Category Archives: economic news

Come back during rush hour!

March 31, 2025 kanelis2012 Leave a comment

A friend who lives in Austin ventured through Princeton recently partly to check out some of the issues I have raised on this blog … at least that’s what he said.

He was traveling from Paris through Princeton and wanted to know about the hubbub over this city’s enormous growth.

He got a small taste of what I have been saying about this Collin County community that is undergoing a fairly fundamental identity crisis. My friend said somethinga about the city-imposed moratorium on residential construction. The council imposed the ban and then recently extended it another six months. My hunch is that it will do so again and again … and may even again.

City Manager Mike Mashburn estimates that Princeton is home to more than 40,000 residents. I believe him! Builders are planting “New Homes Coming” signs still on undeveloped residential plots as they commence contruction to fulfill building permits that already were approved prior to the council’s decision to suspend residential construction.

The city has overbuilt beyond its ability to service the people who already are here. It is trying to halt the construction long enough to enable it to provide the infrastructure it needs to provide the service.

My friend said he cannot imagine how tough it is during morning and evening rush hours along U.S. 380, the major east-west thoroughfare that cuts through Princeton. What’s more, it’s going to get worse. Texas transportation gurus want to widen 380 from four lanes to six, but to do that the’ll have to shut down two of the lanes to make the highway a two-lane track while they build the extra lanes.

I appreciate my friend’s outsider perspective. He can’t “imagine” how bad it can get here. I got news for him. Neither can I.

business news, economic news

Trump to raise the cost … of everything!

March 4, 2025 kanelis2012

Donald J. Trump, with the stroke of his Sharpie pen, instituted tariffs on every item this nation imports from Mexico, Canada and China.

It means that the cost of all the things we purchase from these formerly friendly trading partners is going to cost you and me more money that many of us cannot afford to pay.

Trump, though, keeps operating on the myth that he is punishing those countries. Bullsh**! That’s all it is. The self-proclaimed “king of debt,” the guy who once thought of himself as a whiz-kid wheeler and dealer is going to inflict pain on those he took an oath to protect and defend.

What in the name of fiscal sanity is rattling around that strangely coiffed noggin of his?

Do you remember when this dipsh** took office the first time and he negotiated what he called the greatest trade deal in business history with Canada and Mexico. He tossed aside the North American Free Trade Agreement and replaced it with another deal he said would protect all three nations from economic harm.

Well, buckle up boys and girls. The numbskull in chief is about to inflict all kinds of harm on all of us. If you’re someone who trades in fruits and veggies imported from Mexico, you’ll pass the cost of those goods on to consumers. If you purchase timber from Canada, you’ll do the same thing. Oh, and computer chips and all manner of household goods imported from China? Same thing, gang.

Trump’s economic policies — such as they exist — are intended only to inflict maximum pain on Americans. That’s you and me, man!

economic news, local news

Princeton does the inevitable

January 14, 2025 kanelis2012

Princeton’s City Council had no choice but to do what it did Monday night by extending the building moratorium it had placed on new single-family dwelling and apartment construction.

It voted to extend its four-month building ban another six months.

So, let’s see. That means it will be 10 months before the city could start issuing building permits on those types of dwellings. This is just me, but my gut tells me another extension could be in the deck of cards that council members would want to play.

Princeton’s population continues to explode, But ,.. wait! The city needs more police officers, more firefighters, more medical emergency personnel, better streets, more electric utilities, more natural gas lines.

Moreover, the city needs much more commercial development, which isn’t part of the public financing obligation associated with infrastructure development. That commercial development is on the verge of become a reality.

A Princeton resident told CBS News Texas Channel 11 last night that folks here have to go to places such as McKinney and Allen for entertainment or to just purchase needed goods and commodities.

Princeton has developed an ocean of single-family rooftops. That’s fine, but the strain on new residents’ tax obligation is more than many of the newbies would care to absorb.

The city has some catching-up to do and I’m not sure six months extra time is enough.

economic news, national news

Musk poses grave danger

December 21, 2024 kanelis2012

Elon Musk is emerging as the most dangerous man in America, thanks to the weird kinship he has formed with the next president of the United States.

Musk, as we all know, is the world’s richest man. He has filled Donald Trump’s vacuous noggin with notions that he can fix what’s wrong the federal government. He — along with right-wing blowhard Vivek Ramaswamy — leads a government reform project, or some such thing, that seeks to cut trillions of dollars from the government coffers.

Americans have elected Musk to no political office. He has no political standing other than his strange relationship with Trump. Musk has emerged as a sort of de facto co-president, if you dare swallow that bit of information in one bite.

The guy frightens the hell out of me. He ought to scare the bejabbers out of anyone who has this sort of love affair with good government. That should be all Americans who prefer that the president and Congress go back to what the late Sen. John McCain would call “regular order.”

There is not a damn thing that is “regular” about the way the next POTUS and Congress are getting ready to take the reins of power.

Trump figures to rely on the machinations of Musk — and, of course, Ramaswamy — as he proposes spending cuts.

This dude Musk, though, is one scary son of a … well, you know.

economic news, local news

McKinney airport to expand … but, why?

December 20, 2024 kanelis2012

Perhaps there’s something that has sailed over my pointy head, but I’ll ask anyway: What is it that prevents McKinney Mayor George Fuller from accepting “no” from voters about expanding McKinney National Airport?

Fuller says he intends to spend budgeted money to expand the airport and introduce commercial air travel to the facility by 2026. He says this despite voters in his city twice refusing bond issues that called for the airport expansion.

I must stipulate I do not live in McKinney. My home in Princeton is about six miles east of the airport and, yes, I do drive past the airport frequently as I scurry about on local errands. I also must stipulate that I do not necessarily oppose expanding the airport and I would welcome commercial air travel from a nearby terminal rather than driving all the way to D/FW International Airport or Love Field.

But the issue isn’t mine to decide.

According to the Princeton Herald: “Fuller said the city would use $60 million in bonds secured by airport sales tax revenue to fund construction of a 45,000-square foot passenger terminal and a parking lot for about 1,500 vehicles. The project manager said the size would vary according to tenant needs.”

Voters scuttled a $200 bond issue in May 2023 and rejected a smaller proposal in 2015.

I recall the 2023 campaign and opponents were clear that they didn’t want to see an increase in traffic in their city.

Does the new idea pitched by Fuller mean a return to those concerns? I don’t know. I do believe, though, that the mayor might be prompting some backlash from voters if they continue to resist calls for an expansion that could bring those concerns back into play.

If voters say “no,” that should stand as their decision.

economic news

Rich will remain rich!

September 26, 2024 kanelis2012 2 Comments

Kamala Harris is starting to talk in detail about an economic policy she plans to invoke if she’s elected president of the United States in just a tad less than six weeks.

She wants to cut middle-class income tax; she wants to offer first-time homebuyers a $25,000 boost to get them into their version of the American Dream; Harris wants to make sure that the mega-wealthy among us “pay their fair share of taxes.”

Let’s stop briefly on that final point.

The vice president is understandably enraged that the wealthiest Americans pay less in income tax than those who earn a tiny fraction of the rich folks earn. So am I. So should the rest of us be enraged.

Here is a message I do not hear enough and which I believe Harris and her running mate Tim Walz need to press further.

Even if the richest Americans pay their fair share of taxes — an act that would lighten the load on the rest of us — the richest Americans are still going to be filthy rich! They will not lose their fortune! Billionaires will continue to count their assets in the billions of dollars! They’ll still live in fancy houses, be driven around in fancy cars and they still be able to send their children to the most exclusive schools.

This argument, in my humble view, would make it difficult for the Billionaire Rich Guy/Gal Category to argue that it’s OK for them to skip out from under their tax burden.

I just have to ask: Why is this argument so difficult to sell to an overtaxed, overburdened voting public?

economic news

Harris, Trump agree? Wow!

August 12, 2024 kanelis2012 5 Comments

Who’da thunk this could happen, that Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald J. Trump would agree on a significant public policy issue?

Both candidates for POTUS agree that service workers who rely on tips shouldn’t have to be taxed on that portion of their income.

Trump tossed the idea out there first. Harris has followed suit. Trump, though, is contending that Harris “stole” the idea from him and is trying to win favor with voters by casting this notion as her own.

Holy taxman!

I happen to agree that tip income need not be taxed. If you’re working as a server in a restaurant, you’re already earning something below the national minimum wage. Tips are meant to supplement the meager wage these folks are earning.

Harris wants to take the issue a step further. She wants to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour, something that Trump opposes. Spoiler alert: I support Harris’s idea.

But really, there’s no “theft” involved in one candidate endorsing an idea pitched by an opponent. Then again, I tend to believe Donald Trump is going to take a lot more credit that he doesn’t deserve on issues that Harris endorses along the way.

business news, economic news, local news

A boondoggle in the making?

April 16, 2024 kanelis2012

My chronic nosiness sometimes gets the better of me, particularly when I see large public projects seemingly abandoned.

I am referring in this instance to what I have been calling a “boondoggle in the making” around the corner and down the street from my Princeton, Texas, home.

I reached out to someone in authority at City Hall the other day to ask about the status of the “apartment monstrosity” under construction on the south side of US 380 just east of Walmart. The answer I got? “It’s being handled by ‘legal.'”

Hmm. OK. I asked a follow-up question: Does that mean the project is stalled? No answer has been forthcoming.

Now, I spent more than 36 years as a reporter and editor for two reputable newspapers in Texas and one in Oregon. My job was to sniff out problems when I suspected they were occurring. My gut — in addition to my trick knee — are telling me the city has a problem on its hands.

Princeton City Council approved a massive construction project to build a massive complex of “luxury apartments” on US 380. Site preparation was completed and several structures emerged right away. Work crews installed dry wall on several of the structures.

Then, about a year ago, work stopped at the site. A dispute between the developer and the general contractor led to some sort of work stoppage. The then-city manager told me at the time that they were working it out and that work would resume shortly.

Well, “shortly” never arrived, or so I understand. I haven’t seen any sign of human life on the construction site in weeks. The gates are closed and padlocked. The weather has at times been cold and damp, perhaps damaging the unprotected structures.

I am believing in my bones that the city has a problem in the form of an unfinished apartment complex that is looking more each day like a gigantic eyesore.

Cryptic answers about “legal” counsel answering questions gives me reason — I believe — to be deeply concerned about the future of this blight on our rapidly growing community.

High Plains Blogger