Death and Taxes

From the Star Ledger:

N.J. property taxes top $8,000 per home after rising 2.2 percent last year

New Jersey’s sky-high property taxes rose to new heights last year, from an average $7,988 in 2013 to $8,161 in 2014, according to data from the Department of Community Affairs.

The nearly 2.2 percent increase breaks down to an extra $173 for the average property taxpayer, on top of what were already the highest property taxes in the country.

That distinction was cited by as a major reason half of residents polled by Monmouth University in September said they don’t want to live out their days here. A quarter of residents who described themselves as “somewhat likely” to move, blamed property taxes.

New Jersey collects nearly $3,000 per capita in property taxes, while according to the Tax Policy Center, a non-partisan, joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, 79 percent of American homeowner paid less than $1,750 in property taxes each year, and only 3 percent paid more than $4,000.

Just 0.2 percent of U.S. homeowners paid more than $8,000, which is less than the new New Jersey average.

Property taxes last year rose fastest in New Jersey’s Hudson County. There, the average tax bill climbed 7.6 percent, from $7,467 to $8,034. The highest average tax burdens could be found in Essex, Bergen and Union counties.

Tax bills have increased 12 percent since Gov. Chris Christie took office, less than under his predecessor, Democrat Jon Corzine. A spokesman for Christie did not respond to a request for comment.

Bills that were climbing at least 7 percent annually from 2004 to 2006 rose just 2.4 percent, on average, in 2011, 1.6 percent in 2012 and 1.3 percent in 2013, thanks to reforms Christie and the Legislature put in place capping property tax increases and the amounts police and fire unions can win in arbitration at 2 percent.

This entry was posted in New Jersey Real Estate, Politics, Property Taxes. Bookmark the permalink.

157 Responses to Death and Taxes

  1. grim says:

    Video of that plane crash in Taipei is insane.

  2. grim says:

    Holy Christ I just paid $30 for a shitty burger, fries, and drink in Denmark. I thought I could just grab a quick bite for lunch.

    Something to look forward to I guess.

  3. Fast Eddie says:

    High taxes are warranted here. I’ve been told by many overweight, menopausal house tour guides. You know, because certain towns expect certain types of people.

  4. Comrade Nom Deplume, basking in the moment, middle finger extended . . . says:

    [2] grim

    That can’t be right. The progressives tell us that prices in high wage countries are no higher than here. Surely you were just mistaken. . .

  5. anon (the good one) says:

    @stiglitzian:

    “If there is a moral hazard, it is on the part of the lenders – especially in the private sector – who have been bailed out repeatedly.”

  6. grim says:

    Just got the check for the burger, forgot to add the 25% tax. That brings it to $37.00 or thereabouts.

    Latte from Starbucks at the airport cost me something like $8 or $9.

    The 10 mile taxi ride from the airport wasn’t as bad as I expected, $40. Probably the deal of the day considering it was in a brand new Mercedes.

  7. dentss Dunnian says:

    Could a solution be found soon to fund New Jersey’s cash-strapped pension fund? One official said yes, but he’s warning state mayors to stand up against the plan.

    Bill Dressel speaks at the monthly meeting of the Ocean County Mayors (Tom Mongelli, Townsquare Media NJ)
    According to Bill Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, there are behind the scenes discussions in Trenton about merging the state’s cash-strapped pension fund with the healthy municipal pension fund as a possible solution to getting it out of the red.
    “The state pension system is a ticking time bomb,” warned Dressel at the monthly meeting of the Ocean County Mayors on Jan. 20 in Toms River. “Our system is in the black. It’s about 74 percent funded. The state’s system is not in the black,” he said.

    Read More: Possible solution to cash-strapped pension fund could hurt municipalities | http://nj1015.com/possible-solution-to-cash-strapped-pension-fund-could-hurt-municipalities/?trackback=tsmclip

  8. Toxic Crayons says:

    7 – Based on past observations, that “solution” wouldn’t solve the state pension problem, but would fcuk up the municipal one.

  9. JJ says:

    8k is actually reasonable taxes for NJ and Long Island.

  10. Toxic Crayons says:

    Regarding property taxes…..step one would be to send the same amount of state school funding per student to each and every district.

  11. Toxic Crayons says:

    How big (square feet) would you expect a house paying a $8k property tax bill to be?

    JJ says:
    February 4, 2015 at 8:47 am
    8k is actually reasonable taxes for NJ and Long Island.

  12. JJ says:

    The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority posted better than expected financial results for the second half of the fiscal year

    Guess the are skipping the “Puerto Rican”showers and using actual water and doing “courtesy” flushes.

    Normally a splash of Paco Rabon is all the shower they used to need.

    Thank God they are finally using water and toliets down there. My bonds wont go broke

  13. JJ says:

    $8,000 is the taxes in a blue collar town in Long Island for a average 50×100 three bed and two bath house with a garage around 1,500 square feet.

    Go to richer towns and that shoots up. This house for sale in Rockville Center has 11,500 in taxes with two beds and 1 bath with a plot that is only 28 feet wide.

    152 N Forest Ave, Rockville Centre NY, 11570
    Beds:
    2
    Baths:
    1 Full
    Lot Size:
    28X143
    Total Taxes:
    $11,229
    MLS#:
    2733847

    But look at taxes on a larger house.
    118 Andover Rd , Rockville Centre, NY 11570
    Colonial, 1 Family Beds:
    5
    Baths:
    3 Full/2 Half
    Lot Size:
    120X100
    Total Taxes:
    $34,491

  14. Richard says:

    The thing is if 8k is the average, there must be a lot of people paying <5k to cancel out all the 20k+ properties there must be lots of households paying near zero. Is that all South Jersey? 8k Median I would think is possible, 8k average sounds too low.

  15. Toxic Crayons says:

    I pay $7000 on a 1300 sqft cape 3 bed 2 bath with a small garage on a 100×150 lot built in 1949. It’s an hour drive to Manhattan from me, on a clear day, with no traffic.

    JJ says:
    February 4, 2015 at 9:03 am
    $8,000 is the taxes in a blue collar town in Long Island for a average 50×100 three bed and two bath house with a garage around 1,500 square feet.

    Go to richer towns and that shoots up. This house for sale in Rockville Center has 11,500 in taxes with two beds and 1 bath with a plot that is only 28 feet wide.

  16. Libturd in Union says:

    A March 2002 paper in this series by Dr. Stiglitz and others found that the probability of default by Fannie or Freddie was “extremely small.”

    Keep cheering Anon. Baa!

  17. Juice Box says:

    I Love NY… They put a tax lien on me for a business I don’t own something to do with 2012 taxes for a business in NYC. Been playing phone tag all morning finally got through to the right person to get a cancellation now I am back to collections to get the lien dropped and a copy so I can go to my bank with proof. Nice $75 fee from Chase too.

    This is what I get from banking today no interest and fees up the corn-hole. Something interesting I learned if you have less than $1900 in an account they cannot freeze it. Time to transfer everything to the Caymans..

  18. 1500 sqft a little under 3/4s of an acre my bill 7500 and change

    NJ is awesome

    Nom came across this nugget regarding your profession

    http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2015/02/lawyers-law-professors-tilt-to-the-left-.html

  19. 1987 condo says:

    In my town in Essex county, we have scores of 3 bedroom ranches and capes paying $6,500-$7,500. I added 2 additions on 1 of those ranches and with 2,000 sq feet pay $8,900

  20. Libturd in Union says:

    You guys don’t want to know what I pay.

    In GR, 2100 SF, Backyard floods when it rains(baked into tax number), .18 acres, house built in 20s, 14.5K.
    In Montclair, 2400 SF, .24 acres, house built in 20s, 12.9K.

    Sewer is separated out in Montclair due to progressive moron mayor that only Anon could like. Mayor wanted to raise municipal taxes 7% to keep all those public workers working during the great recession so he separated out the sewer tax. The trick only worked for one year as the following year there was no trick left and he ended up laying them off anyway. Meanwhile, homeowners could no longer deduct the sewer portion of their municipal taxes ever again. This is the same mayor who wrote an unenforcable bicycle statute where any house that expands over 20% of its original size would have to include a dedicated bike storage area. This Bluewave mayor parlayed his bicycle focus in Montclair into a job with the NJ DOT. What a crock. http://baristanet.com/2012/01/mayor-fried-takes-dot-job/

  21. dentss says:

    Toxic —8 …it would solve the problem for the state by just making property owners responsibly to make payment just like they pay for local schools …just incorporate it into the tax bill ….

  22. grim says:

    Shocking, Holder arranges another settlement in lieu of prosecution.

    Criminals go free under Obama’s watch.

  23. Ragnar says:

    Grim, when in Denmark, eat smørrebrød for lunch or go to a smörgåsbord. You could probably find doner kebab as well.
    Overpaying for bad burgers is your punishment for trying to recreate an American lunch abroad. And it’s even worse if you seek a burger in India.

  24. Ragnar says:

    Lib,
    I’ve been hearing economic advice from Stiglitz my entire 24 year investment professional life.
    I cannot recall even once that advice not being bad advice.
    Much like Jeffrey Sachs. Wrong by design.

  25. Toxic Crayons says:

    20. Lib, our supposedly ultra conservative town council did that years ago. The water and sewer now operate independent of tax dollars.

    Funny, our town council has been traveling around to other towns in NJ because they want to create a Business Improvement District. They’ve been studying the successes of other townships and Montclair is next on the list. They want to bring some of the local business owners too. I wonder if our town council communicates with Montclairs….and maybe gave them the idea to break out the sewer bill from the property tax bill.

  26. Ragnar says:

    Lib 16,
    No doubt Stiglitz would now trumpet to everyone that this paper showed great foresight, indicating that the failure of Freddie and Fannie was a distinct possibility, without mentioning the “extremely small” description.

  27. JJ says:

    In Dec 1999 when I made an offer on house realtor showed me latest tax bill of $5,900 a year. My taxes today are $2,400 a year. Which make me the lowest taxed home in my town.

  28. Libturd in Union says:

    There really are few things worse than a partisan economist. Well maybe a partisan supreme court justice is worse, but both should not be allowed. It would be like accepting scientific research from a Branch Davidian.

  29. Libturd in Union says:

    JJ…Brag now. On the reval, you are going to take it like Perez Hilton.

  30. Ragnar says:

    Libturd,
    Political economists or development economists are really policy advocates. They have to be understood in that light. In general, they don’t face a market test and their predictions aren’t really measured. If they are advocating policies that I think are good for individual rights and economic freedom, and national and global economic progress, then I support them, qua political advocates.

    But as a pro investor, I get measured by my results, and it’s very dangerous to confuse policy advocacy with predictive skill. Not often found in the same economist. When I make forecasts, I concentrate on what I think will happen, and consider a range of possibilities. I try not to let what I personally wish would happen distract me from my best judgment. The popular phrase we have for describing these talking head type economists is “often wrong, never in doubt”. A really dangerous combination, for someone thinking about investing along the lines of their forecasts.

  31. Libturd in Union says:

    I immediately discount all forecasters with an agenda. It’s pretty much as simple as that.

  32. grim says:

    I still can’t believe there were so many survivors of that crash.

  33. 1987 condo says:

    crazy video, looks like hit hits cab directly

  34. leftwing says:

    Looking at taxes in nominal dollars doesn’t say much. Everyone’s tax in NJ is ‘high’ due to higher than US average home values. And homes valued higher than the average pay more in taxes. All a higher than average NJ tax bill says is that you live in a nice(r) house. No one can possibly be surprised that the average tax load in Alpine is almost 4x the average tax load in Absecon.

    I’d be more interested in the tax rate or, even better, the % that taxes are of market value.

    In my town the rate 1.70, and given some decline since the last assessment the tax/market value is at or slightly above 2.0%.

    Not that bad overall. I’ve looked at property in the boondocks. Most of the tax/market values are around the mid-one percent range.

    Here’s one. For the area a higher end community and location. Probably the local equivalent of a Chatham or such here when one compares relative demographics, school districts, etc.

    http://www.uticaromerealtor.com/search/details.php?MLSNum=1301438

    Our taxes aren’t necessarily that out of line for market value, it’s that you get so little for market value here that makes them seem crazy.

    And, yes, realtors can be horrible everywhere. Did they really need to sit the mutt in the front yard for the cover photo?

  35. Juice Box says:

    re #33 – It it hit land there would have been more dead,plane apparently skipped like a rock and then rolled over. The water is only waste deep, so the cabin did not completely submerge. The fuselage has already been lifted by crane onto the riverbank.

  36. 1987 condo says:

    #35..you can get “Equalized” valuations here…

    http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/lpt/taxrate.shtml

  37. it hit the cab condo when you see pics of the cab that dude probably sh!t his pants then thanked whatever deity he prays to because he is lucky to be alive.

  38. leftwing says:

    1987: Thanks.

    Not sure I understand the disclaimer on effective rate (based on being at 100% of valuation).

    Anyway, taking it with that disclaimer seems interesting. Many of the higher rates are in the sticks. Rockaway Twp in Morris, ouch, 2.8%.

    Can’t imagine values have as much upside as more commuter friendly places. Nice net negative arbitrage, 2.8% of value out the window each Jan 1 before you even pass go.

  39. Comrade Nom Deplume, in moderation says:

    [22] grim

    “Shocking, Holder arranges another settlement in lieu of prosecution.

    Criminals go free under Obama’s watch.”

    Settlements in federal prosecutions are often the result of a financial calculus. The feds probably have a weak case, or no case, but they know that if they keep the pressure up, the other side will settle rather than try to go dollar for dollar against an unlimited litigation budget. Further, in financial cases, the institutions may also be pressured by the regulators to settle; it’s the regulators that can hold an additional sword to their throats that would be used if the institution were found guilty. Faced with enhanced penalties, and the reputational risk made real by business that would necessarily be lost, this calculus is weighted toward the government. Thus, the feds can easily extract settlements in cases that, had they gone to trial, would more than likely lose, and possibly even lose before they ever got to an actual trial.

  40. Juice Box says:

    re # 41 – As Bill Black has been saying for a while now civil fraud and criminal fraud are as you know two different things. The showdown between the TBTF was held behind closed doors in conference rooms many times before deposition even occurring, we cannot after all have the truth documented since it might see the light of day.

    No perp walks, no show trials and really no Justice.

    Who really cares anymore anyway? It’s time to move on to the next election cycle and the next crisis.

  41. Libturd in Union says:

    Wow!

    Nom, in some sort of indirect way, is defending the president (or his federal prosecutors). Anon, let this be a lesson to you. I judge Nom to be no less conservative now, but I do respect his ability to look at a situation for what it is instead of parroting the party line without putting one single ounce of personal thought into it. Which is what YOU do when you proudly copy Stiglitz partisan thoughts. Here’s a clue. Save your keystrokes you ignoramus.

  42. Anon E. Moose says:

    Nom [2];

    Its the “shifting basket” method of calculating inflation (more to the point, lack thereof). If the nuclear family of 4 in the 2000’s spent $100 per occasion going out to dinner at a mid-range restaurant twice a month, they had $200 to spend on dining out. If 10 years later, they spend $200 for one visit to McD’s with the $15/hr. min-wage labor, they’re still spending the same amount on eating out, so there’s no inflation!

    It must just be shifting tastes as to why they changed their preference for fast-food over sit-down service and scaled back from twice a month to once a month. And you can’t punish the gubmint overlords because people are fickle and change their minds, right?

  43. Anon E. Moose says:

    JJ [13];

    Huge difference in neighborhood as well as in housing stock, despite that you could walk from one to the other.

    Drop in to Bigelow’s and have some bearded clams for me. :-)

  44. Anon E. Moose says:

    Correction [45];

    Ummm… bearded == breaded. ;-)

  45. joyce says:

    leftwing,

    Wouldn’t amount/type/quality of services received vs total property taxes be the best measure comparing town to town state to state?

  46. Comrade Nom Deplume, Duckboat Commander says:

    Watching what has become almost a biennial occurrence in Boston, a duck boat parade with a championship trophy in the lead. They are almost up to City Hall.

    I found an interesting chart recently. While it is beyond doubt that NYC teams won more titles than any other city by a wide margin (Boston is a distant 2nd), the ranking changes if you look back only 50 years. So, in our lifetimes, the real City of Champions is Boston, a fact that isn’t readily apparent to most folks

    This was a bit of a wake up call in one respect. It means that we are more alike than different and perhaps I should dial back the Yankees/Jets/Giants hate. Especially when I saw a lot of messages on boards from Jets and Bills fans, happy that an AFC east team took the title. And I commented that with Rex gone, it makes the Jets less odious. I still hate them and want to see them lose regular season, but if they ever got to an SB, would my mind change and I would be supporting the AFC? Possibly.

    I will say this: I secretly used to want to see the Bills win it all but now with Rex at the helm, I am soooo conflicted.

  47. Comrade Nom Deplume, Duckboat Commander says:

    And duckboat commander isn’t just a fanciful title. I did drive one once in the Charles river.

  48. joyce says:

    “dedicated bike storage… for individual houses”

    thought I heard everything

  49. Comrade Nom Deplume, Duckboat Commander says:

    The Duckboats have arrived at City Hall. I am probably the only one here watching it (or who even cares).

  50. Comrade Nom Deplume, Duckboat Commander says:

    [43] libturd,

    Wasn’t trying to be political. This is prosecutorial conduct no matter who is in the WH. I saw it done under Clinton when I clerked in Washington, DC. It was not my first experience with prosecutorial “overreach” but when reviewing cases brought against the government (which is all my court heard), I was shocked at the way the feds would deal with contractors, whistleblowers, and other claimants. If private businesses operated in the same fashion, there’d be prosecutions, but inside the Beltway, it was BAU.

    I came to the conclusion that if you shake hands with the feds, count your fingers shortly thereafter. They make the Mob look like puss1es.

  51. joyce says:

    If that’s the case, then why do we only see that when it comes to settlement offers or drug plea bargains… and never using their ferociousness to put white collar criminals in prison?

    Comrade Nom Deplume, Duckboat Commander says:
    February 4, 2015 at 12:55 pm
    [43] libturd,

    I came to the conclusion that if you shake hands with the feds, count your fingers shortly thereafter. They make the Mob look like puss1es.

  52. 1987 condo says:

    #40..so as I think I understand, at the moment of reval, you may have a 2% tax rate. Your equalized value would be same 2%. However as you move away from the reval date, the current effective tax rate changes as does the housing values and the equalized rate attempts to normalize the current effective rate versus the housing value.

  53. joyce says:

    Maybe I can ask a similar question… I’m told once in a while “Wall Street” types dabble in hook-rs and bl-w. Don’t recall the last time it made the news that any of them were charged.

    I’d think during one of the FEDgov’s “serious” investigations into the recent financial crisis, they’d be able to find someone with drugs and try to get them to rat on others.

  54. Comrade Nom Deplume, Duckboat Commander says:

    [57] Joyce

    Feds don’t typically enforce state laws against hookers and blow.

  55. Comrade Nom Deplume, Duckboat Commander says:

    [55] joyce,

    See earlier comment. Perhaps a settlement is all they can hope to get.

    I worked on FIRREA prosecutions while interning at the NE Bank Fraud Task Force. What they were trotting out as evidence of wrongdoing was downright bizarre. I cannot comment in any detail but they were reaching.

  56. joyce says:

    Comrade,
    I was under the impression that there were a whole slew of federal drug laws.

  57. joyce says:

    Comrade,
    I’m not trying to make a big deal out of this… but aren’t there regional state/federal drug task forces? Isn’t the NYPD the largest standing army in this country? They have all kinds of anti-terrorism efforts, but no narcotics squad?

  58. joyce says:

    My only point (which doesn’t bear repeating today) is that some people are above the law.

  59. The Great Pumpkin says:

    That’s for sure. People with lots of money. Always has been, always will. Ask OJ, color has nothing to do with it.

    joyce says:
    February 4, 2015 at 1:33 pm
    My only point (which doesn’t bear repeating today) is that some people are above the law.

  60. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Pay 17,200 for my property in Wayne. Pay 11,200 for my property in Clifton.

  61. JJ says:

    I am like Robin Hood. Once I figured out how to do tax grievances I did my Mother in laws who refused to do it for 50 years of home ownership, my sister my one good neighbor, neighbor down block who is broke and have 17 units in my Condo development grieving. It is fun as I have a streak of 100% success since 2010.

    My inspiration was a serial greiver like me I saw on line who in addition to grieving took every exemption and got his taxes down to like 18 bucks a year. He started at like 7k.

    Next maybe I will become a Volunteer Fireman, Rabbi, EMS, worker or something to get tax breaks. The Clergy exemption is a great loophole.

    In my opinion since so much of school budget is state and Federal funded somewhere around 350-500K income you should be exempt from school taxes. You are paying much more into schools than low income folks through income taxes.

    Libturd in Union says:
    February 4, 2015 at 10:35 am
    JJ…Brag now. On the reval, you are going to take it like Perez Hilton.

  62. JJ says:

    OJ is a black guy who acts white accused of murdering a white girl named brown.

    The Great Pumpkin says:
    February 4, 2015 at 1:42 pm
    That’s for sure. People with lots of money. Always has been, always will. Ask OJ, color has nothing to do with it.

  63. joyce says:

    Don’t need to be rich to be above the law.

    (sorry I’m going to post the whole article, if the spam filter allows me to)

    http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150204_TSA_jails_innocent_traveler_when_he_asks_to_file_a_complaint.html

    Polaneczky: TSA jails innocent traveler when he asks to file a complaint

    APPARENTLY, working as a supervisor for the Transportation Security Administration at Philadelphia International Airport comes with a perk: You get to throw people in jail for no good reason and still keep your job.

    If that’s not the case, why is Charles Kieser still employed by the TSA?

    Roger Vanderklok had the misfortune of going through Kieser’s security-screening area at 8 a.m. Jan. 26, 2013, in Terminal B.

    Vanderklok, 57, is a Philly architect who runs half-marathons. Twice a month, he flies around the country for weekend races.

    On this day, he was headed to Miami. In his carry-on bag was a packet of PowerBars and a heart-monitoring watch. When the bag went through the X-ray scanner, the items looked suspicious to a TSA agent whom Kieser supervises.

    For the next 30 minutes, screeners checked the bag several times. Vanderklok told them that a tube-shaped case in the bag contained his watch. Then he was asked if his bag contained “organic matter.” Vanderklok said no, as he thought “organic matter” meant fruits or vegetables.

    PowerBars, which contain milk, grain and sugar, are considered “organic matter” and can resemble a common explosive. Terrorists often use a small electronic device, like a watch, to detonate the explosive. Hence the agent’s concern.

    Once the items were deemed harmless, Vanderklok says, he told Kieser that if someone had only told him what “organic matter” meant, he could have saved everyone a lot of trouble. Kieser then became confrontational. Vanderklok says he calmly asked to file a complaint. He then waited while someone was supposedly retrieving the proper form.

    Instead, Kieser summoned the Philadelphia Police. Vanderklok was taken to an airport holding cell, and his personal belongings – including his phone – were confiscated while police “investigated” him.

    Vanderklok was detained for three hours in the holding cell, missing his plane. Then he was handcuffed, taken to the 18th District at 55th and Pine and placed in another cell.

    He says that no one – neither the police officers at the airport nor the detectives at the 18th – told him why he was there. He didn’t find out until he was arraigned at 2 a.m. that he was being charged with “threatening the placement of a bomb” and making “terroristic threats.”

    Vanderklok’s Kafkaesque odyssey finally ended at 4 a.m., when his wife paid 10 percent of his $40,000 bail.

    When I heard this story, my first thought was that Vanderklok had to have said or done something outrageous for others to respond with such alarm. In fact, Kieser said as much at Vanderklok’s trial on April 8, 2013.

    Under oath, Kieser told the court that he had been monitoring Vanderklok’s interaction with the bag screener because “I saw a passenger becoming agitated. Hands were in the air. And it’s something we deal with regularly. But I don’t let it go on on my checkpoint.”

    Kieser intervened, he said, and that’s when Vanderklok complained that the screening was “delaying him.” While he said this, he “had both hands with fingers extended up toward the ceiling up in the air at the time and shaking them.”

    Vanderklok also “put his finger in my face. And he said, ‘Let me tell you something. I’ll bring a bomb through here any day I want.’ And he said you’ll never find it.”

    Vanderklok repeated the aggressive finger-pointing two more times, Kieser testified.

    But here’s the thing: Airport surveillance videos show nothing of the sort.

    Throughout the search, Vanderklok appears calm. His laptop computer is tucked under his arms and his hands are clasped in front of him the entire time. Without any fuss, he follows TSA agents when they move from one part of the screening area to another. He even smiles a little.

    Not once does he raise his hands. Not once does he point a finger in Kieser’s face. If anyone is becoming agitated, the video shows, it is Kieser.

    Neither Kieser nor his colleagues appear alarmed about the bomb threat Vanderklok has allegedly made. They chat and laugh with one another behind a desk, check their cellphones. One sips a soda, another wanders around the area, straightening bins. Two more assist an elderly couple with their wheelchairs.

    They do not summon the FBI, clear passengers from the area, don protective gear or appear to do anything suggesting there’s looming danger.

    And here’s another thing: Kieser alleged that Vanderklok told him, “I’ll bring a bomb through here any day I want. And . . . you’ll never find it.” But that’s not what Kieser told police, according to the report taken by the responding officer. The report reads that Vanderklok, frustrated, told Kieser, “Anybody could bring a bomb in here and nobody would know.”

    The first statement is a threat, forbidden by law. The second is an opinion, protected by it.

    Vanderklok says he made neither statement. Yet he was treated like the Shoe Bomber.

    Even talking about it now, two years later, rattles him.

    “I was scared to death. I have never been arrested in my life, never had handcuffs put on,” he says. “Throughout the night, I was in a dark place; no one knew where I was. I thought, ‘I could fall off the face of the earth right now, and no one would know it.’ ”

    While Vanderklok was worrying, so was his wife, Eleanor. When her husband travels, his routine is to call her when he boards the plane, when he lands and when he arrives at his hotel. This time, no calls. Nor did he respond to the increasingly panicked messages she left him.

    She called his Miami hotel. He’d never checked in. She called the airline. He’d never boarded the plane. She called the city’s hospitals. He wasn’t in any of them. Finally, she called 9-1-1.

    “I was so scared. I didn’t know what to do with myself,” says Eleanor Vanderklok. “A million scenarios go through your head.”

    She was waiting for an officer to arrive at the couple’s Center City home to take her report when the phone rang. A police officer told her that her husband had been arrested and was awaiting arraignment. When she learned why, she was shocked.

    “My husband has been on planes hundreds of times,” she says. “Not once was there a problem. This was out of the blue.”

    At trial, Kieser was the first and only witness to testify. Municipal Judge Felice Stack acquitted Vanderklok of all charges within minutes of hearing Kieser’s testimony. Vanderklok’s lawyer, Thomas Malone, didn’t get a chance to question the Philadelphia police officers and detectives who were involved in Vanderklok’s arrest. Nor did he get to show the surveillance video that contradicted Kieser.

    “The police at the airport never even questioned Mr. Vanderklok. They just detained him,” says Malone. “The detectives at the 18th [District] also never spoke with him. He was charged based on a single allegation by one TSA employee.”

    Last week, Malone filed a suit on Vanderklok’s behalf against the TSA, the Philadelphia Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security, alleging that Vanderklok was willfully deprived of his liberty because he had the gall to say that he wanted to file a complaint.

    The city and the TSA declined to comment on the case. So allow me to.

    Vanderklok’s arrest reeks of payback from a TSA supervisor who – to give him the benefit of the doubt – was perhaps having a bad day on Jan. 26, 2013.

    But that same supervisor’s behavior on April 8, when he swore under oath to things that were not true, is not evidence of a bad day. It’s evidence of someone who will stick to his story even if it means an innocent man may go to jail.

    I don’t know if that makes Kieser a bad man. But it sure doesn’t make him a very good TSA employee.

    It’s unbelievable that he still has his job.

  64. joyce says:

    tried to post the whole thing… but it’s in moderation.

    You don’t have to be rich to be above the law, no charges filed … not even fired from job

    http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150204_TSA_jails_innocent_traveler_when_he_asks_to_file_a_complaint.html#8e42Qj98jAEwLjIy.99

  65. joyce says:

    That goes for the TSA agent himself, and his conspirators

  66. leftwing says:

    “amount/type/quality of services received vs total property taxes”

    Joyce, don’t know. Since the biggest service most of the tax base seems to support is schooling that is probably the best equalizer. I imagine most other services (unless we are talking real outliers) are provided to a basic standard with not that much differentiation – water, garbage, street maintenance, etc.

    I’d be really interested in tax load as a percent of income, but any income measure by town is very sketchy and I don’t like means/medians. That may be the best indicator. For the (comparable) services across different towns how much of your relative income does it cost. Are you working for your house?

    I looked for kicks and giggles at the house in #40 relative to houses in Chatham. Pulled a $699k house in Chatham as a comparison of what the same amount buys in a comparable NJ town (grim). Also pulled a similar early 20th century house with to the house in #40 in Chatham (cost, $2.4m). No surprise, it costs a lot more to live here, whether measured by accommodation or tax load to provide services.

    For your post 57:
    http://nypost.com/2014/10/29/investor-husband-pushed-me-into-sex-for-biz-deal-estranged-wife/

    He did at least resign……

  67. Xolepa says:

    I am paying $4900 on a two-family in Hunterdon County. Heats with oil and has a cesspool. That’s right, not a septic.

  68. JJ says:

    Hunterdon has a lot of houses with Wells and Cesspools in backyards. I cant get over I take a crap it gets pumped to a hole in a backyard then I go get a glass of water and it comes from another hole in years. The water is always brown or yellow for obvious reasons.

    Plus no services. Growing up in Great Neck the trash guy came into backyard for garbage no dragging to the curb, mail man put it threw slot in front door. Sewers took away crap for free and Water was clean and fresh and cheap from Water company.

    Hunterdon is like a third world country. Heck you have to walk in street as sidewalks are not yet invented and street lamps is a rarity. It is like India in the 1970s

    heck most towns dont even have High Schools some kinds of shared arrangement with other towns. I dont even know if black folk can sit in the front of the school buss out there yet

  69. JJ says:

    I love heating oil. It turns this cool blue color when mixed with saltwater.All gas does is blow up house.

    Xolepa says:
    February 4, 2015 at 2:39 pm
    I am paying $4900 on a two-family in Hunterdon County. Heats with oil and has a cesspool. That’s right, not a septic.

  70. Libturd in Union says:

    JJ,

    Our trash is still picked up from our backyards and our mail is put in our mail slots. The only cesspool around is Newark, but that’s ten minutes away.

  71. Libturd in Union says:

    Gator Jr. just made RDS soccer training for the Summer. Not bad for a kid who plays travel hockey, two travel soccer teams (both Spring and Fall) and is still managing to kick butt in school. And trust me, we don’t do his homework for him, like so many other tiger parents. Though he may miss a day of PARCC testing for a hockey tournament in Lake Placid. I’m a proud papa for a day. Though it’s all him. I don’t push him at all, though he does know that if he doesn’t practice hard, I’m not paying. Still, it’s his choice.

  72. Anon E. Moose says:

    Grim [1];

    There was video of a cargo 747 in Afghanistan that was similarly horrifying. In that case, a vehicle on a rolling palette in the back of the plane came unsecured, and slid aft, moving the center of gravity back and causing the nose to pitch up uncontrollably. It was all over from that point.

    There’s also video of a hot-dog B52 pilot showboating at an airshow demonstration that went very wrong.

  73. Anon E. Moose says:

    Lib [74];

    Booyah!

  74. Libturd in Union says:

    Thanks Moose. I was very surprised as I was too busy last night to go to the tryout and he didn’t seem too impressed by his own performance. He’s gonna be one happy camper come tonight when we tell him at hockey practice.

  75. Anon E. Moose says:

    Just saw a pop-up ad for Hovnanian — $1MM townhouses in Morris County. Let me say that again, $1MM and you have to listen to your neighbor’s headboard hitting the wall and barely muffled moans.

  76. NJT says:

    #40

    ” Many of the higher rates are in the sticks. Rockaway Twp in Morris, ouch, 2.8%.”

    One of the reasons I left that sinking ‘ship.

  77. joyce says:

    Come on, Moose… be fair. The starting prices are $899K

  78. Ron Jermany says:

    Lib & Gator,

    Congrats!

  79. Happy Renter says:

    [74] Cool. My son has been doing the RDS this year too, and so waived into the summer program as a pre-qualified student. He likes it.

  80. dentss says:

    1987 condo …Monmouth county is going to a once a year reval ..my asseser told me they will try to keep values as close as possibly to 100% as will the sales ratio which was 85% 2 years ago but now is 92 % .they take an average % of up or down movement and adjust you value accordingly .our tax rate has hovered around $2.04 .so far my taxes have gone up 11% …….it called Assessment Demonstration Program and will be done state wide shortly ….http://monmouthcounty.blogspot.com/2014/01/assessment-demonstration-program-to.html

  81. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Exactly!!! It’s all relative to value. Why people can’t understand this is beyond me. It’s like a 70 year who was making big bucks 30 years ago and bought a home in Ridgewood for 100,000. 30 years later he is now retired and his house is worth 1.2 million and he is wondering why his taxes are so high? Get rid of the house and live in a much lower valued home and you won’t pay high taxes.

    leftwing says:
    February 4, 2015 at 11:39 am
    Looking at taxes in nominal dollars doesn’t say much. Everyone’s tax in NJ is ‘high’ due to higher than US average home values. And homes valued higher than the average pay more in taxes. All a higher than average NJ tax bill says is that you live in a nice(r) house. No one can possibly be surprised that the average tax load in Alpine is almost 4x the average tax load in Absecon.

    I’d be more interested in the tax rate or, even better, the % that taxes are of market value.

    In my town the rate 1.70, and given some decline since the last assessment the tax/market value is at or slightly above 2.0%.

    Not that bad overall. I’ve looked at property in the boondocks. Most of the tax/market values are around the mid-one percent range.

    Here’s one. For the area a higher end community and location. Probably the local equivalent of a Chatham or such here when one compares relative demographics, school districts, etc.

    http://www.uticaromerealtor.com/search/details.php?MLSNum=1301438

    Our taxes aren’t necessarily that out of line for market value, it’s that you get so little for market value here that makes them seem crazy.

    And, yes, realtors can be horrible everywhere. Did they really need to sit the mutt in the front yard for the cover photo?

  82. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Congrats! Good for you! Enjoy it.

    Libturd in Union says:
    February 4, 2015 at 3:55 pm
    Gator Jr. just made RDS soccer training for the Summer. Not bad for a kid who plays travel hockey, two travel soccer teams (both Spring and Fall) and is still managing to kick butt in school. And trust me, we don’t do his homework for him, like so many other tiger parents. Though he may miss a day of PARCC testing for a hockey tournament in Lake Placid. I’m a proud papa for a day. Though it’s all him. I don’t push him at all, though he does know that if he doesn’t practice hard, I’m not paying. Still, it’s his choice.

  83. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Def right.

    joyce says:
    February 4, 2015 at 2:16 pm
    tried to post the whole thing… but it’s in moderation.

    You don’t have to be rich to be above the law, no charges filed … not even fired from job

    http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150204_TSA_jails_innocent_traveler_when_he_asks_to_file_a_complaint.html#8e42Qj98jAEwLjIy.99

  84. Comrade Nom Deplume with extended middle finger to the haters. says:

    I just learned my 11yos team was awarded an at large bid to Summit, the nationals held at Disney. They went last year but lost. This year, they beat the National champions. We just got the bid news. This is the one half the dads dread because it means having to pay for another vacation.

  85. Comrade Nom Deplume with extended middle finger to the haters. says:

    Lib and Gator, will see more on FB. lil gator must be jazzed

  86. leftwing says:

    Anon, Morris County townhomes.

    Entry just above 1.0, median likely 1.2, high 1.5……….

    http://www.sterlingpropertiesnj.com/communities/past/rosevalle.html

    In an act of karma that may challenge my agnosticism the developer was jammed up hard by the planning board and may not have cleared nearly as much as he projected

  87. Fabius Maximus says:

    I found something to sail up the St Charles.
    http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/you-can-buy-this-crazy-experimental-littoral-combat-shi-1683431253
    That was a really strange Superbowl. I went to a town party, attendance was down from last year, I don’t know if it was due to the snow or just apathy. A lot of people would have loved to have the option of a draw as they couldn’t work out who they wanted to lose more. Just before half time I had a 7-4 box for $150, my friend had 0-4 for $500 and is screaming for Seattle to take a field goal. Seattle scores and shafts us both. At least one of my brood won the kids pool for $50.

  88. Comrade Nom Deplume, Duckboat Commander says:

    [90] fabian,

    Very happy with the outcome even if you weren’t.

  89. awesome seo says:

    9mHN9R Hey there, You’ve done an excellent job. I’ll certainly digg it and personally suggest to my friends. I’m confident they will be benefited from this website.

  90. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Can we just eliminate insurance and go to a cash system. Every other business functions without insurance. Insurance is a scam. Always has been, always will be. I am also sorry to the physicians out there, whom I questioned. I was wrong and I’m sorry.

    “Not surprisingly, many doctors want out. Medical students opt for high-paying specialties so they can retire as quickly as possible. Physician MBA programs—that promise doctors a way into management—are flourishing. The website known as the Drop-Out-Club—which hooks doctors up with jobs at hedge funds and venture capital firms—has a solid following. In fact, physicians are so bummed out that 9 out of 10 doctors would discourage anyone from entering the profession.

    It’s hard for anyone outside the profession to understand just how rotten the job has become—and what bad news that is for America’s health care system. Perhaps that’s why author Malcolm Gladwell recently implied that to fix the healthcare crisis, the public needs to understand what it’s like to be a physician. Imagine, for things to get better for patients, they need to empathize with physicians—that’s a tall order in our noxious and decidedly un-empathetic times.

    After all, the public sees ophthalmologists and radiologists making out like bandits and wonder why they should feel anything but scorn for such doctors—especially when Americans haven’t gotten a raise in decades. But being a primary care physician is not like being, say, a plastic surgeon—a profession that garners both respect and retirement savings. Given that primary care doctors do the work that no one else is willing to do, being a primary care physician is more like being a janitor—but without the social status or union protections.

    Unfortunately, things are only getting worse for most doctors, especially those who still accept health insurance. Just processing the insurance forms costs $58 for every patient encounter, according to Dr. Stephen Schimpff, an internist and former CEO of University of Maryland Medical Center who is writing a book about the crisis in primary care. To make ends meet, physicians have had to increase the number of patients they see. The end result is that the average face-to-face clinic visit lasts about 12 minutes.

    Neither patients nor doctors are happy about that. What worries many doctors, however, is that the Affordable Care Act has codified this broken system into law. While forcing everyone to buy health insurance, ACA might have mandated a uniform or streamlined claims procedure that would have gone a long way to improving access to care. As Malcolm Gladwell noted, “You don’t train someone for all of those years in [medicine]… and then have them run a claims processing operation for insurance companies.”

    To make ends meet, physicians have had to increase the number of patients they see. The end result is that the average face-to-face clinic visit lasts about 12 minutes.
    In fact, difficulty dealing with insurers has caused many physicians to close their practices and become employees. But for patients, seeing an employed doctor doesn’t give them more time with the doctor—since employed physicians also have high patient loads. “A panel size of 2,000 to 2,500 patients is too many,” says Dr. Schimpff. That’s the number of patients primary care doctors typically are forced to carry—and that means seeing 24 or more patients a day, and often these patients have 10 or more medical problems. As any seasoned physician knows, this is do-able, but it’s certainly not optimal.”

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/14/how-being-a-doctor-became-the-most-miserable-profession.html

  91. Libturd in the City says:

    Just snuck a peak at the oil chart. I’m no TA guy, but from a momentum standpoint, I’m not sure oil has hit its lows yet. Chart has that dead cat bounce look to it.

  92. JJ – Don’t forget – That average $8K average property tax includes South Jersey.

    8k is actually reasonable taxes for NJ and Long Island.

  93. Comrade Nom Deplume, basking in the moment, middle finger extended . . . says:

    [93] punkin

    No one can say they weren’t warned. When Obamacare was close to passage, my social1st friends an I debated it and we agreed on one thing: it was potentially worse than what it purported to replace.

  94. Comrade Nom Deplume, basking in the moment, middle finger extended . . . says:

    [94] lib

    That the consensus I think. I was considering oil investments but I’m holding off.

  95. I don’t believe so either. I f you look at USO, Stochastics and MACDH look like they are rolling over, and after 4 consecutive up days which brought it above the 30 day SMA for the first time since 9/29/14, it closed below the 30 day again yesterday.

    Just snuck a peak at the oil chart. I’m no TA guy, but from a momentum standpoint, I’m not sure oil has hit its lows yet. Chart has that dead cat bounce look to it.

  96. [98] Or more simply, one higher high does not a breakout make.

  97. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I’m scratching my head, how did we allow insurance to rig the game? Meaning, how did we allow a market system to involve an insurance system. It messes everything up. Prices are no longer based on market fundamentals. So much easier for people to extort money from the system by making false claims to overcharging. The only negative thing I can see from eliminating insurance is the massive lost of jobs.

    I don’t know, the system is far too complex than it needs to be. I wish people were capable of saving some money so we don’t have to be involved in this system. That’s basically what it is, 50% of the population is incapable of saving a dime, so they came up with this system to help them. It’s the only reason I can see for creating insurance.

    Comrade Nom Deplume, basking in the moment, middle finger extended . . . says:
    February 5, 2015 at 8:17 am
    [93] punkin

    No one can say they weren’t warned. When Obamacare was close to passage, my social1st friends an I debated it and we agreed on one thing: it was potentially worse than what it purported to replace.

  98. Nom – I was inadvertently at the Patriots parade yesterday, or 37 floors above it, anyway. I spent the entire day giving a deposition at Davis Malm & D’Agostine. Our conference room overlooked Government Center. It was pretty impressive that you could really hear the cheers of the crowd that far up.

  99. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Tough call. I would def sway the direction of a dead cat bounce, but you never know. Oil will be back up in 2 years as the economy starts taking off from cheap oil. They will use oil as a means to cool off the red hot economy, since interest rates are no longer a tool that can be used. Meaning raise oil prices to cool off the economy and lower oil to jump-start it. Just a theory I’m throwing out there.

    Libturd in the City says:
    February 5, 2015 at 8:12 am
    Just snuck a peak at the oil chart. I’m no TA guy, but from a momentum standpoint, I’m not sure oil has hit its lows yet. Chart has that dead cat bounce look to it.

  100. Libturd in the City says:

    “I’m scratching my head, how did we allow insurance to rig the game?”

    Talk to Warren B. It’s the only game he knows to this day.

  101. 1987 condo says:

    We got what the people wanted. In the mid 90’s you had low med inflation of 1%. You had “tight” doctor networks meaning standards and fees were agreed upon, access was “restricted” you had limited coverages, etc. But soon everyone cried, I want my doctor in the network, I want IVF covered, I want to stay in hospital longer, I want this test, that test (aided by docs too!).

    My company at the time, Prudential Healthcare did not yield. Result was that members/employers left and we ended up losing $200 million a quarter on MLR.

    Eventually PHC was sold and the healthcare companies, taking a beating in the press from Clintoncare essentially said, why look like bad guys with this managed care approach, instead allow all doctors in all networks, all hospitals are included, and what the hey, all procedures too. They just recalculated the costs, added their profit margin and there is your premium! They essentially gave the people what they wanted…”non-managed” care.

    The pendulum will begin to swing back….

  102. Libturd in the City says:

    As for claiming oil as another bullet in the FEDs gun, I would say that you are just slightly less cra cra than Stiglitz and Krugman. You are giving the overlords too much credit. Sometimes, things still happen due to the economy and market conditions. We went from relying almost solely on Middle Eastern oil to almost completely severing that tie through fracking. Of course oversupply was going to occur, especially if OPEC chose not to limit their output (which they never really do anyway). If we put our partisan ways aside, we could easily be the world’s supplier of clean LNG, as SA is the supplier of sweet sweet crude. But we’ll never do that. Not with the current divide between the two parties where finding common ground is akin to french kissing your cousins.

  103. The Great Pumpkin says:

    104- Thanks for your insight into the issue. Much appreciated. This is a mess.

  104. The Great Pumpkin says:

    lol…def a theory that was a little out there. I was just thinking outside the box.

    You bring up a huge point there with LNG. That really could be a beautiful thing for this country. Could the powers that be, be happy to use up opec’s supply of oil when it is cheap, and when they increase the price to too high a level, they open the flood gates again to keep the price in check? Just throwing some ideas out there.

    Libturd in the City says:
    February 5, 2015 at 9:27 am
    As for claiming oil as another bullet in the FEDs gun, I would say that you are just slightly less cra cra than Stiglitz and Krugman. You are giving the overlords too much credit. Sometimes, things still happen due to the economy and market conditions. We went from relying almost solely on Middle Eastern oil to almost completely severing that tie through fracking. Of course oversupply was going to occur, especially if OPEC chose not to limit their output (which they never really do anyway). If we put our partisan ways aside, we could easily be the world’s supplier of clean LNG, as SA is the supplier of sweet sweet crude. But we’ll never do that. Not with the current divide between the two parties where finding common ground is akin to french kissing your cousins.

  105. JJ says:

    This is what companies are now pushing. You email, phone or skype the doctor and he gives prescription

    MDLIVE’s national network of Board Certified physicians will allow you to connect with a doctor by phone, email or secure video 24/7/365. MDLIVE’s doctors can recommend treatment, diagnose your symptoms and issue prescriptions for non-emergency medical conditions.

    When to use MDLIVE?
    • If you’re considering the ER or urgent care center for a non-emergency medical issue
    • Your primary care physician is not available
    • Request prescriptions or get refills
    • Traveling and in need of medical care
    • During or after normal business hours, nights, weekends and even holidays

  106. Ragnar says:

    On insurance: remember the outrage against HMOs? There was even an awful Denzel Washington movie “John Q” about wicked HMOs forcing a guy to take hostages and threaten murder to force a hospital to treat his kid. Based on minor personal experience, HMOs kind of sucked, mostly because they were confusing to deal with, basically tacking on “NO” to a bunch of stuff without boosting customer service to help people navigate it. However, nobody was legally forcing anyone to be part of an HMO, and there were often other options.

    I wonder how many movies Hollywood has planned about the ravages and disappointing results of an increasingly government-dominated medical system. I predict zero.

  107. Ragnar says:

    Cash payment for relatively routine treatment plus high deductible, lower cost insurance for serious health stuff seems the most rational way to run medicine/insurance
    But Obamacare is structurally and philosophically against that approach.

  108. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    What’s next, spam sales increase? In Hawaii they love it for some reason.
    ————-
    Cash-strapped young Americans are reviving Velveeta’s sales

    NEW YORK (Reuters) – Anielle Troyan, a call center worker in New York, shops at discount retailers such as Family Dollar for items like soap and detergent as well as groceries like Kraft macaroni and cheese and small-sized condiments.

    It’s “expensive to cook for one,” she said. “I’m 25, I’m poor, I’m usually going to buy what’s cheapest.”

    Customers like Troyan are one reason why Kraft Foods Group Inc reversed course after considering stopping the sale of single-serve packages of Velveeta cheese sauce, which wasn’t moving in traditional grocery stores. After another look at the numbers, Kraft found that shoppers on tight budgets at dollar stores were gobbling up Velveeta sauce in the affordable small size, and the food got a new lease on life.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/r-velveeta-revives-as-young-and-poor-shop-dollar-stores-for-groceries-2015-2

  109. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Well said. This approach by far makes the most sense.

    Ragnar says:
    February 5, 2015 at 10:47 am
    Cash payment for relatively routine treatment plus high deductible, lower cost insurance for serious health stuff seems the most rational way to run medicine/insurance
    But Obamacare is structurally and philosophically against that approach.

  110. The Great Pumpkin says:

    110- So true about spam and hawaii. I couldn’t understand that when I was there. It’s incorporated into their daily meals. They love it. Disgusting.

  111. Libturd in the City says:

    I hate fake cheese. I can’t even eat that imitation American Cheese product Kraft passes off as cheese anymore. If the label says foodstuff on it, I just can’t eat it. Cheese must be made from milk. Call me a foodie I guess. Perhaps this is why I am a provolone man on my occasional cheese steak, even if I’m not a purist.

    Same with the flavored creamers. They all taste like chemicals to me. Just give me good old whole milk.

  112. Libturd in the City says:

    Spam is popular in Hawaii because it was the only meat product most locals could afford, especially during the WWII years. I find it tolerable when fried and eaten much like locals around here like their pork roll. It’s probably the same thing.

    I’ve been to Hawaii three times. Every time I go, I can’t get used to the food prices. It makes Grim’s lament about the strong dollar making his meals in Denmark appear mild in comparison. If you’ve ever been there, you would notice that most hotel rooms (outside of the real resorty places) have lanais. It’s damn expensive enough to cook your own meal out there, let alone eat out. When I was there last about eight years ago, it would easily cost $100 per person per day to eat at casual restaurants. You’ve been warned.

  113. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    Or those ramen noodles are probably making a come back. They have like 1000 mg of Sodium in them. Crazy what I used to eat in college.

  114. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    I wonder if Hawaii has to rely on imports for all their food which raises the cost. I think that’s why Bermuda and Bahamas, the food is always expensive.

  115. Xolepa says:

    Those creamers are the worst for your heart. Ask any doctor what partially hydrogenated food products do to you. Next time you pickup one of those jars, please read the label.
    Another reason why I don’t drink coffee.

  116. Libturd in the City says:

    I don’t add salt to anything, but I do like spice. The salt in those ramen packages are all in the flavor packet. Best to throw them out and use real broth.

  117. Libturd in the City says:

    “I wonder if Hawaii has to rely on imports for all their food which raises the cost.”

    That is the case and they are so isolated that it’s really expensive. It doesn’t help that the Islands are all a bit of a boat ride away from each other two. There is a lot of cattle grazing on the Big Island, but not enough to defray the costs.

  118. Libturd in the City says:

    The rocky market action of the past week or so has prompted noted investor Dennis Gartman to issue a warning to his fellow investors: Be careful.

    “Use puts , use positions to defend yourself. Be careful. That’s all I can tell you,” the editor and publisher of The Gartman Letter said in an interview with ” Closing Bell ” Wednesday.

    “The volatility of the past week and a half is unlike anything I’ve seen in my career, and I’ve been at this 40 years.” Despite rallying earlier in the day, U.S. stocks closed mostly lower Wednesday after the European Central Bank revoked a waiver that allowed Greek banks to use its government debt as collateral for loans.
    —————————————————————————————————–
    This isn’t volatility. What’s he talking about? Was he not around during the tech bubble burst or financial crisis? This is about as calm of a market as I can ever remember. Sure, oil doesn’t drop from 110 to 45 every three months, which would explain the recent bumpiness, but come on! Dow 18K hats may come out again tomorrow. Me thinks Gartman is looking for some attention.

  119. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I was amazed at how much cattle grazing was taking place in Hawaii. Also, I was amazed at all the wild chicken running around on some of the islands. I had no idea about either one before I had visited Hawaii.

    Libturd in the City says:
    February 5, 2015 at 12:12 pm
    “I wonder if Hawaii has to rely on imports for all their food which raises the cost.”

    That is the case and they are so isolated that it’s really expensive. It doesn’t help that the Islands are all a bit of a boat ride away from each other two. There is a lot of cattle grazing on the Big Island, but not enough to defray the costs.

  120. Essex says:

    Young Americans’ living arrangements have changed strikingly over the past fifteen years, with recent cohorts entering the housing market at much lower rates and lingering much longer in their parents’ households. The New York Times Magazine reported this past summer on the surge in college-educated young people who “boomerang” back to living with their parents after graduation. Joining that trend are the many other members of this cohort who have never left home, whether or not they attend college. Why might young people increasingly reside with their parents? They may be unable to find employment, they may be saving their income to pay down increasing levels of student debt, or they may be unable to afford the rent for an apartment in the face of lower income or higher housing prices.

    In a new Federal Reserve Bank of New York staff report, we discuss our analysis of these trends using the New York Fed Consumer Credit Panel (CCP). The CCP is a unique data set that includes information on the ages and locations of a large, representative sample of U.S. individuals and households. This data set’s size allows us to analyze residence patterns for very narrow age groups, here twenty-five- and
    thirty-year-olds, at very fine geographic levels. Such fine age and geographic detail helps us distinguish among the various local economic forces that may be driving young people home.

    Because of data limitations, we define an individual to be “living with her parents” if she is living with any individual who is at least fifteen years older, which could include parents as well as aunts or uncles, grandparents, or (rarely) other considerably older household members. (Rich detail on our parental co-residence measure is available in the staff report.) The analysis that follows relies on this co-residence standard to study residence trends among twenty-five- and thirty-year-olds in a representative sample of adult Americans.

    The animated image below shows rates of parental co-residence across the forty-eight contiguous states at different points in time. In 2003, between 20 and 30 percent of twenty-five-year-olds lived with their parents (using our measure) in twenty-five of the forty-eight states. By 2013, all forty-eight states had parental co-residence rates of more than 30 percent. Indeed, for twelve states, the parental co-residence rate for twenty-five-year-olds had risen above 50 percent. Four states—Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Vermont—saw the rate at which twenty-five-year-olds live with their parents increase by more than twenty percentage points between 2003 and 2013. Parental co-residence was highest in Mid-Atlantic and Southern states in 2003, but by 2013 it was highest in the Northeast and Midwest.

    The map shows the increasing rate of parental co-residence among 25-year-olds from
    2002-03 to 2012-13.

    The chart below tracks the national trend in parental co-residence for twenty-five- and thirty-year-olds. Parental co-residence increased steadily for both age groups from at least 2003 through 2012, followed by a leveling off or slight decline in 2013. The chart also shows one measurement of household formation—homeownership—which has been decreasing for both twenty-five- and thirty-year-olds since 2007, the end of the housing bubble and the start of the Great Recession. While
    thirty-year-olds were twice as likely to own a home as they were to live with their parents in 2003, we find that they were equally likely to own a home or live with their parents in 2013.

    Homeownership and Parental Co-residence Rates

    Our next chart presents an exhaustive set of four possible residence states for twenty-five-year-olds: they could live with parents, or alone, or with one roommate of similar age, or with more than one roommate. (Our analysis excludes children in the household.) The chart shows that parental co-residence has risen at the expense of living alone and living with multiple roommates. The chart also suggests, however, that the trend in parental co-residence has not substantially changed the fraction of individuals living with a single roommate, an arrangement that in many cases is likely to be a romantic partnership. (These patterns are similar for thirty-year-olds, where our analysis using the Current Population Survey indicates that co-residence with one adult is a highly accurate indicator of romantic partnership.)

    Residence Arrangements

    Given these broad trends, one might ask what forces are driving Millennials home. The chart below depicts trends in the local economic environment faced by twenty-five-year-olds in our sample from 2003 to 2013, along with the trend in their rate of living with parents. The chart raises two key questions: First, if staying longer with parents is a symptom of economic difficulty, and economic growth is its cure, then why do we see a persistent, almost linear climb in the rate of co-residence with parents, rather than, for example, peaks and troughs that track unemployment over the business cycle? Second, does the similarity in the aggregate trends in student debt and parental co-residence truly mean that graduates (and dropouts) are staying or returning home in order to tackle growing debt burdens?

    Economic Circumstances

    Estimates in our staff report attempt to address these questions. Our results demonstrate that local economic growth is a mixed blessing when it comes to building youth independence: Improvement in youth employment conditions enables young people to move away from their parents, but rising local house prices are estimated to have forced many young people to move back home. These two effects partially offset each other.

    However, the relationship we observe between rising student debt and co-residence with parents is clearer. The chart below presents a state-level scatter plot of the change in the rate of living with parents from 2008 to 2013 against the change in average student debt per graduate. It reveals a clear positive correlation between a state’s student debt growth and the rate at which its twenty-five-year-olds live with their parents. The regression line in the chart indicates that a $10,000 increase in student debt per graduate in the state is associated with an additional 2.9 percentage point rise in the rate of living with parents. (Estimates in the staff report that account for changes in the local economy and other factors tell a similar story.)

    Our findings, then, confirm the view, widely reported in the American media, that today’s young people are more likely to live in parental households long into their twenties than were young people one or two decades ago. This trend is widespread across the United States. Finally, while local economic growth, reflected in rising youth employment and escalating house prices, has mixed consequences for youth independence, the increasing magnitude of student debt among college graduates appears to be driving young people home and keeping them there. We will examine this relationship—between education, finance, and socioeconomic outcomes in the short and long term—further in our future research.

    http://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2015/02/household-formation-within-the-boomerang-generation.html#.VNO0OVXF_3N

  121. Libturd in the City says:

    The chickens are all over Kauai. There are no natural predators on the island so they are everywhere. Kauai is beautiful, but it rains too much and it’s too expensive. I’m all about the Big Island. Volcano, the south point, green sand beach, etc.

  122. Libturd in the City says:

    You know, Larry Elison, from Oracle, owns the 6th largest of the 100 or so Hawaiian Islands. Must be nice.

  123. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Kauai is definitely special. So beautiful. I’m a big fan of Maui. A 70 year lady passed out in front of me and hit her head on the rocks. Caused me to panic and almost pass out myself. Rode mountain bikes down the volcano with my wife. At the top, I took off and look behind me to see my wife nowhere in sight. Wait about 2 min and my wife comes around the turn crying hysterically. I had to ride behind her the whole way with my hand constantly on the break…..lol. Good times. Can’t wait to go back.

    Libturd in the City says:
    February 5, 2015 at 1:25 pm
    The chickens are all over Kauai. There are no natural predators on the island so they are everywhere. Kauai is beautiful, but it rains too much and it’s too expensive. I’m all about the Big Island. Volcano, the south point, green sand beach, etc.

  124. The Great Pumpkin says:

    124- 70 year old passed out on top of the volcano while the sun was coming up. Sorry, didn’t clarify in last post.

  125. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    I was Hilo about 10 years ago and wanting to eat where the locals at. Went to a breakfast spot that truckers went to. Asked for eggs, ham, hash brown and pancakes which was listed around $7. My breakfast came out in 2 huge plates…what looked like 4 eggs, 10 slices of deli ham, and hashbrowns. And a pancake the size of the plate. I ate half of it and they said I did better than most tourist.

  126. Libturd in the City says:

    Man those locals can eat. Did you go to Peepee falls?

  127. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    No I didn’t visit that spot.

    I didn’t stay in Hilo, I actually stayed on the other coast in Waikoloa Beach .

  128. Libturd in the City says:

    Been to both spots. Definitely a beautiful beach. I did the volcano bike ride too with Gator PF. Probably my favorite thing to do is to don the snorkel and mask and just jump in the water in the most remote locations. The sea turtles are everywhere and if you don’t expect them, they can scare the krap out of you. you really don’t need fins either. They make it hard to get in and out where it’s rocky, which is pretty much 99% of the islands’ shores.

  129. Libturd in the City says:

    By the way, I just mentioned Peepee Falls to setup JJ.

  130. Xolepa says:

    Kaanapali was nice. But Casa De Campo was paradise, at least back in ’01 it was.

  131. NJGator says:

    Pumpkin 124 – I hated that bike ride. My hands killed from having to use the brakes for pretty much the entire ride. They used to let the clueless tourists start their ride from the Summit. So many people got hurt that they eventually starting bussing them halfway down the mountain before setting them free on their bicycles.

  132. Comrade Nom Deplume with extended middle finger to the haters. says:

    [124] Punkins

    Kauai is gorgeous but I can do without the @&$%#£ roosters.

    Best snorkeling and diving I ever did was off Kaanapali

  133. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    All of my best travelling was done pre-marriage, pre-home, pre-kids…essentially pre- real responsibilities.

  134. Bobo Elite says:

    All of my best INSERT WORD HERE was done pre-marriage

  135. Liquor Luge says:

    Xolepa (70)-

    There are parts of Hunterdoom where cesspools are still ok by code, and it’s ok to eject gray water out to a drainage swale. India’s got nothing on us.

  136. Liquor Luge says:

    Stu (74)-

    RDS is good training. Enjoy while you can, because rumor has it that Red Bull wants out of MLS. Ticket sales are in the crapper after they fired Petke, and the fans are going crazy.

  137. Liquor Luge says:

    My buddies at Red Bull are pumping resumes all over the place. They say the death watch is on.

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  139. Happy Renter says:

    [137] “RDS is good training. Enjoy while you can, because rumor has it that Red Bull wants out of MLS. Ticket sales are in the crapper after they fired Petke, and the fans are going crazy.”

    I gather that you’re saying the rumors are that Red Bull (the owner) wants to sell the team? Or is there really a rumor that the franchise is going to close up shop? Before I pay for the summer RDS for my kid, it would be good to know what you’re hearing through the grapevine . . .

    I understand that a second NYC soccer team will start playing next year (New York City FC) so closing up the Red Bulls franchise might be a real possibility. On the other hand, NYC fields two teams in many sports, so why not soccer?

    I’m hoping that at most the Red Bulls are sold to another owner rather than shut down. That would really suck.

  140. JJ says:

    This is what companies are now pushing. You email, phone or skype the doctor and he gives prescription

    MDLIVE’s national network of Board Certified physicians will allow you to connect with a doctor by phone, email or secure video 24/7/365. MDLIVE’s doctors can recommend treatment, diagnose your symptoms and issue prescriptions for non-emergency medical conditions.

  141. chicagofinance says:

    Mauna Kea Beach is the most ridiculously great beach I’ve ever seen……north west corner of the Big Island. We stayed up at a B&B in Waimea where it was 60 degrees and foggy. Took a right turn and out of the driveway and coasted down the hill to the beach……about 60 seconds before you hit the beach, the clouds ended (similar to SF) and sunny 90 degrees…..every day….this beach has a sand bar that goes out about 100 feet….

    Libturd in the City says:
    February 5, 2015 at 1:57 pm
    Been to both spots. Definitely a beautiful beach. I did the volcano bike ride too with Gator PF. Probably my favorite thing to do is to don the snorkel and mask and just jump in the water in the most remote locations. The sea turtles are everywhere and if you don’t expect them, they can scare the krap out of you. you really don’t need fins either. They make it hard to get in and out where it’s rocky, which is pretty much 99% of the islands’ shores.

  142. Essex says:

    139. Extreeeeeeeme!!

  143. Liquor Luge says:

    Rents (140)-

    Sorry, should clarify. Red Bull wants to sell, not close up shop. If they sell, there’s a long list of buyers who would love to get in on a complete monopoly that makes money hand-over-fist while suppressing player wages and holding US Soccer in a stranglehold.

  144. Liquor Luge says:

    MLS is so fcuked up that they really believe it is better to pay one washed-up European player 9mm than put nine quality American players into a side at 1mm apiece. Their salary cap actually prohibits it. This is why you see guys like Henry and Beckham surrounded on the pitch by shit former NCAA players making 50K/year.

    The players union is going to strike this year until MLS allows free agency. I hope they get it, because the minute players can move freely and earn their real market value, US Soccer will improve rapidly thereafter.

  145. Essex says:

    I read somewhere that at any given hour around the globe a Red Bull sponsored athlete is doing it’s thing….

  146. Comrade Nom Deplume with extended middle finger to the haters. says:

    Quote from a CNN Money article:

    “These data show that US students who choose to major in education, essentially the bulk of people who become teachers, have for at least the last seven decades been selected from students at the lower end of the academic aptitude pool. ”

    That explains a lot.

  147. Libturd at home says:

    Would be surprised about the Red Bulls being worried about money after losing the salary of Henry and to a lesser degree, Cahill.

  148. Happy Renter says:

    Thanks, Clot – that makes sense.

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