Guest commentary: The quiet cost of low expectations – and the courage it will take to rebuild
Latest news, Op/Eds, OpinionBy Martha Salas After reading The Atlantic’s “America Is Sliding Toward Illiteracy,” I couldn’t help thinking — some of us saw this coming years ago. We said that lowering standards was not compassion but surrender. The collapse didn’t begin with COVID or smartphones; it began when adults decided that feelings mattered more than fundamentals. For Read More →
Guest commentary: How the Central Coast can ride the AI holiday wave
Latest news, Op/Eds, OpinionBy Starr Hall The holidays used to run on intuition. Store owners would stock up based on gut feeling, handwrite notes to loyal customers, and pray that the weather, the locals, and the tourists cooperated. In Santa Barbara, that intuition was practically an art form. You could walk down State Street or through the Funk Read More →
Guest commentary: What to watch for this holiday season
Latest news, Op/Eds, OpinionBy Kris Batch The holidays are usually called the most wonderful time of the year, but they are also typically the most expensive time of the year. In a recent survey from Bankrate, 54% of respondents said they’d made an unplanned or impulse purchase during the last holiday season. Beyond purchasing gifts, many different expenses that Read More →
Guest commentary: The geometry of organizations in the age of AI
Latest news, Op/Eds, OpinionBy Gerhard Apfelthaler For decades, business leaders have sketched their organizations as pyramids. At the top: executives. At the bottom: workers. In the middle: layers of managers. Some variations reflected distinct values of national or organizational cultures — steep and hierarchical in some environments, or flat and collaborative in others — but the basic shape Read More →
Guest commentary: BofA hiring more military vets and Tri-County locals is good business
Latest news, Op/Eds, OpinionBy Midge Campbell-Thomas & Greg Bland Research consistently shows that when people have long-term career opportunities and earn more, they spend more on durable goods, dine out more, save to buy homes that plant roots in neighborhoods, and invest more in their communities. That is why Bank of America is doubling down on its workforce, Read More →
Guest commentary: Economic analysis of Q3 2025
Latest news, Op/Eds, OpinionBy Eric Kelley UMB Private Wealth Management The third quarter of 2025 was marked by improving market sentiment, driven by growing confidence that the Fed will initiate an ongoing easing campaign throughout the year-end and into 2026. Inflation continued to build as new tariffs were implemented, but concern over the labor market pushed the Fed Read More →
Guest commentary: What is a fiduciary and why would you need one?
Latest news, Op/Eds, OpinionBy Tamara Skov & Shannon Dalton As licensed professional fiduciaries, the first question we often hear when we mention our line of work is: “What’s a fiduciary?” It’s a good question, and the answer is both simple and complex. After years of hearing the same inquiry, we thought it would be helpful to explainwhat fiduciaries Read More →
