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San Diego unions push transaction tax
Nokomisjeff, I'm gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you here... 1. HFT systems CANNOT be set up by just anyone. It requires a lot of capital as well very fast servers with close physical proximity to the exchanges. Very expensive. Not open to all and sundry. 2. HFT's are NOT "sagacious individuals". They're algorithms. 3. A lot of people, myself included, believe that HFT is little more than front running. That's illegal for very good reasons. 4. The risk of a feedback loop creating a "Black Swan" event are pretty clear when you've got algorithms controlling the vast majority of trading volume. Tell me how I'm wrong, my friend comparing what you've done in the past to what HFT does today. I respect deft traders, as you describe yourself to be. Your hard work and personal assumption of risk is a very different thing from these algorithms created by unaccountable financial entities that are guaranteed to be bailed out at our expense.— September 24, 2011 11:26 a.m.
San Diego unions push transaction tax
hibob describes an honest system. High frequency trading, however, is nothing more than an updated version of front running. When the brokers can trade a milisecond before their market mover clients, so that it's virtually undetectable, they've got a money machine where every investor is screwed just a little bit... Worse, since many of these high frequency trading algorithms are based on similar strategies, there is a worse risk than ever of a catastrophic feedback loop where cascading trades send the system into a spiral. This has already probably happened at least once, with last year's insta-crash. A transaction tax, no matter how minuscule, would stop this dishonest and dangerous practice. But since Congress is owned by the owners of the systems, expect nothing to change until it is far too late.— September 24, 2011 11:17 a.m.
Paradise Plundered tells San Diego story
Please follow the submission guidelines here: http://www.pulitzer.org/how_to_enter Best, Fred— September 17, 2011 9:46 p.m.
Conventions, Football Don’t Mix
The heart of the boosters' argument, that expansion will inevitably bring more business, relies on projections that make zero sense. More people will attend ever bigger conventions in the future? Says who? On the contrary, most projections are for less corporate travel, more video conferencing. That video over IP infrastructure is being built right now by private companies, and it works better and better every day. In the future, the trend will most likely be toward fewer and smaller conventions. It's the same with the popularity of football. Today it dominates American professional sports, but there's little reason to think that it will expand itself much more, or find additional revenues. As with all forms of mass entertainment, it loses its luster over time with new and more exciting spectacles coming onto the scene. One of today's fastest growing and maybe most profitable sport is mixed martial arts. So if San Diego's "leaders" want to actually get some kind of economic benefit from blood sports, we ought to build a cage match arena. Or, if we really are talking about economic benefit to the city, why should we subsidize only venues featuring young athletic men using their bodies to entertain men drinking beer. Women deserve equal promotion. So venues where young athletic women use their bodies to entertain men drinking beer are every bit as deserving of subsidies, and FAR more likely to actually turn a profit and result in extra hotel room (ahem) related tax revenues. It's ridiculous. How about the city getting out of the entertainment business altogether? Best, Fred Williams— September 14, 2011 8:04 p.m.
Family talks about dead Coronado woman Rebecca Zahau
According to the "investigation", the victim wrote a cryptic message (in someone else's handwriting), bound her feet, then gagged herself and wrapped the shirt around her neck, put the rope around her neck, then tied her hands together, then got those tied hands behind her back, then somehow hoppped over a balcony in such a way that the pre-tied rope was neither too long nor too short... There's no word of any Internet evidence, but we do know that former DA Paul Pfingst was on the scene immediately. Did he prevent the investigators from examining mobile devices and computers in and around the mansion to glean searches or GPS location? Was the ex-wife or brother ever even questioned by investigators? Almost immediately, police publicly speculated it was a suicide. In fact, it seems that the focus of the "investigation" was to somehow prove it to be nothing other than a suicide...regardless of all the evidence pointing at something or somebody else. Now, with word that the "investigators" did not even properly interview the victim's sister, but rather devoted themselves to selling the family the suicide story, it's very clear what happened. There is no other reasonable conclusion but that this is a cover up. Whether due to the influence of those involved, or just a desire to avoid association an unseemly case while running for higher office...it's still a cover up. This case cries out for independent investigation. DA Bonnie Dumanis should be asked about this case at every campaign appearance as she runs for mayor. Also, the Attorney General of California, or perhaps the FBI should be asked to re-investigate not only the alleged suicide, but also the reason for such a blinkered and flawed "investigation". If the Sheriff claims this is based on "science", ask if he's familiar with the Congressionally mandated National Research Council report on how seriously flawed and unscientific forensic "science" truly is... (See: http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsit… ) There's a lot to be done yet, and a need to put pressure on the authorities who have the power to re-open this investigation -- this time without blinders. If Mary is reading this, I urge her to contact her own representatives in Congress (don't bother with the San Diego delegation) to ask them to request the DOJ to investigate (or get advice on what can be done next, if that isn't the proper course). Best, Fred Williams former member San Diego Crime Commission— September 14, 2011 7:43 p.m.
Paradise Plundered tells San Diego story
Mridolf, your question is excellent, and deserves an answer. You're right. San Diego could be a lot worse. It could also be a whole lot better. What cannot be seen, but surely is felt, is opportunity cost. What could we have gotten for the same money that was wasted, stolen, or misused? 1. Public transit. Today San Diego's public transit is an embarrassment. Like many of the stupid things in San Diego, it's built on a hub and spoke model centered on downtown. But that's not where people live and work, except for government planners, bankers, and lawyers. The manufacturing, IT, and biotech jobs are remote from downtown. Service jobs, which dominate low-wage employment, are scattered across the city. 2. Public services. You asked specifically to avoid this, since it's too "general", but it's still true that San Diego is "browning out" fire stations to save money. Little has been done to prepare for the next fire storm (even after the devastation from the last two), and less has been done to prepare for flooding, earthquakes or tsunamis. Police have a privileged position, where their political power is such that no one dares touch their pensions or generous benefits, even if crime has dropped by half in the last decade. 3. Balboa Park. This is perhaps the biggest visible "loser" in San Diego's corruption. There's a quarter Billion dollars unfunded maintenance bill...this money was diverted to the ballpark instead. It won't be free and open for future generations, if the Mayor gets his way. 4. Trust in government. If you ask the average San Diegan, they'll tell you that not only is the system corrupt, it's broken beyond repair and it makes little difference who is elected since the same corrupt CABAL continues to run the show. Redevelopment, as Paradise Plundered documents, has been the main force for this corruption and disruption of honest people's lives. So unless you are politically connected, it would be foolish to invest in San Diego...how many businesses have stayed away because of this ugly fact of life in America's Finest City? If you look at opportunity costs, San Diego basically took a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be truly great, and squandered it on money-losing stadiums and ballparks, vacant high-rise condo boxes (that have also made our skyline, previously attractive, quite ugly), and closing the bay to any but those with plenty of money to pay for the view. Every paid for downtown, while other neighborhoods and basic infrastructure were neglected.— September 13, 2011 2:48 a.m.
Assault the Place of Peace
Interesting and well told. Thank you Jeff Smith.— September 8, 2011 12:10 a.m.
Tyler Adams uses mom and dad's identities to borrow $3 million
For more details of how John Moores worked his criminal enterprise in San Diego, read "Paradise Plundered". http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2011/sep/07/ci… How this massive fraud on every tax payer of San Diego cannot be prosecuted escapes me...— September 7, 2011 11:17 p.m.
Paradise Plundered tells San Diego story
I'm highly recommending this book to all San Diegans who are interested in the city's past, present, and future. I would love to see Vlad Kogan run for Mayor, if only to present to the voters an honest assessment of where the city really stands.— September 7, 2011 11:14 p.m.
Tyler Adams uses mom and dad's identities to borrow $3 million
This story reminds me of what John Moores did to the city of San Diego...but of course Moores got away with it. Similarities: 1. Moores conned San Diego into using its good credit to engage in land speculation. The city issued municipal bonds, in violation of SEC regulations, and lost its credit rating as a result. 2. Moores used loans taken out in San Diego's name to build his money losing ballpark...the team didn't pay more than symbolic rent. Now taxpayers on on the hook for $15 million a year until 2038. 3. Moores used CCDC influence and money to cheaply acquire downtown land, which he flipped as soon as he could. Some of those properties which he enriched himself with are now in foreclosure. 4. Moores openly bribed at least one member of the city council, who resigned in disgrace after accepting "illegal gifts"...but Moores was never charged. 5. Moores broke the MOU with the city repeatedly, building condos instead of hotels and offices as promised. Those condos are now largely vacant, underwater, and un-sellable. If only the District Attorney's office would prosecute John Moores as we see this "Tyler Adams" being prosecuted...both are obvious sociopaths, uncaring about the destruction they brought down on their victims. Moores stole money from everyone in the City of San Diego, and his criminal acts set in motion the chain of events (underfunding pensions, overpromising benefits) that has left the city in long term financial distress. We are all like the step-father in this story, ripped-off because we trusted someone we thought was close to us. Moores used the Padres to worm his way into San Diego, and then he coldly stole hundreds of millions. It's long past time to prosecute John Moores. Best, Fred Williams— September 7, 2011 8:11 a.m.