Looking for the economy’s silver lining
With the economic forecast season about to get underway, two things are absolutely certain: 1. The experts are going to have strong opinions. 2. Most of the time they’re going to be wrong. So, with the knowledge that my amateur views are likely to be better than at least a few of the pros, let’s Read More →
SBA-backed deals are propping up commercial real estate market
Small businesses are starting to look like the heroes in the commercial real estate market’s turnaround tale. Businesses buying property for their own use, also known as owner-users, have fueled a number of deals in the Tri-Counties recently, many of them aided by financing through U.S. Small Business Administration lending programs. In Oxnard, Industrial Park Read More →
Totaling up the hefty price tag of Mozilo
The lifetime ban against former Countrywide Financial Corp. CEO Angelo Mozilo serving as an officer or director of a public company may be the most positive result to come from his settlement of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission complaint. But Mozilo’s company and his conduct created a decade-long road to economic ruin that reached Read More →
From the editor: Mozilo’s ban a true black mark
The lifetime ban against former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo serving as an officer or director of a public company may be the most positive result to come from his settlement of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission complaint. As reported over the weekend, the SEC settled with Mozilo and two top lieutenants in a case Read More →
‘J.R.’ takes on Wall St., and charities win
A generation after “Dallas” disappeared from the small screen, Ojai actor Larry Hagman has staged a comeback as a media star. The man who played J.R. Ewing was the subject of global news coverage — including a flattering column in the Sunday New York Times — after he won a big settlement against Citigroup and Read More →
Nonprofit seizes opportunity to turn hassle into new facility
Question: The city wants to extend a road through your property, right through a corner where several key buildings are located. What do you do? (a) Put up a fight. (b) Sell the city the land, and use the proceeds as seed money to build a new facility on your remaining property. Santa Maria-based VTC Read More →
