Graham on Everglades Restoration

January 12, 2011 Leave a comment

“We are going to have a challenging time in terms of getting adequate resources for the Everglades, and we are going to have a collective responsibility to develop a strategy to get those new leaders educated about the Everglades,” Graham said.

Graham said Florida’s primary economic issue was saving the Everglades, which supplies water for a large percentage of the state’s residents and provides hundreds of jobs through some restoration projects already in place.

Funding from the federal government is key, he said, cautioning environmentalists to correct anyone who labels Everglades funding as an earmark.

via Obstacles ahead for Everglades? Graham sees political hurdles to restoration.

Filed under Environment, Florida

Another Round of Financial Crises: Bill Daley Represents the Banks

January 12, 2011 Leave a comment

It is not “if”, it is “when” there will be another financial crisis, with the banks to be bailed out by the taxpayers yet again.

The banks are well represented in the White House.

Top executives at big U.S. banks want to be left alone during relatively good times – allowed to take whatever excessive risks they want, to juice their return on equity through massive leverage, to thus boost their pay and enhance their status around the world.  But at a moment of severe financial crisis, they also want someone in the White House who will whisper at just the right moment: “Mr. President, if you let this bank fail, it will trigger a worldwide financial panic and another Great Depression.  This will be worse than what happened after Lehman Brothers failed.”

Let’s be honest.  With the appointment of Bill Daley, the big banks have won completely this round of boom-bust-bailout.  The risk inherent to our financial system is now higher than it was in the early/mid-2000s.  We are set up for another illusory financial expansion and another debilitating crisis.

Bill Daley will get it done.

via The Bill Daley Problem « The Baseline Scenario.

Filed under Economy, National

The ECONOMIST on Public Sector Unions

January 11, 2011 Leave a comment

Stated quite succinctly…

This should guide the future for the city of Coral Gables–it is time to really change the benefits, the unions should cooperate, and, if not, at their own risk and that of the politician(s) and managers who keep coddling them.

The immediate battle will be over benefits, not pay… America’s states have as much as $5 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities. Historic liabilities have to be honoured (and properly accounted for, rather than hidden off the government’s balance-sheet). But there is no excuse for continuing them. Sixty-five should be a minimum age for retirement for people who spend their lives in classrooms and offices; and new civil servants should be switched to defined-contribution pensions.

via The public sector unions: The battle ahead | The Economist.

Filed under Coral Gables, Finance, Florida

Slesnick’s Election Platform

January 11, 2011 Leave a comment

Thanking the mayor for his new year’s greeting by email, he listed the following as his apparent platform (New Year’s resolutions) for running again this year,

  • Control costs to insure that municipal services are affordable to all;
  • Encourage and promote the smart growth of our business district as we emerge from the current economic recession;
  • Recruit and welcome new businesses to revitalize our economy and to create jobs;
  • Work with the School Board to improve and expand public education opportunities for all Gables students;
  • Focus on the development and promotion of cultural assets and international relationships.

Filed under Coral Gables, Politics

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