Russell Shorto’s op-ed in the NYT — The Dutch Way: Bicycles and Fresh Bread — is a must-read for those who think America needs to break its addiction to automobiles, especially in congested urban centers. Before I quote from it,…
Month: July 2011
AJC asks: Is 2012 a pivotal year — a turning point — for Atlanta’s future?
The answer to the question in the title is yes. A sharp, clear yes. Of course, 2011 is not even over yet, so plenty more could happen this year. However, the legislature won’t start anything new this year, an increasingly…
A tour of the Savannah riverfront — from the Savannah River
I went out on a friend’s boat on Saturday and obviously took along my camera. We picked up the Savannah River near Elba Island and went all the way into Garden City. It’s a fascinating trip that reveals all the…
Update on the Georgia banking crisis
The FDIC recently released its enforcement actions against two more Georgia banks: Century Bank of Georgia in Cartersville and The Coastal Bank in Savannah. But The Coastal Bank had already gone public with that information. See this piece from the…
Missouri outlaws students and teachers being Facebook friends
Mashable has an interesting piece on a new Missouri law, which goes into effect on Aug. 28th, banning teachers and students from interacting with each other directly via Facebook or any other form of social networking: KSPR reports that it’s…
Missing from debt discussion and from the economy: economic growth
I’m pretty confident one way or another the debt limit will be raised. Great piece from the NYT today about the role of economic growth in the current deficit problem: Sure Cure for the Debt Problem: Economic Growth. Writer Catherine…
Some good news today: federal govt. and automakers agree to 54.5 mpg average by 2025
Some good news that got sort of lost on a rather grim news day. Automakers and the Obama administration today officially announced an agreement that almost doubles the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to 54.5 miles per gallon by…
Barrow out of Savannah in proposed Congressional redistricting map
[UPDATE 8/22: Find the proposed new U.S. congressional map here.] [UPDATE 8/12: The proposed Georgia state House and Senate district maps are here. The final proposed U.S. Congressional map should be available soon.] In his excellent Political Insider blog at…
Almost half of House Republicans opposed to Boehner plan from Ga., S.C. or Fla.
I was curious about which House members are firmly opposed to Boehner’s debt reduction plan — and I had a surprisingly hard time finding a list. The Hill has a list here. A sizable number of Republican representatives are still…
GDP growth at 1.3% annual rate, House fails to pass debt bill: Look out below!
No surprises here that GDP was overstated for the first quarter and was well below consensus for the second. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis this morning, first quarter GDP was revised down to a .4% annual rate, and…
Hard-hitting pieces today in the SMN on entitlements and jobs
I like tough, plain talk — as long as it is grounded in facts. And that’s been the problem with so much of the rhetoric about the deficit and debt, especially from the Tea Party: not enough facts. As I…
Samuelson on the debt: “It’s the elderly, stupid.”
Robert Samuelson’s column this evening in the Washington Post has a deliberately provocative title: Why are we in this debt fix? It’s the elderly, stupid. I’d say it’s a must-read for people who really want to understand the federal debt.…
90 years old. $3220 monthly income. $294 a month in rent.
There’s been a really interesting debate playing out on SavannahNow the last few days. First came this piece about a Savannah retiree, 90-year old Mary Hilton, who has been living for 60 years at the soon-to-be-history Strathmore Estates, which is…
Savannah area unemployment up year-over-year, but so are jobs
I’ve already posted about the misleading explanation by Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler for the statewide uptick in the unemployment rate to 9.9% in June. Butler blamed seasonal factors for data that has already been seasonally adjusted. Now the state…