November 17, 2009

Our Differently-Abled Government

The Consumer Products Safety Commission, I found myself thinking last week, is about as useful as a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest. This thought occurred to me in the context of the Chinese drywall problem. This situation has left thousands of homeowners struggling to deal with the corrosive effect of defective drywall in their houses; the drywall releases fumes that blacken house wiring and damage air conditioning coils, along with other deleterious effects. Read more...

 
 
November 11, 2009

Do We Need A "Tidal Wetlands National Park?"

Two news stories that I've been following recently have got me thinking about the way America manages the coastal ecosystem. One story is a lawsuit, now headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, concerning the State of Florida's shore protection and beach re-nourishment program. The other story is about a recent report by EPA scientist Jim Titus (and a long list of co-authors) concerning how coastal wetlands may be impacted by a long-term rise in sea levels caused by climate change. Read more...

 
 
November 10, 2009

And The Peasants Rejoiced

I'm sure I'm not the guy breaking the news that Congress and the President have agreed on a plan to extend the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, and to add on a $6,500 tax credit for homeowners looking to trade up (or down) to a different house. Read more...

 
 
October 27, 2009

A Tea Party Is Not a Revolution

America's economy is often described as a free market. And it is one. But freedom is not the same as anarchy, and even in the free American market, there are rules. Sometimes they're soft and loose — we do like our freedom — but they are none the less real. Read more...

 
 
October 15, 2009

Sloppy Paper Trail May Derail the Foreclosure Express

In the history of banking, there's a chicken and egg problem. It's hard to say whether the growth of banking was necessary for the advance of commerce and the development of industrial society, or whether industry and commerce came first and then banking came along to serve their needs. However, one thing's for sure — once modern global trade and industrial production came along, if there were no banking system, someone would have had to invent one. Read more...

 
 

About the Blogger

Ted Cushman

thumbnail image Ted Cushman attended Harvard College, served for four years as a U.S. Army paratrooper, and worked as a frame and finish carpenter for seven years before joining the staff of Hanley Wood's Journal of Light Construction (JLC), where he anchored the news desk for 4 years and edited feature articles. Ted now covers the home building industry as a freelance writer from his base in the hills of Western Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife, psychiatrist Cynthia Cushman and their three sons, Jack, Adrian, and Isaiah. In his 15-year career as a construction photo-journalist, Ted has earned a national reputation for insightful, accurate, and practical coverage of home building techniques, building science, and housing economics.