Category Archives: Uncategorized

(Community Matters) Forbes ranked the fastest growing US metropolitan areas in terms of population & economic growth, Austin ranked #1 (Houston #2, Dallas-Ft Worth #3, San Antonio #9) – unemployment and median salaries for local college-educated workers were also part of the calculations.

When Chuck Gordon and Mario Feghali started Sparefoot, the 25-year old entrepreneurs relocated to Austin, Texas, from Los Angeles, having received seed money from local tech incubator Capital Factory.

Perhaps not surprisingly, cities in Texas — which welcomed more than 427,000 newcomers from August 2011 to July 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — dominated our list. Houston ranked second, behind Austin, followed by Dallas in third place and San Antonio in ninth. Robust labor markets, unemployment rates under 6% (well below the national average),no state income tax, a business-friendly regulatory environment, and strong population inflows all contributed to Texas towns’ high rankings.

Of course I think Capital Factory & its founder Joshua Baer are runaway competitive assets to Austin’s entrepreneurial eco-system. Just met Chuck Gordan, Mario Feghali and their partners at Sparefoot – who we’re hoping will be new members of the Entrepreneurs Foundation soon.

as an aside, I hadn’t realized Forbes ranks Utah as the best state for business and careers.

(Community Matters) Maybe we should require the government to remove one business regulation in order to issue a new one. Heck, I wouldn’t be opposed to a ratio of 2:1 or higher.

I’m not bashing government regulation – believing it’s a critical component of a free market economic system. While the best economic model ever created, it’s still grossly flawed – especially in terms of externalizing costs and protecting workers & consumers. Nevertheless, the sheer number of cumulative regulations and a rather byzantine regulatory system can be a drag on innovation and efficiency. Not to mention: bureaucracy is also cumulative *and* self perpetuating, and even when comprised of all good people with all good ambition, can become a drag on economic growth.

The Democratic Party should be known for both protecting and promoting the interests of America’s middle class *and* promoting and enabling economic growth and innovation. There is a balancing act here; and yes, citizens should win all ties . . . but if we look hard enough, we can usually avoid ties.

(Community Matters) The Barna poll, conducted in November 2012

“they also want Judeo-Christians to dominate the culture”

“They cannot have it both ways,” he said. “This does not mean putting Judeo-Christian values aside, but it will require a renegotiation of those values in the public square as America increasingly becomes a multi-faith nation.”

Also, it’s a big deal that 71% of Evangelicals polled fear religious freedom is threatened.

And 72 percent of evangelicals also agreed that gays and lesbians were the group “most active in trying to remove Christian values from the country.” That compares to 31 percent of all adults who held this belief.

Important for us to account for into our advocacy. We’d have to understand more if there’s anyway to promote LGBT equality without tripping this wire.

The article notes “a March 2012 poll sponsored by Religion News Service and the Public Religion Research Institute, which found that a majority of Americans — 56 percent — did not feel that religious freedom was under attack in this.”

(Community Matters)

As one CEO lectured the senators about fiscal responsibility, compromise and shared sacrifice, an aide to Reid passed the majority leader a note saying that the CEO’s company had paid an effective tax rate of zero for the past year, according to a source in the meeting. Reid showed the note to Schumer, sitting next to him. “Don’t do it, Harry,” Schumer whispered, trying to head off one of Reid’s famously biting rebuttals. Reid bit his tongue, but the credibility of the corporate titans had been undone.

Interesting article about blow back to financial CEOs lobbying but those lines especially resonated

(Community Matters) Very cool that Larry’s book – Going Clear – is finally out. If you missed the New Yorker article, here.

Spent a lovely afternoon in Marfa eating and drinking wine at Julie & Fran’s with Larry & Roberta discussing Scientology and new story ideas.

(Community Matters) Politico on Democrats bringing the knowledge/power/fundraising of the Obama/Biden campaign to Texas

“Do I think we’re going to turn Texas in two years? Probably not. Do I think we can turn Texas in four years? Absolutely” – Houston Mayor Anise Parker

(not sure about time frame but definitely a boon for ambitions of turning Texas blue)

(Community Matters) A stunning statistic – half of Medicare beneficiaries live with three chronic conditions and 20 percent live with five or more.

NYT, David Bornstein: When Paying It Forward Pays Us Back

(Community Matters) ughh, Moody’s and Fitch warning European banks they need more reserves against bad loans. The volatility could remain a drag on markets

(Community Matters) The University of Notre Dame has launched a research effort on the Science of Generosity. It was established in 2009 with a $5 million grant and grew out of Smith’s work on Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Don’t Give Away More Money

Generosity – the virtue of giving good things to others freely and abundantly.

some of their research:

In a September 2012 paper in Nature, Harvard University researchers David Rand, Joshua Greene, and Martin Nowak conclude that when given the choice, our innate first responder–intuition–is pretty generous. But in a span of just 10 seconds, a stingier impulse arises, and the cooperative impulse decreases dramatically.

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(Community Matters) Yair Lapid, founder of Israel’s Yesh Atid (There Is a Future) party emerged from this week’s election as one of Israel’s most important political leaders. Nice to have a new centrist party wielding such clout.

(Community Matters) This is super, a push in NYC for thoughtful design of properties offering smaller foot prints in a way to achieve greater affordability.

Years ago sitting around a Madrid plaza with new acquaintances, they explained to me how the plazas and other public spaces are where they and their friends met since everyone had such tiny apartments. Not only is it good for affordability but for community building too.

I’d be even more excited about a new affordable housing bond initiative if I knew it was also driving this sort of innovation.

Politico Playbook: “New York City extols virtues of tiny apartments,” by AP’s Ula Ilnytzky: “With the population and rents expected to keep climbing, New York City planners are challenging architects to design ways to make it tolerable – even comfortable – to live in dwellings from 350 square feet to as small as 250 square feet. The city wants to incorporate those designs into an apartment complex to be built on Manhattan’s east side next year featuring mostly ‘micro units.’ The aim is to offer more such tiny apartments throughout the city as affordable options for the young singles, cash-poor and empty nesters who are increasingly edged out of the nation’s most expensive real-estate market. If the pilot program is successful, New York could ultimately overturn a requirement established in 1987 that all new apartments be at least 400 square feet. … San Francisco recently approved construction of apartments as small as 220 square feet. And Tokyo and Hong Kong have long offered tiny units.

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(Community Matters) Very pleased to see my friend Henry is being named national DNC Finance Chair. With Andy reupping for Treasurer, that’s two in the top finance roles for the party.

EXCLUSIVE – ONE OF OBAMA’S FIRST APPOINTMENTS IN TERM II : Henry R. Muñoz III of San Antonio — an Obama bundler and a national chairman of the Futuro Fund, a group of Latino leaders who raised money for the president’s reelection — is expected to be named DNC Finance Chair, the first Latino to hold the title: “He is Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Kell Muñoz Architects, Inc., the largest minority-owned architectural firm in Texas. … Muñoz has designed prolific architectural works in the United States/Mexico Border Region for 15 years; he has shaped the skylines of Texas and is an original and innovative leader in the pursuit of a blended cultural expression through the built environment.”