What Think the Candidates about the Budget and Taxes?

September 22, 2010 Leave a comment

We have seen published several names of possible and likely candidates for positions of Commissioner or Mayor.  Nevertheless, to my knowledge none of these new candidates have appeared at the Commission budget hearings with a view on taxes,  pensions and benefits.  With the exception of Mr. Kerdyk whose views are well known, it is quite surprises that the other candidates haven’t stood before the Commission to state their views.

This silence is very concerning.

A candidate who does not speak his/her views on the budget stands in full agreement with the Commission. [Quien calla, otorga]

Filed under Budget, Coral Gables

US Latin American Policy–What is it?

September 21, 2010 Leave a comment

The weakness of the US policy toward Latin America is refered to in an article today El Pais.  I recently attended a presentation of the Subsecretary of State for Latin America that confirmed that our policy toward Latin America is not well focussed but accommodating to many different subregional issues.

En América Latina está pasando de todo. El dinamismo en la economía, los negocios, la política, la sociedad, en sus relaciones internacionales, y hasta en la criminalidad, es obvio. En contraste, la política de Estados Unidos hacia América Latina es letárgica, poco imaginativa y sorprendentemente irrelevante.

via Mientras Washington duerme… · ELPAÍS.com.

Filed under International

More on the Same Depressing Subject

September 20, 2010 Leave a comment

It is hard to imagine that except for very extraordinary conditions the economic recovery will be hard and long.   Coral Gables will not feel a recovery any more than any other area of the country. Beware City of Coral Gables for further declines in property values.

…the extraordinary length of the recession that…began when the collapse of the subprime mortgage market triggered the most severe financial crisis since 1929.

An official end date for the recession also makes it official that the recovery since 2009 has been unusually weak and jobless. That gives evidence to those who argued that recovery from a recession caused by a financial crisis would be slow and painful as households struggle to pay down their debts.

via FT.com / US / Economy & Fed – Downturn longest since Great Depression.

Filed under Coral Gables, Economy, National

On “Seven More Years of Hard Times?”

September 20, 2010 Leave a comment

Cogent conclusion of an interesting (somewhat technical)  review of some important recent research on periods of economic recession and financial crises.  In short, we are in this for the long haul.

It is not true that if you break a mirror, you will have seven years’ bad luck. That is a superstition. But if you allow a financial market to spin wildly until it breaks down, it really does seem that you run the risk of years of economic malaise. That is a historical pattern.

via Seven More Years of Hard Times? – Project Syndicate.

Filed under Economy, International

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