From HousingWire:
Did HARP fail 8 million homeowners?
According to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the volume of mortgage refinance under the Home Affordable Refinance Program is continuing to decline. And in an environment of rising mortgage rates, this is a trend unlikely to reverse.
HARP, which started in 2009 and is scheduled to end after 2015, will likely close far short of its envisioned potential. HARP was revised once to allow for higher loan-to-value homeowners. The president later asked for more — much more.
In his 2012 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama hinted at expanding HARP to include non-Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae loans. The plan, which became referred to as HARP 3.0, could help more than 11.4 million borrowers refinance and save an average $3,000 a year on mortgage payments.
…
Several bills were introduced to try to make this, and other mortgage programs, a reality. They all failed.In the first quarter of 2014 the number of mortgages refinanced through HARP was 76,930. In total, only 3.1 million mortgages have been refinanced through HARP — 8 million less than the potential number of refinances.
HARP only represents 21% of all refinances, the FHFA notes.
In total, the level of refinance activity is now closer to 2008 levels.
@BillMoyersHQ: Joseph E. Stiglitz: Let’s Stop Subsidizing Tax Dodgers http://t.co/V0MUzZwJLh
“Stiglitz continues, “We have a tax system that reflects not the interest of the middle. We have a tax system that reflects the interest of the one percent… What I want to do is create a tax system that has incentives to create jobs. And if you tell a corporation, ‘Look, if you don’t create jobs, you’re taking out of our system, you’re not putting anything back, you’re going to pay a high tax. But if you put back into our system by investing, then you can get your tax rate down.’ That seems to me common sense, particularly in a time like today, when 20 million Americans need a full-time job and can’t get one.”
We have a tax system that reflects the interest of the one percent…
Seems a stretch…
[2] grim,
We can always follow Hollande’s lead. That’s working well for France, right?
Bueller?
Bueller?
HARP not hitting its goals?
Time to move the goalposts.
Regardless of not meeting expectations, realize HARP was the most successful program deployed. No other programs even came remotely close to expectations.
HARP would never hit this milestone as long as it could only be used to refinance GSE loans.
It’s not dead yet, and we may see another HARP spike coinciding with interest rates falling near 4%.
If I ever hit that winning lottery ticket . . . .
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/real-estate/homes-for-sale-that-will-astonish-you-5.aspx
our taxes go to Newark?
@ianbremmer: Share of Global Defense Spending
US 37%
China 11%
Russia 5%
Saudi 3.8%
France 3.5%
UK 3.5%
Germany 2.8%
Japan 2.8%
http://t.co/YlhCYlgGwZ
You don’t get it. When you were living in Newark, there were opportunities in this country to move ahead if you worked hard. Almost everyone made it out of newark. Even Christie was from newark.
Try coming from another country and doing that today. Whole other world out there today. Even mexicans stopped immigrating here, they have more opportunities in Mexico to get ahead. Now that makes me sick.
Just think about how tough it is today for a college graduate born here, never mind someone with no skills who can’t even speak the language. I’m sorry, 30-40 years ago, if you had a degree, you were set. Easy road to an easy life. Totally, I repeat, totally different world out there.
Fast Eddie says:
May 28, 2014 at 3:15 pm
Michael,
Dude, I would love to see you start out with nothing, living in newark, and then take your pig position.
Our parents and grandparents started out with nothing in cities like Newark and worked endlessly to guide their children to a better life. Imagine that. When I got married, I went to work the day after the wedding because we had about $250 in the bank. No honeymoon vacations. Imagine that. You get the picture? Your grandma gave you a start on your so-called real estate empire. I’d like to see you in Newark starting with nothing. The first thing I would do is get the f.uck out of Newark.
[3] redux
Wow, how about this for timing . . .
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27602312
I guess we now know how it’s working out for them.
Christie was born in pre riot Newark and he’s white. Completely different set of circumstances than the Newark of today.
Of course redlining denied blacks the ability to accumulate housing wealth as did flouting the housing discrimination laws (which didn’t even exist when he was born) keeping them out of towns where they could get mortgages. And let’s not forget the wealth accumulated by people that bought homes in white neighborhoods as the racist whites fled Newark and their property values jumped. That money was used to fuel the purchase of better homes, college educations, small businesses, etc. while our country kept blacks locked in their ghetto where they belonged, right?
[10] ottoman,
And, uh, where do you live? I’m betting it isn’t the ‘hood.
Yes the state revenue from lottery and sales tax earmarked for school spending is sent there. Suburban and exurban schools get very little. No worries, the NJ Supreme Court agrees with the “injustice” and we will not see any of it change thanks to Christie’s latest appointment. The NJ Supreme court will remain a progressive, left leaning judicial activist institution on through 2033.
anon (the good one) says:
May 29, 2014 at 8:10 am
our taxes go to Newark?
[3] redux,redux
Not that they weren’t warned. . . .
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/tax-rises-in-france-have-reached-fatal-level-warns-eu-official-8784233.html
Otto?
So all the whites who fled the riot torn Newark were racists? Sometimes you sound intelligent. This isn’t one of those times.
Anon obviously doesn’t know the difference between state, federal and property taxes. Perhaps because no one in social media ever tweeted it.
[14] libturd,
Yes, all the whites were racist. Its in the Newspeak Dictionary. Better learn it if you don’t want to end up in Room 101.
BTW, notice that Ottoman hasn’t answered my question. And I doubt he will.
Off to the salt mines early today. Besides, now that we have hit the trifecta of anon, Michael and Ottoman, I have to detoxify.
In closing, Lib, weren’t you going to post your United rant?
GDP ugly, recession?
Check Your Privilege (Holocaust Edition):
http://www.mediaite.com/online/toure-apologizes-sort-of-for-his-whiteness-remark-about-holocaust-survivors/
8- I ask, when are all these innovative billionaires going to create some jobs? When? We have more billionaires than ever in this country, and yet, the conditions have been getting worst for the avg citizen. It seems the only thing they are good at is cutting costs by laying off people and sending their jobs overseas.
I thought billionaires were the greatest thing ever for an economy. I just don’t see it. Seems to be doing more harm than good.
20 – Don’t understand, why is he still employed?
Bill Gates gives nearly 60,000 US residents jobs every year, this represents a significant increase in headcount over the last 10 years.
Amazon as well, I believe they’ve now eclipsed Microsoft in total employment, significant portion of these jobs are in the US, and didn’t exist 10 years ago.
Buffett increased total employees of Berkshire Hathaway and it’s subsidiaries by more than 6% between 2011 and 2013 – bringing their total headcount to 288,000, a significant portion in the US. 10 years ago that number was half.
Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors are giving more than 6,000 Americans good paying jobs – and he’s proven to the world that you can manufacture a product within the United States and be successful doing it.
If idiot politicians don’t kill Tesla, they’ll likely be hiring 3,000 more in the upcoming year or two to support new models and increased demand.
Elon Musk’s Space X created almost 4,000 high paying jobs and proved that the commercialization of space delivery is possible, completely changing the paradigm.
With a team of only 4000 – they were able to achieve a less expensive low earth orbit delivery than the entire Chinese space program could, with 10x as many engineers.
Facebook – Almost 7,000 jobs that didn’t exist 10 years ago. Twitter – Almost 3,000 jobs that didn’t exist 10 years ago.
Amazon most likely killed way more jobs than they created. It drove tons of small stores out of business and crushed their margins.
Facebook and Twitter I know the bars, rock clubs, movie theater owners, arcade owners complaint kids twit and facebook all day instead of going out side and they lost a ton of business plus add in all thel ost productivity at work.
You have to back out the market share he took from other american manufacturers. I am sure he canibalized some US business. For instance if instead of a Chevy Volt I bought a Tesla it did not create any new jobs. But instead of a Japanese car I bought a Tesla it did.
26.grim says:
May 29, 2014 at 9:13 am
Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors are giving more than 6,000 Americans good paying jobs – and he’s proven to the world that you can manufacture a product within the United States and be successful doing it.
Did you see the fracking article I posted yesterday? Sasol’s commitment to Louisiana?
grim says:
May 29, 2014 at 9:22 am
Facebook – Almost 7,000 jobs that didn’t exist 10 years ago. Twitter – Almost 3,000 jobs that didn’t exist 10 years ago.
Google? No? Aren’t they up to 50,000 employees now? When Google launched their IPO in 2004 – they had something like 800 employees at the Googleplex – isn’t the number up near 10,000 now? These are very high paying jobs.
Are you this stupid? You understand the risk adjusted return for illegally entering the country in a dangerous way and living under the radar better be pretty damned high, right? It’s one thing if you are Yasiel Puig, but if you did all that to stand around every day in a low rent strip mall doing nothing, it rather sucks, no?
Michael says:
May 29, 2014 at 8:20 am
Try coming from another country and doing that today. Whole other world out there today. Even mexicans stopped immigrating here, they have more opportunities in Mexico to get ahead. Now that makes me sick.
They say they’re trying to protect us from the Koch brothers, but while they’re in there…why not regulate that pesky political speech from their irritating constituents?
Democrats Push Petition to Amend the First Amendment
http://cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/curtis-kalin/democrats-push-petition-amend-first-amendment
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is circulating an email urging recipients to sign a petition for “A Constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.” To do this, such an amendment would require a rewrite of the First Amendment, upon which the court decision was based.
DCCC Email
DCCC Email
The Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court case in 2010 tossed out restrictions on “independent expenditures” by corporations and unions during political campaigns. These restrictions were codified in the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (also know as “McCain-Feingold”) in 2002.
In the majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote:
“If the First Amendment has any force, it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech.”
In response to the ruling, some liberal members of Congress introduced Constitutional Amendments to “overturn” the ruling’s consequences. Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced concurrent measures into their respective bodies in late 2011. The First Amendment is not explicitly mentioned in either measure, but the text does clearly identify “speech” and a redefinition of what it constitutes.
The U.S. Senate is planning a vote this month on a more recent proposal to limit free speech by amending the Constitution. Last week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) warned of just such an initiative by the Senate.
@BillMoyersHQ: “To achieve shared prosperity, all working people need to regain their bargaining power” -@saritasgupta http://t.co/E5Js19fOys
“Raising the minimum wage is essential to combating poverty in America. After all, of the 46.2 million Americans who live below the official threshold for poverty in the United States (less than $18,284 annually for a family of three), at least 10.4 million — or more than one in five — are “working poor.” According to other studies, as many as half of all poor families — and more than 70 percent of nearly poor families — were working in 2011. In other words, for millions of Americans, poverty isn’t caused by the inability to work or to find work, it’s caused by lousy pay.”
From MarketWatch:
Pending home sales rise for second month
gauge of pending home sales rose 0.4% in April — the second consecutive gain after slumping since the summer — signaling that sales of existing homes may pick up, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday. The index of pending home sales hit 97.8 in April — the highest reading since November — compared with 97.4 in March. “Higher inventory levels are giving buyers more choices, and a slight decline in mortgage interest rates this spring is raising prospective home buyers’ confidence,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. Despite April’s gain, the gauge was down 9.2% from a year earlier, hit by few homes available for sale and pricier properties. By region, April’s gauge of pending home sales rose 5% in the Midwest and 0.6% in the Northeast. Meanwhile, the gauge dropped 2.9% in the West and 0.6% in the South.
Nom, I did…yesterday…#59.
Also, Grim, I posted a long diatribe to Randy but it went into moderation yesterday. Any chance you could repost it today. It shows how one can easily beat the house in the Kasino.
Not following – what does minimum wage have to do with poverty?
From Stu:
2014/05/28 at 3:23 pm
Problem is, that you have to have the bankroll to play at the $5 level these days for the promotions to turn the return positive. In CP in Vegas, they have both 9/6 JOB at $25 per tier credit and 8/5 BP at same comp rate. In AC, Bally’s, the best game is 8/5 BP, but at the traditional $10 per point comp rate. There are a few 9/6 JOB at CP that are still at the old earnings rate, but I’m not telling nobody where.
So without promotion, at CP Vegas, you stand to lose .40 for every $100 played on JOB on average. At Bally’s AC, you stand to lose .65 for every $100 played.
Sounds like a terrible deal right?
To make Seven Star – High roller status in AC – you need 150,000 tier. This requires $500,000 to be played through the machines. At a loss rate of .40 per $100, with perfect play, this should cost you $2,000.
So what do you get for that $2,000? A free cruise (tips and port charges included) for two in a balcony room. A trip to any Caesars property with a $500 folio credit and airfare up to $1200 and limo to and from the airport. A $500 celebration dinner. Just about unlimited free rooms (often suites) at any CET properties. A welcome gift that you choose from a catalog like a fancy Keurig or golf clubs (usually worth around $200) . A second airfare for a separate trip up to $750. Plus you get all of these perks twice. Once the year you earn 7-Star and additionally for the following year after. Also, you get to cut all lines on the property, free parking, free concert/show tickets, etc. Then there are banquets, tournaments, free tickets for the Mets and Yankees in their catered suites. Free airfare on junkets to other sites. If one is retired, you could easily get $10,000 in return for that $2,000 investment. For me, I get closer to $5,000.
Though luck does play a role. One could easily end up on the wrong side of the bell curve though the variance of these two games are quite low with JOB at 19.5 and BP at 20.9. Plus, you are talking about 20,000 hands at $25 per hand. A skilled player plays at 1,000 hands per hour, so it’s twenty hours of play. You could play the $2 machines at CP at the full comp rate and it would take 50 hours of play, but the risk of ruin would be significantly lower.
The key is to only play when the casino multiplies the comp rate. I often get 6 to 10X comp rate offers. At a comp rate of .18, this turns JOB into a 100.64% to 101.36% game. Which means, on average, I should earn between $3,200 and $6,800 in the process. On a $2 machine that works out to $64 per hour to $136 per hour. Not bad!
Of course, if you don’t hit the royal on that $2 machine (comes around once every 40,000 hands) you would be expected to lose $15,000. Get lucky and hit 2 royals and you will end up up $15,000.
For those not privy to a basic understanding of math, you should not step into a casino. Of course, if you didn’t, I wouldn’t have this great opportunity, so forget what I just said.
One last thing…practice until you can play perfectly and maintain strict discipline. Only play the games you can play perfectly and only when the promotion’s are good. Only about 1 in 200 who seek to profit off of video poker has the discipline to do so. You can do it with any sized bankroll, though you won’t make much more than minimum wage until you can play $1 machines. Also, know you’re stopping point win or lose.
Thank you, JJ. If these tech companies are creating so many jobs, why has the unemployment been so miserable. The rate has only gone down because people have given up trying to find a job.
Plus, these tech companies are not great job producers. They are adding to the billionaire problem. They make a ton of money for the billionaires invested in them, and have a very small workforce compared to other industries. It’s great that we are heading towards an economy which replaces workers with machines, but you have to remember, you have to somehow provide a job so someone can survive. If you take away all their jobs in the name of profit and cost savings, understand you have to have a govt program to provide some sort of way to survive.
So what is the purpose of replacing a worker with a machine, if you have to now provide welfare for this person to survive. Where is the cost savings? The company makes out, but the govt has to make up for it. Now with lower taxes, where is this money giong to come from?
jj says:
May 29, 2014 at 9:27 am
Amazon most likely killed way more jobs than they created. It drove tons of small stores out of business and crushed their margins.
Facebook and Twitter I know the bars, rock clubs, movie theater owners, arcade owners complaint kids twit and facebook all day instead of going out side and they lost a ton of business plus add in all thel ost productivity at work.
If America’s economy were to move to state run rice farming and ditch digging, that would “create jobs”. The economy would also look like North Korea’s.
Jobs are a natural input to economic value creation, but they aren’t the standard by which economic value is measured. A pill that cures cancer will “kill jobs”.
@BillMoyersHQ: We haven’t come very far at all since the civil rights victories on the 1960s: http://t.co/50npPKYtV9
“It’s been 60 years since the Supreme Court struck down the concept of “separate but equal” schools in Brown v. Board of Education, but today, the majority of black students attend schools that are majority non-white. The share of black students attending a majority-non-white school today — 74.1 percent — is little changed from figures from the 1960s. Nearly 40 percent of black children attend schools that are almost entirely (more than 90 percent) non-white.”
Ottoman says:
May 29, 2014 at 8:39 am
Christie was born in pre riot Newark and he’s white. Completely different set of circumstances than the Newark of today.
Of course redlining denied blacks the ability to accumulate housing wealth as did flouting the housing discrimination laws (which didn’t even exist when he was born) keeping them out of towns where they could get mortgages. And let’s not forget the wealth accumulated by people that bought homes in white neighborhoods as the racist whites fled Newark and their property values jumped. That money was used to fuel the purchase of better homes, college educations, small businesses, etc. while our country kept blacks locked in their ghetto where they belonged, right?
Companies are only going to hire someone if it will fill a need to sustain the business process. If a person isn’t willing to expand their skills or learn another skill that’s in demand, companies have no use for you.
You can’t force a business to hire you just because the bleeding hearts demand more jobs. A company exists to make a profit, not accommodate the chubby muppets. Get yourself in shape, learn a skill, speak correctly, present yourself well, look into a person’s eyes when you speak, create an attractive resume and you will get a job.
Yes, that’s my point. The opportunities have vanished for workers. There is no point in taking a risk to come from mexico to america anymore. You don’t see that as a problem?
chicagofinance says:
May 29, 2014 at 9:33 am
Are you this stupid? You understand the risk adjusted return for illegally entering the country in a dangerous way and living under the radar better be pretty damned high, right? It’s one thing if you are Yasiel Puig, but if you did all that to stand around every day in a low rent strip mall doing nothing, it rather sucks, no?
Michael says:
May 29, 2014 at 8:20 am
Try coming from another country and doing that today. Whole other world out there today. Even mexicans stopped immigrating here, they have more opportunities in Mexico to get ahead. Now that makes me sick.
anon (the good one),
What do you do for a living?
40 – Productivity cuts both ways, don’t embrace it, and someone else will, and put you out of business, embrace it, and it means needing fewer workers to produce the same output.
What are you proposing? To ban productivity? We’d be slaughtered by other countries, and then we’d all be unemployed.
“Racial poverty figures are even more stark when you look at child poverty. Across racial demographics, children are more likely to live in poverty than adults. But with racial minorities, the numbers are striking: In 2011, 37.4 percent of black children and 34.1 percent of Latino children lived in poverty. That’s more than a third of children in both groups. (In 2011, a family of three was in “poverty” if it made less than $18,530 a year.) Compare that with 12.5 percent of white children living in poverty — which is, of course, still a depressingly high figure.”
There is an unemployment rate. Do you know what that means? There are not enough jobs. What’s so hard to understand. It has nothing to do with skills or being lazy. You just don’t get it.
Fast Eddie says:
May 29, 2014 at 10:15 am
Companies are only going to hire someone if it will fill a need to sustain the business process. If a person isn’t willing to expand their skills or learn another skill that’s in demand, companies have no use for you.
You can’t force a business to hire you just because the bleeding hearts demand more jobs. A company exists to make a profit, not accommodate the chubby muppets. Get yourself in shape, learn a skill, speak correctly, present yourself well, look into a person’s eyes when you speak, create an attractive resume and you will get a job.
you have asked me that several times and already told you. search for the answer if you must know again
Fast Eddie says:
May 29, 2014 at 10:17 am
anon (the good one),
What do you do for a living?
48- More proof. Wages have not been rising. If there were enough jobs, wages would rise. Too bad the big corporations like when there are not enough jobs, it’s leads to the workers fighting each other in a race to the bottom. Beautiful thing.
Racial poverty figures are even more stark when you look at child poverty.
I agree this is a terrible problem. The root of it? Teen pregnancy. A female having a child at that young of an age is guaranteed poverty for both. These idiots can not be saved by any safety net. They are almost entirely guaranteed a lifetime of poverty.
While there have been great strides towards reducing teen pregnancy, it is much too high in the Hispanic and Black population.
http://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/aboutteenpreg.htm
I’d prefer my tax dollars were spent helping to correct this problem, rather than dealing with the after effects of not dealing with it.
Like I said above, teen pregnancy will not only guarantee poverty for the mother, it will guarantee poverty for the child.
America has no use for high school dropouts (oh no, he said it!).
Michael,
There are not enough jobs.
There are 4,680 job openings within a 20 mile radius of Paramus alone. And this is just one job search.
Any questions?
http://www.snagajob.com/job-search/w-paramus?radius=20
Eddie, first off I so agree with a lot of your comments. Next its schmutzie! Little Schmutzie is afraid to take the appitude tests. We coddle little schmutzie. Little schmutzie has a learning disability. Little schmutzie is ADD! Ohh the list goes on.
anon (the good one),
Humor me; tell me once more what you do in the land of upstate NY.
Marilyn,
Absolutely. Not my schmutzie! :) It is true, though. Forget about the rich and making excuses and all the other bullsh1t. Just get off your @ss and make it happen. Geezus!!
Attacking tech billionaires for creating massive wealth, which has been shared by many, is a ridiculous position. The arguments being made are straight from the communist manifesto, but what else should be expected by Michael.
On the other hand, if you want to debate the economic value generated by many of the paper pushing wall street millionaires, I’d being willing to listen.
I’d love for the working poor to make more money. The way to do it is to create demand for low skill jobs. Remove tax burdens and barriers to entry imposed by the government that discourage small business creation. This encourages growth and demand for jobs…including lows skilled jobs. It’s basic supply and demand anon. If they need more people in those jobs, it raises the price of labor.
Of course, this would take much longer to work, but it is more sustainable than an immediate government imposed wage hike.
If you go the government intervention route, and force a minimum wage hike, you risk businesses buying less of it. I posted the McDonalds kiosk link the other day http://cnet.co/1jrTgHy
But there are also Point of Sale apps that can be installed on ipads that could help small businesses potentially achieve the same thing with minimal investment. The result is a reduced need to hire cashiers at “minimum wage” salaries.
So, in summary, I would like to see the working poor and low skill jobs pay more, I just don’t think government intervention is a long term, sustainable way to achieve it.
anon (the good one) says:
May 29, 2014 at 10:06 am
@BillMoyersHQ: “To achieve shared prosperity, all working people need to regain their bargaining power” -@saritasgupta http://t.co/E5Js19fOys
“Raising the minimum wage is essential to combating poverty in America. After all, of the 46.2 million Americans who live below the official threshold for poverty in the United States (less than $18,284 annually for a family of three), at least 10.4 million — or more than one in five — are “working poor.” According to other studies, as many as half of all poor families — and more than 70 percent of nearly poor families — were working in 2011. In other words, for millions of Americans, poverty isn’t caused by the inability to work or to find work, it’s caused by lousy pay.”
I don’t know what Anon does for a living, but for the sake of the blog, I really hope there are more frequent elections in Europe.
I ate at a restaurant with iPad ordering a week or so ago – there was no wait staff at all, just runners. When it came time to pay (through the app) – I didn’t tip 20% either – and why should I? They outsourced half the work to me, so it was only fair I kept 10% for myself.
Overall it was a great experience, ordering was easy, and they didn’t screw it up. Was surprised to see how much upsell took place in the app, I suspect that the iPad will generate more sales than a waiter/waitress. No 10 minute wait for the waitress to show up.
It was also very fast, with very little wait, when I was done I just pressed a button, swiped the card, signed, and left. Much less worry about someone stealing my card.
You could play games and browse the internet while waiting for your food too, which was a nice touch.
NAR: Pending Home Sales Index Rises 0.4% to 97.8 in April
by Gary Siegel
MAY 29, 2014 10:00am ET
.Pending home sales surged 3.4% to an index reading of 97.4 in March, after an unrevised 3.4% gain to 97.4 in March, according to a report released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors.
I know it’s sacrilegious to order from Pizza hut in NJ, but I like their pizza and ordering from the app is easier than calling for takeout. It’s easy to see where food service is going.
I think the college tuition bubble has stealthily popped. It seems like everyone I know sending freshmen to college in September are getting substantial
financial aiddiscounts from every school where the kids are accepted, many at schools they thought their kid had no chance of getting into.59 – I don’t get to spend as much time at fancy restaurants as I would like to Grim….being middle class and all.
But I think of the example that’s more my budget.
Quick Chek’s are poping up everywhere lateley and they all have these fancy new touch screen ordering stations for sandwiches. You customize your order, then a thermal receipt prints out with your order number on it. While the lady behind the counter makes your sandwich, you walk to the unmanned “self checkout” station, use your order slip….with it’s barcode, to pay for your sandwich, then walk back to the sandwich lady with your order slip and reciept as proof of payment and pick up your sandwich.
Pizza hut in-app ordering was a genius move.
Fast Eddie, you are right on the money.
I’m 30 years old and the biggest issue I see is those in my age group demonstrating an unwillingness to adapt to current market conditions. I, like many others, have been subject to layoffs multiple times. The first time I was let go I decided to pursue my Master’s degree which contrary to popular opinion was totally worth it. It not only allowed me to expand my skills but it also gave me something I could leverage to get my foot in the door.
The first time I was unemployed 6 months. The second time I was unemployed five days. The third time I had 5 offers within a month.
There are too many in my age group looking for someone else to give them the answer. When I speak to unemployed friends and ask them why a company would want to hire someone who majored in Communications or Women’s Studies, I often hear crickets. The fact of the matter is, I was once a bleeding heart. Then I saw the light. There are many people genuinely disenfranchised but there are many who make their own mess.
[62] Yep. Moody’s never rated CDOs as being in a “death spiral”, but that’s what they’re saying about a lot more colleges.
http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/blog/morning_call/2014/04/moodys-doubles-rate-of-college-downgrades.html
64 – Heck the independently owned Chinese restaurant near me has a website that’s ipad friendly where you order your meal, get an order number and just go and pick it up. They still have a local high school kid answering the phone and taking orders but how long can that last.
re# 32 – a friend was there for that. Started after graduating UCSB in 98, and she still takes the bus to work.
LOL
#YesAllMen (or at least 40% of them)
http://www.upworthy.com/watch-strangers-step-in-when-a-man-physically-assaults-a-woman-watch-them-laugh-when-its-reversed
(Rev.) Otto [10];
while our country kept blacks locked in their ghetto
Show me one, just one, checkpoint on any road leading out of Newark.
Rating Action: Moody’s downgrades Morehouse College, GA to Baa3; outlook negative
Global Credit Research – 13 May 2014
$40M rated debt
*Declining enrollment, low net tuition per student of just $13,288 and
consistent deterioration in yield on admitted students, highlights an extremely
competitive and narrow student market.
Rating Action: Moody’s downgrades Earlham College (IN) to Baa1 from A1; outlook
negative
Global Credit Research – 24 Feb 2014
$79M debt affected
*Total net tuition revenue has declined by over 22% since 2009 with tuition
discounting rising to nearly 60% as the college faces a challenging market
environment.
Rating Action: Moody’s downgrades Hastings College of the Law, CA’s issuer and
bond ratings to A2; outlook stable
Global Credit Research – 21 May 2014
$23M rated debt
*Overall softness in the law school market has resulted in increased
competition and declining student demand for Hastings, with fewer students
choosing to enroll (matriculation rate dropped to 21% in fall 2013 from 32% in
fall 2009). The college is two years into its three-year plan to reduce enrollment
by 80 students a year, with a further and final reduction of 80 students expected
in fall 2014.
*Net tuition revenue will be further pressured by an agreement to hold resident
tuition flat through FY 2017 in exchange for increases to state appropriations.
Hastings has maintained flat tuition for FYs 2013 and 2014. Tuition revenue is the
key driver of operations, comprising 75% of total revenue.
Rating Action: Moody’s downgrades Canisius College, NY to Baa3; outlook negative
Global Credit Research – 14 May 2014
$44.7M debt affected
*Increased tuition discounting has resulted in a decline in net tuition per
student, reflecting the college’s very limited pricing power and representing a
significant challenge to increasing total revenue as Canisius is heavily dependent
on student generated revenue (90% of total operating revenue in FY 2013).
Rating Action: Moody’s downgrades Haverford College, PA to Aa3 and Aa3/VMIG 1;
outlook stable
Global Credit Research – 20 Aug 2013
$123M rated debt affected
* Net tuition revenue has remained relatively stagnate over the past five years
due to high and increasing discount rates (39.8% in FY 2012) in part due to the college’s need-blind financial aid strategy. Net tuition revenue, the college’s
largest revenue source, was unable to offset declines in endowment draws, further
stressing operating performance.
Rating Action: Moody’s downgrades Dowling College, NY to Ca; outlook negative
Global Credit Research – 10 Mar 2014
$13.1 M of debt affected
*Severe and ongoing declines in enrollment will challenge the college’s ability
to restore financial stability. Fall 2013 enrollment of 2,438 FTE (full time equivalent) was down 20% from Fall 2012 and total enrollment has declined 45% from fall 2009 enrollment of 4,435 FTE.
Rating Action: Moody’s downgrades Central College, IA to Ba2; outlook negative
Global Credit Research – 13 Nov 2013
$62M of rated debt
*Stability in enrollment is a key credit concern given that 82% of operating
revenues, as measured by Moody’s, are derived from student charges. Overall
enrollment losses (15% since fall 2011) and rapid increase of tuition discounting
(49% in FY 2013 compared to 42% in FY 2009) have resulted in stagnant net tuition
revenue over the last four years.
Rating Action: Moody’s downgrades St. Joseph’s College, NY to Baa3 from Baa1;
outlook negative
Global Credit Research – 24 Feb 2014
$26.5M debt affected
*The significant deterioration of cash and investments within the last two
years reduces the college’s financial flexibility. The use of investments to fund
capital and operating deficits contributed to a 36% decline in cash and
investments from fiscal years 2011-2013, to $37 million.
Rating Action: Moody’s downgrades Rollins College, FL bonds to A2; outlook
stable
Global Credit Research – 05 Feb 2014
College has $132.6M rated debt
*Rollins recent trend of thinning operating cash flow performance continued in
FY 2013 as operating revenue fell
2.2% and expenses increased 2.6%. The resulting cash flow margin of 8.7% is much
lower than earlier years and
supported debt service coverage by a thin 1.05 times.
*Key competitors include both wealthier private institutions and lower cost public
universities effectively
constraining pricing power. Exposure to demand for graduate business school
degrees has led to recent declines
in net tuition revenue.
So coming out of the cold just to post a rebuttal to Anon the Idiot
In 2011, 37.4 (62.6% don’t) percent of black children and 34.1 (65.9% don’t) percent of Latino children lived in poverty.
Contrary to popular belief not everyone can be a winner
Also Michael this one is for you, if people who don’t speak the language like Latinos have it so rough (which they don’t) how do you account for Indians, Africans, middle Easterners, and Asians who come to this country and do quite well for themselves.
going back to lurking it is easier on the soul
Michael [21];
Not to dispute what Grim posted about new jobs, I will say that incentives matter. When the prevaling political party pushes policies to make it vastly more expensive to hire people (Obamacare, $15 minimum wage, just to name two…) suprise, surprise, you get less people hired. Imagine that, supply/demand and Adam Smith, STILL right 235 years later.
This is why the new fad metric for companies is revenue per employee — because employees are expensive luxuries. Like with any ratio, you can make it look better by increasin the numerator, or decreasing the denominator. Why do you think its impossible to get a human being for support from Goggle, eBay, FB, etc.?
I spend quite a bit of my time working with companies to deploy self-service solutions, whether those be via web or phone, and now more regularly via mobile app – and still other solutions – that let me know the information I need, before I need to contact you to ask for it.
Contrary to what a large number of folks think, not everyone wants to deal with another person, and more often than not folks are opting for the self-service alternative.
Great example is the United App and the United Kiosk at the airport, I generally don’t need to wait in lines, wait on hold, or deal with an angry idiot in person. A couple of swipes and clicks, and I get exactly what I need. Heck, most times I travel with only carry on, I don’t even need to engage with people or technology, other than TSA or the Gate Agent during boarding.
Flight cancelled? I’ll rebook myself, thanks. Don’t make me wait on a line with 200 other people at 1am, when I can get a better answer myself, in under 5 minutes.
Had a great experience with a furniture delivery company, the night before a delivery they sent me an automated SMS asking for me to reconfirm my time, I was able to change the delivery time to better suit my schedule, got another automatic SMS message 5 minutes before the driver pulled up. I never needed to talk to someone, and I’m sure the company is saving a fortune by not having to deal with missed deliveries and reschedules.
Speaking of Google…
http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2014/05/new_jersey_employee_sues_google_for_sexual_harrassment.html#incart_m-rpt-1
A staff massage therapist from Edison is suing Google alleging the tech giant fired him in retaliation for complaining about a company engineer who made sexual advances during a session.
Elvis Gardin said in a lawsuit filed in Newark federal court the engineer, who was not identified, masturbated during a massage session at the company’s New York office, The New Jersey Law Journal reported.
After notifying Google officials, Gardin was subjected to “false and malicious write-ups,” and ultimately fired in May 2012 after taking a leave of absence to care for his sick mother, the lawsuit said.
The suit also names Gardin’s supervisor, Michelle Hocking, and human resources manager Jenny Byrn Guinan. Hocking and Guinan now work in Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif, according to the Law Journal.
Gardin is openly gay and was replaced by a heterosexual female after he was fired, the lawsuit said. Therefore, his claims are brought under the New York City Human Rights Law.
The lawsuit seeks compensation for loss of wages and benefits and emotional distress suffered from the incident, the Law Journal reported.
Google would not comment on the suit when reached by the New Jersey Law Journal.
Because Gardin lives in Edison and Google conducts business in New Jersey, the tech company, known for its luxurious work conditions, is subject to jurisdiction in the state, the report said.
Moose (73)- but all this increase in revenue per employee is evil! These billionaires are just doing it to be mean and hoard more cash in their mattresses.
Which is why lefties should be against a medicine that could cure cancer. Dying from cancer today is very labor-intensive and creates a lot of jobs. Why put these people out of work just to create new pharmaceutical billionaires and increase income inequality more?
@BillMoyersHQ: RT @mattyglesias: Paying reparations would be workable and affordable: http://t.co/1aObUmovyQ
“In his book Capital in the 21st Century, Thomas Piketty shows that in the decade before the civil war, the total value of black people held in bondage was about 100% of national income. Indeed, with the application of considerations related to compound interest it is possible to derive figures into the quadrillions as the appropriate recompense. And that’s just slavery. As Coates shows, the economic damage of white supremacy continued unabated well into the second half of the twentieth century.”
You guys all miss my point. I know machines/technology are taking jobs. My point, which no one seems to acknowledge, is that machines take money out of many hands and put it in one. Eventually people won’t have jobs to pay for things. Hence, the welfare monster grows and grows. The tax on the rich will have to increase because who is going to help these people survive? If they can’t find jobs, they will resort to stealing. So you have no choice, but to increase the size of the welfare state. This shi! blows.
Btw, do you guys even understand what communism means? You look like an idiot accusing me of being communist. You are a complete fool for statements like that.
Do people have an opinion on Floral Park village, Nassau County?
Metuchen and Rutherford appear to be New Jersey towns comparable to Floral Park on housing market, built environment, schools, culture, and Manhattan commute. Is this wrong?
Why did teddy roosevelt, who himself was wealthy, put an end to standard oil? Why fool? Why? You are right, we should have just let standard oil own everything. YOu are a freak.
Ragnar says:
May 29, 2014 at 12:11 pm
Moose (73)- but all this increase in revenue per employee is evil! These billionaires are just doing it to be mean and hoard more cash in their mattresses.
Which is why lefties should be against a medicine that could cure cancer. Dying from cancer today is very labor-intensive and creates a lot of jobs. Why put these people out of work just to create new pharmaceutical billionaires and increase income inequality more?
Jesus, a few months ago you were complaining about the crappy job market. Now everything is ok. Spare me the bs. 4,600 job openings with millions applying. Great!!
Fast Eddie says:
May 29, 2014 at 10:26 am
Michael,
There are not enough jobs.
There are 4,680 job openings within a 20 mile radius of Paramus alone. And this is just one job search.
Any questions?
http://www.snagajob.com/job-search/w-paramus?radius=20
77 – You make it seem like the public has no choice into how this plays out. The fact of the matter is, the public isn’t just complicit in it, the public is demanding it.
The public would prefer to save $1.00 to shop from Amazon and have the product delivered to their doorstep. So what happens when Joe Sixpack saves a dollar? His local shop closes. The local shop isn’t being shut down by the evil capitalists, they are being shut down by their neighbors who no longer see the value in what they provide.
Joe Sixpack laughs at idiots who pay $200 for jeans made in the USA, instead he goes to Walmart and buys jeans made in China for $20. The irony is that he thinks he is saving himself money, where in reality the discount between the $200 and $20 will be deducted from his, or his children’s future earnings. He’s paid for it with his future, long after those jeans will have been thrown in the trash. The fact is, the $200 jeans aren’t a luxury, they are the reality, everything should be much, much more expensive than it is.
As long as the public demands a bargain, there will be someone there to offer them a bargain.
Demand made in USA items, and pay the associated costs to procure them. Don’t laugh at Tesla, go out and buy one. Don’t you get it, if you don’t vote with your dollars, you don’t vote.
You do realize that not everyone is capable of getting a degree right? I know your attitudes about it too, screw them. I worked hard. I was smart enough. I blah blah blah. What ever happened about caring about your fellow human beings. That’s just too much to ask for in America.
scottienj says:
May 29, 2014 at 11:04 am
Fast Eddie, you are right on the money.
I’m 30 years old and the biggest issue I see is those in my age group demonstrating an unwillingness to adapt to current market conditions. I, like many others, have been subject to layoffs multiple times. The first time I was let go I decided to pursue my Master’s degree which contrary to popular opinion was totally worth it. It not only allowed me to expand my skills but it also gave me something I could leverage to get my foot in the door.
The first time I was unemployed 6 months. The second time I was unemployed five days. The third time I had 5 offers within a month.
There are too many in my age group looking for someone else to give them the answer. When I speak to unemployed friends and ask them why a company would want to hire someone who majored in Communications or Women’s Studies, I often hear crickets. The fact of the matter is, I was once a bleeding heart. Then I saw the light. There are many people genuinely disenfranchised but there are many who make their own mess.
Grim – Joe Sixpack can buy American Jeans too for around $20 he is just too stupid and lazy to look for them.
http://www.texasjeans.com/category.cfm?parent=men
For example, I think a fair price for a USA made iPhone would be somewhere around $1,500-2,000, and I would pay it.
I remember paying the inflation adjusted equivalent of $5,000 for an desktop computer in the late 80s. Given the comparative improvements, to get so much more for less than half the price? This is a bargain.
Grim [74];
Self-serve is OK if they let the customer actually serve themselves. The real people are often able to actually serve customers/solve problems in ways they don’t allow the customer to do.
I was living in Rochester, and flying US Air frequently on their e-saver weekend tickets. Same ticket, safe fare, every three weeks or so, I knew the drill and booked by phone early AM Wed when the e-mails were released to get my preferred flights. This was before they charged an extra fee for the privilege of buying your ticket from a person.
One morning, the ticket total for the same fare is inexplicably some dollars more than I has been the last several times I booked. I asked about it. I was told there were fees and taxes added to the base fare. I said I knew all that, but even so, this total was higher than I’d paid on the same fare very recently, and why the change? The phone agent’s answer was “Do you want the ticket or not!” I bought the ticket, gave him credit card nos., transacton presumably concluded normally. After I wrote my E-Ticket number, I said “Now I want to speak to your supervisor.” The agent hung up the line.
I had to get to class/work, etc., and didn’t pursue it further, thinking I already had my e-ticket, right? I got to the gate for a 6:00 AM flight that Saturday, and it turns out the SOB on the phone not only hung up on me, but cancelled my ticket. I was on the phone with my credit card to check the status of the charge, etc. My “self-serve” options at that point would have been to buy another ticket at walk-up price.
The gate agent heard what I had to say, could tell that I was furious with USAir, and took my credit card and booked me on the spot at the weekender fare. That guy made a friend (I brought him a bottle of M&R next time I flew) and kept a customer for his company. I doubt the self-serve system would have sold me that ticket at that price at that time.
Nassau [78];
I lived in FP for about 9 years, last 2010. E-mail any questions offline to john (underscore) doebinski (at) yahoo.
A lot people seem to be blind to the fact that other countries compete with us and will gladly stab us in the back multiple times.
grim says:
May 29, 2014 at 10:17 am
40 – Productivity cuts both ways, don’t embrace it, and someone else will, and put you out of business, embrace it, and it means needing fewer workers to produce the same output.
What are you proposing? To ban productivity? We’d be slaughtered by other countries, and then we’d all be unemployed.
Floral Park is a great little town even better if you are in the village and walking distance to the train.
But what do you mean by culture? Floral Park has culture?
78.Nassau says:
May 29, 2014 at 12:36 pm
Do people have an opinion on Floral Park village, Nassau County?
Metuchen and Rutherford appear to be New Jersey towns comparable to Floral Park on housing market, built environment, schools, culture, and Manhattan commute. Is this wrong?
@NinaLisss:
Not surprising: Google staff is only 30% women and 2% black
http://t.co/vzmlzmge7s http://t.co/ys2YlYQKbl
grim says:
May 29, 2014 at 9:32 am
Google? No? Aren’t they up to 50,000 employees now? When Google launched their IPO in 2004 – they had something like 800 employees at the Googleplex – isn’t the number up near 10,000 now? These are very high paying jobs.
“These numbers are driven, in part, by the heavy reliance of tech companies on the H-1B visa program, which allows US firms to import up to 65,000 foreign workers each year to fill jobs that require “specialized knowledge.” In 2012, more than 40 percent of the H-1B workers in the United States came from India, China, or South Korea. Many of them earn less money for comparable jobs than their American counterparts, which is perhaps one reason why major tech firms have lobbied furiously in Washington to increase the H-1B visa cap.”
Not surprising: Google staff is only 30% women and 2% black.
Why? Is 2% black too high?
Google staff is only 30% women and 2% black
Numbers are almost perfectly in-line with demographics and statistics of recent STEM graduates and current college enrollment.
Are you implying that Google is racist and sexist? Or are colleges racist or sexist? Or are females and minorities simply less interested in studying STEM and Comp Sci?
Some of the best engineers I’ve ever worked with were non-white females.
I blame parents for enabling and reinforcing gender-role stereotypes.
#59…guarantee correct info, no one forgets specials, all upsells are presented……
* of course I forget, based upon airlines, there will be a day when your surf and turf dinner is incorrectly programmed at $1.99!!
Computer science has always been a predominantly male enterprise, and not because it was some kind of old boys club. Most comp sci nerds would have loved nothing more to be in close proximity to a female who shares an iota of interest in the same subjects that they do. My own theory is that it has more to do with the higher prevalence of Aspergers or “near”-Aspergers in males versus females. Some of the best guys I’ve ever worked with would probably pass a diagnosis with flying colors.
Grim, it’s not that simple. The reason Americans are looking for cheap products is because their wages dictate it. The low wage worker is in a corner getting jumped by everyone. They can’t afford to shop anywhere else but wal-mart.
grim says:
May 29, 2014 at 12:43 pm
77 – You make it seem like the public has no choice into how this plays out. The fact of the matter is, the public isn’t just complicit in it, the public is demanding it.
The public would prefer to save $1.00 to shop from Amazon and have the product delivered to their doorstep. So what happens when Joe Sixpack saves a dollar? His local shop closes. The local shop isn’t being shut down by the evil capitalists, they are being shut down by their neighbors who no longer see the value in what they provide.
Joe Sixpack laughs at idiots who pay $200 for jeans made in the USA, instead he goes to Walmart and buys jeans made in China for $20. The irony is that he thinks he is saving himself money, where in reality the discount between the $200 and $20 will be deducted from his, or his children’s future earnings. He’s paid for it with his future, long after those jeans will have been thrown in the trash. The fact is, the $200 jeans aren’t a luxury, they are the reality, everything should be much, much more expensive than it is.
As long as the public demands a bargain, there will be someone there to offer them a bargain.
Demand made in USA items, and pay the associated costs to procure them. Don’t laugh at Tesla, go out and buy one. Don’t you get it, if you don’t vote with your dollars, you don’t vote.
#96..I think some circular reasoning or something is going on there….bottom line, whether fair or not or like it or not we are in a global marketplace for goods, services and workers. You need to take pro-active actions to be positioned. I tell my college kid to keep in mind impact of outsourcing/globalization….right now client facing is better than cubicle dwelling, don’t know what will be rules in future, but things change from a global perspective..
30% of Google’s employees are Asian, so anyone has a problem with representation it is not because of whitey since the California workforce is what 7% black, so their 5% was stolen by the Asians.
So take it up with the Asians. Heck some of those guys are darker than many people of African decent.
The low wage worker is in a corner getting jumped by everyone.
Solution: Do something that will increase your income. How many times do we have to say it? Stop looking for someone or some government to take you by the hand. Holy sh1t!
Now that explains why I need to squint my eyes to read my smartphone
Juice Box says:
May 29, 2014 at 1:21 pm
30% of Google’s employees are Asian, so anyone has a problem with representation it is not because of whitey since the California workforce is what 7% black, so their 5% was stolen by the Asians.
So take it up with the Asians. Heck some of those guys are darker than many people of African decent.
“You do realize that not everyone is capable of getting a degree right? I know your attitudes about it too, screw them.”
My dad had some good advise for me growing up:
You either work with your brains or you work with your back. Either way you are going to work hard so if you work with your back make sure you are the person in the best shape and most motivated to complete the most menial tasks and work your way up as you got older. There is no such thing as a 60 year old healthy ditch digger.
There is only one way to get out of the ditch, work hard and be motivated. No gubbmint intervention or program is going to change that. I do not know why you do not understand this point.
It’s a pretty well known fact in these parts that I work for the bad guy, an oursourcer with significant offshore presence, we are in the top largest globally, and we’re in the top 5 in our sub-industry, we have more employees than Google.
I’ve been in this business for almost 18 years now. I’ve seen successes, I’ve seen failures, I’ve seen markets explode, and then implode. I’ve seen companies come to us in desperation, and I’ve had the honor of working with startups that have gone stratospheric. I’ve seen small towns and small economies decimated, I’ve seen third-world cities grow skyscrapers like weeds. I’ve seen companies repatriate jobs to the US, and I’ve seen companies push further into desolate areas to save a few dollars.
Every day there are tens of thousands of very smart folks, like me, who are focused on how to do your job better than you can, for less money, regardless of where it gets done. And believe me when I say, your boss would rather talk to me … than you.
Engineering is a low paying boring job which mainly nerdy geek guys go into. Also out on Long Island all the Engineering jobs started leaving in the 1970s and barely any left which means you daughter will most likely move out of state.
My niece graduated a top notch engineering school and got a job in some god foresaken corner of PA and recently got engaged to a male nerdy engineer who works with her who is a Eagles fan, yuck. Engineers dont make a ton of money and both still have student loans so both plain on working their entire careers. Kids when they come will be shoved in day care. The Mom basically loses her daughter and will have almost no interaction with the grandkids. Why would parents want their daughters doing engineering?
Best Job for Girls hands down, dont laugh is working in Financial Services in the Big Four as a CPA.
You are hot, a CPA and have a masters and at 23 you get to do the walk throughs and stuff at Goldman, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley in places full of 25-35 year old single traders and bankers, meanwhile back at the office the 25-35 year old male managers and senior managers who ae go getters are on verge of making Partner and they all want to date you and living in Manhattan with roomates and traveling for work. Pretty much you have rich good looking guys everywhere. Plus big 4 desperate to promote women so better chance for Partner than a man
In my big four firm one year I had a women Partner as a mentor and she told me the Women Partners had a joke
Q. What do you call a 40 year old Female Big Four Partner
A. A Failure
She was busting her butt as a 50 year old Partner never having fun or time to spend the money. Meanwhile the Senior Male Partners all had pretty stay at home wives who played Tennis, had a pool in yard and a Nanny. She was like when I made Manager at 27 I should have grabbed myself one of the Fresh new Partners and jumped off the rat race.
92.grim says:
May 29, 2014 at 12:58 pm
Google staff is only 30% women and 2% black
Numbers are almost perfectly in-line with demographics and statistics of recent STEM graduates and current college enrollment.
Are you implying that Google is racist and sexist? Or are colleges racist or sexist? Or are females and minorities simply less interested in studying STEM and Comp Sci?
Some of the best engineers I’ve ever worked with were non-white females.
I blame parents for enabling and reinforcing gender-role stereotypes.
Thank god I was born incredibily good looking and hung like a donkey. But I do hear ugly people have these sorts of problems
101.All Hype says:
May 29, 2014 at 1:51 pm
“You do realize that not everyone is capable of getting a degree right? I know your attitudes about it too, screw them.”
My dad had some good advise for me growing up:
You either work with your brains or you work with your back. Either way you are going to work hard so if you work with your back make sure you are the person in the best shape and most motivated to complete the most menial tasks and work your way up as you got older. There is no such thing as a 60 year old healthy ditch digger.
#102 and #103..pure gold!
[92] grim – How many of these were not Asian? From my own experience I’d say the answer is zero.
Some of the best engineers I’ve ever worked with were non-white females.
[104] JJ – Methinks thou doth protest too much. Alas, the Irish curse.
Thank god I was born incredibily[sic] good looking and hung like a donkey. But I do hear ugly people have these sorts of problems
103- JJ, you are the man. You are so on pt!!
108- JJ, it’s amazing how the people on this board think getting rich is only about working hard and being smart. They are lost.
So you are one of the pricks that are making it good for the big guy and screwing everyone else. Thanks! lol just busting balls.
grim says:
May 29, 2014 at 1:54 pm
It’s a pretty well known fact in these parts that I work for the bad guy, an oursourcer with significant offshore presence, we are in the top largest globally, and we’re in the top 5 in our sub-industry, we have more employees than Google.
I’ve been in this business for almost 18 years now. I’ve seen successes, I’ve seen failures, I’ve seen markets explode, and then implode. I’ve seen companies come to us in desperation, and I’ve had the honor of working with startups that have gone stratospheric. I’ve seen small towns and small economies decimated, I’ve seen third-world cities grow skyscrapers like weeds. I’ve seen companies repatriate jobs to the US, and I’ve seen companies push further into desolate areas to save a few dollars.
Every day there are tens of thousands of very smart folks, like me, who are focused on how to do your job better than you can, for less money, regardless of where it gets done. And believe me when I say, your boss would rather talk to me … than you.
Dude, we are human beings. We are a species that is powerful because we can work together. Quit the lone survivor mentality. This world wasn’t built by individuals, it was built by groups. I know i know, you got yours, who cares about anyone else.
Fast Eddie says:
May 29, 2014 at 1:40 pm
The low wage worker is in a corner getting jumped by everyone.
Solution: Do something that will increase your income. How many times do we have to say it? Stop looking for someone or some government to take you by the hand. Holy sh1t!
Michael [96];
Oh, BS. Everyone wants a deal. $20 jeans instead of $200 jeans means I can go out to eat twice more. I don’t know what world you’re living in, but here in reality, its not that way.
Right. It’s more about working smart and getting hard.
Michael says:
May 29, 2014 at 2:19 pm
108- JJ, it’s amazing how the people on this board think getting rich is only about working hard and being smart. They are lost.
So you are one of the pricks that are making it good for the big guy and screwing everyone else.
Correct, so when I say that a high school dropout is useless to American society, believe me.
So you are saying that corporations are selling out america by moving their jobs overseas in exchange for lower prices?
My point that I keep making, and that no one seems to respond to, is that the end result is a huge welfare state for America. How else are these people going to survive, if we keep shipping their jobs away. Eventually they won’t be able to afford the cheap prices, they won’t be able to afford anything. Then what? 47% of american’s don’t pay an income tax already, what happens when it hits 70%? Going to have to listen to the 30% of the population that actually makes money, complain about having to give it all away in taxes.
Anon E. Moose says:
May 29, 2014 at 2:34 pm
Michael [96];
Grim, it’s not that simple. The reason Americans are looking for cheap products is because their wages dictate it. The low wage worker is in a corner getting jumped by everyone. They can’t afford to shop anywhere else but wal-mart.
Oh, BS. Everyone wants a deal. $20 jeans instead of $200 jeans means I can go out to eat twice more. I don’t know what world you’re living in, but here in reality, its not that way.
The Immigrant Advantage
By ANAND GIRIDHARADASMAY 24, 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/opinion/sunday/the-immigrant-advantage.html?_r=0
IF you want to die a successful American, especially in the heartland, it helps to be born abroad.
Statistics show that if you are born elsewhere and later acquire American citizenship, you will, on average, earn more than us native-borns, study further, marry at higher rates and divorce at lower rates, fall out of the work force less frequently and more easily dodge poverty.
What’s curious is where this immigrant advantage is most pronounced. In left-leaning, coastal, cosmopolitan America, native-borns seem well groomed by their families, schools and communities to keep up with foreign-borns. It’s in the right-leaning “Walmart America” where foreigners have the greatest advantage.
From Mississippi to West Virginia to Oklahoma, native-borns are struggling to flourish on a par with foreign-born Americans. In the 10 poorest states (just one on the East or West Coast: South Carolina), the median household of native-borns earns 84 cents for every $1 earned by a household of naturalized citizens, compared with 97 cents for native-borns in the richest (and mostly coastal) states, according to Census Bureau data. In the poorest states, foreign-borns are 24 percent less likely than native-borns to report themselves as divorced or separated, but just 3 percent less likely in the richest states. In the poorest states, foreign-borns are 36 percent less likely than native-borns to live in poverty; the disparity collapses to about half that in wealthier states like New Jersey and Connecticut.
What would Bebo say?
I agree, street. That’s my point. WE NEED SMALL BUSINESS, NOT SUPER CORPORATIONS. You guys keep defending the wal-marts and home depots. I hate them. Bring back small business!!! The big corporations have lobbied the govt into taking away their competition. Small business is dead, hence, the middle class is dead. The middle class’s death march has nothing to do with anything, but the lost of small business in America. I’m not against business, I’m just against the monsters we have created in our economy. They are destroying everything except for the chosen few who benefit from these monsters. I am not a communist. I believe in ownership and a capitalist system. I just don’t believe in a pure capitalist system. It’s destructive. Because a few people end up with everything.
Street Justice says:
May 29, 2014 at 10:42 am
I’d love for the working poor to make more money. The way to do it is to create demand for low skill jobs. Remove tax burdens and barriers to entry imposed by the government that discourage small business creation. This encourages growth and demand for jobs…including lows skilled jobs. It’s basic supply and demand anon. If they need more people in those jobs, it raises the price of labor.
Of course, this would take much longer to work, but it is more sustainable than an immediate government imposed wage hike.”
118
Well WTF took you so long to read? … Brian (Street Justice) has said those words almost verbatim for weeks now.
This just in, red meat for anon and Michael.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101713801#_gus
Why? Because the narrative that will emerge is that the down quarter can be blamed on Global Warming. Why? Because two weeks ago, Jay Carney said that the cold weather was the result of global warming. And this bad quarter is the result of cold weather.
See? You have another weapon in which to fight global warming: It causes cold weather and that is bad for the economy.
Seriously, Rachel Maddow is probably already salivating over this so you should snap it up.
Vote for President Biden!!! Bush without all the warmongering!
http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/29/technology/innovation/biden-china-innovation/index.html
Grim (102)
I don’t consider you the bad guy. You’re facilitating economic progress. People who don’t like outsourcing would also have to say it would be better if we paid $120 per lawn mowed to unionized landscaping technicians.
See what a guy from the Ayn Rand Institute had to say about the topic (you even got a callout in paragraph 8). Some of the better minds on this board have already said much the same as the author of this essay.
http://ari.aynrand.org/issues/government-and-business/capitalism/To-Outsource-or-to-Stagnate
To Outsource or to Stagnate?
by Onkar Ghate | August 01, 2004 | OC Register
Share
A free society requires and rewards individuals who are active-minded, forward-looking, keen to better themselves. A society moving towards state control of the economy requires and rewards individuals who want tranquility, passivity, lethargy. In the debate about the legitimacy of “outsourcing” white-collar jobs to foreign countries, you must decide on which side you stand.
The opponents of “outsourcing” white-collar jobs eagerly present it as an unprecedented, catastrophic phenomenon. The facts belie this. Economists estimate that roughly 100,000 white-collar jobs “move” offshore annually. This figure excludes new jobs created in the United States because of the increased economic efficiency and is in the context of a U.S. economy of some 140 million jobs, in which 15 million unneeded jobs are eliminated annually, with even more created. Moreover, for decades U.S. companies (and the U.S. economy) have thrived by hiring manufacturing and agricultural workers abroad. We are witnessing but a normal evolution of specialization and trade, cornerstones of American prosperity.
Why then the heated opposition?
Observe that whatever the particular forces that lead American businesses to hire foreign workers — be it a Coca Cola expanding into new markets in Asia, an HP manufacturing products more cheaply in Singapore, or an Intel hiring superior engineers in India — the fundamental reason they do so is to grow. They seek to increase sales and profits.
This is the nature of a free society: economically, it does not stand still, it advances. It demands the same of its citizens.
When Henry Ford introduced mass production of the automobile in the early 1900s, he changed transportation. This inevitably caused disruptions. The days of the horse and buggy were numbered. But those in the dying industry who chose to face the reality of Ford’s advance, whether a business owner who learned to produce gasoline instead of buggies or a worker who learned to repair automobile engines, prospered.
Later, when men like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Michael Dell ushered in the personal computer revolution, almost no industry was unaffected. The businesses and employees that embraced the new invention, a retailer that computerized its inventory or a worker who learned to program a computer, prospered.
Today, as businesses hire white-collar workers abroad, similar opportunities will abound for those ready to change and grow. As in earlier eras, the capital accumulation made possible by the increased efficiency and specialization at American companies will fuel demand for employees with new skills, such as managers able to integrate a company’s activities across countries and cultures.
It should not be surprising, for instance, that from 1991 to 2001, 2,500 U.S. multinational corporations added 2.8 million foreign jobs and 5.5 million new U.S. jobs (the latter above the average U.S. employee growth rate for the period), or that 25 percent of Americans now work at jobs not even listed in the 1967 Census Bureau codes.
Those who prosper in a free society are individuals who choose, no matter how severe the change, to adapt, to expand their skills, to increase their knowledge, to grow. For this type of individual, trade and specialization — across one’s city, state, country or globe — are acknowledged as beneficial; the progress of a global economy, including “outsourcing,” is not feared but welcomed.
There are, however, those who resent the growth that a free society demands. Typically, they pursue one of two courses of action. Either they simply cling to the old way of doing things, like a manufacturer who claims that if horse buggies were good enough for our forefathers, they should be good enough for us. Or they cry for governmental protection — and demand that the government restrict the cotton gin, steam engine, automobile, locomotive, Japanese imports, factory automation, etc.
This last is the opponent of “outsourcing.” He does not advance even a semi-cogent economic argument, as economists have pointed out repeatedly. But he does resent the fact that his life has been or may be disrupted by the freedom of other people advancing their interests — that others’ progress may require him to grow or be left behind. So in an attempt to freeze reality, the opponent of “outsourcing” demands that the government forcibly restrain the success of his fellow citizens — by restricting them from dealing abroad.
Unscrupulous politicians then pander to this backward mentality. Thirty-five state legislatures have introduced “anti-outsourcing” legislation. John Kerry denounces management as “Benedict Arnold CEOs” — even though the CEOs are being quintessentially American in pursuing their (and their shareholder’s) happiness.
The demands of the “anti-outsourcers” must be rejected; there is no right to stagnation. But there remains nevertheless one thing to ask of our government.
Some companies are moving offshore because they find greater economic freedom there. Don’t demand that they be prevented from relocating or hiring foreign workers; that would just further restrict freedom in America. Demand instead that the government rescind the plethora of regulations — from workers’ compensation to Social Security to governmental education to governmental healthcare — that is strangling us.
We need the American solution: to once again fully embrace freedom and the growth it both creates and requires.
[115];
So you are saying that corporations are selling out america by moving their jobs overseas in exchange for lower prices?
Stop it, please. I said nothing of the sort.
Consumers demand lower prices because everybody wants more stuff, and everybody (I mean EVERYBODY, even the 1%) has finite resources. The definition of “economics” is the study of how to best satisfy unlimited wants with limited resources. Shopping for lower prices is hardly a phenomenon of the last decade or of stagnant wages. You sound like an angsty tweener when you talk as if history began last week.
Consumers damnd lower prices; successful companies oblige them. If you just can’t help yourself but make a value judgement about that, put it where it belongs.
Is there an Engineering blog I can publish my “Why Women should not be Engineers” rant?
I actually very briefly dated an engineering type. She worked in the Chemicals department of Kellog Ceral. Yep all those nasty long chemicals that went in Sugar Frosted Flakes she did something with. It was long and boring her description of the whole thing
I met her at a pary in Manhattan she was dragged too and she had a hot deaf friend. I never did a deaf girl let alone a hot deaf girl but that near impossible. No one really used email and cant call her on phone so meeting up was a pain. Anyhow I gave up and got her friends number.
So Engineers and Chemists are a little different. So I call her up as I had her number still thinking I could use her to bang the deaf chick. Anyhow she lives by her self on the East side and told me there is some museum thing going on and she is interested in checking it out, so I go what the heck it is Saturday Afternoon and I go with her. So after museum we get a quick bite to eat and end up back at her place at six pm, dead sober and it is daylight.
Now it gets crazy, she is not even dressed too nice, I swear she wore sloppy business casual loose fitting clothes and I was ready to get out of there as what are odds of it being worth hanging around. She tells me to sit on the bed as it was a studio not anywhere else to sit, she litterally gets on top of me lays me down and pulls my pants down, in a flash her baggy clothes was off and she actually had a hot body. So when I try to pull out she holds me back and says dont worry. I am like ok. so when we are done I see a rubber. I go what, where, where, how. She tells me I read about how to put it on a guy with only my mouth. I practiced a lot with my old boyfriend.
I am like reading textbooks on this topic and you and your old boyfriend following the instuctions. It was way too freeky. And weirdly scientific at same time. Dead sober, middle of day with a chemist/engineer in an apt that smells like a HS chemistry room made even me feel cheap.
JJ [124];
It was long and boring her description of the whole thing
I suppose that’s how she described you, too?
BTW, deaf girls are fun. Some don’t even know how loud they can be.
Con’t [125];
BTW, deaf girls are fun. Some don’t even know how loud they can be.
OTOH, when you’re in an entire dorm with nothing but deaf people, no one even notices.
JJ’s story makes me want to post the link to this real estate fluff-job:
Waiting to buy a house? It’ll cost you
Experts agree: There’s no better time to buy a home than now. Find out why.
Anon the amazing part was the girl was absolutely fantastic in bed. Top 5 which says a lot. She actually came down to my place the next time and I swear it was like playing one on one with Michael Jordan. Extremely odd. I mean the second date she took the bus to see me, I met her at bus stop once again she was dressed so so. I mean this time it was a Saturday night. Once again it was a quick get something to eat and litterally I need a bucket of gatorade poured on me as she sucked all the fluid out of me. Trouble she was a lot smarter than I was. When she was asking questions I made mistake of telling her my brother and wife live in city near me and she found out me and my brother go to sports stuff at the garden now and then, on way out she says I never have done this wtih a guy like this before, I only had one or two boyfriends and they were long term relationships.
So a few days later she calls me up with “good news” she says she had four MSG skybox seats in the Kellogs box and drinks and food is included to a Rangers game. I go fantastic, who is going with us. She then goes I figure we can all go together. I go who? You know your brother and sister-in-law who lives in city and us. That is why I got four tickets you said your brother likes to go to games.
I dont even know if she had tickets, but I backpedeled and said I have to check with him or something. Last I saw of her. A normal girl would have not been so questioning and smart and find a way to call my bluff so soon. Corn Flakes was never the same for me after she went into detail on the chemicals that are in it.
19 month anniversery of Sandy today!!
Speaking of crappy expensive houses, here are two that I find strikingly ugly for the price:
Check out the commencement address on this ugly house. Madam, I’ve seen photos of Fallingwater, this is no Fallingwater. This is Fallingpuke.
http://www.trulia.com/property/3156680136-170-Prospect-Ave-Princeton-NJ-08540
“With a location on Princeton’s famed Prospect Avenue, among grand university buildings and homes of the academic elite, it should come as no surprise that a Princeton graduate-turned-professor designed this brick residence. Martin L. Beck, likely a follower of the same principles guiding Frank Lloyd Wright, designed the house just a year after Fallingwater was built.”
Here, the largest “ranch” house I’ve ever seen:
http://www.trulia.com/property/3154267572-110-Daly-Rd-Far-Hills-NJ-07931
122- rags, are you for a one-world govt or are you for America? That post supports a future with a one world govt. I’m fine with sticking with countries. Too much risk for destruction with a one world govt. The power is too concentrated, which leads to major problems if the power gets into the wrong hands.
Sending our jobs and companies overseas in the name of profit is as unamerican as they come. Our fore fathers would have a heart attack if they witnessed the off shoring of jobs, businesses, and capital ( tax avoidance). Nothing American about this movement. If anything, this movement is the end of America as we know it.
131- just think about it, you are taking an american’s job and giving it to the chinese. Why? Not because it makes this country stronger and better, but rather more profit for the individual. Now this individual will move this company’s address to some island, and avoid paying taxes to the u.s.. It’s sad that you support this crap. It’s all done for the profit of individuals, not for the betterment of our country and people. Please go live somewhere else, leave America alone.
Bring up a good point about finite resources. Now, how are we employing an economic model based on infinite growth. Scratching my head.
Btw, didn’t literally mean you said that. I was just trying to make a point.
Anon E. Moose says:
May 29, 2014 at 3:47 pm
[115];
So you are saying that corporations are selling out america by moving their jobs overseas in exchange for lower prices?
Stop it, please. I said nothing of the sort.
Consumers demand lower prices because everybody wants more stuff, and everybody (I mean EVERYBODY, even the 1%) has finite resources. The definition of “economics” is the study of how to best satisfy unlimited wants with limited resources. Shopping for lower prices is hardly a phenomenon of the last decade or of stagnant wages. You sound like an angsty tweener when you talk as if history began last week.
Consumers damnd lower prices; successful companies oblige them. If you just can’t help yourself but make a value judgement about that, put it where it belongs.
for christ sake michael… come up with one suggested “fix” other than raise taxes
Talk about using extremes. Nj transit bus drivers are union and they aren’t making 120 an hour. Hell, your fav job to attack, teachers, have a pretty strong union and they don’t even crack half that.
Also, the author of the article is using an extreme example with the horse and buggy. I think it takes more skill to drive a horse and carriage, then a car. You are telling me these horse and buggy drivers had a hard time moving on to cars?
Ragnar says:
May 29, 2014 at 3:42 pm
Grim (102)
I don’t consider you the bad guy. You’re facilitating economic progress. People who don’t like outsourcing would also have to say it would be better if we paid $120 per lawn mowed to unionized landscaping technicians.
Ragnar / others,
You’re only allowed to use examples that he agrees with.
Fat man and his boys. This guy has some nerve attacking govt workers and teachers the way he did. This guy sucks. Love how people rallied around a fat politician.
Btw, it’s no coincidence that cops were left alone by fat boy, meanwhile they are the one’s with 100,000 dollar pensions and more than likely got their job through patronage. But let’s attack the workers getting paid jack shi!….lmao gotta love politics
“Nearly all of the state employees responsible for helping Governor Christie craft and promote his image — from his press secretary to the staff that set up his town hall-style events and put video clips of his appearances online — got raises that averaged 23 percent in the last two months.”
– See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/christie-staffers-get-hefty-pay-increases-some-of-the-biggest-go-to-former-campaign-aides-1.1025934#sthash.b4Yo6px2.dpuf
120hr lawn guy is not an extreme?
joyce says:
May 29, 2014 at 5:22 pm
Ragnar / others,
You’re only allowed to use examples that he agrees with.
LA House agrees to exempt lawmakers from gun limits
“One House Republican suggested they amend it to say anyone with a concealed carry permit could do so, but another argued that the exemption “does not create a special class for lawmakers; it only adds them to an existing one.”
http://neworleanscitybusiness.com/blog/2014/05/28/house-agrees-to-exempt-lawmakers-from-gun-limits/
http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=896691&n=SB651%20Reengrossed
I don’t see “120hr” within Ragnar’s post. I know reading is tough, Mikey. But try to keep up.
138.Michael says:
May 29, 2014 at 5:27 pm
120hr lawn guy is not an extreme?
Thanks for the share. Great stuff. I have stated numerous times on this board that middle America is dead, or I should say dying a slow death.
Street Justice says:
May 29, 2014 at 2:45 pm
The Immigrant Advantage
By ANAND GIRIDHARADASMAY 24, 2014
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/25/opinion/sunday/the-immigrant-advantage.html?_r=0
IF you want to die a successful American, especially in the heartland, it helps to be born abroad.
Statistics show that if you are born elsewhere and later acquire American citizenship, you will, on average, earn more than us native-borns, study further, marry at higher rates and divorce at lower rates, fall out of the work force less frequently and more easily dodge poverty.
What’s curious is where this immigrant advantage is most pronounced. In left-leaning, coastal, cosmopolitan America, native-borns seem well groomed by their families, schools and communities to keep up with foreign-borns. It’s in the right-leaning “Walmart America” where foreigners have the greatest advantage.
From Mississippi to West Virginia to Oklahoma, native-borns are struggling to flourish on a par with foreign-born Americans. In the 10 poorest states (just one on the East or West Coast: South Carolina), the median household of native-borns earns 84 cents for every $1 earned by a household of naturalized citizens, compared with 97 cents for native-borns in the richest (and mostly coastal) states, according to Census Bureau data. In the poorest states, foreign-borns are 24 percent less likely than native-borns to report themselves as divorced or separated, but just 3 percent less likely in the richest states. In the poorest states, foreign-borns are 36 percent less likely than native-borns to live in poverty; the disparity collapses to about half that in wealthier states like New Jersey and Connecticut.
That’s what speed reading will do to you. I saw “$120 per”, and automatically assumed an hr. I feel like an idiot. My apologies rags. Now you can understand my use of extreme.
I’m trying to juggle so much stuff, I might go crazy. So I speed read through this blog and try to get in posts as much as I can, in between doing things. In case you forgot, I also have a 10 month old daughter. So if my wife catches me doing things(like participating on this blog), I’m a dead man. Right now, she is expects me to spend any free time with my daughter. Otherwise, she expects work, work, and some more work. You should see my lawn. Midnight kentucky bluegrass lawn. A beauty. I tell her do you know how much work that is. I have almost an acre. If anyone has any lawn questions, I might be able to help. The amount of research I have put into it is insane. I really should own my own business, being that I have all commercial equipment. I have spent close to 14,000 in lawn equipment. Zero-turn was expensive. I wanted a good cut, and you are not getting that with a Home Depot zero-turn…lol
joyce says:
May 29, 2014 at 5:38 pm
I don’t see “120hr” within Ragnar’s post. I know reading is tough, Mikey. But try to keep up.
138.Michael says:
May 29, 2014 at 5:27 pm
120hr lawn guy is not an extreme?
Rand’s 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged was widely reviewed, and many of the reviews were strongly negative.[6][145]
In the National Review, conservative author Whittaker Chambers called the book “sophomoric” and “remarkably silly”. He described the tone of the book as “shrillness without reprieve”…,
“reviewers seemed to vie with each other in a contest to devise the cleverest put-downs”, calling it “execrable claptrap” and “a nightmare”; they said it was “written out of hate” and showed “remorseless hectoring and prolixity”.[6]
Author Flannery O’Connor wrote in a letter to a friend that “The fiction of Ayn Rand is as low as you can get re fiction. I hope you picked it up off the floor of the subway and threw it in the nearest garbage pail.”[147]
expat (62)-
My daughter got a nice bump in her grant package (already generous) for her senior year next year. We didn’t even ask for it. She also gets dibs on the best and highest-paying work/study jobs before they open them up to everyone. Word is, Hobart is also giving full rides to a handful of targeted top students entering next year.
“I think the college tuition bubble has stealthily popped. It seems like everyone I know sending freshmen to college in September are getting substantial financial aid discounts from every school where the kids are accepted, many at schools they thought their kid had no chance of getting into.”
grim (102)-
Yeah, but you have the redeeming factor of being able to make whiskey.
“…it’s a pretty well known fact in these parts that I work for the bad guy.”
Folks, I give you the post of the year (so far):
Pellet-brained Michael: “So you are one of the pricks that are making it good for the big guy and screwing everyone else.”
grim: “Correct, so when I say that a high school dropout is useless to American society, believe me.”
You tell me big guy……answer this…….
Most of the car washes around my office charge around $6-$8, and obviously the people that work there are off the books and speak no English etc……there is one place that is exactly the same as all the others with ONE exception…..all the workers are obviously local high school/college kids who speak English, but they do the exact same job……the entire the service and look of the place is the same…..the car wash costs $16………tell me honestly where you would go and why?
Michael says:
May 29, 2014 at 5:02 pm
131- just think about it, you are taking an american’s job and giving it to the chinese. Why? Not because it makes this country stronger and better, but rather more profit for the individual. Now this individual will move this company’s address to some island, and avoid paying taxes to the u.s.. It’s sad that you support this crap. It’s all done for the profit of individuals, not for the betterment of our country and people. Please go live somewhere else, leave America alone.
Car wash, landscaper, pump gas, kitchen help. Heck all things I did in high school and college. This week the college kids who returned home are all lounging in my neighborhood playing ball and working on tans. Who allowed this to happen? It wasn’t the president who signed NAFTA into law or was it?
Chifi,
I’m sure JJ would pay 16 dollars if the car wash only employs hot topless girls, and throw in a free knob polish.
anon (the sock puppet)
Tweet this, b!tch
The justices ruled unanimously that the Secret Service acted appropriately when it moved anti-Bush protesters several blocks further away from the president’s dinner table, even while allowing a friendly crowd of demonstrators to hold their ground.
“People are not at liberty to speak whenever, however, and wherever they please,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ruled for the court. “In that regard, we have recognized that securing the safety of the president is a vital concern.” [<=== Yes, that would be the very 'liberal' Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's own words… they're all statists!!]
It was the second decision rendered against protesters from a court that usually errs on the side of free speech. Earlier this year, the justices said military base commanders had the right to remove protesters for cause from designated demonstration zones.[<=== Yes, First they setup a "zone" for you to protest, then they move it or remove it. Next stop, they eliminate it.]
Lower courts sided with the protesters, ruling that the actions were a form of unconstitutional "viewpoint discrimination." Steven Wilker, the lawyer for the protesters, cited a dozen other incidents in which Secret Service agents allegedly took similar actions during Bush's first term.
Even if that was the case, most of the justices said during oral arguments, the potential that security concerns played a role gave the agents the benefit of the doubt and made a free-speech challenge almost impossible to succeed.[<=== Great, no potential for abuse here]
Ginsburg also pointed out that the Bush supporters were further away from the president than the opponents and did not need to be moved, whereas the opponents' location posed a potential threat. "When the president reached the patio to dine, the protesters, but not the supporters, were within weapons range of his location," Ginsburg said. [<=== I would say she has no imagination to think moving them a little bit takes them out of "weapons range"… but to come up with enough bull to justify this and other decisions, she's obviously very creative]
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/05/27/supreme-court-bush-protest-speech/9172707/
National security, safety, for your protection, for your own good… those arguments win every time.
Pathetic
[144] Clot – Thanks for that data point. I was wondering if they were accommodating existing students as the next year’s class gets better and better deals. When this worked the other way, circa 1985-88, my company gave “compaction” salary increases to entry level engineers in their 2nd, 3rd years, etc. In laymen’s terms: “Here is some extra salary so you don’t get miffed that we almost hired the next guy with no experience at a higher salary than you are currently at including your last, or last couple, annual raises. This puts you just ahead in money of the guy with no experience who is starting tomorrow.”
My daughter got a nice bump in her grant package (already generous) for her senior year next year. We didn’t even ask for it. She also gets dibs on the best and highest-paying work/study jobs before they open them up to everyone. Word is, Hobart is also giving full rides to a handful of targeted top students entering next year.
Chifi,
JJ would pay the 16 bucks if the car washers were all hot girls who also gave free knob polishes.
Yeah, I got a laugh out of it . . .
“A woman with a previous felony embezzlement conviction was given control of public and donated money at the University of California at Berkeley, where she is accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars to pay for her childrens’ private-school tuition and other expenses.
Sonia Chante Waters, 36, was charged May 19 by Alameda County prosecutors with nine felony counts of grand theft and embezzlement. She was free in lieu of $75,000 bail and faces up to five years in prison, according to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
Waters, the daughter of a former UC Berkeley employee and prominent Black Panthers leader, allegedly forged a former dean’s signature on university checks several times beginning in early 2013. The checks were used to pay tuition at Berkeley’s École Bilingue, a French-language school her two sons, 11 and 6, attended.”
Lgr!!! The king has come for his crown. The definition of professional. Most athletes hang it up after getting paid, he has earned every penny of that extension.
6-8 option. It’s cheaper.
Honestly, I pay 22 dollars at the two car washes I go to. Both use off the book types. I go to the guy on hamburg in wayne that sued the town. I also go to progressive in totowa on union blvd off of 80 and 46.
chicagofinance says:
May 29, 2014 at 6:56 pm
You tell me big guy……answer this…….
Most of the car washes around my office charge around $6-$8, and obviously the people that work there are off the books and speak no English etc……there is one place that is exactly the same as all the others with ONE exception…..all the workers are obviously local high school/college kids who speak English, but they do the exact same job……the entire the service and look of the place is the same…..the car wash costs $16………tell me honestly where you would go and why?
155- I go to the car wash that does a good job, I would never go to a cheap car wash for 6-8 dollars. Your car will come out with damage.
Rags: that guy is trolling us right? He can’t possibly be this stupid……I am almost certain it must be Pat……
Ragnar says:
May 29, 2014 at 8:58 pm
Chifi,
JJ would pay the 16 bucks if the car washers were all hot girls who also gave free knob polishes.
plume (153)-
No mention of punishment for the dumbasses who hired her.
“Waters, the daughter of a former UC Berkeley employee and prominent Black Panthers leader, allegedly forged a former dean’s signature on university checks several times beginning in early 2013. The checks were used to pay tuition at Berkeley’s École Bilingue, a French-language school her two sons, 11 and 6, attended.”
Steve Ballmer now has a new, shiny toy to run into the ground.
and 16 Billion still left in the bank
Transfuse the Cadaver says:
May 30, 2014 at 7:04 am
Steve Ballmer now has a new, shiny toy to run into the ground.
You go to 6-8 dollar car washes? If you do, you definitely don’t care about your car. With those car washes, you are paying to damage your car.
chicagofinance says:
May 30, 2014 at 12:03 am
Rags: that guy is trolling us right? He can’t possibly be this stupid……I am almost certain it must be Pat……
Ragnar says:
May 29, 2014 at 8:58 pm
Chifi,
JJ would pay the 16 bucks if the car washers were all hot girls who also gave free knob polishes.
is ragnar the one who bought the overpriced audi? somebody just bought one
Michael says:
May 30, 2014 at 7:36 am
You go to 6-8 dollar car washes? If you do, you definitely don’t care about your car. With those car washes, you are paying to damage your car.
chicagofinance says:
May 30, 2014 at 12:03 am
Rags: that guy is trolling us right? He can’t possibly be this stupid……I am almost certain it must be Pat……
Ragnar says:
May 29, 2014 at 8:58 pm
Chifi,
JJ would pay the 16 bucks if the car washers were all hot girls who also gave free knob polishes.
[161] michael
Fair point on car washes. I go to the cheap ones sometimes, using the vouchers from the dealer so they are free.
Otherwise, I wash it myself. Doesn’t take long and you know the job is done right.
Joyce, I’ll tweet about minimum wage to all the workers in all Diners
It is the law and the right thing to do
joyce says:
May 29, 2014 at 8:13 pm
anon (the sock puppet)
Tweet this, b!tch
On the point of car washes and everything else, my new investment focus is DIY. Not as in renovations but more of the day to day or week to week things we currently pay other people to do.
I think that some things we pay people to do may come back “in house” literally. A declining labor participation rate and persistent unemployment, plus all those kids moving back in with mom and dad, means a lot of people at home with time on their hands. Add in tapped out consumers, and higher cost of nearly everything, and the economics of DIY tilt more in favor of using the unpaid surplus labor rather than paying others (the modern-day “domestics”, a.k.a. small service businesses) with after-tax dollars. Industries that will feel this pressure are, among others, car washes, day-care providers, housecleaners, yard and garden services, car detailers, and in-home food prep. Lesser effects may be in store for more skilled service providers like painters, oil change shops, handyman services, etc.
Unfortunately, the providers that service this market also service commercial so I don’t foresee a big spike in some company’s sales as more people do things for themselves (though sales to consumers generally have a higher margin than sales to commercial).
Countering that will be price pressure on “domestic” service providers as business stagnates or declines and more of the unemployed go into business for themselves and enter those fields.
ATEOTD, I am hard pressed to identify any pure plays, and don’t see a lot of upside growth from the demographic trend.
Anyone else have any thoughts on this? New Jersey is an excellent market in which to measure this effect, if it is occurring at all.
Rags, unions are bad for the economy, period, right? Well it’s funny that during our golden age of capitalism in the u.s., union membership was at its’ peak. Now please do explain to me why the economy is doing worst when union jobs are at their lowest point in a very very long time, since unions do so much harm to the economy.
“United States[edit]
Main article: Economic history of the United States § Postwar prosperity: 1945–1973
See also: Economic stagnation § The end of the stagnation in the U.S. following the Great Depression
The period from the end of World War II to the early 1970s was a golden era of American capitalism. $200 billion in war bonds matured, and the G.I. Bill financed a well-educated work force. The middle class swelled, as did GDP and productivity. The US underwent its own golden age of economic growth. This growth was distributed fairly evenly across the economic classes, which some attribute to the strength of labor unions in this period—labor union membership peaked during the 1950s. Much of the growth came from the movement of low income farm workers into better paying jobs in the towns and cities—a process largely completed by 1960.[15]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post%E2%80%93World_War_II_economic_expansion
Bunch of theories on why the golden age came about? Which theory do you think makes the most sense as the cause of the golden age? Or do you think a theory not stated was the cause?
Keynesian economics[edit]
Allied war bonds matured during these years, transferring cash from governments to private households.
The national debt of the United Kingdom was at a record high percentage of the GDP as the war ended, but was largely repaid by 1975.
Keynesian economists argue that the boom was caused by the adoption of Keynesian economic policies, particularly government spending (“fiscal stimulus”).
Journalist Naomi Klein has argued the high growth enjoyed by Europe and America was delivered by Keynesian economic policies, and in the case of rapidly rising prosperity the golden age saw in parts of South America by the influence of developmentalist economics led by Raúl Prebisch.[10]
This period also saw financial repression[11]—low nominal interest rates and low or negative real interest rates (nominal rates lower than inflation plus taxation), via government policy—resulting respectively in debt servicing costs being low (low nominal rates) and in liquidation of existing debt (via inflation and taxation). This allowed countries (such as the US and UK) to both deal with their existing government debt level and reduce the level of debt without needing to direct a high portion of government spending to debt service.
Libertarian explanation[edit]
Free market economists, including neoclassical economists and the Austrian School, believe that the post-war boom was largely the result of free market reforms and deregulation. In his book FDR goes to War,[12] historian Burton Folsom argues that Keynesian post-war plans were thwarted by the sudden death of President Roosevelt, the inexperience of the new president Harry Truman, and conservative control of Congress. Congress rejected numerous Keynesian initiatives, dropped many price controls, and instead cut taxes sharply. Folsom argues that these libertarian policies stimulated the economy and created near full employment.
Immediate post-war policy[edit]
Propaganda poster for the Marshall Plan.
See also: Aftermath of World War II
Among the causes can be mentioned the rapid normalization of political relations between former Axis powers and the western Allies. After the war, the major powers were determined not to repeat the mistakes of the Great Depression, some of which were ascribed to post–World War I policy errors. The Marshall Plan for the rebuilding of Europe is most credited for reconciliation, though the immediate post-war situation was more complicated.
In 1948 the Marshall Plan pumped over $12 billion to rebuild and modernize Western Europe. The Coal and Steel Community formed the foundation of what was to become the European Union in later years.
Institutional factors[edit]
Institutional economists point to the international institutions established in the post-war period. Structurally, the victorious Allies established the Bretton Woods system, setting up international institutions designed to ensure stability in the world economy. This was achieved through a number of factors, including promoting free trade, instituting the Marshall Plan, and the use of Keynesian economics.
US Council of Economic Advisers[edit]
In the United States, Congress set the goal of achieving full employment, full production, and stable prices in the Employment Act of 1946. It also created the Council of Economic Advisers to provide objective economic analysis and advice on the development and implementation of a wide range of domestic and international economic policy issues. In its first 7 years the CEA made five technical advances in policy making:.[13]
The replacement of a “cyclical model” of the economy by a “growth model,”
The setting of quantitative targets for the economy,
Use of the theories of fiscal drag and full-employment budget,
Recognition of the need for greater flexibility in taxation, and
Replacement of the notion of unemployment as a structural problem by a realization of a low aggregate demand.
In 1949 a dispute broke out between chairman Edwin Nourse and member Leon Keyserling. Nourse believed a choice had to be made between “guns or butter” but Keyserling argued that an expanding economy permitted large defense expenditures without sacrificing an increased standard of living. In 1949 Keyserling gained support from powerful Truman advisers Dean Acheson and Clark Clifford. Nourse resigned as chairman, warning about the dangers of budget deficits and increased funding of “wasteful” defense costs. Keyserling succeeded to the chairmanship and influenced Truman’s Fair Deal proposals and the economic sections of National Security Council Resolution 68 that, in April 1950, asserted that the larger armed forces America needed would not affect living standards or risk the “transformation of the free character of our economy.”[14]
During the 1953–54 recession, the CEA, headed by Arthur Burns deployed traditional Republican rhetoric. However it supported an activist contracyclical approach that helped to establish Keynesianism as a bipartisan economic policy for the nation.
Military spending[edit]
Another explanation for this period is the theory of the permanent war economy which suggests that the large spending on the military helped stabilize the global economy; this has also been referred to as “Military Keynesianism”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post%E2%80%93World_War_II_economic_expansion
If you have the time, doing it yourself works. It’s the only way to give yourself an instant raise. Problem is, how much are you really saving based on how much time you are using to complete the task. It all depends on how much an hour of work is worth it to you. Someone who gets paid a 100 dollars an hour or more, should never be washing their car, that is, unless they enjoy it.
Comrade Nom Deplume, a.k.a. Captain Justice says:
May 30, 2014 at 8:11 am
On the point of car washes and everything else, my new investment focus is DIY. Not as in renovations but more of the day to day or week to week things we currently pay other people to do.
164
Great response.
[166] Michael
Golden Age? You mean that period when we were in wartime production for much of it, and for the periods when we weren’t at war, we had no meaningful international competition? That Golden Age?
Just drop enough bombs to reduce half of the industrialized world to rubble, with a special focus on our biggest competitors, and you can usher in another Golden Age.
Short of that, just buckle up and try to enjoy the American plummet back to earth. Try to imagine that you’re on a roller coaster …
#168..I read about that “my time is worth $xxx.xx” that all the time, unfortunately, Saturday morning, nobody is paying me anything, so doing my own lawn and washing my two cars nets me about $60.
[168] michael,
Time-effort and alternates enter into the equation. It won’t be the same for everyone and it takes a lot of households to move the needle. The question is whether there are enough households affected. Arguably, at our current participation rate, we are getting close to a one-earner household average.
Interestingly, tax policy wonks, especially those who opine for CTJ and TJN but who limit their opinions on this subject to scholarly articles, actually propose taxing the unpaid work done by people for themselves. While nearly all agree that the idea is ludicrous and unworkable, and no one seriously proposes taxing private labor becaue the Treasury needs the money, there are some interesting policy rationales for this.
http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1053&context=facultyworkingpapers
Now, if the conservatives woke up to this, they could argue that lowering taxes on earned income is a fairness issue as high taxes on earned income keep women (predominantly) out of the labor market.
[172] condo,
I would probably save a lot more.
But as it stands right now, I don’t mow my lawn as it isn’t cost effective. The best quote I got for my massive yard was $70 per cut. And I would do it myself but I don’t have a ZTR mower that would allow me to do it myself (tractor styles are too slow) and it would take at least two years to recover the cost through private labor.
That said, I will probably buy a ZTR for next season and ditch the lawn service. But I won’t get a snowblower and do my own driveway. It’s a very long driveway and I would need a decent machine. Based on what I spend now, it would take several years to recover that cost.
My neighbor, 65+ takes about 90 minutes to move their .25 acre property, I have this “Personal pace” Toro mower, moves fast, I am in done in 20-25 minutes. (My edging is not the best!).
#175 “move” = “mow”
You are spot on with the lawn. I told you how much I spend on equipment. Going to take a very long time to recover those costs. It is honestly cheaper to just hire someone. I’m a freak when it comes to my lawn, so I want to do it myself. I don’t trust the landscape crew to do it to the standard that I want.
Comrade Nom Deplume, a.k.a. Captain Justice says:
May 30, 2014 at 9:03 am
[172] condo,
I would probably save a lot more.
But as it stands right now, I don’t mow my lawn as it isn’t cost effective. The best quote I got for my massive yard was $70 per cut. And I would do it myself but I don’t have a ZTR mower that would allow me to do it myself (tractor styles are too slow) and it would take at least two years to recover the cost through private labor.
That said, I will probably buy a ZTR for next season and ditch the lawn service. But I won’t get a snowblower and do my own driveway. It’s a very long driveway and I would need a decent machine. Based on what I spend now, it would take several years to recover that cost.
Great choice on a standard walk behind mower. Best cut and most reliable by far. I have a superbagger to go with my ztr. I bag. I know the green movement is pushing to not bag, but I love the clean look of a bagged lawn.
1987 Condo says:
May 30, 2014 at 9:12 am
My neighbor, 65+ takes about 90 minutes to move their .25 acre property, I have this “Personal pace” Toro mower, moves fast, I am in done in 20-25 minutes. (My edging is not the best!).
the superbagger is the toro bagging mower. The recycler is the mulching version.
I have recycler
I have 1 apt vacant. I have it now advertised in the local free rag. Got about 50 calls so far, about 1/3 of them people on section 8. They all say they are now approved after waiting x years. I am overwhelmed by this. What the hell is going on? A lot of them as it turns out, are blood suckers. Some on ‘permanent’ disability. Some multigenerational. Some ‘bi-polar’. All with problems that working, any job, wouldn’t cure. They have learned to feed from the trough. No economy boost will help these people people they don’t care about helping themselves. Now, how much is that monthly check that HUD is waving in my face?
507185 854392Extremely greatest individuals messages are meant to charm allow honor toward groom and bride. Newbie speakers in front of excessive locations ought to generally our own gold colored dominate in presenting and public speaking, which is to be personal interests home. greatest man speach 478217
Appreciate this post. Will try it out.
60552 556370Great day. Extremely cool blog!! Man .. Outstanding .. Incredible .. Ill bookmark your web site and take the feeds additionallyI am glad to locate numerous helpful info correct here within the post. Thank you for sharing.. 993149
If you would like to increase your knowledge
just keep visiting this web site and be updated with the hottest news posted here.
Hi, i feel that i noticed you visited my blog so i got here to go back the want?.I am trying to
to find things to improve my website!I suppose its adequate to make use of some of your concepts!!