The Herald asks a good question. The answer is: Yes. …
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Top business story of the week: Trump’s use of tariffs for non-economic reasons
It’s only Monday morning and we already know this week’s top business story. … I thought he might restrain himself by using tariffs, or the threat of tariffs, mostly in the economic sphere. Nope. … According to the NYT, they’re beating their chests at the White House over Columbia’s capitulation: “Today’s events make clear to the world that America is respected again.” … No, it makes clear to the world that America has lost its mind.
Update — No sooner did I write this business-story-of-the-week post than it was overcome by DeepSeek AI events. Silly me. See ‘AI Sputnik moment’ post above.
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Nantucket’s housing experiment | Steak tip craving | Higher-ed mixed-use developers | Physician hazing
Some random thoughts on recent news items:
Nantucket’s very unusual housing experiment
This has to be one of the weirder housing programs out there, as reported by WBUR, i.e., a pilot program that allows the town to use public funds to buy deed restrictions on private homes in order to preserve year-round housing. … Sounds like Nantucket, with the state’s approval, is getting into a variation of reverse mortgages.
I’ll let Select Board Chair Brooke Mohr explain how it might work since I have trouble understanding: “They could potentially sell a deed restriction and take that cash and use it to live off of, and stay in the house … on a promise, a commitment, that they would only sell that house to another year-round family.”
‘Audit on how steak tip-craving, indicted Quincy official stole thousands nears completion’
It was more than a 100 pounds of bourbon steak tips … That’s all I wanted to know when I clicked on the Herald story.
‘Boston Magazine? Is it really still in business?’
Once you get past the obligatory, time-worn Howie cheap shots, this a pretty funny Herald column about the good old days at Boston Magazine, now owned by the Globe.
UMass and Regis College: Private mixed-use developers?
It sure sounds like UMass ultimately doesn’t have a clue what to do with a large chunk of the old Mount Ida College campus in Newton that it rushed to buy seven years ago. The BBJ and Universal Hub have the RFP details (or lack thereof) on UMass’s interest in co-developing the site. I liked this line from UH: “(The plan) would still leave UMass Amherst 50 acres on which to teach and stuff but, of course, not grab any students from UMass Boston, which has its own property redevelopment deal at the old Bayside Expo site in Dorchester.” .…
Meanwhile, B&T reports that Regis College is trying to sell off a 62-acre parcel of its Weston campus, hiring Colliers to pitch the land for potential private development that could include an “18-lot single-family subdivision, and a cottage-style continuing care community including 28 cottage-style homes.” … If that’s the choice, we all know which option Weston will choose, right?
‘Man uses flamethrower to clear snow- and ice-covered street in Georgia’
Why didn’t a New Englander think of this? ….
‘Rampant burnout,’ hazing and physician unionization efforts
When you think about it, the brutal training programs young physicians, interns and fellows go through are a border-line form of hazing, which largely explains recent physician unionization efforts at Beth Israel and other hospitals (Globe). … Hospital administrators have long put up with the controversial training practices for a number of unstated reasons, in addition to the stated reasons (such as how intense training programs are needed to prepare doctors for an intense career): A.) it’s cheap labor B.) because, gosh darn it, older physician administrators went through it and so should the young ones C.) brutal hours for young doctors means less brutal hours for older doctors. …
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Why Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht: ‘The two men share enemies’
The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating article that says so much about what motives much of the right these days: hatred of the left. In this case, it’s about how “allies” of Ross Ulbricht convinced Trump to pardon the convicted felon because “the two men shared enemies.”
This ties into Jeff Jacoby’s observation the other day about today’s mindless partisan hypocrisy in general. I touched on the subject in two posts below (‘Partisan Hypocrisy Derangement Syndrome’ and ‘The urgent necessity to triumph over rivals’).
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Believe it or not, one can hold contrasting views on immigration
The Globe’s website had a curious juxtaposition of immigration stories this morning. … Here’s the headline of one of the prominently placed stories: “ICE Boston arrests suspected gang member with 17 criminal convictions in Mass., officials say.” … And here’s the headline on the other prominently placed story: “Thousands of migrants legally fled to Mass. under a Biden-era policy. Trump’s latest directive could change everything.” I point this out because it’s possible, believe it or not, to read both stories and hold dual views on today’s heated immigration debate: A.) Supporting a crackdown on criminal immigrants and B.) Opposing crackdowns on non-criminal immigrants who were lured/encouraged to come to the U.S. by policies set by the president of the United States. …
As stated in the post below (“Lynch and Healey’s reasonable stands on immigration”), Dems need to make crystal clear they’re for the detention and deportation of known immigrant criminals and gang members – but against mass round-ups of law-abiding immigrants. It’s critical that they distinguish between the two – or Trump is going to win this debate. … And to repeat: Gov. Maura Healey gets it. But I’m not sure other Dems do.
P.S. – One last point: Check out this Federalist piece (don’t ask me how I ended up on its website). The conservative author kind of spills the beans about why he favors a crackdown on all immigrants who arrived here – and why he favors very low legal immigration in general. Because “they” can never truly adapt to “our” culture. … Not all conservative think in this nativist way. But you know a whole lot of them do. As the author notes: “We have to get comfortable saying these things and defending them. “
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Apple: Why lease retail space when you can buy the whole Back Bay building for $88 million?
I knew Apple had a lot of money to spare, but not this much, as the BBJ reports. … The price for the Back Bay building far exceeds the already high psf paid by a Miami investor in October for a Newbury Street building, where Google now leases retail space. … All of this can’t be good for little-guy tenants in the Back Bay, not that there’s many little-guy tenants left.
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Lynch and Healey’s reasonable stands on immigration
I admire U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch’s support for the Laken Riley immigration bill, making him the lone member of the Mass. delegation to vote for the measure, as ‘BUR reports. … And I admire Gov. Healey’s comments, via the Hill, on recent immigration arrests: “I support the apprehension of criminals.”
As for the Laken Riley bill, it’s indeed “imperfect,” as Lynch calls it, and I share U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern’s concerns that the somewhat loosely worded measure may serve as a “trojan horse” for more draconian immigration actions down the road. But are Democrats really going to oppose each and every immigration bill using a variation of the trojan horse/slippery slope excuse? If so, they’re opening themselves up, yet again, to accusations that they’re soft on crime. … Instead, Dems should make clear they’re for the detention and deportation of known immigrant criminals and gang members – but against mass round-ups of law-abiding immigrants. Dems need to distinguish between the two.
Btw: A total of 46 House Dems voted for the Lanen Riley bill. Lynch was far from alone among Dems in supporting it.
Btw II: Here’s an AP summary of the legislation, set to be signed by Trump, with the loosely worded “accused of theft” provision that has some Dems worried.
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The Globe’s legacy-media bet | Destroying Davis Square to save it | Biotech IPOs
Some random thoughts on recent news items:
Globe bets on legacy media again with purchase of Boston Magazine
First, it was the launch of ‘Globe Today,’ as reported by the Globe in 2023. Now it’s the Globe’s acquisition of Boston Magazine, as Dan Kennedy reports. … Those are two big investments in legacy-media type operations. I have my doubts about whether they’ll pay off in the this ever shifting digital-media age. I was sort of expecting the Globe to dive deeper into STAT-like digital ventures, similar to the NYT’s more complete digital transformation. But Linda Henry has done a highly admirable job as CEO of the Globe, helping turn the Globe into a profitable and growing media company. So we’ll see. … One other point: I admire Boston Magazine and have written for them in the past. But I always felt that, journalistically, it was an under-performer in the Boston market, nowhere near the quality of the venerable Texas Monthly. Maybe there’s room for improvement here.
P.S. – Also from Dan Kennedy: ‘A trio of veteran journalists prepares to launch a for-profit local news outlet in Medford, Mass.”‘
‘In Davis Square, proposed tower prompts … a war of anonymous flyers’
The developer was attracted to the success of Davis Square and now seems determined to destroy the charm that made Davis Square a success (via Globe). … Sort of like destroying a town to save it? … Here’s hoping the city of Somerville soundly rejects this crazy idea.
Easier said than done: Converting post offices to housing
Anyone who has followed the years-long talk of a South Station land-swap involving the U.S. Postal Service knows that it’s never easy stitching together land deals involving government agencies. So I’m a little dubious about Andrew Mikula’s idea at B&T about turning some federal post-office sites into housing. … CB’s Scott Van Voorhis, who first posted about the proposal, seems to like the concept in general. I do too. But it’s an easier-said-than-done concept. … One other note: the idea comes as President Donald Trump et gang talk once again of privatizing the U.S. Postal Service, long a right-wing ideological goal that tends to crumble once GOP lawmakers realize their favorite, money-losing district post offices might close under privatization, particularly those in rural districts.
‘Two Massachusetts biotechs file to IPO post-JPM’
Another sign of a slowly recovering biotech sector in Massachusetts, as the BBJ reports. … And forget the above ‘IPO post-JPM’ mumbo-jumbo. They’ve effectively filed to go public. That’s it. … Also this from the BBJ: “Early-stage biotechs may soon get their swagger back.”
‘Which New England state is the best in which to start a business?’
Has New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte seen this? …Via the Globe. … It’s one of those silly rankings by companies trying to nab free media publicity. But it’s still fun stuff, especially when it tweaks the nose of those who like tweaking the nose of others. … And poor Little Rhody. Last, again. …
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Candy tax …mental health care cuts … hundreds of millions more to the shelter program
Do they really have to slap a tax on candy at supermarket checkout counters? After all the stimulus and millionaire-tax revenue that has streamed into state coffers in recent years? … Apparently so. … Hey, I’d rather have a candy tax than the mental-health cuts (BBJ) outlined in Gov. Healey’s proposed $62 billion state budget. But we all know it doesn’t come down to such a dire, simplistic choice. The legislature needs to find a way to avert both proposals. … And, yes, the mention of the shelter program in the headline above is sort of cheap shot, since Healey is proposing reforms that should reduce its costs next fiscal year. But lawmakers still have to find hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for this fiscal year’s shelter costs, so the headline above sort of isn’t a cheap shot.
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Partisan Hypocrisy Derangement Syndrome
The Globe’s Jeff Jacoby parks one on the “cycle of selective outrage and partisan blindness” that’s destroying our body politic. … I now mostly try to tune out people who can’t separate partisanship from their views. I already know what they’re going to say. …
Hub Blog 