From HousingWire:
HUD’s social engineering is coming to your neighborhood
Look out American neighborhoods, you’re about to get engineered good and hard.
Why? Because market pricing is now considered discrimination.
In fact, any neighborhood that doesn’t meet with the approval of a demographic spreadsheet model in the bowels of some government bureaucrat’s office is considered discrimination.
…
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced a final rule today for the “affirmatively furthering fair housing program” but the debate is far from being final.Under the program, the federal government will collect large sums of personal data on the makeup of neighborhoods throughout the country searching for evidence of “disparities by race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, or disability in access to community assets” — even though there is no evidence of actual discrimination. And, in fact, such discrimination has been illegal since 1968.
Those communities that don’t fit the demographic models — let’s be frank here, they’re quotas — of “What Should Be” will have to be re-engineered by the smarter minds that are federal government bureaucrats. (What do you know about your own neighborhood? They know better.)
Those communities that don’t measure up to the spreadsheets will be targeted for correction, using billions in grants, as well as government blackmail (think how highway funds are used to bully states) to change their zoning, so that neighborhoods full of successful, prosperous people who worked to build their homes and their peaceful communities will be forced to welcome neighbors who haven’t worked for it, and who don’t value it.
Welcome to Fair Housing 2015, where market pricing is discrimination.
…
According to the Obama administration’s own wording, “housing choices continue to be constrained through housing discrimination, the operation of housing markets, [and] investment choices by holders of capital.”There it is. Right there. Sounds like Piketty or Marx, but it’s the White House.
Not in black and white, but in green — as in the color of money and the color of envy.
This is social engineering at its worst, and a violation of basic local zoning and (trigger warning) freedom of association.
Also, consider that they want to eliminate neighborhoods that they say have a demographic imbalance. Well, by that logic, we’d never have any Little Italy’s, Chinatowns, or any other ethnic enclaves that celebrate cultures. Gone is the revival by middle and upper-class black people in places like Harlem in New York and Oak Cliff in my own Dallas. No more Koreatown, no more Little Mexico. So much for celebrating diversity.
…
With any luck, the next administration, Democrat or Republican, will reject this class-warfare attack on “discrimination by the holders of capital.” But democracy isn’t exactly the best bulwark for preserving freedom and free markets.As H.L. Mencken said, and from which I borrowed for my lede, “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
Well, here it comes again. You’re about to be bureaucratically and culturally enriched.
Good Morning New Jersey
re:ev
Would buy another in a heartbeat. The issues I had were specific to the model and likely new tech glitches. The issue was with the old 12v battery under the hood, not the drive batteries. You’d think auto manufacturers have this 12 volt charging thing figured out already, but I guess when your car doesn’t have an alternator, they aren’t quite sure how to fix anything.
150 mile range ev’s will be a game changer. 90 mile range was sufficient for me in 90% of scenarios. But with 150, they move into primary car territory. Battery tech still way too expensive, but if costs come down and the TCO moves in favor of electric, watch out.
At this point my only option for longer range ev is the BMW i3 range extender. Chevy Bolt not out yet, and Tesla 3 not out yet. Too bad the BMW looks so god damned stupid.
Probably end up leasing something for 2 years and then buying a little Tesla or Bolt, or something from someone who has increased range.
We’re movin on up
Chinese PPT team in full swing this morning.
Stu if GM beats Tesla to a budget 200 miler with the Bolt, maybe you’ll have your window to short.
Don’t taze me bro IP— A former police chief received a $75,000 payout when he retired in March and will also be entitled to medical benefits paid for by the township until he’s 65, the New Jersey Herald reported.
Achille Taglialatela, 57, who is also getting a pension of $82,218 a year, received the payment largely for unused sick and vacation time, as well as $6,600 for compensatory time. The unused sick time was paid out at a rate of 50 percent of Taglialatela’s hourly pay rate of about $61, while the other time was paid out at a 100 percent rate.
“Whatever I’ve done in my life, I’ve done to the best of my ability,” he said. “I played by the rules, I did not violate any protocols, and I took the calculated number that I accumulated over my career as dictated by those (police) contracts,” he told the Herald.
Not a bad day for 34k residents:
Chase Bank to abandon debt collections against 34K N.J. consumers
Chase Bank will abandon credit card debt collection efforts against more than 34,000 New Jersey consumers to settle allegations it used “robo-signed” affidavits and made calculation errors in seeking court judgments, state authorities said Wednesday.
As part of the settlement, the bank and Chase Bankcard Services will pay $136 million to 47 states, the District of Columbia and the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Approximately $7 million will be paid to New Jersey.
and neither is health
The Great Pumpkin says:
July 8, 2015 at 7:55 pm
Education is not a business.
Doesn’t get funnier than this:
Royal flush: Man clogged N.J. casino pipes with $2.7M in counterfeit chips, cops say
Christian Lusardi, 43, of Fayetteville, was indicted Wednesday for buying counterfeit poker chips with face values totaling in the millions of dollars and using some in a January tournament in Atlantic City, the state Attorney General’s Office said.
But play at the Borgata, which was supposed to last three weeks, was suspended after only three days after guests at nearby Harrah’s Casino Hotel reported a leak in the sewer line in two adjoining rooms, authorities said.
The hotel staff found the leak had allegedly been caused by someone who had flushed counterfeit Borgata poker chips with a face value of $2.7 million down a toilet. More than 500 chips were extracted from plumbing and found to be fake.
http://watchdog.org/200210/nj-100k-pensions-double/
Under special retirement, Joseph Blaettler was able to step down as Union City deputy police chief at age 46 to start pocketing roughly $135,000 a year for life.
“Politicians created this system, and I simply accepted what they gave me along the way,” Blaettler told New Jersey Watchdog in a 2012 email. “If taxpayers want to get angry with someone, they need to ask their local and state politicians how they allowed the system to get to the point it is at.”
By age 80, his statistical life expectancy, Blaettler will have collected more than $4.5 million from PFRS.
10
When changes are suggested to the pension systems, why don’t they respond similarly “Well the legislature set it up this way.”
It’s usually argued ‘you can’t change the terms of my deal after I’ve started and have been paying, blah blah’… never heard a peep though about all the increases to the pension program over the years.
This is one guy out of hundreds of thousands. This is not the norm, this is a political gift that most can only dream of. Biggest scammers of the system are politicians, police, and firemen. Somehow all the other govt employees take a hit for this nonsense. This is wrong in every way. People getting over like this, are the reason the pension gets a bad name. This guy is ripping off other govt workers. You don’t think the other govt employees are pissed off about this guy ripping off their pension fund? But this will lead to an attack on all govt workers.
grim says:
July 9, 2015 at 8:17 am
http://watchdog.org/200210/nj-100k-pensions-double/
Under special retirement, Joseph Blaettler was able to step down as Union City deputy police chief at age 46 to start pocketing roughly $135,000 a year for life.
“Politicians created this system, and I simply accepted what they gave me along the way,” Blaettler told New Jersey Watchdog in a 2012 email. “If taxpayers want to get angry with someone, they need to ask their local and state politicians how they allowed the system to get to the point it is at.”
By age 80, his statistical life expectancy, Blaettler will have collected more than $4.5 million from PFRS.
That makes perfect sense to me. The banks were the original “block busters” back in the 70’s and since the government and banks are now one entity… (Maybe they’ll run the first pilot programs in Baltimore and DC?)
Those communities that don’t fit the demographic models — let’s be frank here, they’re quotas — of “What Should Be” will have to be re-engineered by the smarter minds that are federal government bureaucrats. (What do you know about your own neighborhood? They know better.)
Those communities that don’t measure up to the spreadsheets will be targeted for correction, using billions in grants, as well as government blackmail (think how highway funds are used to bully states) to change their zoning, so that neighborhoods full of successful, prosperous people who worked to build their homes and their peaceful communities will be forced to welcome neighbors who haven’t worked for it, and who don’t value it.
Well said. Health and education should not be used to rip people off, but that’s what happens when it becomes for profit business. Do we really want our schools to become run for profit? That’s a big can of worms right there. Remember, corruption happens in public and private industry.
I would even argue that the corruption is worse in private than public. Private, it’s much easier to hide since information is not public knowledge. Public, much easier to find the corruption due to most information being public knowledge. Do you know how many no show jobs people are given in private business so that the owner can make off on the tax system? I know business owners that have sons, daughters, gfs, wifes, family members, etc on the payroll. They don’t show up, but no one seems to be complaining about that. How about their personal cars as write offs on their business?
Easy to attack public sector, it’s all there for you to see. Private sector, not so much. That’s why I don’t trust private sector doing business with public dollars. Screw charter schools or all these other businesses that are run for profit on public dollars. I don’t trust them one bit. I rather have public employees doing it and knowing exactly what they are paid and what compensation they receive. Try doing that with public tax dollars going to a private company.
anon (the good one) says:
July 9, 2015 at 8:05 am
and neither is health
The Great Pumpkin says:
July 8, 2015 at 7:55 pm
Education is not a business.
What about Camden, Paterson, Trenton, Irvington, Newark, etc? How will they achieve the right demographic balance in those towns? Maybe that’s the whole point of the exercise. Promote black flight this time. This time all the poor move out to the suburbs with government $$ in hand and the smart money moves into the vacated spots in the city and gentrifies those vacated areas. Pumpkin can be the white knight on his own block.
Will they change the name to from HUD to HSD?
It is called “Socialized” in other Develop Countries
“Well said. Health and education should not be used to rip people off, but that’s what happens when it becomes for profit business. Do we really want our schools to become run for profit? That’s a big can of worms right there. Remember, corruption happens in public and private industry.”
Perhaps we should consult China on the best approaches to mass relocation.
I think a draft would be interesting. Everyone gets assigned a new place to go to live.
grim – Are you referring to the Cultural Revolution? I know a guy who lived through it. He was an educated city dweller and he was told to just leave the city and go out into the country until he could find people who looked like they were screwing up with their farming and when he did just stay there and teach them how not to be imbeciles.
Perhaps we should consult China on the best approaches to mass relocation.
HACK ringing opening bell at NYSE today, funny timing after the outage yesterday where folks thought it was a cyber attack.
Remember the Boat People from China? Now, they are buying your homes.
I guess it was part of this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_to_the_Countryside_Movement
(18) Is that like Akcja Wisła? Close to home, isn’t it?
Warren, McCain introduce bill to bring back Glass-Steagall
Grim,
After driving the i8 around Beverly Hills and racing it through the Santa Monica mountains, I think that’s the right EV for you.
Not blaming the native population here, just the commies. Have close friends who are Lemkos.
Grim,
BMW will eventually do an i5 that will be a real car. The i3 isn’t bad but the weird rear doors make it less practical.
Batteries are the limitation, and that giga factory could become Tesla ‘ s Waterloo if somebody else comes up with superior batteries and they are stuck with a big inferior asset.
Can we please get rid of HUD. They created these problems and now they want to try to solve them? Discrimination is wrong and should be illegal but it is the act that should be punished. Govt involvement in housing created this mess with projects and section 8 stigmatizing the poor and the neighborhoods they live in. In my mind if you want to give a housing subsidy give money, we should replace large amounts of federal government bureaucracy with EFTs and use big data to find people cheating the system and no help to those who aren’t trying to help themselves(drug use or criminal conviction causes a loss of housing subsidy).
The End Is Nigh (Fast Eddie Times Sq Edition):
http://nypost.com/2015/07/09/this-vulgar-panhandler-is-times-squares-new-welcome-wagon/
One might have thought that the NYSE trading halt for half the workday would have been a bigger deal. Is the NYSE less relevant than is was in the past?
One of the benefits to living in Northeast NJ…so it’s been said…is it’s proximity to NYC…and the jobs it provides connected to the financial services industry.
Why are financial companies based in NYC…is it proximity to Wall street and the NYSE? Is it just tradition? It doesn’t seem like they really need to be there for any other reason other than the prestige of lower Manhattan.
Soc1alism would be great if the government didn’t fuk up everything they touch.
30 – Network latency, redundancy, and the limitations that exist due to the speed of light.
Saw a cool article that covered the Nasdaq data center in Jersey City and the fact that they had a line of sight laser communication connection with Nasdaq in NYC.
Pretty much the lowest latency connection you can have, and you only governing limitation is the speed of light.
That and a pigeon.
32 – I may talk to some of the traders today to ask them how big of a deal it was to them. It seems to me, plenty of trading went on without the NYSE.
Well said. Health and education should not be used to rip people off, but that’s what happens when it becomes for profit business. Do we really want our schools to become run for profit? That’s a big can of worms right there. Remember, corruption happens in public and private industry.
Is that why all procedures that are not covered on insurance have magically declined in price over the past 10 years?
Laser eye surgery, cosmetic surgery, and laser hair removal are some of the medical processes that insurance companies view as a luxury and have refused to cover. Somehow, the costs have declined while the amount of services performed have increased drastically? Why is that?
If most healthcare was run like a business, you actually get people shopping for price. It’s just that simple.
“line of sight laser communication”
In college, I did an independent study (and somehow received a credit for it) on fiber optic communication. Part of the study was to share my findings with my colleagues. Well I set up a Sony Walkman connected to a laser in the belltower of College Hall and set up the receiver and speaker on the 4th floor of the Student Center. I set up the receiver so whenever someone walked in front of the receiver, it would block the signal to the receiver. It was up for about two days before someone stole the laser. For what it’s worth, everyone who saw it thought it was pretty cool and few knew that it could be done with a laser without fiber as a conduit.
“get people shopping for price.”
Ben, you are too smart to be a teacher.
Banco [29],
I think that guy should be given a house in Ridgewood as part of the HUD re-engineered, redistribution, feel-good policy.
I love the way the sheeple just accept “technical glitch” as a valid reason for any kind of computer systems outage, as if there is absolutely no way to know exactly who fcuked up and how. Just an act of God.
HACK ringing opening bell at NYSE today, funny timing after the outage yesterday where folks thought it was a cyber attack.
If most healthcare was run like a business, you actually get people shopping for price. It’s just that simple.
Why didn’t Obama push for eliminating state borders to allow health providers nationwide to compete for people’s business? Why wasn’t this idea pushed?
Does anyone see the potential in the HUD regulatory scheme to do what the so-called ‘stimulus’ was also (surreptitiously) intended to do? Direct more money to favored constituencies.
Or as grim would say “It’s not a defect, its a feature”
One of my takeaways from the gay marriage decision was that it could be used by gun advocates to combat state restrictions (hello NJ). Naturally, this occurred to a lot of other people and I found this rather amusing section of an article:
“I can already see the comedic bumper stickers from all this: IF YOU GET TO MARRY, WE GET TO CARRY!”
Now why didn’t I think of that?
Very nice. I’ve never nominated a post of the day before. I’ll start with this one.
Ben says:
July 9, 2015 at 10:15 am
Is that why all procedures that are not covered on insurance have magically declined in price over the past 10 years?
Laser eye surgery, cosmetic surgery, and laser hair removal are some of the medical processes that insurance companies view as a luxury and have refused to cover. Somehow, the costs have declined while the amount of services performed have increased drastically? Why is that?
If most healthcare was run like a business, you actually get people shopping for price. It’s just that simple.
” … is not a business.”
“Modest borrowing in order to invest in infrastructure improvements, education, or other projects that are likely to improve economic growth over the long term can be justified because the benefits that accrue from the investments will more than pay for the interest incurred on the debt. This is equivalent to when an entrepreneur borrows to start a new business or a family takes out a loan to pay for a child’s college education. These are wise uses of borrowed funds, and though the scale of government borrowing is quite different than a business owner or a family, the principle is the same.”
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/budget/report/2009/09/30/6625/deficits-and-debt-101/
What kind of right wing nut terrorist wrote that? Don’t they know govt’s are not businesses!
[40] eddie
To do that, you have to amend or repeal McCarran-Ferguson. Getting ACA was hard enough but telling states (and stakeholders) that you are gonna strip them of some of their powers was a bridge too far.
Lib – nice. Did the laser transmitter and receiver come with their own A/D and D/A units or were those separate components? I have an Sharper Image (or some such) AM/FM/CD unit from 17 years ago that I still use at home. It has digital audio out meant to be used with a fiber cable. I wonder if there is something affordable that could do the same thing without the conversion? I figure it would make a cool science project for one of my kids.
In college, I did an independent study (and somehow received a credit for it) on fiber optic communication. Part of the study was to share my findings with my colleagues. Well I set up a Sony Walkman connected to a laser in the belltower of College Hall and set up the receiver and speaker on the 4th floor of the Student Center. I set up the receiver so whenever someone walked in front of the receiver, it would block the signal to the receiver. It was up for about two days before someone stole the laser. For what it’s worth, everyone who saw it thought it was pretty cool and few knew that it could be done with a laser without fiber as a conduit.
Grim what is it the 1940s. That is a slow connection. Might as well use a runner on a horse.
Places like GS put their black box servers in a co-lo set up and then jockey for closest box to the exchange or ECN box. You often see lets say Equinix a exchange/ecn server cage, GS rents the server cage directly below.GS cuts hole in roof to run cables and keeps it tight, loose cables mean slow latency.
Some GS cables areas short as six feet. The speed of light to travel six feet to execute a trade. Coming from midtown to NY at speed of light is a snails pace
grim says:
July 9, 2015 at 10:05 am
Saw a cool article that covered the Nasdaq data center in Jersey City and the fact that they had a line of sight laser communication connection with Nasdaq in NYC.
Pretty much the lowest latency connection you can have, and you only governing limitation is the speed of light.
That and a pigeon.
Ex-pat,
We all know that the plug was pulled to stop the sell off. You can’t bring down whole market but do something to create a pause while a reset occurs in the background. Lo and behold that Chinese govt. will now arrest any short sellers and world markets are green. What a completely f-ed up times..govt. controlled media just wants us to accept, ignore and move along as our markets are “free” afterall.. “Free” as long as you continue to buy at gunpoint of course.
It was a software update they messed up, so they had to bring down entire system, clean out all open orders, fall back to prior version and restart system.
Then they do a post mortium to see what happens. If new release it not critical they shelve it if critical they really check it out for a few weeks, make sure it is fixed and put it into production. Maybe on a Friday or Saturday so they have weekend to test not just overnight.
The Original NJ ExPat says:
July 9, 2015 at 10:26 am
I love the way the sheeple just accept “technical glitch” as a valid reason for any kind of computer systems outage, as if there is absolutely no way to know exactly who fcuked up and how. Just an act of God.
HACK ringing opening bell at NYSE today, funny timing after the outage yesterday where folks thought it was a cyber attack.
Most gun nut men are deep down in the closet gays who get off holding a hard object and watching it shoot out like a dick.
Comrade Nom Deplume, Land Snark says:
July 9, 2015 at 10:33 am
One of my takeaways from the gay marriage decision was that it could be used by gun advocates to combat state restrictions (hello NJ). Naturally, this occurred to a lot of other people and I found this rather amusing section of an article:
“I can already see the comedic bumper stickers from all this: IF YOU GET TO MARRY, WE GET TO CARRY!”
Now why didn’t I think of that?
43.
In those scenarios you get to pick your victims. No 2 people are alike. Are you going to bill someone a different price because of their weight? How about diabetes, heart disease, etc? Are they going to be compliant-take their meds, go to therapy, etc.
The type of clients you get for the procedures you mention tend to be wealthy, better educated, younger and healthier.
Surgery centers suck the cream off the top- they take the patients that are the most profitable with least chance of complications – therefore less comebacks with less profit loss.
Hospitals have to take anything that rolls through the door and make the best of it.
Not so easy.
A commenter to the lede article named Jillayne Schlicke (now there’s a name JJ can get into) argued in favor of the regulation with, and I quote:
“Market pricing has been illegal since the inception of Fair Housing.”
She was challenged on that assertion and replied “I stand by my statements” and later doubled down with “Charging more based on the property being located in a specific neighborhood or refusing to lend in a specific neighborhood, charging more or less based on a specific protected class is part of the original Fair Housing Act.”
Got that? So if you charge 1.2MM for your 4 Bed, 3 Bath brick colonial because it is located in Alpine, you are violating the law.
She must be related to Footrest.
[52] redux
http://ceforward.com/
I expect she is now on the short list for a deputy director position at HUD, given the current administration.
“The Great Pumpkin says:
July 9, 2015 at 8:37 am
This is one guy out of hundreds of thousands. This is not the norm,”
There are 1,948 retired people making more than $100,000 per year. Let’s just assume these 1,948 make an average of $125,000 per year. That means, $243 million dollars a year is being paid out to people who provide ZERO work production. This doesn’t include all the retirees making less than $100k per year. We are easily paying half a billion dollars a year to people who do not work.
We also have to pay all the people who actually do the work now. And we will have to pay them when they retire. As the death rate slows and retirees live longer and longer, we will likely be paying a cop, and the 3 cops that held is job before him, to do the police work of 1.
Anyone that doesn’t see the flaw in the pension system doesn’t understand geometric expansion. The system will fail eventually, it is a mathematical certainty.
Sure JJ..I heard it was a rogue software release manager who was to blame.
It was here that I first heard the term “shoobie”. One of these airports is pretty close to me–wonder if I can hitch a ride?
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20150704_Rites_of_summer__Single_engine_shoobies.html
Gary,
That is a good idea and all but is a blip on the radar… and the lawmakers that did incessantly mention it knew (or should have know) it was a tiny part of the problem.
Fast Eddie says:
July 9, 2015 at 10:28 am
If most healthcare was run like a business, you actually get people shopping for price. It’s just that simple.
Why didn’t Obama push for eliminating state borders to allow health providers nationwide to compete for people’s business? Why wasn’t this idea pushed?
Expat…the problem is the cost of the laser. Offboard DA convertors can be had for $5. That’s the cheap part. If you are going a very short distance, then a cheap laser might work. For me, the stolen laser cost about 5K. Luckily, they didn’t try to make me pay for it. There was no creatinh holograms after that (something else I messed around with too).
Why can’t office visits be billed out at posted hourly rate?
Why can’t tests and exams be billed out at posted rates?
Why can’t medication of all kinds have a price tag on there without concern for method of payment?
Why can’t routine procedures and surgeries be billed out at posted rates (with asterisks for common/possible complications… and if a seriously unforeseen issue arises, it’s taken into consideration)?
^^^ What % of total healthcare activities fall into the above categories?
True emergencies and new unique situations will be determined on a case by case basis. What % of the total fall into this last category?
Can we stop forcing people to get a permission slip to obtain certain medical treatments? Can we stop forcing business to get a different permission slip to open a clinic, treatment or exam center?
Just a few thoughts… venting//
phoenix says:
July 9, 2015 at 10:58 am
43.
In those scenarios you get to pick your victims. No 2 people are alike. Are you going to bill someone a different price because of their weight? How about diabetes, heart disease, etc? Are they going to be compliant-take their meds, go to therapy, etc.
The type of clients you get for the procedures you mention tend to be wealthy, better educated, younger and healthier.
Surgery centers suck the cream off the top- they take the patients that are the most profitable with least chance of complications – therefore less comebacks with less profit loss.
Hospitals have to take anything that rolls through the door and make the best of it.
Not so easy.
@pourmecoffee: All this Trump has me missing Phil Hartman.
Of course it was a rouge or problem release.You are only supposed to do major releases on Friday nights or Saturdays so you have time to test them. Any release that could crash the system should not be done during the week. But this is not unusual.
Bystander says:
July 9, 2015 at 11:12 am
Sure JJ..I heard it was a rogue software release manager who was to blame.
healtcare should be a human right and not a business.
but you want it to be a for profit biz, so just STFU and pay for it!
joyce says:
July 9, 2015 at 11:48 am
Why can’t office visits be billed out at posted hourly rate?
Why can’t tests and exams be billed out at posted rates?
Why can’t medication of all kinds have a price tag on there without concern for method of payment?
Why can’t routine procedures and surgeries be billed out at posted rates (with asterisks for common/possible complications… and if a seriously unforeseen issue arises, it’s taken into consideration)?
^^^ What % of total healthcare activities fall into the above categories?
Then why is the government actively restricting it?
They why is the government actively creating an organized protection racket?
Go away and learn something or else STFU and GFOAD.
joyce says:
July 9, 2015 at 12:16 pm
Sponsor an Executive:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDC0qcf0kzE
You won’t just be saving a life; you’ll be saving a lifestyle.
Maybe in the sense that no one should willfully and maliciously prevent you from obtaining it.
It doesn’t mean that the government should have to provide it…and it’s otherwise healthy citizens should be forced to pay for it.
anon (the good one) says:
July 9, 2015 at 12:04 pm
healtcare should be a human right and not a business.
Folks here say the NYSE outage had zero impact on their trading day.
Send in your democratic campaign contribution now.
http://patch.com/new-jersey/bloomfield/essex-county-politician-punches-blind-army-vet-face-0?utm_source=alert-breakingnews&utm_medium=email&utm_term=police%20%26%20fire&utm_campaign=alert
“Healtcare should be a human right and not a business.”
You know, commercial aircraft could easily be created with safeguards that would render them virtually crashproof. One would think that air transportation should be made as safe as possible. Really, it’s nearly a human right. So while we tax everyone into poverty to ensure that we all can live forever, why don’t we also tax everyone to pay for safe air travel.
This is interesting. Keep raising the taxes.
http://www.fios1news.com/newjersey/tiny-house-montclair#.VZ6jbvmYhvn
Montclair needs to issue a stop work and start fining that guy.
If they allow illegal dwellings that don’t meet code, why should anyone else in the city be forced to build and maintain properties to code? What’s the difference between an illegal apartment in a “tiny house” in someone’s backyard versus an illegal basement or attic apartment?
If low cost housing is a problem, allow for basement and attic apartments with a waiver for any building, fire, or sanitation codes.
Who cares if that guy will be carrying a bucket full shit to the storm sewer on the street..
The reason tiny houses are cheap isn’t because they are small, it’s because they don’t comply with nearly any building, electrical, plumbing, or residential codes. By ignoring the law, you can get away with tons of things that wouldn’t at all be possible in a residence.
> why don’t we also tax everyone to pay for safe air travel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aviation_Administration
Exactly what I was thinking too Grim. So does he sell his home with a contingency that he gets to set up home in the backyard? It’s a good thing the home’s on wheels since I have a feeling he’ll be running from changes in local rules more than he anticipates.
I said safe travel!
Honestly, it’s probably easier to convert a minivan into a “tiny house” and use the shitter in Walmart.
You know, we used to call that homeless, now it’s cool.
Dude is going to be pissed when he finds out that rent on a spot in a trailer park in NNJ goes for like $700 a month.
Healthcare- maybe we are getting there. Being in Benefits Admin for 25 years, finally, virtually all admin platforms have significantly beefed up decision support tools to facilitate a consumerist approach to selecting health care plans. Dynamic plan compares, selection recommendations, HSA support, etc will be coming to an open enrollment near you soon.
[77] condo
Assuming the DoJ blocks all the proposed mergers.
Dude is better off launching a house boat onto the lake at Edgemont and claiming he is in international waters.
[50] JJ,
Well, we can’t all command the respect and admiration of the local hoodlum element by dropping trou like you, JJ, the Ultimate Male, a.k.a. Thunderlips
http://rocky.wikia.com/wiki/Thunderlips
And we know that should anyone forget exactly who you are, you will consume them with fireballs from your eyes, and lighting bolts from your arse.
“Uber” house?
[58] Lib – check it out. Using a pocket laser with same voltage, bigger batteries (D cells) and a magnifying glass to refocus the laser at the other end. I laughed out loud when I read this part:
“Try mounting the laser on a tripod and sending music a longer distance. I recently was able to hear Starway to Heaven clearly at a beam distance of a half mile. This was done over a small lake, with an assistant in a canue[sic] with a pizza box to help with the aiming.”
http://www.instructables.com/id/Send-Music-over-a-Laser-Beam/
So obvious that the journalist exposes herself as either a naive clown or abject panderer…..
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-09/why-is-college-tuition-rising-blame-student-loans-fed-says
> “Uber” house?
Good idea. It’s like airbnb, except that the price includes a trucking service that drives the customer and their meager array of personal possessions from one short-term crashpad to the next. For ‘premium’ users, the truck a separate compartment in the back with a single refrigerated craft beer and a leather seat.
No leases, no employees, it’ll disrupt the whole housing industry. Drop by my office on Sand Hill if you want to talk more.
Tiny houses are no different then out in Hamptons folks will convert a detached garage to a summer house no permits. My friend rented a two car garage one summer for 7 grand in the Hamptons.
I also read some folks in Hamptons will small houses and big plots will even buy a used Motor home cheap that barely runs or even one that does not run and put it at top of driveway or in back of house. If it has wheels, a plate on it even if an outdated plate it is a vehicle. They use them as guest houses.
Heck we finish basements, finish attics, put huge sheds in backyard all without permits.
The boogey man AKA tax man and super high home building prices make this all happen.
This Greece thing isn’t finished yet? Someone call Hillary and tell her to send in Hasselhoff.
No mention of the tiny house owner being a moocher? Consuming services but paying no taxes and contributing no rent to a landlord who pays taxes?
What does this guy think, he is just going to live in a town, county, and state for free, completely avoid his tax responsibility.
In Montclair too, of all places. He probably rides his bike on the bike path too. He contributes nothing towards the Joey D Zoo or the county lock-up.
He even mocks us all in another newspaper article, bragging about how mobile homes aren’t taxed on the value of the house.
Build a city full of tiny homes and former Section 8s who’ve been given million dollar homes by our beneficent gubmint overlords.
Then, neutron bomb the whole mf’er.
About time to start choosing members of my nomadic armed pack.
Grim [7];
For 34k deadbeat New Jerseyans, the long dark nightmare of paying their mortgage is finally over.
Anon’s World
Food—free
Housing—free
Electricity—free
Water—free
Cable—free
Cell phone—free
Cell phone service—free
Healthcare—free
Education—free
College—free
Internet—free
Food—free
Housing—free
Electricity—free
Water—free
Cable—free
Cell phone—free
Cell phone service—free
Healthcare—free
Education—free
College—free
Internet—free
Which one of these is supposed to be bad? I guess free cable is excessive.
In my world, clothing is optional.
#90…well, I doubt they were paying, so the nightmare of possibly having to pay sometime in the future is removed.
93 – Stu’s a pretty boy, but not everyone’s so lucky to be such a looker, so I’m in favor of the free clothing.
I’m more like a look awayer.
Memphis Votes To Dig Up The Body of Confederate War General – http://breaking911.com/memphis-votes-to-dig-up-the-body-of-confederate-war-general/ …
Embedded image permalink
A good ol’ fashion grave robbin’!
[95] grim,
Stu’s a looker? Perhaps you should distill the spirits another couple of times.
I will gladly donate clothing so we aren’t exposed to Stu exposed.
98 – Apparently, the park also had a monument to the general and was named after him. The honorable Reverend Al Sharpton was there in 2005, and they renamed it after an uproar over it then.
http://fusion.net/story/163286/memphis-to-dig-up-confederate-general-and-ku-klux-klan-leader-buried-in-city-park/
The south is one messed up place.
Gardner named to All Star team. Replacing that injured guy.
I’m rewriting the last line of the Star Spangled Banner before it gets banned since Francis Scott Key was once a slave owner.
O’er the land of the free and home of the completely thin skinned and pussified.
Don’t act like our healthcare is socialized. It’s the best business out there, so much money has been lobbied at the govt that they have a monopoly. They don’t even have to show prices. You are forced to pay whatever the service costs. Socialized healthcare would never make you bankrupt.
Ben says:
July 9, 2015 at 10:15 am
Well said. Health and education should not be used to rip people off, but that’s what happens when it becomes for profit business. Do we really want our schools to become run for profit? That’s a big can of worms right there. Remember, corruption happens in public and private industry.
Is that why all procedures that are not covered on insurance have magically declined in price over the past 10 years?
Laser eye surgery, cosmetic surgery, and laser hair removal are some of the medical processes that insurance companies view as a luxury and have refused to cover. Somehow, the costs have declined while the amount of services performed have increased drastically? Why is that?
If most healthcare was run like a business, you actually get people shopping for price. It’s just that simple.
our healthcare system is worse than socialized, it is a heavily regulated industry dominated by a few major players. It functions nothing like the free market and unlike socialized medicine where the government really has total control the current system is somewhat byzantine where everyone is doing their own thing.
103- When Jose shows up to the emergency room with no insurance and gets treatment for free, why do I have to pay? This is why I want it socialized. Setup a one service provider, or eliminate health insurance and base it on pure market driven pricing.
Exactly, true socialized healthcare cannot make someone bankrupt. The current system is a joke and it’s on us.
jcer says:
July 9, 2015 at 3:12 pm
our healthcare system is worse than socialized, it is a heavily regulated industry dominated by a few major players. It functions nothing like the free market and unlike socialized medicine where the government really has total control the current system is somewhat byzantine where everyone is doing their own thing.
Ben, 35
Excellent point. Market forces and freedom works to make lives better.
Aren’t you a teacher?
I thought these were counter-revolutionary thoughts that the red guards could send you to re-education camp for if you are caught voicing?
I’m rewriting the last line of the Star Spangled Banner before it gets banned since Francis Scott Key was once a slave owner.
I suggest changing to “Baby Got Back”
29,
I’m amazed at the Times Square ladies prancing around in body paint. I was surprised that was legal. See google image search link below.
I guess the guy with the offensive sign can claim his statement was satire. The ones that really bother me are the fake Doras and the fake Elmos. Basically trolling for kids, then shaking down the parents.
https://www.google.com/search?q=times+square+characters&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=McueVfebNcGlgwTO2ZyQCg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg&biw=1600&bih=1145#tbm=isch&q=times+square+body+paint
Private industry corruption. This is what happens when tax dollars and for profit businesses come together. Much better having the govt own the practice and hire the doctors. Still will have corruption, but much better to pay a pension than deal with 100 million in false Medicare and insurance payouts. That’s a lot of money. This is only one case. Who knows how much of this is going on.
http://patch.com/new-jersey/wayne/wayne-doctor-sentenced-5-years-medical-bribe-scheme-0?utm_source=alert-breakingnews&utm_medium=email&utm_term=police%20%26%20fire&utm_campaign=alert
Rags,
Don’t go to vegas. The sidewalks on the strip are wall to wall homeless decked out in dirty novelty costumes.
TRENTON — JPMorgan Chase Bank will receive $188 million in tax credits over 10 years to move more than 2,000 jobs from New York to Jersey City.
New Jersey’s Economic Development Authority on Thursday approved the $18.8 million-a-year, $8,734 per job corporate tax incentive to entice the financial giant across the Hudson River. Officials said the tax breaks were necessary to boost Jersey City over less expensive locations in Delaware and Ohio.
Will Jersey City’s economy plus NJ State Tax make up for the $18.8M annual tax break on 2,000 workers?
http://tinyurl.com/vegas-strip-characters
If each person spend $100K in the State of NJ,revenue from taxes at 10% is $10,000 and we are giving them $9K tax break, we are making $1,000 each person. This Workers need to make $150K to spend $100k with no savings? No?
If they all make $150K NJ gets 6.5% in Income Tax equal to $9750 that will make up the $9K tax break
TRENTON — State officials confirm that a veteran New Jersey politician quit her part-time government job on the day she qualified for a state pension.
The Record reported today that Susan Bass Levin officially retired from the state’s Local Finance Board on Nov. 1. That was the day she reached 25 years of state government employment, entitling her to early retirement and lifetime health benefits.
State treasury officials told the newspaper that the 58-year-old Levin will start collecting pension checks Dec. 1 for her maximum benefit of $5,312.11. The calculation was based on her three highest-paid years as a state employee — when she headed the Community Affairs Department — for an average $139,774.15.
Levin, a lawyer who also served several years as mayor of Cherry Hill — one of south Jersey’s biggest towns — and as deputy commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, did not immediately respond Saturday to a telephone message left at her home.
#116..a little high on those number, according to Tax schedule:
$150,000 Single-$7,429,
$150,000 Married -$5,512
http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/pdf/current/njtaxratesch.pdf
117 – Talk about kicking the taxpayer in the balls.
But hey, don’t blame her, she played by the rules right?
Don’t act like our healthcare is socialized. It’s the best business out there, so much money has been lobbied at the govt that they have a monopoly. They don’t even have to show prices. You are forced to pay whatever the service costs. Socialized healthcare would never make you bankrupt.
And don’t argue that it’s privatized either.
Fair enough.
Ben says:
July 9, 2015 at 6:00 pm
Don’t act like our healthcare is socialized. It’s the best business out there, so much money has been lobbied at the govt that they have a monopoly. They don’t even have to show prices. You are forced to pay whatever the service costs. Socialized healthcare would never make you bankrupt.
And don’t argue that it’s privatized either.
Why are you arguing for the Dark Ages?!?!
Libturd,
I remember Hollywood CA also had a large number of costumed beggars.
I plan to go see the Penn & Teller show on Broadway in a few weeks. Vegas comes to me.
In a post Newtown world, panel put together by Christie suggests armed police officers in schools.
http://www.nj.com/education/2015/07/nj_schools_should_have_police_officers_christie_se.html#incart_river_mobileshort
The report
http://www.state.nj.us/education/schools/security/TaskForceReport.pdf
97
Send in an ancestor of Sherman to kick his a$$ one last time.
As a teacher, I like having officers in school. They have positive interactions with kids and staff inside the building and are part of the community. People make it more of an issue that it really is. As if the officer is always ready to draw his gun at any given point.
The parents who argue the loudest about having police in schools are the same ones who would sue the town the quickest for lack of security when a Sandy Hook occurs and their kids get shot up.
Ken “snake” Stabler < Vigoda
““The ultimate putdown by the bears has been that the buybacks are just another form of financial engineering that artificially boosts earnings per share. The most extreme accusation is that the purchases are a form of stock manipulation. I am often asked by our accounts, and sometimes by reporters, whether I concur with this charge. My response is that I am an investment strategist, not a preacher. I don’t do morality. I don’t make judgments on `good’ or `evil.’ I do `bullish’ or `bearish.”’
That’s fair enough. Making investment decisions is hard enough without throwing abstract, non-quantifiable, touchy-feely factors like “morality” into the mix. Perhaps this is wrongheaded, but the flows into exchange traded funds show that the vast majority of investors are like Yardeni and prefer the preaching in the pews rather than the portfolios. ETFs that focus on righteous causes like environmental, social and governance issues, women in leadership, or religious values have struggled to attract assets.
The moral argument against buybacks is that the money spent boosting stock prices for alleged fat cats in many cases could be better spent on things like hiring more workers (or at least not firing them), increasing wages, building more facilities, beefing up research and development, etc.
As such, it’s as much an economic argument as a morality argument. Investing in people, facilities and research arguably could have a much bigger long-term impact on a company’s bottom line (not to mention the entire economy) than taking advantage of low interest rates to borrow money to buy your own stock. This is the tack that BlackRock Inc. chief Laurence Fink took in April when he sent a letter to the chief executives of S&P 500 companies, arguing that their “duty of care and loyalty” should be to long-term owners instead of activists agitating for returning more cash to shareholders. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., for their part, believes acquisitions would be a better use of cash. ”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-09/d-c-joins-athens-as-major-threat-to-bull-market-in-u-s-stocks
130-
“Sen. Warren called buybacks a “sugar high” for corporations, according to the Boston Globe. In fact, the high may be even more addicting than sugar. And as anyone who has dealt with an addict knows, the person’s long-term health will benefit from kicking the habit. But in the near-term, things can get pretty ugly if they try to go cold turkey. If the government is keen to cure the market of this addiction, it would behoove them to keep that in mind and ensure that the cure is not worse than the disease. “
128. Nooooooooooes