But they said they weren’t making any more land…

From the Record:

North Jersey housing vacancy rates rising

A growing number of houses and apartments sit empty in North Jersey, a result of the four-year-old housing bust.

From affluent to middle-class to poor neighborhoods, the percentage of vacant homes was higher in 2010 than in 2000, according an analysis of U.S. census data by The Record.

The vacant homes include a Saddle River Victorian that an investor hoped to flip; newly constructed Waldwick town homes, and boarded-up, bank-owned houses in Paterson. And then there are the rentals that, in more prosperous times, would have been filled with new college graduates starting their careers.

“We’re still suffering from the downturn in the housing market that started in 2007 and 2008,” said Dan McCue, an analyst with Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

According to the Census, 16,658 — or one in 21 — houses, condominiums and apartments in Bergen County sat vacant in 2010, compared with one in 38 in 2000. In Passaic County, 9,181 — or one in 19 — were vacant last year, up from one in 27 a decade ago. Nationally, about one in nine year-round homes were vacant.

Although lots of vacant properties are in Paterson and other poorer areas, it’s not hard to find them in more affluent areas as well.

The hardest-hit areas include Alpine, where the vacancy rate rose from 3 percent to 8.8 percent, and Allendale, where it increased from 1.5 percent to 6.4 percent. Prospect Park’s rate climbed from 3.5 percent to 6.9 percent. Edgewater’s rate remained among the highest in the region, at 10.3 percent — apparently reflecting a large number of newly constructed condos that remain unsold.

“It transcends cities,” said John Susani, a Coldwell Banker agent in Paterson. He recently sold an 11-year-old, five-bedroom, bank-owned Colonial perched on a hilltop in Wayne to an investor for $200,000. The house was stripped clean of its plumbing and kitchen cabinets and appliances before it was lost to foreclosure.

Poppe Contractors of Franklin Lakes, for example, put up six town houses in Waldwick starting a few years ago. Only two are sold. The rest are on the market for $469,000, down more than $100,000 from their original asking price. The town houses have hardwood floors, three bedrooms, and luxury touches such as granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. They’re in walking distance to stores and the commuter train.

“You would think they’d be flying off the market, but they’re not,” said Lisella.

As a result of the higher vacancy rates, North Jersey rents have barely risen recently, and are unlikely to climb by more than 2 percent this year, according to Michael Fasano, vice president at the Elmwood Park office of Marcus & Millichap, a large commercial real estate brokerage. That compares with annual rent hikes of as much as 5 percent when a more robust economy drove up demand for apartments in North Jersey.

This entry was posted in Employment, Housing Bubble, New Jersey Real Estate. Bookmark the permalink.

167 Responses to But they said they weren’t making any more land…

  1. Mike says:

    Good Morning New Jersey

  2. Mike says:

    Some 60 minutes episode last night on the forged mortgage documents, one guy was getting paid $10.00/Hr to sign a bank Vice President’s name. In one day he signed it over 1000 times.

  3. grim says:

    Huh? I could have done just as good a job for a quarter of the pay.

    From HousingWire:

    What Fannie, Freddie execs made while in conservatorship

    The top six executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made a combined $35.4 million in 2009 and 2010, but they could have made more had they reached levels set by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

    The two companies were taken into conservatorship in late 2008. Along with developing how those struggling enterprises would operate and continue to fund the mortgage market, the FHFA and the Treasury set up how executive compensation packages would be structured.

  4. xroads says:

    what is the saying? price can fix anything

  5. 30 year realtor says:

    The 60 Minutes story said that the robosigning mill Docx was owned by LPS. Since NJ put the brakes on sheriff sales last December, I have been doing about 15 BPOs a week for this company.

    Did my first BPO for a bank back in the late 1980’s and been doing them ever since. During that time I had never been asked by a client to change my opinion of value on a BPO, until LPS came along.

    Wouldn’t surprise me a bit if the Docx thing is only the tip of the iceberg over at LPS.

  6. grim (3)-

    Old news. Guess the media is also gonna miss the universal settlement that sweeps all the fraud under the rug and allows the banksters to begin r@ping they system again.

  7. We are totally and conclusively fcuked.

  8. gary says:

    Poppe Contractors of Franklin Lakes, for example, put up six town houses in Waldwick starting a few years ago. Only two are sold. “You would think they’d be flying off the market, but they’re not,” said Lisella.

    Why would you think they would fly off the market? Because of your brilliant marketing strategy? Because it was so easy to dupe so many people for so long? Hey genius, people have to qualify for a morgage again. There’s no one left to complete the fraud. Everyone either folded up shop or is bankrupt or is dead. You don’t get to just slap any price tag on the dump and collect. You already cut your price 20% and they’re still not moving; what does that tell you? And you seriously must contemplate the reason?

  9. gary says:

    Drove around a lot of towns in my travels yesterday. Of course, I saw numerous open house signs. I don’t check any houses out but everyone I drove by looked pretty dead to me. No one is site. Compare that to 2000 – 2001 where we had to stand in line at open houses even in the so-called not-as-desirable towns like Elmwood Park and Saddle Brook where realtors were asking for final offers that moment and houses were under contract the day they were listed after a bidding war. Yeah, the madness was in full swing as early as 2000.

  10. tbiggs says:

    #9 Gary – but, but, it had granite countertops!

  11. gary (9)-

    Waldwick? Fcuking insanity.

  12. gary (10)-

    The thought of you driving around a bunch of towns on a open house Sunday is more than a little unsettling.

    Glad you don’t share the fascination some of us have with firearms.

  13. Shore Guy says:

    Clot,
    If they are going to fcuk us all, do you think we can get a weekend in Bermuda, first? Or, at least, a nice dinner and a show?

  14. Shore Guy says:

    Even a concert and a stale giant pretzel would be okay.

  15. gary says:

    Debt [13],

    I usually show up to open houses in something that looks like the image below equipped with a bag of lime, an old pool cover, a carpet knife and rope:

    http://img.webme.com/pic/a/artgraphic3d/old_ford_van_1.jpg

  16. gary says:

    Pavlovian real estate agent terms: blue ribbon, granite, stainless, prestigious, potential, charming, train, desirable, sought-after, won’t last.

  17. gary (17)-

    You left out “welcome to WalMart”.

  18. Spring market DOA. Transfuse the corpse all you wish; the patient is still dead.

    In fact, the cadaver is beginning to stink.

    That must be the stench of death I smell in the air this morning.

  19. goonsquad says:

    I haven’t checked in here in a while, been too busy at work. Figured I’d stick my head in and say hi.

    Wife and I went to 3 open houses in Westfield the weekend before this past one. One of the realtors told me I better buy before prices go up again. I asked her not to speak to me again.

  20. Dissident HEHEHE says:

    It is the dawn of the new housing market. The 20 year hangover is just beginning. Get your pitchers of bloody marys and grab a seat.

  21. Dissident HEHEHE says:

    How a big U.S. Bank Laundered Billions from Mexico’s Murderous Drug Gangs

    “Bloomberg ran a great piece about this back in June 2010.

    What has happened since then?

    Of course, there was some wrist-slapping, but, “Now that the year’s ‘deferred prosecution’ has expired, the bank is in effect in the clear.””

    http://cryptogon.com/?p=21605

    It is good to be a bank. Even when you get found guilty of committing a serious crime there is no punishment.

  22. gary says:

    Usually, I’ll see at least one car parked in front of some of these open houses – if nothing else but someone who’s being nosey but yesterday I saw nothing. No one. It looked absolutely dead. Signs and ballons everywhere but no action to be had. I also notice that I’m starting to see a lot of 2 handles on various houses, whether they be condos or town houses in the outlying areas or real shit boxes closer to the city limits. There’s no doubt that any efforts to stem the tide of toxic waste is not going to work.

  23. he (23)-

    Add money laundering to inflation, creation of debt and financial engineering as one of the US economy’s prime drivers.

    We have become a massive Third World casino-nation.

  24. 30 year realtor says:

    Gary #9 – I drive past those Waldwick townhouses everyday. Gotta wonder what those sellers are thinking. My suggestion would be a price reduction to $349,900 and I wouldn’t expect anything from it. The right number to sell the 4 remaining units in a 30 day market time may be an ask of $299,900.

    Think Poppe wants to hire me as their listing agent? Oh that’s right, the listing agent’s last name is Poppe. Coincidence?

  25. Shore Guy says:

    Spring selling season just started? I thought they said it began weeks ago?

  26. JJ says:

    Went to open house Sunday. I go I like the windows. Guys goes yes they are new Pella windows that replaced the original windows. The windows were done at the same time we updated the kitchen. I go really, when did you update them, when we bought house. When was that 1990. Unless the house comes with a hottub travel machine a 1990 kitchen and windows should not be advertised as updated, replaced etc.

    People crack me up.

  27. Dissident HEHEHE says:

    First really nice spring weekend. If it is any indication of what is too come Hoboken’s market is DOA.

  28. gary says:

    30 year [26],

    I guess that builder doesn’t want to give it away. :) It’s a funny thing about Waldwick, it’s surrounded by Saddle River, Wyckoff, Allendale, Ridgewood and Midland Park yet it’s not considered a “must have’ town. I think anyone looking for a nice, entry level type home should consider this town.

  29. Dissident HEHEHE says:

    Not sure if this was posted last week:

    Court: Busted Securitization Prevents Foreclosure

    See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/g5T4s0

    Another wrench in the works:)

  30. Confused In NJ says:

    Oil prices jumped to fresh 30-month highs above $108 a barrel Monday as the conflict in Libya extended market concerns about supply risks and signs of a recovering U.S. jobs market bolstered optimism that global crude demand will strengthen

  31. Dissident HEHEHE says:

    “signs of a recovering U.S. jobs market”

    I love business journalism.

  32. 30 year realtor says:

    Gary #30 – Been living in Waldwick since 98. Moved in right after I separated from the X. Town has NJ Transit train, express buses to Manhattan and good schools.Would have bought a house here, but by the time my divorce was final and my finances were back in order it was 2003. I decided real estate values departed from reality and decided to keep renting. I guess it was the right choice.

    In case anyone is wondering if I gave the same advice to buyers about the market when I decided it was crazy to buy, the answer is yes. Don’t think anyone listened.

  33. gary says:

    30 year,

    Yeah, I don’t get it. It’s a nice town. In fact, I will definitely include it in my search when (if) I make the move.

  34. So What Who Cares?? (formerly 3b) says:

    #34 30 yr How are the taxes in Waldwick. Seriously considering looking across the border in Rockland; property taxes significantly lower, and after June schools will no longer be an issue, so no need to pay out of control River Edge property taxes.

  35. Kettle1^2 says:

    …..Obama Launches 2012 Presidential Campaign On Twitter

    Did he ever stop campaigning?

  36. JC says:

    #11 and all: Speaking of granite and stainless….I’m down one of two incomes in the household thanks to spouse being put out to pasture at age 55 after sweating bullets for the company for 3 years (layoff, not retirement, no package)…but the house really needs some updating. The $10-$15K gut-and-remodel of the 1950’s black-with-mint-green-trim bathroom has been scrapped in favor of a new floor, vanity, mirror, and paint job. The reconfiguration of the kitchen to get rid of the wall oven cabinet and trade the cooktop in for a range, the granite countertops, and engineered hardwood floor, the expansion of the back door to sliders out to Trex deck has been scrapped too. Now it’s just going to be finish the reface job, paint the cabinet interiors, put in new counters and flooring. I’m leaning towards high-end laminate for countertops and plank vinyl for the floor. It’s better than the 1970’s yellow geometric floor I have now and the yellow laminate countertop that’s delaminating and buckling everywhere.

    So what’s the real scoop? If you watch HGTV and DIY, you’d think that if you don’t do granite and hardwood and tumbled marble bathrooms you might as well crawl into a hole and die. Is it now OK to not break the bank on fixing and updating? I’ll be in the house another 10-12 years and can think of better things to do than to spend tens of thousands of dollars on updates that will be dated and old by the time I sell anyway.

    Grim and other realtors: What do you usually advise sellers these days?

  37. chicagofinance says:

    NJ Coast posted this over the weekend. As we all know, sometimes things get buried there. I think it is important enough to repost……..

    His most recent book has a great title…”Don’t Vote—It Just Encourages the Bastards.”

    WSJ
    BUSINESS
    APRIL 2, 2011

    Dear Urban Cyclists: Go Play in Traffic

    From Dublin to Bogotá, bicycles are taking over city streets. What’s next, lanes for hopscotch and pogo sticks?

    By P.J. O’ROURKE

    A fibrosis of bicycle lanes is spreading through the cities of the world. The well-being of innocent motorists is threatened as traffic passageways are choked by the spread of dull whirs, sharp whistles and sanctimonious pedal-pushing.

    Bike lanes have appeared in all the predictable places—Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Berkeley and Palo Alto. But the incidence of bike lanes is also on the rise in unlikely locales such as slush-covered Boston, rain-drenched Vancouver, frozen Montreal and Bogotá, Colombia (where, perhaps, bicycles have been given the traffic lanes previously reserved for drug mules). Even Dublin, Ireland, has had portions of its streets set aside for bicycles only—surely unnecessary in a country where everyone’s car has been repossessed.

    Then there is the notorious case of New York City. Not long ago the only people who braved New York on bicycles were maniacal bike messengers and children heeding an abusive parent’s command to “go play in traffic.” Now New York has 670 miles of bike lanes—rather more than it has miles of decently paved streets.

    The proliferation of New York’s bike lanes is the work of the city’s indomitable transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-(Genghis)-Khan. Her department has a horde of 4,500 employees and a budget nearing a billion dollars. The transportation commissioner’s job is—judging by rush-hour cab and subway rides and last December’s blizzard—to prevent the transportation of anybody or anything to anywhere in New York. Bicycles are the perfect way to go nowhere while carrying nothing.

    The bicycle is a parody of a wheeled vehicle—a donkey cart without the cart, where you do the work of the donkey. Although the technology necessary to build a bicycle has been around since ancient Egypt, bikes didn’t appear until the 19th century. The reason it took mankind 5,000 years to get the idea for the bicycle is that it was a bad idea. The bicycle is the only method of conveyance worse than feet. You can walk up three flights of stairs carrying one end of a sofa. Try that on a bicycle.

    Almost everything that travels on a city street, including some of the larger people in the crosswalks, can crush a bicycle. Everything that protrudes from or into a city street—pot holes, pavement cracks, manhole covers—can send a bicycle flying into the air. When the president of the United States goes somewhere in Washington, does he ride an armored bicycle?

    Given that riding a bike in a city is insane and that very few cities need more insane people on their streets, why the profusion of urban bike lanes? One excuse for bike lanes is that an increase in bicycle riding means a decrease in traffic congestion. A visit to New York—or Bogotá—gives the lie to this notion. You can’t decrease traffic congestion by putting things in the way of traffic. Also, only a few bicycles are needed to take up as much space as my Chevrolet Suburban—just one if its rider is wobbling all over the place while trying to Tweet. And my Suburban seats eight. The answer to traffic congestion is lower taxes so that legions of baby boomers my age can afford to retire and stay home.

    Bike lane advocates also claim that bicycles are environmentally friendly, producing less pollution and fewer carbon emissions than automobiles. But bicycle riders do a lot of huffing and puffing, exhaling large amounts of CO2. And whether a bicycle rider, after a long bicycle ride, is cleaner than the exhaust of a modern automobile is open to question.

    If drops in pollution and traffic congestion are wanted and if discomfort and inconvenience are the trade-offs, we should be packed into tiny circus clown cars. These fit neatly into bike lanes and provide more amusement to bystanders than bicycle wrecks.

    In fact, bike lanes don’t necessarily lessen car travel. A study by the U.K. Department for Transport found that the installation of “cycle facilities” in eight towns and cities resulted in no change in the number of people driving cars. Bike lanes don’t even necessarily increase bike riding. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the Dutch government spent $945 million on bicycle routes without any discernible effect on how many Dutch rode bicycles.

    “The bicycle is a parody of a wheeled vehicle—a donkey cart without the cart, where you do the work of the donkey.”

    But maybe there’s a darker side to bike-lane advocacy. Political activists of a certain ideological stripe want citizens to have a child-like dependence on government. And it’s impossible to feel like a grown-up when you’re on a bicycle if you aren’t in the Tour de France.

    All but the most athletic among us get on and off a bicycle the way a toddler goes up and down stairs. Wearing bicycle shorts in public is more embarrassing than wearing Depends. Exchanging briefcases for backpacks takes us from the boardroom to the schoolyard. And it’s hard to keep a straight face when talking to anyone in a Skittles-colored, Wiffle ball-slotted bike helmet that makes you look like Woody Woodpecker.

    Bike lanes must be intended to foster immaturity or New York would have chosen instead to create 670 miles of bridle paths. Being on horseback has adult gravitas. Search plazas, parks and city squares the world over and you won’t fine a single statue of a national hero riding a bike.

    This promotion of childishness in the electorate means that bike lanes are just the beginning. Soon we’ll be making room on our city streets for scooter and skateboard lanes, Soapbox Derby lanes, pogo-stick lanes, lanes for Radio Flyer wagons (actually more practical than bicycles since you can carry a case of beer—if we’re still allowed to drink beer), stilt lanes, three-legged-race lanes, lanes for skipping while playing the comb and wax paper, hopscotch lanes and Mother-May-I lanes with Mayor Bloomberg at the top of Lenox Hill shouting to the people on Park Avenue, “Take three baby steps!”

    A good, hard-played game of Mother-May-I will make us all more physically fit. Fitness being another reason given for cluttering our cities with bike lanes. But why is it so important that the public be fit? Fit for what? Are they planning to draft us into forced labor battalions?

    Bike lanes violate a fundamental principle of democracy. We, the majority who do not ride bicycles, are being forced to sacrifice our left turns, parking places and chances to squeeze by delivery trucks so that an affluent elite can feel good about itself for getting wet, cold, tired and run-over. Our tax dollars are being used to subsidize our annoyance.

    Bicycle riders must be made to bear the burden of this special-interest boondoggle. Bicycle registration fees should be raised until they produce enough revenue to build and maintain new expressways so that drivers can avoid city streets clogged by bike lanes. Special rubber fittings should be made available so that bicycle riders can wear E-ZPass transponders on their noses. And riders’ license qualifications should be rigorous, requiring not only written exams and road tests but also bathroom scales. No one is to be allowed on a bicycle if the view he or she presents from behind causes the kind of hysterical laughter that stops traffic.

    Bike lanes can become an acceptable part of the urban landscape, if bicycle riders are willing to pay their way. And if they pay enough, maybe we’ll even give them a lift during the next snow storm.

    —Mr. O’Rourke’s many books include “Don’t Vote—It Just Encourages the Bastards.”

  38. chicagofinance says:

    Special rubber fittings should be made available so that bicycle riders can wear E-ZPass transponders on their noses.

  39. 30 year realtor says:

    Who cares #36 – Taxes are insane all over Jersey! Typical 3 br house in Waldwick $7500 to $10,000 tax.

  40. Shore Guy says:

    Why aren’t Americans being told the truth about the economy? We’re heading in the direction of a double dip — but you’d never know it if you listened to the upbeat messages coming out of Wall Street and Washington.

    Consumers are 70 percent of the American economy, and consumer confidence is plummeting. It’s weaker today on average than at the lowest point of the Great Recession.

    snip

    What about the 192,000 jobs added in February? (We’ll know more Friday about how many jobs were added in March.) It’s peanuts compared to what’s needed. Remember, 125,000 new jobs are necessary just to keep up with a growing number of Americans eligible for employment. And the nation has lost so many jobs over the last three years that even at a rate of 200,000 a month we wouldn’t get back to 6 percent unemployment until 2016.

    But isn’t the economy growing again — by an estimated 2.5 to 2.9 percent this year? Yes, but that’s even less than peanuts. The deeper the economic hole, the faster the growth needed to get back on track. By this point in the so-called recovery we’d expect growth of 4 to 6 percent.

    snip

    So why aren’t we getting the truth about the economy? For one thing, Wall Street is buoyant — and most financial news you hear comes from the Street. Wall Street profits soared to $426.5 billion last quarter, according to the Commerce Department. (That gain more than offset a drop in the profits of non-financial domestic companies.) Anyone who believes the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill put a stop to the Street’s creativity hasn’t been watching.

    To the extent non-financial companies are doing well, they’re making most of their money abroad. Since 1992, for example, G.E.’s offshore profits have risen $92 billion, from $15 billion (which is one reason it pays no U.S. taxes). In fact, the only group that’s optimistic about the future are CEOs of big American companies. The Business Roundtable’s economic outlook index, which surveys 142 CEOs, is now at its highest point since it began in 2002.

    Washington, meanwhile, doesn’t want to sound the economic alarm. The White House and most Democrats want Americans to believe the economy is on an upswing.

    snip

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-truth-about-the-econo_b_842998.html

  41. 30 year realtor says:

    JC #38 – Nobody ever died from Formica, old tile and pressure treated wood decking. What is wrong with stuff that is functional?

  42. Mikeinwaiting says:

    Chifi 39 Coast thanks a good one, I did miss it over the weekend. LOL.

  43. So What Who Cares?? (formerly 3b) says:

    #41 Same house in R E taxes woudl be 10k to 13K. Any thoughts on Rockland Co? Do you see people from Bergen making that move?

  44. Rockland Co = Copland

  45. chicagofinance says:

    Huffington Post?

    Shore Guy says:
    April 4, 2011 at 10:38 am

  46. Huffington Post huffing glue.

  47. So What Who Cares?? (formerly 3b) says:

    #46 Agreed. Which makes me a little leery.

  48. Shore Guy says:

    Chifi/Clot,

    Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Someone sent me the editorial in e-mail and a web search of text found the original at Huffington.

  49. Could Charlie Munger end his days as somone’s prison bitch? God, let it be so.

    Naah…the law doesn’t apply to financial crooks.

    “On March 31st, David Sokol appeared on CNBC Squawk Box (to the most distraught Becky Quick we have ever seen) in an attempt to explain why his purchase of of Lubrizol Corp, prior to Berkshire Hathaway’s purchase of the Company, was perfectly acceptable. In attempting to provide evidence of this“perfectly acceptable” practice David Sokol said a curious thing (17 minutes 15 seconds in):

    ‘I don’t believe I did anything wrong. Charlie Munger owned 3% of BYD before he asked me to go look at it.’

    Because we all know if everyone is doing it, then it isn’t illegal or unethical. Especially if everyone is a member of the Berkshire inner circle. But if the SEC as is now widely reported, is about to make a public spectacle out of David Sokol (if not actually press civil charges because, well, the SEC doesn’t actually pursue large scale securities fraud), shouldn’t they be looking at ole’ Charlie “Suck It In” Munger?”

    http://www.zerohedge.com/article/forget-david-sokol-sec-about-tell-charlie-munger-suck-it

  50. Shore Guy says:

    With all that is going on in the world and here at home, and since he is not going to face any real challenge within the Democtatic Party, one would think that the empty suit in chief could spend more time governing, at least through labor day, and less time thinking about reelection to a job he has done poorly.

  51. Bill Gross is a smart guy and excellent economic diagnostician. Too bad he is also the child of Satan.

    “That adorable skunk, Pepé Le Pew, is one of my wife Sue’s favorite cartoon characters. There’s something affable, even romantic about him as he seeks to woo his female companions with a French accent and promises of a skunk bungalow and bedrooms full of little Pepés in future years. It’s easy to love a skunk – but only on the silver screen, and if in real life – at a considerable distance. I think of Congress that way. Every two or six years, they dress up in full makeup, pretending to be the change, vowing to correct what hasn’t been corrected, promising discipline as opposed to profligate overspending and undertaxation, and striving to balance the budget when all others have failed. Oooh Pepé – Mon Chéri! But don’t believe them – hold your nose instead! Oh, I kid the Congress. Perhaps they don’t have black and white stripes with bushy tails. Perhaps there’s just a stink bomb that the Congressional sergeant-at-arms sets off every time they convene and the gavel falls to signify the beginning of the “people’s business.” Perhaps. But, in all cases, citizens of America – hold your noses. You ain’t smelled nothin’ yet.”

    http://www.pimco.com/Pages/skunked.aspx

  52. shore (52)-

    Just another megalomaniac who cannot be shamed or embarrassed, because he is surrounded 24/7 by handlers and sycophants.

  53. I have a problem with anyone who wants Rahm Emanuel or Bill Daley around him for more than 12 seconds.

  54. So What Who Cares?? (formerly 3b) says:

    #53 And yet there is absolutely no mention of military spending. The cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Libya. The billions in foreign aid.Seems to me these should be discussed as well.

  55. I saw a Presidential Statistic this weekend……only one sitting Democratic President has been defeated in a re-election in the history of the Party. That’s a little scary.

    Of course, the Defeated Democrat was Jimmy Carter, who was also in over his head. So there’s some solace in that. Let’s hope the voters are savvy enough to see thru the rhetoric in 2012.

  56. Kettle1^2 says:

    3b

    You might get a kick out of this:

    “An Analysis of U.S. Fiscal and Generational Imbalances: Who Will Pay and How?”

    “This paper updates existing measures of the U.S. fiscal gap to include federal laws up to and including the mid-December 2010 federal fiscal stimulus. It then applies the methodology of generational accounting to establish how the burden of adjustment required to attain fiscal sustainability is shared across generations. We find that the U.S. fiscal and generational imbalances are large under plausible parametric assumptions, and, while not much affected by the financial crisis, they have not improved much by the passing of the Final Healthcare Legislation. We find that, under our baseline scenario, a full elimination of the fiscal and generational imbalances would require all taxes to go up and all transfers to be cut immediately and permanently by 35 percent. A delay in the adjustment makes it more costly.”

    http://www.scribd.com/doc/52245782/IMF-Working-Paper-US

    a quote from one of the authors (not from this paper):

    *Laurence Kotlikoff estimates true U.S. Debt at 202 Trillion, which is only 14 times larger than what the U.S. Government claims.

    The true Black Swan might very well be an all out U.S. default on a good chunk or all of its debt. Kotlikoff thinks so, and he is by no means alone. One day, you’re thinking Weimar, and then the chipmunk spins in the tree looking for a nut and goes all hyperdeflation on your ass, man…

    U.S. Is Bankrupt and We Don’t Even Know It: Laurence Kotlikoff

  57. So What Who Cares?? (formerly 3b) says:

    #58 Not that it will make any difference, but the Repubs do not have any one credible yet.

  58. So What Who Cares?? (formerly 3b) says:

    Scary and most Americans have not a clue. Do you understand why now I am So What Who Cares??

  59. jamil says:

    “Obama Launches 2012 Presidential Campaign On Twitter”

    Twitter? Yeah, bogged down in Rio, Golfing or partying.
    4 more years, 4 more years!

  60. So What Who Cares?? (formerly 3b) says:

    #63 His constant finger pointing too when he is on TV (which seems to be all the time), is incredibly annoying too. It is pretty scary that he is President, and I think I know more about most topics then he does.

  61. JC says:

    Fiddy #58: So who do YOU want to see in the White House?

  62. chicagofinance says:

    This passage is spot on my opinion. In fact, it was so reflexive when I saw the headline earlier today, that I have to beleive that a hefty swath of the voting public is on board with it. The guy better watch it….anyone credible across the aisle and he is toast…..OK a big if……

    Shore Guy says:
    April 4, 2011 at 11:09 am
    With all that is going on in the world and here at home, and since he is not going to face any real challenge within the Democtatic Party, one would think that the empty suit in chief could spend more time governing, at least through labor day, and less time thinking about reelection to a job he has done poorly.

  63. chicagofinance says:

    To rephrase…..the announcement is incredibly tone deaf….

  64. JJ says:

    Former players Chris Mullin, Dennis Rodman and Artis Gilmore and coach Tex Winter are among those picked today for the Basketball Hall of Fame!!~!

    Go SJU!

  65. danxp says:

    can anyone explain why hohokus taxes are lower than ridgewood/glen rock/allendale/midland park?

    i’m seeing approx $7-10k taxes for a property that may be 10-13k in ridgewood/glen rock… quality of schooling seems to be similar…

    dont’ smaller towns typically have hihger property taxes? i’m thinking of jumping in here…

  66. Shore Guy says:

    Despite how bad BO is, I do not underestimate, or, even, misunderestimate, my party’s willingness to reject a great candidate because he or she does not believe that the earth was created 5 or 6 thousand years ago, because he or she believes that gays are not Satan’s spawn, or he or she believes thatthe english translation of a given bible was not handed down by the hand of God years before English even existed.

  67. jamil says:

    Nom and other tax experts and/or Florida folks:

    Re “telecommuting/working from Florida, getting paid by NY/NJ company” topic that has been discussed earlier.

    After this 2007 Supreme Court ruling, is it now the standard practice that you cannot escape NY/Nj state taxes by telecommuting from low or no-state income state?

    http://www.bottomlinesecrets.com/print.html?article_id=42354
    “Recent case: Thomas Huckaby lived in Tennessee, where there was no state income tax on wages. He worked as a computer programmer for an employer located in New York City, which, along with New York state, has a high income tax. He visited his New York City employer’s office only a few days per year, working the rest of the time from his home office.

    New York state said it could tax 100% of Huckaby’s earned income because the income came from New York sources — and the US Supreme Court let this ruling stand.”

  68. Kettle1^2 says:

    That’s going to leave a mark!!!

    * TOYOTA SAYS WILL HAVE TO SHUT DOWN N. AMERICAN FACTORIES
    * TOYOTA SAYS SHUTDOWNS MAY AFFECT 25,000 WORKERS

  69. Shore Guy says:

    Ford must be gleeful.

  70. spyderjacks says:

    I’ve mixed feelings about that. I respect them for taking the hit and skipping the bail-out. I find their auto lineup crap. Trucks are OK but I’m not building a ‘technical’ … yet. And the world’s militia’s love the Toyota anyway! ;-)

  71. Kettle1^2 says:

    Shore,

    Dont worry, McD’s is going to save us!

    NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — McDonald’s said Monday that it is planning a one-day hiring spree of 50,000 new workers on April 19 for its U.S. restaurants.

    whats the average wage for the McD’s jobs compared to the toyota jobs?

  72. Kettle1^2 says:

    Shore,

    How many other cascading effects from that little mess over in japan are in the pipeline….

  73. Kettle1^2 says:

    Shore,

    how many secondary job s get whacked by the 25,oooK primary jobs?

  74. AT&T Worldnet/Yahoo is a corrupt, criminal enterprise. Never, ever, ever make them your e-mail service. You will regret it, just as I am now.

  75. jc (65)-

    A cadre of armed insurgents, holding the president at gunpoint.

  76. Kettle1^2 says:

    Debt,

    Have the secret service ever been to your house? I would be somewhat surprised if they haven’t by now.

    ;)

  77. shore (70)-

    That’s because your party caters to a different form of neurosis-married-to-stupidity.

    In reality, both parties are one and the same: a smokescreen in front of the biggest r@pe of the public fisc ever conceived.

  78. vodka (79)-

    They better pack a lunch.

  79. Painhrtz - Cat of God says:

    Shore us secular libertarians are looking for some good folks. One of the reasons I have a hard time digesting the republican christian idiocy, they all sound so un-christ like they would make Jebus blush with their hubris.

  80. Painhrtz - Cat of God says:

    that and they are the conservative wing of the corporate party

  81. We are all corporate fascist party of Amerika.

  82. chicagofinance says:

    I posted a few weeks ago…..if pure shameless balls were the only credential needed to be President, then Gingrich would win hands down…..

    Painhrtz – Cat of God says:
    April 4, 2011 at 3:14 pm
    Shore us secular libertarians are looking for some good folks. One of the reasons I have a hard time digesting the republican christian idiocy, they all sound so un-christ like they would make Jebus blush with their hubris.

  83. Double Down says:

    “Hope and Change” pablum again fails the reality test….

    http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/04/gitmo-tribunal-move-the-latest-in-a-long-line-of-obama-shifts/

    Gitmo tribunal move the latest in a long line of Obama shifts

    Washington (CNN) – Those who have followed President Obama’s stance on which court is appropriate to try accused terrorists can be forgiven for getting a severe case of whiplash.

    After all, it was candidate Obama in 2008 who made clear he intended to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within a year of his presidency and put an end to military tribunals there – the proceedings that extend only limited trial rights to accused terrorists. Then, it was President Obama who quickly signed an order calling for Guanatanomo’s close while his Justice Department soon vowed that, in the interest of justice, Khalid Sheik Mohammed and other alleged 9/11 terrorists will be tried in civilian courts.

    But three years later – the same day Obama formally announced his reelection bid – Attorney General Eric Holder announced the alleged 9/11 terrorists will in fact not be tried in a civilian court but instead in a military tribunal at Guantanamo – the same court in the same facility Obama long ago promised would be shuttered.

    The seeming about-face might, more than anything else, be a dramatic affirmation of the old axiom, “You campaign in poetry, but govern in prose.”

    It was a prediction none other than former Vice President Dick Cheney – an ardent defender of the use of military tribunals – made shortly into Obama’s presidency:

    “I think the president will find, upon reflection, that to bring the worst of the worst terrorists inside the United States would be cause for great danger and regret in the years to come,” he said during a speech to the American Enterprise Institute in 2009.

    So what exactly did candidate Obama say in 2008 when it came to trying accused terrorists?

    First, he was going to close Guantanamo, calling it an ineffective “legal black hole:”

    “By any measure, our system of trying detainees has been a failure. Over the course of nearly seven years, there has not been a single conviction for a terrorist act at Guantanamo. There has just been one conviction for material support of terrorism,” he said in June of 2008. “Meanwhile, this legal black hole has substantially set back America’s ability to lead the world against the threat of terrorism, and undermined our most basic values. But make no mistake: we are less safe because of the way George Bush has handled this issue.”

    Then, he was going to restore habeas corpus rights to alleged terrorists:

    “Our courts have employed habeas corpus with rigor and fairness for more than two centuries, and we must continue to do so as we defend the freedom that violent extremists seek to destroy. We cannot afford to lose any more valuable time in the fight against terrorism to a dangerously flawed legal approach,” he also said in June of 2008.

    Promising to return America to the “moral high ground” in the war on terrorism, Obama issued a high profile executive order in his first official day as president that required the Guantanamo Bay detention facility be closed within a year.

    But last month, the president signed a very different executive order – one that resumed military trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees.

  84. Shore Guy says:

    Cat O,

    I think it was Gandhi who said something like: I like Christ but I dont really like christians as they are so un-Christlike.

  85. Confused In NJ says:

    their hubris.

    86.Double Down says:
    April 4, 2011 at 3:24 pm
    “Hope and Change” pablum again fails the reality test….

    http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/04/gitmo-tribunal-move-the-latest-in-a-long-line-of-obama-shifts/

    Gitmo tribunal move the latest in a long line of Obama shifts

    Promising to return America to the “moral high ground” in the war on terrorism, Obama issued a high profile executive order in his first official day as president that required the Guantanamo Bay detention facility be closed within a year.

    Interesting, seven UN workers were killed recently in Afghanistan, supposedly in retaliation for a Floridian threatning to burn a copy of the Quaran. And “O” feels he needs to take the Moral High Ground with people who obviously have No Morals.

  86. Kettle1^2 says:

    I guess the price of chocolate is making someones trigger finger itchy.

    Reuters:

    United Nations helicopters fired four missiles at a pro-Gbagbo military camp in Ivory Coast’s main city of Abidjan on Monday, witnesses said.
    “We saw two UNOCI (U.N. mission in Ivory Coast) MI-24 helicopters fire missiles on the Akouedo military camp. There was a massive explosion and we can still see the smoke,” one of the witnesses said.

    The camp is home to three battalions of the Ivorian army.

    Calls to the U.N. forces commander in Ivory Coast went unanswered.

    These
    http://www.irishairpics.com/iB_html/uploads/post-1-93874-1248Sml.jpg
    were the helicopters being used.

  87. chi (85)-

    The only indispensable quality for a presidential candidate to posess is megalomania.

  88. Wake me up when Bojangles’ tribunal gets started.

  89. He is the war criminal GWB, in blackface.

  90. vodka (89)-

    He’s probably busy running away.

    “Calls to the U.N. forces commander in Ivory Coast went unanswered.”

  91. shore (87)-

    Chris Rock said, “I love black people, but I sure hate niggaz”.

    http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bennun/interviews/chrisrock.html

  92. Painhrtz - Cat of God says:

    Shore correct Ghandi is the source of that awesome quote about Christianity. Could we run newt’s nuts for president? I’ll get the castration squad ready, while the the imagery of a castrated, shorn scrotum as leader of the free world appropriately fits where we are as a nation these days

  93. Anon E. Moose says:

    Re [56];

    The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them. To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

    ~Douglas Adams~

  94. free ipad 2 says:

    Great review! You actually covered some curious things in your post. I came across it by using Google and I’ve got to admit that I already subscribed to the RSS feed, will be following you on my iphone :)

  95. Painhrtz - Cat of God says:

    Moose Douglas Adams gets quoted on here way to often. Which means we may have reached the collective intelligence of the dolphins. I am not a cephlapod, mearly just a hairless primate trying to make my way in a lonely universe without a towel.

  96. So What Who Cares?? (formerly 3b) says:

    #69 Ho Ho Kus: uses regional HS. They pay only for the students they send. This is what Oradell is trying to obtain in their on going battle with River Edge.

  97. Anon E. Moose says:

    Pain [98];

    You’re a hoopy frood in my book.

  98. Essex says:

    Shore Guy quoting Ghandi and ChiFi discussing testicles. Just another day on the Blog.

  99. JC :65

    Who in the White House ??
    I’ve voted Libertarian since the first Bush ran for office. When you look at the list in the Democratic Primaries that year, I mean, really…….Michael Dukakis ?.
    And yes the Libertarian candidate was Ron Paul in 1988.

    In point of fact, it probably doesn’t matter who is the Prez. There’s not much to distinguish the 2 major parties. They’ve both done significant damage to this country.

  100. relo says:

    24: Gary,

    The explanation for this month’s drop in sales will be that the weather was too nice. Apparently all the buyers have Goldilocks syndrome; too hot or too cold and none just right.

  101. Shore Guy says:

    Cat,

    Next time I tak to Newt, it only happens now and then, maybe I should ask whether his nuts are goingto join the other nuts who are running.

  102. Shore Guy says:

    I don’t mind the empty suit in chief having different views than mine or advocating policies I do not like; ehat does bother me is that he is so naive. That, like with Carter scares the heck out of me.

  103. Shore Guy says:

    Essex,

    You believe that I often quote Gandhi?

  104. relo says:

    69: Regional HS?

  105. Anon E. Moose says:

    Just watched that CBS/60 Minutes schlock. I’m all verklempt. Not the slightest tinge of irony in their presentation that CBS, and 60 Minutes in particular, are railing about document recreations (does ‘accurate, if not authentic’ ring any bells? Paging Dan Rather, your Texas ANG flight is departing).

    All these deadbeat homedebtors being dragged into court naturally have a string of cancelled checks showing they’ve been paying their mortgages on time and in full, right?

    Can we just get a comprehensive and accurate count of how many defendants can prove they’ve paid, and how many can’t or admit they haven’t? If its any more than 1% payers I’ll stand down about this.

  106. jamil says:

    “Just watched that CBS/60 Minutes schlock. I’m all verklempt. Not the slightest tinge of irony in their presentation that CBS, and 60 Minutes in particular”

    Mortgage docs are fake but accurate?

  107. Marilyn says:

    I have a friend who’s relative has not paid her taxes. She owes about 50 G, house is going I guess its an aution for the tax lien. The property is very desirable 13 Oak Dr., Upper Saddle River, ranch , big lot . My friend thinks she will get this tax lein on her relative. Do alot of people bid on these things. My freind does not have tons and tons of money but there is no mortgage on the house owner just is a little mentally ill and has not paid tax. No other liens some issues like unkept but that it on the house. Will tons of people be in this, do they aution??? Whats the process???

  108. 30 year realtor says:

    Moose #108 – We all know how you feel about the defendants. Please tell us how you feel about the plaintiffs in the foreclosure actions. Since you love Mom, apple pie and America, tell us what should be done to those responsible for the fraud described in the segment. What should happen to those responsible for creating faulty and fraudulent MBS? How do you deal with those responsible for marketing mortgages to the public like they were a big mac?

    All kidding aside, this is bigger than throwing people out of houses they cannot pay for. This didn’t happen by itself! This crisis was created. Can you acknowledge that? Do you have any sense of justice that doesn’t effect your wallet?

  109. Anon E. Moose says:

    Marilyn [110];

    I can’t help you, but your post gave me a thought. If I really didn’t like someone and wanted to harass them a little bit, I might post their address on the internet and claim that they are really far behind on their taxes – hillarity would surely ensue.

    Seriously, your friend (or his/her relative) needs competent legal advice.

  110. chicagofinance says:

    well done

    Shore Guy says:
    April 4, 2011 at 5:52 pm
    Cat, Next time I tak to Newt, it only happens now and then, maybe I should ask whether his nuts are goingto join the other nuts who are running.

  111. Anon E. Moose says:

    30-yr [111];

    You know who’s got a beef with the banks over faulty fraudulent MBS? The investors they sold them to! They’re the ones with skin in the game, not the deadbeat home-loaners. I still don’t get how giving the investors money to the deadbeats punishes the banks who were between them.

    Deadbeats bought houses they couldn’t afford. You should know that happened before the bubble, too. The solution is you get the deadbeat out of the house, you sell the house at auction, and move on. If the sale is short (and surely it will be) the investor takes the hit. If the bank lied to the investor, the investor gets to sue the bank.

    But a rational person doesn’t leave the storm cellar until the hail stops falling. This extend and pretend + bailouts has made this a 20 year storm, by duration, not frequency, and the sh!t’s still falling.

  112. marilyn (110)-

    In cases where there’s a mortgage, the bank usually buys the tax cert via a subsidiary that is well-disguised. Often, other potential bidders agree- in advance of the auction- to “stand down” and let the bank’s subsidiary take the cert without competitive bidding (of course, every tax cert investor and county clerk in NJ will tell you this doesn’t happen). In this case, it could be a free-for-all, since there’s no mortgage and a pretty nice property on which the cert holder might eventually be able to foreclose.

    It is a reverse bidding process, beginning at 18%. Might be fun to go watch.

  113. 30 year (111)-

    Don’t feed the lowlife troll.

  114. Mikeinwaiting says:

    * Monday, April 4, 5:55 PM QE2 is working precisely because it is weakening the dollar and driving stock prices higher, Paul Krugman writes: “In a highly indebted society, you might hesitate at policies that would increase private debt further, but if stocks are driving the story, the consumers now spending more aren’t the same people who are in debt trouble – so that’s actually OK.”

    WTF!

  115. This article explains why we will see QE to infinity: even in the presence of hyperinflation and virtual default. It all works until it doesn’t.

    “Less than a month ago, Zero Hedge thoroughly debunked an article written by Bloomberg’s Susanne Walker and Wes Goodman, titled “China Adding to $1 Trillion of U.S. Debt Caps Rise in Rates” which had one purpose only: to eliminate public panic arising from the imminent removal of the Fed as a buyer of first and last resort, and attempt to convince naive readers that China is in fact adding to its holdings. To wit: “China, the largest investor in U.S. government debt after the Fed, increased longer-term notes and bonds by 39 percent to $1.145 trillion in December from a year earlier.” As we showed previously this statement was based on a completely unfactual apples to oranges comparison of pre and post-revision TIC data, further showing that if the authors had conducted their analysis properly it would have actually shown a decline in China’s Treasury holdings in a 12 month period. Then in a development so ironic it would even make Alanis Morisette blush, we disclosed the very next day that Bill Gross dumped all of his Treasury holdings, pending an answer to the question of “who will buy US Treasurys once the Fed stops monetizing”, immediately refuting Bloomberg’s “all is rosy on the foreign front” argument, reinforcing our thesis that with the Fed gone, foreigners will promptly cease to co-bid alongside the bidder of biggest resort, and in essence ending any artificial attempts to make the US paper demand picture any better. Yet today, less than a month later, Bloomberg’s Daniel Kruger, in an article titled “Fed Exit Means No Pain for Obama as Foreigners Buy 60% of Notes at Auction” repeats precisely the same mistakes as his colleagues which we have since corrected, cheery picks some other data, and goes on to present a goalseeked argument to a conclusion that once again appears to have come from “above.” Frankly, we are stunned by this persistence to refute Bill Gross’ (not to mention Zero Hedge’s) factually based view that foreign demand is declining materially for US bonds, and without QE3, it is very possible that it may disappear entirely. So allow us to debunk Bloomberg’s second attempt (which we again hope is merely a function of misunderstanding of the subject material) at outright factless spin.”

    http://www.zerohedge.com/article/curious-case-bloombergs-persistent-treasury-demand-disinformation-campaign

  116. mike (117)-

    We are so far down the rabbit hole, there’s going to be no getting out.

  117. Mikeinwaiting says:

    More WTF!
    6:15 PM Worries abound that the end of QE2, scheduled for June, will cause long-term rates to rise and spark a stock selloff. The “Bernanke Put” has caused asset prices to deviate so drastically from fundamentals, Cullen Roche fears that any dislocation could cause a global panic. But as long as foreign central banks are ready buyers, there may be no penalty for bad behavior.

    QE to infinity & beyond , Oh that’s Buzz Light-year.

  118. Mikeinwaiting says:

    Clot I posted 120 with out seeing your 118, get out the popcorn & blender for the margaritas going to be fun.

  119. Mikeinwaiting says:

    Clot 119 agreed.

  120. grim says:

    From the Record:

    Atlantic City casino profit plunged nearly 28 percent

    Atlantic City’s 11 casinos reported their gross operating profit fell by nearly 28 percent last year as fierce competition from casinos in neighboring states continued to batter the nation’s second-largest gambling market.

    Year-end tax data released Monday by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement showed the casinos with a total gross operating profit of nearly $535 million. That’s down from the nearly $730 million in gross operating profit in 2009.

  121. So What /Who Cares!! (formerly 3b) says:

    #107 I believe they go to Northern Highlands (allendale)

  122. grim says:

    Sbarro files Ch 11?

    Good god, where will the american public satiate their hunger for quality italian food?

  123. Fabius Maximus says:

    #125 grim

    Olive Garden #Duh
    Let them eat endless breadsticks

  124. grim says:

    126 – disaster averted

  125. grim (125)-

    Green shoots. The American dining public has rejected simple carb-laden, ersatz Italian food for meals consisting of 4-5 measured portions of outstanding, properly-cooked examples of great regional and local specialties.

    Pardon me, while I go projectile vomit out my back door.

  126. The dead walk amongst us.

  127. Fabius Maximus says:

    Rockland is a place I look at and go WOW. Outside of all the cops and nurses, you have lots of people bussing into the city for mid level jobs. They pack the malls on Saturday. Then you get the huge Hasidic population. in Nanuet that has a big delapidated school with blacked out windows. They pack the malls on Sunday. There are areas and towns that are beautiful and there are areas looks like downtown Paterson or Greenville Jersey City.

    Also don’t speed in Sloatsburg.

  128. hoodafa says:

    No Spring Break in Housing: Prices Likely to Keep Falling

    Housing prices will not get a Spring bounce and will actually fall during the industry’s historically best season as buyers continue to wait for that elusive “housing bottom,” according to surveys and analysis by two top Wall Street firms.

    “Our monthly survey of real estate agents indicated a decline in buyer traffic in March, as buyers chose to wait for more signs of balance in the market,” said Credit Suisse’s Daniel Oppenheim, who surveyed 1,200 real estate agents from across the country. “We would expect additional weakness in pricing, as sellers will likely attempt to use price to sell their homes as the end of the traditional spring season nears.”

    It’s a vicious self-fulfilling cycle as buyers continue to wait for what they deem to be a bottom, in turn, forcing sellers to lower prices even further. Prices of single family homes fell 3.1 percent year-over-year in January to just above the April 2009 low, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Index data released last week.

    More at: http://www.cnbc.com/id/42407511

  129. grim says:

    Shut down AC, move all the casinos to the Meadowlands, right next to Xanadu.

    Fail + Fail = Success

  130. grim says:

    From the Record:

    Passaic County tops other counties in rate of job growth

    Passaic County’s economic recovery has reached an enviable, if surprising, position according to the latest available county-level employment numbers — which showed steady job growth during most of last year.

    Of 15 New Jersey counties surveyed, Passaic is the only one that added jobs during each of the first three quarters in 2010 compared to the same period in 2009, according to the most recent data released by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That growth has put Passaic County in elite company, ranking it no lower than 28th of the 326 counties surveyed around the country.

    During the 2010 third quarter, Passaic County saw a 1.8 percent increase in employment over the same quarter in 2009. The county recorded increases of 1.9 percent and 1.2 percent in the second and first quarters, respectively.

    No other county experienced a higher percentage increase, but Passaic County’s relatively small job pool may explain that higher growth rate.

    “That is a surprise,” said James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. “That’s a pretty strong growth rate over the year, and I just don’t know why. The [employment] base is one of the smaller bases in the state.”

  131. grim says:

    From the Record:

    Bayer opts to put new HQ in NJ

    lobal pharmaceutical giant Bayer AG has opted for New Jersey over New York as the site for a new corporate campus, a decision that will give the state 500 new jobs and boost the chance that a location in or near Wayne will be picked.

    The company had considered several New Jersey sites and one in New York – Tarrytown – to consolidate its East Coast business operations.

    “New Jersey is home to many bio-pharmaceutical and health care companies,” said Mark Trudeau, president and CEO of Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals. “We look forward to benefiting from the many resources and opportunities available to us in the state.”

    Governor Christie’s office said the decision would keep 1,000 jobs in New Jersey, move 300 jobs here from out of state, and result in the creation of 200 new jobs.

    Besides Wayne – the present home of the Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceutical’s U.S. headquarters – sites being considered are Morristown and Montville, where the company also has facilities.

    “Bayer’s planned investment in New Jersey will help maintain our position as home to the biggest and best in the pharmaceutical industry,” Christie said.

  132. grim says:

    From PI World:

    Ricoh Announces Realignment of Production Print Business

    Ricoh moving the InfoPrint (of IBM fame) headquarters from Boulder to West Caldwell.

  133. grim says:

    From Data Center Knowledge:

    Nasdaq: NYSE Deal Would Close A Data Center

    The head of Nasdaq OMX Group says that if his company succeeds in its bid to acquire NYSE Euronext, at least one major data center would be closed in the resulting consolidation of the exchanges’ IT infrastructure.

    As anticipated, Nasdaq and ICE today announced a joint bid for NYSE, valued at around $11.3 billion, topping the value of NYSE Euronext’s planned merger with Deutsche Börse AG. In a conference call, Nasdaq CEO Robert Greifeld said the deal would involve a major consolidation of IT infrastructure.

    “One data center will be closed, but we don’t know which one would be the best candidate right now,” Greifeld said.

    New Jersey A Consolidation Candidate?
    Which region may be affected? The most obvious candidate would be New Jersey, where both exchanges operate major data centers.

    NYSE Euronext recently opened a new 400,000 square foot data center in Mahwah, New Jersey to serve as the home to the exchange’s new matching engines – servers that match buy and sell orders and provide updated pricing information.The new data center features colocation space for trading firms seeking high-speed access to the matching engines. NYSE Euronext says it has sold out all the available colocation space in its first phase at Mahwah – reported to be at least two 20,000 square foot pods. Three additional pods are planned as expansion space, for a total of 100,000 square feet of colocation space.

  134. LW says:

    RE #130…Officer Isreal still targeting NJ license plates? Wow, that guy has made a fortune for Sloatsburg…he got a couple benjamins from me , too.

  135. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    (71) jamil

    Quite familiar with issue. Also was discussed here months ago. If you weren’t so focused on Shore, you would’ve seen it.

  136. Libtard says:

    Off to work (for the second time today) to do some meetings with the members on my graveyard shift. I hate this time of the year!

  137. Barbara says:

    Sabarros is like Ellios with some fresh basil.

  138. Fabius Maximus says:

    #70 Shore

    That sums up what I said to you last year when you called O a spent force and again when you said he would not go for a second term. His re-election should be a lesiurely stroll. Raise cash, keep the message simple and no stupid mistakes. As a candidate he is still squeeky clean. He stays on message and doesn’t get baited. The message is Heathcare reform, and pulling the country away from the brink. Iraq withdrawal and the same timetable for Afganistan. That on top of look at the party of No, is not a bad platform. Getting out early means he can slowly churn the cash number up. If he gets over 1B in cash he’ll need it as the corporate cash coming after him will be huge.

    There are a few interesting aspects to this race.

    There is only one way the GOP can make it out of the primarys with a resonable chance to compete. They need to anoint Romney as the candidate behind closed doors. and promise Huckabee Veep. Huck runs as a stalking horse picking up the early wingnut vote in the the midwest and the south. He gets through Super Tuesday, says he is out of cash and turns over his delegates to Mitt.

    The bigger interest here is the House and the Senate. The ones up for the election swung red with Bush in 2000 and then swung Dem in 2006. The GOP should have won control of the senate in November and the Tea Patry shot them in both feet. Will they do the same again. The GOP are trying to close Pandoras box and need a junk shot to do it.

  139. chicagofinance says:

    Once burned; twice shy…..I guess they are stuck and want to expand….
    http://www.hobokenx.com/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=29201&forum=7

  140. Fabius Maximus says:

    Rand Paul should be warning up for Charlie Sheen.

    “I was happy to see that Newt Gingrich has staked out a position on the war, a position, or two, or maybe three. I don’t know. He may have more war positions than he’s had wives,”

  141. Qwerty says:

    Fabius, there is a difference between running with zero record (only “hope” and promises), and running with an actual record (with broken promises and “kinetic military actions” against Libya without Congressional approval).

    Empty Suit got elected as the former, and will lose re-election as the latter. His complete failure to lead, both domestic (Gulf Oil Disaster) and abroad (playing second fiddle to France’s Sarkozy), is a complete embarrassment.

    http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll

  142. Kettle1^2 says:

    Grim 133

    I thought Fail * Fail = Success

  143. gluteus (143)-

    Corporate cash coming after Bojangles? Get the f- outa here. The bankster money that will line up behind him will dwarf what they gave him in ’08.

  144. You think Bill Daley has to face this dolt first thing every morning for the next two years because he’s a patriot, or because he likes this Cabrini Green rabble rouser?

    He’s minding this puppet for his bankster massas.

  145. qwerty (146)-

    The proper metaphor for Bojangles is Chance in Being There.

    Eerily, I also felt the same thing about Reagan.

  146. Fabius Maximus says:

    #146 qwerty

    There are two parts to running, “What platform you are running on” and more importantly, “Who you are running against”

    http://www.gallup.com/poll/146792/Huckabee-Slight-Edge-Palin-Down-GOP-Preferences.aspx

    Polls average O+5 over Huck

  147. This is the worst basketball game ever.

  148. Juice X says:

    re#144 – Chi – new high rise going up across the street from your old digs you might be surprised how many foreign languages spoken here, sometimes I think I am back in the W. Village again.

  149. Fabius Maximus says:

    #148 Clot

    They reckon T1urd Bl00som will step up to $120mil through American Crossroads.
    Banksters will gte dwarfed this time around.

  150. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    This ugliness of a game is almost over, and the victors will be college “students” that can’t spell “National Champions” without reading it off their t-shirts.

  151. Fabius Maximus says:

    #152 Clot
    At least when it was tied and bad there was some suspense.

  152. gluteus (154)-

    No one can challenge the banksters. They own the goddam show now.

    Rove is Sideshow Bob on a ten-day bender. 120mm from his Amerikan Taliban pals doesn’t amount to as much as the blind on an outside table at some shit CT casino.

  153. So the CEO of Chick-fil-A doesn’t like to open on Sundays and writes Rove a check for 500K or so?

    That ain’t even fcuk you money to Dimon or Blankfein.

  154. Somebody wake me up when Rove raises 1 bn…either by the rules or outside the rules.

    I sure as hell know I’m asleep right now, because I could swear I just watched a Heat-Knicks game from the late ’90s.

  155. Fabius Maximus says:

    #158 Clot,

    Jamie can’t dance in this one as he will have to defend “Shareholder value” in court if he does.

    Heavy lifting will be done by energy and healthcare sectors.

  156. Insurance companies lined up behind Bojangles’ healthcare swindle. How’s he not getting a bundle from them?

  157. gluteus (160)-

    Dimon will not have to defend anything. He is the law, and he’s above the law.

  158. Like you really see Bergabe and his thug minions raising interest rates anytime in, say, the next 20 years?

  159. Tens of millions of people mandated by gubmint to purchase insurance product. No quid pro quo flowing from that, right?

  160. Comrade Nom Deplume says:

    You have heard me refer to the IRS’ proctological exam procedures. Apparently, IRS has set up a “wealth squad” to go after rich people (who are all evil, ask Fabius and Clot). Well, some enterprising CPA filed a FOIA and got a copy of the anal probe, the questionnaire that shows just how far up the poop chute that they will go with a basic information request.

    http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/WealthSquad.pdf

  161. marilyn says:

    Thats supernova, and the other poster. I appreciate your answer. Honestly my issue really is that I am confused as to my friends motives? Are they to really help her relative or to screw her? In anycase it looks like either way she will not beable to buy the lien due to the reasons supernova mentioned, this property will go to the insiders either way! I think this is a good thing in this case, really my friend wants to kind of screw her relative I get the feeling.

    Its pathetic in my opinion but her answer my friend was if I dont do it someone else will, but it just does not sit right with me. I lead my life frugal, worked and saved and invested and held on. I did not look to screw anyone. To be honest the only person in life I ever screwed was myself. Thanks

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