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Dallas County Expected to Run Out of H1N1 Vaccine Today (Probably)

So, go ahead and panic, if that’s your thing. My thing? An unnatural, inexplicable cockiness, and constant thumb drumming on my legs (not a euphemism).

A.H. Belo Pension Fund Under-Funded by $575 Million

A special report by Editor & Publisher finds that the nation’s newspaper chains are in deep when it comes to their pension funds. A.H. Belo is short by $575 million.

Just remember, Evan: when you’re ready to come back, we’ll still be here.

UPDATE: That number is too high. E&P has issued a correction.

Perot Systems: “Dude, Let’s Sell to Dell”

Dell is set to buy Perot Systems in a deal valued at $3.6 billion. I’m sure this has nothing to do with Hillwood’s defaulting on its Victory loan. Or with the implosion of the Perot family’s Parkcentral Global Hub hedge fund.

Is Tom Leppert a Fiscal Conservative?

Angela Hunt and I surprise each other sometimes by actually agreeing on an issue. Regardless of whether we agree or disagree, I respect her civility, her dedication to Dallas, and most of all, her diligence. As the vote on the city budget nears, she has been poring over the details. She helpfully prepared a slideshow on the budget here (just click on the image to move on to the next slide). If you want more detail, you can also click on her Excel spreadsheets. Her major question, as you will see, is whether it is prudent in this economic climate for the city to assume more debt. The mayor says we need to keep investing in Dallas. Hunt asks how we are going to pay for it.

I agree with the mayor. But I also agree with Hunt. And that means, paradoxically, that I disagree with both of them. To invest in Dallas we need to raise taxes to pay for it. Otherwise we will be running Dallas like a junior version of the Bush Administration. 

The rebuttal, of course, is that a recession is a stupid time to raise taxes.  Almost all economists would agree — for the national economy. But Dallas is only 3/10th of 1 percent of the national economy. Its effect on the economy is like a pebble thrown into Lake Texoma.  There is never a stupid time to be fiscally responsible.  Tom Leppert the businessman knew that; Tom Leppert the politician-with-stars-in-his-eyes seems to have forgotten it. If we want the debt, the city should raise property taxes to pay the interest and principal. Otherwise, the citizens are handing the potential Senate candidate a IDCIWBH* card.

*I Don’t Care, I Won’t Be Here

Leading Off (8/11/09)

1.In Dallas City Council news, while the current members are mostly accepting of the proposed cuts in services to address the city’s $190 million budget deficit, former Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill was allegedly very accepting of kickbacks from minority contractors who got jobs based on the pressuring of developers.

2. Virgin America, the low-cost airline, is considering opening routes to Dallas and Austin. You may begin your “I’m flying Virgin” jokes in three, two, …

3. Frisco will fight its school district rating of “recognized,” because it thinks it deserves “exemplary.” This is because they deserve it. Even if they didn’t quite make it. Because it’s not fair. I mean, it’s Frisco.

Leading Off (7/31/09)

1. The City Council kicked off its retreat at Garrett Creek Ranch in Paradise, where members will try to figure out how to solve the city’s budget deficit, set priorities for the new year, and see if Tripper can lead them to a victory over the rich jerks from Camp Mohawk.

2. The Dallas Zoo could get new ownership, as the City Council seems open to a plan to have it run by the Dallas Zoological Society. Dallas would still have to contribute annual lump-sum payments—which sound suspiciously to me like elephant loans.

3. And, high-end condo sales in Dallas are still suffering. This news brought to you by the years 2008 to 2011.

Why The Rich Are Disappearing: Taxes?

Last month, I linked (with a favorable comment) to Arthur Laffler’s op-ed in the Wall St. Journal on how high-tax states were losing the rich. Now along comes Daniel Gross of Slate.com with a closer examination of the numbers. The conclusion? Low-tax states are losing even more rich people than the high-tax states:

Comparative tax havens like Florida, Nevada, and Arizona didn’t see an influx of millionaires in 2008. Far from it. In 2008, Las Vegas lost 38 percent of its HNWIs [high net worth individuals], and Phoenix lost 34 percent. Florida, which has no state income tax and hasn’t been talking about one, was a killing field for the rich. The three major metro areas that lost more than 40 percent of millionaires in 2008 were all in no-income-tax Florida—Orlando (42 percent), Miami (42 percent), and Tampa (51 percent). The decline has nothing to do with taxes and everything to do with bursting asset bubbles.

As Glenn Hunter noted on July 15, Dallas hasn’t been hit as hard but we are still down 1.4%.

Mark Cuban In Legal Trouble, Ctd.

Good heavens, I love Mark Cuban. He says, eh, it’s not so much that I’m in legal trouble, it’s that Ross Perot Jr. is in financial trouble. Here is his full e-mail response to Channel 11 (please note the awesomeness of the phrase “nickels in the sofa,” the third track to my currently untitled 2010 release):

“I can only offer my opinion, which is that Ross Perot Jr. must be desperate from the losses he has suffered from Victory and his hedge funds. My lawyers have been open with our minority partners, and in Mr. Perot’s case, very minority, about the loans to the Mavericks. The loans have been used to put the best possible Mavericks team on the court, which in turn created the NBA’s longest sellout streak and drove business to the AAC/COC and to Perot’s Victory development. As best I could tell, he was very happy to take advantage of the traffic when he had an economic interest in Victory to do so. Unfortunately for Mr. Perot, he was apparently unable to capitalize on the benefit and is trying to find nickels in the sofa cushion. It is my understanding that Mr. Perot has received legal notice of the loans since they began, right after the Mavs appearance in the Finals as we tried to improve the team further. Only he knows why he has chosen to file a lawsuit and to make it public. The unfortunate reality is that this is the nature of our business relationship with Mr. Perot. From all I can tell, he could care less if the Mavs ever win a game. I have to tell you that the biggest mistake I made in buying the Mavs was in not completely buying out his interest.”

(H/T: Fish)

American Airlines Parent Loses $390 Million In 2nd Quarter

AMR blames swine flu (among other factors) for the steep revenue drop. After a second quarter like that, the company really needs to regroup at halftime. (Sorry, so sorry. Couldn’t resist.)

Bad News On The Dallas Retail Front, Ctd.

While Dallas is indeed down 21.5%, as the Comptroller reported last week, a large refund from an audit bumped last year’s receipts for Dallas.  Not including last year’s bump, Dallas is down 5.9% — which is still bad but not nearly as bad in comparison to the other major cities in Texas.

Susan Combs: Bad News On The Dallas Retail Front

The Texas State Comptroller is reporting disastrous sales-tax results for Dallas in June — down 21.52%. I can’t explain it, especially with Houston being down only 4.71%. The news is worse in Plano: down 40.14%. While the rest of the state is apparently having a mild recession, Dallas seems to have hit depression-level numbers.

The news nationwide ain’t that good, either. As Glenn notes, Smith & Hawken is out of business. Abercrombie & Fitch is down 32%. Gap is down 10%. Neiman Marcus is down 20.8%. Even Target is down 6.2%.

Leading Off (7/10/09)

1. Get ready for a string of these stories: Because of the Dallas budget crunch, a number of city services are on the chopping block. For example, Dallas may dramatically scale back the number of immunizations and health-care screenings it provides this year.

2. Barbara Hilliard is 82, but if you bring a sword at her, she will whip your tail. Doubt that? I believe a little something called the National Fencing Championships (being held in Grapevine) prove me right.

3. As Wick noted, Rick Perry has an early lead in the polls against Kay Bailey Hutchison. That could be a referendum on them as personalities, but it also could be an outcome of their strategy: Hutchison is running against the powers that be in Austin; Perry is running against bureaucrats in D.C. Guess which one gets voters more fired up?

Is The TABC Out of Control?

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is a powerful agency in the state of Texas. They regulate the sales, taxation, importation, manufacturing, transporting, and advertising of alcoholic beverages.

Over the years, I’ve heard some horror stories from bar and restaurant owners. Yesterday, I ran an interview with Rainmaker Restaurant Group owner Michael Costa. He manages Las Colinas Prime and claims that the TABC harasses them to the point of scaring away customers. During a recent raid, Costa claims an agent pulled a gun on one of the cooks in the kitchen because he had a knife in his hands.

Early Sunday morning, officers with the TABC and Fort Worth police raided the Rainbow Lounge, a gay nightclub in Fort Worth. It’s sounds like it was a nasty scene. One patron ended up in the hospital with a brain injury.  Last night witnesses to the ordeal met at Buzzbrews on Lemmon to share stories.

Yow. Zah. I’m having flashbacks to Lee Park in 1971. Where is Stoney Burns when we need him? (Much watch video.) Operators are standing by for your comments.

Belo Gets Into the Real Estate Business

Josh Hixson has the details on DallasDirt about an investment that AH Belo (we assume it’s the newspaper side and not the TV side) is making in SawbuckRealty.com.

Dallas Won’t Regain Job Losses Until 2011

So says IHS Global Insight, an economic forecasting firm. Austin and San Antonio are expected to be back to pre-crash employment this year or next. For the story, go here. For an interactive map, go here.

American To Cut 1,600 Jobs

That’s the bad news. The good news is that it seems only 133 of them will be at DFW.

Dallas Economy “Bouncing Along The Bottom”

The Dallas Fed Biege Book gives this report:

Downward price pressures remain prevalent across industries. Staffing, legal and accounting firms continue to report pressure from clients to discount the price of their services. Retailers said selling prices were mostly steady, although prices of “day-to-day” goods continued to fall. Auto dealers said used car prices were holding up better than new car prices, and at least one contact expected domestic auto prices to drop further. Airline industry contacts noted substantial fare sales in recent weeks. Energy industry respondents said rates charged for routine wellhead work were under pressure as producers demanded concessions reflecting lower commodity prices and revenues.

You can get all the good news here, direct from the horse’s mouth.

Dave & Buster’s: Managing Thru The Recession

Two days ago, I linked to an article on P. F. Chang’s secret to holding margins during tough times. Today, Dave & Buster’s is reporting good gains in margins even though business is down. Profit is up 3.7% while same-store sales are down 7.9%.

Neiman Marcus Holds On To Elegant, Stylish Effin Hat

Same-store sales (my ska band name, btw) down 25 percent in fiscal third quarter. No problem, though. Don’t worry about it. We’re just playing economic rope-a-dope. About to come out swinging aaaaany minute now.

Dallas Bartender Dating Options to Expand

A friend recently joked that I spent so much time at a certain establishment that I was almost certainly common-law married to a bartender there. I wish. But I think being a bartender would be hard–you’re never home at night so you miss amazing shows; people are generally bad—but drunk people are worse; and trying to remember drink orders and recipes and all that business is just too much. Luckily, a lot of people don’t see it my way. According to this Dallas Morning News video, local bartending schools are experiencing a jump in enrollment, likely due to the uncertain economy. My favorite line here: “Your degree in this business is your smile.”

Zac Crain Is Sleeping With Dick Washburne?

Timmy, thanks for the information. That explains a lot. I can really pick ‘em.

Re: TI’s IT Department Needs Troubleshooting

Last week I posted about problems in Texas Instruments’ IT department and linked to the DBJ’s story reporting 12 percent of TI’s workforce—about 3,400 employees—were to be cut in January.  An FBer sends his two cents:

As one of those cut, I was curious if you were aware that number was inaccurate or that at least it only accounts for direct employees?  I know that nearly all, something like 99% of all contractors, were let go on 1/23.  More than half of my IT support group was cut, from 9 to 4.  We were told before we were let go that the total number was to be 30%.  My estimate was that the count as of the 1st week or so of February would have been about 7000 people, not the 3,400 listed above.

Other Than That, Everything’s Just Fine

Several things are keeping Dallas Fed economist Thomas F. Siems up at night. One’s the “huge debt burden” Washington is running up. Another’s the way the federal government is growing. (”The bigger government gets,” Siems says, “the smaller GDP gets.”) He’s also worried about over-regulating the banks–most of which, he says, are doing just fine–and, down the road, the probability of higher inflation. Siems made the comments in a keynote address this morning to the EO Dallas group at the Westin Galleria.

Laid-off Reporter Finds Solace in Coffee Stain

With all the “hold-on-to-your-effin‘-hat” we in the media biz have been doing lately, some of us are finding ways to cope. Folks in this office seem to be drinking more lately, which I didn’t think was possible; I’ve taken up gardening and fantasize about smoking cigarettes; and Laura is finding solace in reality TV.

But a journalist who was laid off last week is coping in a very different way: He wrote a letter to Romenesko explaining that he believes he saw the Virgin Mary in a coffee stain while cleaning out his desk after the big heave-ho. I don’t see it, but I get the sentiment. Sounds like it would have been a great story for the DMN’s Religion section.

Months After Layoffs, TI’s IT Department Needs Troubleshooting

Dallas-based Texas Instruments laid off 12 percent of its workforce in late January, with most of those cuts affecting the company’s internal support teams—and it seems the cuts are causing big problems. According to an employee at TI, the situation is now so bad that if the IT department can’t troubleshoot within a few minutes, the ticket is closed and employees are told they can’t be helped. She pointed out a recent example: During a presentation by a TI employee, a call was made to IT for help. After a few minutes, the TI employee was left with one option: call Geek Squad, the computer support company best known for black-and-white VW Beetles and its affiliation with Best Buy. That doesn’t bode well for TI.