SNOW MY GOD

Looks like a complete bust for NJ. From the Star Ledger:

Blizzard likely a bust as snow projections cut in half, forecasters apologize

The first major snow event 2015 will still have a substantial impact in New Jersey, but for much of the state, a feared knockout punch was downgraded early Tuesday to a glancing blow — much to the embarrassment of forecasters.

“My deepest apologies to many key decision makers and so many members of the general public,” Gary Szatkowkski, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Mt. Holly, said via Twitter early Tuesday morning.

Blizzard warnings remained in effect early Tuesday for the coast and the northeast areas of the state, with Monmouth, Ocean, Middlesex, Passaic and Bergen counties all forecast to see accumulations of between 8 and 12 inches through Tuesday. Gusts of up to 45 miles per hour and whiteout conditions were still possible, as were power outages due to falling limbs. Travel along the I-95 corridor Tuesday is expected to be impacted as well, the National Weather Service predicted.

But those accumulations are a far cry from the “historic” totals forecast in some projections Sunday and early Monday, which called for up to two feet or more from a system touching much of the urban Northeast from Philadelphia to Boston.

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137 Responses to SNOW MY GOD

  1. grim says:

    My wife left for work, enforcing a travel ban seems a bit silly.

  2. grim says:

    Blizzard warning just lifted, downgraded to winter storm warning.

  3. grim says:

    From HousingWire:

    First wave of ‘boomerang buyers’ become eligible for mortgages

    The first wave of 7.3 million homeowners who lost their home to foreclosure or short sale during the foreclosure crisis are now past the seven-year window they conservatively need to repair their credit and qualify to buy a home, according to a new report from RealtyTrac.

    More waves of these potential boomerang buyers will be moving past that seven-year window over the next eight years corresponding to the eight years of above-normal foreclosure activity from 2007 to 2014.

    “The housing crisis certainly hit home the fact that homeownership is not for everyone, but those burned during the crisis should not immediately throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to their second chance at homeownership,” said Chris Pollinger, senior vice president of sales at First Team Real Estate, covering the Southern California market which has more than 260,000 potential boomerang buyers.

  4. grim says:

    (Except in NJ, where nobody actually got foreclosed on)

  5. Grim says:

    The back pedaling is hilarious this morning. News 12 talking about dangerous road conditions and a guy on a bicycle rides by.

  6. leftwing says:

    Would someone please restore my civil rights and lift my house arrest?

    News stations are interviewing any ‘private vehicles’ they can find. Eight out of ten are filled with Central Americans ‘working in snow removal’ whom have massively more experience driving in snow than I do, I am sure. Priceless.

    $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail in NJ.

    Governor just lost the heartland vote. Anyone outside a metropolitan area with a modicum of self sufficiency loathes the nanny state.

    There’s a reason Cuomo only closed the downstate counties while snow accumulations reached as far upstate as the Finger Lakes. Smart.

  7. leftwing says:

    6. CBS Morning News had someone drive to Westhampton so they could broadcast from somewhere snow was actually falling LOL.

  8. leftwing says:

    Going to throw my youngest and a couple of his buddies in the car to go snowboarding at Mountain Creek.

    Anyone living out Vernon way willing to vouch they need ‘snow removal’ and supplies so I can toss a couple shovels and a case of water in the car and not get arrested?

  9. Ottoman says:

    This forecaster should be embarrassed for apologizing unless the models were indicating one thing and they were reporting the opposite in which case he should be fired.

    As for the travel ban, few politicians are drummed out of office for over preparedness. But there are countless examples of them being voted out for not being prepared enough. Don’t like overkill? Blame your fellow citizens for their stupidity and empty lives. Imagine the b!tchfest here had someone got stranded on a train for 20 minutes. Or someone’s kid stuck at school.

  10. leftwing says:

    Fellow citizens here. Which is different than most other places. We’re special!

    Everyone gets travel bans in cities. Especially just overnight. Need to remove snow, and it is especially difficult with nowhere to put it and parked cars.

    You think a statewide lockdown because of *snow* is going to fly with the farmer in Iowa or the small business owner in NH?

  11. leftwing says:

    Are Dunkin’ Donut employees emergency workers? Dying for a large iced black and too lazy to make it myself.

  12. Juice Box says:

    Gov Christie said Dunkin Donuts will be closed.

  13. Juice Box says:

    Mass transit still shut down. They are really screwing with Wall St exchanges are open now, only way for JJ to get to work is to ride with the Guatemalans in the back of a dollar van.

  14. Comrade Nom Deplume, Guardian of the Realm says:

    So little snow in ChesCo that it isn’t worth shoveling.

  15. leftwing says:

    Haha, nice tee up. Too easy though.

  16. Comrade Nom Deplume, Guardian of the Realm says:

    My office sent out a mass text saying they were closed due to ban then rescinded it a minute later. Happy driving everyone.

  17. Juice Box says:

    Highways are sill closed, government workers are all off. Roads look bad too.

    My office is a delayed opening.

  18. Fast Eddie says:

    “The housing crisis certainly hit home the fact that homeownership is not for everyone, but those burned during the crisis should not immediately throw the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to their second chance at homeownership…

    Can you imagine the level of anger I would feel if I was bidding on a house against one of these “boomerang” m’fers? They should do time in a debtor’s prison let alone be eligible.

  19. Juice Box says:

    Lirr is still out. Looks like a good day for the Russians to cause a flash crash.

  20. leftwing says:

    Juice, too funny.

    Gotta figure twitter out. Just got rid of my blackberry.

    Like the smartphone, the ability to type by just dragging your finger. Not a fan of autocorrect though. Last night my oldest reminded me we have to hit the Javits car show this year and I wrote him a longish text on how I have become really interested in some special cars again.

    Damn phone changed ‘cars’ to ‘cats’. Two really different messages on re-reading.

  21. Liquor Luge says:

    Total dud out here. Meh.

    Another chance to day drink.

  22. grim says:

    Why do they continue to maintain this idiotic travel ban? I can’t imagine it’s enforceable, there are cars everywhere now.

  23. Juice Box says:

    Travel bans were lifted at 7:30

  24. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Unlike all the whiners, I thank the weatherman. My wife and I get to spend a snow day with my daughter. People need to lighten up and appreciate the little things in life.

  25. Juice Box says:

    So only 3 inches of snow and the Schools are all closed. Meanwhile businesses want to open.

  26. The Great Pumpkin says:

    27- My wife works at Vornado, which never gets a snow day. Business can wait a day for people to enjoy some family time. People are all about spending time building that nest egg for their kids. Instead, why don’t you just spend some time with your kids. They will appreciate that more than dropping money on them when you die.

  27. Toxic Crayons says:

    Maybe 3 or 4 inches fell in sussex county.

  28. Juice Box says:

    re # 28 – Eh? The C-Suite shows up to work then so does everyone else.

  29. Juice Box says:

    Path on weekend service starting at 9:30.

  30. grim says:

    We got 2-3 here in Wayne, but most of that was down by early evening. I don’t think we got anything overnight. Some flurries this morning but it doesn’t look like it’s anything that would accumulate.

  31. grim says:

    Almost 2 feet in Suffolk?

  32. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    In my experience, its the guys that failed as a kid are the ones that becomes “that crazy parent” on the sideline.

    http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2015/01/23/Crazy-hockey-dad-breaks-glass-with-his-hand/4581422043030/#ixzz3Pgc3fNu8

  33. 30 year realtor says:

    Tuesdays I normally bid at 3 sheriff sales, Passaic, Essex and Somerset. All sales cancelled due to weather.

  34. Comrade Nom Deplume, who needs to stop screwing around and get back to work says:

    [34] FKA,

    The absolute worst all time crazy hockey parent episode happened in the town next to my hometown in Mass.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Junta

    Fact that this guy was able to get it down to involuntary was a testament to his lawyer and his lying-ass friends.

  35. Juice Box says:

    Timelaspse of Snowpocageddon from Boston shots taken every five minutes.

    http://i.imgur.com/ILX0gmv.gifv

  36. joyce says:

    http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-spies-on-millions-of-cars-1422314779

    WASHINGTON—The Justice Department has been building a national database to track in real time the movement of vehicles around the U.S., a secret domestic intelligence-gathering program that scans and stores hundreds of millions of records about motorists, according to current and former officials and government documents.

    The primary goal of the license-plate tracking program, run by the Drug Enforcement Administration, is to seize cars, cash and other assets to combat drug trafficking, according to one government document.

  37. We’re getting hammered: http://www.weather.gov/images/box/winter/StormTotalSnowRange.png

    Our company actually announced yesterday that we would be closed today. Last night they closed Boston public schools for both today and tomorrow. I was surprised that our company closed, because they’ve never done that for weather before. They would usually rather be technically “open” even if no one shows up because that way they don’t have to pay the hourly people who don’t show. But with the travel ban, no mass transit, no Fed-Ex, and blizzard conditions forecast for all day today, they had no choice. The only other time they shut down is when the manhunt was on for Tsarnaev. I think people in Boston were kind of awed that that lockdown worked so well that everyone seems to really be respecting the travel ban today also.

  38. check out how empty the roads are up here. You almost wouldn’t know that these traffic cams update every few seconds: http://www1.eot.state.ma.us/boswebcammulview.aspx

  39. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Another sighting of “The Great Pumpkin”. Early signs of wage inflation.

    “An important measure of household income rose in December by the largest amount in nearly 8 years, signaling a long-overdue rebound in family earning power.

    Data from Sentier Research show that median household income in December rose 3.3% from the year before, the strongest year-over-year reading since October, 2006. Since those numbers are adjusted for inflation, they suggest the typical family is finally starting to get ahead, after a brutal recession and halting recovery. “We’re still not back to where we were, but incomes are coming back,” says Gordon Green of Sentier. “It’s a healthy sign.””

    “Still, incomes have been on a slow rebound since 2011, and the improvement seems to be picking up steam. Part of the reason is the sharp drop in energy prices during the last few months. Since the Sentier numbers are adjusted for inflation, purchasing power rises as prices fall. Inflation during the last two months has actually been negative on a month-to-month basis on account of sharply falling oil and gasoline prices. That pushes up the value of today’s income relative to the earlier figures it’s measured against. To some extent that’s a numerical quirk, but it represents buying power and Green says it only accounts for about one-third of the handsome December increase, anyway.

    [Get the Latest Market Data and News with the Yahoo Finance App]

    Sentier derives its numbers from government figures that include many types of income, including transfer payments, unemployment compensation and some types of investment income, in addition to wages earned from work. Wages alone have been rising at a lower rate, which worries economists since regular pay is barely keeping up with inflation. But there are signs that, too, may soon improve.

    The latest quarterly survey from the National Association of Business Economists found that 51% of economists surveyed said their firms plan to raise wages in the coming year. Last fall, only 34% said wage hikes were coming. With companies going on a hiring binge in 2014 and the unemployment rate falling steadily, many economists have been saying that wage hikes are inevitable as employers have to pay more to get and keep the high-quality workers they need.

    That long-awaited trend hasn’t shown up yet in the numbers published by the Labor Deptartment as part of the monthly employment report. But lots of other data strongly hint we’ll see meaningful wage gains within the next few months. When that happens, we can call it a recovery, for real.”

  40. Libturd at home says:

    The snow blower worked really well, though it was a little overkill for this storm (well maybe a lot). Still have little faith in Troy-Bilt but she worked nicely for this little storm. Was surprised she shipped with oil in the crankcase. We’ll see if she starts next year.

  41. Xolepa says:

    (43) Make sure you run the blower till the gas is purged

  42. Fast Eddie says:

    Pumpkin Head,

    December’s median income, $54,417, is 4.4% lower than it was in January 2000.

    Any questions?

  43. Millennials making $75,000 a year are taking money from their parents to pay for basics: One in four has had their parents pay for their groceries, and more than one in five has received money for clothing.

    Even when they’ve got two-income potential in their household, they still may be opening their wallet for a handout: More than one in 10 married millennials still have a parent who helps them out with their cell phone bill.

    http://www.marketwatch.com/story/even-millennials-raking-in-75000-take-money-from-parents-2014-11-20

  44. Fast Eddie says:

    I went to see this one last weekend. It’s nice, right? Sure. That’s if you could overlook the crumbling front steps, the busted, laking gutters that reveal rotten wood underneath, the peeling asbestos shingles, the rotting wood around the roofline, no direct access to the garage, the pool that is over in the “other” yard, the crumbling, butt ugly, marble dining room floor (yup) and a dozen other things that I failed to mention. It’s listed at $769,000 which is $150,000 more than the final sale price.

    http://www.trulia.com/property/3186853736-55-Shaw-Rd-Woodcliff-Lake-NJ-07677#photo-25

  45. Liquor Luge says:

    Punkin’, does Vornado still phony up their accounting?

  46. Liquor Luge says:

    In the world of Vornado, vacancy = occupied and delinquent = current.

  47. Liquor Luge says:

    Vornado: the kinder, gentler, Canadian type of RE fraud.

  48. grim says:

    47 – What a f*cking stupid study. You are going to ask an 18-34 cohort if they receive some sort of financial support from their parents?

    Given college age in the US is 18-21, I would expect a full 25% of them to say yes. Shocking, yes, I know.

    One in four has had their parents pay for their groceries, and more than one in five has received money for clothing

  49. grim says:

    Add in part timers, late starters, and a handful of kids on the 6 year grad school plan, and why is this at all a surprise?

  50. [54] grim – well what do you expect when the article is written by dumb millennial who probably takes money from her parents:

    https://twitter.com/cateyhill

    https://www.linkedin.com/pub/catey-hill/6/348/b94

  51. grim says:

    Actually I suspect it was done by a set of idiot boomers at BOA.

  52. Fast Eddie says:

    I was just going to say that the article appears to be written by a millennial muppet. And you millennials better pay off your college loans quickly because I want top dollar for my f.ucking house. I’m not grandma so you’re not getting any breaks.

  53. grim says:

    The Marketwatch article is reporting on a Bank of America press release.

  54. LOL. Confirmed. Here she is admitting she’s a financial mess and spends all her money on shoes:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoYKP5VqPWA

  55. nwnj says:

    #49

    What did that POS you were ranting about a few weeks ago close for in the same town? $639k? If so, I don’t see that one falling even to the 600s let alone 150k.

  56. Fast Eddie says:

    Another explanation might have to do with millennials spending. “No matter how much millennials are making, many are choosing to spend on near-term experiences instead of saving for longer term goals,” says Plepler. “These decisions may result in situations where they are asking family for help.” The survey showed that 57% of all millennials surveyed say it is “really difficult” for people their age to live within their means and not overspend.

    Let me translate. [Insert Valley Girl voice here] “Like… I really, really, like… need those $250 jeans from Urban Outfitters ’cause… like… they remind me of how we’re going to save the planet… and like… you know… because like… they’re so not mainstream…. like.

  57. Fast Eddie says:

    nwnj,

    I have no idea but who am I to stop someone from being duped and wallowing in their own financial f.uckery. By the way, how far underwater are you?

  58. Fast Eddie says:

    nwnj,

    You know what one of the house tour guides told us on the way out of that $769,000 piece of sh1t? Subtract everything that needs to be done, price wise, and start from there. That has the house starting at around 6 and half.

  59. Fast Eddie says:

    Is it true that 80% of millennials pour Pabst Blue Ribbon on their bare feet to keep it real?

  60. grim says:

    What, boomers are more fiscally responsible? Give me a break gentleman. The entire subprime debacle was more in the hands of boomers than any other generation. What next? Tan Man is the pope?

  61. nwnj says:

    Did they say need to be done or want to be done? Big difference between the two and it looks like they cut no corners so I call BS on the delayed maintenance. Just trying to help you understand why your so frustrated.

  62. Toxic Crayons says:

    I hate boomers

  63. grim says:

    The entire boomer generation had success handed to them like a fucking consolation prize for just showing up. An entire generation that didn’t need to learn a fucking thing to get a well paying job, a 4 bedroom house, and a chicken in the pot.

    And you are going to slam the millennials for being handed the steaming pile of shit the boomers left in their wake?

  64. grim says:

    Mark my words, I’ll even carve it into my headstone when I die. The millennials will represent the most important generation in the short history of the United States, and the boomers will be relegated to a footnote, probably something about their fucking narcissism and ego. Locusts.

    The millennials are now poised to be the largest generation in the history of the US, and they are already the best educated generation in the history of the US. It also includes the largest foreign born sub-group of any generation. I like those odds.

  65. nwnj says:

    Speaking of sack of shlt boomers, is anyone worse than the Walton offspring?

    They employ armies to avoid paying taxes, and their only constructive activities are building monuments to themselves, which is of course tax deductible. Now this worthless hag decides to take time out her busy schedule of nothingness to sue her neighbor over tree roots that extended to her neighbors yard.
    http://www.businessinsider.com/wal-mart-heiress-lawsuit-over-tree-2015-1

  66. joyce says:

    69
    grim,

    agreed on all counts except, potentially, with respect to most educated.

    If we’re going by how many degrees, I do not agree.
    If we’re going by most up to date with newer/newest technology, I think you can make that argument with each new generation.

  67. Fast Eddie says:

    They cut no corners? You want me to go back and video the tour? You want to see rotten wood under the roof line? How about peeling asbestos shingles? How about the wood rotting under the lower roof because the gutters were in disrepair? I can’t imagine what’s under that roof when the tiles are removed. What about the front marble steps that have three inch gaps and deep crevices from freeze/thaw cycles? You should see the cracks in the marble dinning room floor! Wow! I’ll document everything next time. You know, that proof sh1t that conveniently gets in the way. Why do you think it’s an open house? [Insert final Jeopardy music here]

  68. Fast Eddie says:

    The millennials will represent the most important generation in the short history of the United States…

    What about the WWII generation, a.k.a the Greatest generation?

  69. Liquor Luge says:

    I got no dog in the boomer-millenial fight, but I think grim is 100% right. Falling to the millenials is the job of cleaning up a generation of poop.

  70. Fast Eddie says:

    Falling to the millenials is the job of cleaning up a generation of poop.

    Where do the Gen Xers fit into the equation?

  71. Liquor Luge says:

    WWII generation values have been obliterated by the gubmint and central banksters. Savers, the prudent and the hardworking are just suckers and marks to be played by those who pull the levers of the welfare state.

  72. Liquor Luge says:

    Xers much more problematic. Not big numbers, and IMO I think too many of them got smoked out at a young age.

  73. Fast Eddie says:

    And the next generation will view the millennials in the same light that the millennials used to view the boomers. Yes? No?

  74. grim says:

    agreed on all counts except, potentially, with respect to most educated.

    If we’re going by how many degrees, I do not agree.

    Elaborate, both high school and college completion are at record levels.

    http://www.bloomberg.com/image/ivae9lwpEjlk.png

  75. Walking Bye says:

    I will miss Eddies reviews when he finally buys a place.

  76. joyce says:

    grim,
    My point was what’s taught at different levels has changed over the years as well as the value of the degree. Value not just in what it can do for you job-wise, but in the amount of knowledge or skill one has to learn to get said degree.

  77. Fast Eddie says:

    [80],

    We almost dropped the bomb two weeks ago. It was a split in Rivervale with a “5” handle. It needed some updating which wasn’t the issue. The rooms needed a little bit more space.

  78. Xolepa says:

    As a baby boomer, I disagree. There was a time in the 70s and 80s that I was so pissed off at the older generation. They had their easier share of life, too. Most of the houses that they bought cost them in the teens. Runaway inflation in the 60s and 70s made them paper rich. Then all of a sudden in the mid80s those nice colonials started to get into the 300k figure. Those early baby boomers, some older, were able to buy a 4br colonial in Basking Ridge for 80-90k. I felt like I was f..ked. I was too young by about 10 years.
    We got our paypack in the 90s. To those younger, it well happen again in the future.
    ….And round and round goes the circle game.

  79. 1987 Condo says:

    #83…folks who bought houses for $17,000, or $25,000 or $40,000 and sell for 10x to 20x…they did well….if Grim knew he would get $4 million when he sold his house he’d be less Grim! Unfortunately, that probably ain’t gonna happen….for any of us.

    Retirees on my block have pensions and a 10x earning on their homes…we will not see that….

  80. Liquor Luge says:

    xolepa (83)-

    No, it won’t. The boomers rigged the game, co-opted the gubmint, blew out the central bank and looted the Treasury. Now, it’s game over. Nowhere to go but down.

    The boomers @ssr@ped the country for all they could loot, then retired. Now, they complain about doing anything that might help those of us who have to clean up their poo. The most useless, destructive generation in history.

    “We got our paypack in the 90s. To those younger, it well happen again in the future.”

  81. Liquor Luge says:

    walking (80)-

    Don’t worry. It ain’t gonna happen.

    “I will miss Eddies reviews when he finally buys a place.”

  82. Fast Eddie says:

    Meat [86],

    You’re gonna sh1t when it happens. Come he11 or high water, kicking and screaming, I’m making one more move. :)

  83. Essex says:

    87. i
    am as excited as younare Eddie! yay
    let’s double down on this shithole.

  84. grim says:

    In the boomer era, you could be a janitor and get a pension.

    In the millennial era, it doesn’t even get you citizenship.

  85. jcer says:

    It is certainly a different world, back in the day only the man had to work to support the family, he probably had an office and a secretary. Today both spouses work, you get a cubicle, a computer means everything is self service no assistant for you, and they have the ever present fear that the company will decide they can send their job overseas to save money and they’ll be thrown out on the street with nothing. The difference in how employees were treated then vs. now is nothing short of shocking. No pension for you, no safe investments, only a ponzi scheme and zirp for the working man today. Globalization and technology have decimated the middle class.

  86. Jason says:

    Grim, there’s a difference between most educated and most degreed. Lowering standards to make it easier to obtain a degree does not equate to most educated.

  87. Grim says:

    Post a quantifiable measure that states otherwise.

  88. grim says:

    Be sure to highlight the fact that prior to the 1970s, college degrees in the US granted to blacks and hispanics were barely single digits, and college degrees granted to women barely broke 15%.

  89. anon (the good one) says:

    @WSJ:
    Breaking:
    President Obama drops plan to raise taxes on 529 college savings accounts, White House official says

  90. Libturd at home says:

    Gotta write another $100 check to CC.

  91. Comrade Nom Deplume, sea level again says:

    [95] anon

    Well, that trial balloon crashed with a resounding thud.

    At least the damage has been done.

  92. Comrade Nom Deplume, The Snowless One says:

    Something occurred to me just now. Notwithstanding my conservative leanings, all of my legal work is exclusively for unions, and I sit on a nonprofit board with artists and actors.

    Talk about strange bedfellows.

  93. NJT says:

    #89

    “In the boomer era, you could be a janitor and get a pension..”

    Or graduate (barely) Highschool, be a cop in a small rural Northern NJ town where the worst crime is shoplifting at the local deli and retire at 45 with a pension, free medical for life and a huge lump sum payout for unused sick and vacation time. Then, move to Florida and live on the beach with the biggest worry being “Is this Margarita good?”.

    Or a Deli clerk at Shop Rite…or…

    Damn, missed it by just a few years… At least I paid cash as I went to college as it was cheap enough back then (early 80s) that you only had to work part-time and over the summer as an intern (they paid interns back then).

  94. Juice Box says:

    #93 – Women are to blame. If they all just stayed in the kitchen we would all be a bunch of mad men right now.

  95. BearsFan says:

    my disgust with boomers knows no end.

  96. Ragnar says:

    I’m Gen X. I guess all of my teachers and professors were boomers.
    I think they were the ones repeatedly getting fooled into thinking that various asset classes only go up, driven by their lemming behavior.
    How old is a stereotypical millennial supposed to be now?
    Are these the people really eager to share cars and voting 75% for Obama?

  97. Jason says:

    Grim

    January 16 2015 article in WSJ:

    “4 in 10 US college students graduate without the complex reasoning skills to manage white-collar work. According to the results of a test given to nearly 32,000 students.”

  98. Ragnar says:

    Anyone see that movie American Sniper? Left wing criticism convinced my wife to have us go see it. Struck me as a pretty straight ahead western, but set in Iraq. In the movie, the American Sniper was the good guy, and ISIS types the clear bad guys, so that got a bunch of lefties upset. Matt Tiabbi had a little hissy fit over it at Rolling Stone, and Michael Moore was his usual self. I liked it, and was glad to see that there are still people in watching a movie like that in the U.S.

  99. Liquor Luge says:

    Most of the millenials I know understand the how, wheres and whys of the mechanisms that have been put in place to try make them the biggest patsies of all time.

    Following from that, they understand full well that Bojangles is just Bush in blackface and part of the whole grift that ends with them stuck with the bad paper of the worst generation in Amerikan history.

    Most of my daughter’s friends voted for Bojangles the first time, then declined to vote the second time around. Smart kids. They learn slow, but they learn good.

  100. Liquor Luge says:

    Jason (103)-

    That is the intent of TPTB. Part of the grift is to render the marks stupid. Too bad there’s still a critical mass of millenials who have risen above the brainwash. Pretty soon, they’ll be voting with bullets.

    “4 in 10 US college students graduate without the complex reasoning skills to manage white-collar work. According to the results of a test given to nearly 32,000 students.”

  101. Ragnar says:

    Keep in mind everyone that these global warming models and theories being used to justify trillions of dollars worth of policy spending and regulation have so par proven to be much less accurate at forecasting the data than the typical daily weather forecast.
    In case it bothers you that politically influenced scientists with no good track record of predictions are planning to make the world significantly poorer than it needs to be.
    Hype to science ratio is about 100 times stronger than yesterday’s blizzard coverage.

  102. Ragnar says:

    48,
    Good to see I’m comfortably in the 1% for NJ. And pumpkin fruit can at least cheer himself up by contemplating my run of wage inflation since graduating with my NYU MBA about 12 years ago. Must be bittersweet for him.

  103. Ragnar says:

    Luge,
    What kind of degrees do these dumbest 40% of graduates have, I wonder.
    I’m guessing various ethnic studies, social work, education, sociology, and environmental whatnot. And whatever the football players take.

  104. Grim says:

    1980 to 2005 or thereabouts is the birth range for millennials

  105. Liquor Luge says:

    rags (109)-

    I just look at a lot of the dumbasses as proof that not everyone is capable of kolledge-level work. Of any type. They and their parents have been duped into taking out the educational equivalent of pick-a-pay mortgages. They are just marks for people hustling loans.

    Natch, the biggest loan hustler of all is Unkle Sam.

  106. grim says:

    “4 in 10 US college students graduate without the complex reasoning skills to manage white-collar work. According to the results of a test given to nearly 32,000 students.”

    What was the metric in 1965? Ah, we don’t know do we. Do we have any long term history on the series to make any assumption? What’s the result as a cross section of the entire population. I’d argue it wasn’t materially different 40 years ago.

    By the way my comments don’t refer to simply college graduates, the entire cohort is better educated. This means kids staying in school longer, more kids graduating high school, staying in college longer, higher graduation rates, and higher post-secondary degrees. It also means that immigrants are coming to this country with higher levels of education than in the past.

    Again, I’ll emphasize the fact, the millenials are the most educated demographic cohort in the history of the US.

  107. grim says:

    Where the hell did the post numbers go?

  108. grim says:

    Clot – Research from Pew shows that wage gap between high school and college is at the greatest it’s ever been.

    Not having a degree is an economic death sentence for millennials.

    http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/02/11/the-rising-cost-of-not-going-to-college/

  109. Walking Bye says:

    Where I work there was a large wave of boomers retiring early as they were bought out in the later part of 2000’s. When asking about how they got started at the company I was always surprised when the response was “It was summer after I had just graduated high school. I wasn’t doing anything just drinking beer all day with my friends so my parents made me apply here”. That was it, no Ivy league degree, no MBA with 10 years experience for the entry level position. You just put in a resume and they called you the next week. You started off sweeping the floors and if you had a decent work ethic you worked your way up to management.

  110. grim says:

    Unemployment rate for millennials with degrees is 3.8%
    Unemployment rates for millienials who did not go to college is 12.2%

    http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/11/6-key-findings-about-going-to-college/

  111. joyce says:

    114
    Shouldn’t they back out the cost of college including debt service?

  112. grim says:

    Sure, but every time I try setting lifetime income to zero, my computer crashes.

  113. grim says:

    You clearly don’t share my world view where it will become increasingly difficult for US workers to maintain even a semblance of the quality of life their predecessors enjoyed.

    Part of this means needing to invest more in education despite yielding lower returns than what previous generations enjoyed.

    Sorry, but in my world it gets harder, and the gap between haves and have nots increases, specifically because of these things.

  114. grim says:

    I feel this was the motivation behind Obama’s misguided attempt to steal from grandparents and their college age grandkids.

    Because god knows having worked hard and saved your whole life, you should be so entitled as to be able to gift money to a grand child for college. Grandma needs to check her privilege.

  115. grim says:

    What’s next, Obama taxing the retirement accounts of anybody that bothered to save for retirement too? … to pay for the retirement of those who didn’t bother.

  116. chicagofinance says:

    Left wing Hollywood people are seething at Clint Eastwood….no other explanation necessary…..

    Ragnar says:
    January 27, 2015 at 6:20 pm
    Anyone see that movie American Sniper? Left wing criticism convinced my wife to have us go see it. Struck me as a pretty straight ahead western, but set in Iraq. In the movie, the American Sniper was the good guy, and ISIS types the clear bad guys, so that got a bunch of lefties upset. Matt Tiabbi had a little hissy fit over it at Rolling Stone, and Michael Moore was his usual self. I liked it, and was glad to see that there are still people in watching a movie like that in the U.S.

  117. joyce says:

    119-121

    The problem is the rent is too damn high.

    And yes:
    “it will become increasingly difficult for US workers to maintain even a semblance of the quality of life their predecessors enjoyed.” – agree

    “Part of this means needing to invest more in education despite yielding lower returns than what previous generations enjoyed.” – agree. depending on, as you’re next two posts alluded to, who is doing the investing and who is being forced at gun point

    “Sorry, but in my world it gets harder, and the gap between haves and have nots increases, specifically because of these things.” – agree insofar that it’s one of several reasons

  118. Fabius Maximus says:

    Rags,

    So if someone drops a large wedge of cash on a Liberal Arts degree where they study Objectivism, where does that fall on your scale?

    What do you tell them at the entrance to the Gulch? “Well you understand, why we are here, But you understand that you do not have the resources to be here (unless Danny is posting you!), but we do have some availability in the shoveling sh1t department !

  119. Fabius Maximus says:

    Danny = Daddy

  120. Comrade Nom Deplume, who needs to stop screwing around and get back to work says:

    [119] grim

    Too bad. This was another one of those proposals that wasn’t terribly well thought out, and I was looking forward to gaming it.

    If it ever passed, I could just see the headscratching at Treasury when they looked over the data years from passage, and tried to figure out why the plans were still wildly popular with certain segments of the wealthy.

    As it is, this is an absolute gift for two camps: The GOP and Hillary Clinton.

  121. Liquor Luge says:

    Getting a real liberal arts education involves learning how to think. Unfortunately, the education racket uses watered-down liberal arts as a come-on to those least suited for this line of study to borrow the biggest possible amounts.

    People who can think are a threat to the status quo. Why would tptb want to create more of them?

  122. Ragnar says:

    Fabmax,
    If you recall the Gulch sequence, there were plenty of people happily working in the shoveling shit department. One young man was particularly happy to become a janitor while studying physics in the Gulch. Because at least then they would be working for themselves instead of paying 90%+ taxes while propping up a fascist government that would collapse without them.

    Don’t you think people in Venezuela would be happy to just flee the cities and start farming and living amongst other sane people, away from the insanity of that government and its collapsing system? Even if they had to sow the fields and slop the hogs?

    I don’t think a liberal arts degree studying philosophy is a particularly good career choice if money is an important factor in your value hierarchy. Getting a degree in philosophy essentially means you intend to become a professor. An Objectivist philosopher will basically be at war with most other philosophers in modern academia. Robert Mayhew (Seton Hall) and Tara Smith (U of Texas) are doing ok professionally, partly because they became strong in fields of philosophy not directly connected to Ayn Rand.

    I knew that I didn’t care enough about people to want to teach them. Look at how little you and the other lefties choose to learn from the wisdom I freely bestow. So much for my public service here. I can lead a horse to water, but typically the horse just shits in it. So I chose a profession, investments, where being right is measured by making money, not a popularity contest where the judges are delusional left wing academics that rarely face a market test.

  123. Liquor Luge says:

    The only person who should shovel shit in a real-life Galt Gulch is gluteus.

  124. Liquor Luge says:

    Bojangles will keep floating tax pipedreams like the 529 thing until the day he leaves office. It placates the entitlement classes and acts as a sort of test or probe to determine the general population’s tolerance for gubmint shakedowns.

  125. Jason says:

    127. Luge, you know it.

  126. Essex says:

    128. I had a friend back in Chicago. Lifelong IBMer. Went back to School to get a Masters. Univ. of Chicago, and got a philosophy degree. He was just intellectually curious and a brilliant mofo. He wasn’t planning on teaching.

    While I understand most people think schools are vocational training centers, they are actually and ideally places where people learn to think.

  127. Ragnar says:

    Studying philosophy out of pure curiosity is cheap and easy. Just need a library.
    Getting a degree in it is another matter.
    Nowadays you can buy great lectures cheap (Ayn Rand Institute bookstore has mp3s for sale) or find standard ones free online. But most popular philosophy will mess up your thinking, not help it. Same for macroeconomics.

  128. Ragnar says:

    Studying epistemology in my spare time has been a big help in my own investment career.

  129. Ragnar says:

    Only $11 for 18 hours of lectures on epistemology. Teaching how to think rationally.
    https://estore.aynrand.org/p/107/objectivism-through-induction-mp3-download

  130. Essex says:

    I don’t think that he was studying the works of hack novelists from the 60’s Rag’nu.

    Anyway…

  131. Essex says:

    Enjoy…from your pals at Moneywatch:

    This post is about an absurd philosophy that got sold to the world of business and government, creating a world of havoc in the United States. The philosophy, called “Objectivism,” came from the hack writer Ayn Rand, whose disciple is Alan Greenspan, architect of the great recession.

    Objectivism is important to sales professionals because it’s the kind of philosophy that, if you believe in it, you’re going to screw up your ability to sell effectively. As a profession, Sales has moved beyond the attempt to manipulate people selfishly for one’s own ends, which is how Objectivism plays itself out in the real world.

    Most successful sales professionals feel that they are in service to something greater than themselves. Unfortunately, that’s not a belief that often shared by their top management, as pointed out in the BNET blog post “Why Do CEOs (Still) Love Ayn Rand.” That post summarized Objectivism as:
    1) Reality is an objective absolute. Facts trump man’s feelings, wishes, hopes, and fears.
    2) Reason is the only way to perceive reality and the sole knowledge source. It is man’s only guide to action and means to survival.
    3) Every man exists for his own sake. Pursuit of his own rational self-interest and his own happiness is his life’s moral purpose.
    4) The ideal political-economic system is laissez-faire capitalism.
    Everything I know about life and business says that the above philosophy is a total crock. Here are my top ten reasons why:
    Laissez-Faire capitalism doesn’t work. Laissez-Faire capitalism is a utopian fantasy. And like all utopias, it cannot actually exist. Therefore, as a philosophy, it needs to be judged on how it gets implemented in the real world, with all the real world’s inherent inconsistencies. Just like Marxism, in the real world, produced the Soviet system in Russia, the real world implementation of laissez-faire capitalism, led by Rand-disciple Greenspan, produced the great recession.
    Reason has real-world limitations. While I’m all for valuing reason over superstition, the notion that one can use reason without emotion is science fiction. Maybe that works on the planet Vulcan, but human beings swim in a vast ocean of emotion. Emotion governs the “why” behind every exercise of reason, determining our choices of interest and intention. In the real world, people use reason as a way to buttress what their emotions desire.
    Ayn Rand was a emotional nut case. Regardless of what you think of her philosophy and writing, Rand’s personal life was a complete shambles. She became involved in an adulterous affair with a disciple (a “reasonable” decision on her part, of course), and then went all “old bat of out hell” when he made the “reasonable” decision to start boinking some younger woman. The resulting emotional pyrotechnics were a perfect example of the impotence of Objectivism as a life creed.
    Her philosophy is devoid of gratitude. While individualism has some value, Objectivism largely discounts the fact the every successful person stands on the shoulders of those who have come before. In addition, success always involves an element of luck, often consisting of having had the luck to be born into a rich family with plenty of connections. Success devoid of gratitude and the noblesse oblige to help others brings out the worst in people.
    Reality is NOT an objective absolute. There’s no way to tell whether reality is objective or not because it can only be perceived subjectively. While it could be argued that the consensus of multiple subjective realities equals objective reality, the exact same logic would also assign objective reality to Jung’s archetypes, which appear inside every human being’s dreams. In any case, measuring something changes the thing measured, so simply perceiving “reality” changes the nature of reality. Therefore, so it can’t be absolute.
    Howard Roark was a lousy architect. If Roark (the hero of Rand’s book The Fountainhead) wanted his “vision” to be his alone, he had no business getting other people to bankroll it. Instead, he should have done something like the Watts Towers, where he’d be responsible for every part of the project, including its construction. Large scale architecture is a collaborative venture that involves satisfying the desires and needs of the client. Good architects are expert at managing client expectations and working through creative differences.
    Facts do NOT trump feelings, wishes, hopes, and fears. As any sales professional knows, when dealing with human beings, facts ALWAYS run a distant fifth. That’s particularly true when dealing with people who are operating under the fantasy that their decisions are based upon “fact.” Emotion trumps reason every time, and nobody is easier to influence emotionally than those who are so unaware of that their emotions that they think they’re making “reasonable” decisions.
    Every man does NOT exist for his own sake. While Rand believed that pursuit of one’s own rational self-interest and one’s own happiness is his life’s moral purpose, the scientific fact is that man evolved as a communal creature, with bonds of family and community being tightly tied to health, happiness, longevity, and pretty much everything that makes life pleasurable. Objectivism thus runs counter to demonstrable scientific fact.
    Reading Rand creates instant jackasses. Anyone who’s been subjected to a friend who suddenly “discovers” Rand knows that reading her works causes people to act like selfish idiots. They combine a patina of “reason” over a self-righteous justification of whatever their “id” happens to want at the time and then insist that they’re just pursuing their own self-interest. They also become incredibly boring, about on the level of a newly converted Scientologist.
    Rand is the CEOs’ favorite philosopher. Most CEOs already have CEO disease, which the medical profession defines as “the enlargement of the sphincter so that it covers the entire body, creating an overwhelming itch that can only be calmed by the frequent osculation of underlings.” Let’s face it: if there was ever an human ilk who don’t need a philosophy that drives them to be even more selfish, it’s the overpaid and overpampered CEOs of the world.
    IMHO, it’s long past time to consign Objectivism to the same intellectual dustbin where we’ve thrown Marxism and Absolute Monarchy.

    As a bonus, we won’t be forced any longer to listen to newly minted Rand fanboys drone on and on and on and on about how much more enlightened they are than the rest of us hoi-polloi. Puleeze! (eye roll)

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