Tag Archive for 'San Diego'

Introducing Union-Tribune bathroom tissue…

August 16, 2010, by Seth Hettena. 2 Comments

One year into its new ownership under LA billionaire Tom Gores and his Platinum Equity, The San Diego Union-Tribune preparing to roll out its new re-design Tuesday.

Publisher Ed Moss has promised to do more with less. He’s making good on the latter, although he has yet to deliver on the former.

The paper that lands on your doorstep tomorrow will be a “bit” narrower, according to Publisher Moss, who assures us it will also be “more efficient” — newspaper doublespeak for less wordy.

Newspapers are shrinking across the country to save on the costs of newsprint, which is what they call the actual paper that lines birdcages and can be shaped into funny hats. The print of U.S. newsprint is up to 14 percent this year. That’s still well below what Canadian mills need to make a profit.

How narrow will the U-T get?

The Union-Tribune currently measures about 12 inches, the same width of the Wall Street Journal and other big newspapers.

It’s likely to follow the LA Times,  and the North County Times which all shrank in February to 11 inches. Any smaller will invite mockery.

Unlike the LA Times, however, the Union-Tribune will be changing to a (presumably larger) typeface.

We all learned in grade school that shrinking margins and bigger writing is the way to make your paper seem longer than it actually is.

Consultants tell newspaper executives that readers don’t really care about the width of the page and some even like it. In the short run, that may be true. In the long run, it means there’s even less in the newspaper. Which means there’s more of a reason to look elsewhere for news.

But there’s … more. The U-T is promising more emphasis on graphics and photos, which will further crowd out all the refocused news and investigations they are promising us.

That’s the funny thing about doing more with less. The only thing you can do with less is less.


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2010 Top San Diego Money Managers

June 12, 2010, by Seth Hettena. 0 Comments

The top San Diego money management firms with more than $1 billion in assets under management based on SEC regulatory filings as of June 12, 2010.

Firm Name Location Assets Under Management
Brandes Investment Partners, LP San Diego $53,111,776,127
Pacific Corporate Group LLC La Jolla $19,823,150,992
Guided Choice Asset Management, Inc. San Diego $19,238,786,500
PCG Asset Management, LLC La Jolla $19,203,420,729
Nicholas-Applegate Capital Management LLC San Diego $9,916,244,833
Gurtin Fixed Income Management, LLC Solana Beach $6,747,183,972
Relational Investors LLC San Diego $6,033,534,431
Chandler Asset Management Inc San Diego $5,005,221,338
Globeflex Capital LP San Diego $4,182,000,000
LM Capital Group, LLC San Diego $4,010,525,407
Clarivest Asset Management LLC San Diego $1,800,000,000
First Allied Securities, Inc. San Diego $1,654,019,937
Stolper & Co., Inc. San Diego $1,574,982,908
Wall Street Associates La Jolla $1,528,000,000
Dowling & Yahnke, LLC San Diego $1,473,382,112
Denali Advisors, LLC La Jolla $1,274,412,604
Rice Hall James & Associates LLC San Diego $1,203,218,265
Caywood-Scholl Capital Management LLC San Diego $1,094,183,050
Independent Financial Group, LLC San Diego $1,043,692,374
Macquarie Funds Management Carlsbad $1,005,232,323

@ 2010 Seth Hettena


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Negative Equity in the San Diego Housing Market

June 8, 2010, by Seth Hettena. 0 Comments

San Diego’s housing market may have much further to fall.

So says a new report from the NY Federal Reserve that calculates how many homeowners will become renters over the next few years.

In San Diego, 16 percent of homeowners will become renters, according to the study

This measure assumes that homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth — i.e. negative equity — are in effect renters.

Since the homeownership gap reflects the extent of negative equity in the housing market, it is also a gauge of the potential downward pressure on the offcial homeownership rate. Assuming that house prices do not appreciate over the next several years, negative equity households will very likely convert to renters when they move out of their current homes because they will be unable to save enough to cover the negative equity, the transaction costs of selling their existing home, and a down payment on another home. As these transitions from owning to renting take place, the homeownership gap will narrow, with the offcial homeownership rate dropping toward the effective rate.
The official rate of homeownership in San Diego is 55 percent. But the Fed’s analysis of federal loan data shows that only 39 percent of homeowners will get some money back when they sell.
The difference between these two numbers yields the homeownership gap. And barring a huge rise in prices, that’s where we are headed.
It’s bad, and it may even be worse. According to the paper, these numbers may actually understate the extent of the problem.If you use Case-Shiller’s numbers, only 35 percent of San Diego homeowners have positive equity.  So the gap grows to 20 percentage points.
This has far-reaching implications:
Consider, for example, that the Case-Shiller-based effective homeownership rates for … Detroit, New York City, San Diego, and San Francisco are all under 50 percent. That is, the median household in these areas is in a negative equity position and no longer has strong financial incentives to behave as an owner. While the effects will vary with the distribution of negative equity households across the municipalities within these metro areas, a high share of these households could result in reduced maintenance of the housing stock, an increased risk of housing vacancies, and less stable neighborhoods over time—developments that could have repercussions for local law enforcement. Moreover, the predominance of “non-homeowners” in these metropolitan areas could lead to a decline in citizen participation in local affairs, with a concomitant loss of vigilance over the quality and ef?ciency of public services and institutions.

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San Diego County Pension Lowers Rate of Return

June 4, 2010, by Seth Hettena. 1 Comment

San Diego County’s pension fund just handed the county bill for more than $30 million a year yet no one seems to have noticed.

Every three years, San Diego County’s pension fund looks into its crystal ball and decides what it expects investments returns will be over the next 50 years.

It’s arguably the most important and difficult decision the board has to make. Even a small change can force the county to cough up millions of dollars each year.

Yesterday, the board of the San Diego County Employee Retirement Association lowered its assumed net rate of return from 8.25 percent to 8 percent effective July 1, 2011. (Watch the meeting online here.)

A quarter percent may not sound like much, but it’s a change that will force the county to pay 3 percent of payroll each year. Using last year’s payroll numbers, that works out to roughly $33.88 million.

The 8 percent assumed rate of return represents the pension’s best guess about how the fund will do in the future, so that the county can set aside money to ensure the plan is well funded.

The shift to an 8 percent assumed rate of return moves San Diego County’s pension more in line with other big state pension funds. CalPERS, the $200 billion retirement system, is reviewing its assumed 7.75 percent rate of return and will make a recommendation to the board whether to lower it later this year.

Three years ago, the pension’s actuarial consultant, Segal Group, recommended an assumed rate of return but the then chief investment officer, David Deutsch, promised that he could generate the additional 8.25 percent with his Alpha Engine.

Deutsch resigned under pressure shortly before the pension reported losses of $2.4 billion for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

The assumed rate of return is perhaps the most important variable in calculating a key barometer of a pension’s health known as the funding ratio — the ratio of assets to liabilities. SDCERA’s funding ratio stands officially at 91.5 percent, but that’s only because of an accounting practice that defers losses over several years.

If last year’s $2.1 billion loss were to be recognized right away, San Diego County’s pension fund would only be 65 percent funded, according to a report by an independent consultant. That’s well below the 80 percent that pension experts regard as healthy.


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What San Diego Cared About in May

May 28, 2010, by Seth Hettena. 0 Comments


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