San Diego is in meltdown, but don't expect the backers of that alpha-male measure, the strong-mayor initiative passed by the voters, to hammer out a rescue plan. The corporate- welfare parasites behind Proposition F are …

How many economist/lawyer authors create prose that sparkles, twinkles, zings, has you chuckling? Maybe only one: Solana Beach's Todd G. Buchholz, with degrees from Cambridge and Harvard Law School, whose books, such as New Ideas …

The national accounting firm of KPMG must feel like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, now tootling around San Diego. KPMG's mission is to rid the town of rats. But in two cases, the firm hasn't …

Who dines on filet mignon when pension accounting is baloney? The Securities and Exchange Commission may look at that question, now that it is probing how phony pension accounting is used to inflate companies' profits. …

The so-called outside board members of Peregrine Systems insist they didn't know of the corruption inside the company, but they have a credibility problem: beginning in 1999, former chief executive Stephen Gardner warned the board …

Wouldn't you know it? San Diego's most infamous love affair took place in Los Angeles. It was three decades ago, and it was between talk radio's meanest moralist, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, and talk radio's wittiest …

Some in the national media say that write-in mayoral candidate Donna Frye "came out of nowhere." Wrong. She came out of the perfect place: the sewers. Long before she was elected to the city council, …

Two essential elements of financial fraud are secrecy and contrived complexity. And one driving force of the criminal mind is to continue doing what you have been doing, because if you stop, someone will get …

Everybody knows what happened on 9/11/2001. Very few know that on 9/26/2001, the Securities and Exchange Commission told American municipalities that when they issue bonds for public projects, they should voluntarily "go beyond the limits …

The book tells us that La Jolla is a "posh suburb" of San Diego. "I know La Jolla is part of the city," says a chastened Starr. "That got by us."

Few spirits have flown as high and low as those of former employees of the now-deceased San Diego legend, Pacific Southwest Airlines. On September 24 and 25, alums of the old airline, known as PSA, …

In the 1940s, there was a satirical radio quiz show in which panelists were stumped by questions such as, "Who is buried in Grant's tomb?" That show ennobled the words, "It pays to be ignorant." …

As usual, biotech stocks -- including San Diego's -- had a frigid summer. But there are signs that fall may come early this year. San Diego's biotechs are showing some strength. If the overall market …

The City of San Diego is spinning its way down the slippery slope financially, and the result may be -- surprise -- new taxes. First, consider the spin. Last week, Moody's Investors Service, the bond-rating …

On July 30, the Michigan Supreme Court stuck a dagger into government's abusive use of eminent domain -- seizing property from one private owner and handing it to a richer owner in the name of …

Those who trusted funds to the late financial adviser William Zures -- including his Rancho Santa Fe parish and some among its members -- may get a portion of their money back, but many snarls …

Sociologists lament San Diegans' lack of political participation and social cohesion. The overlords celebrate it -- secretly, of course. Four years ago, Robert D. Putnam, Harvard professor of public policy, authored a book, Bowling Alone, …

It's not a question of if there is a real estate bubble. It's a question of whether it bursts or slowly leaks air. It may expand for more than a year, if interest rates only …

Great Expectations. Charles Dickens wrote the classic. San Diego, going to the dickens financially, could write a sequel, Inflated Expectations. The city got into its pension amess because, among many unwise things, it had the …

San Diego's Titan Corp. -- left at the altar by giant Lockheed Martin -- must rebuild its management and reputation. In a conference call with the investment community today (July 8), it is spelling out …

Scripps Research Institute's overhyped and overblown plans for a Florida biotech research facility could possibly go overboard, particularly since taxpayers suddenly realize they will be hit with more than $1 billion in costs, almost double …

May 25, William Zures committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning at a Carlsbad beach, according to the county medical examiner's office. Zures, who lived at Santaluz, the luxury golf community next to Rancho Santa Fe, …

By definition, an avid golfer is one who, horrified to learn that his sister has become a hooker, frantically phones her and shouts, "Think of the family reputation! Try widening your stance! Soften your grip! …

Is it Save Our Heritage Organisation or Stuff Our Handbags Organisation? A controversy rages over the San Diego nonprofit group whose mission is ostensibly to preserve buildings of historical significance. The group has enjoyed many …

Adolf Hitler called Eva Braun morally depraved because she chewed gum. Al Capone expelled a gang member for failing to observe the Sabbath. Charles Ponzi fired an underling for fudging on his expense account. These …

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And if you yourself are broke, only fix things that are draining you financially -- not things that are filling your coffers. It seems basic. But the State …

It's a juggling act worthy of vaudeville. The city is perched near the bankruptcy abyss. But its proposed 2005 budget is up almost 10 percent. This fat budget carves the heart out of critical services …

After two calamitous years, San Diego's Wireless Facilities boasted to its shareholders that it earned 32 cents a share in 2003. But look at the footnotes in the telecom company's annual report to the Securities …

'The hogs are at the trough." On February 17, 2000, David Farley, chief financial officer of Peregrine Systems, e-mailed those words to the company's attorney, Richard T. Nelson. Farley (now deceased) was perturbed that company …

Was that hot dog you ate at Petco Park unsavory? Fans have complained about unsavory food at the new ballyard. Well, for years the company that provided you that hot dog has been trying to …

'Timing is everything." Richard Nixon said it. Stand-up comics say it. Is Mayor Dick Murphy trying to be a comedian or a dour Dick Nixon? Or both? It's comical that with Murphy perceived as a …

'Take me out to the bawl game?" At the same time city officials and Padres majority owner John Moores grinningly lapped up hurrahs at last week's Petco Park opening, they were getting a big Bronx …

Federal examiners are looking into possible "pay-to-play" shenanigans in the pension-consulting business. And one of the pension consultants being studied is Callan Associates, the San Francisco-based firm long used by the woe-beset San Diego City …

In late 1992, San Diego mayor Susan Golding proclaimed in her inaugural address that San Diego would be "the most business-friendly city in America," as well as "the first great city of the 21st Century." …

Old-time religion and hard-time in prison seem to go together. Ask Pastor John Gillette of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon and Pastor Barry Minkow of Community Bible Church in Mira Mesa. Both masterminded …

The world's greatest writers -- Cervantes, Marlowe, Sir Walter Scott -- wrestled with this enigma: is the fellow who causes calamity a knave or a fool? When a promoter drives his investors into poverty and …

In a brazen daylight move -- shielded somewhat by cloudy legalese -- a San Diego biotech company is trying to reduce its current shareholders to near insignificance. But not long after the astonishing corporate moves …

The West African nation of Benin is best known as the birthplace of voodoo. More than two-thirds of the residents still practice voodoo, with its ecstatic trances and magical dances. Benin (pronounced behneen) is also …

Early in the past century, Riverside, Washington, was a disreputable dockside community on a bluff above the Snohomish River. Max Carlton Miller, born in Traverse City, Michigan, spent his youth in Riverside, as some residents …

Rescuing city finances may be futile as long as the society remains feudal. That is to say, San Diego's overlords are making sure they will get their corporate welfare -- no matter how broke the …

The assistant suggested that the Millers were short on funds. “He said I should pay Max double what I normally paid. He asked me what I usually paid. I said $1000 — five times what I normally paid.”

What do you get when you launder money in a henhouse or a pigsty? Filthy lucre, according to proponents of Proposition A, the Rural Lands Initiative that would attempt to thwart development sprawl into the …

The City of San Diego has admitted in official filings what its critics have been saying for months: unless it raises taxes or cuts city worker pension benefits, it will have to slash city services. …

Michelangelo, no. Mundane, yes. Although there is no money in the till, most San Diego politicians still talk about prodigious projects as if they were a painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, rather …

San Diego's massive pension deficit and retiree health-care liabilities have created two warring political camps: the roses and the garlics, or stinking roses. In coming months, it should be clear that the garlics have the …

Call it the Florida flimflam. You would almost think that Richard Lerner, president of Scripps Research Institute, has taken lessons in snookering the public from his good friend, Padres majority owner John Moores. Scripps plans …

A cork afloat on the ocean bobs up and down. By contrast, developer Corky McMillin bobs and weaves, to and fro, when discussing finances. It's time to uncork the secrecy behind the Corky McMillin Companies' …

The 3M Co. of St. Paul, Minnesota, is one of the world's best-managed companies. It is among the 30 blue chips making up the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It makes Scotch tape and thousands of …

San Diego entrepreneur Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente II has enjoyed amazing litigation success in local courts against local governments, but he is not doing so well with federal courts against the Federal Deposit Insurance …

In batting a baseball, two out of five is spectacular: a .400 average. If the two hits are home runs, it's truly sensational. In the investment world, two successes out of five tries can be …