James Spencer AZ

People Will Buy a Home with Character

2010-07-23T21:32:00.000-07:00

I recently saw an ad for a local homebuilder advertising mortgage payments "as low as rent". Another homebuilder runs adds that try and scare consumers out of buying foreclosed properties. They give horror stories of buyers who purchased homes with thousands of dollars worth of damage. Yet, my guess is that these ads do little to entice buyers into a new home purchase as opposed to a short sale or foreclosure. Which made me think that homebuilders should create a better product that consumers will pay more for.

I have heard some suggest that builders embrace green technology, but I doubt consumers will spend substantially more for a home that offers slight utility bill savings. Instead, why not create homes with large front porches, shutters, dormer windows, crown molding, thicker baseboards, built-in bookcases, gazebos and picket fences. Ditch the sea of beige homes with tile roofs and stucco. Below is a picture of a home available that national homebuilder Lennar homes builds in Clovis, CA. Why not build similar homes in AZ?

Why local News Sucks

2010-01-21T19:04:00.000-08:00

I was listening to the news, trying to find out why the 101 was closed (tents blew into freeway from the Barrett Jackson car show making me think maybe they should do the car auction at a better site like Chase Field or University of Phoenix Stadium). It occurred to me that local news is terrible. So I compiled a list of reasons why local news sucks.

1) Overreacting to the weather. Earlier today azcentral.com mentioned that we have a "light tornado watch" which is the equivalent of me receiving a letter that I am being considered for the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes and calling myself a winner.

2) Emphasizing all words hispanic or even hispanic sounding. I am pretty sure there is not a tilde over the letter "n" when mentioning Sedona.

3) Making all stories local. There is an earthquake in Haiti so we should interview someone who has been to Haiti before.

4) Prounoucing the name Sean as "Seen". Don't be so pretentious Sean McLaughlin, you're a weatherman.

5) Running old footage of the guy who had to be rescued while driving through a wash. Don't say "this happens all the time" if the footage is a decade old.

6) Ignoring grammar and spelling. My grammar and spelling are horrendous but I don't do this for a living.

7) "On your side" reporting. We get that customers sometimes are not pleased with businesses but some of what they report as "scams" seem more like a difference of opinions over services performed. They can go after a Chinese food restaurant that messed up an order with the same vigor as a reporter busting Enron for fraud.

8) The flirty banter. "Oh Lin Sue you are too much, ha, ha, ha"...."Oh Mark, you're so funny too."

9) Running goofy clips from the internet months after they became internet sensations.

10) Mark Curtis and his Burt Reynolds mustache.

In Arizona sports, who is going to get the big contract?

2009-11-10T20:29:00.000-08:00

Amare Stoudemire, Brandon Webb and Anquan Boldin all have 2 thing in common. First, they each are local sports stars with the potential to earn substantial multi-million dollar long-term contracts. Secondly, they all pose a major risk their franchise if they do earn a large long-term contract. Earlier tonight on KTAR a local sports host drew the parallel between these 3 stars, so I cannot claim to have come up with the idea myself. Nonetheless, here is my take on whether any of these stars sign big contracts in the valley:

Brandon Webb (Gone)

For 3 years, Webb was possibly one of the most dominate pitchers in the National League. Going into last year, every D-Back fan was stoked about the idea of Webb and Haren as a 1-2 punch. Webb was due a large paycheck and it was assumed that he would continue to dominate and then sign with a large market team. But after shoulder issues plagued him last season, it is debatable whether he will return to domination. Even if he does, questions will remain about his future health. For this reason, it is not likely that the Diamondbacks will tie up so much of their future budget on a player with health issues. Which is too bad, because I would love to see him dominate and finish out his career with Arizona.

Anquan Boldon (Gone)

If I publicly criticized management like Boldon did, I would probably be asked to hand in my badge. Yet he had the audacity to state that Cardinal management was not "man enough" to tell him earlier in the week that he was sitting out. Last I heard, being a man meant keeping your word and having integrity. Anquan needs to be a man and finish out his contract. He didn't complain when he signed the deal making him one of the higher paid wideouts in the league.

Boldon has 3 major issues to deal with. The first being that he has missed games in each of the last few seasons, giving off the impression that he is injury prone. Secondly, his antics have made him look childish and now he is being pegged as a trouble maker. When was the last time fans were taking the side of the Bidwells and Cardinal management? Lastly, the Cardinals have an incredible record when Boldon is out-meaning he is replaceable. Where Steve Nash has managed to prove his worth by how much better the Suns play with him in the game; Anquan is starting to look irrelevant. My prediction is the Cards trade him to fill a gap somewhere else in their game.

Amare Stoudemire (big payday)

I was very pleased to see Nash sign an extension and with 2 twenty assist games it seems like Planet Orange might be burning bright again. But Stoudemire is the one major question mark. He seemed to come back from his knee issues fine and then had issues with the eye. Like Webb, it is risky to throw money at a player that may be injury prone. At times he has looked incredible and other times average.

But Stoudemire has plenty of upside. He is still very young and has improved his game in each of the last few off seasons ( improving his footwork, shooting range, jumpshot). It even appears that he wants to play defense this year. Amare is already earning a max contract, so an extension does not necessarily add substantially to the Suns bottom line. Plus, the Suns need to show a commitment to winning in order to keep season ticket holders happy and resigning Stoudemire could be a step in the right direction. Oden is overrated, Gasol is soft and Duncan is old. Amare might be the best big man in the West.

In a league where big men are highly overpaid (ie. Eric Dampier and Elton Brand), Amare will have plenty of suitors. But if he is smart, then he will realize that signing with the Suns is mutually beneficial. Stoudemire is given the opportunity to be a scorer because the Suns consistently run the pick in roll centered around getting him the ball. In another system with a different point guard, Amares stats will be worse. With the exception of Joe Johnson, most of the Suns who have left saw a decline in their offensive stats. Phoenix offers a classy organization, loyal fan base, great weather, friendly media and a 2 time MVP dishing him the ball.

Haley singing before bed!

2009-11-07T20:43:00.000-08:00

My daughter is so cute!

Guilty Pleasure Radio

2009-11-04T20:19:00.000-08:00

I think we need a guilty pleasure radio station that plays music you loved to sing along to but are ashamed to like. They could call it Guilty Pleasure Radio with the slogan- " music you hate to love."

This got me thinking what the ten best guilty pleasure songs are. I made a list that was closer to 15 and eventually whittled it down to 11. It was hard to leave out songs by the likes of Montel Jordan, Boyz 2 Men, Salt N' Pepper or the Go Go's but I think this list stands the case of scrutiny.

Here is my top ten guilty pleasure list:

1) Since You’ve Been Gone- Kelly Clarkson

2) Your Love-The Outfield

3) Take Me Home Tonight- Eddie Money

4) Sweet Caroline- Neil Diamond

5) Jessies Girl- Rick Springfield

6) 500 Miles- The Proclaimers

7) You Got What I Need- Biz Markie

8) Dust in The Wind-Kansas

9) Tubthumping-Chumbawumba

10) Total Eclipse of The Heart-Bonnie Tyler

10) Ordinary World-Duran Duran

In an age of transparency one thing is still private.

2009-10-24T21:24:00.000-07:00

I once overhead my mother in-law mention that girls really should "keep their privates private". One only needs to look at the likes of Girls Gone Wild or Dirty Scottsdale to realize the merits of this creed. Think about it. Paris Hilton becomes famous for having a sex tape and being rich. Then Kim Kardashian becomes famous for being friends with Paris, having a sex tape and a big butt. At least when J-Lo was famous for having a big butt she also had a singing and acting career. It begs the question, "is anything private these days?"

In an age of TMZ, celebrity blogs, twitter and 24 hour tabloid....err...news stations, we now know more about just about everyone. Do I really need to know about Letterman sleeping around at work? I doubt this would have happened with Johnny Carson. Do I really need to know that Clinton had a relationship with a porky intern? I hope this never happened with Reagan or Carter. But if it did, I am glad I never heard about it.

In the case of Letterman and Clinton, transparency led to forgiveness. If you admit and come clean, America will usually sympathize and forgive (it makes me think that maybe Bonds ought to take this advice and fess up to the steroid use). In the case of Kardashian and Hilton, transparency led to fame and fortune. The internet has created an information age where news travels at an alarmingly fast rate (made even faster by the fact that a lot of news outlets don't verify sources) and it is nearly impossible to keep anything private.

Yet one area of society lacks transparency and the ramifications are huge. I am referring to our economic system. Capitalism thrives under transparency. Transparency allows for consumers to make wise choices. It allows for businesses to adapt, grow and stay competitive.

A lack of transparency creates a system where average Joe's gamble their retirement by investing in funds that they assume are relatively safe. They don't realize these funds are involved in credit default swaps and other risky maneuvers. Or maybe they are more conservative and invest in a bond fund. The bonds are collateralized by mortgages and are given a AAA rating. Sounds safe. Real Estate seems stable. Nobody mentioned how many of those mortgages were subprime ARM's. Not long ago, most people thought a subprime ARM was what happened when the Diamondbacks went to the bullpen. "Randy Johnson has one hell of an arm...but that bullpen is full of subprime arms."

So maybe our society needs to focus less on what Kim Kardashian is up to (seriously, do we need to know that the her sister with the manface married Lamar Odom). Instead we should be concerned more with what Goldman Sachs is doing. When it comes to our financial system, lets make our privates public.

Greed is Good and Capiitalism is the Cure!

2009-10-21T23:37:00.000-07:00

A lot of people have blamed greed for the current economic meltdown. Corporations took on why too much risk in their myopic pursuit of double digit growth. The next logical step is to blame capitalism, since capitalism is based on the concept that greed is good. Therefor, capitalism is bad because it created too much greed.

But there are a few fallacies with this argument.

Myth #1 Capitalism creates greed

Economic systems do not create greed. Man was greedy before capitalism was ever in existence.The history of the world is rich with stories of battles fought for economic purposes (battles over trade routes, land, slaves, spices, weapons and in the case of Iraq....oil). As long as there is scarcity of resources, there will be greed. Even if there was no scarcity of resources, greed will still be prevalent. Inequality would still exist in power, looks, athletic ability, intelligence or any other number of factors. If my neighbor and I both have the same exact resource but my wife is hotter or my job gives me more power, than there will still be greed.

Myth #2 Greed is bad

The economy thrives when consumers are confident (aka greedy) and decide to purchase goods and services. Greed is what makes us want something better out of life. Imagine if man was content with watching Remington Steele on Betamax. Thank God greed led to discontent and that led to better TV shows and technology for recording them. Now I can watch The office on DVR....which is way better. Greed encourages discontentment which is what drives a lot of technological innovation.

Myth #3 Greed led to the economic downfall

There are numerous factors that led to the economic downfall. One could argue that much of the housing bubble was created by government intervention which encouraged homeownership for everyone. While this was a lofty goal, the reality is it also encouraged Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to loosen up lending guidelines and abandon the financial prudence the were originally founded on. Another example of government intervention leading to economic troubles would be our huge trade deficits. Drilling in Anwar could help reduce our reliance on foreign oil, likewise reducing the trade deficits we run will OPEC nations. This is a clear cut case of environmental policies costing the economy jobs.

Encouraging a strong dollar over the last few decades has made our exports too expensive and encouraged US buyers to turn to foreign imports. Greed did not lead to these huge deficits. Failed economic policies did. In a true capitalist economy, a country like China would not be able to artificially weaken their currency and run huge trade surpluses. They would be forced to even out the trade surplus by purchasing goods from western nations, benefiting the manufacturing sectors of both countries. One could even argue that the fact that the Chinese government refuses to give in to the greed of a billion and a half hungry consumers in order to run large surpluses has led to the economic downfall.

It was not greedy consumers that hurt our economy. It was the fact that our entire economy and much of the global economy become too reliant on US consumers spending. At the same time, the US continued to export jobs. It started as manufacturing jobs and continued with engineering, accounting and other sectors. The solution is not to discourage greed. Rather the solution lies in making the US economy a competitive and productive economy.

Here are a few thoughts on how to do this:

-Determine where our competitive advantages lie and build up those sectors. For example, British Humor sucks. But American humor is awesome. There has to be something else we are better at than just making jokes. Lets find out where our advantages lie and exploit them.
-Negotiate fair trade agreements that create wealth and parity for both countries. We buy shoes made in China, they buy our Pop-tarts and Cornflakes.
-Encourage entrepreneurship. Imagine if we spent a fraction of what we waste on military contracts lending money to start-ups. I read an article once about how researchers are developing a biofuel out of alae. Hypothetically if this biofuel was to become a legitimate source of energy and it was US scientist who were first to break this technological barrier. It would give us an advantage over other countries. Same goes for stem cell research, nano technology and other future innovations.
-Reduce government spending and grow the private sector. Last I checked, you can not spend your way out of a deficit.
-Privatize a portion of social security. This would add liquidity to the market and give the average Joe a bigger stake in the economy.
-Strongly enforce anti-trust laws. The consolidation of the financial, pharmaceutical and energy industries has led to a large number of oligopolies which discourage competition and hurt consumers. I once saw an intersection where 3 gas stations were all circle K's. Apparently an Exxon and mobile both became mobile, which then became circle K. Later, the Shell across the street became circle K as well. In my neighborhood we have a B of A branch inside of a grocery star, then their is a B of A Home Loans branch and a B of A bank branch. I could literally want a few hundred yards and run into 3 separate Bank of Americas.
- Let crappy businesses fail. Maybe filing for BK will lead to a leaner, stronger, more innovative GM.

Ultimately it will be competition and capitalism that will lead to the economic recovery. Lets just hope that this next time around that there are safeguards in place to be sure that we are all playing by the same rules.