Tue 13 Oct 2009
Thought this was obvious, especially since the average home price is over a million. Hard to swallow an argument about a “poor homeowner” who can’t afford taxes when you are talking about Millburn. How about you sell the house and move a town over? You’d probably make a fortune doing it too.
From the Star Ledger:
Millburn residents suffer under property taxes that are highest in N.J., nation
The little pond in Taylor Park here was once the town swimming hole.
Today, the town pool at Gero Park has a water slide in the big pool, a waterfall umbrella in the wading pool, and a snack bar. The tennis courts there are lit at night, and there is a roller hockey rink. Nearby is a par 3 golf course. Millburn’s tax dollars at work.
Like many New Jersey towns, Millburn’s schools, services and recreation have grown exponentially during the past few decades, much of it paid for by property taxes. In Millburn, the average homeowner pays $18,159 a year in property taxes.
“We’re the highest town in the highest state, so that must mean we’re the highest in the nation,” said Tom Thomas, a formermayor and member of the Old Guard, which meets every Thursday in an old civic center next to the pond.
Yes, New Jersey’s property taxes are the nation’s highest. It is government’s sustenance: Property taxes account for 45 percent of all tax revenue raised in New Jersey. The national average is 29 percent.
Some say high property taxes have turned into a terminal disease for the state. High taxes and high home prices are conspiring to drive people out, which, in time, will flat-line New Jersey’s real estate values — if it hasn’t already. New Jersey: First in property taxes, near first in resident exits. Since 2000, the state lost 163,000 households and $12.8 billion in gross income.
…
Even this may not help senior citizens in high-end towns, where property values drive taxes upwards into the $25,000 to $40,000 range.“This is especially prevalent among seniors, who are finding it difficult to stay in their homes in New Jersey,” Moran said.
…
The high taxes are linked by formula to property values. Millburn’s average home price, which is $1,088,148, but many seniors don’t want to cash out. They want to stay.
From the Times of Trenton:
Local Saturn dealer is looking for Plan B
Bob Maguire was one of the first to begin selling Saturn automobiles in New Jersey back in 1990. It’s been a good ride, he says, but now it’s time to think of something new.
As General Motors moves forward with plans to wind down Saturn production by this time next year, Maguire says he hopes to keep things going at his two Saturn dealerships — in Bordentown and Toms River — at least until he hits upon a new idea.
“Our dealerships are going to stay open and continue to sell,” Maguire, the co-owner of Maguire Automotive Group, said. “It means I have to cultivate a new business plan, but I’m confident we’re going to make something out of this.”
With the collapse this month of an acquisition deal with Penske Automotive Group Inc., 350 Saturn dealers around the country, including Bob and Marcy Maguire, are now looking for exit strategies for themselves and their workers. The events mean an almost certain end to Saturn, a brand that was set up in 1990 to fight growing Japanese imports. Now, about 13,000 jobs are at stake.
Imma gonna letchu finish….but first lemme say….first.
or second.
From New Jersey Newsroom:
The ugly state of N.J.’s economy: Here are the autopsy findings
New Jersey’s median household income declined by $7,214 between 2006 and 2008; the largest decrease in the nation according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This represents a 10.1 percent decline in median income (as opposed to Pennsylvania which had a 1.1 percent decline).
Despite being an economic basket case, our elected representatives raised taxes by over $1.2 billion dollars during a recession. New Jersey taxpayers pay $7,000 a year on average in property taxes, twice the national average. Under the budget just passed by our elected representatives, the property tax rebate was limited to households earning less than $75,000. About 1 million homeowners no longer get rebates, thereby increasing their property taxes AGAIN.
The budget just passed also increases the top personal income tax rate to 10.75%, one of the highest in the nation. Two thirds of small businesses pay this tax rate. Since 2002, New Jersey raised taxes on each resident by $2,601 – the highest in the nation.
Taxpayers spent 211 days a year working to cover the cost of government. New Jersey has the highest state and local tax burden, the second highest business tax burden, and the highest property tax burden per capita.
The budget even raises taxes on health insurance premiums!
In the end, what does this accomplish? New Jersey had a massive exodus of residents every year for the past 10 years. The state lost 335,000 people since 1997 – one of the highest outflows in the nation.
Saturn never had a prayer. Penske has the smartcar franchise in the US. I understand those things are total crap and I would never put anyone I cared about in one.
And cue Housing Bailout Plan
KLMNO!HAFA? Really, people? Can we just stop with the stupid acronyms already?
From HousingWire:
Treasury to Announce New Program to Avoid Foreclosure
The United States Department of the Treasury is launching, with an official announcement expected next week, a new program to help ailing borrowers escape foreclosure.
The Chief of the Homeowner Preservation Office at the Treasury, Laurie Maggiano, released information on the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) while speaking at the MBA’s 96th Annual Convention going on in San Diego. The official launch is expected in the next week or so.
One Giant Audit. Follow the money. What would we find? Discuss.
USPS Shipment Tracking has been down for at least 4 days now. Worst part is that nobody has any clue when it will be back online.
Please guys, just shutter up. Give the other companies access to the mailbox.
From Reuters:
US Home Rescue Plan Delaying, Not Solving Crisis
Within weeks of taking office, U.S. President Barack Obama rode to the rescue of homeowners resigned to financial ruin.
Obama, grappling with the worst U.S. housing crisis since the Great Depression, pledged to help as many as 9 million families keep their homes by reworking their mortgages.
Eight months later, the plan is plagued by delays, red tape and, some critics say, a reluctance by banks to do their part. Just 17 percent of eligible borrowers have had their loans modified and monthly payments cut. Hardly any have been given a cut in the amount they owe on homes which are now worth less.
That means many successful applicants are left with loans that they still will not be able to afford in the long run. So instead of resolving the housing crisis that pushed the U.S. economy into recession, America may be prolonging it and, in the process, stunting the global recovery.
“Every single policy we’ve seen has merely kicked the problem down the road,” said Laurie Goodman, a veteran analyst at broker-dealer Amherst Securities Group LP, which specializes in residential mortgage-backed securities. “But there is no easy solution to the underlying problems.”
sx (7)-
A bunch of deposit bottles and handwritten IOU notes.
Foreclosures: Help is on the way
How long can this state and Millburn keep raising property taxes? Everything has a limit and at some point, it has to break. They might be economically comfortable in Millburn, but everyone there is not a multi-millionaire. Seems like its all going to crumble soon. Can the state ever become financially stable again?
grim (8)-
I think we need another postal anthrax scare.
freedy (11)-
It’s all a desperate ploy to help out banks. Nobody cares about people getting foreclosed.
#14 afraid your right. it’s a joke.
the banks could care less. borrow cheap
at the window,, and put it on the street
#7 It’s gone, disappeared, poof. All that is left is debt.
With respect to Millburn and taxes, even assuming that everyone there has the cash flow to pay the taxes, there comes a point when one decides that the cost is not worth it. Officials should stop focusing on rhe fact that their residents can afford various tax increases. Most people here can buy all manner of diamond rings, over-the-top-expensive watches, etc., but we don’t because it is not a good use of the money. Likewise, we have not gone out buying the biggest homes we can afford; those that did are in trouble, whereas we are not. There is a lesson there for our “leaders.”
#8 - It’s regularly out for days at a time. Not that it’s much use when it is up. Generally the tracking number for my package enters the system at about the same time it arrives at my door.
I don’t understand why they bother if they’re going to do it that poorly.
The delivery is usually pretty quick, I don’t have any complaints about that. Just why offer package tracking that really doesn’t work?
Once LL Bean and others figure out how to get catalogues to people via e-mail, the USPS revenue stream is toast. These so-called “flats” carry the budget.
#19 - Shore - Generally, if you can get e-mail you can go to the website. I think a lot of companies are still sending out physical catalogs out of inertia. The consumer pull back might force that to be cut.
18. can’t you just “trust” that the post office will deliver your package. I “hope” so.
“One Giant Audit. Follow the money. What would we find? Discuss.”
Either leased out paper, minimum of 100 x’s the physical or one giant, empty vault at Fort Knox.
New 30,000 pound bunker buster being rolled out. This will be one of the largest pieces of non-nuclear ordinance in our arsenal.
I hear the codename is MEP (middle east peacemaker).
All in the name of nuclear disarmament. Truly a Nobel-worthy accomplishment.
Although I suppose that if
Debt = Weath
it isn’t such a stretch to believe
War = Peace
Ethan Allen in Mays Landing closing up shop.
Tosh,
Agreed. Once that happens, look out below. I think that the days of Belmar, Bradlee, OG, and other small towns in close proximity, having their own post offices is all but over. It would not surprise me if such small places switched tp the Ocean Gate model, where there is no physical delivery to each house. Instead, everyone is given a box, for free, and they must come in to get their mail.
Shore (17)
You wrote:
“Most people here can buy all manner of diamond rings, over-the-top-expensive watches, etc., but we don’t because it is not a good use of the money. Likewise, we have not gone out buying the biggest homes we can afford; those that did are in trouble, whereas we are not. There is a lesson there for our “leaders.”
Yes, but unfortunately the message the politicians are receiving is that there’s plenty of good pickins left on them bones. Lots of wealth still left to redistribute, for the good of the economy. You’re not consuming your fair share, so the government needs to take your wealth and give it to those who will! They call them “people with a higher propensity to consume,” and consider them the key drivers of future recovery.
Didn’t Short Hills/Millburn try to secede from Essex County awhile back? As I recall, they felt their high taxes were propping up the rest of Essex County towns and they were tired of it all. I have been to that Millburn town pool many times, and while it is nice, it gets crowded and isn’t exactly paradise.
Shore,
What we really need is to open up the mailbox to competition. We need to repeal the mailbox monopoly and allow private carriers access to the mailbox. For those who don’t know, it is againt the law for anyone other than the USPS to use your mailbox.
grim (24)-
One of the civilization’s most enduring running themes. You see this almost every day where I grew up:
“I killed her because I love her.”
grim (25)-
Damn. I was waiting to see what they could do with refrigerator boxes and old pallets.
But Bi said no more writedowns, 2006/2007.
“THE four biggest US banks by assets may have to take writedowns on $55 billion of mortgage- collection contracts after marking them up by $11 billion in the second quarter, casting a shadow over earnings.”
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/world/17162-4-us-banks-may-be-forced-to-do-writedowns-.html
Depression Chic is in this year. It’s kind of like Shabby Chic except the shabby ain’t faked. I hear the challenge in the next episode of HGTV Design Star will be to remake a tent in a squatter camp. A quick preview showed how you could use a blue tarp to bring out the reds an oranges in your rusty corrugated metal roof. The effect was surreal and the impact amazing. That David Bromstad really is a genius.
But, how many people in Millburn are ready
to call it a day, and move on.
Problem: Who do i sell to at these
insane prices?
Gary: what say you?
BC (32)-
The value-at-risk is approaching critical mass at these banks, as the defaults have spread into high-balance, “prime” mortgage types.
My new call for the Winter is a simultaneous fail:
1. Romania, Latvia, Estonia currency collapses.
2. CMBS collapse.
3. Prime mortgages collapse.
grim (33)-
Food Network:
How to Grill a Rat
Have the world’s CB’s gone loonie? Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio? Never happen? Just keep your head in the sand.
“Central banks flush with record reserves are increasingly snubbing dollars in favor of euros and yen, further pressuring the greenback after its biggest two- quarter rout in almost two decades.”
“The dollar’s 37% share of new reserves fell from about a 63% average since 1999. Englander concluded in a report that the trend “accelerated” in the third quarter. He said in an interview that “for the next couple of months, the forces are still in place” for continued diversification.”
http://www.canada.com/business/fp/Central+bank+shifts+rattle+dollar/2093503/story.html
We are all Mrs. Watanabe now.
Grim,
Once the USPS loses the “flats,” I doubt they will object to a repeal of the Private Express statutes, as first-class mail delivery is a net drain on their budget.
Call it “small woodland game” with a fall inspired reduction of maple, balsamic, and cabernet raisins. Accompanied by a wood-ear and dried currant risotto.
Ruth Reichl called it “transcendental”.
Rongeur au chasseur
#34 Freedy - about selling your home in Millburn: dump it and move on. If its comprable to other $900k homes, take $775 and get out of town.
It’s only going to get worse and a year from now, you will wish you sold at what would be a big loss in the current market.
Even if Wall Street improves, the # of bankers and associated professionals will never be what it once was.
Truth be told, the folks in this neighborhood may have a few bucks, but the avg net worth a few years ago was a little over $1.2m and while that is comfortable, it ain’t rich.
A west
Quote of the day:
unfortunately the message the politicians are receiving is that there’s plenty of good pickins left on them bones. Lots of wealth still left to redistribute, for the good of the economy. You’re not consuming your fair share, so the government needs to take your wealth and give it to those who will! They call them “people with a higher propensity to consume,” and consider them the key drivers of future recovery.
I need a drink now…. where did i put that bottle of Ketel One
Have the eductional leaders in Delaware lost their minds?
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/zachary-christie-suspended-bringing-camping-utensil-school/story?id=8812939
And these are the people who develop education budgets?
This is all you need to know about where NJ is heading. Scroll down and see where 3 of their 6 new stores are going. I think one is Millburn adjacent.
http://www.christmastreeshops.com/Careers.html
If flat rate postage volume goes we then have to deal with the postal pensions and their funding, which already has enough problems…
… maybe we should be encouraging people to shop via mail-order.
CIT CEO steps down.
When is the filing scheduled for?
“where did i put that bottle of Ketel One”
The tax man took it in partial settlement of your outstanding tax bill.
“Let me tell you how it will be
There’s one for you ninteen for me
For I’m the tax man
Ohoh, the tax man
And you’re working for no one but me”
Humm, could make it as the NJ state song.
#46 - Just make opt-out/do not mail lists illegal. We need more junk mail.
Shore 44
‘
I love how the throw in the reference to Columbine and Vtech shootings. What the F does that have to do with an elementary student bringing camping utensils to lunch. poor design perhaps, but he’s an F’ing kid. 2 incidents involving psychopathic individuals and suddenly every child is at risk?
Why dont the ban pencils as well? you could kill someone with a really sharp one.
You have to love the lengths they will go to in order to push conformity.
“if Debt = Weath it isn’t such a stretch to believe War = Peace”
How very Winston Smith.
Witnesses told the newspaper that Madoff, serving in federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, got into a heated debate about the state of the market with another inmate near a ball field, reportedly escalating the discussion into a shouting match. The inmate then pushed Madoff, who shoved back harder, according to the report. The inmate stumbled and fell, and Madoff glared over him until the inmate went away, the report said.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/bernie_madoff_gets_into_shovin.html
#49
You laugh.
NOTHING would surprise me.
#49 - If it means I won’t have to foot the bill for the carriers pension plans then yes, I need a Damark/Harbor Freight/Toscano catalog.
Especially the latter, so so tasteful.
Tosh,
Frontgate calling?
Shore 51,
Now we just need to find Mr Goldstein and all will be well.
SCHOOL – 1959 vs. 2009
Scenario 1:
Jack goes quail hunting before school and then pulls into the school parking lot with his shotgun in his truck’s gun rack.
1959 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack’s shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2009 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.
Scenario 2:
Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.
1959 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2009 - Police called and SWAT team arrives – they arrest both Johnny and Mark. They are both charged them with assault and both expelled even though Johnny started it.
Scenario 3:
Jeffrey will not be still in class, he disrupts other students.
1959 - Jeffrey sent to the Principal’s office and given a good paddling by the Principal. He then returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2009 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. He becomes a zombie. He is then tested for ADD. The school gets extra money from the state because Jeffrey has a disability.
Scenario 4:
Billy breaks a window in his neighbor’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1959 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college and becomes a successful businessman.
2009 - Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. The state psychologist is told by Billy’s sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy’s mom has an affair with the psychologist.
Scenario 5:
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1959 - Mark shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking dock.
2009 - The police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is then searched for drugs and weapons.
Scenario 6:
Pedro fails high school English.
1959 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English and goes to college.
2009 - Pedro’s cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against the state school system and Pedro’s English teacher. English is then banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.
Scenario 7:
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the Fourth of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up a red ant bed.
1959 - Ants die.
2009 - ATF, Homeland Security and the FBI are all called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates his parents – and all siblings are removed from their home and all computers are confiscated. Johnny’s dad is placed on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.
Scenario 8:
Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1959 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2009 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.
Adapting to tough economic times. Who needs a headset:
http://tech.msn.com/products/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=22075234&imageindex=3
re #44. re: 6 yr old kid with the pocketnife.
They had the kid on the CBS morning show this AM. He made more sense on the issue than any adult.
#55 - Ah, another of the frequent perps.
Kettle,
A Mr. Charrington on line one. He wants you to meet a Mr. O’Brien.
Kettle,
A Mr. Charringt0n on line one. He wants you to meet a Mr. 0’Brien.
# 58,
Ahh, then he must be reeducated.
#44 shore guy
zero tolerance policies where all situations are black and white are much easier for public “servants” to use than actually thinking and using common sense. Plus there can be no charge of favoritism since zero tolerance polices are like being pregnant, it’s either a yes or no.
Every time I went into the voting booth, I thought my candidate would stop this tax hungry government. But my candidate never did. They wanted more tax.
Shore,
perhaps Mr Goldstien can tell us what happened to Syme. I have not heard from him for some time now and can no longer find any record of him.
I went to a reemployment orientation for unemployment. The government workers kept referring us as “customers”. Also about 1/3 of the people showed up 10 to 30 minutes late for a program that is supposed to take 45 minutes to 1 hour, and the person running it kept giving us inaccurate/incomplete information.
While sitting there I wasn’t sure if I should laugh, cry, or take a nap.
65 safe:
drink?
#46 - Just make opt-out/do not mail lists illegal. We need more junk mail.
We need to go further!
Mandate any company engaged in retail sales with more than 1,000 employees and revenues exceeding $1 million to send out paper catalogs no less than quarterly. We can ten create a tax credit for using recycled paper.
Save the Post Office! Stimulate sales! & Create Green Jobs!
*
Well call it the Catalog Recovery Act Postal TAx Credit for Underperforming and Lagging Retailers
Ket,
I belive Syme was last seen at a Montclair city council meeting objecting to further increases in government spending. Stu or Gator might know.
Safe,
Nuance is lost on many.
[57] shore guy
I like this one better. Future Darwin Award Recipients, I believe.
http://tech.msn.com/products/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=22075234&imageindex=10
#47 Grim,
I’m thinking CIT will be part of BFF.
[69] shore
If it weren’t, it wouldn’t be nuance.
#44 Shore
Delaware cannot upstage Jersey.
There was a case where a kid made an object in shop class under the teachers supervision. He took it out into the hall to show his friends and was suspended under zero tolerance.
[56] kettle
“Now we just need to find Mr Goldstein and all will be well.”
That would be me.
BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Had you all fooled. Now drink your Victory Gin and get back to work!!!
O has saved housing once again!!!!
* On Thursday, Treasury announced that 500,000 homeowners had since had their payments lowered on a trial basis, celebrating this as a milestone. But the report from the oversight panel directly challenged the administration’s characterizations. Most prominently, the panel had grave uncertainty about whether large numbers of the trial loan modifications — which typically run for three months — would successfully be converted to permanent terms.
* As of the beginning of September, only 1.26 percent of trial modifications that had made it through the three-month trial period had become permanent [..]
* As of Sept. 1, the Obama plan had produced 1,711 permanent loan modifications.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/business/10modify.html?pagewanted=all
I put in a knife in my son’s lunch today (6) and I actually thought about whether or not someone might react to it. The knife was part of a child’s cutlery set so it is the right size for him.
[49] grim
Actually, there are people like my BIL (the one who actually has a Nompound), who love junk mail.
He bundles it up, tosses it in his truck and takes it to his Nompound in Maine where he uses it to heat the farmhouse/B&B.
Between that and all the wood he gets (he tells the tree guys to drop off whatever they want), he never pays for heat for his 4K sq ft house on a lake in Mass. and a 19th century farmhouse in Maine.
All due to junk mail and free wood.
(and yes, I pointed out the environmental downside to burning all that treated paper. He had counterresearch at the ready, suggesting that it was no more harmful than other methods).
strumpet is that you?
33.grim says:
October 13, 2009 at 8:23 am
Depression Chic is in this year. It’s kind of like Shabby Chic except the shabby ain’t faked. I hear the challenge in the next episode of HGTV Design Star will be to remake a tent in a squatter camp. A quick preview showed how you could use a blue tarp to bring out the reds an oranges in your rusty corrugated metal roof. The effect was surreal and the impact amazing. That David Bromstad really is a genius.
Shocking. Shocking i tell you!
(check out the chart)
The ‘Democratization of Credit’ Is Over — Now It’s Payback Time
Karen King owes nearly $36,000, more than she’s ever earned in a year. All day long, bill collectors call. She hunts for a second job, sometimes skips meals, and stays with other family members at a grandfather’s crowded apartment, trying to get out of debt and turn her life around. She largely holds herself at fault. “Years ago, I lived for now. It was so stupid,” the 28-year-old says. “It’s depressing, but I can’t live that life anymore.” Now, she says, “I basically want to live for the future.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125511860883676713.html?mod=article-outset-box
cits down is more appropriate….
47.grim says:
October 13, 2009 at 8:48 am
CIT CEO steps down.
When is the filing scheduled for?
[64] kettle
“perhaps Mr Goldstien can tell us what happened to Syme.”
There is no Syme. There never was a Syme. You are mistaken, and clearly in need of re-education.
Debt=wealth
War=Peace
You must Love Big Brother
Nom, 77
It depends on how you burn it and what temperatures the fire is going at as to how nasty any byproducts might be.
Just like in theory incineration shouldn’t be very nasty, but they seldom run at ideal temperatures or other conditions hence the nasty waste gas.
#66 kettle1
I laughed all the way home, then cried myself to sleep. Next time I will add beer during the crying to sleep phase.
Shore guy, it was a surreal experience.
Fed Buys Notes Fannie Mae Sold Yesterday as Part of Purchases
The Federal Reserve bought $170 million of two-year notes sold yesterday by Fannie Mae, the quickest purchase after issuance of benchmark bonds from the company or similar institutions since the central bank began acquiring so-called agency debt. The purchase was part of $2.6 billion of buying today, the New York Fed said on its Web site. The central bank listed the notes among ones it would accept bids for yesterday, about 90 minutes after Washington-based Fannie Mae announced the results of its $5 billion sale in a statement.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=axP7oosnrB30
Nom,
What say you????
High Court to Hear Two Big Finance Cases
Two major court cases that could rock Wall Street.
The last time a Supreme Court decision roiled the stock markets was December 13, 2000. Remember Bush versus Gore and the hanging chads? This year, another High Court verdict has that potential. Plaintiffs in a blockbuster separation-of-powers case are challenging the constitutionality of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a regulator created under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act passed in 2002 after the Enron scandal. The PCAOB oversees accounting firms that audit public companies.
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB125512869122076981.html
“Treasury announced that 500,000 homeowners had since had their payments lowered on a trial basis, celebrating this as a milestone.”
Kettle,
One problem; the grand scheme targeted 4M homeowners. 2nd problem, trial basis?
Indigent Burials Are on the Rise
“There are more people in our cooler for a longer period of time,” said Dr. Karen Gunson, the state’s medical examiner. “It’s not that we’re not finding families, but that the families are having a harder time coming up with funds to cover burial or cremation costs.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/us/11burial.html?ref=us
When does Cargill announce its introduction of soilent green to the market. A new organically produced, low carbon, high protein, low carb, great tasting food product. And dont forget about Soilent Green LIGHT, all the taste and half the calories!!!
“1,711 permanent loan modifications.”
Well, permanent until they resume poor spending behavior and need us to haul their chestnuts out of the fire again.
BC 86
As of the beginning of September, only 1.26 percent of trial modifications that had made it through the three-month trial period had become permanent
“families are having a harder time coming up with funds to cover burial or cremation costs.”
Possible alternativ energy supply for wood stoves?
“Debt=wealth
War=Peace
You must Love Big Brother”
Big Brother, didn’t he have big ears and wasn’t the “O” red and blue?
Having looked at homes in both Millburn and neighboring Maplewood and South Orange (both also essex), I can attest that houses in the lower end of the spectrum (4-500k) have a much lower rate in Millburn than they do in the other two towns. I assume that Millburn just has more $1M+ homes and commercial rateables, so the burden on smaller homeowners is lower. I don’t see taxes in Millburn as being much different from Summit, Chatham and Madison in Morris.
Then again, the amount of house you can buy in Millburn is a good deal less than what you get in MW/SO. So maybe the burden for “starter home” owners becomes comparable. I’d still be though that for a small homes (3 bed/ 1.5-2bath), the burden is less per square foot in Millburn than in these other towns.
Shore 91:
let me reintroduce a proposal of mine. Just like the post office and junk mail,
we require all US citizens to each a specified number of twinkies/icecream/bigmacs per year. We further require annual liposuction. the produced fat is then used to produce biodiesel.
This plan will increase the amount of junk food purchased, therefor helping to support our markets and we can recover some of this supportive expenditure thorough the production of human based biodesel which is of course a “Green” fuel source.
kettle1 says:
July 18, 2008 at 1:31 pm
No need to worry about gas prices!!!!
Just provide government funded liposuction for all americans and then use the fat to make biodiesel!!!!
US population is 300 million, 1/4 is 75 million.
assume we can get 10 lbs/person minimum = 750 million lbs of fat
SG(specific gravity) of human fat is about 0.9 and fat based biodiesel can give 1 gallon of biodiesel per gallon of fat. So right there we have 750*.9 = 675 million gallons of biodiesel.
This would replace about 1.6% of the total US diesel consumption (40 billion gal/yr), not much but a start. AND!!!! its renewable. just keep eating those Twinkies and fries and every year the GOV can harvest another 10 pounds from you! Talk about recycling
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/home-buyer-tax-credit-renewal-very-close-mba-2009-10-12
Word on the street is the town pool in Summit is much nicer. Lower taxes, too.
Kettle,
It will also decrease the numbe of years folks receive Social Security benefits.
SAS
this should be right up your alley.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125528643803678777.html
U.K. Plans Sale to Cut Its Debt
About £3 billion of this would come from selling a portfolio of assets such as the state betting organization, the Tote; the Dartford bridge and tunnel crossing over the Thames; a book of student loans; the English Channel tunnel rail link; and the government’s stake in Urenco, a nuclear-fuel company that operates several uranium-enrichment plants in Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K.
Looked at the inside of a house last Thursday. It meets all our needs and even has a sauna in the basement. We would like to look at one or two more and then make a decision, but this one would do it for us.
Green shoots!!!!
It’s a V! Recovery “A Lot Stronger” Than Consensus, ECRI’s Achuthan Says
“Good news for those worried about the economy: “We are in the early stages of the recovery and it looks to be a lot stronger” than the consensus for modest 2%-3% GDP growth, says
Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI).
“Furthermore, the recovery will be “V-shaped” and is now “virtually unstoppable” - at least through the first half of 2010 — Achuthan says, citing a “positive contagion” in the economy right now, based on leading economic indicators. Most notably, the ECRI’s index of Weekly Economic Indicators just hit a new record high.
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/351329/It’s-a-V!-Recovery-%22A-Lot-Stronger%22-Than-Consensus-ECRI’s-Achuthan-Says?tickers=%5EDJI,%5EGSPC,SPY,DIA,TBT,TLT
vodka (100)-
Mish blows up the assclown Achuthan in this woodchipper of an article:
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/10/look-at-ecris-recession-predicting.html
kettle1,
I’m glad that the recovery is stronger than was expected. I guess I’ll put a slice of cheese on my baloney sandwich tonight for dinner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCbzTXAfpyE
3 minute Schiff rant on what’s happening to the USD.
Jim (99)-
Handle that sauna right, and you can make bioweapons in it.
Schumpeter,
Maybe if I can cook a roast at the same time I use the sauna. Hey, just trying to be green.
This is what you vote for!!!!
Next year, please don’t vote/approve town/school budget increase!! This is very important. Also don’t vote Corzine! He will increase your tax another 10%.
I call BS on Millburn being the most highly taxed town in the state. It’s not even the most highly taxed town in Essex County.
The average tax bill may be the highest, but that is because there is a larger proportion of high end properties in town. Let’s look at tax rates and average ratios for this tax year in other Essex County towns.
Millburn - Tax Rate = 1.67 Average Ratio =91.76 (houses assessed at 91.76 of FMV) Effective Tax Rate = 1.53
South Orange - Tax Rate = 2.45 Average ratio = 100.70 Effective Tax Rate = 2.47
Glen Ridge - Tax Rate = 2.69 Average Ratio = 91.61 Effective Tax Rate = 2.46
Montclair - Tax Rate = 2.39 Average Ration = 99.30 Effective Tax Rate = 2.37
Maplewood - Tax Rate = 4.4 Average Ration = 52.27 Effective Tax Rate = 2.30
By my quick calculations, Millburn is only the 5th highest taxed town in Essex County, and I haven’t even included other high tax towns such as West Orange in this analysis.
A bunch of whining country club pansies if you ask me.
Hate to break thi to you, Wendy, but it doesn’t matter if the voters vote down a school budget. They just appeal to the state and get whatever they were asking for anyway.
You didn’t think NJ was a democracy, did you?
On the other hand, I’m voting against everyone currently in office this November. They may not be part of the problem but they’re certainly not part of the solution, either.
Having dabbled in the Springfield listings of late, it seems that town has some mighty outrageous taxes. In terms of bang for the buck, I would rather go with Millburn or Westfield where at least I have top schools and a proper downtown.
What the h*ll is going on in Springfield that the taxes are so high for crappy 60’s split levels on none-too-impressive lot sizes? I don’t get it.
Kettle,
I hear Buckingham Palace is going condo.
Will Work,
I am at about the same place. Unless a lawmaker is activly raising hell to change things, and I mean sticking his head into the party meatginder and bucking the sttuw quo, he or she will not get my vote and his or her opponent will get my contribution.
#106 Voters vote no, BOE officials go to mayor and council, they make a symbolic 1% or so cut in the budget, budget is than approved. Democracy in action.
Another sign of the times, it used to take about3 months to get a copyright from the USCO. Now, I have claims that are 6 months old and have not yet been touched by human hands. Our friendly government says it could take a YEAR.
I would just assume that they raise the cost of filing a claim and hire enough people to process the blasted things. When dealing with certain people in certain industries, having clear copyright is essential and these delays just slow down business.
Even to get a responst from USCO via e-mail takes five days. It is bad enough Mrs. Shore and I pay them six-figures in taxes each year but, the system does not work.
Shore,
I’m just cranky because I’m laid off this week. Glad I have a job though. Lots of people have it a lot worse than I do.
On the bright side, my fridge is full of great beer and I’m just waiting for an excuse to start drinking. How about noon? Transitioning from AM to PM can be pretty traumatic at times…
wendy (106)-
Wake me up when you learn how to handle an AK-47.
beer (116)-
‘Tis beer-drinking season. Also, drinking beer will ensure a better job comes along.
I love how the throw in the reference to Columbine and Vtech shootings. What the F does that have to do with an elementary student bringing camping utensils to lunch. poor design perhaps, but he’s an F’ing kid. 2 incidents involving psychopathic individuals and suddenly every child is at risk
My wife read this story online and she was pretty pissed. I quote, “Oh, thats just stupid. Look at those stupid school administrators suspending a kid because he brought a combination knife, fork, spoon set to school. That is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. These people need to use some common sense.”
She went on for about 5 minutes about how they probably humiliated him for life because all he wanted to do was eat his lunch with his new cub scout camping gear.
The end is nigh…..hedge fund honey sues Morristown moron….and the Hyatt
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/suit_vs_wedding_break_dancer_NHcL7YMthBijizmaldhRzI
WWFB,
What is it Ben Franklin said, something like: “Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
NJ Government seems to be the polar opposite
Interesting. I didn’t know one analyst had so much hold on US markets.
U.S. Stocks Retreat as Whitney Downgrades Goldman Sachs Shares
So what happens when people can’t sell their houses at any price because the property taxes are too high?
Shore,
My favorite BF quote. For obvious reasons…
Actually, NJ Gov did do one thing for me. When they raised the wine and liquor tax, they left beer alone.
Why? They said it was because poor people drink beer. (Thus anticipating my current temporary lay off. Sheer genious!)
Out,
Then the prices will plunge and the tax rates will skyrocket to allow governments to continue bringing in he same revenue.
Then people will default on tax payments and the governments will seize the land and sell it off to someone else. Rinse and repeat.
#123 And that is exactly what is going to happen.
John,
What happened to your J-E-T-S. Was that Henne or Marino?
What we really need is to open up the mailbox to competition. We need to repeal the mailbox monopoly and allow private carriers access to the mailbox. For those who don’t know, it is againt the law for anyone other than the USPS to use your mailbox.
US Postal laws also prohibit charging less than the U.S. Postal service for express mail service (less than 18 ounces). Do you ever wonder why it costs 12$ to ship something via FedEx and UPS. Not because it costs that much but because it is a federally set minimum.
They are not allowed to take bulk mailings or deliver mail. Anything that would supplant or injure the ability (competition) for the US Postal service to operate is regulated out of existence.
“Was that Henne or Marino?”
Make,
You’re assuming that John has a clue.
Out 123 - See GSMLS 2690928 on prestigious Ridgewood Avenue in Glen Ridge.
Originally assessed for 1089800 with a tax bill of 29282.93. Tax appeal reduced the assessment to 852700 and the annual tax bill to 23671.
This property has been sitting for months on the GSMLS and can’t sell at $659k (REDUCED PRICE AND TAXES!!! BEST VALUE ON PRESTIGOIUS RIDGEWOOD AVE!!!).
If one were to assume a market value of $659k (which is likely too high since the place can’t sell at that price), the effective tax rate is 3.59 while the tax rate for the town of Glen Ridge is only 2.69. Being overtaxed in an already highly taxed town has dropped the value of this home about 25% (below the reduced assessment amount).
Gator,
You better watch out or you will meet the fate of Messers Symes and Ampelforth. Dissent is not allowed, you will be assimilated.
Clot,
enjoy
http://www.pbs.org/pov/utopia/
Is nothing American sacred anymore? The largest mall in the world turns out not to be the famous Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn. It’s the South China Mall outside of Guangzhou, China. Outdoing the techniques of American consumerism, South China Mall is Disneyland, Las Vegas and Mall of America rolled into one. There are carnival rides, mini-parks, canals and lakes amid classic Western-style buildings with space for hundreds of shops.
But along with the glitz and glory of middle-class shopping, the mall’s Chinese developers seem to have imported something else — a cautionary tale of capitalist hubris. Alex Hu, a local Guangzhou boy who made it big in international business, wanted South China Mall to be a hometown monument to his success — even though Guangzhou has no major airports or highways nearby. And four years after its construction, the mall sits virtually empty of both shops and shoppers. But the Chinese have imported yet another concept familiar to Americans — South China Mall is considered too big to fail. So, employees line up for flag-raising ceremonies and pep talks about “brand building” before going off to maintain the deserted concourses meticulously.
SHore gator, 131
….you will be assimilated.. promptly before your scheduled execution
#130 Gator - And there are no buyers. I’m just afraid that as property taxes continue to go up, as they must to fund the public sector employees and retirees, housing prices will go down and at some point, the taxes will be a bigger factor in the decision to buy than the purchase price. The price of a house can go up and down with the market, but you’re stuck with property taxes for life. Oh no. You don’t think there’ll be a new financial instrument to borrow to pay for taxes, do you? And then someone will bundle them and securitize them? And stamp them triple A? Wait, I think I’ve heard this song before.
#131:
freedom is irrelevant. Self determination is irrelevant. You will comply!
Gator,
When it came to purchasing your home, don’t you wish you had taken the red pill?
@132 The 华南 mall when translated into english means “Titanic”
sarcasm off
Out 134 -
Sen. Richard Codey and property taxes: Crossing the West Orange line
Was it a case of the Democrat deserting the sinking ship?
I’m talking about Senate President Richard Codey and his move from West Orange to Roseland.
When I inquired recently about the problem of property taxes in West Orange, many residents brought up the case of Codey’s escape from a town that ranks near the top of The Star-Ledger’s Tax Trauma Index.
“I like where I live,” Codey said. “I just moved to the border.”
Roseland is just up the road, but it’s world away on that index. It scores a low 28 compared to West Orange’s 89 on the 100-point scale.
But Codey’s still paying taxes to West Orange. He’s renting out his old house because he can’t get a good price for it right now. That’s a problem all over the state, of course. But will West Orange ever rebound? Or has the town crossed some sort of threshold?
The threshold I’m thinking about is what I would like to label “The West Orange Line,” though “the Montclair Line” or “the Maplewood Line” might be equally appropriate.
http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2009/09/sen_richard_codey_and_property.html
The chinesse characters don’t show up right on the blog.
I will try again
@132 The Huánán mall when translated to english means “Titanic”
Nicholas,
Well, at least the Titanic was famous. Who even remembers all those ocean liners that never sank? Huh? And, it sank closer to NY than London, so proximity to NY does seem to make all the difference. So there!
Maginot Line? Siegfried Line? Bottom line? They all fail in the end.
For anyone planning to replace kitchen appliances, we have been using a Wolf cook top for about a year now and like it very much.
BC,(129)
Isn’t he a big time bond trader who made a ton betting on too big to fail companies in 2008 while a moron like myself made 5% sitting on shiny?
Plus he has more stories then Walt Disney.
I’m gonna give him the benefit of doubt that he knows the difference between Marino and Henne.
The government workers kept referring us as “customers”.
Customers
Consumers
Clients
They change the jargon around indiscriminately.
[82] kettle
that may have been what he was getting at.
I do know this–he replaced his woodstove and the thing is so damned efficient, there is hardly any ash left after burning a sh1tload of logs.
Shore,
Wolf is worth every penny for those that know and cook at home.
[85] kettle
that would require a reasoned opinion, and as Victorian would say, I am incapable of forming one (right now at least, and not before the paying clients)
“But Codey’s still paying taxes to West Orange. He’s renting out his old house because he can’t get a good price for it right now.”
NJG,
From the book of Timmy G. Another forced landlord.
Shore 141 - for anyone who’s owned in Montclair longterm, they’ve likely already crossed it.
My senior citizen neighbors are rapidly approaching their new line - the point at which their annual tax bill is greater than or equal to than the purchase price of their home. I’d say about 5 more years and they are there.
Just a little background information.
My brother, who is a painter, now has steady work. He has to travel 2 hours each way (4 hours of commuting per day) to Virginia.
Another brother, who is an Electrician, says that for some reason his phone has been steadily ringing with work. He is excited about the hours. He remarked that it was “pent-up demand for services”. He also commented that his customers are often “fed-up” and are now caving to get things repaired that they left broken.
For example, he is called in because the last remaining outlet in the room stopped working. Now none of the outlets work and an electrician must be called.
I guess this is what you call “pent-up demand for services”. I think we might be reaching some base level of service.
I don’t know if this is what you guys call a “bottom” but from where I’m standing this looks alot like capitulation of buyer and seller in the services market.
Outofstater (134)
“at some point, the taxes will be a bigger factor in the decision to buy than the purchase price.”
That’s already happening. There was a house we bid lower on specifically because taxes were $24,000/yr, because the town though that a lot backing to a forest deserved to pay an extra $5000 per year compared to similar houses. In negotiations, the seller said that the view justified the higher price. I countered that the town had more than fully monetized that benefit via taxes.
The present value of $24,000/yr in taxes is $480,000, using a 5% discount rate. If the taxes increase 2% per year, the present value of that tax stream is $800,000. Buyers ignore this at their peril.
clot: Just because something is detailed does not make it particularly valuable. So Mish is harshing on ECRI for putting in a A-/B+ performance. Of course what he fails to acknowledge is that the mean on this exam was a C-. So basically he is ripping on a guy who basically blew away the field and had the audacity to be about 80% correct.
Mish is just looking for eyeballs, and you are just being a pawn. At this juncture, it appears Mish is mostly out there to drum up business for asset management, as his prominent links reflect. Between Mish, Mike Morgan and Schiff, we have guys who fire guns in the air and pontificate in hopes that people had then money….don’t be so easily manipulated…..financial equivalent to Rush Limbaugh….
Schumpeter says:
October 13, 2009 at 10:24 am
vodka (100)-
Mish blows up the assclown Achuthan in this woodchipper of an article:
haNd theM money
[146] make
Just avoid Viking and Subzero. My sister and BIL put them in their Mass. house and have found them to be incredibly unreliable. Damn things break down more than an english car.
Sis did all the 80’s-90’s yuppie things: Viking, subzero, SAAB. Won’t touch anything now that is trendy (unless it is trendy because it offers value).
More on Star Ledge tax data. Check out the SL’s tax trauma index. Millburn rates at or near the bottom of the county when you look at both effective tax rates and tax trauma, which is an analysis of property tax burden compared to income. (Disclaimer - this data is from 2005)
http://www.starledger.com/str/taxes/countyranked.asp?frmrank=taxvalue&frmcounty=013
The leaders in “tax trauma” are Glen Ridge, South Orange, West Orange, Maplewood, East Orange and Montclair.
The towns with the highest effective tax rates are East Orange, Orange, Irvington, West Orange, Glen Ridge, Maplewood, and South Orange.
Millburn and other towns (Montclair included) have spoken about seceding from Essex County, but high taxes are not a county issue. There are several towns in Essex that manage to operate with a much more reasonable tax bill/rate - see Essex Fells, Cedar Grove, Roseland, Fairfield and Caldwell, Verona and Livingston. Of all the above, only Essex Fells has an average higher property value.
Outofstater (134)
“at some point, the taxes will be a bigger factor in the decision to buy than the purchase price.”
That’s already happening.
*********
I agree. I am not looking in New York at all anymore because of the taxes (only looking in Connecticut, where property taxes are roughly 250% cheaper).
And the difference is compounding, since even if taxes increase at the same rate in both areas, NY is starting from a higher base.
These high tax areas are basically in a death spiral at this point.
chi (152)-
Agreement with Mish doesn’t make me a pawn. I can read the Sitka Pacific disclaimer every time I go to the site.
Mish has called this yahoo on a fundamental misread of today’s circumstances. Whatever “grade” you wish to give Achuthan for his past work, he’s riding a solid “F” right about now.
If Mish is using his blogging solely to try and raise capital to manage, I’d think he’d be singing a different tune. If all you have to sell is deflationary debt crisis, you probably aren’t going to attract a lot of sexy money that wants to go under management.
Perhaps the tune Mish should be singing is the one Bill Gross is singing (talk about using the media to talk your own book!).
gator (155)-
Make sure when you list your house in Montclair that your listing agent mentions you are suffering from “tax trauma”.
tax trauma = Richard Gere and the gerbil
123.Outofstater says:
October 13, 2009 at 11:33 am
So what happens when people can’t sell their houses at any price because the property taxes are too high?
That is the reason people have moved from NJ. They saw where this was going.
156 Skeptic
I agree. I am not looking in New York at all anymore because of the taxes (only looking in Connecticut, where property taxes are roughly 250% cheaper).
And the difference is compounding, since even if taxes increase at the same rate in both areas, NY is starting from a higher base.
These high tax areas are basically in a death spiral at this point.
____
Out of curiosity, where in NY were you looking? Property taxes where I am are far more reasonable then any area we’ve looked at in NNJ. Or are you also talking about income tax?
160,
Lemmiwinks, nooooooo!
“Customers
Consumers
Clients”
Isnt that the same lingo call girls use? I guess that tells us what the NJ state government thinks it is doing to taxpayers.
#161
Westchester I would think.
164 Doyle
That would make sense. LI and Westchester taxes are out of control.
#155 gator,
You have to pay up to live in a town like Montclair. Where else can you find train stations, multiple ice cream parlours. a university, yuppie stores and restaurants, and as a bonus you get a hood as well.
Not to mention the school official who uses tax payers money to go to China to see if Kindergartnersr town in you should learn Mandarin.
It’s all for the children you know.
Vulture has a link to ABC Story up about Millburn High.
http://www.circlingvulture.com/
Albani(152),
I handed Schiff my life earning which are my retirement fund. The whole thing is SOLID GOLD.
Whom should I trust with my money? Should I buy and hold? Diversify and be down 30% from all time high but be happy cause the market is down 40%.
Be happy that my broker lost me a little money cause everyone elses broker is worse.
Peter Schiff has never lost me money. I’m all in since late ‘06 and kept adding rent money evrytime I saw an 8 handle. During the period of 7 handles I refinenced with a 4 handle fixed rate and bought more shiny. What asset class or diversification of asset classes has outperformed my portfolio?
I trust that we are going down a very slippery slope and shiny is the only thing that I know will keep me from working again.
Since you and John state the recession is over then Why am I not able to collect my rents?
#132 Kettle,
You don’t have to go to China to get a story like that - just drive to upstate NY.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destiny_USA
bystander,
the point is china, the eastern bastion of capitalism that is going to save the world economy is having a few problems of its own.
re #170 #132 - Much Closer. If you build it will they come?
http://www.visitxanadu.com/
#161
“Out of curiosity, where in NY were you looking?”
I was looking in Westchester County, which if it is not THE worst, is probably a close second to some area in NNJ for worst taxes in the nation.
From Bastiat:
The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.
For, today as in the past, each of us, more or less, would like to profit from the labor of others. One does not dare to proclaim this feeling publicly, one conceals it from oneself, and then what does one do? One imagines an intermediary; one addresses the state, and each class proceeds in turn to say to it: ‘You, who can take fairly and honorably, take from the public and share with us.’ Alas! The state is only too ready to follow such diabolical advice; for it is composed of cabinet ministers, of bureaucrats, of men, in short, who, like all men, carry in their hearts the de$ire, and always enthusiastically seize the opportunity, to see their wealth and influence grow. The state understands, then, very quickly the use it can make of the role the public entrusts to it. It will be the arbiter, the master, of all destinies. It will take a great deal; hence, a great deal will remain for itself. It will multiply the number of its agents; it will enlarge the scope of its prerogatives; it will end by acquiring overwhelming proportions.
But what is most noteworthy is the astonishing blindness of the public to all this. When victorious soldiers reduced the vanquished to slavery, they were barbarous, but they were not absurd. Their object was, as ours is, to live at the expense of others; but, unlike us, they attained it. What are we to think of a people who apparently do not suspect that reciprocal pillage is no less pillage because it is reciprocal; that it is no less criminal because it is carried out legally and in an orderly manner; that it adds nothing to the public welfare; that, on the contrary, it diminishes it by all that this spendthrift intermediary that we call the state costs?
The Senate Finance Committee voted 14-9 Oct. 13 to approve its $829 billion overhaul of the health care system, which includes several changes to the tax code as part of an effort to reduce the bill’s cost and drive down the cost of health insurance.
All of the committee’s Democrats voted in favor of the legislation while only one Republican, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), supported it. The heavily amended chairman’s mark, dubbed the America’s Health Future Act, includes a 40 percent excise tax on health insurance premiums in excess of $8,000 for individuals and $21,000 for families. A higher threshold is permitted for individuals older than 55 and those who work in professions designated as high-risk.
Flexible spending account contributions would be capped at $2,500, and adults who do not purchase health insurance will face a penalty excise tax beginning in 2014. To make it less expensive for individuals to purchase health insurance, the legislation would provide tax credits to families earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty line. For 2009, the poverty line is set at $10,830 for individuals and currently about $22,050 per year for a family of four.
re #174 - Comrade what a sensible, simple, and yet radical reform that strips away all of inefficiencies from the existing Health Care System.
Bravo Democrats.
//sarcasm off
#173
wonder what is in the goodie bag for Maine.
Nom,
Indexed for inflation or is this just the latest AMT?
Collins and Snow are about the only moderate Rs left in the senate and they are the only Rs left in New England. I suspect her vote was just a matter of reading the electoral map and trying to stay employed.
shore:
Indexed for inflation?
HAHAHA LOL
kettle1
Nom - score one for the tax havens?
The Obama administration has shelved a plan to raise more than $200 billion in new taxes on multinational companies following a blitz of complaints from businesses.
A contingent of Silicon Valley chief executives, for example, traveled to Washington in late September to speak out against the proposal to change how the federal government taxes overseas profits. They came away from meetings with key congressmen relieved.
Obama aides say the administration has set the idea aside for now, but may return to it as part of a broader tax overhaul sometime next year. The White House had billed the proposed change as an overdue fix to the tax code and potentially a key revenue-raiser.
“This has gone all of a sudden from red-hot to white-cold,” says Michael Klayko, chief executive of Brocade Communications Systems Inc., a large data-storage company. But he says he is concerned that if the proposed tax changes get entangled in the health-care overhaul, “it could go back to red-hot again.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125539099758581443.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
make money says:
October 13, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Albani(152),
albani: YOU ARE DOING THE WORK….you just happen to be paying Schiff. You should run it like Bost. He is master of his domain.
Schiff cannot be running things the way you have them without explicit signoffs by you. What is Schiff doing for you other than hitting you up for campaign contributions?
make money says:
October 13, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Since you and John state the recession is over then Why am I not able to collect my rents?
Just because the recession is over doesn’t mean that NYC isn’t f-ed up the tuchus for awhile. Why aren’t you evicting? Waiting for the coldest day in the winter?
kettle,
If you want to rean an interesting blog about China, check out chinasmack.com (NOT SAFE FOR WORK)
The writer takes controversial chinese news stories and translates them into English, along with the comments people post. People can then post comments about the story and the translated comments.
But it is NOT SAFE FOR WORK. Some translate comments or comments posted by readers would make John blush.
Face it folks. Living large in NJ is a fools game. Smaller, more efficient homes that are under the tax radar — make good sense.
re #183 - Chi you can’t trade gold warrants in Austraila that easy out of US Brokerage accounts.
“ZAUWBA”
In NJ, how does the property tax work on large size lot (i.e 2 acres), if the first 15,000 is taxed at the assessed rate (use = land, building), what is the rest of the lot taxed at? Same rate, lesser rate?
[176] shore
Haven’t read the bill, so don’t know about indexing, but I suspect it will be since failure to index will hit the folks they want to protect, vote-wise.
What remains to be seen is employer mandates. Will employers be forced to offer benefits, or can they buy out? Will there be exceptions that my clients will try to shoehorn into? Will this cause further reduction in headcounts because the cost per employee just got higher and OT is cheaper? Lots of unknowns at this point, but I don’t think your wages are going up any time soon.
[180] kettle
small matter of reading the writing on the wall. Big 4 firms and the lawyers were already working on inversion models to take companies overseas, thus costing the USG more revenue that it would hope to make.
What was a big splash to me was the head of NYSE/Euronext suggesting that the Dutch had called him about relocating NYSE to the Netherlands. That would have been a huge hit to Obama if the NYSE inverted and became a foreign company, operating in NYC.
Further, a high profile defection (if not NYSE, perhaps Exxon or a couple of major US pharma cos.) would have put Obama in the uncomfortable position of trying to beat back more legislation aimed at “benedict arnold” companies, knowing that the legislation would exacerbate the problem but fighting it would tick off his base.
So its no wonder he didn’t kick the can down the road. Idea is to have a crisis to exploit, not to create a new one in the process. We will hear about this later in 2010, when they need to crank up new tax rules, and you will see the media start to demonize the multinationals.
[174] sean
Recall that Obama took issue with the idea that the penalty imposed by the feds, and collected by the IRS, for not getting health care was a “tax.”
In this bill, they cut the FSA exclusion dramatically. There is no federal cap on medical FSA, but they are cutting it to $2,500. This means that an amount you could exclude from taxes for medical expenses is now capped. Thus, your income subject to tax goes up, and your taxes go up. And it hits folks well under 250K.
Wonder how the One is gonna spin that one? That eliminating an exclusion is not the same as raising taxes, so the promise isn’t broken????
Debt=Wealth
War=Peace
Taxes=Savings
You must Love Big Brother
http://emailrpt.gsmls.com/public/show_public_report_rpt.do?report=clientfull&Id=48474851_11260
Here is a nice home down 69k, on market
8-9 monthes. Good luck getting to work.
My neck of the woods. Better deals to come!
5% down waaaay too much.
October 13, 2009, 9:25 AM ET FHA Head Rejects Calls for Higher Down Payments
http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2009/10/13/fha-head-rejects-calls-for-higher-down-payments/tab/print/
Thats a bad joke, 5% is peanuts. If you can’t muster 5% you have no business buying. I honestly think the feds need to be smarter and make it 10%. Without that amount I fear the taxpayers are bearing way too much risk. Our gov’t needs to ask who it exists to serve, clearly getting people in over their heads is not for the public’s benefit.
10% down requirement would crash the housing market and all of the secured lenders
jcers,skep & the band played on. Full speed ahead. Frightful mess we have gotten ourselves into this time Ollie. Dammed no matter what we do, higher DPs lower it all ends up bad.
Skep,
It gets even worse. If we see a tsunami of foreclosure then the towns, cities and states loose a huge portion of their property tax receipts. Without this money saw good bye to public services as you currently know it.
Yes, the property will have a tax lien placed on it, but how long will it be before the local or state government ever sees that money? Years?
Any form of a housing crash that ends up is huge numbers of foreclosures is going to see towns go bankrupt. Its already underway, but has the potential to become substantially worse.
I would say that at this point we should all recognize that the gov’t will not do anything that is tough in the short term but responsible in the long term in terms of economic policy. They are more likely to double down on the bailouts than to draw them back. On DPs specifically, talk of expanding the refundable tax credit (which for most of the country results in an effective DP requirement of 0%) has much more traction politically than raising it.
Skep,
It really is getting to the point of being stupid not to buy with as little as possible down and ride the bailout wave.
Kettle future taxes are the big problem not the DP % or current prices for my area. They scare the hell out of me. Seven more years till youngest out of school, might just rent then run.
Mike,
consider this; if we assume that housing prices come down one way or another, whether its by a tsunami of foreclosure of a slow grind, the towns will fight to maintain property tax receipt levels and continue to increase them. The only way to do that is through substantial tax increases.
It has been said on this blog before, but we are facing the real possibility of tax bills for a home exceeding the mortgage in the lovely state of NJ.
The only way this type of scenario doesnt happen is if home prices start to climb in real terms. If its due to substantial inflation then the tax bill will just keep pace with the rate of inflation and you still lose.
“Seven more years till youngest out of school, might just rent then run.”
I don’t think I would buy either if I was in that position.
The high inflation scenario seems a bit more complicated to me and probably ends up in favor of buying. Don’t forget that rents would be rising in that case and you would be paying on a fixed rate note.
Ket hence my plan to rent. Different stage in the game for me.
California signing onto laws to control mortgages:
http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/10/californias_sensible_mortgage_restraints.php
AB 260 … tightens restrictions on mortgage brokers so they cannot steer borrowers to riskier, higher-interest loans when they qualify for less-expensive ones.
… bans so-called negative-amortization loans, which offer the option of monthly payments so low that the loan amounts can actually grow over time.
… limits prepayment penalties to no more than 2% of the loan balance and allows state regulators to enforce federal lending laws.
SB 239 … makes it a felony to commit fraud on a mortgage loan application.
AB 329 … requires lenders to give more and clearer information to those interested in reverse mortgages, which let seniors borrow against their homes’ equity.
AB 1160 … requires that mortgage loan documents be written in the same language the verbal negotiations were conducted in.
So much for affordable homes in Switzerland for a Nompound—wealthy foreigners are buying up the country.
http://www.wealth-bulletin.com/rich-life/property/content/1055273246/
Hmmmm. Wonder why all the sudden interest in having a residence in Switzerland??? Are the moving vans in Greenwich headed toward the docks after they pick up their load?
Expatriation by just a few dozen of our uber-wealthy citizens would be the equivalent of losing the tax revenues of a mid-sized american city or, if they liquidate or move their businesses, a small U.S. state.
And an op-ed in today’s Bloomberg suggests that London Hedgies are already migrating to SUI and the bankers may follow, causing a meaningful drop in London’s sphere of influence in finance.
Nom,
Hedgies, in the west, are packing up and heading to the Alps, in droves. Suppose they increased taxes and nobody showed up?
Time to double the taxes on the ones who remain. That’ll show ‘em.
#199 and still the market will cease to exist rising prices with rising property taxes. So the 500k pos cape becomes $1000,000.00 with a 25k yearly tax bill?
BTW, Romania dissolved their gubmint this morning. Lots of fun hijinks about to ensue with the IMF.
One day closer to oblivion.
clot:
this:Michael Hudson has become a consultant to the Latvian government. His advice is to give the lutefisk filled banks of Sweden and the IMF the finger.
and
Here’s an interesting bit of optimism:
America is not going to bleed its wealth importing fuel. Russia’s grip on Europe’s gas will weaken. Improvident Britain may avoid paralysing blackouts by mid-decade after all.
The World Gas Conference in Buenos Aires last week was one of those events that shatter assumptions. Advances in technology for extracting gas from shale and methane beds have quickened dramatically, altering the global balance of energy faster than almost anybody expected.
and
“There has been a revolution in the gas fields of North America. Reserve estimates are rising sharply as technology unlocks unconventional resources,” he said.
and
As for the US, we may soon be looking at an era when gas, wind and solar power, combined with a smarter grid and a switch to electric cars returns the country to near energy self-sufficiency.
This has currency implications. If you strip out the energy deficit, America’s vaulting savings rate may soon bring the current account back into surplus – and that is going to come at somebody else’s expense, chiefly Japan, Germany and, up to a point, China.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/6299291/Energy-crisis-is-postponed-as-new-gas-rescues-the-world.html
clot,
and…..
An analyst at credit rating firm Standard & Poor’s says Dubai has “insufficient” funds to pay back billions of dollars worth of debt coming due, putting added pressure on the city-state to raise additional cash.
Farouk Soussa, S&P’s head of Middle East government ratings, said Sunday that the sheikdom has about $4 billion left from a February bond issue, but must find a way to cover as much as $50 billion over the next three years.
He says “the notion that the government will be able and/or willing to stand 100 percent by all that debt on an equal basis is wrong.”
Soussa’s comments come two days after a top Dubai official told CNN the government could seek to raise another $10 billion through government bonds as early as this month.
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/mnt/html/btpre/registration/redirect.jsp?dlink=/sub/news/story/0,4574,354333,00.html?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/13/AR2009101303224.html
Don’t Reinflate the Old Bubbles by Steven Pearlstein
The Washington Post
Home Rescue Plan Delaying, Not Solving Crisis
ALBANY, Ohio/WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - Within weeks of taking office, U.S. President Barack Obama rode to the rescue of homeowners resigned to financial ruin.
Obama, grappling with the worst U.S. housing crisis since the Great Depression, pledged to help as many as 9 million families keep their homes by reworking their mortgages.
Eight months later, the plan is plagued by delays, red tape and, some critics say, a reluctance by banks to do their part. Just 17 percent of eligible borrowers have had their loans modified and monthly payments cut. Hardly any have been given a cut in the amount they owe on homes which are now worth less.
That means many successful applicants are left with loans that they still will not be able to afford in the long run. So instead of resolving the housing crisis that pushed the U.S. economy into recession, America may be prolonging it and, in the process, stunting the global recovery.
The U.S. Treasury Department said on October 8 that under HAMP more than 500,000 people so far had their payments cut, slightly under 17 percent of those deemed eligible, ahead of the department’s November 1 deadline for reaching that number.
THE END IS NIGH!!!!!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=ajAn3kybYxhc
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125547778854983741.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_news
“Disputes with insurance companies are increasing as a growing number of homeowners file claims for property damage they say is caused by defective Chinese drywall.”
Lack of quality product from a country that has enslaved its people? What were the odds of that?
i know we go back and forth on the inflation vs deflation subject.
My take, deflation on the short end, inflation on the long end.
We will have deflation just long enough for states to lower their minimum wage, than look out. Inflation is going to bite,and bite hard.
I suspect inflation won’t kick in till at least May.
but then again, this is subject to behind the door military threats. i.e, support our debt, or we will bomb the shilt out of you and call you a terrorist.
Their is always that hidden hand that can change things in an instant. You won’t hear that on your beloved Fox News.
Its a good thing we have a strong military, or you’d be eating oatmeal 3x/day.
SAS
and i think Omama violates the Constitution as chair of UN Security Council?
not like the constitution matters….
I just like to be apart of a winning team.
I love prozac.
SAS
Oh man, saw a house in Nutley listed on FSBO.com for $619K!!!
http://www.fsbo.com/131850.aspx
It’s a nice house, in a very nice neighborhood….495K, maybe…possibly. $425K and I think it would sell quick. But 619K is a 2006 price.
new mr. mortgage post:
http://mhanson.com/archives/242
oh, this works better:
http://mhanson.com/archives/253
This is a great story on why people are moving from NJ to the Delaware Beach area!