Loopholes and tax cuts

From the NYT:

Democrats in High-Tax States Plot to Blunt Impact of New Tax Law

Democrats in high-cost, high-tax states are plotting ways to do what their states’ representatives in Congress could not: blunt the impact of the newly passed Republican tax overhaul.

Governors and legislative leaders in New York, California and other states are considering legal challenges to elements of the law that they say unfairly single out parts of the country. They are looking at ways of raising revenue that aren’t penalized by the new law. And they are considering changing their state tax codes to allow residents to take advantage of other federal tax breaks — in effect, restoring deductions that the tax law scaled back.

One proposal would replace state income taxes, which are no longer fully deductible under the new law, with payroll taxes on employers, which are deductible. Another idea would be to allow residents to replace their state income tax payments with tax-deductible charitable contributions to their state governments.

Such ideas may sound far-fetched. And until recently, they were mostly the province of tax professors and bloggers. But they are now getting serious consideration in state capitols where some lawmakers see the Republican law as a thinly veiled assault on parts of the country that typically vote for Democrats.

Companies, of course, have long sought to exploit loopholes in the tax code. Governments, as a rule, have not. State leaders, however, said Congress, in singling out certain states, had broken an implicit compact with the states.

“The game has changed,” said Stephen M. Sweeney, the Democratic president of New Jersey’s Senate. “They’ve completely turned the tables against us.”

Another idea would be for states to partly or completely replace their income taxes with payroll taxes paid by employers, similar to existing taxes for Social Security and unemployment insurance.

In theory, such a move wouldn’t change after-tax income for either companies or individuals. It would just change where the tax checks were coming from. Companies would reduce workers’ pay by the amount of the payroll tax, and would be able to deduct the payments on their federal taxes. Because they would never receive the money, workers wouldn’t be taxed on it.

“In effect, it preserves the state income tax deduction,” said Dean Baker, a liberal economist who has been pushing for the plan.

Republicans argue there is a much simpler solution for high-tax states: lower their taxes.

Joseph Pennacchio, a Republican state senator in New Jersey, said that he opposed limiting the state and local tax deduction but that New Jersey should focus less on gaming the system and more on lowering its tax burden. There are signs that may be happening. Mr. Sweeney, the Senate president, said that because of the new tax law, he had “pressed the pause button” on a plan to impose a new tax on millionaires.

“Maybe people are starting to realize,” Mr. Pennacchio said, “you’ve got to tiptoe when it comes to raising taxes, because it can do more harm than good.”

Still, lawmakers from both parties said it would be hard to cut taxes enough to offset the impact of the new tax law. For one thing, states like New Jersey and New York have high costs of living and high housing costs, not just high tax rates. Even if their tax rates were the same, far more homeowners in New Jersey than in Alabama would hit the $10,000 cap.

But perhaps more significant, cutting taxes would also mean cutting funding for schools, subway systems, anti-poverty programs and other services that residents in those states have come to expect.

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

120 Responses to Loopholes and tax cuts

  1. Hold my beer says:

    First

  2. Hold my beer says:

    How about cutting funding that goes to Abbott districts? Getting rid of all those Home rule fiefdoms?

  3. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Why take half measures? Just privatize all schools. You would think at $18-$20K per head for 180 days a year the private sector would be able to come up with something better, right?

    How about cutting funding that goes to Abbott districts? Getting rid of all those Home rule fiefdoms?

  4. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    LOL. Good luck getting people to stay in your state with this one:

    Companies would reduce workers’ pay by the amount of the payroll tax, and would be able to deduct the payments on their federal taxes. Because they would never receive the money, workers wouldn’t be taxed on it.

  5. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    ^^^ So the “solution” to federal tax cuts on most people is more state tax?

  6. Fast Eddie says:

    Reduce salaries on public officials and implement 401K plans. In essence, mirror the private sector which reflects real numbers instead of promises and obligations.

  7. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    All the bleeding heart liberals can tell their poor, “We are finally going to fix income inequality…not by raising the income of the poor, but by lowering the income of the rich.”

  8. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    GOP might be crazy like a fox. Let the Blue states drive out their own pols with crap policy and turn themselves Red.

  9. grim says:

    How about we start by letting Jersey City and Hoboken fund their own schools? Surely they are now wealthy enough to afford it on their own. Perhaps a new special assessment on the buildings they allowed to be built on PILOTs, with no property taxes. Surprise! If you can afford a million dollar apartment, you can afford to help fund the schools.

  10. grim says:

    For those converting to LED, if you have issues with flicker at low dim levels, issues with low wattage bulbs inconsistently flashing, flickering, not turning on the little Lutron LUT-MLC wire-in minimum load caps work like magic. I use to keep at least 1 conventional incandescent bulb installed to keep the new dimmers, switches, working properly, even with approved/compatible bulbs. Spent the morning installing them on every problematic lighting circuit I have, and they work like a charm. Removed at least 250 watts worth of incandescents, including a 40w in my kitchen that is on most of the day/night. Killed me having to keep incandescents in the recessed lighting.

    Made me nuts, tons of issues on my fancy new Lutron Caseta connected dimmers. Now to install a motion sensor in the finished basement and connect it to the Wink, to turn the basement lights off when nobody is down there.

  11. Juice Box says:

    Section 8 renters are coming to your town.

    Needy families can now move to these richer N.J. areas, judge rules.

    Low-income families in parts New Jersey will have the opportunity to move to better neighborhoods with better schools starting next year, after a federal judge this week directed the immediate implementation of an Obama-era desegregation rule.

    In her ruling, Chief Judge Beryl Howell said HUD’s two-year delay to enact “small area fair market rents” in 2020 instead of 2018 was “arbitrary and capricious.” She ordered the rules be implemented on Jan. 1.

    HUD did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. In deciding to delay the rule implementation, the agency said it wanted to conduct further research to assess the impact of the changes, according to its blog post.

    Those who qualify for Section 8 vouchers typically pay 30 percent of their income toward rent, the rest is paid by local housing authorities directly to landlords.

    Bergen, Passaic, Monmouth and Ocean counties are among 23 metro areas that will have to change how federal housing subsidies are calculated under a new formula designed to give poorer residents the chance to live in more expensive areas.

    Advocates said the anti-segregation measure will break the cycle of relegating low-income families to poor neighborhoods.

    “N.J. is a very diverse state and at the same time, one of the most segregated,” said Nina Rainiero, a spokeswoman for the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey. “The ruling provides an opportunity for New Jerseyans who are struggling to make ends meet but want to raise their family in a safe, decent home in a great neighborhood with great schools.”

    The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and HUD Secretary Ben Carson were sued by a group of civil rights activists in October after the agency delayed implementing a rule that changed how Section 8 vouchers were calculated, court records show.

    The rule directed housing voucher values be calculated using median rent values in each Zip Code, not in entire metropolitan areas. Because rental prices vary dramatically, using metro-wide numbers lowers the amount of a Section 8 subsidy — largely disqualifying families from moving to higher-opportunity neighborhoods.

    In her ruling, Chief Judge Beryl Howell said HUD’s two-year delay to enact “small area fair market rents” in 2020 instead of 2018 was “arbitrary and capricious.” She ordered the rules be implemented on Jan. 1.

    HUD did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. In deciding to delay the rule implementation, the agency said it wanted to conduct further research to assess the impact of the changes, according to its blog post.

    Those who qualify for Section 8 vouchers typically pay 30 percent of their income toward rent, the rest is paid by local housing authorities directly to landlords.

    Using more targeted rental calculations broadens housing choices for families so that those who want to live in more affluent communities can receive higher subsidies to afford to do so, advocates argue.

    For many low-income families, the opportunity to live in more expensive areas also means access to better-quality schools and lower crime rates.

    “Federal housing policies are a major cause of the racial segregation that stubbornly persists to this day,” said Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in a statement. “It’s long overdue that our federal government remedy the massive disparities in wealth and education its policies continue to produce, and modest rules like this one play an integral role in leveling the playing field for Blacks, Latinos, and low-income Americans.”

  12. leftwing says:

    Happy New Year all.

  13. Juice Box says:

    Little known about Section 8 is they are already portable. For example Jersey City, out of the 4,000 or so families they help, they also pay for and provides 180 section 8 vouchers to families that live outside of Jersey City.

    My district Middletown has two high-rise senior citizen developments of about 250 units,and another 250 families using the Section 8 vouchers. We already put up plenty of families that aren’t originally from the area. We have school choice too you can send your kid to any school you want North or South.

    What will an expensive town do? Well if the rents are now calculated by zip code then landlords can get more from the Feds Section 8 vouchers for those expensive units like this one in Wayne that have been sitting empty for months.

    https://www.trulia.com/rental/4037370499-622-Brittany-Dr-622-Wayne-NJ-07470

  14. Juice Box says:

    More tunnel never to be built news. Seems we are even broker than we think. Cuomo and Christie have no funding set aside for the new tunnel. Apparently they wanted the Feds to pay for all 12 Billion up front.

    “The Trump administration effectively set the project back to the starting line, and potentially killed it, by declaring the signed 2015 cost-splitting deal “nonexistent” in a letter to Mujica Friday—only two weeks after it deemed “entirely unserious” a Cuomo-Christie proposal to pay for much of the local share with a federal loan that the states would subsequently repay. The Department of Transportation asserted at the time that borrowing money from D.C. to fund the tunnel was the equivalent of having the federal government pay, a claim that stunned observers and turned past practice on its head.”

    “There has been no 50/50 agreement, as has been stated on multiple occasions to the project sponsors. New York and New Jersey have not stepped up in a serious way to fund this local project. They are asking the federal government to front 100% of all costs, proposing multi-billion dollar grants and a low-interest rate loan with no money down from either New York or New Jersey.”

  15. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    grim – new to this stuff, but love my LED purchases so far.
    Questions:

    1. Caseta switch – Advantage is remote control as opposed to standard Lutron with the tiny manual dimmer?

    2. “not turning on the little Lutron LUT-MLC” == advice is have them, but don’t turn them on? (in the app?). What’s the purpose of having them?

    Apologies in advance for not being as omniscient as Pumps.

    not turning on the little Lutron LUT-MLC wire-in minimum load caps work like magic.

  16. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Beryl Howell – Born: 1956, Fort Benning
    Same story as Pumps. Daddy issues.

    In her ruling, Chief Judge Beryl Howell said HUD’s two-year delay to enact “small area fair market rents” in 2020 instead of 2018 was “arbitrary and capricious.” She ordered the rules be implemented on Jan. 1.

  17. grim says:

    Yeah the Lutron Caseta can be turned on/off by Alexa, Google Home, Wink, etc. They can also be automated with whatever smart home gear you have. I can say, Alexa turn the deck lights on, or Alexa turn the front lights on, and they go on. Wink has my front lights on a sunrise/sunset timer. Or, if my wife gets freaked out in the middle of the night, she can say, Alexa all lights on, and unleash a nuclear annihilation of lighting inside and outside.

    I like it because I can drive even more energy efficiency with the use of sensors, automatically turning lights off if nobody is home, no movement, etc.

  18. ExJersey says:

    10:04 no what’ll happen is the rich will lose their asses on any real estate as no one else can afford it.

  19. The Great Pumpkin says:

    People really are insane.

    So basically the families that busted their a$$ to get into a nice neighborhood with a good school system are suckers.

    Why are the areas these families come from unsafe? So if we take all these families and put them in safe schools and neighborhoods, problem solved? Everyone is safe now?

    “N.J. is a very diverse state and at the same time, one of the most segregated,” said Nina Rainiero, a spokeswoman for the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey. “The ruling provides an opportunity for New Jerseyans who are struggling to make ends meet but want to raise their family in a safe, decent home in a great neighborhood with great schools.”

  20. No One says:

    Another reason racists like Pumpkin dislike privatized schools. Public schools keep the wrong kinds of kids in their hoods, since the parents cannot separate the cost of school from the cost of housing. Govt schools turn it into a total package, and Pumpkin thinks his taxes is protection money to prevent smart black kids with motivated parents from embarrassing mediocre white students in semi-fancy towns.

  21. leftwing says:

    “In theory, such a move wouldn’t change after-tax income for either companies or individuals. It would just change where the tax checks were coming from. Companies would reduce workers’ pay by the amount of the payroll tax, and would be able to deduct the payments on their federal taxes. Because they would never receive the money, workers wouldn’t be taxed on it.”

    Only in Liberal-land. Reduce workers pay to increase their earnings. LOL.

    “But perhaps more significant, cutting taxes would also mean cutting funding for schools, subway systems, anti-poverty programs and other services that *residents in those states have come to expect*.”

    Said without any sense of irony.

    Read the Times article this morning. Reflects that most senior staff were out for the holiday. Probably one of the worst written of the year.

  22. leftwing says:

    Also watched the Cuomo interview that Ex transcribed last week. He looked like a fool, and I kind of actually like him. Every question on factual backup was met with an off-point theoretical. “If I were as governor to impose a tax on Cadillacs….”

    Would love to have the Blue States sue. Can’t even see how they have standing.

  23. leftwing says:

    “The Trump administration effectively set the project back to the starting line, and potentially killed it, by declaring the signed 2015 cost-splitting deal “nonexistent” in a letter to Mujica Friday—only two weeks after it deemed “entirely unserious” a Cuomo-Christie proposal to pay for much of the local share with a federal loan…”

    Hmmm…Feds back off on Friday. Which day last week were the airwaves filled with NJ/NY to sue the Feds?

    Freaking amateur hour……

  24. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I said nothing of race, you did. I only spoke of class. I guess the capitalist based housing market is racist, the lowest priced areas are always a mess….why? Why would individuals in the market willingly pay much higher prices to not live with this certain class of people?

    Race card has no place in 2018.

    No One says:
    January 1, 2018 at 5:08 pm
    Another reason racists like Pumpkin dislike privatized schools. Public schools keep the wrong kinds of kids in their hoods, since the parents cannot separate the cost of school from the cost of housing. Govt schools turn it into a total package, and Pumpkin thinks his taxes is protection money to prevent smart black kids with motivated parents from embarrassing mediocre white students in semi-fancy towns.

  25. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Blame the race card all you want, but it’s about class. The way you behave, the way you treat others and their property. It’s your values and work ethic. It’s taking care of your home and surroundings. Somehow, this is always twisted to lay claim that whites are racists. White people have no problem with any class of people that behave this way, it’s when people exhibit behavior deemed damaging to that quality of life that they MOVE AWAY.

  26. Juice Box says:

    The Obama era never implemented HUD program is designed to lower the amount of rent money HUD gives for what they call “low-opportunity areas” and increase the amount they give for “high-opportunity areas”.

    It’s based on this study AKA Experiment they did with 4,000 families back in the 1990’s – Moving to Opportunity (MTO)

    “Abstract
    The Moving to Opportunity (MTO) experiment offered randomly selected families living in highpoverty
    housing projects housing vouchers to move to lower-poverty neighborhoods. We present
    new evidence on the impacts of MTO on children’s long-term outcomes using administrative data
    from tax returns. We find that moving to a lower-poverty neighborhood significantly improves
    college attendance rates and earnings for children who were young (below age 13) when their
    families moved. These children also live in better neighborhoods themselves as adults and are
    less likely to become single parents. The treatment effects are substantial: children whose
    families take up an experimental voucher to move to a lower-poverty area when they are less
    than 13 years old have an annual income that is $3,477 (31%) higher on average relative to
    a mean of $11,270 in the control group in their mid-twenties. In contrast, the same moves
    have, if anything, negative long-term impacts on children who are more than 13 years old when
    their families move, perhaps because of the disruption effects of moving to a very different
    environment. The gains from moving fall with the age when children move, consistent with
    recent evidence that the duration of exposure to a better environment during childhood is a key
    determinant of an individual’s long-term outcomes. The findings imply that offering vouchers
    to move to lower-poverty neighborhoods to families with young children who are living in highpoverty
    housing projects may reduce the intergenerational persistence of poverty and ultimately
    generate positive returns for taxpayers.”

    http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/images/mto_paper.pdf

  27. ExJersey says:

    The schools are a farce. The people running them are stupid. Imagine that.

  28. ExJersey says:

    Checking NJ’s weather. Yeah, i don’t miss it anymore. Nope.

  29. grim says:

    If NJ was concerned about affordable housing they would find a way to cut property taxes.

  30. 3b says:

    Grim well said. A fundamental truth.

  31. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Sorry Pumps, it’s all about education. You are still part of the underclass. You can pay $1500 per month for your property taxes and you’ll still never be anything…well maybe in your secret meetings with your secret classmates who obtained the same secret degrees.

    Your best bet is to stick with your own. Your secret own.

    The Great Pumpkin says:
    January 1, 2018 at 5:54 pm
    Blame the race card all you want, but it’s about class.

  32. grim says:

    Hmmm…Feds back off on Friday. Which day last week were the airwaves filled with NJ/NY to sue the Feds?

    After thinking about this for a bit, I suspect you are correct.

  33. grim says:

    Suspect Murphy will consider expanding NJ sales tax to apply to clothing.

    He is coming into the year down $500m due to the sales tax reductions and estate tax elimination.

    His pot plan won’t even remotely make up for the reduction in sales tax, and his 10% tax rate on millionaires isn’t going to go over well at all, nor will it even cover the expected $1b shortfall in 2019 (as the sales tax rate falls again).

    The guy isn’t going to cut spending one bit, so where is the money going to come from? Fully funding the pensions is a pipe dream.

  34. leftwing says:

    Realpolitik. Pre-dates Trump by a while…..

    Nearly had a bunch of hockey dads at your place this weekend post-game. Plurality opted for Magnify instead. Your Fri/Sat hours regular?

  35. grim says:

    We’ll be adding Friday to regular hours – pregame is probably more convenient depending on where you are coming from. We’re right off Rt 3 so if you are coming from points west, it’s a quick stop on the way to the Stadium, even easier if you are heading to see the Devils as you can just jump on 21 South as you pull out. Otherwise, drop me an email or a call and we can just open up for a group. We’re usually there anyhow working, so it’s not a big deal.

    Friday 5-9
    Saturday 12-5
    Sunday 12-5

  36. nwnj says:

    We’ll see all kinds of gimmicks. So far the suggestions haven’t been particularly creative.

    Weren’t the sales tax reductions a phase in? The path of least resistance for Murphy to raise revenues seems like it could include a suspension of the reduction. Then he could claim it’s not an increase at all, which is technically correct.

    You’ll know they are getting serious when the merits of Abbott start to be discussed. It’s been a complete failure by every measurable.

  37. grim says:

    They were a phase in. Yesterday dropped from 6.875 to 6.625.

    He would need reverse the estate tax change, which may not yield any expected increase.

  38. nwnj says:

    I have to defend pumkin here. Not wanting to see your town flooded by section 8 grifters doesn’t make you a . That attitude is political correctness run amok.

    Same thing in Mahwah. I suspect the people there have no problem with anyone moving in as long as they conform to the standards that have been established for the community. They don’t want to see the character of their town undermined by a bunch of dirtbags.

  39. grim says:

    Expect that most Mahwah residents have been watching what’s been going on over the northern border and don’t want the same to happen to Mahwah, I don’t know why this is any surprise.

  40. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    With respect to school systems, I’ve always maintained that residents in nearby towns should be allowed to apply for admission to a different public district provided their parents are willing to provide transportation. Keyword being “apply”. IMO, forcing people to attend poor schools is what prevents people from escaping the cycle.

  41. Yo! says:

    Bhttp://conference.nber.org/confer/2017/SI2017/EFGs17/Jorda_Knoll_Kuvshinov_Schularick_Taylor.pdf

    “Housing has outperformed equity in risk-adjusted terms.”

  42. grim says:

    With respect to school systems, I’ve always maintained that residents in nearby towns should be allowed to apply for admission to a different public district

    How republican of you.

  43. Xolepa says:

    Over the weekend I researched this Small Area FMR business because I do have several Section 8 tenants and I wanted to see how this affects me. The ruling does not apply to my properties because they are situated in Hunterdon and Warren counties. I did find (and printed) Small Area Fair Markets Rents and also the county level Fair Market rents as they are denoted on HUD’s website for 2018. Wow, an eyeopener. Now, Hunterdon and Warren are not on the Judge’s list, but Small Area numbers within each county vary greatly in comparison to the overall county HUD numbers.
    What does that mean? A smart investor can assume all towns in NJ will soon become Small Area users. If that is the case, then the investors can pick and choose properties in lower purchase price areas within the Small Area (Small Areas are segregated by Zip Codes, not by government jurisdiction) and charge the higher Small Area HUD rents. I already flagged some properties on sale for this.
    Differences on 2br monthly rents within the same county are as high as $700. And some of the highest numbers come from zips in the middle of nowhere – Boonsville, man. A section 8 investor can make a killing, if they play it right.

  44. Yo! says:

    http://money.cnn.com/2016/10/24/investing/stocks-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/index.html

    CNN 2016:

    “A Trump win would sink stocks.”

    “Almost everyone on Wall Street currently predicts Hillary Clinton will win White House.”

    This journalist is a Rhodes Scholar. Currently she writes for the Washington Post.

  45. No One says:

    Grim,
    Taking away the clothing exemption would hurt some NJ malls, probably.

  46. grim says:

    What, you mean it would kill Xanadu?

  47. No One says:

    Probably crimp Short Hills mall too – or you think people don’t care about the NY vs NJ tax difference on high-end garments?

  48. Yo! says:

    California unemployment rate hit all-time in November 2017. State dominated by Democrats.

    NJ unemployment rate above previous lows and rising – yikes!

  49. dentss dunnigan says:

    I thought the sales tax cut along with the other tax cuts were linked to the gas tax …you drop one and the gas tax gets dropped back to where it was before …CC put in that poison pill

  50. Yo! says:

    Meant write California unemployment hit all time low

  51. grim says:

    Probably crimp Short Hills mall too – or you think people don’t care about the NY vs NJ tax difference on high-end garments?

    Why should we subsidize NY State?

    (snicker)

  52. Steamturd supporting the Canklephate says:

    Nasdaq 7K…here we go.

  53. chicagofinance says:

    “BEER – BY SEVEN YEAR OLDS”

    A handful of 7 year old children in Australia
    were asked what they thought of beer.
    There were some interesting responses…..

    ‘I think beer must be good.
    My dad says the more beer he drinks
    the prettier my mum gets.’
    ~ ~ Tim, 7 years old

    ‘Beer makes my dad sleepy and we get to watch
    what we want on television when he is asleep,
    so beer is nice.’
    ~ ~ Melanie, 7 years old

    ‘My Mum and Dad both like beer.
    My Mum gets funny when she drinks it
    and takes her top off at parties,
    but Dad doesn’t think it is very funny.’
    ~ ~ Grady, 7 years old

    ”My Mum and Dad talk funny when they drink beer
    and the more they drink the more they give kisses to each other,
    which is a good thing.’
    ~ ~ Toby, 7 years old

    ‘My Dad loves beer.
    The more he drinks, the better he dances.
    One time he danced right into the pool.’
    ~ ~ Lily, 7 years old

    ‘I don’t like beer very much.
    Every time Dad drinks it, he burns the sausages
    on the barbecue and they taste disgusting.’
    ~ ~ Ethan, 7 years old

    ‘I give Dad’s beer to the dog
    and he goes to sleep.’
    ~ ~ Shirley, 7 years old

    AND THE ‘BEST’ RESPONSE…

    ‘My Mum drinks beer and she says silly things
    and picks on my father.
    Whenever she drinks beer she yells at Dad
    and tells him to go bury his bone down the street again,
    but that doesn’t make any sense.’
    ~ ~ Jack, 7 years

  54. ExJersey says:

    11:33 congrats! That is the gayest thing you’ve posted this year.

  55. ExJersey says:

    11:03 puff puff

  56. Steamturd supporting the Canklephate says:

    Trickle up?

    Netflix, Inc’s NFLX shares fell 0.4% after revealing that the salary of the company’s top executives will be increased in 2018 followingthe launch of the new tax law

  57. chicagofinance says:

    On day 2 it is hard to argue with any adjective you want to use……

    ExJersey says:
    January 2, 2018 at 11:34 am
    11:33 congrats! That is the gayest thing you’ve posted this year.

  58. Juice Box says:

    re: Grim “so where is the money going to come from”

    Why the Bank of New Jersey for starters.

    From Phil’s campain website.

    ““In light of New Jersey’s challenging fiscal climate, Phil understands that we need to be putting New Jersey resources to work for the 9 million residents of our state, rather than for the special interests. That’s why Phil has proposed that New Jersey become the second state in the nation to start a public bank – a commercial enterprise, owned by the taxpayers that would accept public revenues and use them to invest in New Jersey.

  59. ExJersey says:

    11:45 Das Capital…?

  60. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    How republican of you.

    Most republicans I speak to are of the opinion that it should all just be privatized.

  61. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    They should start a state bank. That way, when it fails, the fed will be forced to bail it out like they do every other bank.

  62. Fabius Maximus says:

    BRT

    “Keyword being “apply” and what is the criteria for acceptance outside of getting your kid to the school?

  63. grim says:

    11:45 Das Capital…?

    Ponzi scheme.

  64. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    I would say that the local schools would want to admit highly motivated students from outside to increase their rankings. I’d go by standardized test scores and restrict the system to middle/high school.

    Schools should have a right to admit/deny people at their discretion. Some schools have room for more students. Others have no room at all. I’m sure even modest suburbs in the top 100 would be happy to admit a kid who’s scoring in the top 10% on standardized tests.

  65. Steamturd supporting the Canklephate says:

    We need a few clever names for the state bank. I’ll start. Neverbank Loan & Loan.

  66. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    This journalist is a Rhodes Scholar. Currently she writes for the Washington Post.

    This journalist also still likely walks around like she’s never been wrong.

  67. Fast Eddie says:

    The First National Bank of the People’s Republic of New Jersey

  68. Fast Eddie says:

    I see that MSNBC is still using the words “Russia” and “Probe” in their top headlines. Lol! I guess puzzy grabbing is off the table since their kind are the biggest culprits? What is the mantra the democrats will use to define the midterm elections other than Trump is H1tler? Which catch phrase will be used to dupe the lesser masses?

  69. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    lol, remember the idea to create a “bad bank” to deal with the CDOs? We need to create a bad bank.

  70. Steamturd supporting the Canklephate says:

    On the bright side, puzzy grabbing has replaced black lives as the flavor of the month.

  71. No One says:

    That state investment bank concept was hyped when Brazil’s economy was superficially doing well, and some people gave some credit to its development bank called BNDES. Of course giving subsidized loans for “development” invited lots of corruption, and the institution was behind the scenes for the numerous political scandals, and the Brazilian economy has had its worst few years in decades. I followed some companies who played shenanigans with state subsidized development debt.

    In NJ, I’m sure that a state development bank would be both inefficient and corrupt.

  72. Steamturd supporting the Canklephate says:

    I know an excellent company that NJ could pay massive incentives to rate our toxic loans AAA quality. Yeah. They’re still in business. Stronger than ever!

  73. grim says:

    Lots of opportunity to appoint lots of family members in lots of high paid positions in the First State Bank of the Peoples Republic of NJ.

    COMRADE, IN COMMUNIST NEW JERSEY BANK DEPOSITS YOU.

  74. grim says:

    The magic of the state bank is fractional reserve lending.

    NJ deposits $10 into it’s own State Bank. NJ’s State Bank keeps $1 as reserves, and proceeds to make $9 of loans to New Jersey municipalities, local governments, branches, commissions, etc etc. We now have $19 in total assets, and we pay ourselves the interest.

    See how this works? It’s magic.

  75. Steamturd supporting the Canklephate says:

    I look forward to the BS bond ratings such a bank will receive.

  76. joyce says:

    More like NJ borrows to fund the state bank

  77. 3b says:

    I am sure as an educated sophisticated populace this will be a rousing success.

  78. ExJersey says:

    12:58 we thought the middle school where eclived was a disaster. We ponies up $40k a year for PrivateDay School problem solved. See how that works?

  79. ExJersey says:

    I then proceeded to weep silently to myself and grind my teeth in my sleep.

  80. Juice Box says:

    Cumon folks we are Jersey Strong. Just think $20 billion in county, municipal, and local school district funds currently held by regular old banks were redirected to capitalize “The State Bank of Jersey Strong”. Then we use good old Wall St leverage in the capital markets we could easily have a Tier 1 ratio of 20% by the time we sell off all the debt to the pension fund including our own well capitalized retirement system. It’s a WE win and YOU win scenario. Nothing and we guarantee it nothing can go wrong….

  81. The Great Pumpkin says:

    The Great Pumpkin is here and I want my got damn acknowledgement for my calls. Idiot? My calls say otherwise and I’m glad I stuck to my analysis.

    In Cities With Low Unemployment, Wages Finally Start to Get Bigger – The Wall Street Journal
    https://apple.news/ANFK_NAg-SFe6c0MY4R65cg

  82. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “City-level data “show the relationship between wage growth and a tight labor market still holds,” said Adam Kamins, senior economist at Moody’s Analytics. “You’re seeing the first movers into full employment and past it, with the uptick in wage growth.”

    One of those regions is Minneapolis, where the unemployment rate was the lowest among large metro areas in the country, standing at just 2.3% in October. Weekly wages for private-sector workers increased by more than 4% from a year earlier during the second quarter, according to Labor Department data. It was the best annual wage growth for the area in six years.

    The comparable national figure showed wage growth of less than 2% from a year earlier.
    Minnesota state economist Laura Kalambokidis says the Minneapolis area has a diverse economy that helped it rebound from the recession more quickly than the rest of the country. “I see the state and the Twin Cities as a bellwether for the rest of the country,” said Dr. Kalambokidis, a professor at the University of Minnesota.”

  83. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “Patrick Grimes, owner of Generations Hardwood Flooring LLC in New Brighton, Minn., said his two lead workers told him last summer they were leaving to start their own company. He offered each a $10,000 raise, putting their salaries at $75,000 a year, and started covering 100% of their health-insurance premiums. Both men stayed.“

  84. The Great Pumpkin says:

    4:36

    Hardwood floor workers getting 100% health insurance premiums covered and you people cry about nj govt employees.

  85. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “If you’re a dishwasher with a pulse, we’d probably hire you,” said William Prather, owner of Broadway Palm Dinner Theater in Fort Myers.

  86. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Inflation anyone? I fuc!ing called this and was continuously called an idiot.

    “Mr. Prather said he has raised starting wages at his restaurant by 5% to 10%, and regularly pays overtime because his kitchen is understaffed by at least five people.
    In Ogden, Utah, the unemployment rate has been below 4% since 2014. Wage growth accelerated during that time to an almost 4% annual rate.
    Ryan Vaughn, head of human resources for Ogden-based food products manufacturing firm Honeyville Inc., said finding workers in all areas of the business has gotten harder as the local economy has grown.
    “As far as positions we struggle with, it’s kind of all of them actually,” he said. About nine months ago, forklift drivers were making between $12 and $13 an hour. Today, hourly pay can go as high as $16 an hour.“

  87. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “The tight job market has made Steve Carlsen, president and chief executive of Kurt Manufacturing Co. in Minneapolis, “almost go into a panic mode,” he said.”

  88. The Great Pumpkin says:

    If any big players out there read this blog, get my information if you want a guy who called this economy 5-6 years ago when it was in the dumps. Called it to a tee.

  89. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Thank you.

    nwnj says:
    January 2, 2018 at 8:49 am
    I have to defend pumkin here. Not wanting to see your town flooded by section 8 grifters doesn’t make you a . That attitude is political correctness run amok.

    Same thing in Mahwah. I suspect the people there have no problem with anyone moving in as long as they conform to the standards that have been established for the community. They don’t want to see the character of their town undermined by a bunch of dirtbags.

  90. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Pumps himself comes from a family of grifters.

  91. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Daddy notice me! Daddy notice me! Daddy, stop hiding your bone down the street and notice me!

    So needy.

    If any big players out there read this blog, get my information if you want a guy who called this economy 5-6 years ago when it was in the dumps. Called it to a tee.

  92. The Great Pumpkin says:

    In Elizabeth, they separated the students. That’s why Elizabeth high school is ranked so high. In every poor city, separate the kids that want to learn from those that do not. It’s really that simple. They basically took over the scam model of charter schools and now are applying it to abbots. They create new schools that you have to apply to to get in. Act up, or don’t hold up your end of the bargain, then you are sent to the school with all the other kids that don’t give a crap.

    Saw Newark did this. Think Paterson and Passaic are following. No excuses for these poor kids anymore, the opportunity has been given. Take it, or stfu when your life sucks.

    Blue Ribbon Teacher says:
    January 2, 2018 at 12:58 pm
    I would say that the local schools would want to admit highly motivated students from outside to increase their rankings. I’d go by standardized test scores and restrict the system to middle/high school.

    Schools should have a right to admit/deny people at their discretion. Some schools have room for more students. Others have no room at all. I’m sure even modest suburbs in the top 100 would be happy to admit a kid who’s scoring in the top 10% on standardized tests.

  93. No One says:

    Here’s the Pumpkin non-complement:
    Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
    Occasionally a blind squirrel finds a nut.
    A roomful of monkeys typing incessantly on keyboards will eventually write something that appears coherent.

  94. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Good write up. Looks pretty good to me.

    Some people know how to make money, some don’t, you clearly fall in the money maker camp.

    Xolepa says:
    January 2, 2018 at 10:07 am

  95. The Great Pumpkin says:

    It’s a beautiful thing, and you can laugh, but I’m all for it. Something creative has to be done.

    grim says:
    January 2, 2018 at 2:23 pm
    The magic of the state bank is fractional reserve lending.

    NJ deposits $10 into it’s own State Bank. NJ’s State Bank keeps $1 as reserves, and proceeds to make $9 of loans to New Jersey municipalities, local governments, branches, commissions, etc etc. We now have $19 in total assets, and we pay ourselves the interest.

    See how this works? It’s magic.

  96. Fabius Maximus says:

    BRT

    So if its a high flying kid that can’t get themselves transportation to the school they are SOL. With selective picking of neighboring high flyers, how does that differ from a private school giving a scholarship to a kid, just to boost one of their sports teams.
    In fact if you are only talking a few kids here, how does that differ from the Magnet schools we have already?

  97. Norcross Dewey DiVicenzo NJStateBank says:

    The North Dakota State Bank works wonderfully because is a rural farmer driven customer based in a very culturally homogenic rural values at heart.

    The NJ State Bank would work unless is under a very large microscope, I’m talking Casino Commission style. This state’s larceny driven culture that comes from its deep global immigrant largely wheeling and dealing 2nd& 3rd world roots would make its Enron’s books look great.

    Let’s say, that I know someone a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away. This person was a treasurer of a volunteer emergency agency. This agency had a CD in a municipal credit union. CD mature, requested check and deposited principal and interest in organization’s account.

    Check bounce, in horror, this person runs to credit union and gets newcheck that clears. Within 6 months credit union closed by Feds,investigation showed every connected soul, their mother, cat, and dog got some sort of loan. Conveniently one of the leaders of the defunct credit union dropdead of heart attack, and everything wrong that happened the powers that be blamed on him.

  98. Norcross Dewey DiVicenzo NJStateBank says:

    Grim post please

  99. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “At the 2014 World Cup soccer tournament in Brazil, the U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley put up a statistic that wowed folks back home: He ran further than anyone else. Through three games, Bradley had covered a total of 23.4 miles, according to a micro-transmitter embedded in his cleat, while his team finished tops among nations in “work rate,” a simple measure of movement per minute otherwise known as running around.

    Commentators at the New York Times, U.S. News, and NBC Sports were duly impressed. Left unmentioned was the fact that the lowest work rate of the tournament by a non-defender was recorded by its most valuable player, Argentine goal machine Lionel Messi.

    It seems strange that soccer’s greatest player spends most of his time moving at a golfer’s pace. And also that those hustling Americans couldn’t even qualify for the 2018 World Cup.”

    https://apple.news/A8p4ncQ4qQdG2c86NBa-oAg

  100. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “Factories across the globe warned they are finding it increasingly hard to keep up with demand, potentially forcing them to raise prices as the world economy looks set to enjoy its strongest year since 2011.”

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-02/global-demand-lifts-euro-area-factory-growth-to-a-record-pace

  101. 3b says:

    Of course he leaves out the tax reform bump. Or perhaps he called that 5 or 6 years ago and I missed it.

  102. Juice Box says:

    re: “In Elizabeth, they separated the students.”

    I used to live by the alternative school in Hoboken. It was touching watching mom dropping off their overweight kid and then handing him an extra smoke after mom gave him a drag of hers and then a kiss goodbye.

    These people need to be moved to a high opportunity zone like Wayne. I am all for the Feds paying 6 grand a month to move them into some single family home off Alps Road in Wayne.

  103. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Interesting comment from an article about the pseg nuclear debate in our state. Didn’t know about this dirty move by Reid.

    “Not true Bill. In fact, we even reached agreement to dispose of radioactive waste from countries like Russia, and we have developed the technology to handle it. Ran into a snag however, after we developed Yucca mountain as the final storage site for processed waste (Harry Reid loved getting the credit for the Nevada jobs so he took that money). However, once Yucca was completed, Reid forbade the transfer of waste to Yucca. So, today, it still sits on sites all around the country, in various states of treatment.”

  104. Yo! says:

    http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/81/81136/TAM/fins/1Q10%20Financial%20Statements.pdf

    No one,

    Check out bottom of page 2 in this 2010 financial report from a Brazil airline, TAM, with a travel agency arm. Caixa is another bank run by Brazil’s government and they began subsidizing installment plan-funded vacations for low income Brazilians who booked vacations with TAM.

  105. Juice Box says:

    Pumps – Why dig an expensive mine into a mountain when a simple borehole anywhere will work, for example Wanye New Jersey it’s built on rock too in fact every state in the U.S.A. has deep crystalline solid rocks suitable for its own local borehole Nuclear repository.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_borehole_disposal

  106. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    So if its a high flying kid that can’t get themselves transportation to the school they are SOL. With selective picking of neighboring high flyers, how does that differ from a private school giving a scholarship to a kid, just to boost one of their sports teams.
    In fact if you are only talking a few kids here, how does that differ from the Magnet schools we have already?

    It’s not a proposal to address every kid out there. It would give some a better opportunity. It doesn’t differ from scholarships all that much. Not every county has magnet schools and I think the magnet school in Monmouth County is very cost inefficient. Moreover, if kids can get into a good middle school, they can make up lost ground. By high school, it’s a little too late, especially if you stick them in a high performing magnet school.

  107. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    At least Pumps helped out the other kids in his HS by dropping out and not being a distraction. I wonder if anyone has ever mentioned Pumps and not being a distraction in the same sentence before?

    By high school, it’s a little too late, especially if you stick them in a high performing magnet school.

  108. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Is that a can of pancake batter in your pants?

  109. 3b says:

    Fab so providing the good schools is not enough? Provide transportation as well? How about room and board too?

  110. Juice Box says:

    Yup, just Yup

    @realDonaldTrump
    1m1 minute ago
    More
    North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!

  111. grim says:

    I’ve got a bigger schlong than Kim Jong Un, and it works too!

  112. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    Transporation budget is the downfall of every school system. We have to pay to bus special ed students all over the county. It’s incredibly costly and inefficient. If you extended that to my proposal, the costs would be astronomical. It’s not too much to asks parents who seek a better opportunity for their kids that doesn’t exist right now to find a way to get them there.

  113. Libturd sporting Tiger Wood says:

    As the farther of a special needs kid, the issue really isn’t the cost of the busing. These kids should be able to be taught in local schools. If you saw what the tuition of these special needs schools were (tax payer money so who cares). You would upchuck. For the 60-80K per year tuition that your town is paying to educate each of four kids. Your inept local government should be able to hire a crew that can handle 4 kids for 300K a year. Instead, they waste your and my money to ship them to a rip-off special school that has a few ramps and some extra handrails.

  114. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    In Boston I think about 1/3 of the budget goes to transportation, something like $5-6K out of $17K or so. Some kids are on the bus for an hour to an hour and a half (each way) starting at age 3. I think some poor families game the system that way (since you can pick your schools, well at least try to get a certain school in your zone, there are three zones). So if you have your kid in an ELC (early learning center) you can pretty much hand him off to the school for 3 meals, 2-3 snacks and 12 hours. Leave at 6AM, back at 6PM, all free.

    Transporation budget is the downfall of every school system. We have to pay to bus special ed students all over the county. It’s incredibly costly and inefficient. If you extended that to my proposal, the costs would be astronomical. It’s not too much to asks parents who seek a better opportunity for their kids that doesn’t exist right now to find a way to get them there.

  115. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    My kids don’t go back to school until tomorrow. They’ll be there for 1 day. Thursday will be a snow day because of the snow, Friday will also be a snow day because they know that most of the bus drivers will call in sick if there’s school.

  116. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    BTW, this year all of the Boston school food comes fresh, not frozen, from New Jersey. I’m not kidding, my wife works for BPS.

  117. Fabius Maximus says:

    BRT and as always it comes back to blame the Special Ed kids. Stu touched on a few issues and there is a lot more to that discussion, but there are parts to it that are relevant.

    So if a kid in Irvington wants to go to Milburn, if there is no public bus or Jinty bus route that can get them there, it is out of reach.

    Here is where your proposal really falls down. Lets create your Nirvana school district. Lets call it “Gulch Central. The Administrator of Gulch Central has two goals. A) Attract the Brightest. B) Get the non performers out the back door, before they bring down the test scores.
    Here is the focus of the Principal of Gulch Private. A) Get paying customers through the door and get them a GED. B) Keep the Alumni happy. B is a great way of using scholarship money.

    In the end, what you propose would end up with a 10X Abbot Program.

  118. Fabius Maximus says:

    ” Leave at 6AM, back at 6PM, all free.”

    What a great system. You enable working parents so the parents can take a full time job and not sit on Welfare. You have the kids in a setting where you can teach them to learn. You ensure the lowest kids on the totem pole are getting basic nutrition.

    Well done Boston.

  119. Fabius Maximus says:

    https://twitter.com/DungeonsDonald/status/948392003179397120

    My first thought on this was the Kimmy has a few friends with buttons as big as Donnies and I assume would be fully working.

  120. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    That’s the idea. They call it “surround care”. About 6 or 7 years ago they just did away altogether with free lunch, subsidized lunch, etc. It’s free for everybody now.

    ” Leave at 6AM, back at 6PM, all free.”

    What a great system. You enable working parents so the parents can take a full time job and not sit on Welfare. You have the kids in a setting where you can teach them to learn. You ensure the lowest kids on the totem pole are getting basic nutrition.

    Well done Boston.

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