New American Paradigm

Starbucks Economy Update

A while back I talked about Starbucks being the proverbial canary in a coal mine with respect to the health of our economy.  To me it seemed the most obvious example of conspicuous consumption that represented our debt driven economy, and the place where newly stingy Americans would cut back drastically.

Well it turns out I was onto something.  Check out this graphical illustration of Starbucks store closures around the country from just the last year:

Iran Students Teach Us About Freedom

Some pretty important people have died recently.  You might have even noticed it on your evening news or splashed across your favorite blog.

No, not Michael Jackson or Steve McNair (if you don't know who he is your husband will.) 

I'm speaking of Neda and other more anonymous protesters, mostly young people, who continue to give their lives in defense of freedom in Iran.

Neda's death hit us all particularly hard.  She's a strikingly beautiful young woman, and like a lot of young Iranians, torn between tradition and western style wearing jeans and makeup under her hijab.  She can be seen laughing and smiling while chanting with her fellow students in a video taken before the shot came that took her life.  We know her name from her music teacher who is heard crying her name after she was shot in cold blood.

Global Warming Costs Illustrated

If there is one thing I hope to accomplish one day with this blog, it's convincing a few people that their simplest choices can have devastating consequences for someone somewhere else in the world.

For example, the mining practices used in Africa to power our laptops and cell phones probably resulted in someone's death.  Either the minerals are used to fund wars the way West Africa diamonds once did, or the environmental protections are so lax that people are poisoned or simply driven from their homes.  If consumers agreed to pay just a little more, computer makers could pay more for the material and therefore afford more environmentally sound practices.

The Global Warming "Debate"

Over the last 20 years or so a trend in journalism has begun to drive me really crazy. It's the confusion over objectivism and perpetuating a lie.

Journalists, not to be confused with the nitwits on cable tv, are supposed to present the facts... not their own bias. It's a difficult task but something the pros strive to do their entire career. Usually that means presenting the various sides of a debate as equally valid opinions so that their viewers and readers can make an informed decision of their own.

Unfortunately, when one side is favored by the facts, they still feel the need to present the alternative viewpoint. It's a bit like doing a story about life as an African American and feeling the need to interview the KKK to represent the "other side".  Sometimes there is no justifiable opposition... why pretend there is?

Saturday Sanity: Capucine Tells a Story

A young French girl named Capucine tells her mother a story. My favorite part is when she's not sure what to call a "shield." So serious about her craft. LOL. If you watch this and don't think "awwwww" there is something wrong with your soul.

Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

Friday Foto: Carnivore Win

My sister is vegan and I respect the lifestyle choice people like her have made... but this is just too funny not to share.

Passive-Aggressive Carnivore for the win!

Streetcar Architecture

A funny thing happens when you change transportation infrastructure like Portland, Oregon has; building design adapts to it.

Portland's future and its past intersect at 28th Avenue and East Burnside.

A hundred feet or so from an old red brick trolley barn -- long since converted to offices -- workers are constructing an eye-catching, four-story condo with ground-floor retail.

Stunning as it is with its protruding, stucco-boxed balconies, the Sunrose Condominiums traces its pedigree right back to the trolley barn era. A century ago, many buildings on commercial streets served by streetcars were built with storefronts flush to the sidewalks and with one or two stories of apartments or offices above.

The interesting thing about this is that many cities, my own included, are trying to force development into these old standards.  But what we're finding is that the market naturally heads in that direction when you bring back the old transportation techniques.

In addition to being more aesthetically pleasing and environmentally sensitive, this type of development is also inherently more sustainable.  The retailers on the bottom floors have built in customers, and also nighttime residents with a vested interest in keeping an eye on criminal activity in the area.

Separating uses not only forces us into cars, but it creates a system unfairly gamed in favor of big business over small.

Weaponized Keynesianism

Rep. Barney Frank, ever the streetfighter, came up with a classic name for the bizarre cognitive dissonance exhibited by Republicans when it comes to the jobs created by government spending:

These arguments will come from the very people who denied that the economic recovery plan created any jobs. We have a very odd economic philosophy in Washington: It’s called weaponized Keynesianism. It is the view that the government does not create jobs when it funds the building of bridges or important research or retrains workers, but when it builds airplanes that are never going to be used in combat, that is of course economic salvation.

This strikes at the heart of the flawed logic that many have in opposition to the stimulus package.  We know for a fact that government spending can have a stimulative effect in a recession.  One need only look to the last depression.

When FDR's New Deal spending began, the GDP grew and unemployment shrank.  When Republicans forced him to balance the budget too quickly, the economy dipped back into recession.  Then we finally climbed out of our economic funk when the US entered WWII and kickstarted the manufacturing sector in building our war machine.

The notion that we should balance budgets in recession and rack up deficits during the good times is totally foolish.

Why Are Housing Starts Up?

Some pundits are pointing to increased housing starts as a sign the economy is recovering. 

Don't be fooled.

A couple things are happening.  As Paul Krugman, Nobel Laureate economist and liberal conscience, notes, a 17% increase in next to nothing is still next to nothing.

new-home construction has come to a virtual standstill, so even large percentage changes mean only a handful of extra homes started. If we’re building 6 homes a month nationwide, and that goes to 7, it’s a 17 percent rise — but makes almost no difference in real life.

There's another issue at hand as well.  In many markets developed lots are in such oversupply they will take years to absorb.  In most cases that means banks have repossessed them from leveraged developers who cannot unload them in a timely fashion. 

Not wanting vacant land on their books, banks are selling lots at firesale prices which makes selling a new home on them competitive with existing homes.  Builders who have survived the crash but sit twiddling their thumbs have nothing to risk snapping up these cheap lots.

Once those developed lots are absorbed, there won't be any new ones for a long times with snakebitten banks reluctant to lend on such projects.

To put it another way, vultures picking at a corpse laying in the desert sun is no sign of health.

Newspaper Want Ad Irony

Just wanted to bring everyone their daily dose of comic irony.

It's no secret newspapers of the dead tree variety are having financial problems due because of the internet.  Content is more easily digestible by consumers in searchable, linkable, blogable bits and bytes.

But the internet opened up a second front in its' war to destroy print media.  Craigslist.  Yes, newspapers once saw a huge chunk of their revenue come from classified ads, a format all but destroyed because of Craigslist and other web services like job and service search sites.  Newspaper publishers like to complain about this fact at great length and mau mau Craigslist for advertising "adult services" apparently forgetting they've long been the source for escort and "masseusse" ads.

So guess where the Seattle Times decided to advertise for an Associate Video Producer for its website?

Craigslist.

UPDATE:  Apparently I should look further before destroying my chance at a job.  They're also advertising for a web designer.  Oops.

Have I ever mention I always liked you guys better than the P-I?