It didn’t take me long to write my dumbest Comment column of 2007. In the Jan. 1 issue, I wrote that “as time goes on, the likelihood of a steep and deep drop (in house prices) becomes fainter. A short and shallow drop seems more likely.” Yeah. Sure.
Since this year-end issue of the Business Journal is the one in which we look back on the big and interesting stories of year, I thought I’d look back at some of the columns I wrote. Not too many would qualify as big or interesting. A couple were dumb. Some were naive, but I’d like to think charmingly so.
For example, I opined in July that the arrival of David and Victoria Beckham in Los Angeles got so much gushy attention that maybe the National Football League would wake up and decide it didn’t want to lose L.A. completely to soccer. Maybe the NFL would finally put a football team here. Yeah. Sure.
A few columns elicited responses from readers that were spirited, which is a nice way of saying they were outraged or even nasty.
For example, in the Feb. 19 issue, I defended Bank of America’s decision to give credit cards to illegal immigrants in the Los Angeles area. I opined that critics of the bank were confusing a business relationship with the government’s immigration policy. Businesses should serve the customers in front of them, not be a police force.
However, some readers said the bank was aiding illegal activity, and I was abetting it.
But there are plenty of people who view the immigration issue differently, and I managed to tick them off, too. In June I got on board with the build-the-fence-first crowd. I never thought highly of the secure-the-border argument in the past, but I came around because any immigration policy won’t mean much if millions are streaming across the border. I wrote: “A doctor may have a miracle cure, but it means nothing if he can’t stop the bleeding.”
Those who disagreed with me said I was insensitive, and our neighbors would be offended by such a fence. Actually, my neighbors have tall fences, and I’m not offended.
Probably the biggest response I got was from a question I asked in August after the City Council caved in to pressure and set back the progress of a Home Depot that earlier had been approved. I didn’t get it, and I asked why Angelenos hate big box stores. The main response was that big boxes kill small businesses. But I still don’t get it. I thought competition was good.
Among my more unpopular positions I took: California should stop burdening its businesses with new pollution-control initiatives until it starts hectoring China, whose abundant pollution is wafting onto our shores; this area should abandon its failed experiment with HOV carpool lanes and replace them with true express lanes that charge a toll; and that to relieve traffic, Los Angeles should and I know this sounds crazy build roads and widen streets.
Anyway, I’m privileged to get a chance to opine once a week about the news. And I truly appreciate the responses that many of you send. Even the spirited ones.
And, you know, as for that prediction about housing prices: since prices only recently started falling and haven’t dropped far, it is still possible that the drop will be short and shallow.
Yeah. Sure.
Charles Crumpley is editor of the Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].
