Mon 19 Oct 2009
Sure hope we’ve got enough of them, there are currently 332 homes for sale over $2m in Essex, Hunterdon, Morris, Somerset, Sussex and Union (GSMLS). That number goes up to 600 homes when you add in Passaic, Hudson, and Bergen (NJMLS).
From the NY Times:
Pitching to Professional Athletes
STEVE NEEDLE, a developer, thought a year ago that he had sold a $3 million castle-style mansion in Westfield even before his firm had finished construction.
But the buyer, employed as a Wall Street stock trader at the time, lost his financial footing in the crash last year.
“He could not complete,” Mr. Needle said, referring to the buyer and the sale, but sounding rather as though he was talking about a quarterback aiming for the end zone.
As things are turning out, his metaphor may be quite apt. With the Wall Street bonus-earning, mansion-buying client base sharply reduced at this point, Mr. Needle and other developers say they are trying to pivot, and make direct pitches to another elite group less affected by recessionary times: professional athletes.
“This area always depended so much on Wall Street, hedge fund money and to an extent ‘big pharma’ execs,” said Mr. Needle, whose Westfield-based company is called Needle Point Homes. “But the market has changed so much in the last year, and the buyer stream is sort of down to a trickle.”
His broker, Arlene Gonnella, a top-performing agent at Weichert Realtors for the last six years, said she recently “refocused” her marketing of the most lavish homes in the Short Hills area, where she is based, on sports agents and recruiters who might refer players looking to relocate.
…
“There are actually a lot of pro athletes out there looking for homes right now,” said Ms. Gonnella, who noted that she had shown the Jets linebacker Bart Scott and his wife, Darnesha, several houses in Short Hills last summer, after Mr. Scott was wooed to the Jets by Rex Ryan, the coach, who lives in Summit.
Frist!
I hear Shawn Kemp and Travis Henry are interested in Brigadoon.
frist!
I want to buy a 1-BR condo full of Chinese drywall and donate it to the Red Bulls.
From Bloomberg:
FDIC Failed to Limit Commercial Real-Estate Loans, Reports Show
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. failed to enforce its own guidelines to rein in excessive commercial real estate lending by at least 20 banks that later collapsed, reports by the agency’s watchdog show.
The FDIC’s Office of Inspector General analyzed 23 lenders taken over by regulators from August 2008 to March and found that for 20, the agency’s examiners didn’t identify the issue early enough or should have taken stronger supervisory action after recognizing the banks had dangerously high levels of the loans before they failed. The findings are in separate reports posted this year on the inspector general’s Web site.
“It’s often we’ll see in our reports that the FDIC detected problems in the bank in a timely fashion, but in some cases forceful corrective action wasn’t required by the FDIC to be taken quickly enough,” Jon Rymer, the FDIC’s inspector general, said in a telephone interview.
The failure to follow up on the 2006 recommendation, that banks avoid letting commercial real-estate holdings exceed 300 percent of capital, has emerged as FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair steps up her effort to expand the agency’s role in regulating the financial-services industry.
Good times:
“While it appears that Barclays will soon have to part with $5 billion (or more) to satisfy the increasingly loud chorus of people who claim the bank managed to literally steal Lehman’s assets in those torrid days after the Lehman collapse, we use this opportunity to pore through a goldmine of just unsealed documentation to present some rare glimpses into the Federal Reserve’s garbage-laden balance sheet.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/rare-glimpse-feds-discount-window-courtesy-brewing-lehman-barclays-scandal
Same article:
“Coming full circle, the major question we have is what, if any, considerations did the Fed use when determining how much of Lehman’s collateral pool it would be willing to onboard in the discount window. And if back then it was willing to accept securities of bankrupt companies as value pledges to US taxpayers, why would one assume that anything has changed? The next time there is a “risk-flaring” event (and with bankrupt companies presumably still on the Fed’s balance sheet, it is merely a matter of time), how much more leeway will be given to toxic assets? Will the Fed now allow for a 10% haircut instead of 20%? Or how about 5%? Or maybe it will actually say the securities deserve a premium, since all that money Bernanke is printing has to go somewhere. We hope that the over 300 members of Congress who already support Ron Paul’s “Audit the Fed” Initiative consider the implications of what the Lehman fiasco has taught us, and how this unique look into the Fed’s balance sheet should be a very critical reminder of just how much risk the Fed is willing to take on with taxpayer capital when bailing out a financial system that, absent ongoing accounting gimmickry and endless Reserve Banking System subsidies, is still rotten to its core.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/Tri-party%20colalterla.jpg
From Mish:
Where The Hell Is The Outrage?
The number of articles and opinions on Goldman Sachs earnings, bonuses, and influence pedaling over the past several days is quite stunning.
Many have pointed out the problems; few have expressed outrage over what is happening in general, not just at Goldman Sachs. Let’s take a look.
My take is at the end.
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/10/where-hell-is-outrage.html
Clot to be honest I am not sure I WANT to know what’s on the Fed’s balance sheet:)
Apparently there’s a shadow inventory beyond the shadow inventory:
“Real Estate Collapse Entering New Phase: Banks Refusing to Repossess Abandoned Homes, or Even File Foreclosures”
http://cryptogon.com/?p=11754
Professional athletes are our only hope now. We need pro stimulus.
The fact that a realtor mentioned this is amazing. Europeans, check. Wall street check, wealthy immigrants check.
Hey boss who’s next on our talking points? Pro athletes, no problem.
Gave me a good laugh for a Monday- thanks Grim.
HE (8)-
I always posited that it was deposit bottles and handwritten IOU notes. Sadly, I was wrong. Deposit bottles and IOU notes are worth more than what’s really there.
Clot,
Unless we can force the junk back onto the institutions that dumped it there I am not sure I want to know.
The Gator family had a very disappointing house hunting weekend. We went to look at a 4BR 1 1/2BA colonial in the south end of Glen Ridge. The ‘1/2 bath’ turned out to be a closet with a toilet and no sink in the basement. The 2nd floor only had 2 bedrooms because the 3rd bedroom had the wall opened to convert it into a mastet bedroom sitting room. Kitchen and bathroom done on the cheap (and not well) and the basement was clearly repainted recently due to water issues… their lame attempt at diverting the water from the house only created huge puddles in the yard. Also the house smelled of a unique combination of dog and paint.
Asking price $490k. Taxes over 11k. Location just a few blocks from the East Orange border.
We’ll pass, thank you very much.
One neighbor sold his townhome few weeks ago. Prices firmly back to 2004 level. In fact the buyer probably got 2003 price based on tax credit and some home repairs.
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/10/17/harvard_loses_18b_in_cash_placed_in_high_risk_investments/
I think Bi works for Harvard University. I think the combination of State and federal Bailout of 5 billion is in order here.
After looking at some more property recently and finding both asking prices and final prices of comps too high, we again conclude that we don’t care what any other fool pays for any given property. There are some nice places that we would be happy to purchase at, what e conclude, is a rational price; however, we will not spend “what it takes” to buy them.
Like going to a restaurant, some people find the meal wonderful and worth the price and others find okay but not worth the fee. With RE, we are currently in the latter camp.
Sure OK
NY Rangers - live in westchester and in the city 22 roster positions. Which most only make 1mil
NJ Devils same number same salaries all live in NJ
NJ nets 12 roster positions soon to relocate to Brooklyn
NY Jets 45 roster positions most making league minimum central NJ. Good number rent
NY Giants 45 roster positions same salary as jets Split between westchester and northern Nj suburbs same renting problem.
NY Knicks 12 roster players all live in the City
Yankees 25 roster players NYC and Westchester
Mets 25 roster players NYC and Long Island
Sure pro player salries will save us all, when I was a landscaper back in the early nineties cut Hostetler and Simm’s yards. They said most players on the Giants returned to their home states after the season was over.
sure it is the same for most pro sports.
Just my own opinion based on the area tax structure
Shore - Stu has recently been lamenting the ‘one sucker’ problem in our local real estate market. We have seen a few properties which we might have considered at lower price points. Each time we thought we’d let the property sit for a few weeks and then make a reasonable offer. Each time the property has gone under contract. In a few weeks we will see what each property went for.
BTW that FSBO that we looked at is still sitting. They’ve dropped the price a whopping 6% and no takers yet. They haven’t adjusted the price in over a month now. And still paying Glen Ridge taxes on a vacant house.
The 150 + pro athletes and coaches who pull in 2 million plus a year will easily make up for all the high end lost jobs in finance and pharma in the tri state area. / off sarcasm
What’s next, open some more clubs and claim the pole dancers and bar tenders will save us all?
http://healdsburgbubble.blogspot.com/2009/10/pushy-real-estate-agent.html
Gator - Was your agent anything like this? I think he is saying, “Did I ask you?”
What a fool’s errand those realtors are embarking on.
The athlete’s discussion fails to take into account the fact that athletes move frequently, are subject to taxation in multiple jurisdictions (like every city that they play in, even if visiting), and earn high salaries over a short time frame, which means that they pay a far greater tax rate than the rest of the wealthy. Most don’t have kids or have very young kids, so schools and home stability are not priorities.
The model most follow is to reside in a low or no income tax state, and to rent near their home field during the year. This limits their exposure to state taxation, especially in places like Jersey or NY. If an athlete has a family, and would therefore want a house, then it makes sense to follow this model since the family never has to move, even if the breadwinner is relocated to multiple cities over his career.
So why would any professional athlete want to buy a house here? The Jersey charm?
Cindy: LOL
NYT endorses Corzine. Well,looks like
another 4 for jonny
[20] safe
pole dancers and bartenders make a lot of money off the books. I suspect it isn’t reflected in any W-2 or 1099.
If they are smart, they will not use it to buy homes in brigadoon as that will invite a proctological exam from the nice folks with the title of “examiner.”
[24] freedy
And that’s news??? The only way NYT would endorse Christie is if Corzine was caught mugging little old ladies for their bank withdrawals, AND m0lesting children and farm animals.
Booyaaa…….fcuk ‘em!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=apNewkPGwwrE
21.Cindy says:
October 19, 2009 at 8:58 am
Gator - Was your agent anything like this? I think he is saying, “Did I ask you?”
Where did you get footage of Chip?
22 Com,
So why would any professional athlete want to buy a house here?
because realtors would tell them that they are throwing money away on rent. What kinda big daddy pimp would you be if news leeks out that you don’t actually own the house but you’re paying rent.
Do you even wonder why most athelets go broke. They’re like 2006-07 RE flippers!
My cousin just sold her townhouse in Cranford for 15%+ gain from their ‘05 purchase price. Not bad at all.
from the last thread
[122] shore
“evil New Englander”
No such thing. Remember, where I am from or where I have lived until now, the prefix “Jersey” isn’t a compliment.
[127] PGC
If, you mean, I really don’t feel like wasting grim’s bandwidth on someone that I don’t think I can ever convince, and who has their own pair of ideological blinders on, then yes, I am taking my ball and going home.
Or rather, devoting my powers of persuasion to paying clients and (hopefully) getting them the results that I don’t expect to get from you.
When there is no objective truth, and both sides are permitted to define what truth is, then there is no debate. As for who is smarter, you for staying on the field, or me for leaving it, I will leave that up to the assembled.
And in keeping with the foregoing, I will leave you the last word on the subject.
[29] make
No, I don’t wonder. I don’t wonder at all. They are 20X years old, have a boatload of bonus money, and a posse (or a golddigging wife) to tell them that they need to have the hottest crib or else.
I understand that the vets often try to tell them different, but you know what they say about free advice.
28 - Chicago - Just needed a laugh…
Funny, I think Clot would be more like:
“Here’s the place - It’s a fair price - if you want it fine…I’ll write it up…If not, see ya.”
#30 Good for your cousin, too bad for the buyer. 15% over 05 price on a townhouse?
That buyer could never live there for the next 20 years, and not make a dime.
Cindy (33)-
You are much closer to my actual technique. Funny, many potential buyers and sellers call my sub-franchisor and complain about my “service” over the past year or so. Too bad those dopes don’t understand that if I’m bearing all the insane risk of owning a RE company in this environment, I can say whatever the f&*^ I want.
I’m in the sell-your-house business, not the f-ing nibble-your-cheese-log racket.
#10 and #20 - We have created a system where the only way housing can be saved is to have every cop and teacher overextend themselves and buy houses in NJ since they’re the only people with the pensions to ensure their future income and inflation hedges. Oh wait, they all move to Florida and NC/SC after serving their minimum time……
As for the athletes, a bunch of them also rent in Lyndhurst (closest place to Meadowlands). Some of them actually aren’t dumb enough to buy.
speaking of athletes… football announcer jim nantz is getting a divorce from his wife of 26 years, and he’s dating a 29year old.
nantz makes 7 million a year
http://tiny.cc/Rc4gi
If you get a state pension and leave for delaware/Fla other low tax state, is there a way for NJ to recoup state income tax on that pension.
I imagine not. If I were retired and collecting a pension, I would retire out of state as well, however as I won’t be is there a way to get some of the payout back into state coffers?
Stan - The state gets 0. And you should go to the APP’s Data Universe area and look up info on NJ Retirees. This database lists the state of residence for everyone currently collecting a pension. Plenty of DE, PA, FL, and NC to be found.
Don’t ask the likes of Bobby Abreu to buy a $5mm mansion, he might only be able to buy a $2mm one now. He had his paycheck cut from $16mm to $5mm this year.
#34- 3B, very good for my cousin. The place was on the market for maybe a month. They got 2 offers on Saturday. The buyer is some woman from Chicago who is going to be working in morristown now. She’s pretty qualified buyer, looking to put about $250k down on the place. Wants to close in exactly a month. I was very surprised when I heard all this.
Look what’s unfolding in Boston. Luxury condos for sale. Kind of interesting. Seems like developers were asking at least $1k/sqft. Only got $670 sq/ft. We will be seeing similar pain in this region where luxury condos were built, especially Hobroken, JC and NYC.
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/real_estate/view.bg?articleid=1205508&srvc=rss#
I think the Govt should pull the auditors from the Tarp people and find out how Sanchez can get paid %50 million and still throw five interceptions.
Nothing better than when Jets fans start to abandon ship…
haha after 3 games all the talk was about if he was better than namath and how the jets will be 5-1 after 6 games and sanchez is playing like ryan/flacco. that came crashing down real quick as he now looks like kerry collins, or worse.
I give him credit though for still trying to rally the crowd when the Jets were trying to stop the Bills in the 4Q. Unfortunately defense folded. If Jenkins is out, than the Jets have a big hole to fill their, no pun intended.
Sanchez looks better than Eli did at the middle of Eli’s 2nd year pro. Have patience Jets fans. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Crash anniversary
Commentary: 1987’s Black Monday occurred 22 years ago today
MarketWatch
MARKETWATCH — 10:01 AM ET 10/19/09
ANNANDALE, Va. (MarketWatch) — Investors younger than their early 40s, and who therefore were not yet out of college 22 years ago, will probably wonder why many old timers are making such a big deal out of the anniversary of the stock-market crash that occurred on this day in 1987 — which also happened to be a Monday.
In addition, investors who focus on the number of Dow points lost that day — 508 — in contrast to the decline in terms of percent, will also wonder what the big deal is all about. After all, in last year’s financial meltdown, there were a couple of days in which the Dow lost a lot more than “just” 508 points.
In fact, the Dow’s drop on 1987’s “Black Monday” was the biggest single-day percentage drop in U.S. stock market history — nearly 23%, in fact. An equivalent percentage drop at today’s loftier market levels would translate into a loss in one trading session of nearly 2,300 Dow points.
No wonder it was so traumatic, and why those who were active in the market that day still remember it so vividly.
Commemorating the 1987 Crash’s anniversary is important not just to help market veterans face their trauma, however. It also contains valuable lessons for us as we nurse our still-fresh wounds from the recent financial meltdown.
Perhaps one of the more valuable lessons is that time does heal all wounds.
There will come a time, how many years into the future we don’t yet know, when memories of the 2007-2009 bear market will be as distant and forgotten as is the case today for memories of the 1987 crash.
This stubhub ad tells all you need to know about how bad a deal expensive PSL seat are for the JETS, who lead the league in fair weather fans. We are not that bad a team, we get one chilly day and a few losses and it is only mid October and fans are selling Jets tickets for $265 dollar UNDER FACE VALUE!!!!
Jacksonville Jaguars at New York Jets Tickets
Sun, Nov 15, 2009 at 1:00 PM (EST) at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ
Section:Front Row Club 134Row:2Price:$159.99 eachQuantity: 24
Seller comments: CLUB 2nd Row On Field (Row Z) Face Value is $425 Per Ticket
Sports tickets will be one of the first luxury items to go. Except for the Yankees,most teams have their attendance way down.
Just poking my neck out to show I’m still alive…
We had the tax assessor visit our house. He looked around and said he will do the calculations and let us know in a month or so. Will update.
S
John says:
October 19, 2009 at 10:40 am
I think the Govt should pull the auditors from the Tarp people and find out how Sanchez can get paid %50 million and still throw five interceptions.
from yesterday…
chicagofinance says:
October 18, 2009 at 10:10 pm
BTW - it appears that Sanchez got a crash course in Meadowlands winter conditions. Once again Wrecks Ryan looked like a rookie coach….stinks…
He was one Dirty Sanchez yesterday, I could almost smell the crap on his finger.
RE: “15%+ gain from their ‘05 purchase price”
Does that “gain” account for realtor fees, mortgage interest, maintenance, transaction costs, and opportunity costs?
Most aren’t brave enough to run the ACTUAL numbers concerning their “gains” or losses.
Two of those interceptions weren’t his fault, the other four were plain awful.
#31 Got Ball?
Well if you’re giving me the last word, I’ll take it. I stand by the comments I made and will let others be the judge of them.
http://njrereport.com/index.php/2009/10/16/ponzi-jr-facing-10-years/#comment-333405
I tried to engage you in a debate and got an attack on my education standards and an accusation that I get my beliefs and ideals from MSNBC.
So yes, I think you are right, I must be talking at you, because I’m not getting a rational argument in response. I can only conclude you are either uncomfortable, by the argument or feel threatened by it. By threatened, I mean like the bully facing someone they thought they could roll over, but finds themselves facing them toe to toe.
I will stay on the field, because I am always open to discussion and ready to debate my position. I do not think there are many arguments that are pure black or white, I think there is always a spectrum of gray. If you make a good enough argument, I will concede your point and adjust my position along the line accordingly.
If I am judged dumb, by not shutting the door on reasoned discourse then so be it.
#44 Clot
Life’s looking good on the “Toon Submarine”. You might even resurface next year.
Stu (47)-
Not exactly an oxymoron, but you get the idea:
“Have patience Jets fans.”
PGC (57)-
Better be with a new owner, or we’ll be relegated right back to the Championship.
BTW, those yellow shirts have to go.
Sastry,
The moderate wing of the Republican Party will welcome you into the fold once you get an outrageous bill.
Just a punishing game to go see in person. I had great seats in 311 on the 45 yard line but I kept getting forced to watch interceptions and penalties…..
What was Tanenbaum thinking when he thought a Mexican guy can play Football in the cold winter day at Meadowlands. The only thing synonymous with cold and footbal in Mexico is Coronas and Soccer. Unless they gonna put a roof on the next stadium Sanchez is a bust. he’s Dad is a fireman and NOT Ice fisherman for a reason.
Poor Woody. He really wants to win one.
John,
It seems like you sold your tickets at the top.
54 - No it doesn’t include all those things. It wasn’t meant to show it as an investment gain, cause thats not what the purchase was meant to be. I’m sure factoring all those things, there was no net gain. But again, its a home not an investment. Just anecdote to show that not all houses purchased in 04-07 are underwater and selling for less than they were purchased for.
Shore, is there a moderate wing of the republican party left? Looks like the moderates are hiding to see how this will play out. Anyway, when and if Corzine wins, the moderates will probably get a hint.
That said, like a good democrat, I will support higher taxes (while trying to lower mine).
S
“Each time we thought we’d let the property sit for a few weeks and then make a reasonable offer. Each time the property has gone under contract. ”
Ditto. My attitude is, “Let them have them.” I woud no more pay $50,000 for a Chevey just because some other knucklehead will. Let folks continue to overpay, and streth out the pain, then on the next leg down, perhaps it will be time for the prudent to jump in; that is, if the USG does not scre-w us by bailing out the imprudent.
Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) — In its 190-year history, Jefferson County, Alabama, has endured a cholera epidemic, a pounding in the Civil War, gunslingers, labor riots and terrorism by the Ku Klux Klan. Now this namesake of Thomas Jefferson, anchored by Birmingham, is staring at what one local politician calls financial “Armageddon.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601206&sid=a6QpSf.s4NaA
Above is nothing when you have to face a JP Morgan banker. If a local gov’t guy can gamble a few billion then you know a billion is not what it used to be. Got Shiny?
NJC,
When you acted as your own gernral contractor, how did you benchmark subcontractor costs and how did you line-up subs?
“I will support higher taxes (while trying to lower mine).”
Ahh, Sastry, I see you are living the liberal ideal.
In the meantime, Nom and I will go about trying to strip away unnecessary (even if worthwhile) government spending and seek a reduction in everyones’ tax rates. That is because we are “self-centered” conservatives.
Can someone please give me the history for the following two properties.
1. 91 La Rue Lane, E. Brunswick, 08816
2. 43 Treat Lane, E. Brunswick, 08816
Thanks.
Nom,
Do you have any idea how much income is earned in this country every year for natural persons and for corporate persons?
RE: “15%+ gain from their ‘05 purchase price”
Does that “gain” account for realtor fees, mortgage interest, maintenance, transaction costs, and opportunity costs?
Most aren’t brave enough to run the ACTUAL numbers concerning their “gains” or losses.
Does the gain include the 8,000 dollar subsidy from the federal government. You do realize that estimates put the cost per subsidy at 40,000$ per home sold and that it will eventually be realized by taxpayers themselves.
Sastry,
Good luck. I heard from a realtor that he had a few buyers get their assessment reduced after buying below assessment. I think the problem with Green Brook is that the folks South of Rt 22 are milking everyone up the hill. Thank goodness a seller walked away from an offer we made, for a house that would have had a $24k/yr tax bill. Other than the taxes, the town seemed nice though.
Looks like I’ll instead be moving into a house in Warren, with $8K less in taxes to pay each yr, but same high school.
shore (68)-
The only thing that gets gubmint off our backs comes out the business end of an AK.
Yes Sanchez stunk yesterday, and he may end up having as much trouble in cold and windy weather as Eli (had no idea he was Mexican too) but consider:
Which QB’s had these first year stats?
2001 - 18 TD’s, 12 Ints, 63% comp.
1998 - 26 TD’s, 28 Ints, 57% comp.
1966 - 19 TD’s 27 Ints., 49% comp.
71 - Neither party is a first time home buyer, so that doesn’t apply.
Schump,
I am still working hrough the ballot box, but understnd the frustration. The schmucks we have put in charge of managing nearly every level of government have so lost sight of their purpose, whom they serve, and the greater good that they have bollixed up both the machinery of government and our finances.
We would do well to have many of them disappear; although, I prefer they resign, not run again, or get voted out of office.
Of course there are moderate Republicans.
Every time you hear a crazy nutjob (usually with a Southern accent) denounce someone as a RINO, take a close look at the target. He/she is likely a moderate Republican.
The moderate wing of the Republican Party
Oxymoron Monday?
Sync,
I was speaking with a Republican Senator one day, from a western state, with the long drawn out accent to match, and he said, “There is nothing in the middle of the road except yellow lines and dead animals.”
It seems to sum up the state of contemporary DC politics pretty well.
Hilarious news out of Nevada. The Republican Party has come in at #4 in new voter registrations!
Some outfit called the Independent American Party is attracting all the true wingnuttia leaving….. no one …. for the GOP. What a shame.
Schab,
Okay, wing is no longer accurate, perhaps. But at least we are a finger, or at least a wart.
Funny they are so dismissive of us in the middle except during election years when suddenly our opinions matter.
There we go, Satsty, come join the moderate wart of the Republican Party, before they freeze us off.
Not all at top, I made mistake of thinking they would be bad from get go and sold some pre-season. However, somebody in New Jersey paid me $990 for my two front row seats to the Dolphins game on Nov 1st. Enjoy them baby. Johnny boy will be on his warm living room floor rolling in your crisp $100 dollar bills.
I was in the front row yesterday and sometimes watching a train wreck is better from a distance. make money says:
John,
It seems like you sold your tickets at the top.
shore (76)-
I’m a patient guy. You’ll eventually come around to my way of thinking.
This whole mess is too far gone.
After yesterday’s fiasco, why don’t we comp Sanchez to Dave Brown rather than Eli?
Hands on buzzers, kids:
“Is JPMorgan in urgent need of gold replenishment? If one reads between the lines of today’s surprising announcement out of the CME, that the Chicago exchange will allow the use of gold as collateral for margin requirements (for up to $200 million), with the actual physical gold to be stored at JPM’s bank in London, that is one possible explanation.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/cme-allow-gold-margin-requirement-collateral
A. West…
“Looks like I’ll instead be moving into a house in Warren, with $8K less in taxes to pay each yr, but same high school.”
And probably a better middle school too…
We are assessed at 150% purchase price, and we are hoping it will get to below 125% of purchase price [saves a couple of grand a year]. We are paying the second highest property tax on our street (and ours is probably very much in the lower half in terms of actual value). They are not looking at the purchase price since it was an REO property.
S
E. Manning 2004 (first seven starts):
48.7% comp., 6 TD’s, 9 Ints
Just saying
Shore 60 - I thought you were the entire moderate wing of the Republican party.
Speaking of the moderate wing of the Republican Party, here’s a great new I-Phone app to help you identify the perfect Republican for any of your social conservative needs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_IAN081P8I
A. West,
If you move to Warren I hope you like giant crickets and spiders and driving at least 20 minutes to find good Chinese food. There’s a decent Thai place in a little shopping complex on Mountain Blvd.
“The moderate wing of the Republican Party…”
About as prevalent as Sasquatch.
safeashouses warren also has awesome mexican, jose cantina or something.
and chimney rock is right next door.. awesome pizza.
not the best place for good indian or chinese though. for good indian one must drive down the hill into middlesex county. there used to be a good indian place right by lyons train station but it closed.
Gator,
Sometimes I feel like it is headed that way, where we could have our own cusus in a telephone booth, remember those things?
Also, persian grill in basking ridge, short drive from anywhere in warren. Great food.
“cusus in a telephone booth, remember those things?”
Want to feel old? I was partying with some younger college folk when I was in Vegas. They never even heard of the drinking game ‘quarters’. I’m not even 40 and I feel friggin’ ancient.
Gator,
An application whose time has come.
Stu #97, time to move to Florida.
#94 sync,
That Mexican place is good. There’s a another branch/location of it in New Providence.
[70] shore guy
No. I suppose that can be gleaned. IRS keeps stats, but I would not know where to look right now.
[93] meter
Oh, there are a lot of us out there, but we are often too busy working to be doing things like blogging or screaming at each other at town hall meetings.
After all, someone has to pay for the bailouts, right?
As for this Independent American Party, hopefully they do draw off the wingnuts, but still vote republican.
My question re: Nevada is this: If the dems were first, GOP 4th, and this independent america party 2 or 3, what was the other registration that beat out GOP? I have to think independent (unaffiliated) since the socia1ists are likely not prevalent in Nevada. Cali and NJ maybe, but not Nevada.
97:
WTF!! Now I know we are in trouble. If we cannot maintain a common culture, then we are doomed.
The government should do something about this. I propose a new program: No Drunk Left Behind. We will teach the younger generation “quarters” and make sure that they appreciate this american tradition. Or at least till they puke on their shoes or pass out.
Que the John story.
Is it too much for me to want a “Christmas with the Ceaucescus”-type event before I die?
Shore-
When I built in 1996-97. Subs were desperatley looking for work, much like today. The trades heard about a house going up and would contact me. I would give at least three subs copies of the plans and they would give me their estimate. I’d pick the one who I had seen the best work/got the best referrals and then showed him my lowest estimate and they always matched it. The important thing to make sure their estimate EXACTLY matches the plans. Some would give an estimate based on lower quality materials than were specified on the plans.
Luckily I teamed up with a contractor who was renovating on the next block and we started bidding both our jobs together so we were getting a bit of a volume discount.
I was friends with the owners of the local lumber yard, Builder’s General, so I was able to open a general contractor’s account. I bought all the materials myself as far as framing lumber, sheathing, windows, interior and exterior trim, Spanish roof tiles, fixtures, appliances, etc. (Stu you’d appreciate that I put everything on reward credit cards which I paid off every month in full. I haven’t paid for an airline flight since then!)
It’s a big, time consuming job to line up all the subs and to try and keep them on schedule, but I saved boatloads of money doing it.
I’m pretty sure I’m one of the first people on earth to ever beer bong.
I turn 50 Xmas Day.
comrade 102, yes. you are correct.
Schumpeter –> http://keggersofyore.com/
[68] shore guy
Maybe as conservatives we have it wrong. Instead of trying to cut spending and lower everyone’s taxes, we should be trying to raise the other guy’s (Lord knows, the last administration did nothing about cutting spending).
That is done in business more frequently that you might imagine.
Sin taxes, lotteries, user fees, sales taxes all operate as regressive taxes. On the national level, we ought to continue the same and I, for one, will support a VAT if it means a reduction in income tax rates.
Another improvement would be to find a way to promote fiscal measures that indirectly hamstring spending that will find its way to traditional democratic constitutencies or democratic strongholds. For example, end earmarks, and any spending that is not applicable to a direct federal function unless it benefits a large segment of the population or geography. More targetted earmarks and welfare type spending operates to benefit democrats whereas direct federal spending (e.g., defense budget) benefits GOP states and constituencies.
Thus, rather than trying to starve the beast in general, starve their beast, not your own. After all, it is what the left has been trying to do for years, and is now doing.
quarters! I haven’t thought of that in years. After a sufficient number of beers it would turn into strip quarters.
Ahh, college.
Rut roh:
By Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer
On 1:06 pm EDT, Monday October 19, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is unveiling a new program to provide support to state and local housing agencies to provide help to thousands of home buyers and renters.
The administration said the new program would help to support low mortgage rates and expand resources for low and middle income borrowers who want to buy or rent a home.
The program will feature two parts — a new bond purchase program to support new lending by housing finance agencies and a temporary credit and liquidity program to improve access by housing agencies to credit sources for their existing bonds.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091019/us_time/08599193093200
Look at Cornyn’s comment at the end. He is supposed to be a fiscal conservative.
I think DC is about ready to take Huey Long literally and make everyone a millionaire by cutting everyone a check. What could be better, right?
sean (108)-
Galileo = master of scientific discovery
Schumpeter = there at the invention of beer bong
From George Will:
“In August our ubiquitous president became the nation’s elevator music, always out and about, heard but not really listened to, like audible wallpaper. And now, as Congress returns to resume wrestling with health care reform, we shall see if he continues his August project of proving that the idea of an Ivy League Huey Long is not oxymoronic.
Barack Obama in August became a Huey for today, a rabble rouser with a better tailor….”
snip
http://www.newsweek.com/id/214268
Every man a king!
Euro /$1US 1.50 +0.0059
got Shiny?
“The Obama administration is unveiling a new program to provide support to state and local housing agencies to provide help to thousands of home buyers and renters.”
Super! Each of the Little Shores earn less than $50,000/year, so they should qualify. So what if we need to co-sign each of their mortgages. Heck, by the time they get out of college, they could own their homes outright.
“Every man a king!”
You need to finish the thought:
Every man a king! Every man a king! For you can be a _______.
Insert the correct word and get stimulus clot from Nom via the USG.
Schumpeter says:
October 19, 2009 at 1:27 pm
I’m pretty sure I’m one of the first people on earth to ever beer bong.
I turn 50 Xmas Day.
strumpet is the messiah?
the end is nigh….
For those market boosters who are prattling on about the possibility of a “jobless recovery,” I offer an invitation to join me for a breakfast of “fat-free bacon,” “eggless omelets,” and “no-carb bread.” As unappetizing as such a meal may sound, it would nevertheless offer more substance than the oxymoronic concept of an economic resurgence without job creation.
Shore,
It’s becoming silly not to jump on this free ride for everyone train.
Note the subtle change….
Every man a queen!
Schumpeter says:
October 19, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Every man a king!
Well, time to go make money to pay for people who did not work hard at school, have not gained decent work skills and habits, but who deserve my money more than I, or, for that matter, my children.
I’m just glad be beat the Commies, I could never stomach the thought of soc-ial-ism on these shores. At least we are too smart to allow THAT to happen here.
NJCoast (105):
I am impressed.
Albani, if Stump was meassiah we would all be in Guantanamo. I’m not talking about vacation.
“Every man a queen!”
It reminds me of somethng I saw in Washington Square on Sunday.
Stu,
It is one hell of a house too. I recomend hiring her if you build.
Shore #123, good. Please work extra hard this week, I need a new car.
#118 “millionaire.”
Sync,
Not just any car. C’mon, you have a RIGHT ro a luxury car man. Don’t sell yourself short, demand your rights. Heck, just stop by and I can hand you my keys, and save the USG the trouble.
It is so bloody unfair to require people to achieve success. How will that make the less successful feel? Unless everyone has equal happiness and equal wealth how can any of us live with ourselves. Those things like hard work, etc, they just get in the way of equality. Likewise, staying in school, studying, etc., they just get in the way of equality regardless of merit, and e can’t have THAT.
Weekend house hunting resulted in looking up synonyms for the word dejected.
With all the government intervention and big bonus money lined up for the bankers who didn’t get cut over the past 12 months, is there really any point in looking for a home in Brigadoon if you earn at the low end of the highest tax bracket?
Saw one place that was a real Dorian Gray. Best curb appeal on the whole block. Inside, you could spend hours tracing the cracks in the plaster from the ground floor on up and all around the house. The nails holding the son’s bedroom door up fell out so they just leaned the door (with nails exposed) against a wall. One bedroom had a sink it it. No toilet, not a suite, just a bedroom with a sink. The master bedroom was in the attic. I guess I have to give them credit for having enough confidence to not even bother staging the house. At a price point well over $700k, I should have asked if the undergarments on the bed came with the place.
If all you wanted to do was stand across the street and admire your home, or sit on your nice front porch and drink lemonade, you are golden. ’spensive glass of lemonade though.
Nom, the funny thing about the liberals, they seem to want equality in everything EXCEPT tax rates — THAT needs to be different.
“Oh, there are a lot of us out there, but we are often too busy working to be doing things like blogging or screaming at each other at town hall meetings.”
Yeah, you and Shore Guy - moderate Republicans I take it? - sure do work. In between your several hundred blog posts each day.
Must be tough, Silver Spoon.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Monday called for the United States to whittle down its record-high budget deficits and for countries like China to get their consumers to spend more, moves that would help combat skewed global trade and investment flows that contributed to the financial crisis.
Bernanke’s remarks to a Fed conference in Santa Barbara, Calif., comes just days after the federal government on Friday reported a $1.42 trillion deficit for 2009 budget year that ended Sept. 30. The previous year’s deficit was $459 billion.
It’s not our fault that we spend, it’s those asians that save too much.
Where were these “moderate Republicans” (let’s just call them “unicorns”, e.g. “things of fancy,” shall we?) during 8 years of Bush, I wonder?
I get it: if we break the national budget over senseless invasions and corporate welfare, it’s ok. If we break the national budget over social programs, then it’s outrage time.
If you don’t think Republicans and Democrats in today’s USA are two sides of the same coin, you’re being played. Obama = Bush 2.0.
Shore #130,
if you say so. but i don’t have the time to stop by to pick up those keys, i have to exhaust my stamina points on mafia wars so i can move to the next level. could you just mail them to me?
danke.
RE: “its a home not an investment”
Those who write PITI checks in the thousands each month, and believe they’re not investing (or possibly harming) in their financial future, are fooling themselves.
A home is not an “investment” only in the sense that realtors tell people so, in the hopes that buyers ignore the financial implication of the largest investment of their life.
Safeashouses,
I only have to walk into my dining room to get good Chinese food - I have a mother-and-father-in-law from China staying with us to take care of that. It’s also the reason we wanted a bigger house. We only go to Chinese restaurants for special occasions anyway. There’s a Hunan place in Bridgewater, “Fortune Cookies,” that’s authentic and ok if you don’t mind the inevitable indigestion from their peppers, and China Chalet in Florham park is only about 30 minutes away.
I’ll try out the local Thai place when I get there, we also like Thai Thai in Gillette (or is it Sterling) which wouldn’t be too far away.
I don’t like spiders, but hear crickets are ok with spicy sauce.
[133] meter
The tough part is having leeches sucking on my wallet and telling me its their right.
At this point, I thinking you fall into the leech camp. Am I right?
“I’m” , even
Sync,
THERE is an idaa, delivery of luxury vehicles to the lower 90% of earners. I wonder if I can get a government contract for that?
You, sir, are wealthy. You do it for free.
“Where were these moderate Republicans (lets just call them unicorns, e.g. things of fancy, shall we?) during 8 years of Bush, I wonder?”
Anyone who has been here awhile knows that I detest G.W. Bush and feel his administration was the greatest threat to liberty that this nation has faced in a very long time. Until B.O. came along, Bush was also the greatest threat to our long-term fiscal viability.
Although I believe it was both rightand just to invade Afghanistan, I believe that Bush totally mismanaged that war and is responsible for thousands of dead and injured who would have avoided harm had Bush even achieved a grade of C- running that war. I also believe that invading Iraq was a monumental mistake, and said so in public before we did it.
I used my Republican connections to make calls to White House policy makers and to lawmakers to argue against Bush Administration policies throughout the last 6 or so years of the Bush Administration.
I have also had Bush &dministration officials attack me by going after certain sources of revenue and attempting to cut off access ro certain government facilities and personnel necessary for me to conduct certain business activities.
Whay did I do and what did I say? A heck of a lot more than most people.
Seneca,
Instead of buying in Westfield, just get a house in a nice neighborhood in Scotch Plains. 5 minute drive from downtown Westfield shopping, same train line, probably lower taxes, schools are good albeit one notch down from Westfield’s.
Professional athletes saving the housing market!? Come on, the recession is officially over. We don’t need these guys.
How Moody’s sold its ratings — and sold out investors
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/v-print/story/77244.html
This from Bruce Barlett are absolute pearls of wisdom:
“[interviewer]: What’s the better way?
[Barlett]: A value-added tax. . . . It’s a consumption tax that has very little negative effect on incentives to work and save, meaning that you can raise a lot of revenue at relatively low economic cost. But conservatives think if we make it too easy for the government to raise revenue, then they’ll raise too much, and the next thing you know we’ll be like Europe.
As Larry Summers . . . once put it, we don’t have a VAT because liberals think it’s regressive and conservatives think it’s a money machine. We’ll get a VAT when liberals figure out it’s a money machine and conservatives figure out it’s regressive.
[interviewer]: Obama is more likely to want to tax the incomes of the rich.
[Bartlett]: The mistake of the left is to assume you can raise rates on the rich and they won’t react. They’ll put more effort into tax avoidance and evasion. That won’t do anyone any good except tax lawyers. . . . ”
BOOYA!
I made my brother refinance and buy Silver a few months ago.Told him that if I was wrong I would backstop his losses. He’s sitting on 500K worth of Silver.Yesterday family dinner I said that my insurance is expired and now he’s on his own. His wife panicked and my wife was upset with me for giving him a guarantee. He just called me to tell me he’s NOT selling.
Never been so proud of my big brother. He told his wife to STFU.
97: That’s ’cause the Playstation 3 version doesn’t translate well.
#138 A. West
I don’t like spiders, but hear crickets are ok with spicy sauce.
I’ve heard they are both tasty dipped in chocolate.
You have your in-laws staying with you? My MIL spent 10 months with us and drove me nuts.
A.West says:
October 19, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Safeashouses,
I only have to walk into my dining room to get good Chinese food - I have a mother-and-father-in-law from China staying with us to take care of that. It’s also the reason we wanted a bigger house. We only go to Chinese restaurants for special occasions anyway. There’s a Hunan place in Bridgewater, “Fortune Cookies,” that’s authentic and ok if you don’t mind the inevitable indigestion from their peppers, and China Chalet in Florham park is only about 30 minutes away.
I’ll try out the local Thai place when I get there, we also like Thai Thai in Gillette (or is it Sterling) which wouldn’t be too far away.
I don’t like spiders, but hear crickets are ok with spicy sauce.
West: then there is the China Palace in Middletown.
For $12.95:
Soup
Soda
Appetizer of one spare rib and a pork strip
Entree
Dessert of scoop of ice cream, oranges and fortune cookies.
scary…….
BOOOOYA!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a1fb2.emSyh4
A value-added tax
Yes, it’s a great idea.
Now try and just mention it in passing and wait for the GOP Outrage ©. Hannity, Rush, etc. would lose their minds (again).
Look, a pre-emptive whine.
Why help the country when there are political points to be made?
My neighbor has a chinese wife they are great, she is a little like that one from Doonsberry but hey other than the one time he was on her and was about to yell hey how come you are so flat and your box is so tight until he realized he was on the wrong side everything is pretty cool.
Safe,
It’s much easier for me - I only speak a little mandarin, and they don’t speak english, so we’ve learned to co-exist without conversation over the past 7 years. They cook, clean, babysit, garden, and teach my daughter mandarin. Meanwhile my wife and I work. Very nice and smart people, mind you, both retired engineers and managers. It’s a common arrangement among Chinese families.
Our coming house will have more personal space and separation than the one we’ve got now. That was at the top of my priority list when home-shopping. Also, Warren’s population is about 15% asian, so hope they will make some new mandarin-speaking-friends in the neighborhood.
The strategy to get pro sports players and staff to prop up housing
is known as
“athletic support.”
maybe Michael Vick, Bernie Kozar and Plaxico can buy us some homes for real good money.
A. West [144]
Scotch Plains house similar to the one in Westfield will have higher not lower taxes. Plus, schools are quite mediocre; all the sharper kids move to the magnet at HS level which has pluses and minuses. If you really want Union county, go for Mountainside/NP/BH that all had a big price drop (much greater than Westfield) and are uniquely uncrowded for the area.
Oh goodie, another crooked 49 year old retiree we’ll be paying for the 40 years while he’s golfing down south……..
Two Randolph police officers were put on probation today and ordered to perform community service for covering up the arrest of a fellow officer’s relative this summer for suspected drunken driving.
Now-ex-Officers Shawn Boyhan, 31, and Stephen J. Kepler, 49, were in Superior Court, Morristown, to resolve a criminal accusation that they destroyed or concealed an official record between Aug. 21 and 22 in Randolph.
Boyhan, who earned $89,583 after five years on the township force, entered a conditional guilty plea but was accepted into the county’s Pre-Trial Intervention program for first-time offenders.
Boyhan agreed to forfeit his job, can not hold a law enforcement post in Morris County ever again but may work for a department outside the county or state after finishing a year’s probation under PTI. He also must perform 250 hours of community service.
Kepler made no admissions of wrongdoing at all and also was admitted into PTI, where he will be supervised for a year and must do 75 hours of community service. In Kepler’s case, he has 25 years of service on the force and will retire, but cannot try to work in law enforcement again in Morris County. He was paid $102,571 in Randolph.
Boyhan admitted that he arrested a motorist for suspected DWI around 11:53 p.m. on Aug. 21 but en route back to headquarters realized that the arrestee — who was not identified — is related to a fellow officer.
Boyhan said he spoke with Kepler, a senior officer and shift supervisor, who allowed him to ”unarrest” and release the DWI suspect from custody. Boyhan also admitted that he asked an officer performing dispatch duties to remove any record of the arrest from the department’s computer-aided dispatch (CAD).
Authorities said that officers learned of the incident and reported it to command staff, who contacted the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.
”While I am disappointed by the actions of officers involved, I am proud of the members of the department that reported and investigated the matter completely. Such quick and decisive action by members of our department maintains the high integrity and ethical standards by which we discharge our duties,” Randolph police Chief Robert Mason said in a statement.
158 cobbler
Buy a nice “vacation” house in Sleepy Hollow in Plainfield, and the smallest condo in Westfield for the schools. Bonus - if you need to get divorced, you have a place to stay.
WHERE DID THE WHITE MAN GO WRONG?
IT’S TOUGH TO ARGUE WITH THIS ONE …
Indian Chief ‘Two Eagles’ was asked by a white U.S. government official,
‘You have observed the white man for 90 years..
You’ve seen his wars and his technological advances.
You’ve seen his progress, and the damage he’s done.’
The Chief nodded in agreement.
The official continued, ‘Considering all these events, in your opinion, where did the white man go wrong?’
The Chief stared at the government official for over a minute and then calmly replied,
‘When white man find land, Indians running it, no taxes, no debt, plenty buffalo, plenty beaver, clean water.
Women did all the work, Medicine man free.
Indian man spend all day hunting and fishing; all night having sex.’
Then the chief leaned back and smiled,
‘Only white man dumb enough to think he could improve system like that.
“The tough part is having leeches sucking on my wallet and telling me its their right.
At this point, I thinking you fall into the leech camp. Am I right?”
Wrong again. I work on Wall Street and most likely bank more than you.
Unlike you, though, I don’t think my education entitles me to a ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude (and I’ll put my educational c.v. against yours as well, tough guy.)
Maybe that’s just your Boston talking though.
corzine, donates 90 k to a black minister
in orange. no shame .
Kris Jenkins out for the year…
This spider lives about 15 miles from Warren. its 5 inches across
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jZ5gXlLGjuA/ShwGgH9J5XI/AAAAAAAAAF4/Qgstz_4BpaE/s1600-h/spider.jpg
Current Market Boom “Can’t Be Trusted,” Robert Shiller Says
Are we on track for a repeat of irrational exuberance?
With the stock market up more than 50% since March and the Standard & Poor’s Case/Shiller Index on the rise for the last three months, it’s a worry, says Yale Professor Robert Shiller. “Somehow we got into this really speculative mentality and I don’t think we’re out of it yet.”
Given the current economic environment, “these booms [in the housing and stock markets] that we’re seeing now can’t be trusted to continue,” Shiller tells Tech Ticker.
The author of Irrational Exuberance and Animal Spirits characterizes the stock market rally as an “amazing rebound” without much historic precedence, “you have to go back to the Great Depression to see such a turnaround in the stock market.”
According to his cyclically adjusted P/E valuation model - stock price divided by average 10-year earnings - stocks are overvalued today, but “not massively overvalued.”
The market’s rebound isn’t likely to be derailed by valuation in the short term, Shiller says, but if one looks to the classic bear market rally of 1933-1937 as a guide, stocks may eventually crater as they did then.
How come everyone is saying this rally is a joke and yet it keeps going higher all around the world? I’ve never seen a market just keep going up with little or no corrections. This is nuts
cobbler (158)-
Exactly. Good advice.
[165] ruggles
please tell me that beast is in a zoo and not indigenous to NJ.
Gawd.
I used to fear spiders as a kid. Now I let them walk on me so my daughter won’t fear them. But seeing that monster pop out when I am doing yardwork will scare the bejeezus out of me.
[163] freedy
That’s what’s called “walking around” money.
It will be sprinkled in places where it will turn into votes. No photosynthesis here; this is one process that won’t see sunlight.
Look for some wards in E. Orange to record more votes than there are registered voters.
[162] meter
“I work on Wall Street and most likely bank more than you.”
Good for you. And if you want to give away your money, go for it. What I don’t get is why you think I should be forced to do the same.
“Unlike you, though, I don’t think my education entitles me to a ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude”
Holier? Don’t recall claiming to walk on water here. Perhaps you could provide me with a quote.
“I’ll put my educational c.v. against yours as well”
nomdeplumenj@gmail.com
“tough guy”
Well, you are right about that.
“Maybe that’s just your Boston talking though.”
Course it is. Should I speak slowly and use smaller words?
[153] schab,
I don’t think a VAT has a snowball’s chance in hell of passing here. But I would much prefer it to the income tax as it rewards savings and taxes consumption.
And what do you make of the fact that the GOP is against a regressive tax? Hardly fits with your worldview, I should think?
170 - Now Nom, I’m sure the dead are still on the Essex County active rolls, so that might be the case.
And walking around money has an illustrious NJ history with both parties. I’m sure all the long-term Garden Staters remember when Christie Whitman spread lots of it around the urban churches in exchange for the pastors NOT encouraging the congregation to vote.
[64] sastry
“That said, like a good democrat, I will support higher taxes (while trying to lower mine).”
I applaud your intellectual honesty.
And thanks for helping to keep me employed.
[173] gator
Ha! Still, can’t beat Jack Kennedy, who managed to spread it around over entire states, and had the balls to joke about it.
[161] yo’me
supposedly true story.
Truman once hosted a tribal leader at the WH. He asked this long time chief for some words of wisdom about how to run the country.
The chief replied “make sure you have strong immigration laws. We didn’t”
I don’t think a VAT has a snowball’s chance in hell of passing here. But I would much prefer it to the income tax as it rewards savings and taxes consumption.
It makes a lot of sense. All the sketchy sources of income can’t hide from it either.
And what do you make of the fact that the GOP is against a regressive tax? Hardly fits with your worldview, I should think?
As far as I can tell, the GOP is against any tax, so why would this one be different?
[156] happy
Maybe we should send a mass mailing to realtors willing to help.
Kinda along the lines of the southern state univ. that sent a mailing to boosters that began “Dear Athletic Supporter”
[177] schab
But if you take the view that the GOP is concerned only with preservation of the wealthy, and screwing the little people, they should be beating the drums for a VAT.
Or are you saying that republicans are so delusional that they think there should be no taxes whatsoever (and therefore no government whatsoever)?
175 Nom - Whitman’s campaign manager openly bragged about it on CNN or some other network. Until it was formally investigated and he recanted. But it looks like he has managed to rehabilitate himself in GOP campaign circles.
Now in other Essex County news, my coworker on grand jury reports that the West Orange Wendy’s next door to the fancy Whole Foods and so close to prestigious Montcair is quite the hotbed of illegal drug activity. So I guess the West Orange Plaza really is your one-stop location for all of your shopping needs. Anyone need some free range chicken, a frosty and some Triple Life/Cookie/Good Smoke? They’ve got you covered.
[180] gator,
Before my time, I’m afraid. Never heard that story nationally. Surprised, really. But MSM was less partisan then.
One thing I noticed is that older pols have no problem discussing their hijinks. Tip O’Neill described a lot of stunts in his book that would get me locked up if I tried them on election day. Some of them virulently rac1st too.
Everyone ready to be the UN’s biatch? It can be yours on December 7, 2009.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5AKsXVmS3E
Nom at 171:
my CV is written in crayon and contains lots of pretty pictures.
#68 Shore,
Amen, so endeth the lesson … *)
The end is nigh
http://www.smh.com.au/national/queensland-on-all-fours-with-population-of-4444444-20091020-h5dy.html
“Wrong again. I work on Wall Street and most likely bank more than you.
‘Unlike you, though, I don’t think my education entitles me to a ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude’”
I for one will stipulate that you, Nom, and many others here are smarter, more accomplished educationally and professionally than I, and earn more and have saved more than I. Tha said, I am with Nom in not believing that someone elses’s failure to achieve even comfort entitles them to a share of mine. I do not begrudge enve SOSs who have made many multiples of what I have. Nevertheless, I also believe that society has some obligation (if only a selfish one) to help the disadvantaged, to make sure everyone has healthy food, decent medical care, and secure housing. Where I differ from the liberals is that I dont think I am obliged to fork over to the government so much support to the disadvantaged in a middle-class lifestyle.
Help the poor? Heck yes! But one does not get, or should not get, government help without strings. Rights come with responsibilities and privleges even more so.
“pretty pictures”
Morpheus,
You have pictures. Gee, shucks. I feel so cheated.
#109 Got Ball?
” I, for one, will support a VAT if it means a reduction in income tax rates.”
Thats priceless. The Tea Party will send you an extra large RINO badge for backing something proposed by Pelos1 and it will have a gold star for the fact the VAT system was first implemented by the French.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aIOQskKerl6Q
Two things:
1) Why on earth do we not shoot spies anymore?
2) We would not tolerate the UK spying against the US, and we should not tolerate Israel doing so. We share a close bond with Israel and their intelligence organs and if they are going to spy on us it may be time to cut off all aid. The day Israel no longer needs economic aid or military assistance from us, they should feel free to spy away, ubtil then thay should focus on spying against enemies.
Chi was right, everybody has an option to get healthcare in this country.
Day Zero was to be Oct. 7, the day Dad left for Army basic training in Fort Jackson, S.C. He was moving 950 miles from their home in Watertown, 950 miles from Mom.
He was leaving, even though Mom was sick with ovarian cancer. Even though he had been at her side through two long, miserable rounds of chemotherapy. Even though she now faced the likelihood of a third.
In fact, Dad was leaving because Mom was sick.
In March, he was laid off from his job as a raw materials coordinator for a plastics company called PolyOne, where he’d worked for 20 years. His severance package had provided several months’ salary, but by August the paychecks were winding down. Soon the cost of his family health coverage was going to triple, then a few months after that, nearly triple again. They needed coverage so Mom could fight her cancer.
Dad’s solution: a four-year hitch in the Army.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/64677772.html
123 Shore
GWB gave you a big dose of Soc1alism when he signed the check for Citi. You biggest problem at that point was that he has not bankrupted the country at that point, so the check didn’t bounce.
#130 Shore,
Can you write the check straight to CIT, they need the liquidity to underwrite the lease.
#132 Shore.
I don’t think the liberals have an issue with equality in rates, more so that you want equality in amount paid. Buffet pointed out that his tax rate was 17% vs his assistants 30%.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/tax/article1996735.ece
http://videos.nj.com/star-ledger/2009/10/vp_joe_biden_tells_jerseyans_c.html
A video of Biden and Corslime. Notice how they can’t point to one thing that Corslime has done while in office. What a fricken joke. He has no record to fall back on so its a phone call to Obama and Biden to help out. Notice Bloomberg across the river? THe guy is an ass kicker with a record to match. Yea please give me 4 more years of this ass wipe.
#139 Got Ball?
I think one big leech on people’s wallets comes from the loss of tax revenue due to corporate tax avoidance. If Halliburton want to relocate, cut off all gvmt contracts
#140 Shore
And you were applauded on it. I remember that you could not double down on McC when Pal1n came onto the ticket. The GOP had a shot at holding 2008, but choose McC who then gambled on his Mavr1ck.
The sad news for you as you know is that you will get blown out again in 2010 as the moderates that could win against the Dems will not make it out of the primaries. Good luck in 2012.
(185) Safe
Is the end nigh becuz there are over 4.4 million Queenslanders who think Beer is spelled XXXX?
“I have seen many people debate whether gold is a bet on inflation or deflation. As I see it, it is neither. Gold does well when monetary and fiscal policies are poor and does poorly when they appear sensible. Gold did very well during the Great Depression when FDR debased the currency. It did well again in the money printing 1970s, but collapsed in response to Paul Volcker’s austerity. It ultimately made a bottom around 2001 when the excitement about our future budget surpluses peaked.” - David Einhorn
PGC (196)-
We’ll all be eating dirt sandwiches, come 2012.
#147 Got Ball?
The last sentence is on the money, the others need work.
The left don’t like it as it is a regressive tax and that the list of zero tax exclusions is not always in the favor of the lower incomes and the gvmt keep jacking up the rates on the rest. They also don’t like it because the higher incomes and businesses abuse the system. It also means double taxation on goods, once from federal and once from state.
The right don’t like it, for many more reasons. It has a lots of zero tax exclusions to subsidise the poor and the gmvt can raise the rates and use it as a stealth tax. It increases gvmt as there is a massive amount of administrative overhead. The system would more than double the already bloated import tariff system. Stopping widespread fraud is almost impossible, so double the size of the IRS to cope as well.
It also turns the state sales tax into a federal tax and no one likes that.
#162 meter
Get used to it. He’s batting 0 for 2 on assumptions. Typical Sox …. :*)
“I for one will stipulate that you, Nom, and many others here are smarter, more accomplished educationally and professionally than I, and earn more and have saved more than I. Tha said, I am with Nom in not believing that someone elses’s failure to achieve even comfort entitles them to a share of mine. I do not begrudge enve SOSs who have made many multiples of what I have. Nevertheless, I also believe that society has some obligation (if only a selfish one) to help the disadvantaged, to make sure everyone has healthy food, decent medical care, and secure housing. Where I differ from the liberals is that I dont think I am obliged to fork over to the government so much support to the disadvantaged in a middle-class lifestyle.
Help the poor? Heck yes! But one does not get, or should not get, government help without strings. Rights come with responsibilities and privleges even more so.”
Totally agree with you. This doesn’t always come across in your posts though. I think we see eye to eye - and thanks for your honesty.
Nom on the other hand thinks he has the right to pay taxes only for those things he benefits directly from. Doesn’t work that way. If that were the case I and about half the country would have withheld our taxes from being spent on this fool’s errand in Iraq (among other Bush fool’s errands) not to mention the most flagrant grab of taxpayer funds in history for corporate bailouts - for which both parties deserve our ire.
#190
FYI PolyOne just cut healthcare benefits for retirees.
KeyCorp will do so 1-1-10 (they upper their exec comp significantly though).
#171 Got Ball?
I forgot about “the Edward Woodward of South Philly”. To me, instead of the Equaliser, your views on tax and the low income will always come across to me as this. http://img224.imageshack.us/i/stingy6sv.png/
#197 nom
4 is very unlucky in Chinese culture. Having 4,444,444 people as of 4:44 AM is pretty freaky.
Also Queensland population growth is due to immigration as well as internal migration so there have to be a few people there who know the correct way to spell beer.
#177 schabadoo
It is rife with corruption. The end user is supposed to pay and anyone else on the supply chain can claim rebates and credits. It would be Christmas for Organ1zed Cr1me. Search for VAT Carousel Fraud in Europe. Even the Canadians have issues with CST fraud.
[171]
“Good for you. And if you want to give away your money, go for it. What I don’t get is why you think I should be forced to do the same.”
You seem to operate under the assumption that Democrats in general like paying taxes.
Maybe they just see paying taxes as a part of their civic duty, and their priorities are different from yours. You want your tax dollars to go for warmongering campaigns in foreign countries that our nation has no business being in; Dems would rather improve the lives of the underprivileged.
I’m all for cutting taxes, believe me. Let’s halve the defense budget; the first cuts involve eliminating Blackwater from the national payroll. Sound good?
#186 Shore
Rights come with responsibilities and privleges even more so. Would you say it goes both ways. That those who have enjoyed lifing in this great country and have done well should have the responsibilty to look out for the disadvantaged.
“help the disadvantaged, to make sure everyone has healthy food, decent medical care, and secure housing.”
I think the big difference is that the right would not take your comment as common ground.
I read stories like this wonder why there is not room in the system. I will take the point that the mother is homeless by choice, but what choice?
http://news.aol.com/article/bessie-mae-berger-homeless-at-97-begging/721636
“GWB gave you a big dose of Soc1alism when he signed the check for C”
Yup. GWB is a schmuck. What else is there to say? I firmly believe that he will be rayes as one of the worst 4-5 presidents thus far, and, after we have had 100, may well still be in that group.
167.HEHEHE says:
October 19, 2009 at 5:38 pm
How come everyone is saying this rally is a joke and yet it keeps going higher all around the world? I’ve never seen a market just keep going up with little or no corrections. This is nuts
HE: you probably review some of the same sources I do….the cliche…Wall Street climbs a wall of worry….if people have doubts then not all the potential money is invested, hence there is incremental investment available…the greater the skepticism, the greater the chance for a higher move….again, what many of you have heard, results are blowing away expectations and a lot of people are caught flat-footed. For many 2008 was an underperformance; you cannot follow missing a low bar with another miss….did I say melt-up about 2 months ago?
what is this: pick on Nom day? Sorry, I did not get the memo on this.
Where is the discussion about real estate?
can we go back and discuss how life as we know will end when the SHTF?
I want my underground bunker! Anyone know if an abandoned missle silo is available for sale?
Lay, Skilling, Scrushy, Ebbers…the bastards all say the same thing with a straight face…..you fat FCUK!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aS9mY4HE.Ndo
re #210 - Wake me up when signs the consumer has returned to spending, bank capital positions aren’t strained and they are lending again, when Japan starts showing economic growth and America starts opening auto plants, when earnings reports have beaten estimates not because of cost-cutting measures but for an increase in top-line growth.
Until then it is a big snooze fest of ZIRP!
Argh,
Like a car wreck. I couldn’t help but watch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr-p-3CC3AU&feature=player_embedded#
Bernanke is controlling the rising Stock Market, as did Greenspan, by shutting off all alternatives with Zero Rates. Eventually, all major funds, be it private or public, move back into the market. This fuel which is the real rise in the stock market, is a Ponzi Scheme, having nothing to do with real fundamentals. The fuel need is also the reason the previous administration wanted to pour social security dollars into the market.
213.Sean says:
October 19, 2009 at 10:27 pm
re #210 - Wake me up when signs the consumer has returned to spending, bank capital positions aren’t strained and they are lending again, when Japan starts showing economic growth and America starts opening auto plants, when earnings reports have beaten estimates not because of cost-cutting measures but for an increase in top-line growth.
Until then it is a big snooze fest of ZIRP!
WAKE UP!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&tkr=AAPL%3AUS&sid=as3Bg0xiIT2Q
Sean: it’s the pant up
EAT THIS YOU FAT FCUK!
WSJ
OCTOBER 20, 2009
Galleon Clients Abandon Ship
By SUSAN PULLIAM and GREGORY ZUCKERMAN
Hedge-fund giant Galleon Group, facing heavy investor withdrawal requests after Friday’s arrest of co-founder Raj Rajaratnam, moved to unload some of its technology stocks and other holdings to raise cash.
Investors have sought to withdraw about $1.3 billion of the $3.7 billion in assets Galleon manages, traders say. Moreover, two of the brokerage firms Galleon normally deals with, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Barclays PLC, have told Galleon they will no longer trade securities positions with the fund firm, according to a person close to the situation.
Shelley says:
October 19, 2009 at 11:21 am
Sports tickets will be one of the first luxury items to go. Except for the Yankees,most teams have their attendance way down.
you might be interested
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2009-09-29-mlb-attendance_N.htm
Major League Baseball is projected to suffer a 6.5% attendance drop, its biggest single-season loss since Harry Truman was president, excluding years involving a work stoppage.
Twenty teams have had an attendance decline entering the season’s final week — including five teams by more than 20% — according to calculations by Baseball-reference.com. The Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers are the only teams boasting 10% or greater increases.
Or are you saying that republicans are so delusional that they think there should be no taxes whatsoever (and therefore no government whatsoever)?
The party of tax cuts while launching a war?
Delusional sounds about right. Like a freshman with their first credit card.
I’m all for cutting taxes, believe me. Let’s halve the defense budget; the first cuts involve eliminating Blackwater from the national payroll. Sound good?
Cuts to the budget was probably the only positive I expected when the small government no-nation building fiscally-conservative president came thru in 2000.
shore [189]
I am not sure the govt should be in the business of entrapping wannabe spies. It amazes me that someone with the Ph.D and presumably a lot of brainpower swallowed the really dumb lure not only with the line and sinker but even with the fishing rod.
How to do real estate agents start targeting pro-athletes to purchase these homes. I would love to hear the marketing plan.
Interesting!