From the WSJ:
New York City Housing Prices Set Record
Manhattan apartment prices reached new highs in 2015, with the typical price of a co-op or condominium topping $1 million for the first time as the year drew to a close.
The new benchmark, in the fourth quarter, was a milestone in the rising cost, and for many the unaffordability, of homeownership in New York City.
Many brokers and analysts attributed the marker to a surge in closings at expensive new buildings that have been under construction for years, including many deals signed months or even years ago. The rest of the market showed more modest prices gains and slower sales growth.
Instead of celebrating the new benchmark, brokers described an alternative real estate universe in the second half of 2015: There were signs of a slowdown beginning in the summer, with a modest uptick late in the year.
The number of foreign buyers dropped, they said, while New York buyers became extremely price sensitive.
“There is more supply and more headwinds in the market,” with supply pressures varying from neighborhood to neighborhood, said Dolly Lenz, a broker in the luxury market. “Buyers have a whole lot of choices and they are voting with their dollars.”
The median price of a Manhattan apartment rose to nearly $1.1 million, an increase of 13.5% from $965,000 from both the previous quarter and the fourth quarter of 2014, according to an analysis of city Department of Finance data by The Wall Street Journal. The average price also increased to a record of $1.9 million in the fourth quarter from $1.67 million in the third quarter.
For all of 2015, the median price also set a record: $980,000, up 6.5% from $920,000 in 2014. Sales were up slightly too, by 2.1%, but below the sales pace in 2013. There were 12,872 sales in 2015, compared with 12,608 in 2014, based on sales filed with the city through Dec. 21 of each year.
New York, New York, a helluva town.
The Bronx is up, but the Battery’s down.
The people ride in a hole in the groun’.
New York, New York, it’s a helluva town!
Meadowlark Lemon, whose halfcourt hook shots, no-look behind-the-back passes and vivid clowning were marquee features of the feel-good traveling basketball show known as the Harlem Globetrotters for nearly a quarter-century, died on Sunday in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he lived. He was 83.
https://njrereport.com/index.php/2015/01/02/predictions-2015/
Chi and 30 Year did well.
grim says:
January 2, 2015 at 2:46 pm
Oh my god is that a Star Trek 5 movie poster in the bedroom? F*cking 1989? Really!?!
At no point in the last 26 years did it occur to you that perhaps some better wall decor was in order?
How the Minimum Wage Folks Think, And What Economists Think of That
By Lawrence W. Reed | February 3, 2014 | 2:58 PM EST
Economists (the good ones, anyway) are often frustrated by the difficulty in explaining economics to people who put their good intentions or, in some cases their partisan political agendas, ahead of clear thinking.
Perhaps no issue provides a better example of this than the minimum wage. President Obama, in his State of the Union speech in January, reiterated his longstanding call for raising it-this time from the current $7.25/hour to $10.10.
If you’re a lay person and are wondering how a good economist sees the way the minimum wage advocate thinks, the following will explain the matter. The good economists can’t help but conclude that minimum wage believers are guilty of one or more of the following errors:
1. They believe in political law (edicts, orders, mandates, decrees and speeches) but not economic law (supply and demand, the allocative and market-clearing function of prices and wages);
2. They are superstitious when it comes to the economy, explaining it in terms of how they “feel” it should work instead of how it actually works;
3. They think that every job and every person is automatically worth at least as much as Congress decrees to be the minimum;
4. They believe that even if a person or a job is really worth less than the minimum, employers will still hire them and happily eat the loss;
5. They often have no clue that they’re unwitting accomplices of organized labor, which favors a minimum wage hike as a way to disadvantage its lower-cost or less-skilled or non-union competition;
6. They usually oppose raising the minimum to $100/hour but can’t figure out why the reasoning that leads them to that conclusion applies to any other increase too;
7. They never tell you that the seven countries in the EU that don’t have a minimum wage have 1/3 lower unemployment rates than the 21 countries that do have one, as Cato Institute economist Steve Hanke recently showed;
8. They rarely care much about evidence, logic, reason, facts or experience if it won’t fit on a bumper sticker;
9. They still feel good about themselves even when shown the negative consequences of their policies because only intentions, not outcomes, matter to them.
So, now you know why good economists get frustrated!
In other words, “good economists” care more about numbers than the exploitation of human beings. What you’ve posted is perfect justification to reinstate slavery. I especially like the part where he brings up organized labor. Because of course the free market only applies to people coming together to create corporations that are capable of crushing the competition, squeezing blood out of every resource they can, and maintaining monopolies of power. The free market doesn’t apply to workers coming together to protect their own interests.
Thank goodness we’re heading toward a world where most people won’t have to work at all. That is if the rising seas don’t rust all the robots.
“So, now you know why good economists get frustrated!”
I’m all for raising the minimum wage, so we can finally rid ourselves of this nonsensical argument, because the fact is, the actual impact, either way, will be inconsequential.
I’m thinking that “if” you happen to work in one of those positions, it’ll be of some consequence.
“I’m thinking that “if” you happen to work in one of those positions, it’ll be of some consequence.”
Still minor. Few are actually making the minimum wage though many did to start for sure. But going from $9 an hour to $15 works out to about $190 a week after taxes. Which sounds pretty significant, until you realize that prices at Burger King and Key Foods have gone up nearly the same amount to cover the loss in profit from having to pay above market wages.
This will hardly change many lives. But if it makes you feel good about yourself, so be it.
Oh yeah…and pray you are not replaced by a tablet.
In case there are still any misconceptions out there about the intent of the administration to flood the place with third world garbage, the Syrian refugee case highlighted in the WaPo provides the needed insight. 6 kids, no skills, can’t speak the language, and signs up for welfare the first day here. Trump anyone?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/a-wary-start-to-syrian-refugees-new-life-in-kentucky/2015/12/26/cb2cb4f0-a990-11e5-9b92-dea7cd4b1a4d_story.html?tid=hybrid_experimentrandom_1_na
I’m not so sure it will mean the end of waiters and waitresses. I’ve come to realize that they are really the “salespeople” of restaurants too. Much of what they do and how they act set the tone for the experience of eating out. I just don’t see ordering from a tablet and having your food delivered by a drone completely replacing wait staff. It might supplement the experience or replace them in some chain restaurants but not completely.
Chain Fast food restaurants, however, are very likely to adopt kiosks instead of people at the cash register.
Libturd supporting the Canklephate says:
December 28, 2015 at 9:08 am
Oh yeah…and pray you are not replaced by a tablet.
can’t really understand why extreme right wingers are so against people making barely any money to eat
why butthurts them so much. it evidences their evil nature
grim says:
December 28, 2015 at 8:46 am
I’m all for raising the minimum wage, so we can finally rid ourselves of this nonsensical argument, because the fact is, the actual impact, either way, will be inconsequential.
I “really” don’t eat at chains often. But in the past 3 months, I have witnessed Uno’s, Panera, MacDonald’s and Chase Bank (and I’m not talking about the ATM) move to this format. And of course, Newark, Philadelphia and Kennedy Airports are loaded with restaurants where one orders through the tablet.
Hey Moron,
Maybe some extreme right wingers are concerned about saving some jobs? Look up from your extreme left wing twitter feed for a change. There’s a whole world out there beyond your retina display.
12 – D-FENS
When my spouse and I go out to eat, we typically avoid places that do not have human interaction.
Panera used to be one of favorite eateries for a quick “healthy” meal until they started switching to computerized ordering systems. Now if we do go there, we go to the person behind the counter and skip the machine all together.
Perhaps we are lucky that we can afford to pay a little extra for human service, but if I wanted to push a few buttons and have a dinner served without human contact I’d just microwave a meal myself at home.
minimum wage is going up and there’s nothing you can do about it
Libturd supporting the Canklephate says:
December 28, 2015 at 9:08 am
Oh yeah…and pray you are not replaced by a tablet.
oh, so now right wingers are concerned about the working class?
fukc you and your concern
Libturd supporting the Canklephate says:
December 28, 2015 at 9:38 am
Hey Moron,
Maybe some extreme right wingers are concerned about saving some jobs? Look up from your extreme left wing twitter feed for a change. There’s a whole world out there beyond your retina display.
Anon,
I used to think you were a simpleton. But now I realize that was a compliment.
I can’t see the minimum wage affecting any solid business. My wife used to make holiday baskets for a liquor store in the winter. He paid out minimum wage. It was more a hobby than a job. She actually held 5 different jobs at the time. At some point, I convinced her to ask for $15 an hour because he was making $300 on some of the baskets. He refused. The guy has 10-15 employees working at any given time. In a two week period, he’s slated to make a few hundred thousand dollars on liquor. I’m sure him paying those employees an extra $2 an hour for the holidays would have been piss in a bucket but that doesn’t stop him. Minimum wage is BS from both sides. One side argues that mass unemployment will follow, which has never happened. The other argues that the economy will collapse and businesses will shut down, which has also never happened.
Whooops, meant to say, the other side argues that the purchasing power of the masses will drive the economy into recovery, which has also never happened.
6/13.
And right on cue fire up otto and anon who, without irony, through their posts offer proof of points 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, and 9.
Ben,
From my perch, raising the minimum wage is just another divisive issue the right feels they have to oppose, though really, it’s not that big if an issue. And I would argue that some of their points are grounded in reality. We don’t eat fast food often, usually only when there is no time to stop for a healthier alternative or no better option exists. I couldn’t help but notice how much a combo meal costs these days (without a coupon). Most are between $8 and $9 now. If you don’t think that will go up to $10 to $11 after all of the workers are required to be paid double what they are now, then I want some of what you’re smoking. Will it kill any of us to pay higher prices for their higher salary? Probably not. Will more of them lose their jobs from it? Probably so. Will everyone lose their jobs? Of course not. But that’s just a talking point. The truth is somewhere in the middle, as usual.
BTW, we prefer Burger King over most due to my son’s appreciation of the chicken fries. Plus, I worked in one for 2 years where I proudly made $3.35 an hour. At least back then, the ingredients used were the real deal. Not sure how Taco bell can sell a meat taco for under $1 and use beef.
Biggest issue on higher minimum wage is the elimination of entry level jobs that give a prospective employee a first leg into the labor market to build a good job reference and work habits.
The ability to work a minimum wage job as a HS student who is not part of the college bound population is invaluable. When you get out at 18 and are looking for real, above minimum wage employment you already have the work ethic and references to get you something decent. Try coming out of HS with no work history and getting a real job.
Eliminating these types of opportunities has measurable impact on this population and minimizing the effects of fewer minimum wage entry level jobs is horribly elitist, whether coming from the left or right.
In an effort to bridge the minimum wage debate I see two different political views. The right typically views a minimum wage job as a stepping stone only and not one intended for long term employment or a full time, family livable wage.
The left views a minimum wage job as more permanent and therefore the employees in such role in need of a family livable wage.
As usual, where you stand depends on where you sit.
I would argue that the minimum wage should be raised to somewhere around $10 an hour where the damage and the benefit might find some equilibrium. Picking an arbitrary $15 an hour out of the sky might get you some blue votes, but also might cause too great a loss of jobs. Where did that $15 number come from anyway?
What percentage of the US population would be impacted by an increase in the Federal minimum wage to $10.00?
Less than the number that would be impacted by a $15 increase. :P
I think I have a somewhat unique perspective on this situation, since I deal with tens of thousands of lower wage positions on a global basis.
Where most analysts get it wrong is assuming there will be a trickle-up of wages in a situation where you raise the wage floor. This will not happen. What you are going to see is a flattening of the wage range, with the new range lower to the floor. The differential between tenured staff and new hires will shrink, and this will largely be driven by increased skill/capabilities of the newer hires.
What you are also going to see is the low-wage/high-unemployment regions in the US take a pretty significant hit. This flattening of wage range near the floor, across the country, will create a situation that minimizes the benefit of moving operations to lower wage/higher unemployment areas. You are going to see many of these employers stay put, or keep operations in higher-cost areas. This is great for areas like NJ, but terrible for places that are typically the beneficiaries of this movement of jobs.
I also believe that teens will bear the brunt of the employment losses, as higher wages will attract a broader talent pool.
Budgets simply aren’t going to support wage increases broader than the specific legal requirement, especially for organizations that are employing a significant number of low-wage employees in traditional non-sales cost-centers like customer service.
The whole minimum wage issue is ridiculous. The left can buy votes and claim they care about the little guy.
The right can say hey, scientifically, if you look at what the effects are, you might actually be doing more harm than good…then they drone on why and the layman falls asleep listening to them. The left then wakes them up and says they are heartless greedy bastards.
In the end it doesn’t really hurt or help anyone all that much in the grand scheme of things, but it artificially creates winners and losers.
The minimum wage has more of a political impact than an economic impact.
Increasing the minimum wage does nothing to address high unemployment, loss of mid-wage jobs, loss of manufacturing jobs, enormous increases in fully burdened employee costs (healthcare, etc).
Why isn’t the focus on increasing the actual drivers behind higher wages and higher employment? Why no focus on actually creating jobs?
“Why isn’t the focus on increasing the actual drivers behind higher wages and higher employment? Why no focus on actually creating jobs?”
You are thinking like a leader here Grim, not a politician. A politician is in it for short-term gain. Long-term gains are a waste of time an effort. Got to maintain the base yo!
Less than the number that would be impacted by a $15 increase. :P
About 20 million – given a current population of about 320 million, you are talking about 6.25% of US population.
They are predominantly in the South – Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and also Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee.
They are predominantly white – 76%.
They are largely under-educated – 56% have a high school diploma or less.
The benefit to these 20 million would not be equal, for example, the benefit in NY state would be a full dollar, in Vermont it would be $0.85 per hour.
And like I mentioned above, the states that have the largest gap to major job metros will take the brunt of the job losses. States in the South will see a disproportionate share of the job losses. States near $10 today will retain jobs, even at higher wages, as the cost to move the job will outweigh the benefit.
Off-shoring will accelerate as a result. The big low-wage employers are all currently located in these low-minimum wage states, because they can arbitrage labor and still remain US-based. However, if they lose this arbitrage, they’ll move to offshore as a result. In many cases, $3.00 per hour differential can make a significant business case for off-shoring.
I predict a lot of US homes going up in flames in early 2016. Good luck suing Chinese “hoverboard” manufacturers.
“Right now there are thousands of workshops making identical hoverboards in China, and the only obvious differentiator is the costs,” says Jay Sung, CEO of popular electric-scooter company EcoReco.
When the Minimum wage goes up to $12.25/hr this brings everyone in the low middle class at $25,500. Everyone is middle class but can not afford daily living
grim says:
December 28, 2015 at 8:46 am
I’m all for raising the minimum wage, so we can finally rid ourselves of this nonsensical argument, because the fact is, the actual impact, either way, will be inconsequential.
If you don’t think that will go up to $10 to $11 after all of the workers are required to be paid double what they are now, then I want some of what you’re smoking.
Poor management is driving prices behind McDonalds. I can go to Smashburger, pay the same amount, and get a higher quality fresh burger and fries and they friggin serve me twice as fast. They even clean up my trash.
35.
The “Chinese Lightning” defense…..
It’s going to take a good 6 years to roll in a steep minimum wage increase, like one to $12 or $15, nationwide.
This is an astronomical increase for areas hovering near the current federal minimum. Even a tapered $1 per year increase is going to be painful. The low wage states are going to take the brunt of the impact of a stepped increase. Higher wage states will see little to no impact in the first few years.
Heed my warning about elimination of wage arbitrage opportunities in the US.
20. Ben,
Let him make his own baskets.
Let the owner assemble the burger.
Let the owner climb up on the roof and bang the shingles himself.
Let the owner drag the old furnace out of the basement.
Let the owner write his own code.
Let the owner get out and shovel.
These are the real reasons that owners don’t want to give employees days off for vacation or illness. Because they are incapable, incompetent, or just f n too lazy to do any actual work themselves other than answer a cell phone and collect a check.
I only hire companies where the actual owner shows up and puts in sweat equity, watches what is going on, and is there to address my concerns.
I had a plumber that did a full heating install. Was here every day with a helper, the attention to detail was impeccable. Sole proprietors with good reputations are the best ones to work with….
Going rate for illegal contractors in NNJ is around $20 an hour.
The minimum wage is a minor issue in terms of economic impact, as long as politicians continue set it at a level that’s fairly close to the far left tail of wage rates. Setting a floor at the bottom 5th percentile vs bottom 2 percentile is mostly an issue for a few teenagers who don’t vote and few will notice the first jobs they never got, as their champions have other villains to blame for youth unemployment.
However, the minimum wage is important in terms of economic principle, because it’s existence implies that its proper for government to set pricing on goods and services. If government can in principle set the minimum wage, and make illegal work at an hourly wage below $10, why not $50?
This is why I’m in favor of a minimum wage of $50/hr. Then people can create an “uber-for-labor” app that organizes all the black-market labor who have to evade government price controls, much like Uber helps people evade government-set price controls on taxis.
#36
I can see the headline ” Democrats took care of the shrinking Middle Class by increasing Minimum Wage. Who you gonna Vote?”
Are things really that bad right now?
7% of Top middle Class joined the High Income of $125,000 and 4% of Low Middle Class joined the Low Income making less than $10,000.
“Are things really that bad right now?”
45
family of 4 making less than $47,000
I can accept that we are all not equal. Why can’t the liberals?
When two worlds collide (clot : jj Edition):
http://nypost.com/2015/12/28/exploding-condom-machine-kills-christmas-day-robber/
37. And even pay $22 as i did at 5 guys – lunch for two. Someone is willing to pay for a better burger. That’s where McD’s misses. Their higher end offerings.
If the US lift China out of poverty why not our own.
What exactly makes an illegal worker illegal? Funny how it’s the worker that’s illegal and never the employer….
50. Yome,
2 Reasons.
1. No money in that.
2. Businesses can’t make enough profit paying middle class wages.
Also, if you think having 6 year old kids working in factories with polluted air and water all around them is ” lifting them out of poverty” I am not sure I agree. You lift a subset of them out of poverty-but for some to gain, others lose- Chinese business gains, American business gains, Chinese workers lose, American workers lose….
Let him make his own baskets.
Let the owner assemble the burger.
Let the owner climb up on the roof and bang the shingles himself.
Let the owner drag the old furnace out of the basement.
Let the owner write his own code.
Let the owner get out and shovel.
These are the real reasons that owners don’t want to give employees days off for vacation or illness. Because they are incapable, incompetent, or just f n too lazy to do any actual work themselves other than answer a cell phone and collect a check.
I only hire companies where the actual owner shows up and puts in sweat equity, watches what is going on, and is there to address my concerns.
I had a plumber that did a full heating install. Was here every day with a helper, the attention to detail was impeccable. Sole proprietors with good reputations are the best ones to work with….
Wife said no to him, cost him at least $2k with the backlog of baskets that couldn’t get out. All because he didn’t want to fork up an extra $100 for the season. Some employers are just hellbent on making sure they pay everyone the minimum they can get away with.
If you are making a million plus a year on a store and still paying your employees dirt, you are just a j*erkoff and your employees hate the place.
The minimum wage is stupid because when employers set their labor to it, it tells them, they are completely worthless in managements eyes. There is a reason everyone is happy at Wegmans and Whole Foods and miserable at Shop Rite. Anyone running a business would surely recognize that setting your wages slightly higher than minimum wage is going to attract a much better employee and create a better environment for your customers.
why not addressing both?
grim says:
December 28, 2015 at 11:06 am
Increasing the minimum wage does nothing to address high unemployment, loss of mid-wage jobs, loss of manufacturing jobs, enormous increases in fully burdened employee costs (healthcare, etc).
Why isn’t the focus on increasing the actual drivers behind higher wages and higher employment? Why no focus on actually creating jobs?
except that the right doesn’t believe in science
D-FENS says:
December 28, 2015 at 11:00 am
The right can say hey, scientifically, if you look at what the effects are
[6] otto
I’m all for reinstating slavery if I can put you in chains and put you to work on my landscaping.
However, the minimum wage is important in terms of economic principle, because it’s existence implies that its proper for government to set pricing on goods and services. If government can in principle set the minimum wage, and make illegal work at an hourly wage below $10, why not $50?
It’s become the idiotic lynch pin of yet another divisive argument and for too many it’s become the single most important factor.
All I’m saying is raise the damn floor, it already exists, so we can all see that it makes little difference either way.
Then, after we all see that the impact was not what we expected, we can move towards solving the problem and creating better paying jobs, not trying to reshuffle the few jobs we have left.
And that’s the bottom line. Unfortunately, some business owners are intent on not sharing anything. These are typically businesses that rip of their customers with allure of “cheap products”, while also paying their workers a cheap wage that makes them feel sub-human.
Is there a logical economic means as to why they can’t pay their workers a decent wage, no, it is purely driven by greed. So much so, that they totally screw over their fellow Americans and ship their jobs to china, because there is someone that will do it for cheaper (china does not have a govt to protect workers rights, so it gets done cheaper), hence more profit, hence more greed.
Sitting on record profits the past 30 years, and workers can’t get a piece? Workers became more productive and received the same pay? What the f$ck? The workers are told that their jobs are being shipped because the business can’t compete(it will go bankrupt), which is total bullshi!. What they should say is, THAT OUR BUSINESS MODEL CAN NOT FUNCTION AT THOSE WAGE LEVELS BECAUSE WE ARE SO DAMN GREEDY WE MUST HAVE UNREAL EXPECTATIONS FOR PROFIT! They are so greedy, it’s unbelievable. Rather pathetic.
“Wife said no to him, cost him at least $2k with the backlog of baskets that couldn’t get out. All because he didn’t want to fork up an extra $100 for the season. Some employers are just hellbent on making sure they pay everyone the minimum they can get away with.
If you are making a million plus a year on a store and still paying your employees dirt, you are just a j*erkoff and your employees hate the place.
The minimum wage is stupid because when employers set their labor to it, it tells them, they are completely worthless in managements eyes. There is a reason everyone is happy at Wegmans and Whole Foods and miserable at Shop Rite. Anyone running a business would surely recognize that setting your wages slightly higher than minimum wage is going to attract a much better employee and create a better environment for your customers.”
58 – If you think you can do a better job, start your own business doing it. This is America, after all. Hire whoever you’d like, and pay them top dollar. You’ll be a hero.
FYI – I stand to gain from increases in minimum wage.
Democrat economist Alan Krueger even takes a moderate position, and dismisses $15 as not being sustainable.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/opinion/sunday/the-minimum-wage-how-much-is-too-much.html?_r=2
except that the right doesn’t believe in science
The only difference between the right and the left is that the right blindly rejects anything someone in the sciences says whereas the left blindly accepts anything someone in the sciences says. When one of my responsibilities was to review submitted scientific journal articles for publication, I would tear 50% of them apart for drawing conclusions with minimal evidence.
The model shouldn’t be to take advantage of the fact that there are not enough workers to go around. There has to be a balance in how the profit is divided. It can’t all go to investors and owners. It must also be shared with workers in the form of wages, and the community through taxes. All play a role in the economy, all need to have a piece. Right now, too much of the profit is going in one direction and that’s not good for anybody.
Grim, nobody is saying to pay top dollar. You have it all wrong. Let me ask the old timers this. Were you better off with the mom and pop shop, or home depot? Home depot was smart. Came in at par with a good product and lots of help when they were breaking into the market. But after they crushed their competition, are we better off for it? The products are a joke, the help is a joke, and now we are left with low paying jobs that are a joke. How is the community better off with all this money getting shipped to home depot investors and owners, and also to china? They sold us out because they are greedy animals. No wait, greedy monsters.
Paying a decent wage, one someone can live off of and go on vacation with once a year, is too much to ask? That’s too difficult for a business to provide, esp when that business is making how much money on that community? Come on, these greed is ruining the world we live in. It’s madness.
grim says:
December 28, 2015 at 2:26 pm
58 – If you think you can do a better job, start your own business doing it. This is America, after all. Hire whoever you’d like, and pay them top dollar. You’ll be a hero.
Now you are mandating a god given right to take a vacation every year? I can’t even afford to take a vacation every year.
64- I had to listen to people complain to me today about having to pay taxes on the house they were receiving for free. I almost had to puke. Of course they were bithcing about having to pay taxes when they just had a property gifted to you. God forbid you have to pay a capital gains on the profit made. You people are sick. There is no end to the greed. You don’t want to pay taxes, don’t make so much money.
And you don’t think something is wrong with that. You have one life to live, we are not fuc!king robots. We are human beings.
grim says:
December 28, 2015 at 2:51 pm
Now you are mandating a god given right to take a vacation every year? I can’t even afford to take a vacation every year.
67- Your employer should be embarrassed that you can’t even get a vacation. Pathetic. What world are we trying to create here?
Grim, you are coming from a small business outlook. That’s who I’m defending. A small business owner is basically a worker who works for themselves. They are workers no doubt, and are going the way of the dinosaur, because they can’t compete with the cheap wages of corporations. If small business owners working for themselves can’t compete with these wages, that should tell you all you need to know. Yes, something is not right here, and it’s all due to greed.
69- How can a small business owner living on an American cost of living, compete with a sweatshop in Asia employing 6 year olds. You can’t! You can defend that practice all you want, but these are greedy monsters putting people in misery to profit. Only ones making out are themselves. If that’s good for society, then shoot me now.
70 – What the hell does that have to do with today’s discussion?
me too, society at large is better off
grim says:
December 28, 2015 at 2:34 pm
FYI – I stand to gain from increases in minimum wage.
71- Well isn’t that what we are talking about, off-shoring? Off-shoring is the modern day equivalent of colonialism, except it’s not countries getting rich robbing and taking advantage of slave wage type labor, it’s certain corporations.
I was wrong…They did use corporations to pillage during colonialism, for example “the British East India Company”.
If only Cambodia had raised the minimum wage, Non would be living a middle class lifestyle. Instead she’s borrowing money to buy piglets to fatten. I guess she should spend more time blogging about how greedy capitalists are instead of selling out. http://www.kiva.org/lend/1000818
Kentucky is making all of Ragnar’s wishes a reality, but you think he’s moving there anytime soon?
“Newly elected governor strips 140,000 of voting rights, lowers the minimum wage”
for joyce:
http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2015/12/plainfield_cop_fired_for_having_sex_on_duty_in_pat.html#incart_most-read_union_article
Conservatives are anti-science, because they are religious and explicitly subvert reason. Progressives are anti-science because they have already decided in advance what all studies should conclude, and are using the power of the bureaucracy to ensure that scientific studies all fit the story.
75
Non makes a lot of money for $26 per day. Compare to other 3rd world Country. An educated Nurse makes $16/day in the Philippines. Look at Living Standard and Cost of Living,Non is living the High Middle Class life of a 3rd world Country
I know real estate takes a back stage except for when pumpkin says it’s going to explode on the upside etc. But anyhow I was at a Xmas party yesterday predominantly 40 to 50 plus crowd. Here is what this group is talking about and keep in mind in a blue ribbony town I christened brig adoon some years ago.
Everybody wants out north Carolina seems to be the desired destination for at least some of them.
Taxes are out of control and getting worse.
Our children won’t be able to buy here. Which then created another discussion on how some day these millenials hipsters etc will come to their senses and come back to the suburbs. Someone mentioned it could be a largely permanent shift and that caused much discomfort.
In spite of all this they all agreed they want big bucks and will get big bucks for their houses. Ironic when you look at the above.
I said nothing and went for another beer.
Anon, when you try to imagine my thoughts, you fail miserably.
Remind me again what value do you produce, if anything?
The Democrats should just name themselves the outsourcing/offshoring party. A $15 minimum wage will cause jobs to be lost to automation and offshoring. Why should this surprise us as they are the geniuses who continue to defend US global corporate income tax which no is paying anyways and results in jobs being off shored to countries they can use offshore money to pay. I have an idea lets take in unskilled Syrian goat herders so we have even more low skilled people in this country, when we cannot provide gainful employment to US citizens and have a broken labor market. When Trump starts to make even a little sense things are very bad.
Re, post 11, sad that you refer to people as garbage. Really unnecessary.
80, property taxes are a huge part of the problem. As for millenial hipsters, good luck. Only certain suburban towns apply, you need a downtown and a train, think Ridgewood,Montclair, Summit, Maplewood(Already Brooklyn west), etc and they prefer smaller homes with smaller lots and lower taxes. By and large millennials do not put huge emphasis on the big suburban home, they are looking for just enough, hence the city living and lack of cars. Home owners are dreaming if they think property values are going to shoot up from where they are now, if anything suburbia will just about keep pace or even fall behind inflation. The incomes drive the property values and Millennials aren’t making the money, they are the poorest generation in decades and have a wealth distribution that is incredibly uneven with a small group of extremely skilled and talented people taking home the vast majority of the wealth. Certain places will benefit others will not my money is on the best towns in great commutable locations being a good investment, everything else in NJ will decline.
83, that’s not me. I feel for the predicament these people are in, but this does not seem like the answer. When my ancestors came they wanted to come here and when they got here came into communities of shared heritage and language, they wanted their children to be American, gave their kids American names, adopted American traditions/beliefs/customs, and tried to conform so that their children would face less discrimination than they did. My grandparents didn’t even speak the native language of their parents, they never really learned their parents language because their parents purposely tried to speak to them only in English which they never really had a native command of. That is not to say they turned their back on their heritage or customs but they adopted new traditions and customs to go along with the old. I want immigrants who want to come here, who want to better themselves, who are willing to become American, and who will work hard to provide a life for themselves here, people with skills are always a plus. They can bring their culture and traditions but they need to respect ours as well. We cannot support or employ these people, is poverty in the US a good alternative, I’m not sure the US is a hard place to make ends meat, it is relatively expensive to live here and the lower and middle class are suffering already. Adding a greater number of people to the lower class is a terrible idea.
Millenial hipsters. Is it really that they don’t value big suburban homes, or they simply cannot afford them? Show me the hipsters living in a cramped old house with bursting bank accounts and I’ll start to believe that. I suspect that they are simply making a virtue out of necessity.
Channeling Clot: What happens to NJ if NYC and Wall St. implodes again? Then there will be not much to commute to besides perhaps a job as a squeegee man, peep show entertainer, or adult-theater upholstery-wiper, and that barely covers the cost of train tickets.
I guess you could say he lost the rubber match.
When two worlds collide (clot : jj Edition):
http://nypost.com/2015/12/28/exploding-condom-machine-kills-christmas-day-robber/
I know real estate takes a back stage except for when pumpkin says it’s going to explode on the upside etc. But anyhow I was at a Xmas party yesterday predominantly 40 to 50 plus crowd. Here is what this group is talking about and keep in mind in a blue ribbony town I christened brig adoon some years ago.
Everybody wants out north Carolina seems to be the desired destination for at least some of them.
Taxes are out of control and getting worse.
Our children won’t be able to buy here. Which then created another discussion on how some day these millenials hipsters etc will come to their senses and come back to the suburbs. Someone mentioned it could be a largely permanent shift and that caused much discomfort.
In spite of all this they all agreed they want big bucks and will get big bucks for their houses. Ironic when you look at the above.
I said nothing and went for another beer.
I spoke to a coworker who taught in North Carolina briefly. She said, there is a mason dixon line within the school systems. The teachers of advanced classes are all from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut while the teachers of the lower level classes are all from North/South Carolina. She said there was a clear divide between staff.
Vigoda> Kilmister, Motörhead frontman dead at 70
regarding the Ni suburb issue. taxes are definitely the issue here. As millenials continue to settle for other parts of the country due to housing cost and re taxes. Had family member report back after she married and moved to Denver. 2 years out there and they bought a home for $200k and taxes at $900. The difference to a millenial couple is if a spouse looses job in Denver they could still get by with working at whole foods/Starbucks to get them through. In jersey a loss of work puts you behind the 8 ball in a matter of weeks if your paying $26k in re taxes plus a mortgage. This in turn becomes a vicious cycle as newer startup companies look for a younger tech workforce.
$26k in re taxes=baller, big spender…
Comparing that expensive a property with a $200k starter home in flyover country….
ok what are taxes running you in Irvington? I believe Grim said 10k ish? my starter in Hazlet ran me $7k in 2006, which is probably 11k today
88 for these people. Education is not a concern. Kids already through or almost through the school system.
#86 you should talk to them. A lot of them really do not like the whole suburban thing and find it to be a dead zone. The whole urban experience is what they are looking for. I can tell you downtown Manhattan is filled with younger families with kids.
#84 all true. And the married ones need both incomes as opposed to late 80s early 90s where you could have one parent stay home at least until full time school. A lot of millenials don’t want a 1.5 to 2 hour commute in front of them when both work
Re Kilmister,
Never listened to much motorhead, but did listen to Hawkwind’s Warrior on the Edge of Time in which he played.