NJ 2016 Outlook

From Joel Naroff at NJ Business:

The Naroff Review

Overview: “New Jersey’s slow economic recovery continues, but broadening job gains hold out hope that the expansion is starting to pick up steam.”

While New Jersey didn’t get hurt quite as badly as many other states during the Great Recession, its recovery has not kept pace with the nation. But there were special factors that slowed growth, including Superstorm Sandy and the collapse of the Atlantic City casino industry. With those problems fading, the economy is showing signs of coming back.

In June, the New Jersey unemployment rate gapped down to 6.1%, the lowest rate since October 2008. A decent rise in the labor force shows that workers are becoming more confident about finding a job in the state. Still, the progress on the unemployment front has been slow as the rate is well above the nation’s 5.3% level.

Job gains, which tanked with the layoffs in the gaming sector, have accelerated over the past fifteen months. While the 1% increase in payrolls between June 2014 and June 2015 was only one-half the national rate, we are finally seeing gains spread across almost all sectors. Indeed, in June, only one key component, professional and business services, posted job losses over the year.

The housing market remains the major drag on the economy, though we are starting to see some improvement even here. Housing permit requests are bouncing back. For the first five months of the year they are up 19%, nearly twice the national increase of 11%. That happened despite the continued casino shutdown driven problems in the Atlantic City region.

The real issue, though, is the state’s judicial process for handling foreclosures and the resultant limited action to resolve the problem. While over the past year there was a significant decline in the percentage of homes in foreclosure, in May, 4.9% of the mortgaged homes in New Jersey remained in foreclosure, according to CoreLogic. The next highest state, New York, was at 3.7% while the national rate was just 1.3%. In addition, almost 8.5% of all homeowners are in distress. There is a massive overhang of distressed housing that is restraining prices, sales, construction and economic growth. This problem must be resolved if the state’s economy is to get back to more normal rates of growth.

Outlook: New Jersey’s economy is very much affected by national and international economic trends. My expectation is that the U.S. expansion will pick up steam going forward. That should help drive the state’s economy forward.

This entry was posted in Economics, Foreclosures, Housing Recovery, New Jersey Real Estate. Bookmark the permalink.

77 Responses to NJ 2016 Outlook

  1. grim says:

    From the Star Ledger:

    Sheriff’s property sales rising in Hunterdon County

    The pace is quickening in Hunterdon on the rate of sheriff’s sales on properties. “The numbers have gone up a bit this year,” Sheriff Fred Brown says.

    For the first six months of this year, 121 properties have been received for sale, Brown said. That compares with 101 received in the same period for 2014.

    Not all properties received for sale actually go through sale, however. “People can postpone a sale four times,” Brown said. “But you have to pay a fee for it.”

    Of the 121 properties received through June this year, 86 sales went through, Brown said. That compares with 59 sales that went through in the same period for 2014.

    But it’s not new foreclosures that are driving the numbers up. “Some of the sales we’re doing now are from five or six years ago,” Brown said.

    He traces the backlog to 2011, when a state Superior Court settlement required six of the country’s biggest mortgage lenders to disclose the specifics of how they foreclose on homeowners.

    Everything’s back in order now, Brown said, but the backlog is working its way through. “The banks are catching up,” said Brenda Wilson, who works with Brown on the sales.

    By the time properties get to the Sheriff sale stage, they’re usually vacant, Brown said, adding, “the majority of ours, people have walked away from.”

  2. grim says:

    NJ and PR – Perfect Together. From CNBC:

    S&P cuts Atlantic City credit rating 3 notches to ‘B’

    Standard and Poor’s cut Atlantic City’s credit rating three notches on Monday, citing its dissolving tax base and uncertainty over how it will boost fiscal responsibility.

    The struggling New Jersey casino hub had its general obligation debt rating lowered to “B” from “BB.” The ratings agency kept Atlantic City on credit watch with “negative implications.”

    “The lack of clear and implementable reforms to restore fiscal solvency without payment deferrals or debt restructuring remains uncertain as the city continues to operate in a difficult fiscal environment,” said Timothy Little, an S&P credit analyst, in a statement.

    If reforms are not implemented, bankruptcy could potentially become an option for the city, S&P said.

  3. Fast Eddie says:

    Does anyone know the procedure if an abandon septic is discovered on a property during inspection? I’m not sure if I’ll face that scenario, just curious. Does it need to be removed? Can it stay as is? Legalities?

  4. grim says:

    Does the owner know when it was done? Was it decommissioned properly?

    The concrete or masonry tank(s) should have had the tops jack hammered apart and into the tanks, and then filled so that it doesn’t represent any kind of sink hole or fall danger. If the contractor is feeling fancy, they’ll break out some of the bottom too. Not sure if you see any evidence of the interior plumbing being decommissioned either. Usually these are not dug up, they are left in place and filled (only really the tank, the rest of it poses no real danger).

    It’s not really a big deal. Worst thing that usually happens is you see a depression where the tank is. Another story entirely if you find a dead body in it.

  5. Fast Eddie says:

    A dead body… lol. Owner doesn’t know if there is one. I guess inspection will reveal the tale. From what I read, it’s as you’ve stated; fill the thing with dirt. I’m hoping not to find anything nor an old oil tank. Thanks for the insight.

  6. grim says:

    If it’s not filled, it will make a great plunge pool for the next heat wave.

  7. anon (the good one) says:

    “Jeb Bush stumbled through a familiar question about his brother and father, struggling for the right words as he cracked a joke about duking it out with anyone who questioned the legacy of his aging dad.

    Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey awkwardly said aloud what many have been wondering about his candidacy: “Am I washed up?”

    And Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina reached back to the 1990s to attack Hillary Rodham Clinton’s credibility by dredging up her husband’s dishonesty about a sexual affair.

    Mischievously promising to translate “Clinton-speak” for the audience, Mr. Graham explained, “When Bill says, ‘I didn’t have sex with that woman,’ he did.”

    After weeks of preparing for a smash-mouth debate with Donald J. Trump, 14 Republican candidates found themselves instead Trump-less but sandwiched into a constricting format on Monday night, delivering strikingly uneven performances just days before the first big test of the presidential primary contest.

    Rather than making the other contenders look more presidential, however, the event, at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., seemed to shrink the candidates. Assembled in the front row, the Republicans gawked as each rival took his or her turn on stage, looking at times as if they were being forced to sit through a tedious school assembly.

    In Mr. Trump’s absence — he skipped the event, saying it was not worth his time — the candidates filled two hours with credentials and boasts that he could not match. They touted their experience balancing big state budgets (Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio), their military service (Mr. Graham) and their middle-class roots (Carly Fiorina.)

    The unusual format and repeated interruptions by timekeepers led to several painfully awkward moments.

    Former Gov. George Pataki of New York was mid-sentence — “By the way, Jack” — when the moderator cut him off. He reacted with surprise, stood up and walked off. At another point, a woman suddenly emerged from stage right with a folder in hand, beckoning Mr. Perry to leave. He sheepishly did so.

    C-Span cameras caught candidates waiting their turn, forlornly watching their rivals onstage, sometimes in unflattering ways. Mr. Christie at one point sat with his head down, looking positively bored, as he listened to Mr. Walker. As Rick Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania, gave his closing statement, Ms. Fiorina was caught gabbing with Mr. Graham.

    There were moments of levity. The moderator asked Mr. Perry to name agencies he would cut from the federal government, the same question that tripped him up, disastrously, during a Republican presidential debate in 2012.
    “I’ve heard this question before,” Mr. Perry deadpanned, to laughs.
    There were revealing moments, too. Mr. Heath asked Mr. Christie if his best shot at the White House had been in 2012. Mr. Christie gamely replied, “Jack, you saying I’m washed up?” He added that, back then, “I was not ready.”

  8. Grim says:

    Trump trump trump!!

  9. anon (the one good) says:

    @pourmecoffee:

    “Hi, I’m Sarah McLachlan. Every day in America legitimate GOP candidates suffer from neglect due to Donald Trump.”

  10. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Lib, seems dead on with his call. The market is being flooded. I didn’t expect opec to keep this up, but it seems like they are not backing down.

    ““If we’re living in a world where U.S. production is up 9 percent and OPEC is 6 percent higher, and global demand is growing by 1.4 percent, you can understand that there’s an imbalance there,” said Evans of Citi Futures Perspective.”

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-02/oil-ceos-grim-outlook-rubs-off-on-speculators-fleeing-market

  11. grim says:

    June CoreLogic report out this morning, NY Metro “on fire”.

    New York-Jersey City-White Plains, NY-NJ
    Including Distressed – Up 6.4% YOY
    Excluding Distressed – Up 6.4% YOY

    NY Statewide
    Including Distressed – Up 8.3% YOY
    Excluding Distressed – Up 8.5% YOY

    New Jersey Statewide (booooo)
    Including Distressed – Up 2.4%
    Excluding Distressed – Up 2.6%

    Penn Statewide
    Including Distressed – Up 2.2%
    Excluding Distressed – Up 2.8%

    Conn Statewide
    Including Distressed – Down 0.6% YOY
    Excluding Distressed – Up 1.4%

    Mass Statewide
    Including Distressed – Down 5.0% YOY
    Excluding Distressed – Down 1.5% YOY

    Del Statewide
    Including Distressed – Up 1.3% YOY
    Excluding Distressed – Up 1.8% YOY

  12. The Great Pumpkin says:

    China pushing up the price on lobster with their demand.

    “Every Sunday for the past seven months, about 60,000 live North American lobsters packed in wet newspapers and Styrofoam coolers make the 18-hour flight to Asia in a Korean Air Lines Co. cargo plane.
    The 7,500-mile (12,000-kilometer) trip from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Shanghai via South Korea has become a weekly routine this year with a surge in demand from China, where lobsters caught in North Atlantic waters are at least one-third the cost of competing supplies. As a result, exports have skyrocketed from Canada and the U.S., the world’s top producers, and American prices are the highest ever.
    With no lobster industry of its own, China had relied mostly on Australian imports to satisfy growing demand as its middle class expanded. When the catch began shrinking off Western Australia, and a 2012 glut in the Gulf of Maine sent prices plunging in the U.S. that year, it became more attractive for the world’s most-populous nation to buy from halfway around the world”

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-03/lucky-lobsters-jamming-china-flights-send-u-s-prices-to-record

  13. leftwing says:

    4. Septic, what grim says.

    On one property (knock down) we suspected an abandoned “tank” given the age. It had a cesspit instead. No bottom, brick constructed walls, 15 ft or so diameter, nearly 20 ft deep. Brick walls were better laid than most new home construction.

    Found the location because as the backhoe was lowering the new concrete water retention cans into the ground nearby the rear wheel starting to disappear. Nearly lost the whole damn backhoe LOL.

  14. grim says:

    Nom – Video of the Hitchbot attack shows the assailant wearing an Eagles jersey. He is one of yours, not ours.

  15. FKA 2010 Buyer says:

    This is clickbait that I fell for. Not saying there isn’t a problem in San Fran but not sure this applies to NJ.

    This Housing Bubble Will End Badly, Too

    In San Francisco, the median price of a single-family home has doubled since 2012. The median San Francisco home is now nearly $1.4 million, or 50 percent higher than it was at the peak of the last bubble. The median household income in San Francisco is about $77,000. Put another way: the median home price in San Francisco is now 18 times the median household income.

    Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/371271/golden-gated-communities-kevin-d-williamson

  16. Walking Bye says:

    grim -can you post the YOY numbers for Tampa/St Pete. Im starting to see a slight price increase especially along the water front.

  17. Libturd in Union says:

    “If it’s not filled, it will make a great plunge pool for the next heat wave.”

    Why stop at halfway? Hell, add an air pump and convert it into a jacuzzi.

  18. anon (the good one) says:

    “”Though Republican voters consistently said (in primary exit polls and surveys) that economic issues were their top priority in determining who to vote for, questions about the economy were largely underrepresented throughout the debates.”

    This is exactly the issue with the current GOP: they honestly believe they are the party of economics, yet they ignore economic analysis and only seem to propose theocratic bills, climate science denial, unsupported rhetoric with zero ideas for fixes in regards to the ACA, and diatribes against minorities.

    Put your actions where your mouth is or get out of a league you are not qualified to be in.”

  19. grim says:

    I don’t have msa data for Florida, only statewide, which are 7.8% and 7.9% respectively.

  20. Libturd in Union says:

    Grim,

    Did you see that the house Gator and I are debating on expected sale price, located on the corner of Ridgewood and Watchung, is back on the market. I swear it was the shoddyist reno I’ve ever witnessed from the outside. I wonder if it sells before the skim coat on the retaining walls on the driveway crack off. Prior to the renovation, one could only imagine the damage to the interior walls from years and years of uncleaned gutters. Half of them were falling off under the weight of the standing water. The chimney looked liked it needed repointing too. But they skim coated that as well. It actually looks nice from the outside now, but I imagine it will take a real fool to ignore even the most incompetent of inspection reports. None the less, I still say it sells for well over 600k.

  21. Libturd in Union says:

    “Put your actions where your mouth is or get out of a league you are not qualified to be in.”

    Yet Gitmo is still open for business.

  22. Comrade Nom Deplume, Thankfully Not Greek says:

    [16] grim,

    Not an Eagles fan. Not a Philadelpian. Not one of mine.

    More Iggles fans in NJ than Mass.

    I’m a Masshole and wicked proud of it. Don’t call me a Philadelphian again.

  23. Comrade Nom Deplume, Not a Philadelphian says:

    And whenever I go into Philly, I usually bring along some extra equipment. In case I run into Iggles fans.

  24. Comrade Nom Deplume, Not a Philadelphian says:

    [16] grim

    Link?

  25. anon (the one good) says:

    @conradhackett: US deaths (2013)

    Tobacco 437k
    Alcohol 29k
    Opoids 16k
    Heroin 8k
    Cocaine 5k
    Marijuana 0

  26. Alex says:

    27-Maybe anon had too much of what is at the bottom of his list growing up that explains his cerebral underdevelopment and curious total and unquestioning allegiance to the dems.

  27. Walking Bye says:

    Thanks for the FL data. BTW Nice to see some real estate discussion today.

  28. Banco Popular Trust Preferred Shares says:

    For the Philadelphian:
    CLINTON, Mass. – Don’t be caught chewing on a drumstick in Clinton, where a local lady may scream at you and dump the whole KFC bucket on your head. Heck, it could happen, after she spent $2,500 getting a chicken fitted with a prosthetic leg. The Telegram & Gazette reports the woman, specializing in “chicken rehabilitation,” has retained the services of a Tufts “avian orthopedic surgeon” to amputate the damaged leg and then construct a fake one for hobbling around the coop. Why all this? Because, the woman says, a one-legged chicken would be euthanized, which, we guess, is, uh… bad?

  29. Banco Popular Trust Preferred Shares says:

    anon (the one good) says:
    August 4, 2015 at 9:49 am
    What do you think DUI stands for? Talk to Sheldon Richardson about being stoned behind the wheel and the deaths it may cause…….

    @conradhackett: US deaths (2013)

    Tobacco 437k
    Alcohol 29k
    Opoids 16k
    Heroin 8k
    Cocaine 5k
    Marijuana 0

  30. jcer says:

    31, lets not account for the fact that there are far more tobacco users than drug abusers.

  31. grim says:

    Why are Opioids and Heroin split as separate line items?

  32. anon (the good one) says:

    Chifi, don’t be so stupid. Alcohol deaths resulting from liver failure, not about shooting someone while being drunk.

    Banco Popular Trust Preferred Shares says:
    August 4, 2015 at 11:18 am
    anon (the one good) says:
    August 4, 2015 at 9:49 am
    What do you think DUI stands for? Talk to Sheldon Richardson about being stoned behind the wheel and the deaths it may cause…….

    @conradhackett: US deaths (2013)

    Tobacco 437k
    Alcohol 29k
    Opoids 16k
    Heroin 8k
    Cocaine 5k
    Marijuana 0

  33. anon (the good one) says:

    don’t know what you are try to say, but I’m sure it won’t make any sense so let’s just drop it

    jcer says:
    August 4, 2015 at 11:25 am
    31, lets not account for the fact that there are far more tobacco users than drug abusers.

  34. Libturd in Union says:

    A none. You sure? I would bet there are nearly as many drunk driving deaths as there are liver failure deaths. Probably more actually.

    “Alcohol deaths resulting from liver failure, not about shooting someone while being drunk.”

    In 2013, 10,076 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes,

    Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths.

  35. anon (the good one) says:

    Good q, I’ll look into Conrad’s site to see if there’s an explanation

    grim says:
    August 4, 2015 at 11:32 am
    Why are Opioids and Heroin split as separate line items?

  36. Libturd in Union says:

    Once again, the simpleton trusting whatever he reads on the internet when it supports his preference.

  37. Libturd in Union says:

    “Why are Opioids and Heroin split as separate line items?”

    So they show up below alcohol in your list. Stats are FUN to manipulate to fool simpletons. So are articles in the New Crock Times.

  38. anon (the good one) says:

    yes. this is only disease

    shooting or running over a smoker, or while smoking, won’t count as Tobacco death

    Libturd in Union says:
    August 4, 2015 at 11:46 am
    A none. You sure? I would bet there are nearly as many drunk driving deaths as there are liver failure deaths. Probably more actually.

    “Alcohol deaths resulting from liver failure, not about shooting someone while being drunk.”

  39. Libturd in Union says:

    “shooting or running over a smoker, or while smoking, won’t count as Tobacco death ”

    Moron.

  40. homeboken says:

    Anon – Is there a point to your post? You just put up statistics. Now what?

    Are you advocating for the legalization of marijuana? Harsher penalties for smokers, alcohol drinkers?

    What’s the point?

  41. grim says:

    So we’re going to be dealing with high numbers of tobacco-related deaths for, what, at least 25 or 30 more years?

    Percentage of US Adult smokers didn’t dip below 40% until the mid 1970s, and dip below 30% until the early 1990s. We may dip below 20% in the late 2010s, now that vaping is relatively commonplace.

  42. grim says:

    Given the insane number of vape shops opening up, perhaps the number dips below 15%.

    If we don’t later find out it kills people, wouldn’t it be funny if vaping is found to be the greatest single factor in the reduction of health care costs heading through the 2020s.

    Not health care reform, not insurance reform, not tort reform, not cessation programs, not big pharma, not obamacare, but the dude on the corner peddling banana vape juice and pipes that look like light sabers.

  43. Comrade Nom Deplume, Not a Philadelphian says:

    [30] chifi

    Bite me

  44. Libturd in Union says:

    On the surface, I’m not sure how vaping can even be healthy unless the liquid flavor is all natural which I highly doubt is the case.

  45. Ben says:

    @conradhackett: US deaths (2013)

    Tobacco 437k
    Alcohol 29k
    Opoids 16k
    Heroin 8k
    Cocaine 5k
    Marijuana 0

    I’m assuming the Heroin, Cocaine, and Opiods are all overdoses. The Alcohol a combination of overdosing and drunk driving and what not.

    You can’t OD on tobacco. You can’t OD on marijuana. Smoking weed causes cancer as well, the total isn’t 0.

  46. phoenix says:

    Outsourcing is hazardous to national security.

  47. Ben says:

    I saw a study a few months back where a large amount of products made for vaping were not distilled enough which resulted in trace amounts of solvents that the user would expose his/herself to. The kicker was, in these cases, they exposed themselves to higher levels of carcinogens than they would have in a cigarette.

  48. Ben says:

    lol, I have an Eagles shirt that was given to me for free. I wear it whenever I go to Philly and it’s amazing how nice everyone is to me now.

  49. clotluva says:

    Just an anecdotal story…on a different note.

    Hired movers yesterday (staying in the city)…one of them had “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” as their ringtone. After about the 10th time it rang, I said, “That is an interesting choice for a ringtone this time of year…”

    Before I had the chance to ask why he chose it as his ringtone, he exclaimed, “This is my ‘Boma phone!!!” To this point, I really didn’t have a clue that they really existed and so I couldn’t help think of Fast Eddie.

    But anyway, being a professional mover isn’t an easy line of work (I spent summers as a mover during my early college days) – and Boma phone or no Boma phone, this guy was trying to make an honest living.

    I’m just hoping that all the calls (literally, he must have had 50+ calls, all of which he let ring into voicemail) weren’t from debt collectors – although that would be a good conspiracy theory – giving poor people cell phones to facilitate the work of debt collectors.

  50. Anon E. Moose says:

    Tool [27];

    @conradhackett: US deaths (2013)

    Tobacco 437k
    Alcohol 29k
    Opoids 16k
    Heroin 8k
    Cocaine 5k
    Marijuana 0

    And gun deaths in 2013 were 11k, but you’ll happily obey your puppetmassa’s orders to retweet in favor of gun confiscation when the time comes. #GotHypocrisy ?

  51. Anon E. Moose says:

    Tool [27];

    @conradhackett: US deaths (2013)

    Tobacco 437k
    Alcohol 29k
    Opoids 16k
    Heroin 8k
    Cocaine 5k
    Marijuana 0

    And gun deaths in 2013 were 11k, but you’ll happily obey your puppetmassa’s orders to retweet in favor of gun confisc@tion when the time comes. #GotHypocrisy ?

  52. Anon E. Moose says:

    Lib [46];

    On the surface, I’m not sure how vaping can even be healthy unless the liquid flavor is all natural which I highly doubt is the case.

    Lib, natural ≠ healthy. Lots of natural stuff will kill you just fine. Mother Nature knows a thing or two about knocking off stupid animals.

  53. Anon E. Moose says:

    Cont [51];

    Anon’s leftist mantra: That which is not mandatory, is forbidden. And vice versa.

  54. Libturd in Union says:

    Moose…I of course knew that. Wouldn’t want to vape poison sumac. Or mustard gas.

  55. NJT says:

    Poison Oak is the worst. – I can eat poison ivy.

  56. I will make America great again! And the Federal Reserve? It’s a disaster. Our leaders are such idiots. When Ivanka takes over as Fed Chair, then you’ll see what classy leadership looks like. And shell give you more than a little bit of a raise. Who wants small raises? America needs to bring back big raises. I went to the Wharton School of Business, one of the finest business schools, maybe the best, I don’t know, but when I was there I even wrote a paper on big raises. I know about big raises. The guys we running things now, I know a lot of them, most of them are really nice guys. I don’t know about that Joe Yellen, though. I really think has to go. He’s not giving me a raise, or at least he hasn’t given me one yet. I’m sure he’s a nice guy. Trump will make sure America gets the raises they need and I’ll tell you one more thing. There won’t be any raises for illegals. No way. That would be ridiculous.

  57. grim says:

    Sounds about right…

  58. grim says:

    I look forward to Ambassador Icahn’s policy changes with China.

    “We have to negotiate great trade deals. I would get the best guys,” said Trump. “Carl Icahn is a friend of mine. I’d say, ‘Carl, congratulations, handle China.’ I’d get other guys like Carl. I’d say, ‘Good luck, here’s Japan.’ Believe me, we will do so well.”

  59. JJ says:

    But folks are not murdered by Tobacco and it is a win win. Smokers pay huge taxes while they are alive and they die young saving us a fortune in SS payments and Medicare.

    Anon E. Moose says:
    August 4, 2015 at 1:55 pm
    Tool [27];

    @conradhackett: US deaths (2013)

    Tobacco 437k
    Alcohol 29k
    Opoids 16k
    Heroin 8k
    Cocaine 5k
    Marijuana 0

    And gun deaths in 2013 were 11k, but you’ll happily obey your puppetmassa’s orders to retweet in favor of gun confisc@tion when the time comes. #GotHypocrisy

  60. Statler Waldorf says:

    http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/older-students-teach-younger-students-english/nnBwp/

    CHEROKEE COUNTY, GA — Teachers in one school district heading back to school Monday will face a language barrier.

    Around 800 students at the school are registered for class at Canton Elementary School and English is a second language for nearly half the students. It could take years before some students master the language.

    We spoke to the Canton Elementary School principal on Channel 2 Action News This Morning.

    “Approximately 42 percent of our students are served in our program for English as a second language,” said Canton Elementary School Principal Beth Long.

  61. Banco Popular Trust Preferred Shares says:

    The End Is Nigh (jj Not Billy Joel in the 70’s Concert Edition):
    click to link in article if you wish….
    http://pagesix.com/2015/08/04/whoops-lenny-kravitz-exposes-himself-during-concert/?_ga=1.93197659.733805989.1431113548

  62. President George Bush, he’s another nice guy. Not the father, the son. I’ve met them both lots of times, they’ve played at most of my golf clubs, why wouldn’t they? They are the best golf clubs in the world. So the younger George Bush, you know, his father doesn’t look so good lately, but he’s a great guy, but his son, his son, the brother of the other guy on the stage here, well he created out of thin air the Department of Homeland Security, and that was a wonderful thing, we needed that. We still need it. I would do some things differently, but that’s for another day. I have a lot of friends who specialize in Security. That’s what they do. They’ve made fortunes in Security, so who better, right? But anyway back to this new thing, the Department of Homeland Security, George Bush, the son who was president, he just created it because that’s what America needed and it’s had some bumps and bruised, what with the feeling people up and saving pictures to look at later, but on the whole…a good thing. You want to know another good thing? Class. You can do everything right, but if you don’t do it with class, no one’s going to care. Sure, some people will care if you are just successful, but not the classy people. The classy people might respect you, but they’ll all talk about how you could have done a little better by just doing it classy. Well everyone know that Donald Trump never does anything with class? Right? My resorts, my world class golf clubs, nothing but class. That’s why the richest, classiest people can’t hardly get a reservation because there just aren’t enough classy places for the classy people to go to. I’m going to fix that. And the first step is the Department of American Class, maybe the Department of US Class, I don’t know yet, but I have some great guys working on it. Don’t worry about the name. Either way it will be something like the Department of Class. We’re not just going to make America great again, we’re going to make it great, but this time with class. Class that the rest of the world will respect.

  63. JJ says:

    Christie Brinkley onstage tonight to do Uptown Girl with Billy.

    What is over/under on that?

    Either Elton John, Paul MeCarthy, Bono or Springstein jumps on stage tonight?

    What is over/under on that?

  64. NJT says:

    Is the ‘Donald’ serious? IF he picks up some Delegates…maybe.

    BTTOD (Back To The Other Day):

    Bennigans in Parsippany had the BEST Monte Cristos Circa 1988-1992. My SIL (Sister In Law) used to call me ‘The Count’. Mmmm….

  65. grim (16)-

    Minute I heard about the Hitchbot attack, I knew it was an Iggles fan.

  66. If that Hitchbot gets near me, I’m gonna ventilate it.

  67. I may even hunt down the Hitchbot and just unload a clip or two into it.

    Fix that, techie dicktards!

  68. In other news, Iggles fans plan assault on Santa Claus.

  69. Then again, you could prolly torture a Hitchbot and kill it slowly by shoving a Pat’s or Geno’s into a vulnerable orifice.

    Wit, of course.

  70. I think that in a prior life, I grew up in Menphis Tap Room.

  71. Banco Popular Trust Preferred Shares says:
  72. D-FENS says:

    Bob Marley’s brain tumor was probably just genetics.

    anon (the one good) says:
    August 4, 2015 at 9:49 am
    @conradhackett: US deaths (2013)

    Tobacco 437k
    Alcohol 29k
    Opoids 16k
    Heroin 8k
    Cocaine 5k
    Marijuana 0

  73. Marilyn says:

    #44 I bet your right. Very insightful and actually smart thinking.

  74. Marilyn says:

    We did not add food to the list as a drug. All the crackheads, ex crackheads, ex speed freaks, active alcoholics, active smokers, and I have lost 2 people personally to pill od’s but food has killed more people that I know than anything. Sister and Mother, friends who ate themselves to type 2 diabetes did not control it and are dead. I know more dead obese friends than anything else on the list. Ohh the smokers cigarette smokers I also know a few dead but they died in their 70’s not 50’s or early 60’s due to being so obese.

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