Taxing to fix the tax problem

From City Journal:

New Jersey’s Tired Tax Tricks

“New Jersey needs tax reform to guarantee relief from soaring taxes.” That was the plea Brendan Byrne, a Democratic former governor of the Garden State, made 43 years ago to a group of mayors. Byrne, who died on January 4 at 93, has been widely mourned as a man who could work across the aisle to get things done. A prosecutor and World War II bomber-navigator, Byrne will be remembered by some for his life of public service, but for many New Jersey residents his legacy is evident whenever they look at their tax bills.

In 1975, with the state facing a budget shortfall, Byrne told mayors that the state would need a “large revenue package” to close a looming $413 million budget gap and raise the $300 million required to meet a state Supreme Court order for refinancing New Jersey’s public schools. The heart of the package would be a new statewide income tax, which went into permanent effect in 1977. Byrne promised that the additional money would help relieve the high property-tax burden on New Jersey’s citizens and reduce the disparity between rich and poor school districts.

Four decades later, the plan has failed on both counts. New Jersey’s property taxes have continued to climb at alarming rates, and the gap in quality between rich and poor school districts is, if anything, worse.

Two useful lessons emerge from this experiment. First, politicians and special interests don’t see new streams of tax revenue as a means to replace or eliminate an existing stream, but rather as a way of adding to the public coffers. (For those who entertain fantasies of a value-added tax replacing the federal income tax, take heed.) New Jersey’s income tax started with a top rate of about 2.5 percent; it’s now around 9 percent. Even with such an increase, the income tax has never had much of an effect on the property-tax burden. The Census Bureau reports that the average property-tax bill in New Jersey was $4,820 in 1992; by 2014 (the most recent year for which data are available), it had grown to $12,960, among the highest in the nation.

The second lesson is that education spending is not correlated with educational quality. When politicians demand more money for education funding—usually at the behest of teachers’ unions—schools are not likely to improve. Take Newark, which spent more than $22,000 per pupil in 2016. For all this largesse, the percentage of third-graders who met or exceeded expectations on state exams that year was less than 28 percent in math and 24 percent in reading. In nearby Maplewood, meanwhile, where the school district spends only $18,351 per pupil, more than 70 percent of third-graders are meeting or exceeding expectations in reading and more than 60 percent in math.

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

157 Responses to Taxing to fix the tax problem

  1. Mike S says:

    First / what a depressing article

  2. chicagofinance says:

    The End is Nigh….

  3. chicagofinance says:

    I saw this on the 10PM news. One of the affected was a well spoken man and religious. Hard working. Kids are DACA eligible I assume. Nice story and compelling. I am empathetic. Oh also. He came here illegally. On purpose. Has flouted the law for 20+ years. Pack your bags and get the fcuk out the country. Is there even a question here? Where is the gray area?

    William Wallace says:
    January 26, 2018 at 1:15 am
    http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2018/01/hold_murphy_shows_up_at_church_that_houses_immigra.html

    Gov. Murphy races to sanctuary church after ICE detains 2 in N.J.

    Gov. Phil Murphy on Thursday rushed to a church that has provided sanctuary for [illegals] after two Indonesians were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a third sought refuge in the church.

    Gunawan Liem, of Franklin Park, and Roby Sanger, of Metuchen, were detained as they dropped their kids off at school Thursday morning, said Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale of the Reformed Church of Highland Park.

    At the church, which has been housing [illegals] for years, the governor met with others who have taken up sanctuary there, including one who avoided detention by not answering his door.

    “We obviously have to put our heads together and figure this out,” Murphy told a crowd gathered at the church.

    “It’s not our country, it’s not our values, it’s not the country you came to to escape persecution,” he later said.

  4. grim says:

    Tough call, have had many friends/family here illegally, overstayed visas, came up through Mexico, etc etc.

  5. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    I’ve always said, if they are working with no criminal record, give them amnesty and let them pay a $10k fee for citizenship. Then revamp the laws so this nonsense stops happening.

  6. Ottoman says:

    If you buy food, you support “illegals”. We should be deporting American born white men if we want to curb terrorism.

  7. Ottoman says:

    1.Prosecute the companies hiring undocumented workers.
    2. Don’t complain when a salad costs $25.

    Blue Ribbon Teacher says:
    January 26, 2018 at 8:51 am
    I’ve always said, if they are working with no criminal record, give them amnesty and let them pay a $10k fee for citizenship. Then revamp the laws so this nonsense stops happening.

  8. joyce says:

    1. Yes, absolutely. Prosecute the INDIVIDUALS criminally who own and operate the companies hiring illegals.
    2. Yes, if prices rise, so be it. What’s the alternative… keep exploiting people?

    Ottoman says:
    January 26, 2018 at 9:13 am
    1.Prosecute the companies hiring undocumented workers.
    2. Don’t complain when a salad costs $25.

    Blue Ribbon Teacher says:
    January 26, 2018 at 8:51 am
    I’ve always said, if they are working with no criminal record, give them amnesty and let them pay a $10k fee for citizenship. Then revamp the laws so this nonsense stops happening.

  9. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    So then you agree, immigration puts downward pressure on wages?

  10. grim says:

    How about we deport the employer to the country of the illegal alien they were employing?

    Suspect they wouldn’t qualify for citizenship though.

  11. leftwing says:

    Bothers me, from an equity perspective.

    DACA amnesty is a slap in the face to every legal immigrant who followed the rules, postponed their entry, left their family….how is it fair to them…..There are a lot of them…..

    The illegals cut in line to a sold out show, got caught by the usher, but are basically being told yeah, you cheated and we caught you cutting, but let me hold the door open for you….

    I spent a number of years overseas. Doing so was a major turning point in my life, personally and professionally, and I knew in advance it would be. Took me six months to get approved to go over there. Should I have just gone rather than waiting? Would have been to my narrow benefit… I had to come back and ‘cool off’ for six months due to immigration rules over there…never was able to make it back. Should I have just stayed regardless?

    My youngest was born while I was on another overseas assignment in London. He just missed – by a matter of months – UK/EU citizenship…that’s right, in Britain the simply fact that you are BORN there LEGALLY does not confer citizenship, there is a naturalization period…Yet we are expected with such a lower citizenship threshold and so much more value attached to our citizenship to give it away? To people who flouted the law to get here? Where is the sense…..where is the equity…..

    I can see giving DACA illegals – very narrowly construed, the child only, no criminal record, demonstrable stability through residence, employment – a pass if and only if there is a HARD clamp down everywhere else. No family. Wall and strong measures to definitively shutdown new illegals. Etc.

    Why should the requirements for me to purchase a .22 be higher than what is required of these illegals to gain citizenship?

  12. Hold my beer says:

    Who will mow our lawns, pick our food, work in the slaughterhouses, watch our kids, and clean our homes?

  13. Fast Eddie says:

    Ottoman,

    We should be deporting American born white men if we want to curb terrorism.

    Who will be the innovators? The producers? The entrepreneurs? Who will provide security and have the courage to protect your family domestically and abroad? Who will give you a job and reward you with a bonus and raise for your efforts? Deport American born white men and this country will become a third world sh1thole. And then you’ll be left to squat in the street like the tarnished guttersnipe that you are and eat your maggot-infested rice from a wooden bowl as those American born white men you hate will be plowing a new field of dreams. They always do and the masses always gravitate to it. Envy away you f.ucking loser.

  14. leftwing says:

    “undocumented workers”

    They’re not ‘undocumented’. Every single person who entered this country has documentation. From their country of origin. They are here ILLEGALLY. Undocumented is an artifice pushed by the Left and adopted by MSM to soften the population to the Left agenda.

    They have documentation. It is not valid. They are illegal.

    Same thing with ‘Dreamers’. Worthy of Soviet era double speak. Is there even a more soft, comfortable, and sympathetic label for these individuals? Christ, why don’t we get them an official logo, a soft little cuddly puppy with big droopy eyes?

    My level of respect for John Dickerson went up measurably….other CBS News hosts constantly use Dreamers. He won’t go there, uses DACA. Very funny exchange this week where the conversation on set went back and forth. You would have thought it was on two different topics, one host commenting on Dreamers, he responding on DACA….

    MSM has such built in biases, not sure if the Left is truly blind to it or they just put up the argument as cover…and they wonder why these alternative news outlets on the Right prosper….they planted the seeds

  15. Juice Box says:

    re: Tough call

    Not for the other million or so that come here legally every year.

    PERSONS OBTAINING LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS BY TYPE OF ADMISSION AND REGION AND COUNTRY OF NATIONALITY: FISCAL YEAR 2017

    REGION
    Total 845,951
    Africa 87,818
    Asia 326,301
    Europe 63,310
    North America 304,174
    Oceania 3,740
    South America 59,466
    Unknown 1,142
    COUNTRY
    Total 845,951
    Afghanistan 15,255
    Albania 4,379
    Algeria 1,447
    Angola 154
    Antigua and Barbuda 232
    Argentina 2,766
    Armenia 2,485
    Australia 2,117
    Austria 286
    Azerbaijan 588
    Bahamas 560
    Bahrain 82
    Bangladesh 11,932
    Barbados 274
    Belarus 1,372
    Belgium 484
    Belize 529
    Benin 450
    Bhutan 2,408
    Bolivia 1,135
    Bosnia and Herzegovina 630
    Botswana 94
    Brazil 11,087
    Brunei 19
    Bulgaria 1,614
    Burkina Faso 369
    Burma 10,155
    Burundi 813
    Cabo Verde 2,003
    Cambodia 3,053
    Cameroon 3,637
    Canada 8,754
    Central African Republic 137
    Chad 126
    Chile 1,203
    China, People’s Republic 58,026
    Colombia 13,805
    Congo, Democratic Republic 6,266
    Congo, Republic 482
    Costa Rica 1,594
    Cote d’Ivoire 1,376
    Croatia 290
    Cuba 46,788
    Cyprus 91
    Czechia 434
    Czechoslovakia (former) 45
    Denmark 339
    Djibouti 166
    Dominica 291
    Dominican Republic 42,711
    Ecuador 7,710
    Egypt 7,103
    El Salvador 18,805
    Equatorial Guinea 12
    Eritrea 1,791
    Estonia 132
    Ethiopia 11,003
    Fiji 623
    Finland 347
    France 3,594
    Gabon 120
    Gambia 859
    Georgia 1,187
    Germany 3,522
    Ghana 6,044
    Greece 978
    Grenada 405
    Guatemala 9,935
    Guinea 1,022
    Guinea-Bissau 42
    Guyana 4,075
    Haiti 16,605
    Honduras 8,427
    Hungary 749
    Iceland 68
    India 47,314
    Indonesia 1,491
    Iran 10,249
    Iraq 9,643
    Ireland 1,104
    Israel 2,793
    Italy 2,780
    Jamaica 16,215
    Japan 3,454
    Jordan 3,829
    Kazakhstan 952
    Kenya 5,109
    Korea, North 21
    Korea, South 14,821
    Kosovo 768
    Kuwait 884
    Kyrgyzstan 514
    Laos 512
    Latvia 280
    Lebanon 2,034
    Lesotho 21
    Liberia 3,229
    Libya 564
    Lithuania 495
    Luxembourg 21
    Macedonia 733
    Madagascar 47
    Malawi 162
    Malaysia 3,264
    Mali 431
    Malta 59
    Mauritania 232
    Mauritius 69
    Mexico 125,357
    Moldova 1,626
    Mongolia 520
    Montenegro 232
    Morocco 3,183
    Mozambique 84
    Namibia 99
    Nepal 8,904
    Netherlands 883
    New Zealand 588
    Nicaragua 2,316
    Niger 96
    Nigeria 10,198
    Norway 221
    Oman 73
    Pakistan 13,302
    Panama 693
    Papua New Guinea 16
    Paraguay 292
    Peru 7,686
    Philippines 36,849
    Poland 3,673
    Portugal 707
    Qatar 156
    Romania 2,183
    Russia 6,549
    Rwanda 1,108
    Saint Kitts and Nevis 169
    Saint Lucia 575
    Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 260
    Samoa 162
    Saudi Arabia 1,562
    Senegal 1,084
    Serbia 1,041
    Serbia and Montenegro (former) 123
    Sierra Leone 1,525
    Singapore 640
    Slovakia 278
    Slovenia 79
    Somalia 5,355
    South Africa 2,092
    South Sudan 129
    Soviet Union (former) 712
    Spain 2,306
    Sri Lanka 1,259
    Sudan 2,603
    Suriname 101
    Swaziland 13
    Sweden 727
    Switzerland 421
    Syria 4,056
    Taiwan 3,839
    Tajikistan 412
    Tanzania 958
    Thailand 4,778
    Togo 1,154
    Tonga 190
    Trinidad and Tobago 2,343
    Tunisia 384
    Turkey 3,554
    Turkmenistan 196
    Uganda 1,366
    Ukraine 7,565
    United Arab Emirates 988
    United Kingdom 8,468
    United States 336
    Uruguay 751
    Uzbekistan 2,793
    Venezuela 8,855
    Vietnam 30,704
    Yemen 4,653
    Zambia 365
    Zimbabwe 622
    All other countries 1 84
    Unknown 1,142

  16. Comrade Nom Deplume, The Snake Pliskin of NJ says:

    This article is good in that it identifies one of the techniques I am considering establishing as a method to take advantage of the tax law changes.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/25/one-way-to-play-the-new-tax-law-start-an-llc.html

    However, I caution that there are a LOT of mines in the water here and I think that the tax dodge highlighted here may not fly, both because of rules affecting passive, RE income, and rules regarding attribution. Further, I fully expect that IRS would close this down through regulation.

    Be guided accordingly.

  17. Comrade Nom Deplume, The Snake Pliskin of NJ says:

    “Ottoman says:
    January 26, 2018 at 9:13 am
    1.Prosecute the companies hiring undocumented workers.
    2. Don’t complain when a salad costs $25.”

    What this tells me is that Otto not only supports having illegals here because he is such a great humanitarian, he is also happy that his costs are low because of this exploitation of the labor market.

    The jokes just write themselves.

  18. Very Stable Genius says:

    @jimmykimmel

    I am pleased to announce that the very gifted @StormyDaniels will be on #Kimmel Tuesday 1/30 after the #StateOfTheUnion.
    I have MANY QUESTIONS! #MAGA

  19. Very Stable Genius says:

    @brianklaas

    2017 GDP growth was +2.3%. That’s a solid number.

    But the notion that Trump is presiding over a historically unprecedented surging economy is just flat false.

    GDP growth under Obama was *higher* in 3 of the last 7 years and +2.2% in another.

    Facts matter.

  20. leftwing says:

    “Who will mow our lawns…watch our kids, and clean our homes?”

    Yet another way blue state liberals game the system to pay less for a lifestyle they could not afford at full sticker….

    Red state families mostly do these things themselves……

  21. Comrade Nom Deplume, The Snake Pliskin of NJ says:

    Murphy showing up at a sanctuary church afterwards for a photo op doesn’t impress me.

    He should go ahead of time and confront the ICE agents and try to disrupt the detention and arrest. He’d be arrested and that would be fun to watch. I’d still hate him but I’d respect him more.

  22. leftwing says:

    Dude, you really need to upgrade the quality of the tweets you subscribe to.

    I mean they are so transparently intellectually flimsy you’re embarrassing yourself…..

  23. leftwing says:

    There are some liberals who are actually intelligent. At least try to find them.

  24. Comrade Nom Deplume, The Snake Pliskin of NJ says:

    Moana,

    “Facts matter.”

    So does context.

    “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Mark Twain.

  25. Comrade Nom Deplume, The Snake Pliskin of NJ says:

    “leftwing says:
    January 26, 2018 at 9:45 am
    There are some liberals who are actually intelligent. At least try to find them.”

    I can. I call them my children. Intelligent, yes. Informed, not so much.

  26. leftwing says:

    Nom, why would even reply to that re-tweet?

  27. Comrade Nom Deplume, The Snake Pliskin of NJ says:

    Moana and Otto have already caused this thread to go to sh1t.

    All we need is for Gluteus to show up and spew his hubristic mental m@sturbation all over the thread. When he’s done with second-shift coding, of course.

  28. Nwnj says:

    Fabius and his wannabe rich progressive pals feel like a Big shot when a van full of sombreros pulls up to mow his lawn.

  29. Juice Box says:

    FYI This is only three-quarters of data, the real numbers are over a million. We average nearly 100,000 LEGAL immigrants ever month.

    PERSONS OBTAINING LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS BY TYPE AND MAJOR CLASS OF ADMISSION: FISCAL YEAR 2017

    Total 845,951
    Family-sponsored preferences 177,216
    First: Unmarried sons/daughters of U.S. citizens and their children 18,724
    Second: Spouses, children, and unmarried sons/daughters of alien residents 86,159
    Third: Married sons/daughters of U.S. citizens and their spouses and children 17,615
    Fourth: Brothers/sisters of U.S. citizens (at least 21 years of age) and their spouses and children 54,718
    Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens 385,364
    Spouses 215,397
    Children 1 55,678
    Parents 114,289
    Employment-based preferences 109,105
    First: Priority workers 34,901
    Second: Professionals with advanced degrees or aliens of exceptional ability 35,593
    Third: Skilled workers, professionals, and unskilled workers 24,933
    Fourth: Certain special immigrants 7,108
    Fifth: Employment creation (investors) 6,570
    Diversity 34,862
    Refugees 85,722
    Asylees 19,714
    Parolees 17
    Children born abroad to alien residents 49
    Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) 32
    Cancellation of removal 3,132
    Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (HRIFA) 10
    Other 30,728

  30. Nwnj says:

    Just wait until they start paying the full tab and not the middle America subsidized price.

  31. Comrade Nom Deplume, The Snake Pliskin of NJ says:

    leftwing says:
    January 26, 2018 at 9:46 am
    Nom, why would even reply to that re-tweet?

    1. It doesn’t require much mental effort.

    2. It’s fun. It reminds me of how classmates picked on the mentally handicapped back in the early IDEA days. I didn’t get off on it like they did (pissed me off actually so I guess I was PC once), but I guess that this is what it must have felt like.

    “I wanted to fight some small man and lick him.”
    Henry Adams to Charles Adams, following the fall of Vicksburg.

  32. Juice Box says:

    Here is the entire spreadsheet… NO EXCUSES. GO HOME AND COME BACK LEGALLY.

    https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/FY2017_Q1Q2Q3_tables_D.xlsx

  33. leftwing says:

    CNBC shouldn’t even broadcast any more….

    Remember the old TV ‘test pattern’ that used to come on at 2am and stay there until the morning broadcasts?

    CNBC should just get one that says ‘Dow hits new record high’, put it up, and all go out to lunch. For a few weeks.

  34. No One says:

    Regarding “dreamers” vs “DACA” that reminds me of a leftist project started 15 years ago to start using language to reframe issues in a way that would help “progressive” causes. Considering that linguistics professors are mostly leftists, and virtually all sociology and poli-sci professors are leftists, as well as most “journalists” it was a piece of cake for them once they committed to the project. The story below is about a Berkeley linguistics professor when he just started a left-wing foundation to use linguistics to help lefties reframe debates to their advantage.

    https://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/10/27_lakoff.shtml

  35. You didn't build that says:

    Overall, this earnings season have been strong thus far. Of the S&P 500 companies that have reported as of Friday morning, 77 percent have reported-better-than-expected earnings while 79 percent have surpassed sales estimates, according to data from FactSet.

    “The beat rates and growth rates are as good as we have measured for these 133 companies in any earnings season over the past five years,” said Nick Raich, CEO of The Earnings Scout, in a note. “Most importantly, 1Q 2018 EPS estimates are rising and that is the first time we have seen aggregate S&P 500 EPS estimates going higher in any earnings season in seven years.”

  36. You didn't build that says:

    @Jeanne King:

    The Party of Paychecks = Republican. The Party of Food Stamps = Democrat. We now have the proof.

  37. Fast Eddie says:

    Snowflakes pine for the days of the Oblama malaise. It made them feel wanted and accepted – as if their failure and inability to blend comfortably with the fabric of society was not their fault.

  38. joyce says:

    Comrade,
    Why do you say it’s fun and also complain about it at the same time?

    Comrade Nom Deplume, The Snake Pliskin of NJ says:
    January 26, 2018 at 9:53 am
    leftwing says:
    January 26, 2018 at 9:46 am
    Nom, why would even reply to that re-tweet?

    1. It doesn’t require much mental effort.

    2. It’s fun.

    Comrade Nom Deplume, The Snake Pliskin of NJ says:
    January 26, 2018 at 9:49 am
    Moana and Otto have already caused this thread to go to sh1t.

  39. Mike S says:

    grow your own salad for a $4 pack of lettuce seeds, hardly need to take care of it.

  40. D-FENS says:

    Murphy scheduled to make a big announcement today at 11AM along with his attorney General regarding “Gun Safety”.

  41. D-FENS says:

    @NYGovCuomo
    Follow Follow @NYGovCuomo
    More
    New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are launching a coalition to sue the federal government to reverse the unjust tax law.

    We will not stand idly by as the federal government attacks the fiscal health of our states.

    10:00 AM – 26 Jan 2018

  42. nwnj says:

    At what levels can we use that tactic? You are attacking the fiscal health of my county, town, household with your taxes so I’m not going to pay.

    Sounds more to me like the “lets find a liberal activist judge to ok anything” strategy.

  43. ExJerzy says:

    10:21 …and then you woke up….

  44. leftwing says:

    “Comrade, Why do you say it’s fun and also complain about it at the same time?”

    Kind of like slowing down and looking at a bad accident, just can’t help yourself.

  45. D-FENS says:

    https://www.city-journal.org/html/new-jersey%E2%80%99s-tired-tax-tricks-15689.html

    “New Jersey needs tax reform to guarantee relief from soaring taxes.” That was the plea Brendan Byrne, a Democratic former governor of the Garden State, made 43 years ago to a group of mayors. Byrne, who died on January 4 at 93, has been widely mourned as a man who could work across the aisle to get things done. A prosecutor and World War II bomber-navigator, Byrne will be remembered by some for his life of public service, but for many New Jersey residents his legacy is evident whenever they look at their tax bills.

    In 1975, with the state facing a budget shortfall, Byrne told mayors that the state would need a “large revenue package” to close a looming $413 million budget gap and raise the $300 million required to meet a state Supreme Court order for refinancing New Jersey’s public schools. The heart of the package would be a new statewide income tax, which went into permanent effect in 1977. Byrne promised that the additional money would help relieve the high property-tax burden on New Jersey’s citizens and reduce the disparity between rich and poor school districts.

    Four decades later, the plan has failed on both counts. New Jersey’s property taxes have continued to climb at alarming rates, and the gap in quality between rich and poor school districts is, if anything, worse.

    Two useful lessons emerge from this experiment. First, politicians and special interests don’t see new streams of tax revenue as a means to replace or eliminate an existing stream, but rather as a way of adding to the public coffers. (For those who entertain fantasies of a value-added tax replacing the federal income tax, take heed.) New Jersey’s income tax started with a top rate of about 2.5 percent; it’s now around 9 percent. Even with such an increase, the income tax has never had much of an effect on the property-tax burden. The Census Bureau reports that the average property-tax bill in New Jersey was $4,820 in 1992; by 2014 (the most recent year for which data are available), it had grown to $12,960, among the highest in the nation.

    That tripling in property-tax revenue outpaced both inflation and economic growth in New Jersey; the consumer price index rose only 70 percent over the same period. Overall revenue was dragged upward by ballooning education spending, which went from $8,567 per pupil in 1992 to $17,907 in 2014. Indeed, the growth lines for those two items are almost parallel. Perhaps the proponents of the income tax would say that property taxes would have been even higher if the income tax had not been there to offset some of the cost of educating the state’s children. But it’s hard to imagine that politicians could have bled New Jersey citizens by much more than they did. According to a USA Today analysis of IRS data, New Jersey saw a net decrease of 33,700 people and $2.6 billion in taxable income between 2014 and 2015.

    The second lesson is that education spending is not correlated with educational quality. When politicians demand more money for education funding—usually at the behest of teachers’ unions—schools are not likely to improve. Take Newark, which spent more than $22,000 per pupil in 2016. For all this largesse, the percentage of third-graders who met or exceeded expectations on state exams that year was less than 28 percent in math and 24 percent in reading. In nearby Maplewood, meanwhile, where the school district spends only $18,351 per pupil, more than 70 percent of third-graders are meeting or exceeding expectations in reading and more than 60 percent in math.

    Poverty is the often-repeated explanation for this disparity in performance. But after decades of spending more on schools in poorer districts without seeing results in educational performance—as well as the evidence from high-performing charter schools and voucher programs that it is possible to educate students well for less than the cost of a high-end prep school—maybe we should see the poverty excuse for what it is: a ploy by teachers’ unions to get more money out of the state budget.

    The New Jersey Education Association was instrumental in the passage of the income tax. The union’s website offered a remembrance of Byrne after his death, calling him a man who “risked his political career to ensure that the state could begin to live up to its constitutional obligation to all students.” But when it comes to increasing revenue, the union’s spending demands don’t give the state’s politicians much choice.

    In a recent op-ed for the Asbury Park Press, a former director of the nonprofit Better Education for NJ Kids notes some of the ways in which the NJEA has gotten the upper hand: “As a result of laws the NJEA helped to pass, teachers are basically forced to join the union (non-union teachers have to pay up to 85 percent of their NJEA dues as ‘agency fees’). Additionally, teacher dues are automatically withheld from their paychecks by the personnel in the local school districts and sent to the union—at taxpayers’ expense. The NJEA is thus freed from the work and expense of recruiting members or collecting dues—giving it more time and money to devote to politics.”

    In fact, the union spends about $43 million a year lobbying state and local politicians to defend their expensive benefit packages—one reason that nothing has been done to address New Jersey’s $253 billion in unfunded pension and benefit liabilities. It’s hard to see how the state will dig its way out. But don’t be surprised if, a half-century after Brendan Byrne’s bright idea, someone suggests that a new tax is the answer.

  46. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    footstool – The farm labor component of lettuce is 5 cents per head. For a $20/hour wage instead of $5/hour would raise the cost of lettuce 15 cents and might just attract some American citizens into that segment of the labor force.

    We hardly ever talk about the greatest voting bloc in the Democrat party – the math deficient.

    If you buy food, you support “illegals”. We should be deporting American born white men if we want to curb terrorism.

    1.Prosecute the companies hiring undocumented workers.
    2. Don’t complain when a salad costs $25.

  47. grim says:

    Attacking the administration pretty much guarantees NY/NJ gets zero infrastructure funding.

    Awesome.

  48. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    11:33 D-Fens – What do you think of the lead article that grim posted at the top?

  49. D-FENS says:

    There are articles at the top?

  50. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    If you broke into a nice home to steal items of value and brought your children with you do the kids get to live there forever?

  51. D-FENS says:

    Just delete that one Grim. My bad

  52. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    I just figured out something else that will kill your post…

  53. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    …try using more than one elipsis…

  54. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    try… using more than one …elipsis

  55. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Nuts. I tried posting this post as:

    If you broke into a nice home to steal items of value… and brought your children with you… do the kids get to live there forever?

  56. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    And it didn’t work until I took out the …’s
    …before…anyway.

  57. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    D-Fens – I sometimes almost do worse than that. I’ll click on a link here, read the article and then forget that I was linked from here as I think to myself, “Oh! I have to post this on NJRERe!”

    Just delete that one Grim. My bad

  58. Fast Eddie says:

    Take Newark, which spent more than $22,000 per pupil in 2016. For all this largesse, the percentage of third-graders who met or exceeded expectations on state exams that year was less than 28 percent in math and 24 percent in reading.

    Can the democrats explain the dollar amount it will take to fix this?

  59. 30 year realtor says:

    Fast Eddie,

    Are you aware that there are companies started by people other than white males that employ millions of people? Considering the head start on opportunity given to white males it would only be reasonable to assume they would have the lion’s share at this point in time.

    Reading what you wrote someone could surmise that you feel white males are superior to all other humans. Would it be correct to assume that is your position?

  60. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    You can spend all you want on premium gasoline, but no matter how much you overpay for fuel, no amount of it will inflate your flat tires. Similarly, you can put as much money as you want into the schools, but it won’t fix what’s wrong in the home.

    Take Newark, which spent more than $22,000 per pupil in 2016. For all this largesse, the percentage of third-graders who met or exceeded expectations on state exams that year was less than 28 percent in math and 24 percent in reading.

  61. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    We might as well have a diversity lottery for all 21-year-olds and give the winners high paying executive jobs. Skip all this higher education bs.

  62. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Are you aware that there are companies started by people other than white males that employ millions of people? Considering the head start on opportunity given to white males children who grow up with two parents, at least one of which is employed, who put an emphasis on education and it would only be reasonable to assume they would have the lion’s share at this point in time.

  63. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    I wonder when Democrats will realize that they are driving out all of the non-self-loathing white males from their party?

  64. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    At least they’ll be reminded in November.

    Hahahahahahahaahahahaha

  65. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    BTW, why don’t we have any Asian activist voting blocs in this country? In this world of identity politics, who is out there standing up for Asians of all colors (including the real Indians, not the red ones)?

    Now that Trump has broken the mold, I wonder if a new third party could form with this platform.

    1. Marriage and employment before children.
    2. Emphasis on education for children.
    3. All races and lifestyles welcome, so long as you are on board with 1&2.

  66. Libturd says:

    “I kinda like Lois Farrakhan”

    I dressed as him for two halloweens in the 90s.

  67. Comrade Nom Deplume, The Snake Pliskin of NJ says:

    leftwing says:
    January 26, 2018 at 11:22 am
    “Comrade, Why do you say it’s fun and also complain about it at the same time?”

    Kind of like slowing down and looking at a bad accident, just can’t help yourself.”

    ROFLMMFAO. I’m still laughing. I’ll be laughing 20 min from now.

  68. Comrade Nom Deplume, The Snake Pliskin of NJ says:

    “D-FENS says:
    January 26, 2018 at 10:51 am
    @NYGovCuomo
    Follow Follow @NYGovCuomo
    More
    New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are launching a coalition to sue the federal government to reverse the unjust tax law.

    We will not stand idly by as the federal government attacks the fiscal health of our states.”

    Now THAT is some must-see TV. I’ll bring the popcorn.

  69. Libturd says:

    “to sue the federal government”

    You know what would be really funny. When this divisive politicking between blue states and red states evolves into a civil war. The red states will have a huge armed militia that would have zero issue using their weapons. The blue states will be armed with pussy hats, white dresses, pacifiers and fancy facial hair.

  70. Libturd says:

    You know what would be really funny. When this divisive politicking between blue states and red states evolves into a civil war. The red states will have a huge armed militia that would have zero issue using their weapons. The blue states will be armed with puzzy hats, white dresses, pacifiers and fancy facial hair.

  71. Fast Eddie says:

    30 year,

    Address the bullsh1t that assh0le wrote before you question my response.

  72. Fast Eddie says:

    Considering the head start on opportunity given to white males…

    My father slept on a mattress they pulled in from the street; went on to start a small neighborhood business from nothing that enabled him and my mom to gave back to underprivileged kids in the community. Head start? Lol.

  73. Fast Eddie says:

    The sanctimonious, feel-good sh1t doesn’t fly with me. All you f.ucking progressive p.ussies can shove it up your tw0ts. I wish I had the balls my father’s generation had. They softened the blow for us, paved a path but set an example on how to achieve success. Libturd is right, it’ll be a blood bath. Let’s hope it’s quick so the snow pods don’t suffer prolonged agony.

  74. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Retreat! Retreat! Everyone get back to our safe space!

    You know what would be really funny. When this divisive politicking between blue states and red states evolves into a civil war. The red states will have a huge armed militia that would have zero issue using their weapons. The blue states will be armed with puzzy hats, white dresses, pacifiers and fancy facial hair.

  75. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Blue staters only know social media wars, and they’re not really even too good at that, either.

  76. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    #ReleaseTheMemo

    Liberals: “Russian Bots! Russian Bots!! RUSSIAN BOTS!!!

  77. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    #HighwayHouse

    BJ Pumps: “Wage Inflation! Wage Inflation! WAGE INFLATION!!!

  78. chicagofinance says:

    In FISCAL YEAR 1996, 4 of these would have been my Uncle, Aunt and their two kids.

    My Uncle works the loading docks at a Walmart. My aunt does wire transfers for a vertical blind company. Their son is a CFA at 24 and works for a hedge fund in SF. Their daughter is in Medical School.

    Juice Box says:
    January 26, 2018 at 9:34 am
    re: Tough call

    Not for the other million or so that come here legally every year.

    PERSONS OBTAINING LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS BY TYPE OF ADMISSION AND REGION AND COUNTRY OF NATIONALITY: FISCAL YEAR 2017

    REGION
    Albania 4,379

  79. The Great Pumpkin says:

    This lead article is a hit piece on education. Nothing more, nothing less. I’ll give one example based on the following quote.

    “Overall revenue was dragged upward by ballooning education spending, which went from $8,567 per pupil in 1992 to $17,907 in 2014.”

    Is this guy serious? Does he understand that was 1992? Why in the world are you comparing costs from 1992 to 2014? What a chump. How many people are going to read this crap and believe this bs? In 1992, did they have all these special education rules in place? In 1992, did they have all this technology in the classroom? That has nothing to do with costs? Do supplies cost the same in 2014 as they did in 1992? Did employees make the same pay? Come on, now! This is a ridiculous attack on education.

    And what is the solution to his article? Just stop providing opportunity to inner city kids? Wtf! Of course the results are not going to be perfect in inner cities, and why would you even expect to have extraordinary results in these Abbott schools? Why? Why would you expect prefect results, and then when they don’t happen, you tell every student that they are a failure and attend a failing school, further creating the problem by making these kids feel like losers and letting them use the now excuse that they attend a failing school. Disgusting!

    An inner city school is failing because it doesn’t have similar results in comparison to a rich school? Just so messed up. These kids just get trashed on. Feel for them.

    Why do so many people want to take away the opportunity from these kids to save a thousand dollars a year on their property taxes. Pretty ruthless.

  80. The Great Pumpkin says:

    And education costs, like healthcare, have outpaced everything else in their rising prices. The njea has nothing to do with it. These costs have risen everywhere. And if they have not risen, it’s because that state doesn’t care about their education system and have let it go to sh!t to save money. The wrong way to save money. Long term consequences for this.

  81. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Not attacking you, so don’t take it that way.

    That’s your huge head start, you had two parents. Not only that, you had two hard working parents that raised and took care of their kids. These inner city kids don’t have that, and that makes all the difference.

    Fast Eddie says:
    January 26, 2018 at 1:33 pm
    Considering the head start on opportunity given to white males…

    My father slept on a mattress they pulled in from the street; went on to start a small neighborhood business from nothing that enabled him and my mom to gave back to underprivileged kids in the community. Head start? Lol.

  82. Libturd says:

    ” These inner city kids don’t have that, and that makes all the difference. ”

    Why?

  83. Libturd says:

    Holy market!!!

  84. Fast Eddie says:

    That’s your huge head start, you had two parents. Not only that, you had two hard working parents that raised and took care of their kids. These inner city kids don’t have that, and that makes all the difference.

    Why don’t they have that? And what does that have to do with color? And why is that someone else’s fault?

  85. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    The Asians filed a lawsuit against Harvard and lost. The big joke is that the stats prove they discriminate.

  86. No One says:

    I used to know the guy who filed the lawsuit against Harvard. Chinese guy who worked at the same company as my wife back in the 90s. And I heard his son didn’t get into an ivy league school after all, despite his high SATs, high grades, and extracurriculars. Too many Chinese kids with the same resume. If he really wanted to get his kids into Ivy League he should have married a woman of color instead of another Chinese and given them her last name as well. Last name Zhao will set off the affirmative action alarms for an African American applicant.

  87. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    MIT has been discriminating against Asian candidates for decades. Harvard readily admits that they discriminate geographically (I doubt it ends there). They claim to be a Boston area school first, a Massachusetts school second, and a national university third. About 25 kids per year get in to Harvard from Boston Latin and about the same from Cambridge Rindge Latin.

    The DOJ is on Harvard’s tail now:

    http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/1/24/motivations-DOJ-Harvard-probe/

    The Asians filed a lawsuit against Harvard and lost. The big joke is that the stats prove they discriminate.

  88. 3b says:

    My parents were immigrants. 6th grade education. Loved this country until the day they passed. My Father was drafted shortly after coming here. It was go to or go home. He went. All they wanted was a chance to work hard. And they did. My father worked two jobs for over 20 years to support his family. Left the house around 5:15 and got home around 9:30. And worked many Saturdays to sometimes Sunday. Americans born in this country would not work that hard. Things have changed of course but still there are opportunities to better yourself today no matter what walk of life you come from.

  89. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    I’ve only had one student get into Columbia and she was ranked 55th in the class.

  90. chicagofinance says:

    The problem is that way too many Asian place an emphasis on form over substance. It more than simply too many Chinese kids with the same resume. It is also that these “kids” have a track record through the decades at Harvard et al. The question for these schools is what kind of community members will these candidates be on campus? what kind of alumni are they going to be? will they be active in representing the school? will they give back? will they make donations? Across the board, this group falls down……it may not be the case in the future, but the “discrimination” makes logic sense, if not passing the integrity smell test…… sorry if this sounds rather off-color, but it is hard to ignore reality….remember, I grew up in Flushing.

    No One says:
    January 26, 2018 at 4:41 pm
    I used to know the guy who filed the lawsuit against Harvard. Chinese guy who worked at the same company as my wife back in the 90s. And I heard his son didn’t get into an ivy league school after all, despite his high SATs, high grades, and extracurriculars. Too many Chinese kids with the same resume. If he really wanted to get his kids into Ivy League he should have married a woman of color instead of another Chinese and given them her last name as well. Last name Zhao will set off the affirmative action alarms for an African American applicant.

  91. chicagofinance says:

    To be clear, Asians in the United States get a pass on being racist, because they are considered part of a minority. They are ridiculously racist in the most anachronistic ways.

  92. chicagofinance says:

    BRT: same resume Chinese guy just accepted early to Cornell. However, dad went to Cornell, Uncle went to Cornell, active with community, gave to school. Kids was pretty impressive, but really was an American Chinese guy, not a Chinese-American. However, his family’s efforts probably helped him surmount that air in insularity that comes with that territory.

  93. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    Even the Asians who have the standoeut transcript get screwed. Cornell has been accepting more and more from what I see. Maybe they are trying to subtlely boost their quality

  94. Not ChiFi says:

    ChiFi is just human nature. Humans are a-h0l3s.

    I have a field day with my co-workers and their perceived aspersions.

    My favorite ones
    -the Jamaican landlord that won’t rent to Puerto Ricans (are loud, party too much all the way into late nite – because always at home and always moving)
    – the Southern (honest) vs Northern (crooks) Indians.
    – the neo-fascist old jewish liberal guy, who loves Bloomberg and hates fat people.

  95. Very Stable Genius says:

    @NYDailyNews

    Nikki Haley slams Trump affair rumors as “offensive” and “absolutely not true”

  96. Very Stable Genius says:

    @BillKristol

    Conservatism once: Character counts.
    Conservatism today: Mulligans for sale!

  97. Very Stable Genius says:

    @BillKristol
    “And if you believe that America has benefited from a healthy conservatism and a strong Republican party, and would benefit still—you have to worry that their degeneracy makes far more likely America’s degeneracy.”

    In the new issue of TWS: “The current state of discourse on the right and among elected Republicans on Capitol Hill sounds as if they’ve been taking instruction from the queen in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass.”

    If only we were living in a wonderland where elected officials’ fantasies were simply another form of entertainment! But a well-functioning constitutional republic requires keeping a firm grip on reality. Today’s willingness to believe in “secret societies” and conspiracies—not mistakes or biases or incompetence—at the FBI is reminiscent of Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Today’s rhetoric about the “deep state” would warm the heart of Robert Welch and his John Birch Society.

  98. ExJerzy says:

    Eddie is a raving imbecile.

  99. 3b says:

    The most racist outburst I ever heard was by a Dominican about Haitains

  100. 3b says:

    Chai I agree there is a whole pecking order with Asians , many seem to agree that Flipinos are on the bottom.

  101. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    I’ll tell you has the worst chance of getting into Harvard: A kid whose parent(s) went there and the parents didn’t turn out rich, and consequently make a ton of donations. So if you went to Harvard and decided to be social worker, your kid has zero chance of getting in. Harvard figures if Dad and/or Mom didn’t become wealthy or, at least, notable with the Harvard network behind them then they won’t take a chance on a probable second generation loser.

  102. J says:

    Every single problem a Democrat pretends to know how to solve ends only in one common answer: “Raise Taxes.

    However, the only person dumber than a Democrat politician is the moron who helped elect him/her.

  103. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Koreans and Japanese both think they are on top, btw. I have a Japanese friend who I’ve never heard say a racist word until…one day we went took out lunch from a Chinese restaurant down the street from our office. The Chinese counter guy asked my friend if he was Japanese, and he just simply said that he was. The counter guy went on to say that some people mistake him for Japanese. My friend just said something innocuous in response. When we stepped back out onto the sidewalk my friend said, kind of under his breath, “Yeah, that guy wishes people mistake him for Japanese.”

    Chai I agree there is a whole pecking order with Asians , many seem to agree that Flipinos are on the bottom.

  104. Fabius Maximus says:

    “Fabius and his wannabe rich progressive pals feel like a Big shot when a van full of sombreros pulls up to mow his lawn.”
    As I have stated previously, I have a cold beer while I watch Mrs Fab cuts the lawn with the Lawn Tractor I bought her for Mothers Day a few years ago.

    I do have a GOP friend that still has a lawn service while he works at a local supermarket for HeathCare coverage. He had a forced retirement, but is not old enought for Medicare.

  105. Fabius Maximus says:

    “I wonder if a new third party could form ”
    Will never happen and a third party presidential candidate just muddies the waters. Unless you are willing to rewrite the constitution, there is no change.

  106. Fabius Maximus says:

    Reading what you wrote someone could surmise that you feel white males are superior to all other humans. Would it be correct to assume that is your position?”

    30yr, yes it would, but it might take him a while for that self realization.

  107. Fabius Maximus says:

    “For a $20/hour wage instead of $5/hour would raise the cost of lettuce 15 cents and might just attract some American citizens into that segment of the labor force.”

    So can I chant 15cents for $15. Read the piece I posted on labor shortages with the guest pickers a day ago. They can find American workers to start the job, but they cant keep them in the job.

  108. Fabius Maximus says:

    leftist project started 15 years ago to start using language to reframe issues in a way that would help “progressive” causes.
    The right have been using Dog Whistle for years . A few of my personal favorites :
    “Barack Hussein Obama”,
    “States Rights”,
    “Law and Order”,
    “Welfare Queen”,
    “Invading Minorities”.

  109. Fabius Maximus says:

    Chi, Just tell her to get the Fcuk out!

    https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Cheshire-Mother-Faces-Deportation-Back-to-Albania-456544513.html

    Does she take the kids, or do they stay?

  110. Fabius Maximus says:

    “I wish I had the balls my father’s generation”
    Nice to see that you acknowledge that you don’t. Go back and read what 30yr posted, and have a long hard think. At some point hopefully, you have the “come to Jesus moment” that will show you the light.
    Yes, your father worked hard and so did every other Bodega owner and business owner around him. And I would guarantee that most of those businesses were not, exclusively owned and run by white males.

  111. Fabius Maximus says:

    Immigration.

    I don’t agree with Milton Friedman on everything, but he nails this issue,

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C52TlPCVDio

  112. Comrade Nom Deplume, whose sole regret is that he isn't Tom Brady says:

    Gluteus, I just might be able to support the Gooners after all

    https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/910510/Trump-Arsenal-Piers-Morgan-US-president-replace-Arsene-Wenger

    My first thought was “oh, that’s gonna have Gluteus’ panties in a twist”

  113. Comrade Nom Deplume, whose sole regret is that he isn't Tom Brady says:

    Gluteus (9:30 to 10:30)

    Geez, I called this spew of yours 12 hours ago.

  114. chicagofinance says:

    Form over substance……. typical for you though….. useless self-stimulation that in the final analysis has as much value as a Pumpkin post with a smitten veneer of intellectual hubris……

    Fabius Maximus says:
    January 26, 2018 at 9:34 pm
    Chi, Just tell her to get the Fcuk out!

    https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Cheshire-Mother-Faces-Deportation-Back-to-Albania-456544513.html

    Does she take the kids, or do they stay?

  115. Fabius Maximus says:

    Chi,

    Its quite simple really, you either tell her to get the Fcuk out or you’re a Hypocrite?

  116. joyce says:

    He does nail it with the exception, illegal immigrants do qualify for certain benefits (moreso at state and local levels than federal). I’m surprised to hear you agree. He’s in favor of what we’d call open borders today IF there’s no welfare state. If there is a welfare state, he’s not in favor. Lastly, he finishes the video saying yes illegal Mexican immigrants work for lower wages than Americans but that’s okay because concumsers get lower prices… aka exploiting people.

    Fabius Maximus says:
    January 26, 2018 at 10:38 pm
    Immigration.

    I don’t agree with Milton Friedman on everything, but he nails this issue,

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C52TlPCVDio

  117. Libturd sporting Tiger Wood says:

    ““Barack Hussein Obama”,
    “States Rights”,
    “Law and Order”,
    “Welfare Queen”,
    “Invading Minorities”

    Off the top of my head…
    Undocumented instead of illegal
    Islamic Terrorism you can’t even say
    Denier instead of non-believer

    Two parties – same MO. Different bases.

  118. Libturd sporting Tiger Wood says:

    Joyce,

    No one on Wall Street ever goes to jail. They pay dearly to stay out. See HRC’s speaking tour.

  119. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Hmmm…Deportation order in 2007, 11 years ago. Now she literally opened up her cunt and pumped out 3 anchor babies in the last 7 years. She’ll be just fine.

    I bet the editor of the story changed this paragraph too:

    Denada said she met her husband, Viron, in New York and they moved to Connecticut. They started several businesses with their latest being Viron Rondos Osteria, a restaurant that employs more than 50 peoplesome of which are legal aliens and get paid on the books. And they’re currently looking to expand.

    Fabius Maximus says:
    January 26, 2018 at 9:34 pm
    Chi, Just tell her to get the Fcuk out!

    https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Cheshire-Mother-Faces-Deportation-Back-to-Albania-456544513.html

    Does she take the kids, or do they stay?

  120. The Original NJ ExPat says:
  121. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    One potential pitfall is the fact Rondos entered the United States with a passport that did not belong to her – fraud, in the eyes of immigration officials

    Hmmm… Her story is that her family is persecuted for being Christians in Albania, which is why she “escaped”, at age 17…alone, I guess? Where is her family? Purged?

    Sounds more like a teenage runaway plan to me.

  122. Leonia S9ck5 says:

    Anybody watching what Leonia is trying to to do with local traffic and fines.

    If they get away with it, it will be impossible to drive thru a few local towns without a fine. It’ll be the new speed traps. In Leonia, they’ll give you a $200 if you drive locally between 6-9am & 4-9pm.

    There is one road that is a bridge (Edgewood Rd) over I-95 where a non-continous part of Fort Lee, Leonia & Englewood meet, so obviously those are federal and state monies.

    If this does not get beaten in court or the other towns put pressure on it, like when Fort Lee did something similar in the late 90’s, than expect every rinky-dinky town to block streets and make it a nightmare to drive thru it, and this being NJ they’ll rig it, so of course – bang you got a $200 ticket.

    Watch Hudson County’s perpetual crooks to milk it first, within weeks.

  123. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    On Friday, speaking at his restaurant, Viron Rondos said only a miracle could keep his family intact.

    “This is our miracle,” he said Monday morning. “I cannot even begin to describe this feeling. It’s like the sun after a hurricane, shedding light and thwarting my plan to start banging my waitresses at home in bed, instead of in my cramped office off the restaurant kitchen.”

  124. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    “This plan gives enormous power to police officers. People who are traveling safely down the street should not be subject to law enforcement. It’s intrusive,” Jeanne LoCicero, deputy legal director of the ACLU-NJ said. “It’s hard to imagine that Leonia could enforce this in a way that didn’t discriminate.”

    This is easily answered by waiting for a motorist to go 1mph over the speed limit and then giving the driver two tickets.

  125. joyce says:

    “The borough plans to issue yellow tags for those who are exempt from the law to display on their rearview mirror and signs will be posted along the route by mid-January, officials said.“

    Isn’t there an “obstructed view” ticket already on the books?

  126. joyce says:

    Expat,
    What if someone is visiting a local resident?

  127. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    Wwhat if the surrounding towns did the same to Leonia. Then they can’t legally leave

  128. leftwing says:

    “Two parties – same MO. Different bases.”

    Yes, but the issue is the spectrum has taken an entire step shift to the Left. What is supposed to be neutral – MSM – have appropriated the Left. Dreamers. Undocumented aliens.

    The Right terminology are never used on MSM. So, back to my point that since MSM=Left appropriation, the rise of the alternative Right outlets is not only not surprising, but a function of the Left’s ‘success’ in appropriating MSM.

    Re: leonia, when I was on our Board of Adjustment a similar issue came up. Small street, 30 to 40 houses, connecting two intersecting county roads that had some back up at rush hour. Was used as a cut through.

    Opinion of BoA attorney was that the Twp could put up and enforce a broad limitation (Do Not Enter, No Left Turn) but could not set up the same limitation based only on residency (Do Not Enter Except Residents). IIRC, had something to do with right of way access over public roads and that could not be legally limited based on domicile. Unlikely someone will challenge Leonia pre-emptively, may be interesting if some agitated attorney gets a $200 ticket.

  129. Not Blue Ribbon student says:

    Fort Lee did that in the late 90’s with deceased mayor Alter. Every town, including Leonia, blocked, limited or slow to trickle outgoing Fort Lee traffic. Eventually after a year of grief, it went away.

    My fear is the fine. Once it passes the legit test. Every town looking for revenue will set up snags to fine people.

    I believe the fines and the quick revenue before it get challenge out are the true motives.

    One of the block street, Edgewood Rd like I mentioned before, actually is 3 towns on one end. Fort Lee to the East, Englewood to the North, and Leonia to the West. Is a big bridge. Is the bridge you see high across I95 into or out of the bridge.

  130. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    I concur.

    I believe the fines and the quick revenue before it get challenge out are the true motives.

  131. chicagofinance says:

    Not equivalent. She is married to a citizen. She may be lazy, unwise, and presumptuous in failing to document herself, but she has a right to be here once she attained her status.

    Regardless, what is your point other than chronic trolling? …… and you wonder why you get ad hominem attacks…

    chicagofinance says:
    January 27, 2018 at 8:53 am
    Form over substance……. typical for you though….. useless self-stimulation that in the final analysis has as much value as a Pumpkin post with a smitten veneer of intellectual hubris……

    Fabius Maximus says:
    January 26, 2018 at 9:34 pm
    Chi, Just tell her to get the Fcuk out!

    https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Cheshire-Mother-Faces-Deportation-Back-to-Albania-456544513.html

    Does she take the kids, or do they stay?

    Fabius Maximus says:
    January 27, 2018 at 10:21 am
    Chi,

    Its quite simple really, you either tell her to get the Fcuk out or you’re a Hypocrite?

  132. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    What status, chifi? She entered the country on a passport that wasn’t hers. Marrying a citizen and sh1tting out kids after entering the country illegally doesn’t grant anyone legal status, AFIK. And the kids were shat only after she was under she was under a deportation order, perhaps the marriage too.

    I don’t really care if she stays in the country as it seems like there is no detriment, and perhaps advantage, to both country and community in this particular case, but if she is allowed to stay permanently it is as a result of US immigration charity and forgiveness, not of merit.

    Not equivalent. She is married to a citizen. She may be lazy, unwise, and presumptuous in failing to document herself, but she has a right to be here once she attained her status.

  133. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    ^^^Otherwise, the established path to legal immigration is:

    0. Be hot and young.
    1. Enter the US illegally.
    2. Find a citizen who will f.uck you, marry you, inseminate you.

  134. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    ^^^ Come to think of it, maybe that should be our entire legal immigration program.

    No exceptions;-)

  135. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Give us your huddle hot young chicks. The rest of you stay the f.uck out.

  136. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    huddled…wanting to be cuddled.

  137. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “It is certainly true that there are similarities between what Smith called ‘the system of natural liberty’, and more recent calls for the state to make way for the free market. But if we dig below the surface, what emerges most strikingly are the differences between Smith’s subtle, skeptical view of the role of markets in a free society, and more recent caricatures of him as a free-market fundamentalist avant-la-lettre. For while Smith might be publicly lauded by those who put their faith in private capitalist enterprise, and who decry the state as the chief threat to liberty and prosperity, the real Adam Smith painted a rather different picture. According to Smith, the most pressing dangers came not from the state acting alone, but the state when captured by merchant elites.”

    https://aeon.co/essays/we-should-look-closely-at-what-adam-smith-actually-believed

  138. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “The invisible hand was invoked not to draw attention to the problem of state intervention, but of state capture

    Indeed, Smith’s single most famous idea – that of ‘the invisible hand’ as a metaphor for uncoordinated market allocation – was invoked in precisely the context of his blistering attack on the merchant elites. It is certainly true that Smith was skeptical of politicians’ attempts to interfere with, or bypass, basic market processes, in the vain hope of trying to do a better job of allocating resources than was achievable through allowing the market to do its work. But in the passage of The Wealth of Nations where he invoked the idea of the invisible hand, the immediate context was not simply that of state intervention in general, but of state intervention undertaken at the behest of merchant elites who were furthering their own interests at the expense of the public.

    It is an irony of history that Smith’s most famous idea is now usually invoked as a defence of unregulated markets in the face of state interference, so as to protect the interests of private capitalists. For this is roughly the opposite of Smith’s original intention, which was to advocate for restrictions on what groups of merchants could do. When he argued that markets worked remarkably efficiently – because, although each individual ‘intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention’ – this was an appeal to free individuals from the constraints imposed upon them by the monopolies that the merchants had established, and were using state power to uphold. The invisible hand was originally invoked not to draw attention to the problem of state intervention, but of state capture.“

  139. chicagofinance says:

    Marry a citizen and you can come and stay, no? Even if they kick her out, she can file the proper paperwork, wait, and return….. I don’t understand? Yes, she is identical in form, but the substance of her position is different.

    I had a friend in Texas whose roommate was from Mexico City, and was only living and working the U.S. (at age 25), because he paid this blond woman in her 30’s some sum (unknown, but it sounded to be about $30K-$40K) to marry him for a requisite period of time until he obtained permanent residency.

    By the way, FlabMax using an Albanian as an example is exactly the ad hominem attack style that he claims to loathe. Talk about hypocrisy.

  140. chicagofinance says:

    I have decided that Pumpkin and FlabMax are trolls in the style of MasterBlaster from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.

    https://youtu.be/kJ-UZ4DvYBg?t=1m10s

  141. leftwing says:

    Chi, Dartmouth too!

    Not as big a deal as Harvard maybe, but the Green did bite Colgate on the butt the week before.

    We’re tied for 1 Pairwise, which determines seedings. It is tight….

    Already have 3/17 on my calendar in LP for the ECAC and the following weekend for the Regionals. Two nearby, Allentown and Bridgeport. 50/50 chance we land in one….

  142. Very Stable Genius says:

    @pdacosta

    #Manafort was in debt to pro-Russian interests by as much as $17 million by the time he joined the Trump campaign.

  143. Very Stable Genius says:

    @pdacosta

    Trump’s #Russia ties run deep, according to new details on campaign manager #Manafort, who handpicked VP Pence

  144. Fabius Maximus says:

    Chi,

    Well I wouldn’t have put it in the same words as ExPat, but he makes the point.
    Yes the choice of that woman was deliberate. You said it, they are exactly the same. Any other nationality you blow it off. But when you realise its one of your own, your attitude and position change.

    I can keep lobbing illegal Albanians at you all day.
    https://www.npr.org/2018/01/25/580577182/albanian-immigrant-holed-up-in-detroit-church-to-avoid-deportation

  145. joyce says:

    Chicago,
    No, you’re a hypocrite or dense. 1) She committed multiple crimes, one of which being fraud so kick her out, send to the back of the waiting list and hope the aforementioned crimes don’t prevent her from ever coming back legally. 2).She hasn’t attained any status. She hasn’t even filed any paperwork (maybe lazy, stupid or just afraid to do so) so at the very least – yes make her leave file paperwork wait and return. Why wouldn’t we? Are we a nation of laws? You love the ‘form over substance’ … when it comes to the law, they are usually one in the same. (eg Even if I like the outcome, Congress shouldn’t break their rules when drafting legislation.)

    chicagofinance says:
    January 28, 2018 at 11:48 am
    Marry a citizen and you can come and stay, no? Even if they kick her out, she can file the proper paperwork, wait, and return….. I don’t understand? Yes, she is identical in form, but the substance of her position is different.

  146. phoenix says:

    Are we a nation of laws?

    Anyone asking that question should watch the video on Valeant- Dirty Money by Netflix.

    I find lobbying to be interesting- just how much do you have to pay a politician to make sure there is no negotiation on Medicare drug prices?

    Truth, Justice and the American Way- What exactly is the “American Way”

  147. phoenix says:

    Are we a nation of laws, just very bad ones. A 17 y/o with a blunt does more jail time than these guys.
    We may be a nation of laws, but if you can buy the people who make the laws, I guess you can control the outcome.

    joyce says:
    January 27, 2018 at 10:18 am

    No jail time

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cftc-enforcement-exclusive/u-s-cftc-to-fine-ubs-deutsche-bank-hsbc-for-spoofing-manipulation-sources-idUSKBN1FF2YK?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5a6bf49304d3011a1e8c7a4a&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

  148. phoenix says:

    Sure Joyce,
    I agree she committed crimes.
    So have others. But in America, we don’t fry the biggest fish ever.
    We legislate that no pan should ever be made that can fry big fish as they are too big to fail.

    joyce says:
    January 28, 2018 at 4:16 pm
    Chicago,
    No, you’re a hypocrite or dense. 1) She committed multiple crimes, one of which being fraud so kick her out, send to the back of the waiting list and hope the aforementioned crimes don’t prevent her from ever coming back legally.

  149. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “Einstein’s memory was notoriously poor. He was unable to remember dates and could not remember his own phone number. As a student, one of his teachers claimed that he had a memory like a sieve. Once when he was traveling on a train, the conductor approached to collect his ticket. Einstein began searching his pockets, but the conductor recognized him and said he could ride for free. Einstein responded, “Thank you, but if I don’t find my ticket I won’t know where to get off the train.”“

  150. The Great Pumpkin says:

    The Great Pumpkin is coming! All asset classes are due to increase with this coming inflation. You are going to talk of these current low interest rates as a thing of folklore in twenty years. Will never ever see an economic boom like the one we are getting on now again in your life…esp for you boomers!

    “Employers report that replacing a departed worker is expensive — a red flag that the workforce is widely underpaid.”

    https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-22/wage-growth-is-coming-those-profits-can-t-last

  151. The Great Pumpkin says:

    And expat is wrong. Coming inflationary measures are not a sign of a coming recession. Hope he bets the house on it.

  152. The Great Pumpkin says:

    You call me an idiot, but that’s okay, my calls prove otherwise.

    What makes me sick, got damn 7 figure experts out there making calls to be wrong, while I have been spot on and not receiving a penny from my calls besides the investments I have made on said positions. Best part, I get sh!tted on by this blog and called an idiot. God, smart people out there get destroyed by the majority.

    The Great Pumpkin says:
    December 29, 2017 at 10:14 am
    Start off with this one now and will be back when I have some more time.

    Commodities go up 15-20% on the backs of demand created from an economy that’s heating up.

    The Great Pumpkin says:
    December 29, 2017 at 1:55 pm
    Nice earnings drive equities to double digit gains starting to lay the building blocks for the belief that you can’t lose with the stock market aka bubble building.

    30 year mortgage rates end the year at 5%…or just a little below it.

    National avg 7%

    Nj housing beats national avg. with 10% appreciation at the minimum as this market finally catches up to the rest the nation after ridding itself of foreclosures and as buyers fight over limited inventory in effort to buy before rates go up. Plus, nj economy finally doing well enough to support gains in housing.

    If amazon comes here, I expect even bigger gains. About to get good around here guys, a lot of economic activity going to be happening here in the next few years.

    This is where it gets a little tricky, which tier sees the gains. Surprisingly, biggest gains might be in the upper tier market. This market has stagnated for a while and has plenty of room to grow as more more people realize how strong this economy is really becoming…..and act upon it.

    This is the early stage, early 2020’s is where it really goes off!

  153. walking bye says:

    Regarding market manipulation I read a better article regarding Blackstone and CDS (Credit Default Swaps). Basically Blackstone took out CDS on NJ’s own Hovnanian. Told HOV to default on it bonds so it could collect on the CDS in return Blackstone would refinance new bonds for HOV. Only in America.

  154. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Spot on.

    “Nice earnings drive equities to double digit gains starting to lay the building blocks for the belief that you can’t lose with the stock market aka bubble building.”

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