A Long and Hard Road Ahead

Time To Reset Our Thinking The Federal Reserve recently revised its economic forecast predicting that recovery will come in 2010 rather than later this year. Not surprising, since our titanic economy simply is not that nimble. Regardless of how aggressively a stimulus is applied, economies don’t turn on a dime. Case in point: In August 1981, the Economic Recovery Tax Act was passed to...

America Held a Tea Party

The Message Was a Bit Muddled By Frank Schiavone   Americans (well, at least some Americans) held a Boston-style Tea Party yesterday. The protest was apparently about taxes and big government. I think it’s fair to say that those that participated don’t like President Obama very much. He’s (choose one) a Marxist/Leninist, a European Socialist, a Mussolini Fascist, a corporatist, a false...

The Endangered Species Act Is Under Assault Yet Again

Please Speak Out To Protect the Endangered Species Act In the waning days of George W. Bush’s presidency, his Interior Department hastily promulgated new rules that essentially eviscerated the Endangered Species Act. These regulations, if allowed to stand, will have dire consequences. First, they would dramatically redefine the fundamental premises upon which the ESA rests. The new rules...

The New Deal Mortgage System and the Failure of Bullnomics

The Era of Market Triumphalism Is Over By Frank Schiavone “I feel that in some small way we are doing something important. Satisfying a fundamental urge. It’s deep in the race of man to want his own roof and walls and fireplace, and we’re helping him get those things in our shabby little office.” - George Bailey (It’s a Wonderful Life) The fully amortized, long-term mortgage is a...

Protecting Nature, When Convenient

Betrayal Rancho Cucamonga’s last General Plan Update was conducted in 2003. As always, the public was invited to participate. So I did, lobbying for several months to have the following language included in the General Plan’s Vision Statement: “Our city has recognized the importance of the natural resources within its purview and is sensitive to the threatened ecosystems that are present...