Monthly Archives: September 2008

Bailout blues

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It’s odd, isn’t it, how the bailout kept expanding — first the government was going to buy mortgage debt, now it is going to buy just about any distressed financial instrument — but the price tag never budged above that $700 billion. Somebody isn’t playing straight with us.

Now a deal is near (again) so our elected Congress people can come home and tell us what a good job they did on our behalf. The deal isn’t done, though. According to the New York Times:

Among the last sticking points was an unexpected and bitter fight over how to pay for any losses that taxpayers may experience after distressed debt has been purchased and resold.

Democrats had pushed for a fee on securities transactions, essentially a tax on financial firms, saying it was fitting that they contribute to the cost.

In the end, lawmakers and the administration opted to leave the decision to the next president, who must present a proposal to Congress to pay for any losses.

What a shameful cop-out.

The JS draws the (red) line

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At least JS publisher Betsy Brenner is upfront about just what geography the paper cares about. It ain’t the city.

She was the speaker at the Milwaukee Press Club luncheon last week when she said this about copies of the JS:

“We’ll sell fewer of them, but for advertisers’ purposes, we’ll focus on selling them in the fast-growing zip codes and neighborhoods where their customers live.”

You can watch the entire Press Club event on WisconsinEye.

City Hall costs keep rising

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A million-two here, a million-eight there, and pretty soon we’re talking about real money.

The City Hall restoration project already is projected to cost $70 million, but that is just for some of the work. Then there’s that pesky foundation and sidewalk stuff. The 2008 Department of Public Works budget included $1.2 million to study the problems, which include “significant settling” of the wood piling foundation. For 2009, Mayor Tom Barrett is proposing another $1.8 million “to commence initial construction in late 2009.”

Since the department hasn’t finished its study, though, we don’t know exactly what it will take to fix the foundation or how much it will cost.