In a world where “bricks and mortar” retail stores are fast losing ground to Internet-based sales, why is it that the state of California, as well as most other states, is not capturing sales taxes on these transactions?
As The Economist put it recently, the phrase “new normal” is usually used to explain the persistence of underwhelming economic data. Certainly we have had that in most every expression of recovery numbers such as with the still high unemployment level or the rate of new job growth. I believe that the suggestion of a “new normal” is much more than that. In fact, what is new about normal I believe will transgress the very fabric of our society, including our politics, our fiscal budgets, our people, our businesses and our psyches.
Listen to Gary London on the KPBS radio show These Days with Maureen Cavanaugh.
PB & La Jolla Seeing Empty Retail Spaces
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San Diego is leading the way in the recovery of the hotel market. In the market measurements that count — average daily rate, or ADR, and occupancy — San Diego is outperforming California and the nation. This does not necessarily translate to “good times” yet in the hotel sector. In all likelihood this sector will take longer to recover than residential and high-quality commercial. The hotel market sits precariously at the top of the real estate pyramid. It wobbles first with the fall of the economy and...
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There is now some definition of how and when the housing market will recover. I am predicting a slight increase in pricing by the end of the year — perhaps a year-to-year 5 percent increase. This will be preceded by a gradual increase in the resale listing inventories, not yet reaching their pre-recession levels of more than 6,000 units per month — but approaching that level as the year progresses. The delivery of new homes will be slow again this year, perhaps up slightly from last year when 3,494 homes were permitted, but not much. My sense is that the recovery is working its way through the housing sector.
Google has recently invested $86 million to provide a major source of funding for the construction and operation of 480 affordable rental housing units for low-income families and senior citizens in seven communities throughout the West and Midwest. The vehicle they invested in was the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, a fund approach that was created more than two decades ago to instill market discipline into the development of subsidized housing. Low-income-housing tax credits are allocated by the federal government and awarded by the states to projects that meet requirements. Developers sell the credits to investors — generally financial institutions — who are seeking to reduce their federal income tax over a 10-year period. But after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the banks have been focused on liquidity and survival rather than offsetting profits. So other companies, including Google, Verizon and the insurance companies Liberty Mutual and Allstate, have stepped in, realizing that they can buy $1 worth of tax credit for 59 cents and receive double-digit yields on their “investment.”