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Padres's Attendance Was Better When Losing at Qualcomm
You're right on all counts, but also, attendance is always higher in years right after a team appears in the World Series (as the Padres did in 1998). League champs always tend to sell more season tickets the next year or two, which drove some of that. The converse is also true. Poor teams don't see attendance build until awhile after they've turned things around. My guess is if they're still on top of their division in September, the average game attendance will be a lot higher then. Also, Petco Park is much smaller, with a seating capacity just a tick or two over 40,000. I recall games at Qualcomm that would occasionally sell out in the mid-to-upper 50,000's for special events and such, even in overall off years. Tossing in several of these over the course of a baseball season can push the overall "average" up some too. If I'm not mistaken, I think both the New York teams, the Yankees and Mets, opened brand new ballparks last year, but saw their attendance also dip from 2008. In both cases, their new parks also have smaller capacities than their previous ones.— May 5, 2010 1:45 p.m.
U-T Circulation Continues Fall. Ditto for Other Southern California Dailies
Yes, I did read your post #3 correctly, thanks. I won't get into the "rankings versus market share" statistical debate again, we've been around that bend before! :-)— April 26, 2010 5:10 p.m.
U-T Circulation Continues Fall. Ditto for Other Southern California Dailies
Don, I'm curious why you think the U-T did better by "about half" than the average "top 25" newspaper did? I checked the list, and it looked like only 3 of the top 25 newspapers across the country performed better that the U-T did. In your opinion, is this more market-driven (San Diego versus other markets) or is the U-T itself doing some good things that other papers aren't yet?— April 26, 2010 12:41 p.m.
Poll: Americans Distrust Wall Street, but Not Sure about Government
Response to post #18: In Mr. Reagan’s best intonation: “Well”… First, I’m pretty sure “greed” pre-dates our 40th President. Looking out for one’s self-interest (even to ugly extremes), has been around since the dawn of time. And that “the nation went strongly for deregulation” in the 1980’s was a good start, but unfortunately what resulted was a morass created by industries being partially deregulated and partially still under government control. Anyone else remember the debacle resulting from deregulation of the airlines, while keeping the federally-run airports under firm governmental control? Political climates changed and we stopped well short of anything even resembling true deregulation. I’d have to check my dates, but I believe Glass-Steagall was initiated in the late 19-teens as a direct response to a financial crisis, to strictly separate commercial and investment banking. But some, including Friedman, have written convincingly about its likely contributions to the decade-later much larger stock market crash and resulting economic meltdown known as the “Great Depression.” Where we’d be today if G-S had never been enacted in the first place would be an interesting study, I think. In contrast, the “recent” undoing of G-S by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, passed by a Democratic congress (by that time) and signed into law by Bill Clinton in 1999, was not a reaction to any similar financial “crisis,” but a FAVOR to banking interests. The (now) obvious result of that was just another inglorious example of how government actions inevitably induce both intended and unintended negative consequences. And, to say that “business and Wall Street proved conclusively that they could not handle getting more freedom from government,” paints way too broad of a brush-stroke, considering how many companies still behaved responsibly and continue to do so. The answer is not to get government ever more involved, but to remove them almost completely, save their legitimate role of punishing criminal offenders (which I wholeheartedly agree they should do, instead of propping them up with subsidies or bailouts). And truly free markets will also punish malfeasant businesses without the inevitable adverse side-effects. Cleary I’m not alone in seeing this. Interesting that you entitled your item here “Americans Distrust Wall Street, but Not Sure about Government,” yet the poll you cite actually says people view government even more negatively (67%) than they do Wall Street (57%). While you maintain that “neither business nor Wall Street can be trusted with the freedom they desire,” our larger fear should be that government can’t be trusted with the power they can give themselves.— March 26, 2010 5:37 p.m.
Poll: Americans Distrust Wall Street, but Not Sure about Government
Response to post #2 and others: What has also exploded over the last 30 (to 40) years has been governmental intrusion into american industry-- and all other areas of life-- that was never before seen in this country. I don't think we can dismiss this as perhaps THE major instigator of the corporate climate we have today. American industry now pursues "distructive economic policies" and relies on "promiscuous obfuscation" precisely because of government's futile attempt to now regulate every minutia of commerce, and like you said, also then refuses to then "pass rigid criminal fraud laws, and imprison businesspeople who break them." You also rightfully point out, there are also the "business lobbyists [who] would thwart that [justice]." But they are also a manifestation of the same problem: government's insertion of itself into business. Surely if government had no power to manipulate the playing field, lobbyists would have no reason to be knocking on that door in the first place either. It seems that government's total ineptitude has not just allowed for, but driven Wall Street (and the rest of us) to the brink. If they were still alive, I've no doubt that Milt and Rose Friedman would also feel the same way. The Austria/University of Chicago free market approach is not dead. If it had been even remotely followed for the past 4 decades, I doubt this item would be even be a blog post today.— March 25, 2010 2:09 p.m.
Padres Have Zero Chance to Make Playoffs?
Dumanis? Isn't she the DB they expect to step up and replace Cromartie? Me-thinks my money is safe.— March 18, 2010 12:52 p.m.
Padres Have Zero Chance to Make Playoffs?
Surf Puppy-- I'm tempted to remove my tongue from my cheek and accept your $20 wager, but I'm afraid we'd both be long-deceased before a winner could be declared!— March 17, 2010 12:57 p.m.
Padres Have Zero Chance to Make Playoffs?
Here's my bet... The Padres will win a World Series before the Chargers win a Super Bowl... Any takers?!— March 16, 2010 11:12 a.m.
Surprise: Union-Tribune Solicits Employee Suggestions
U-T has a new Editor- just announced at SignOnSanDiego.com.— February 11, 2010 3:54 p.m.
Surprise: Union-Tribune Solicits Employee Suggestions
Res[omnse to post #25: "I don't know why the unions would discourage this type of management." ============ I don't know why either, but in my experience, it happens. I worked for a company once that tried to address issues they uncovered in one of their employee surveys. They attempted to arranged employee meetings similar to the "Work-Out" ones Hellcat describes above. However these were effectively stopped by the union representing those employees because it felt all the issues should be addressed only through the collective bargainaing process, and not through direct management-employee interactions. I'll never work at a Union shop again!— February 11, 2010 9:34 a.m.