Jeez, who would have thought that cost estimates from 2006 would be way off from today’s numbers? I did.
Maybe I should be hired as a consultant for the DOT. Here’s Ron Paananen of the WSDOT today, regurgitating my comments from July:
Paananen says the governor and legislature still have to finalize a plan to pay for the new bridge, which could open as early as 2014. “We have had to deal with, over the past two years, some pretty high inflation as it relates to materials and construction cost.”
Ya think?
Komo’s Brian Johnson put it best, “even with a ten dollar round trip toll, there’s not enough money to finance any of these plans.”
I’ll say it again. Time to consider realistic action NOW to save this failing structure. Float in a new span — replace the existing one, and retrofit the existing columns. Let’s get real before the thing sinks.
A politician would be crazy to ignore numbers like these (if you assume they reflect the electorate.) This is from a KIRO online poll that launched on Oct 22.
The “Yes” numbers haven’t changed in several weeks, so it will be interesting to see if a flurry of clicks come in now. (I’ve seen results change on KIRO polls when organizations with large staffs and PR firms become aware of the results…)
Wake up politicians. Just float in a replacement span and fix the damn bridge before it sinks.
Very cute. An article just a little too good to be true has appeared on the New York Times site and seems to “predict” the current economic mess, while placing much of the blame on the Clinton administration.
Here are some choice snippets from “Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending” (emphasis mine:)
The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets — including the New York metropolitan region — will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.
Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.
Oh, I see — now it’s Clinton’s fault??
”Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990’s by reducing down payment requirements,” said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae’s chairman and chief executive officer. ”Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.’
Here’s the killer:
In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980’s.
And:
Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.
Crazy. Everyone knows the problem is deregulation! Sheesh. Let’s see how long this stays up before they catch it.
I don’t know if your Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier is like ours — but after watching the sketch below, the only conclusion I could reach is that Kristin Wiig is showing what would happen if my favorite canine breed took human form.
For those of you considering getting a Wheaten, watch this and learn from our experience.
Sheesh, my alma mater the UW is only number 8? Well, at least the business school is highly ranked nationally. Business Week ranked the Foster School of Business Undergraduate Program 11th among public institutions, 33rd among all national business schools, and 5th for student ROI.
To get the complete picture, get to your local newsstand and buy the October issue of Seattle Metropolitan.
Stefan Durham and Matthew Halverson of Seattle Metropolitan Magazine (with research support from Jessica Campbell and Megan Clark) have tallied up the scores and here is how the rankings fall for 2008:
1. Whitman College
2. University of Portland
3. Reed College
4. Gonzaga University
5. Willamette University
6. Multnomah University
7. Pacific Lutheran University
8. University of Washington
9. Whitworth University
10. Seattle University
11. Walla Walla University
12. Western Washington University
13. University of Puget Sound
14. Lewis and Clark College
15. University of Oregon
16. Seattle Pacific University
17. Oregon Institute of Technology
18. Corban College
19. Central Washington University
20. Northwest Christian University
21. George Fox University
22. Warner Pacific College
23. Oregon State University
24. Evergreen State College
25. Linfield College
26. Pacific University
27. Washington State University
28. Washington State University - Vancouver
29. Eastern Washington University
30. Western Oregon University
31. Northwest University
32. Washington State University - Tri-Cities
33. University of Washington - Bothell
34. Portland State University
35. University of Washington - Tacoma
36. Southern Oregon University
37. St. Martin’s University
38. Eastern Oregon University
39. Cornish College of the Arts
Here is an overview of their methodology.
So when ranking the top 39 schools in the Northwest, we focused on the qualities that, taken together, have an effect on not only the college experience but everything that comes after it: How involved in the community are the students? How likely are they to give to their alma mater After graduating? (and by extension, how much did they like their alma mater?) how happy are they With the education they got and where it took them in life?
Yes, we factored in numbers that favor highfalutin bastions of book learnin’, too, but this list Is for those who are more interested in how the whole package adds up (whether prospective students, anxious parents of the same, or proud alums) than just a diploma from a prestigious institution.
We ranked our colleges according to eight variables, giving double weight to sophomore retention rates as reported by the schools, student satisfaction with academics as measured by the survey web site studentsreview.com, and overall scores from U.S. News’ “Best Colleges 2009″ report.
Average SAT and GPA scores of entering freshmen, percentages of work-study funds going to community service, Student satisfaction ratings of campus social life (from studentsreview.som), and alumni giving rates all received single weighting.
In order to ensure that each variable, respective of its assigned weight, contributed evenly to our final average scores, we adjusted all data sets to have a mean of two and a standard deviation of two [following a four-point scale]. though all efforts were made to fill out each data set as completely as possible, some schools do not track or were occasionally unable to disclose some figures.
Wall Street salaries average $340,000, or more than five times those in the rest of the city’s economy. Each securities job creates two others, according to the state comptroller’s office, meaning the hurt will be felt everywhere from retail and restaurants to law and accounting. Economists have predicted the city will shed as many as 90,000 jobs during this downturn.
Business travel (and tourism) should be affected:
To make matters worse, some economists are worried about tourism, which has continued to set records in New York even as it has withered in the rest of the country. The global nature of the financial crisis may pare travel everywhere. Some tourists may not want to visit the city at the center of the financial turmoil. And the rebounding dollar means the city is no longer as cheap as it once was.
SO. Why are hotel rooms still going for a kings ransom?
Here’s my 2003 reservation confirmation for a stay at the Muse Hotel:
Now look at my attempt to book a room next month:
Seems like the tourism industry is still pretty healthy. This level of demand surprises me though…
Regarding the Palin nomination, Peggy Noonan, and the premature pontifications here and here: I guess the flip response could be “you wish.” Check out how the three post convention polls are tracking according to realclearpolitics.
John Belushi channels his reaction from the great beyond:
I guess two can succeed at the let’s nominate a “charismatic politician with a thin resume” game. It will be exciting (to say the least!) to see how the cerebral one with coastal appeal fares against the one that middle America can relate to.
At least that’s the first thing that came to my mind when I heard of what seems to be an illusory business-friendly tax cut.
I’ve heard him say this many times, and it’s always sounded non-sensical to me. Obama says he will:
…eliminate all capital gains taxes on small and start-up businesses to encourage innovation and job creation.
This is all that’s mentioned about this elusive break in the “Barack Obama’s Plan For Small Business” PDF on his site.
I don’t understand. Where and how do startups and small businesses pay this tax now? I’m trying to imagine the scenario where this happens. Perhaps someone who sells stock to fund a startup would not have to pay capital gains? Seems unlikely.
Seriously, if anyone has any knowledge about this I’d like to know.
UPDATE: My friend Steve has a notion that I did consider but rejected almost immediately. That is that when you sell your business you wouldn’t pay cap gains. I find it that very hard to believe. Cashing out reflects a mature business owned by what’s largely received as a “fat cat.” Both seem in violation of the spirit of what Obama is proposing, and certainly would not sit well with his core constituency. In a nutshell, I don’t believe it.
The fact that no one (so far) seems to be able to decipher what Obama means implies either his vaunted economic expertise may be overstated, or he’s just trying to slip one by us. Of course, I could be missing something, and the plan could be fully baked somewhere that I just haven’t read yet…
Wow. The register reports that if you post to your blog using the Google browser, Google owns the content. Hey — that’s “evil”!
This reminds me of my discussions with Steve Roth. He’s taken the position that the Republican congress-persons have an inherent evil streak, and recent convictions prove it. I say that absolute power corrupts absolutely and when a party dominates all three branches of government, you’re going to see gross levels of abuse. My proof is the spate of convictions in the late 70’s and early 80’s when dems dominated.
Like Government, now that Google has become all powerful, I guess they just can’t resist themselves.
