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…
John Mellencamp – Johnny Mercer Theatre – 11/11/11
One of Tybee Island’s most famous residents. Or is he a former resident? Public tickets on sale on 8/5. Presale seats on 8/3. UPDATE 10/25: There is still one front row seat available for the $125 ticket price, and there…
And for tonight’s mindless entertainment . . .
. . . a 6-year old destroys her room in 40 seconds. WARNING: Some of you might find this disturbing rather than funny or cathartic. Anyone know the history of this? There’s a claim on the YouTube page that it’s…
Missing details in NPR’s coverage of military families with underwater mortgages
In one of my first posts on this blog — Homebuyer tax credits: A post mortem — I wrote about a particular military couple that had bought a home at too high a price who are now underwater on their…
Ben Sollee / Cheyenne Marie Mize / General Oglethorpe & the Panhandlers – Forsyth Park – 09/03/11
Well this is shaping up to be a great gig in Forsyth Park, right on the cusp of fall. From the Savannah Bicycle Campaign press release: Classically trained pop cellist Ben Sollee and his band will headline a concert at…
Larry Summers on the insufficient stimulus
A wonkish post. Ezra Klein with The Washington Post has a fascinating interview online with former treasury secretary Larry Summers. They talk about Keynes, regulation, financial crises, and politics. They also talk about the stimulus of early 2009. Summers says:…
Gus the bulldog really wants an indoor pool
Home prices leveling off — at least for now
Amidst all the strife over the debt ceiling, today’s Case-Shiller release sort of got lost in the news. As expected, the index for May (actually an average of March, April, and May) showed prices up about 1% compared to April,…
Will Savannah jump on the food truck bandwagon?
I’m sure I made some people mad with my column this morning in the SMN: Savannah suffers food-truck envy. On Facebook and in private conversations, I’ve been hearing again and again about how exciting food trucks would be in Savannah…