Realist Columnists uses Outside Observations to yet again try to Teach Hoosiers a Lesson

Excerpts:

“The article gave a factual presentation of our state’s economic circumstances, but with an overriding sarcasm that left a bad taste in Hoosier mouths.

Probably this piece was assigned to the reporters before our Governor withdrew from the presidential primary race. However, since they already did the work, and it was a slow news day, an article depicting the difficulties of the denizens of Indiana must have seemed harmless.”

“This is our on-going problem. In good times and bad, Indiana generally fails to match or exceed the national rate of growth. We may not choose the hardships of a leadership position, but dare we settle for 25th or 33rd position in the economic derby of the 50 states?

We boast our fiscal position is sound, but we cannot claim our public services meet responsible standards. Part of the problem is money. We don’t want to invest in Indiana.”

“Would anyone want to invest in Indiana when the quality of our communities crumbles under the fiscal burden of a Tea Party mentality? Soon our low taxes will be all that we have to offer investors.

Ironically, the NYT was able to see all this while most Hoosiers remain blind to the disintegration of our state. And we were offended!”

“Few candidates for mayor this year and the two candidates-presumptive for governor in 2012 don’t talk about these matters. The so-called “social agenda” of abortion and gay marriage are more important to voters than the “survival agenda” of a state in danger of becoming a hole in the map between Detroit/Toledo and Chicago, Dayton/Louisville and St. Louis.

We have the money to flourish as a state. We lack sufficient insight and the necessary will to be more than mediocre.”

http://tribstar.com/business/x1692751488/EYE-ON-THE-PIE-Hoosiers-offended-by-report-in-the-New-York-Times

Schadenfreude.

What a beautiful word, it is German and means taking delight in someone else’s misery. As when some twit passes you on the interstate going about twenty over the speed limit and you mutter to yourself damn, where are the cops when you need them, and then over the next hill the guy is pulled over, and you pass by smiling broadly to yourself.

Exchange-traded warrants are complicated. There is an offer price, then after a period of time there is a settlement price depending on a formula. The biggest market for these things is Hong Kong where over $500 billion were traded last year.

Goldman Sachs (“too big to fail”, made millions when US economy imploded in 2008) is one of the major players in the Hong Kong market. They recently offered a product where in the prospectus the formula had a typo, where there should have been the divide symbol was the multiply symbol.

Oops.

The mistake meant that the offer price from Goldman was ridiculously low. Just after the opening of trading, the exchange began receiving complaints from traders who wanted to buy in. By mid-morning, with prices spiking and after a request from Goldman, the exchange suspended trading.

Of course now the lawyers are involved, but Goldman Sachs might be out somewhere around $50 million. It couldn’t happen to a nicer group of guys.

More is in the link below:

http://www.economist.com/node/18744559

China’s Holding of US Treasuries.

By: Michael Guess

Every so often you read or hear something like this: China is holding of billions of dollars in US Treasury bonds, and that puts us at risk as it could give them leverage over us via our currency.

Rubbish. China has the problem, not us. Let me explain.

This is how foreign exchange is supposed to work:
– A foreign company sells a product to a US company.
– The foreign company is paid in dollars.
– The foreign company takes the dollars to their Central Bank and exchanges them for their own currency.
– The Central Bank then goes on the open market, sells the dollars and buys their own currency.

But the Chinese Central Bank has decided not to sell the dollars. Instead they are just sitting on them. Why?

The answer has nothing to do with Chinese foreign policy and everything to do with Chinese domestic policy.

Selling a lot of something lowers the price, and buying a lot of something raises the price. The action of selling US dollars and buying Chinese yuan will affect the exchange rate between the two currencies. The Chinese currency would become more expensive compared to the US currency. In the case of the dollars and yuan the change in the exchange rate could be significant.

China is a dictatorship. The number one fear of the Chinese government is domestic unrest. A recent issue of the Economist magazine reported that the Chinese government now allocates more money to domestic security than to the military. A large increase in the value of the yuan will negatively affect the Chinese export industry. Millions of people would lose work. The very survival of the Party could be at risk.

Given that risk, what should the Chinese government do with all the dollars they are accumulating? Sell them and risk massive discontent, or just keep them? Clearly they have decided to hold the dollars, out of fear of the consequences.

Like I said, they have the problem, not us.

So…if in the future President Obama does something to offend China (like scheduling a lunch meeting with the Dalai Lama or something), and China responds by contacting Hillary Clinton and huffs and puffs that if that happens they will “use the dollar weapon”, she should smile sweetly at them and say: “Go ahead, make my day”.

Now, if you’re talking to somebody and they start going on about the Chinese owning us or something like that, explain the above to them. They will be impressed.

EPD Activity Report July 2 2011

Living Outside the Box is what makes Thinking Outside the Box Worth the Effort

IS IT TRUE that John Kish the Arena project manager and reluctant but game on manager of the downtown Convention Hotel Project is on camera stating that the hotel project is an 18 month construction project?…that the site on which the hotel is to be built is about as “shovel ready” as the country was when President Obama embarked upon the now infamous “Stimulus Plan”?…that a 10 foot pile of concrete, rebar, and guano is not quite ready to start building an hotel on yet?…that there are no detail drawings of any proposal for any hotel for downtown Evansville?…that Mr. Kish says that the hotel projects is on schedule to open in late 2012?…that is physically impossible given the 18 month construction project duration?…that we must start at the beginning and that the first step will be to issue a new RFP on July 6, 2011.

IS IT TRUE that the bids will be opened and/or presented by a new group of suitors during the 3rd week of July?…that there will then be a selection process that hopefully includes a VETTING PROCESS and involves ELECTED MEMBERS OF THE EVANSVILLE CITY COUNCIL?…that under the best of circumstances that this will be completed by mid August 2011?…that then there will be a formal announcement and a presentation of approved renderings?…that then there will be about another month to get a new CONTRACT SIGNED?…that by then it will be the middle of September of 2011?…that then and only then will any good business (and we trust that the next winning bidder will have been vetted and will be capable of proceeding) start a formal detail design process?…that the design may be completed and approved with permits issued by the END OF 2011?…that by the end of 2011 the Arena will be complete and that Mr. John Kish will be happy to be the heck out of Evansville and recuperating back home in Indianapolis?…that Mr. Kish’s 18 month construction timeline will end in a best case scenario of a Grand Opening in the Summer of 2013?

IS IT TRUE that in the case of a fully funded and vetted developer and a highly cooperative building commissioner may be able to pull this off in 12 months instead of the 18 months that conventional wisdom would estimate?…that a commitment to run two shifts may really make Mr. Kish’s end of 2012 completion date possible?…that other locations have actually offered performance bonuses in the millions of dollars to developers for early completions of all sorts of projects?…that a 7 figure bonus may be both necessary and appropriate to provide the carrot incentive needed to get this downtown Convention Hotel opened in time for the new head of the CVB to start booking conventions into the place?…that being a player in the 2013 convention season is worth offering a 7 figure bonus to the developer?…that if Evansville does not find a way to make this happen that 2013 will be the 4th year that the City of Evansville sat on the banks and watched the rest of the country compete for conventions?…that this is a NO-BRAINER?

IS IT TRUE that in other timing issues that the City Council and County Commissioners have kicked the consolidation plan approval down the road for another month in to August?…that when and if an approval takes place that there is a 30 day window for final approval?…that right now we are looking at mid September as the earliest that there will be something for the people of Vanderburgh County to examine?…that we bet the can will get kicked down the road for at least two more months?…that if these politicians can do that, and believe me they can, that no one running for office this year will have to offer a position on the consolidation plan before this year’s City of Evansville elections?…that none of the candidates are particularly enthused about having to issue an opinion on a consolidation plan this year?…that this should have been ready to be an election issue in this year’s City of Evansville elections?

IS IT TRUE that the Convention Hotel is the can that kicks itself down the road, but that the Consolidation Plan is the can that gets kicked down the road?

Overall Competitiveness of Division 1 Athletic Programs Compared

CLEVELAND – For the 17th straight year, Stanford takes home the top spot in the Division I Learfield
Sports Directors’ Cup standings with 1550.25 total points. The Cardinal most recently finished ninth in baseball. Ohio State took home second place with 1277.05 total points. With its fifth place showing in baseball, California moved into third with 1219.50 points. The Gators of Florida jumped into fourth after a second place finish in the College World Series. Rounding out the top five is Duke with 1171.50 points.

All 13 spring NCAA championships have been completed with the following institutions capturing titles:
baseball – South Carolina; women’s golf – UCLA; men’s golf – Augusta State (Ga.); women’s lacrosse –
Northwestern; men’s lacrosse – Virginia; women’s rowing – Brown (R.I.); softball – Arizona State;
women’s tennis – Florida; men’s tennis – Southern California; women’s outdoor track & field – Texas
A&M; men’s outdoor track & field – Texas A&M; men’s volleyball – Ohio State; and women’s water polo –
Stanford.

The Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of
Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each
institution’s finish in up to 20 sports — 10 women’s and 10 men’s.

The Missouri Valley Programs that the University of Evansville Purple Aces compete in Finished as follows in the Director’s Cup along with their overall scores.

#114 Creighton 150 points
#123 Illinois State 135 points
#129 Southern Illinois 129.5 points
#144 Wichita State 104.5 points
#148 Northern Iowa 102.5 points
#167 Indiana State 80 points
#205 Missouri State 50 points
#238 Bradley 25 points
#238 Drake 25 points
#280 Evansville 0 points

Link to full standings:

finald1standings10-11-2

IS IT TRUE that John Kish the Arena project manager and reluctant but game on manager of the downtown Convention Hotel Project is on camera stating that the hotel project is an 18 month construction project?…that in the very same interview done yesterday he also stated that the hotel project is on schedule for completion in late 2012?…that we know that adding a big number like 18 may only be taught in the second half of the 1st grade but earth to John, 18 months from today is January 2, 2013?…that there is one other nagging little detail that needs to be realized?…that RIGHT NOW THERE IS NO HOTEL PROJECT?…that just because the technicality of formally declaring default has not yet happen does not mean that this project and the contract that goes with it have more than a 1% chance of being resurrected?…that Mole #109 tells us that the discourse within Woodruff Hospitality LLC is so intense that “all the King’s horses and all the King’s men will not put this together again”?….that for any entity or any person to heal from internal discourse requires a desire to heal?…that Mole #109 tells us that Woodruff does not have unanimous consent to even consider a healing process?

IS IT TRUE that on Wednesday July 6, 2011 that unless Mary Poppins and Glenda the Good Witch converge on Evansville and inspire a healing of mythical proportion that the Evansville Redevelopment Commission will be formally defaulting the Downtown Hotel Development Agreement dated March 22, 2011 and formally announcing their new RFP?…that Mole #109 has learned that there really is a possibility that a HERO may be showing up with a response to the RFP?…that there will be allot of surprised faces if that really materializes?…that the City County Observer crosses our fingers that this time after a full four years of spinning around the bowl that the old ways finally do down the hole and that a new day dawns for how to vet and manage capital projects in the City of Evansville?

IS IT TRUE that it would be entirely appropriate and valuable for some member of the Evansville City Council and/or a candidate for the City Council or Mayor to come forward in a very public way with a proposal for a financial VETTING PROCESS?…a formal and appropriate VETTING PROCESS that is proposed to the City Council and adopted by the City Council would be a tremendous contribution to the evolution of governance and oversight in Evansville?…that it is just stupefying that no Vetting process has ever existed here?…that whomever does this and DOES IT IN TIME TO VET THE NEXT ROUND OF HOTEL BIDDERS will impress many voters?…that this is the kind of policy that makes “GOOD OLD BOY” deals more difficult to pull off and stabilizes the city?…that GOOD OLD BOYS almost never make it through a professional and appropriate VETTING PROCESS?

IS IT TRUE that the time for a VETTING PROCESS is right now and we should not even start to read developer proposals for the Downtown Convention Hotel until the government of the City of Evansville has the ability to read them and VET them established with a resolution adopted?…that if the City of Evansville had a VETTING PROCESS in place that the following two paragraphs would have never been NEEDED?

IS IT TRUE that it has now been 1,523 days since the announcement was made on May 14, 2007 that the McCurdy Hotel was to be refurbished into luxury apartments?…that it has now been 1,376 days since the Evansville Redevelopment Commission at the request of Mayor Weinzapfel approved the spending of $603,000 to purchase the parking lot?…that City Centre Properties and Scott Kosene the developers of the McCurdy project are both listed as contributors to the Weinzapfel for Mayor committee for 2010?

IS IT TRUE that there are now 486 days remaining in the two years that the EPA had given the City of Evansville to present an acceptable solution to the Combined Sewer Overflow problem?…..that this plan is an expensive and complex endeavor that needs immediate attention to avoid the embarrassment and expense of another round of fines?

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