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Countrywide's Ex-Chief Mozilo Charged with Fraud
The Justice Department has a 60 day window to file criminal charges against Mozilo. The 60 day window starts on the day the SEC charges were filed. It appears unlikey that Mozilo will be charged criminally. He was very active politically and if he is charged with crimes he could implicate many prominent politicians in crimes, including Senator Dodd. Also, top Wall Street executives are likely moving heaven and earth to derail efforts to prosecute Mozilo. If Mozilo is charged with crimes there will be enormous political pressure to indict the top Wall Street executives who financially raped the country.— June 4, 2009 7:04 p.m.
Let’s Toast to Banning Booze
In the 1960s the Police had the Boardwalk firmly under control, and ruled it with an iron fist. Every weekend a San Diego Transit Bus would be dispatched to Pacific Beach. The police would form teams and walk up and down the Boardwalk beating and clubbing undesirables, who would be cuffed, arrested, and hauled off to jail in the city bus. Many were charged with fictitious crimes and prosecuted merely to remove them from the area. Sometimes the police filled as many as 5 buses with arrestees in a single day. The arrestees were warned not to return to the Boardwalk, ever, or the police would arrest them again and beat them senseless.— June 3, 2009 5:45 p.m.
Let’s Toast to Banning Booze
People who consume alcohol, in any quantity, are total filth. Drinking alcohol is scummy, sleazy recreation for the low income loser and non-achiever. I support the alcohol ban and believe the Police should start aggressively harassing patrons of bars and restaurants who drink. Police should be stationed outside of bars and restaurants to administer field sobriety tests to patrons as they leave. Patrons who cannot pass the test should be arrested for public intoxication. The bars and restaurants that serve alcohol should be targed by the police and patrons harassed until these establishments are forced to close.— June 3, 2009 5:24 p.m.
Two Top U-T Officials Get the Axe
Maybe Don will be able to learn the identity of the top U-T executives who decided which rank and file reporters would be fired, and the process that was used to identify the targets. It would be interesting to know how the firing decisions were made and who made them.— May 29, 2009 8:22 p.m.
Two Top U-T Officials Get the Axe
I wonder if attorney Karl Zobell and his law firm were terminated as well— May 29, 2009 4:13 p.m.
Some Legislators Pushing Bill to Curb State Municipal Bankruptcies
In lieu of bankruptcy, the City could also find ways to dodge Proposition 13 and enact stealth property taxes on commercial properties and apartment complexes. The City could impose an annual tax on commercial properties and apartments based on the number of parking spaces located at each property. The stealth property tax would be set high enough to pay off the entire pension deficit over 15 years. Since commerical and apartment rental rates are set by supply and demand, property owners could not pass the taxes on to tenants through rent increases. The City could probably squeeze a couple million out of Ace Parking alone with parking space taxes. Owners of high rise office buildings should be hit with fire protection taxes, based on total square footage in each building, to offset the high cost of providing fire protection to oversized structures. The wealthy property owner should be forced to foot the bill for the pension deficit through a rigorous and progressive tax regime that shifts the tax burden to the wealthy and spares the middle class.— May 29, 2009 10:33 a.m.
Some Legislators Pushing Bill to Curb State Municipal Bankruptcies
The City Council could force the City to run out of cash merely by voting to spend more money than the city takes in. The City Council could issue $350 million in contracts to replace water mains without a funding source to pay for it. When the city runs out of cash to pay contractors for their work, the City could file bankruptcy, negate the union contracts, and slash worker's pay by $350 million and use the savings to fund water main repairs. The City could also flush the entire unfunded pension liability down the toilet.— May 28, 2009 11:01 p.m.
Some Legislators Pushing Bill to Curb State Municipal Bankruptcies
This bill, if passed, will accomplish nothing. Cities could defeat the bill merely by running out of cash and refusing to pay their bills. Creditors would then force the cities into involuntary bankruptcy. The state cannot stop creditors from filing involuntary petitions in federal court. San Diego needs to file bankruptcy without delay. The city pension plan should be terminated and employees should receive a pro rata liquidating distribution of fund assets to rollover into an IRA.— May 28, 2009 7:03 p.m.
Local Law Firm Sues AIG for Fraud in Los Angeles Court
I think Aguirre is trying to protect insurance policyholders who stand to lose the cash surrender value of their policies in the event AIG goes under. Many policyholders will live off the proceeds of these policies when they retire, or convert the policies into retirement annuities. The government should have shuttered AIG and limited the bailout to policyholders and annuitants. The rest of AIG's creditors should have been stiffed.— May 21, 2009 7:12 p.m.
Boston Globe Writers Ask if Platinum Might Want Their Paper
Garson's article relies primarly on anecdotal recollections and is not documented. She apparently made no effort to interview realtors who sold houses in La Jolla during that era to learn their side of the story. I am sure many were living when the article was written. The Reader's own Eleanor Widmer, a jew, purchased a house in La Jolla in 1958. I am not conviced jews were kept out of La Jolla.— May 17, 2009 6:37 p.m.