Saturday, July 25, 2015
The Confessions of a San Francisco Lefty: The city’s devastating affordability crisis has an unlikely villain—its famed progressive politics.
San Francisco lefty Gabriel Metcalf asks: What's the Matter With San Francisco? and his answer is spot on.
Note: The anti-building environment in San Francisco that Metcalf is writing about is slowly being chipped away at. There are many buildings, both office and residential, that are going up, particularly in what is known as the SOMA area. As more and more Silicon Valley types move into the area, the lefty counter-culture is being diluted. Sometimes, downtown around 5:30, it feels like you are in the middle of Manhattan, with the accompanying high energy. The SV crowd is a contradictory bunch, they hold a lot of lefty social views but, at the same time,they have a can- do creative spirit toward business. They want to earn the money that new technology can bring and they want to spend it. So the building will go on.
Here are some of the cranes of SOMA:
Newly completed office space in this area:
-RW
Note: The anti-building environment in San Francisco that Metcalf is writing about is slowly being chipped away at. There are many buildings, both office and residential, that are going up, particularly in what is known as the SOMA area. As more and more Silicon Valley types move into the area, the lefty counter-culture is being diluted. Sometimes, downtown around 5:30, it feels like you are in the middle of Manhattan, with the accompanying high energy. The SV crowd is a contradictory bunch, they hold a lot of lefty social views but, at the same time,they have a can- do creative spirit toward business. They want to earn the money that new technology can bring and they want to spend it. So the building will go on.
Here are some of the cranes of SOMA:
Newly completed office space in this area:
-RW
Pearson in Talks to Sell its 50 Per Cent Stake in the Economist Group
Pearson is in negotiations to sell its 50 per cent stake in the Economist Group, publisher of the stodgy Economist magazine, reports FT.
Pearson’s stake is considered to be worth about £400m,
The talks come in the same week as Pearson’s £844m sale of the FT Group to Nikkei of Japan.
Pearson acquired half of the Economist in 1957, as part of its acquisition of the Financial Times. But its stake is constituted of B shares, which entitle it to name only six of the 13 members of the group’s board.
The majority of the board are named by the holders of the A shares - families including the Cadburys, Rothschilds and Schroders, as well as some current and former employees. The Economist’s editorial independence is safeguarded by the fact that the trustees must approve any transfer of A or B shares, and the appointment of each new editor, reports FT.
Sales of print advertising at the Economist fell 18 per cent in 2014.
-RW
Pearson’s stake is considered to be worth about £400m,
The talks come in the same week as Pearson’s £844m sale of the FT Group to Nikkei of Japan.
Pearson acquired half of the Economist in 1957, as part of its acquisition of the Financial Times. But its stake is constituted of B shares, which entitle it to name only six of the 13 members of the group’s board.
The majority of the board are named by the holders of the A shares - families including the Cadburys, Rothschilds and Schroders, as well as some current and former employees. The Economist’s editorial independence is safeguarded by the fact that the trustees must approve any transfer of A or B shares, and the appointment of each new editor, reports FT.
Sales of print advertising at the Economist fell 18 per cent in 2014.
-RW
Firefighters Battling Blaze at 5 Star Las Vegas Hotel
Fire crews are fighting a fire at The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, reports the Clark County Fire Department.
The chic five star hotel is located across the Strip from Planet Hollywood and has views of the adjacent Bellagio fountains.
UPDATE
The chic five star hotel is located across the Strip from Planet Hollywood and has views of the adjacent Bellagio fountains.
— Nathan Brookfield (@nather) July 25, 2015 -RW UPDATE
#Cosmopolitan workers say fire started at Bamboo Pool. Fire is out. Flames and smoke plume were huge.#LasVegas pic.twitter.com/ZvVp9a6its
— Matt Keller (@MattKellerABC7) July 25, 2015
The NYC Diamond District – How to Avoid the Shopper’s Trap
By Paul Gian
New York City’s famous Diamond District is home to more than 4,000 jewelers and wholesalerscongregated at one single location. Situated in Midtown Manhattan, the entire street is a constellation of small jewelry stores and exchanges selling various types of gemstones, fine jewelry and diamonds.
Photo credits: Chris Ruvolo
The District Generates More Than $24 Billion in Annual Sales
Did you know that more than 90% of diamonds imported into the US market actually pass hands through the district before making their way to other retailers down the pipeline? Not coincidentally, one of world’s largest and oldest diamond exchange,the DDC, also resides at the heart of the district.
Whether you are a serious shopper or someone who’s just browsing out of curiosity, you’ll find an overwhelming selection of diamond jewelry on display. In today’s post, we are going to take an indepth view into shopping at New York’s famed Diamond District and offer tips to help you navigate the pitfalls of spending money there.
Where Is The Location Of NYC’s Diamond District On The Map?
You can find the Diamond District in NY along West 47th Street in between the 5th and 6th Avenue. In the excerpts from Google Map below, I had indicated the district with a red line.
Most stores are open on weekdays and Saturdays from 9.30am to 5.30pm. Do note that the opening hoursmay vary from store to store and certain businesses only allow visitors by appointment only.
9 Essential Tips For Shopping in the Diamond District of NYC
As a consumer, you might assume that the Diamond District at 47th Street is an ideal destination to start shopping for a diamond ring. However, the truth is far from that. In fact, it may actually be more difficult for the average consumer to buy a truly high quality engagement ring than anywhere else.
To the uninitiated, the Diamond District is a huge shark tank. During my visit, I had personally experienced the sinister side of the district where jewelers tried to rip me off by assuming I’m an average Joe who knows nothing about buying diamonds.
First Sign of El Niño in the Sierra Nevada
LaTi has the news:
It's the middle of the summer, but it felt a bit like winter in the Sierra this week as a storm dumped four inches of hail on Interstate 80 around Donner Summit.-RW
There was so much pea-sized ice that the California Highway Patrol on Tuesday halted traffic and called out snowplows — known as the "Sierra Snowfighters" — for help.
"It looked just like snow, a blanket of snow across all the lanes," said California Department of Transportation snowplower John Wheeler. "It was really weird."
The hail storm was just the latest strange weather to hit the Sierra Nevada, influenced by the weather-changing phenomenon El Niño....
Lifelong residents in the mountain communities around Lake Tahoe have been talking about the weather for weeks. It has caused many to think back to the biggest El Niño year on record, 1997-98, when rains flooded homes along the Truckee River.
The amount of cumulative hail so far in July has been impressive, said Scott McGuire, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service's Reno office.
"We've certainly had more moisture in our region than we typically do," McGuire said, adding that El Niño "is definitely playing a role. It provides fuel for the atmosphere."
The Federal Reserve Data Release Error: The Data was Released Five Years Early!
How early?
There is generally a five year lag before such data is released, that is, the data was not supposed to be publicly released until 2020.
The Fed on Thursday referred the matter to its inspector general and on Friday alerted financial-market regulators. The Fed on Friday also notified its congressional overseers, the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee, reports WSJ. It also released a public statement.
The bungling did not stop, however, with the early Friday statement announcing the error, by late Friday the Fed issued a second statement reporting a correction to the first error correction statement.
It didn't take long for House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R., Texas), who appears to be after Fed Chair Janet Yellen, to respond:
It regrettably appears once again that proper internal controls are not in place to safeguard confidential Federal Reserve information.To say these recurring leaks at the Fed are troubling is a serious understatement and points to the urgent need for accountability reforms.
“For those wanting to bash the Federal Reserve to score political points, this is pure gold,” said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst with Guggenheim Securities. “It fuels the perception of some that the Federal Reserve cannot be trusted with the economy.”
What? Fed Makes Error in Release of Data That Was Released in Error
Early Friday, the Federal Reserve announced that it was releasing data, economic projections of the Fred staff, that was released online in error.
By the end of the day, Friday, the Fed made a second announcement about a secone error, that some of the data in the first release was incorrectly provided.
Here's the new Fed release:
By the end of the day, Friday, the Fed made a second announcement about a secone error, that some of the data in the first release was incorrectly provided.
Here's the new Fed release:
Release Date: July 24, 2015
For release at 7:30 p.m. EDT
The Federal Reserve Board on Friday supplemented an earlier release by providing Board staff projections prepared for the June 16-17 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee.
Some entries in the table released earlier differed from the Board staff projections prepared for the June FOMC meeting.
The attached table provides the staff projections that were prepared for the June FOMC meeting as well as the projections released earlier today.
Attachment (PDF)-RW
How to Call Forward Calls as an ATT Customer
This is far from the usual themes here at EPJ, but I suspect there may be many ATT customers who are having the same problem I experienced with call forwarding.
So I am going to stick this post in the wee hours of the night and my apologies for those of you looking for comments about the economy.
Here is the problem, There are some ATT customers that can not properly change a forwarding number from their phone. I was among them.
So I am going to stick this post in the wee hours of the night and my apologies for those of you looking for comments about the economy.
Here is the problem, There are some ATT customers that can not properly change a forwarding number from their phone. I was among them.
Friday, July 24, 2015
Prices for Historic Houses Near Civil War Battle Sites are Rising Faster Than the National Average
Out of 1.8 million active listings in the U.S. at the end of May, 32,240 were on or near one of the roughly 300 Civil War battle sites, according to realtor.com.
Reports WSJ:
Reports WSJ:
In the 23 markets with two or more battlefields, all but one have higher median list prices compared with prices last year, and 17 are seeing faster year-over-year listing-price growth than the national average of 7%. Of course, other factors influence buyers in these markets, but proximity to well-preserved battle sites and green space adds to their appeal...
In Franklin, Tenn., near the 1864 Battle of Franklin, Joseph Cashia, a retired health-care executive, and his wife, attorney Angela Humphreys, bought a circa-1810 Federal-style home on 18 acres for $2.85 million in 2006, and have since poured about $1 million into the home’s restoration.
Living in the home became a treasure hunt. In a hidden staircase, the couple found a sheet of striped yellow wallpaper from the 1830s. They had the sample reproduced for the dining room. Beneath layers of paint, they found “marbleization”—painted patterns applied to hardwood to make it appear like stone. “The nouveau riche wanted to look a little richer,” Mr. Cashia said. On some nights, the couple lights the home with candlelight.
“I like all things Tennessee,” says Mr. Cashia, 58, who is an avid collector of Federal-style furniture from the state. Before moving there, the couple lived in a 1990s “typical box-kind-of home,” Mr. Cashia said. In May, the couple listed the home for $4.5 million, saying they plan to downsize to a smaller home in Georgia. They hope the buyer is equally enthusiastic about history....
Owning a historic home comes with responsibilities. Annual maintenance runs into the six figures, thanks in part to utility bills, like heating, for the main house and caring for the formal gardens, Mr. Cashia said. The home is on the National Register of Historic Places, which aims to keep the home’s facade mostly unchanged. Inside, they installed new modern conveniences, such as a new kitchen and a whole-house sound system, but painstakingly avoided damaging the 14-inch-thick walls. Wireless reception is spotty in places.
A Southern antebellum home can also carry with it difficult reminders of the history of slavery. Mr. Cashia said he didn’t think much about the home’s legacy—it was a working plantation before the war—until an African-American businessman from Chicago and his family showed up at his door in 2013. They told Mr. Cashia that they had traced their family lineage to a former slave on the plantation. Mr. Cashia gave them a tour of the property and has since provided them historical documents he found that shed light on their forebear. The home “has seen the good, and it’s seen the bad,” Mr. Cashia said, and says he sees his role as a caretaker for the house.
Homes for Sale Near Civil War Battles
What the Lefty Elite Really Think About Uber
They think, it should be regulated and taxed and that it is an indication that "new social and regulatory policies, often global in nature, that embody a new social contract for the twenty-first century" are required.
Very scary stuff from Kemal Derviş at the Brookings Institute.
-RW
Very scary stuff from Kemal Derviş at the Brookings Institute.
-RW
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