Clueless in Seattle

Former Republic columnist Jon Talton has surfaced in Seattle.  Talton was famous as the leftist business columnist who recycled the same three columns each week:  Globalization is going to take your job, the real estate industrial complex controls the government and Arizona Sucks.

Like most unemployed former columnists, he's started a blog.  His major themes are: Globalization is going to take your job, the real estate industrial complex controls the government and Arizona Sucks.

Here's how he describes himself.

I've been a working journalist for 27 years. Most recently, I spent seven years as a columnist at the Arizona Republic in Phoenix, standing up to that state's numerous cranks, haters, sleazy 'businessmen' and right-wing thugs.

Now I'm not a 22-year-old HTML kid and have little interest in writing about Britney's panties. So no newspapers are calling. I'm a writer living in Seattle. Aside from the risk of living under a bridge, I'm free to write the truth and raise hell. That was once the calling of the best newspapers. Now a few of us will try to carry it on as guerrilla journalists and rogue columnists.

Unconstrained by an actual job, he tells us what he really thinks about his former colleagues:

Show me a sick metropolitan area and I’ll show you cowardly, stupid, crappy local media. Nowhere was this axiom better proven than in Phoenix

On the way he takes on the business community,  Mormons and the Goldwater Institute.

Bottom-feeder businessmen who moved to Arizona precisely for “low taxes,” an easy regulatory environment and workers they can pay low and push around.

Mormons, who, for their many laudable qualities, are tribal, uncomfortable with transparency and diversity, and have been co-opted by the most extreme elements of the Republican party.

Meanwhile, much of the media are besieged by the hate-peddling right-wing echo chamber, exemplified by the “Goldwater” Institute.

It's stunning that the Republic gave Talton a platform for so many years. 

Even he isn't surprised that there isn't a market for his rantings.  In fact, he seems to have developed the fatalistic attitude of a martyr.  No one is enlightened enough to pay him to blog, so he's going to end up living under a bridge. 

Perhaps Talton needs to try the solution that has helped thousands of bloggers...Get a Job. 

Comments

[Mesa Republican George]

Here is my response to Talton's rant - wonder if he'll allow it to be posted . . .

Talton, you have done what many people do when they find themselvs losing an argument (or a job in this case) - you call the other side names. My quick scan of your post noted 10 different deragatory names directed at groups that disagree with you. As I tell my seven-year-old, name calling does nothing to support your cause. In addition, you paint opposing arguments in their worst possible light rather than painting them in their best possible light and responding to them as would a person truly concerned about finding the best solution.

Regardless of the merits of your arguments, you will always be more convincing if you stick to issues. Conversly, you will never convince the reasoned, thoughtful reader by name-calling.

I'm sure those who already subscribe to your opinions will cheer at your diatribe, but those of us who are willing to consider both sides of an issue and make a rational decision based on the facts will tune you out.

[John McJunkin]

No, actually, it's NOT stunning that the Republic gave Talton a platform for so many years . . . makes perfect sense to me.

[SonoranSam]

Talton sure was proved wrong about the unsustainability of the Phoenix real estate market...oh, wait a minute....

[Jon Talton]

I welcome your comments, and will post them as long as they are G-Rated. A little diversity of views never hurt anyone.

[Curious George]

Talton's blog isn't as pathetic as this one by former Trib columnist Slim Smith:
http://slimstories.blogspot.com

[Joel (No Pundit Intended)]

So, all of us bloggers are "guerrilla journalists" or are we "rogue columnists"?

In either case, we need to have a rallying cry.

[Italiana]

Oh for Pete's sake, Greg, Talton a "leftist"? Come on, this is so tiresome. In Arizona, anyone who doesn't carry a John Birch membership card is called a "leftist".

As regards all the whining about the Republic, I remember the 1980's-early 90's version very well. Benson drew horrid AIDS cartoons ridiculing sick people and the editorial staff was so far to the right you'd fall off your chair reading the damn thing.

I miss Talton's columns and he WAS right about the housing situation.

[Guy]

Anybody to the left of Franco is a leftist in this wacky state. In almost any other state, Gov. Napolitano would be a moderate but to the Republicans here she's a card carrying commie sympathizer.

Talton a leftist? I don't think so. The collapse of the local economy has shown us how right he was. He was the only business columnist at the Republic that seemed to understand the business climate here.

[UptownRep]

Talton right on the housing market? Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Even then, it didn't stop him from clearing $500k in profit on his Uptown house.

The local economy is not in shambles and when one compares other depressed housing markets like Riverside County and Metro Detroit, it's not as bad as the fear-mongering Talton made it out to be.

Maybe Talton had a talent for writing and some analytical skills. Big deal. It also take tact, working well with others, and decency to make it in the real world. From what I understood, he lacked all three.

I'm sure his little incident in front of a certain City Council (well documented on this blog) played a role in his departure.

[ron]

About the housing market going south...

RealtyTrac Report Confirms Foreclosures Skyrocketing

RealtyTrac® an Irvine, California based firm that bills itself as the "leading online marketplace" released its 2007 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report on Tuesday which revealed that, during 2007, more than 2.2 million foreclosure filings were logged against 1.3 million properties nationwide. Measured activities include default notices, auction sale notices and actual bank repossessions of real property. This is a 75 percent increase over the rate of filings in 2006, a figure that looks even starker when one realizes that 2006 was not a particularly good year for homeowners either. The 2007 figure is 149 percent higher than totals for 2005.

Furthermore more than 1 percent of all U.S. households were in some stage of foreclosure during the year, nearly double the rate .58 rate in 2006.

While the whole year was bad, the month of December was even worse. A total of 215,749 foreclosure filings were reported in that month, up 97 percent from December 2006. This brought the fourth-quarter 2007 total up to 642,150 filings on 527,740 properties. This was an increase of only 1 percent over the third quarter but was 86 percent above the total for the fourth quarter of 2006.

It is worth noting that RealtyTrac data does not include mortgage delinquencies. Foreclosure activity is typically started when a mortgage is 90 days delinquent. According to the most recent delinquency data released by the Mortgage Bankers Association in December, 5.59 percent of all borrowers were delinquent on their mortgage loans during the third quarter compared to 5.12 percent in the second quarter and 4.67 percent one year ago. Many 30-or-60-day delinquencies are resolved before the loans enter any type of legal process, but if those third-quarter delinquencies are now aging into formal legal processes, foreclosure activities may be up sharply by the next RealtyTrac report.
James J. Saccacio, chief executive office of RealtyTrac stated, "The year ended with a monthly increase of 7 percent in December, making it the fifth straight month with more than 200,000 foreclosure filings reported and giving the fourth quarter the highest quarterly total we've seen since we began issuing our report in January 2005. And while filings were up 75 percent, the number of properties in some stage of foreclosure was up 79 percent, indicating that some properties may have just entered the initial stage of foreclosure in 2007 and could be going through the rest of the foreclosure process in 2008 - unless lender and government intervention efforts begin to gain more traction."

As has been noted elsewhere, especially during media coverage of the primary caucuses, Nevada has been especially hard hit by foreclosures. The state had the nation's highest rate for the year with 3.4 percent of its households entering some stage of foreclosure, more than three times the U.S. average. 66,316 filings were made on 34,417 properties during the year, twice the number of filings in 2006.

Florida was the second ranked state with a total of 279,325 foreclosure filings on 165,291 properties and more than 2 percent of its households entering some stage of foreclosure during the year. The filings were double the number reported in 2006 but filings in December were up a staggering 275 percent from December 2006 and fourth-quarter filings were 211 percent above those in the fourth quarter of last year.

Rounding out the top five states were Michigan, California, and Colorado with Ohio, Georgia, Arizona, Illinois, and Indiana not far behind. In each of these states more than 1 percent of households entered some stage of foreclosure during the year.

While several of the hardest hit states, notably Nevada, California, and Florida, were models of boom and bust economics, having gone through explosive growth and spiraling prices over the last few years, others such as Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio never got much benefit out of the housing bubble. Now they are not being spared the aftermath.

It would be interesting to know whether the patterns of foreclosure in the bubble states differ from patterns in non-bubble states. In other words, are those in foreclosure in Nevada, Florida, and California victims of subprime mortgages or overly exuberant investment activity while those in Michigan and Ohio are suffering the fallout from a generally rotten local economy?

My comment: The last sentence is an interesting question.

[muckraker]

I, too, miss Talton's column. In a newspaper that is all too predictable on its editorial page, it was nice to have someone who tried to balance the Bob Robb rants. (Talk about a guy who recycles the same three columns!) Can't believe you consider Talton a leftist. Is that what you call anyone who is left of you?

[Faith]

Let's see. The “mindless boosters” in Arizona employed Talton for many years but the “informed and involved” people in Seattle apparently won't.

I don't know, Greg. Maybe Talton is right and the people in Seattle are smarter than us. ;-)

[Richard]

Getting rid of Talton's column is about the only good thing that has happened to the Republic the last couple of years. He was a real piece of work...arrogant, condescending and his writing ability wasn't anything to write home about either. That malcontent will never have a real job in journalism again.

[jerry]

I just want to make sure I understand Uptown. Talton sold some property and made some money and that makes him the devil?

I always thought conservatards respected teh free market. Now I find you're a bunch of commies.

[UptownRep]

Perhaps, dear Jerry, if you read Talton's rant, he was complaining about the "Real Estate Industrial Complex," particularly this line:

"The real-estate crowd, from the fast-buck big boys to the macho contractor culture, none of which is known anywhere for their civic engagement."

But he manages to profit off the market much like "the fast-buck big boys," flipping his own home for a $500k profit before the market took a dive. Seems a little two-faced, no?

Then again, when you're so busy coming up with brilliant terms like "conservatards," I can understand how you have difficulty putting six words together, much less having anything resembling reading comprehension.

[Avenged Savant]

Thanks for providing that link! I have bookmarked it and plan to check his site at least daily.

I'm a lefty and really enjoy Talton. I read his column when he was at the rightwing rag called The Arizona Republic. I particularly like his columns on Phoenix's obscene SUV culture and destruction of the environment, as well as his views on so-called "free" trade.

[Poison]

Thankfully, I have been "rag free" for many years, so I am unfamiliar with Talton's columns. However, I can't believe there is any doubt about whether or not he's a leftist, simply based on his comments that are excerpted above. Bashing low taxes, "right-wing thugs," Mormons, and the "hate-peddling right wing echo chamber?" I suppose I should believe that any of that could have come right out of Reagan's mouth.

From my experience, it is only liberals that use the words "right wing," at least outside of a hockey game. Even though we conservatives are proud to admit what we are, we just don't tend to use that phrase--especially when accompanied by "thugs" or "haters."

I know what some of you are thinking: but wait, but wait...he could be a CENTRIST! I for one refuse to believe that anyone who pays attention (as this guy obviously does) is a centrist, but that's an argument for another day.

[ron]

Here is the headline, Talton was predicting all those years:

"Ariz. bitten by reliance on housing" (AZ Republic, 4-6-08)

So who is clueless????