Dr. Riedy's Random Thoughts

Though not a stock analyst, when I read about the expansion running out of steam I suppose I should get nervous, but I don't--watchful and wary, maybe, but not nervous. As a retiree my investments are our primary nest egg so if they diminish in value it will hurt.  The question then would become, how long before those values recover? The three major indicators I consider in assessing future prospects are interest rates, the impact of tax cuts, and the effects of foreign trade and tariff policies of the U.S. government. 1. Stock markets hate uncertainty, especially about over-arching factors such as interest rates.  In that vein the Federal Reserve has made clear it intends to continue measured increases in the short term (Fed funds) rate. Their goal is to keep inflation in check as expansion occurs.  No uncertainty here. 2. Tax cuts are stimulating spending and sustaining consumer and business confidence, all of which tend to extend economic expansions.  We've pu...

OASIS is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating opportunities for rewarding and successful aging for individuals 50 and older.  I have become involved with this wonderful group since I retired and had lunch today with the CEO of the San Diego chapter, Simona Valanciute, and the VP of External Relations, Jolyn Parker.  They want to reduce costs and increase the organization's user-friendly programming for seniors by consolidating its north county programming.  At present, programs are held in dozens of small locations, from libraries to community centers, where rents are either free or extremely low cost. They believe creating a key OASIS location in the north county coastal region would be extremely beneficial to the audiences they serve. OASIS needs to find approximately 7,000 square feet of vacant space, at a discounted rent, with plentiful parking to accommodate the hundreds of individuals who currently participate in their north county activities on a daily...

Most of my blog posts will be more generalized than applying primarily to San Diego, so I apologize for being parochial in this one.  Of course, short-sighted public policies and policy-making processes certainly are not limited to the City of San Diego so in that sense these thoughts are also relevant to other regions of the country. In the November 2018 elections San Diego's voters are being asked to choose between two competing ballot initiatives for the redevelopment of land tied into the former Qualcomm football stadium site in Mission Valley.  Although each proposal adds a variety of sweeteners, at their core one is to make the land available for the future expansion of San Diego State University.  The competing initiative is to build a new soccer stadium, plus the sweeteners. Another major initiative facing voters for an up-or-down vote is expansion of the downtown waterfront Convention Center, financed by an expansion of the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT).  ...

Dear Readers: So that I do not plague you sending multiple invitations to follow my posts, whether or not you become a follower would you please send me a brief email at mriedy@sandiego.edu informing me that you are already on the list of those to whom I have sent invitations.  Also, if you have topics you would like to see addressed, please feel free to add a note about those topic(s) and if I can address them intelligently I will.  Thanks.  I look forward to hearing from you.  Mark

I invested about 14 years of my career leading real estate finance-oriented national trade groups in Washington, D. C. Testifying before House and Senate committees frequently and being responsible for sizable staffs of regulatory and legislative lobbyists meant playing an integral role influencing federal regulations and legislation favored or opposed by our trade group's members. In the process I came to appreciate how difficult it is to understand and to pass meaningful regulations and laws even when opposing views are not far apart. Unlike the disarray so rampant in Washington, D.C. today, where it feels like the circus came to town, with a full cast of clowns. When I look at the nasty debates between the Trump Administration and the Congress in general, not to mention disagreements within parties and between the House and Senate, all I can think of is a pearl of wisdom passed along to me by a veteran Capitol Hill lobbyist, the late Burton Wood. When I first arrived in Washin...

In this piece I argue children can and should be taught how to recognize choices they make are decisions and that making decisions is a skill no different from sports or music or foreign languages. With training and practice decision–making skills can be improved dramatically and create life-long benefits. Training should begin as early as grammar school and continue through high school, evolving always to be age-appropriate, but in a formalized and structured program involving both teachers and parents. Further, making decisions sometimes leads to successful outcomes and other times leads to failures.  Truth be told, we can learn a great deal from our successes, but we probably learn even more from our failures. Children need to learn it is OK to fail. I’m thinking about writing a separate blog piece addressing the “it’s OK to fail, kids” issue.  On my career journey to becoming a senior executive I learned to make choices/decisions the old-fashioned way—by the s...

Time for ourselves has become a rare and highly valuable commodity.  In this post I start by highlighting  unique perspectives on the availability of time for ourselves, then list a few of my pet peeves—ways in which others rob us of time and our ability to make the most of it. Thinking about the importance of reserving time for ourselves I’m always reminded of a conversation I had with (the late) Jim Rouse, at that time one of America’s true pioneers of planned communities (Columbia, Maryland) and regional shopping malls. I asked if he would be willing to fly from Baltimore to San Diego, on the occasion of the dedication of the Ernest W. Hahn Endowed Chair in Real Estate Finance at the University of San Diego, to speak on behalf of his good friend and fellow mall developer, Ernie Hahn. I was to be the first holder of the Hahn Chair. Because I knew Jim I hoped he might agree to honor his friend Ernie by speaking at the dedication. Rouse, at that time aged 80+, was...