) hold on all payments before applying them to the available credit line.
I pay [...]

…That the two most common emotional reactions I have to the concept “the future” are terror and despair.
And yet, peak-everything deniers seem to consistently think that those of us who understand crash concepts are all cheering for some neo-agrarian utopia. I guess I know what Sarah Connor felt like.
Note, however, that Andrew Potter writes more like [...]

United Commercial Bank shut down by FDIC. Note that their losses were primarily in commercial real estate.
United Commercial was burned by commercial lending losses, especially loans to developers and home builders during the housing boom. But it also was tainted by a financial scandal that resulted in a shake-up of its top management.
Hey… Didn’t someone [...]

OK, I’ll chime in. I think the tuition tax is a great idea.
I would also support a tax on medical services.
Pittsburgh has pushed the new direction of its economic development hard. Every out-of-area commentator during the Gee-20 used the gaggingly cliche ‘eds-n-meds’ line to describe its transformation.
If you plan to direct your economic growth toward [...]

Zillow says it all:

Yes, I d00m a lot. It’s been a rough couple years for me. For most Americans I’d assume.
My case is particularly acute because I’ve got some major life decisions to make soon here, along with having a bit of a premature mid-life crisis (not to minimize anyone else’s acute case of d00miness). In any case, [...]

This article seems, unintentionally, to be a good summary for me of the different political environment which is the US.
Canadians might easily characterize the US as a far more ‘violent’ nation, with a much more pervasive creation myth that colors a lot of daily discourse. Michael Moore even made a movie about it.
Perhaps America’s creation [...]

I recently found online something I have been wanting for a very long time. It arrived today.

I’ve often said that I want to be Jane Jacobs when I grow up. I need to remind myself of that more often - maybe it might make me less acerbic.
I fly tonight. Should be nice to have this [...]

I’ve spent about 7 years in San Francisco. I tend not to think about the past four years of my life as years spent in San Francisco, since the majority of my home life has taken place in NC and Pittsburgh, but in fact the majority of my time since 2005 has been spent in [...]

Fear of the future is directly proportional to fear of debt. I’m living proof.
So James Kwak makes a good point (others have made similar ones recently):
I’m not a fan of massive and increasing government debts in the abstract, forever. Who is? And there are real arguments to be made on this topic. But that’s not [...]

Yes, I know, I’ve changed my tone in the last few months to some extent. People berating my new deficit-friendliness need to realize however, that there are lots of things we can do to shed debt without sacrificing a new job-creation stimulus machine.
First and foremost is to bring the boys back home. War is the [...]

For your geek-out enjoyment…

To Muni, and to PA.
But at least Greensboro’s still building Interstates…

It’s rare that I look forward to either bad economic news or being proved wrong. But we have this little news nugget, courtesy Randy:
Dubai accumulated $80 billion of debt by expanding in banking, real estate and transportation before credit markets seized up last year. Contracts protecting against default rose 116 basis points to 434 basis [...]

“All of us, if we are reasonably comfortable, healthy and safe, owe immense debts to the past. There is no way, of course, to repay the past. We can only repay those debts by making gifts to the future.” –Jane Jacobs