Posted Fri, Jan 20, 6:36 p.m.

Nice article and I agree that we should be aware of the possibility of ramifications of the European financial crisis. One might particularly watch out for money market funds. Many US money market funds have significant exposure to European debt. Any loss in one fund could start a stampede in ...

Posted Wed, Nov 9, 8:47 a.m.

The subhead refers to Brill as an "education reformer" but he seems to have no experience in education at all (except writing a book about it). He is a professional political journalist.

Posted Wed, Oct 19, 6:25 p.m.

I saw one of these Microsoft TV ads yesterday. The tradition continues of Microsoft's consumer ads being kind of icky and cringe-worthy. Blond little girl puts together a multimedia presentation about why the family should get a dog ... proud parents are impressed. Then dad puts together his own presentation ...

Posted Fri, Oct 7, 12:46 a.m.

@David Brewster - My understanding is that the stakeholder process was predicated on Gregoire's insistence that the viaduct be removed in 2012 for public safety reasons. So I don't see how the outcome of the stakeholder process can be the viaduct standing until a deep bore tunnel is serviceable. Wouldn't ...

Posted Thu, Oct 6, 8:26 a.m.

Thanks for the article. The article's discussion of the deep bore tunnel is rigorous in acknowledging only one position on the tunnel, and attributing any dissent to a noisy minority of hostage-takers. How can there be trust without listening? The first step seems to be to acknowledge that some people ...

Posted Tue, Aug 16, 9:56 a.m.

The tunnel would be one big Lexus lane running nonstop from South Lake Union to the industrial area. It seems hard to make a case that this is good for industrial land use and mobility.

Posted Mon, Aug 15, 8:19 a.m.

You are a good parent and your son was on the right track. Humans prefer to think of ourselves as gods, but also inescapably we are animals who are dependent on the ecosystem for our survival. A life based on burning fossil fuels is not going to work over the ...

Posted Mon, Aug 8, 9:28 a.m.

dbreneman, it is undeniable that employers and government give you more stuff if you are married. Therefore it is deeply unfair to expect gays to just accept civil unions and get on with their lives. Perhaps we should back up the question a step further: why should employers and government ...

Posted Wed, Aug 3, 8:15 a.m.

The tunnel is just in the wrong place. One portal should be located to connect with the 520 half-bridge (replacing the western high rise).

Posted Fri, Jun 24, 1:17 p.m.

But TVD does seem to endorse solutions, such as "stimulative tax cuts" to "jump-start the economy". What a propagandistic turn of phrase. Do tax cuts really stimulate anything except demands for more tax cuts? Social Security is an intergenerational transfer program, where current workers pay for benefits to current retirees. ...

Posted Mon, Jun 20, 11:14 a.m.

Interesting postscript, Academicutah. Seattle Weekly has a story on Young's recent marriage where he claims they didn't start "seeing each other" until both were divorced. Do you have any references to the contrary? http://www.seattleweekly.com/2011-06-15/news/michael-young-campus-coupling/ Well I guess the committee did want someone who has good relationships with donors... Another interesting ...

Posted Wed, Jun 15, 4:06 p.m.

Inslee does not recommend himself by saying he will go away if opposed in the primary. This suggests a similar commitment to progressive values as that of the present governor.

Posted Mon, May 30, 9:41 p.m.

Tortilla rounds are addictive but it is not the GMO's. According to a book "The End of Overeating" by David Kessler MD, these are "hyperpalatable" foods which contain large amounts of fat, sugar and/or salt, and release these ingredients very quickly into the bloodstream, having little fiber or bulk. This ...

Posted Mon, May 30, 2:31 p.m.

Loved the article! The link to Cornichon.org (from bio at end of article) isn't working for me... it just goes to a Network Solutions parked domain page. Can someone check on that?

Posted Wed, May 25, 5:20 p.m.

mhays, I thought the contingency fund needed to be drawn down to keep the bidders interested (effectively a cost overrun before the project has even begun).

Posted Tue, May 17, 10:50 a.m.

You forgot Mark Sanford ... my conservative neighbors were really disappointed about that one.

Posted Fri, May 6, 7:54 p.m.

Thanks for this well written and candid article. This pretty much lays it all out. Those "high level sitting presidents" have to be secretive because of concern for their donors. Because that's what makes them high level sitting presidents: their connections with high level donors. Thus they earn their high ...

Posted Mon, Apr 18, 8:48 a.m.

Is it my imagination or does Crosscut always seem to dive rightward during the fundraising drive?

Posted Fri, Apr 8, 8:53 a.m.

Agree with this article's ironclad logic! There are several other elephants in the room as well. For example the EIS is not being prepared in an honest fashion, in that the latest draft assumes that the tunnel has no toll. Meanwhile back in reality, massive toll revenue is included in ...

Posted Tue, Apr 5, 1:44 p.m.

No, you mean about the people in China? I meant that it might make sense to buy into the Vancouver bubble for someone who is taking profits from the (possibly much bigger) China bubble. Although I guess it would make even more sense to buy into some other nice community ...

Posted Tue, Apr 5, 10:57 a.m.

Bubbles always pop, not needing any "factors" to bring the end, although people can always blame the factors in hindsight. It can take a long time, but the rewards will go to the patient renters, as well as old-timers who are clever enough to sell their house and downsize. China ...

Posted Thu, Mar 31, 9:18 a.m.

P.S. Another obvious point is that this "use tax" makes criminals of everyone, and gives entrepreneurial tax agents a potential incentive to "investigate" anyone's lifestyle.

Posted Thu, Mar 31, 9:14 a.m.

Thanks for the article which increased my knowledge of this issue. Can't we just say that when user's web browsers in Washington State are used as sales terminals for an online store, with total sales of more than $X, then it is a nexus?

Posted Sat, Mar 5, 11:09 a.m.

There seem to be parallels between "ed reform" and some of Microsoft's current management practices. In recent years Microsoft has been continually selecting the top 20% and bottom 10% of employees, and formalizing this status in the employee review. Life is made difficult for the bottom 10%. Over this same ...

Posted Thu, Feb 17, 6:18 p.m.

Absolutely. Obama is also George W. Bush on federal tax policy, extending Bush's tax cuts (something it's unlikely McCain would have accomplished had he been elected).

Posted Sat, Feb 12, 8:55 a.m.

Agree with seattlelifer, the jury is still out on Reagan. If you look at the graph of US credit market debt as a ratio of GDP, Reagan's new trajectory is sharply visible. Public and private debt began a steep upward slope in 1981 and increased sharply every year through 2009 ...

Posted Mon, Jan 10, 12:34 p.m.

I think it is not inappropriate to point out that many influential public figures are openly becking, i.e. saying that Obama's presidency is illegitimate, health care reform is tyranny, and citizens' proper response to tyranny is to use guns to resist the government. For example these comments on a radio ...

Posted Fri, Dec 17, 5:18 p.m.

BlueLight wins the day I guess! Nice link.

Posted Thu, Dec 2, 9:38 p.m.

Mr. Baker you must not have been at last night's town hall where McGinn acknowledged that people are divided on plans other than the tunnel (rebuild, surface, etc.), and people will have to be open minded and work together on this, and that he was sure there are other good ...

Posted Thu, Dec 2, 6:31 p.m.

If you were at the tunnel town hall, you also heard McGinn lament that some city leaders are unwilling to have an honest, open debate, instead avoiding debate by saying there is something wrong with the person questioning their official acts. This article seems to be a fine example. Of ...

Posted Fri, Nov 26, 12:32 p.m.

Maybe unions once advocated for bread and butter for the working class. Do they still do so? I am not so sure. More than half of union members now work in the public sector. In WA, unions support sales tax increases to make our regressive tax system even worse. Conversely, ...

Posted Thu, Nov 4, 7:28 a.m.

Christine Gregoire yesterday: "We know we can no longer afford many of the programs and services that Washingtonians rely on." Yes, I suspect that alternative options will need to be imagined.

Posted Tue, Nov 2, 3:51 p.m.

I suggest that the LID be set up now to raise a few $100 million to replenish the contingency funds which the state gave away to the bidders. Because a project of this size and risk requires a fully stocked contingency fund, right? Tolling the viaduct could also start ASAP, ...

Posted Wed, Oct 20, 8:31 a.m.

Nice article! I can't believe I am agreeing that we should let corporations put huge ads up all over town, with the City charging them fat license fees. But it is a progressive way of raising revenue.

Posted Mon, Oct 11, 9:03 a.m.

If a business is dependent on the government favoring auto travel at the expense of other modes, it starts to look like less of a business and more of a welfare recipients collective. A serious business will expect to pay the cost of its activities, and for its customers to ...

Posted Tue, Aug 17, 1:46 a.m.

Let's start by tolling the viaduct $4 per trip, and see how much traffic is left to worry about.

Posted Wed, Jul 28, 3:16 p.m.

I see the Legislature's tunnel funding as similar to the G.W. Bush tax cuts: a cynical attempt to say that the future doesn't matter. The policy is specified to "sunset" and undo itself at a certain point if the costs become too great. If these are such good policies, why ...

Posted Fri, Apr 30, 9:09 p.m.

This article seems to go out its way to racialize the situation and use overtly racist characterizations. For example: "flooded by inflows of illegal Latinos far different from the family- and church-oriented, hard working Latinos familiar to Arizonans" (assuming Arizonans are not "Latino"), and: "Couriers on bikes (Latinos, as it ...

Posted Wed, Apr 28, 5:25 p.m.

That is interesting logic that there needed to be an expenditure of $150 million in order that the annual expenditure of $10-13 million "might" be reduced! But it came out of someone else's turf, not city hall, so it was a good idea. Wow, I guess this is really an ...

Posted Wed, Apr 28, 8:20 a.m.

This makes me wonder if there are any other Nickels timebombs ticking away. Good thing McGinn has been cleaning house at City Hall.

Posted Fri, Apr 16, 8:06 a.m.

I think Americans originally acquired "no worries" from Paul Hogan in the movie "Crocodile Dundee". Steve Irwin may have sparked a second wave of it though.

Posted Wed, Apr 14, 11 p.m.

Snoqualman - wondering what is so bad about the pull quotes? Nice piece by MacDonald and thanks to Crosscut for running it.

Posted Fri, Apr 9, 3:57 p.m.

Does not the Catholic Church hold itself to be the one true church of the one true God, recognizing no others as valid? Does this not automatically lead to the conclusion that institutional survival is of the highest priority? Much more so than for other institutions. This institution does not ...

Posted Tue, Feb 23, 5:46 p.m.

How exactly is Microsoft a key player in legislative elections? Maybe in the same fantasy in which Greg Nickels is still mayor of Seattle? The gigantic Microsoft tax dodge needs to be closed... or the company should restrict its opinions to highways in Nevada, the state where it recognizes all ...

Posted Tue, Feb 16, 1:08 a.m.

marveck - thanks, I checked out the blog. Tony didn't mention that Laura Munson has a book coming out in April 2010: “This Is Not The Story You Think It Is: A Season of Unlikely Happiness". It seems the NYT piece was a shortened version of this memoir about the ...

Posted Sat, Feb 13, 11:10 a.m.

Thank you for the nice article! I was touched by Ms. Munson's piece, but also fascinated by what she left unsaid. Her idea of "reliable" probably looks like joyless consumerist servitude to "the breadwinner" (as it would to me if I were in the same situation). But she never seemed ...

Posted Fri, Jan 15, 7:57 a.m.

Forgive me gaia... but is downtown Seattle really the right place to worry about fish habitat? It's a seawall, it will still be a seawall. I think it is obvious that this needs action and McGinn is right to kick things off with a reasonable plan. For fish habitat it ...

Posted Mon, Dec 14, 3:25 p.m.

Thanks for the reply! Contrary to your expectation, I think the tax cuts and rebates are terrible policy. These attempt to stimulate current consumption, not investment. And since the budget is in deficit, tax cuts are just a way to let people spend their kids and grandkids' money. This may ...

Posted Fri, Dec 11, 3:51 p.m.

The US economy has experienced a massive credit bubble. Public and private debt has increased continuously since 1982, to the current level of 373% of GDP. This graph from Morgan Stanley gives a sense of the total picture and illustrates that the bulk of this credit binge has been in ...

Posted Mon, Nov 23, 8:40 a.m.

Air travel is hard to do sustainably, because it needs to store so much energy lightly and compactly. The plane of the future is a train (except for elite and high-cost applications).

Posted Thu, Sep 3, 10:15 a.m.

I agree with nickster... real bike facilities are separated from traffic by a barrier. Painted bike lanes are a disaster because cars feel entitled to force the bike to stay in the lane, which often is an unsafe place to be. The sharrows are minimal but as a cyclist I ...

Posted Fri, Aug 21, 5:13 p.m.

I agree with the comparison with Paul Schell.

Posted Thu, Jul 23, 1:08 a.m.

"The cloud" is a simplistic and overhyped notion, but Reuven Carlyle's point is very well taken. Private industry is good at providing secure, high-quality, economical, scalable data center capacity. It does seem odd for the state to build its own center in Olympia.

Posted Wed, Jun 17, 10:24 a.m.

Perhaps the reason for fire-sale prices is that there is too much development? In which case more development might not be the best approach. I am not familiar with the situation, but maybe if the school closes there could be some interim use for the property that creates employment or ...

Posted Fri, May 29, 2:46 p.m.

If corporate welfare is a false issue distraction then it is at least a $7.7 trillion false issue distraction, for that is the amount paid or pledged to bail out for-profit corporations to rescue the financial system. In virtually all of these cases, insured depositors were never at risk -- ...

Posted Fri, May 29, 9:04 a.m.

Agree with dn, Republicans have developed a culture of failure. For example, note the idea that to address global warming, Republicans should "put together a comprehensive plan that uses technology, like hybrid cars". If they can't deny the problem, they want to hand out corporate welfare while pretending to care. ...

Posted Mon, May 25, 7:02 p.m.

Judging from people I know, the general populace values the old buildings and regrets their destruction. However, the investor class does not seem very concerned, even though it is their money which is paying for the nationwide frenzy of overbuilding, and even though they are in the process of losing ...

Posted Sun, Sep 21, 8:15 a.m.

NO: Wake up and stop this thing. Market crashes happen -- the market is bigger than the government -- guess what happens when the government jumps into the way? The market will still crash and the federal government will be crippled. Democracies typically end in this way: debt crisis combined ...

Posted Wed, Sep 10, 8:36 a.m.

fun: Cool article! I expect a report in four years of how this worked out.

Posted Sat, Jan 12, 4:52 p.m.

organized religion is an oxymoron: The less "organized religion" there is, the more space for religion. Organized religion is just another consumer service. Instead of giving money to the poor, people give it to organized religion which spends the lion's share in its own interest.