[PRCo] The public believes in the tooth fairy?

[Schneider Fred]

Last night our friend from Donora and Jacksonville teased the  
"professor" into a diatribe.   Tonight's newspaper set me off again.

In the early 1970s more-or-less local investors decided to create a  
new shopping mall.   It was to be an uncover mall with four anchor  
department stores, two movie theaters (since closed) and over 100  
smaller shops all laid out in the form of an X.   The Park City  
Shopping Center, now known simply as Park City Center, wiped out  
downtown.   In fact, the strongest bus routes left in the county run  
from the city to that suburban mall.   Overtime the local investors  
sold out.

Tonight's newspaper carried an announcement that "General Growth  
Properties Inc. shares plummet Tuesday after the mall owner warned it  
faces solvency trouble and may be forced to file for bankruptcy if it  
can't refinance or extend nearly $1 billion in debt due next  
month."   Is this the only problem?   No.   The company has an  
additional $3.07 billion in debt due in January that it probably  
cannot cover considering what is going to happen to Christmas sales  
this year.   Mall owners usually charge rents both as a fixed price  
and a percentage of sales.   And like the American consumer who used  
his Visa card as a hedge against next month's pay checks, these mall  
owners were probably planning on the percentages coming from sales in  
the stores.   Guess what guys, you don't make those kind of plans.

I looked up General Growth Properties on the internet.   There are at  
least five locations in Ken Josephson's home town.   Mark McGuire and  
Jerry Matsick have one in Jacksonville.  Now when they can't pay  
their property taxes, do Lancaster and Las Vegas and Jacksonville and  
Cleveland and Baltimore and Washington DC foreclose or do they  
forgive the taxes?

There was an Associated Press story in tonight's paper too.   Polls  
show that "only 36 percent say trimming income taxes should be a top  
priority when the new priesident takes office in January, according  
to an AP-GfK poll.   That was less than half the 84 percent who cited  
improving the economy as a number 1 goal and the 90 percent who said  
creating jobs should be a paramount task."     If we have spent all  
our lives believing we can use VISA and MasterCard to charge this  
months spending so we can it with next month's money instead of  
building up savings to pay for it  (I'm excluding you Mr. Swindler)  
how the hell do we expect to teach the public enough responsibility  
to improve the economy over night?   And we will create great jobs  
too for the public who believes that the lawn sprinkler that should  
built using $45 an hour union workers should only sell for $2.00 at  
Wal*Mart.  The tooth fairy is alive and well.   We'll fix everything  
tonight and the world will be great tomorrow.

Fred Schneioder