Super Exaggeration

February 1, 2015

I just added to my stack of Super Bowl Economics clippings a recent Wall Street Journal article by Erica E. Phillips entitled “Arizona officials look to score economic points with Super Bowl XLIX.” The focus of the article is more on using the Super Bowl as a vehicle to move past the embarrassing political shenanigans of Arizona’s […]

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Gung Ho!

January 31, 2015

I wrote the draft for this article months ago, and was reminded of it when I received an email link to a mini-documentary about the return of the US Marines killed in action on Makin Island. The link to that video is at the end of this article. In researching a recent ScottsdaleTrails article [Iwo] […]

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Quote of the Day: Politics

January 31, 2015

Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich by promising to protect each from the other. Oscar Ameringer, 1870-1943, German-American socialist leader. .  

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Quote of the Day: Attack and Defend

January 31, 2015

He who attacks must vanquish. He who defends must merely survive. Master Kahn, fictional adversary of Iron Fist in the Marvel Universe.  

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Local Quote: Historic Preservation

January 31, 2015

This article ran last year and I’ve had it in my drafts folder for some unknown reason. It’s still timely, though, as the history of Scottsdale is always under threat from those who seek to capitalize upon it. Historians build on ways to preserve city’s story By Michael Clancy,  The Republic | azcentral.com Scottsdale could […]

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Scottsdale Chamber: Prominent Contradiction

January 31, 2015

A friend forwarded me this call-to-action from Rick Kidder at the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce. It couldn’t have been better timed, given my multitude of recent articles on the issues to which this pertains, especially, “Logical Fallacies.” I’ve added some notes of my own here and there. Hello, For too many years, Scottsdale has […]

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Apartment “Boom” is a “Boon?”

January 31, 2015

It’s too bad that Beth Duckett made the classic mistake of not digging a little deeper to put a cost/denominator on her happy-talk benefit/numerator in her Republic article, “New apartments means boon for Scottsdale.” Is it too early on a gray Saturday for a mathematical metaphor? The $2 million-over-projected building permit revenue ($6.5 was the […]

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Logical Fallacies

January 31, 2015

Part of the fun (if you can call it that) of observing and participating in the political process is witnessing firsthand and trying to identify logical fallacies in arguments used by politicians and bureaucrats. This handy reference guide comes to me courtesy of Greg Patterson’s Espresso Pundit e-newsletter. A large portion of Greg’s writing makes […]

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Woe Hotel Scottsdale

January 31, 2015

A ScottsdaleTrails veteran reader forwarded me a link this morning to the Yelp review page for Shawn Yari’s W Hotel, epitome of Bar District lodging (i.e., ridiculously-priced for ho-hum amenities and customer service). I can’t imagine living anywhere within a half-mile of it (or anywhere else in the Bar District…fortunately, I’m just outside that radius), let alone […]

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Cost Versus Benefits: Super Bowl Voodoo Economics

January 31, 2015

I’ve been pretty hard on the Arizona Republic and much of our other news media, but I have to give credit to Laurie Roberts, Mark Curtis, and a few others who are keeping the dialog going about the real cost of big events like the Super Bowl. However, even these professional journalists aren’t able to keep […]

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