Book Review: Boomerang by Michael Lewis

Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was classic Michael Lewis in that he deconstructs quantitatively driven scenarios and converts them into easily digestible stories albeit, with interesting characters. To imply that the author is an economic academic, rather than the journalist that he is, is stretching one's expectations.

Throughout the book he use the metaphor of what individuals or countries do with a pile of cash or credit once the lights have been turn off (left to our own private desires). In the case of the United States, we all went out and bought bigger houses. But the bigger picture he spins in the last chapter is that we wanted it all (until we were "too fat to fly"), we had grown used to having an economy of abundance that we decided to continue with the delusion even though it would have long term consequences. As he states in his last chapter:

"...And as he (Vallejo's new City Manager, Phil Batchelor) talked about the bankrupting of Vallejo I realized that I had heard this story before, or a private-sector version of it. The people who had power in the society, and were charged with saving it from itself, had instead bled the society to death. The problem with the police officers and firefighters isn't a public-sector problem; it isn't a problem with government; it's a problem with the entire society. It's what happened on Wall Street in the run-up to the subprime crisis. It's a problem of people taking what they can, just because they can, without regard to the larger social consequences. It's not just a coincidence that the debts of cities and states spun out of control at the same time as the debts of individual Americans. Alone in a dark room with a pile of money, Americans knew exactly what they wanted to do, from the top of society to the bottom. They'd been conditioned to grab as much as they could, without thinking about the long term consequences. Afterward, the people on Wall Street would privately bemoan the low morals of the America people who walked away from their subprime loans, and the American people would express outrage at the Wall Street people who paid themselves a fortune to design the bad loans..."

The last chapter also touches on the fiscal problems of San Jose, a city with the second highest level of per capita incomes in the U.S., after New York City, and yet, "is not all that far from being bankrupt".

All in all a good entertaining read which includes a globetrotting narrative into the stories and background of the European debt crisis. But if you remember to tell yourself that this is no financial thesis you enjoy the book as I did.



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Is Best Buy a leading indicator of the future of Big Box Retail?

"Small Box Retail"
Willow Glen Business District
Four restaurants in this building",
the Willow Glen Town Center

Today Best Buy announced today that it would shutter 50 of its Big Box stores to focus more on opening, well let's just say Little Box stores. According to Bloomberg News,

"The retailer is closing big-box stores and cutting jobs to reduce costs while boosting online sales and opening smaller locations. The company said it would add 100 of its smaller-format Best Buy Mobile stores in the U.S. in the current fiscal year."

This after news yesterday from U.S. Public Interest Research Group, that younger Americans are leading the trend by driving less, waiting to earn drivers licences, and putting off the purchase of an automobile. The report titled "Transportation for a New Generation", states that for the first time since the end of World War II (yes over 65 years ago), the number of miles travelled by Americans has dropped (as expressed in terms of Vehicle Miles Travelled or VMT). The report gives many reasons why, but emphasized that even when the economy rebounds the trend is expected to continue. I will be addressing the report in more detail in a later post.

Big Box Retail Restaurant

As the Big Box model of retailing begins to break down you begin to see it the shift from a large store format to small shops that can be squeezed into traditional Commercial Business Districts (CBD). In the Willow Glen Area of San Jose, the beer, wine, and liquor retailer Beverages and More has been managing their small footprint store BevMo for a couple of years now. This month Petco will open their small format store "Unleashed" on Lincoln Ave.

So the question is;

• if the Big Box format is possibly on its last legs,
• VMT has been decreasing in the U.S. for the last six years,
• and, the City of San Jose is planning to further reduce VMT in the near future.

Why has the City's Planning Department in recent years approved Big Box format centers such as @First, San Jose Market Place, the Plant, and now has approved a new 45 acre Mega-Mall on one of the busiest expressways in the region? The land, located just north of Highway 85 is one of the last large undeveloped parcels left within the city. Let's not leave a retail dinosaur as a legacy for future generations.

Customer leaving "The Plant" after
waiting 8 minutes to cross
Monterrey Highway

Another Bay Area transportation agency to push for more pothole funding

In what has become a domino effect around the San Francisco Bay area, another transportation agency has decided to put a ballot measure to the voters to help fix crumbling roads along with a package of transit improvements, pedestrian, and cycling projects, and in this case a $400 million contribution to bring BART to Livermore. The proposed measure plans to double the current county sales tax portion dedicated to transportation from .5% to 1%, making it the second county in the state, after Los Angeles to seek a 1% solution.

Like other local agencies, the concern is that a failure to act will create an ever escalating backlog of projects while road deterioration accelerates with each passing year. The measure is expected to raise over $7.7 billion in new

Napa County stakeholders forge ahead with plan for succesful road repair measure

A recent article in the Napa Valley Register ("Panel agrees on terms of road tax") highlights the third San Francisco Bay Area county that has or plans to put a measure on the ballot that help fund each counties deteriorating roadways. As highlighted in a previous post, San Francisco already has a measure on the books for this weeks election and San Jose has stated that they are in favor of holding an election as well (San Jose's DOT Director discusses the state of the city's roadways and how to repair them).

All three measures or proposed measures differ though in how they go about raising sorely needed road funds. San Jose would like to increase parcel taxes to fund their severely underfunded system. San Francisco would like to be allowed to sell bonds that would be retired through the general fund. Napa County would like to extend an existing sales tax.

In a recent Metropolitan Transportation Commision Report (The Pothole Report: Can the Bay Area Have Better Roads), Napa County roads over the last several years had some of the lowest PMI's (Pavement Condition Index) within the nine Bay Area Counties. In fact, recently the Napa County Transportation and Planning Agency voted to allocate nearly $4 million in state Transportation Improvement Program funds to the maintenence of local streets. Althougn not unprecedented the request for these funds, which are earmarked for construction and not maintenence could cost the county in the long run. The MTC commision will have to approve the request.

Expect to see more news on this topic around the Bay Area in the next year. Stay tuned.

NCTPA tries new avenue to patch up roads

Funding Opportunities for Roadway Rehabilitation and Maintenence

James Howard Kuntlser - TED.org Talk

This is a great talk by James H. Kuntsler author of "The Geogarphy of Nowhere", "Home from Nowhere", and "The World Made by Hand".

Transportation Costs per Mile - December 2007

This is the first month that I have decided to track all transportation costs and publish those costs based on $ cost per mile. Given that vehicle costs in the US average between 48 and 70 cents per mile, I came up substantially under that amount at 4 cents per mile. As expected walking is completely free. On average during my first month of keeping track of how I get around town I was surprised to find out that I had been averaging about 4 miles of walking a day. The most I walked during the month is the 6.5 trip to work. Although I have decided to track any costs associated with cycling such as tubes, tires, lube, and service I didn't spend anything on the bike this month. The highest cost was Caltrain, which is understandable since dont ride it enough to buy a monthly pass.

Of course walking will always be the most cost effective; costing me nothing. Cycling this month cost nothing but that is only because I didn't purchase anything this month. Any costs associated with the bike will be included such as tires, tubes, lube, service, etc.

After tallying up all the numbers for the month I was amazed that I had walkded 121 miles for the month. This was mostly from walks to the coffee shop, to the bus stop, the library. It all adds up. Most commuting was done buy bus though, which added up to 340 miles for the month. The only out of town trips were to Loon Lake (before you get to South Lake Tahoe, by car), a dinner in Berkeley (BART), and a 3 day trip to San Francisco (Caltrain and Muni).


The only expenses for the month which totaled $55.27 were mainly from Caltrain $21, shared car expenses to Tahoe $22, and Bus expenses in San Francisco $4 and BART $4. So for basically the cost to fill up my car I was able to travel for a month.

How this all started. - Part I

After living in the valley for ten years now; I have contemplated going without a car for several years now. After reading a couple of very good books by James Kuntsler; first "The Geography of Nowhere; the Rise and Decline of Americas Man Made Landscape" and "Home from Nowhere" my eyes were opened to how American cities used to be and how they are now. My mother told me of growing up in San Diego and using the trolley to go the 2-3 miles downtown to go shopping or see a movie. They lived above the family business just as described in Kuntsler's books with a very tight knit fabric of families.

As for myself I grew up loving bikes, bike rides, bike races and any other thing having to do with bikes. At 14 I had a paper route or sub for others with a paper route. Having to get up at 4:00 in the morning wasn't so bad. I got to ride when no one was out and I still remember the smells at the time of the morning when there were no cars out and no winds or breezes. I used to ride or walk to school. In fact I had a friend and classmate who lived on the other side of town (back then in San Diego, the other side could have been 10 miles) and bike to school everyday.

In high school I met a friend of mine at a street corner early one morning with our bikes and crude panniers and headed north to Los Angles. We camped on the beach in San Clemente right next to the Western White House; President Nixon's old summer home. We got as far as Long Beach before heading back but we were hooked.

My next big ride wouldn't be until 1984, to ride north to Los Angles again to see the Olympic Bicycle Road race which was open to everyone. We rode up the day before putting in about 120 miles to get to our night's lodgings. The next day we rode to the venue to see the men's road race and watch Alexi Grewal win the U.S.'s first ever cycling gold medal.

After this I rode for fun and fitness but it wasn't until I took a two week bicycling trip around British Columbia, Canada that I really got into it again. I don't know what it is but the feeling of making my way around on a trip under my own power is intoxicating as it is practical.

How All This Started - Part III

How All This Started - Part II