December 6, 2014 marks the twenty-year anniversary of Orange County filing for bankruptcy. For 18 years, Orange County Treasurer Robert “Bob” Citron had been a municipal government legend for producing investment returns rates that were consistently double bank CD rates.
There was a flurry of negative stories that online sales momentum is falling after IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark reported Cyber Monday evening that sales only rose 8.5%, compared to 20% the prior year. But IBM, as a 9-to-5 corporation that
This week, State Senator Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) formally requested that Governor Jerry Brown impose a moratorium on oil trains after a Union Pacific freight train carrying grain derailed along the Feather River in Northern California last week. Yet with California the
Nineteenth century military genius Carl von Clausewitz coined the phrase: “War is a mere continuation of politics by other means.” In his day, the number of wars was limited by the time and expense to organize large armies and then march
Despite Southern California catching its first good rainstorm since last winter this week, the odds of this year being a torrential El Niño weather event have fallen to 58% from 80% early this spring, according to the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction
Amazon.com is following a military model to conquer cyber-space this holiday shopping season. The company has hired 80,000 seasonal workers and deployed 1,500 Kiva logistic robots for each of its 10 warehouses across the United States. The military math per
The Uber ride-sharing app suffered its first U.S. state-wide ban last week when a Washoe County, Nevada court made a preliminary ruling that the company operates “in all ways” like a taxi business. Uber suspended all operations in Nevada and
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates–the only OPEC members financially solvent enough to afford temporarily reducing crude oil production–are believed to have refused to cut output on November 27, 2014 to push oil prices down to$68 a barrel in hopes
Given that Edward Snowden‘s concerns that UK authorities operate a surveillance system where “anything goes”, it is not surprising that Prime Minister David Cameron told Parliament this week that Internet firms are “being used to plot murder and mayhem.” Cameron’s
U.S. shopping is expected to be up big during the Black Friday weekend, since the deflated cost of gasoline–under $3 a gallon–is saving consumers $250 million per day. But falling prices that are good for American consumers is seen as downright
In just five years, the Uber ridesharing service has managed to become a dominant international brand with operations in 45 countries. Part of the company’s disruptive worldwide strategy has been to spend its venture capital on giving away free service. But after
San Francisco’s “Twitter Town” is a four-block stretch along Market Street from Seventh to 11th streets that is now considered ground zero for the “digerati” venture capital crowd. Trendy restaurants, murals on the walls and lots of coffee shops power
The 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show that opened on Friday and runs through November 30 is pushing the concept that self-driving cars are inevitable. Over the next fifteen years Detroit intends to make obsolete all 264 million vehicles in America.
TechCrunch is the leading website to follow technology start-up fundings. As a tool to identify funding trends, Todd Schneider updates a weekly chart called the “TechCrunch Bubble Index” (TCBI) to track the trend in new fundings. High-tech companies have been
Breitbart California’s article last month titled “Covered California Admits to ‘Narrow Networks’ of Doctors and Hospitals” revealed officials knew insurers listed on the state’s healthcare exchange were dumping providers to keep renewal rates down. In response, a state investigation just
The theme of China’s first World Internet Conference held just out of Shanghai this week was an “interconnected world, shared and governed by all”. But the communist authorities tried to get conference attendees to approve a highly repressive 9 point manifesto called the
Iterations of Google Glass have been around the military for decades in helmet head-up displays. But even ultra-geeky Scientific American eighteen months ago said that the device “is creepy.” With Google co-founder Sergey Brin recently arriving sans his normal Google
The Keystone XL pipeline bill failed on a vote count of 59-41 and failed to achieve a filibuster-proof U.S. Senate passage. With 40% of the pipeline already built and North American energy costs some of the lowest in the world, President Obama
With oil prices crashing, discount airline Virgin Atlantic’s IPO on Friday was a barn burner. Trading under the symbol “VA,” the stock opened about 25% higher than its estimated offering price at $27, then moved up to end the day
Many investors are perplexed that Twitter could have a successful analyst meeting that sent the social networking stock up 7.5% on Wednesday, after announcing a slew of enhancements to its core services–then lose most of the gain the next day.
Big bucks Wall Street traders were flabbergasted that, after a year of lousy performance, huge internal battles at Pacific Investment Management (PIMCO) that led to demands to fire Bill Gross, Barry Ritholtz of the View reported Gross had pocketed an
President Obama’s promise to China that the United States will cut CO2 emissions by at least 26% over the next decade is consistent with a legal strategy to use repetitive promises as the “politically binding” basis to force the U.S.
With a new Cold War is ramping up, and as Americans gathered across the country to honor our veterans, the U.S. government’s NASA Ames Research Center announced that is is leasing the 1,000 acre Moffett Airfield in Silicon Valley to
Editorial writer Steve Greenhut at the San Diego Union referred to the structure of the taxi industry, in which cab drivers rent cabs from a company that has acquired a limited issue permit with a city, as something akin to
President Obama’s idea of “Net Neutrality” to ensure unfettered access to the Internet for all Americans is great in theory, but could be very problematic in practice. Proponents say that greedy telecoms and cable companies have monopoly power. Opponents complain
