From the Associated Press:
NJ lawmakers call for cities, towns to impose their own taxes
Assembly lawmakers on Tuesday said the state should weigh allowing cities and towns to impose their own taxes as more woes were predicted for New Jersey’s troubled state finances.
The Legislature’s budget official predicted the state will collect $289 million less in taxes next fiscal year than Gov. Jon S. Corzine has estimated as economic activity slows in the coming months.
“It should be clear that most of the risk in this forecast is on the downside, and it is easy to imagine plausible economic scenarios in which the outcome is considerably more dire,” David Rosen, the legislative budget and finance officer, told Assembly lawmakers.
Corzine’s $33 billion budget already calls for cutting spending by $2.7 billion to try to right finances plagued by high debt and taxes.
A $289 million shortfall would require either additional cuts or increased taxes, but Corzine has said he currently doesn’t support tax increases. He has also said he wouldn’t be surprised if less revenue came in than was estimated.
…
But Greenwald said lawmakers should look at how other states let municipalities charge their own taxes.New Jersey local governments raise nearly all their revenue from property taxes, which average $6,800 per property owner in New Jersey, twice the national average.
But New York, for instance, allows local governments to add their own sales taxes. Many states and cities allow local income taxes. Some have a personal property tax on cars, trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles.
“We ought to look at that, too,” said Assemblywoman Joan Quigley, D-Hudson.
…
Corzine said letting municipalities impose their own taxes “makes sense and could potentially go a long way to relieving some of the pressure that exists with property taxes,” but was uncertain amid economic worries.“I’m not particularly inclined to think that having new taxes at a time of economic recession is a good idea, so I’d be a little hesitant about the immediate imposition,” Corzine said.
From the Press of Atlantic City:
N.J. panel considers local tax possibilities
The state’s financial outlook appeared gloomier Tuesday as Assembly lawmakers received bad news about future revenue and considered the idea of allowing cities and towns to impose their own taxes.
Over the next two years, state revenues will be about $133.4 million less than what Gov. Jon S. Corzine projected in his budget, state Office of Legislative Services Budget and Finance Officer David Rosen said. But that will be only 0.2 percent less than the original $64 billion estimate, Rosen said.
“I think there is real reason for concern,” Rosen told the Assembly Budget Committee on Tuesday. “I don’t think we’re falling off a cliff, but it will be a tight budget year.”
…
also said towns should have the option of levying their own taxes to reduce the dependence on property taxes.
Many states and cities allow local income taxes in addition to state levies, including Philadelphia and certain other Pennsylvania towns, New York, Kansas City, San Francisco, Birmingham, St. Louis and Maryland counties. New York, which has a 4 percent state sales tax, allows local governments to add their own sales taxes.
Virginia is among those with a personal property tax on cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, planes and other vehicles. “We ought to look at that, too,” said Assemblywoman Joan M. Quigley, D-Bergen, Hudson.
While some called local levies simply another tax increase, Greenwald rejected that reasoning.
The state Legislature and the governor would have to approve allowing municipalities to charge their own taxes before cities and towns could take that step.
Corzine in 2006 backed letting voters decide whether to impose new local taxes, but the Legislature never acted on his proposal.
From the Courier Post Online:
Study: Working families struggle
One in five working New Jersey families don’t earn enough to adequately support themselves.
This is according to a study released Monday, a figure the authors said points to the need for a minimum wage increase and additional training and education for the work force.
The report, released by the liberal research group New Jersey Policy Perspective and the Rutgers Center for Women and Work, said 193,905 families made less than twice the federal poverty level, despite having adults who combine for at least 40 hours of work per week for at least 39 weeks each year.
“This is not a report about people who won’t work, or don’t work, or can’t work. This is a report about people who do work,” said Jon Shure, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective. “People who perform at jobs that often are crucial to our well-being and are essential to New Jersey’s economy. But they are jobs that do not pay enough for people in New Jersey to support a family and build a future.”
The study based its findings on data from 2005, when twice the federal poverty level was $39,942 for a family of four; now the amount is $42,400.
Shure said that level of income won’t go far in a high-cost state such as New Jersey and noted that the 750,000 people who fall into the “working poor” make up a larger population than all but three of the state’s 21 counties.
From the Star Ledger:
A bleaker outlook for state revenues
The New Jersey Legislature’s nonpartisan budget expert yesterday warned that the state is more likely to face a revenue decline than a windfall in coming months, amid growing fears that the slumping economy is putting the brakes on state finances across the nation.
“I do not recall a year in which I was less comfortable with the revenue forecast we are putting before the committee,” David Rosen, budget director for the Office of Legislative Services, told the Assembly Budget Committee.
Rosen confirmed that OLS believes overall revenues over the next 15 months will be at least $133 million less than the Corzine administration projected just one month ago.
From Bloomberg:
Floridians Forgo Beer, Take $200 Vacations as Home Prices Fall
Miami-area homeowner Richard Welch is spending $70 less on groceries a week after his house lost $145,000 in value. Rita Roland cut off 11 inches of hair to save on salon trips, and Victor Parris stopped drinking his favorite brands of dark ale.
“Absolutely, I feel less wealthy than I did in 2006,” said Welch, 48, a corporate tax auditor. He said he and his wife, Barbara, are slashing spending by 30 percent, including canceling their cable television.
The residents of Melrose Cove, a Miramar, Florida, subdivision 23 miles (37 kilometers) north of Miami, are cutting back after regional house prices tied with Las Vegas in dropping more than any other U.S. metropolitan area in January. They’re giving up shopping trips, restaurant dinners, movies and vacations, demonstrating how the housing market is damaging consumer spending and sentiment.
The Melrose Cove homeowners’ association expects to bring in $20,000 less in dues this year as residents struggle to pay bills. The group plans to reduce spending on landscaping, painting and other improvements by $41,000, said Welch, the association’s president.
From the WSJ:
Corus Stands At a Precipice In Condo Bust
Building-Loan Focus May Expose the Bank As a Fallout Looms
By JONATHAN KARP
March 26, 2008; Page C1
In increasingly blunt language, federal regulators are stepping up warnings to banks on their exposure to commercial-real-estate construction and development loans.
That puts Corus Bankshares Inc., a Chicago lender that has bet almost exclusively on condominiums, squarely in regulators’ cross hairs. Just as mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. became the poster child of the housing bust, Corus Bankshares might come to symbolize the sequel: the condo crash.
Though a relative minnow with about $9 billion in assets, Corus’s Corus Bank lending unit tops the list of the top 100 public banks when it comes to exposure to construction and development as a percentage of total loans, according to Stanford Group Co. About 83% of its loans fall into that category, and most of those were to condo developers that went on a building spree in slump-hit cities such as Miami, Las Vegas and Atlanta.
…
But Corus faces extensive pain in coming months from increasing scrutiny by regulators and the fact that much of the fallout of the condo crunch has yet to be felt by lending institutions. They have yet to take the hit for the hundreds of projects that are about to be completed amid the worst housing market since World War II.
From the WSJ:
Confidence, Housing Prices Both Slide
By SUDEEP REDDY
March 26, 2008; Page A2
Consumer confidence is tumbling as the decline in home prices accelerates.
The Conference Board’s barometer of consumer confidence plummeted 11.9 points to 64.5, marking a downturn in sentiment to levels usually seen only during recessions. Consumer expectations about the future plunged to their lowest point since 1973, when a recession was followed by painful inflation.
Major gauges of U.S. home prices, meanwhile, offered new evidence that a glut of unsold homes is weighing on the market. House prices fell 2.4% in January from December, and were down 10.7% from a year earlier, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index of 20 major cities. In the past three months, home prices have fallen at an annualized rate of 20%, sparing few areas of the country.
“There don’t seem to be any signs of a bottom quite yet,” said S&P analyst David Blitzer.
Not so bad out there, at least someone is hiring..
From the AP:
FDIC Plans Staff Boost for Bank Failures
Federal bank regulators plan to increase staffing 60 percent in coming months to handle an anticipated surge in troubled financial institutions.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. wants to add 140 workers to bring staff levels to 360 workers in the division that handles bank failures, John Bovenzi, the agency’s chief operating officer, said Tuesday.
“We want to make sure that we’re prepared,” Bovenzi said, adding that most of the hires will be temporary and based in Dallas.
There have been five bank failures since February 2007 following an uneventful more than two-year stretch. The last time the agency was hit hard with failures was during the 1990-1991 recession, when 502 banks failed in three years.
From the AFP:
Deutsche Bank warns more asset write-downs are possible
Deutsche Bank, Germany’s biggest bank, said Wednesday it would likely have to write down further the value of lending commitments if “exceptionally difficult” market conditions did not improve soon.
From the WSJ:
Commercial-Mortgage Pain Is Spreading
Europe and Asia See Slump in Securities Backed by Properties
By SARA SEDDON KILBINGER
March 26, 2008
Europe and Asia were latecomers to the boom in commercial-mortgage-backed securities, but that doesn’t make them exempt from the pain the global credit crunch is delivering.
CMBS, as the instruments are known, had become the most popular form of debt in the U.S. by the time they began gaining traction on other continents. Now the European and Asian real-estate markets are being hit by the slowdown in CMBS, which are debt instruments created by investment banks by slicing up commercial-real-estate loans and packaging them into bonds with different levels of risk.
Investor demand for the securities is so low that there has been only one new issue backed by European property this year, a €695 million ($1.07 billion) issue by Morgan Stanley, and part of that hasn’t sold.
There have been a few new CMBS issues collateralized by Japanese real estate this year, with a combined value of about $1 billion, according to Standard & Poor’s. This includes one issue from Morgan Stanley of about $500 million in February. Last year, there were about $20 billion in Japanese CMBS issues.
“This year, we expect that figure to be 20% to 30% lower as securitization lenders are slowing down their new loan originations,” says Takenari Yamamoto, a CMBS analyst at Standard & Poor’s in Tokyo. Japan is the biggest CMBS market in Asia, accounting for the majority of issues.
From the NY Times:
Be It Ever So Illogical: Homeowners Who Won’t Cut the Price
In 2005, Randolph Harrison and his wife, Pamela, decided to move north from Silicon Valley, over the Golden Gate Bridge into wooded Marin County to be closer to her new job. They found a six-bedroom house that seemed ideal except for the price, $1.875 million. The current owner, they knew, had bought the house a year earlier for $1.475 million.
So the couple, who both have finance jobs in the technology industry, told their real estate agent that they wanted to offer $1.575 million. He told them that the owner wouldn’t even listen to such a low bid. The owner’s attitude was “we’ll just stay here until we sell it for 1.875,” the agent said, “even if it takes years.”
Three years ago, when the real estate bubble was still inflating, this sort of standoff was the exception. It’s the norm today. Overall home sales have fallen a remarkable 33 percent since the summer of 2005. Home prices, on the other hand, continued to rise until 2006 and are now only 5 to 10 percent below where they were in mid-2005, according to various measures.
In most other areas of the economy, this combination of plummeting sales and stable prices would not happen. When demand for airline tickets drop, the airlines cut their prices until they have sold their seats. When stocks become less appealing, share prices fall, sometimes sharply.
Just try to imagine stock prices staying roughly flat over a three-year period while sales volumes sank because investors considered the market overvalued. Bear Stearns is still worth $150 a share, and I’m not selling until someone pays me $150!
Real estate, though, is different. For both economic and psychological reasons, there is no asset more conducive to hopeful overvaluation.
That means real estate slumps tend to grind on for years, until sellers submit to reality and reduce their prices. This week’s batch of economic reports suggest that the adjustment is finally starting to happen. The decline in house prices is accelerating, especially in some of the big metropolitan areas covered by the Case-Shiller index released Tuesday, while the number of home sales has recently risen a bit.
(cont)
David Laibson, a leading behavioral economist, categorizes this sort of behavior under the heading of “the principle of the matter.” His point is that people often go to great lengths to avoid taking a loss — or simply having to acknowledge one. “Even a small loss evokes a sense of frustration,” said Mr. Laibson, a professor at Harvard. “There’s something magical about ‘at least breaking even.’ ”
Often, this hurts no one so much as it hurts the would-be sellers. They stay in homes where they no longer want to live, rather than accepting their loss and moving on. Or they move but endure the hassle of renting out their old home, waiting, usually in vain, for the mythical buyer who understands its charms. All the while, their money is tied up in the house, and inflation is eating away at its real value.
Back in 2005, after Mr. Harrison and his wife couldn’t find a house they considered fairly valued, they opted to rent instead. They pay $3,250 a month for a four-bedroom home, which is a bargain relative to what their mortgage payments would have been.
And that six-bedroom house listed for $1.875 million? The last Mr. Harrison checked, it still hadn’t sold.
Grim N.J. panel considers local tax possibilities
Maybe the guys in post one should read post two.A tax is a tax is a tax whats the difference if its local income or property or sales.More bull smoke & mirrors from the tax state of NJ.
One in five working New Jersey families don’t earn enough to adequately support themselves.
So lets tax them more!
#12 Exactly. I predicted a wealth tax and tax on cars. Didn’t think NJ would be crazy enough to allow towns to do an income and sales tax.
I also doubt NJ is only 20 basis points short of funding over the next 2 years. I bet it’s more like 2%, maybe even more.
You want Out of whack rent vs own equation. This for apartment in Bombay (Mumbai). I was inquiring recently for 2 bed condo, the seller was asking almost $200,000. That same place was available for rent at $300. Just the interest on $200K at 7% (prevailing rate there) would be $1150.
I think the RE bubble outside of US is definitely much bigger. At present everyone is blaming US for their financial market downturns, but when their owns will turn negative, what will global outlook be. The decoupling will be first thing out of window.
Grim N.J. panel considers local tax possibilities.
The solution is simple. Charge property tax on basis of square feet of livable space and square feet of unlivable space (yards). Those McMansions pay tiny amount in property taxes compared to amount of space they occupy. No new taxes need to be added. No town reval required.
#4, another lesson learned about condo living, when the economy tanks, those condo maintenance fees become an issue, folks stop paying or abandon their units and it pressures the association to increase fees on remaining residents..you can see the potential spiral.
Regarding town taxes, I think this is how PA supports their lower property tax, my friends town is thinking about increasing the local income tax from 1% to 1.5%
“That means real estate slumps tend to grind on for years, until sellers submit to reality and reduce their prices.”
[10],
Yes, it Chinese water torture. 5-7 years, from peak, for nominal prices to find a floor. Dancing along the bottom thereafter.
Trichet- The Sheriff
Bergabe- The Bank Looter
“Not so bad out there, at least someone is hiring..”
JB,
I decided to withdraw my employment application at the local police dept.. I decided to become an author;
How to Get a Job After The Bust.
ugh personal property tax? Brilliant idea!
Hello Mo? Bye bye To?
For those of you who work in the tech field. How is the job market? Are employers still hiring? What about consultants?
Thanks!
From Marketwatch:
PMI Mortgage Insurance forms team to avoid foreclosures (Read: PMI expands loss mitigation department -jb)
PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. on Wednesday said it had formed a homeownership preservation team led by John Jelavich, PMI’s newly appointed Vice President of Homeownership Preservation Initiatives. Under Jelavich’s leadership, PMI will expand its National Accounts Servicing team whose primary responsibility will be to partner with lenders in the development of creative solutions to help Americans avoid foreclosure. “It is important for borrowers who are in trouble to contact their lender and see if they have options other than foreclosure,” said Jelavich. “The team will reach out to lenders and borrowers to try and bring both groups together and find creative solutions to save the borrower’s home.”
Just a thought;
Goldman, yesterday, estimated credit market losses will eventually be 1.2T. At this point, banks have written off approx $120B. Is Goldman telling us, if the banks write off the remaining 90%, that the banks will be completely decimated? What’s the total # of job losses? Back to my apple cart.
All of this doesn’t really matter as long as Americans don’t lose the urge to ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This message brought to you by Americans Who Rock…
22…you should invest in a turban and move to Hyderabad. You’ll be fine.
Essex [25],
I’m thinking Eagles; Take it Easy.
By the way, Meredith is an analyst not an ANAL-yst
“March 26 (Bloomberg) — Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. bank by assets, had its first-quarter loss estimate quadrupled by Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Meredith Whitney on expectations for further asset writedowns.”
“This will not be our last reduction in 2008,” Whitney wrote in the note. “We anticipate further downside to both estimates and stock prices.”
“The bank may lose $1.15 a share, compared with an earlier estimate of 28 cents, reflecting potential writedowns on leveraged loans and collateralized debt obligations of $13.1 billion, Whitney said in a note to investors dated yesterday. She cut her full-year estimate to a loss of 15 cents a share from a profit of 75 cents.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=arsw3po56J80&refer=home
I don’t understand why people would cut back on beer, groceries, and coveted cable TV just because their house lost value…Were they HELOCing their groceries, beer, TV?
I am already hearing talk of “…because of this economy, I (insert reason for changing lifestyle here).”
29 sure in some cases….and if the loc was reduced and they caint finance the Yurman necklace and the new car with the proceeds from the POS cape….why should they go on spending on staples like food. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. (Pouts like child)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ8miTErh-o&feature=related
BC Essex Timeless & appropriate.Keep Rocking!
From MarketWatch:
Orders for durable goods fall 1.7% in Feb.
Demand for machinery and other capital goods sank in February, driving orders for durable goods down 1.7%, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch expected total orders to rise 0.5% after a revised 4.7% decline in January. Orders for capital goods – the kind of equipment businesses need to increase or modernize their productive capacity – fell 2.6% in February after a 1.8% decline in January. Machinery orders plunged a record 13.3% in February, offsetting a 5.4 increase in civilian aircraft bookings. Excluding transportation goods, orders fell 2.6%, the most in a year.
Durable goods & manufactureing numbers not looking good for feb.
Bad news on the doorstep!
Durable goods orders down, time for an emergency rate cut. Let’s pray that it comes by 9:30 am.
JB (21),
More smoke and mirrors.
I’m sure the name will go with the handset division due to branding power.
Or maybe they’ll be Moto and I’ll end up working for Rola?
miw [34],
Looks like the levee is dry.
Wow I guess they won’t be fat and drunk anymore because of the subprime collaspe.
thatBIGwindow Says:
March 26th, 2008 at 8:11 am
I don’t understand why people would cut back on beer, groceries, and coveted cable TV just because their house lost value…Were they HELOCing their groceries, beer, TV?
Some chart pron –
Discount Window borrowing by financial institutions: HIGHEST EVER!!
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2008/03/26/dwb_32608.png
G’morning all :)
Can i get a listing history and sales history for the following
MLS#: 2438578
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/business/24jobs.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin
22: “For those of you who work in the tech field. How is the job market? Are employers still hiring? What about consultants?”
Not what you mean, but my company has been trying to hire field service people in the power industry for the last year to no avail. It’s a great job, experienced field engineers can earn a base of over $100k with potential for double that.
Of course you’ll be on the road 90% of the time, usually stuck in the middle of nowhere at a power plant… but hey the 30yr old construction manager with my company just bought a Viper! Which sits in the garage of his 2005 bought condo which he spends maybe 1 month in a year….]
Which is exactly why the talent pool is very shallow – not many people want to live like that!
The Tech Field: I’m still getting a couple of emails a week from head hunters. At my current position, I’m up to my eye balls in work. Application and server configs, stored proc enhancements, ad hoc reports, data feeds, you name it. My desk is piled with documents. Data stills needs to get from point A to point B. They tried outsourcing this stuff a few years ago… it didn’t work and they brought it back.
AND PEOPLE WONDER WHY AMERICAN CAR-MAKERS STRUGGLING:
talking about a haircut and selling off america’s assets:
Ford sells Jaguar, Land Rover to India’s Tata
DETROIT – Ford Motor Co. is selling its storied Jaguar and Land Rover businesses to India’s Tata Motors Ltd. in a deal that will net the struggling U.S. automaker about $1.7 billion — roughly a third of the price it paid for the two luxury brands.
Tata will pay $2.3 billion for the British brands, but at closing, Ford will pay about $600 million into the Jaguar-Land Rover pension fund, Tata’s statement said.
Ford bought Jaguar for $2.5 billion in 1989 and Land Rover for $2.7 billion in 2000. But it has been struggling and wants to focus on its main brands.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23797447/
This has to be the worst idea I have ever heard coming out of Trenton, and face facts, that is really saying something.
There could not possibly be a bigger disaster for this state than allowing municipalities more ways to tax.
Municipalities and schools need less taxing power, not more.
as far as tech field – salaries are too low. There is not chance to make it big in tech field – never to CEO level anymore. So why go there, spend a lot of time in school, all with risk of being outsourced and replaced with slave labor from developing countries.
With inflation I’d say engeneer is probably getting 50% of what their salary was just 15 years ago.
From MarketWatch
SUBPRIME TODAY
Regulator admits mistakes over Northern Rock
Fed actions help boost U.S. mortgage filings
Deutsche Bank may not meet profit goal
Oppenheimer again cuts estimates on Citigroup, banks
PMI Mortgage Insurance forms team to avoid foreclosures
ECB’s Trichet: Credit crunch to dent bank revenues
Stocks tarnished by ‘Lost Decade’
Big task: digesting a Bear
Details to headlines at link above
“Tata will pay $2.3 billion for the British brands,”
Al [44],
How much in Rupee’s?
Corzine said letting municipalities impose their own taxes “makes sense and could potentially go a long way to relieving some of the pressure that exists with property taxes,” but was uncertain amid economic worries.
The problem is not letting municipalities to impose their own taxes – the problem is that in NJ this taxes will be huge within 10 years. They will start small but well….
If this does happen I will not stay in NJ extra minute.
#6 grim:The Conference Board’s barometer of consumer confidence plummeted 11.9 points to 64.5, marking a downturn in sentiment to levels usually seen only during recessions.
So lets be down with it, and call it what it is, a recession.
re tech field…
outsourcing has all but killed the tech field… my salary has been cut in half over the past 6 yrs… why would a company hire someone for 100k when they could get a comparable resource for 50k…
and we wonder why our economy is in shambles while india and china are booming…
as far as tech field – salaries are too low. There is not chance to make it big in tech field – never to CEO level anymore.
Having spent my entire career (more than a dozen years) in the tech trenches, I disagree. There is plenty of opportunity, but only for those who are both highly qualified and can transition/liason with business.
There is no longer any tolerance for unqualified or low-performing individuals. If you aren’t a superstar, don’t waste our time. We can hire marginal techs overseas for a quarter of your salary. If your salary is low, it is because you don’t add much value.
So why go there, spend a lot of time in school,
Anyone who says this has no business being in the tech field. As a tech, if you want to remain in demand, you’ll be spending the rest of your life learning, keeping up to date with technology, pushing the edge. Tech is not a place where you can get a diploma, and ride that out the rest of your life. You’ll be outdated the day after you graduate.
Anyone want to hold forth on Zillow? I was checking properties I was interested in on Zillow last night and found the comparisons between asking prices and zestimates to be laughbale. Surprisingly, the zestimates were either very low or very hish but never hit any where near the asking. Also, it looks like they qualify every prior sale they report as not having been included in their zestimate. Does this site have any reliability to someone trying to identify past sales prices for target homes and their comps?
If not, where can someone like me, without access to the MLS agent site, get past sales data without hooking up with an agent or trucking to the hall or records?
(I am purposely ignoring today’s tax story because if I take it seriously, I will have to crawl under my desk, suck my thumb and rock. (an not rock in the sense Essex meant, either!)
Not what you mean, but my company has been trying to hire field service people in the power industry for the last year to no avail. It’s a great job, experienced field engineers can earn a base of over $100k with potential for double that.
Thats not even wall-street salary Start people at 200K with potential to double and you will get a lot of applicants.
you are hiring experienced professionals. why don’t start comparing with wall-street salaries? Offer 300K…
Just re-read my post. Sorry, I can’t type!
I don’t understand why people would cut back on beer, groceries, and coveted cable TV just because their house lost value…Were they HELOCing their groceries, beer, TV?
Even assuming they aren’t living off the equity, many people thought they could sit on their deck, kick their feet up and enjoy an ice cold beer while their house did all the retirement saving for them. This couple is in their late 40’s. They probably plopped their savings into a depreciating asset. No they need to worry about retirement.
By the way, beer would be the last thing to go.
There is no longer any tolerance for unqualified or low-performing individuals. If you aren’t a superstar, don’t waste our time. We can hire marginal techs overseas for a quarter of your salary. If your salary is low, it is because you don’t add much value.
Hail TO USA – country of CEO’s. What value does field maintenance engineer add and how does he transition to a business side???
I’d argue that buisness people do not “create value”… They just sell/distribute it. It is important, but you need someone to actually make cars/goods.
#45 ed: The thought of my local officials having the power to tax, scares me deply.
Anyone who says this has no business being in the tech field.
Tech Field??
Electric-generating turbines at power stations did not change since 1950’s.
Sorry – please define Tech Field?
Allowing individual towns to tax their local residents willb e the true death nell of NJ. As was said berofe, they may start out as tiny reasonable taxes but will quickly skyrocket as the hogs feeding at the government trough see a fat new meal on the dinner table. If local taxes are enacted,how long until we see towns hyping their low average property tax only to be hit with a car tax, income tax, prestigous town tax, etc that actually makes your tax liability twice what it was before the local taxes existed.
But hey, at least then we can afford to give all of our public employees, from janitors to mayors to cops, golden parachute packages that rival CEO’s
100K is not that much anymore, recruiters are calling around all the time now with 150k-175K jobs for experienced people day and night and can’t get any applicants. In 2002 a 100k job might have gotten some attention I guess. Last time I advertised a 100k job I only got applicants under 30 and over 55. No one in peak earning years with a good resume would want that salary or for that matter could afford to support a stay at home wife or husband, 3 kids and a mortgage on 100K. (Well I guess if they pimped out their spouse and sent them to work).
100k if for people in their second job out of school or that last job before retirement after they have been packaged out but are too young for medicare.
#54 Al Forget about the big bucks on Wall St, that will be gone for the next few years.
#62 John: There are no headhunter calling for Wall St jobs any more.
As far as your other numbers, I think you are a little out there in your belief that very gfew are taking 100k jobs.
Grant it 100K is not what it used to be, but if you think the average person working out there is making 100k or more, you are mistaken.
re: (53) startingover without MLS access try this site. It has the current taxes and
in some cases previous sale history if recent.
NJ Tax record search.
http://tax1.co.monmouth.nj.us/cgi-bin/prc6.cgi?menu=index&ms_user=monm&passwd=data&district=1301&mode=11
Technical does not equal Technician
My dad works in the power industry. They’re just like every other business. They treat people like crap and won’t make investments in training and then cry because they can’t hire anyone good to do the job. Gee, ya think?
From MarketWatch
New home sales fall to 13-year low
Sales of new homes in the United States fell to a 13-year low in February, dropping 1.3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 590,000, the Commerce Department estimated Wednesday. Sales have fallen four months in a row and are off about 30% in the past year. The number of homes on the market dropped by 2.1% to 471,000, the lowest since July 2005, an indication that builders are trying to work off their bloated inventories of unsold homes. The inventory represented a 9.8-month supply at the February sales rate, unchanged from January and the highest since 1981. The median sales price fell 2.7% in the past year to $244,100.
I’m not as sour on tech as I used to be. I view it as a way to make a good living and prepare yourself for the inevitable pink slip. If you’re 45 and you get the pink slip, it can be a disaster or an opportunity. If you’re HELOC’ed, upside down on car, boat, and ATV payments, and using credit card advances to put your kids through private school, it’s a disaster. If you’ve got a nice cushion in the bank and your lifestle isn’t MTV Cribs, you can transition from tech to teaching, health care, or turn a hobby into a business when the pink slip arrives (and it always does).
Besides, I can barely understand IT now and I’m in my 30s… so at 45, I don’t see myself learning any new tricks!
Technical does not equal Technician
And technician does not equal technologist.
To me, tech means technologist.
#53
Zillow seem to run a model based on Tax assessments factored with local sales.
The best model I’ve seen is to look at past sales for the home and balance that against the growth of the median price for the town as a whole. From the tax records for the property and neighbors, you should be able to see if there was a spike in assessed value for an addition or similar vs a spike for a reval. That with a trip to the county office for a look at the deeds and the liens should allow you to price your offer.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=agS7mdIK7mjg&refer=home
Floridians forgo cable, beer, dinning out, cut their long hair so that they don’t have to go to the salon, no maicures and pedicures, take $200 vacations.
Ladies and gents we are currently aproaching the 4th inning of this mess.
From Bloomberg:
New-Home Sales in U.S. Fall to Lowest in 13 Years
Sales of new homes in the U.S. fell to the lowest level in 13 years as tighter loan restrictions and the prospect of even lower prices kept buyers away.
Sales dropped 1.8 percent to an annual pace of 590,000, the least since February 1995, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. January purchases were revised higher. The median price decreased 2.7 percent from a year earlier.
The decline in sales, now in its third year, has caused builders to slash construction and is hurting other parts of the economy as consumers and businesses have a harder time getting credit. A separate report showed orders to factories for durable goods unexpectedly dropped in February, led by the biggest decline ever in demand for machinery.
“The direction is still down,” Anirvan Banerji, director of research at the Economic Cycle Research Institute in New York, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “We are now in a recession. We are unfortunately past the tipping point, and that means we have further to go in terms of housing downside”
Tech question: So everyone comes out of collage a super star? NOT. You need entry level job to teach you the ropes. These have been outsourced.
FDIC is hiring. Is this writing on the wall?
Get out of the subprime dollars while you can still buy some Swiss Cheese.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/25/news/economy/bc.na.fin.us.bankfailur.ap/index.htm?postversion=2008032518
sometimes it seems like everyone is making a ton of money, but it turns out a lot of people are living beyond their means. for example, I’ve gotten cold calls during the past two weeks for two custom clothes makers and one personal dresser (i.e., a person who picks out your clothes for you– doesn’t even sew). These people informed me that several individuals where I work who are at my level use their services. I feel like I am pretty lucky to make a good living, but I would never even think about buying custom clothes or hiring a lackey to go shopping for me. The point is that there are lots of people who make 100k who live like they make 200k, 200k people living like they make 400k, etc
From the AP:
New Home Sales Fall, Factory Orders Drop
Sales of new homes fell in February for the fourth straight month, pushing activity down to a 13-year low as the steep slump in housing continued.
The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that new home sales dropped 1.8 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 590,000 units, the slowest sales pace since February 1995. The decline was slightly worse than expected.
The median price of a home sold last month dropped to $244,100, down 2.7 percent from the level of a year ago.
Al #46,
What do you recommend Wall Street?
From MarketWatch
Paulson resists Congressional effort to stem mortgage crisis
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Wednesday continued to resist Congressional efforts to stem the negative consequences to homeowners of the housing market collapse. Opposition from the White House could make it difficult for Congress to pass any legislation to help homeowners battling the mortgage crisis. “We will continue to pursue policies that strike the right balance: that do not slow the housing correction, yet also help avoid preventable foreclosures and unnecessary capital market turmoil,” he said in a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Paulson said the Federal Reserve needs more information from investment banks now that the central bank is lending funds to the institutions.
RE: (77)
The inventory of unsold homes is at 9.8 months. Does any one what the acquisition rate assumption is? If we adjust out the purchase rate of the bubble years, couldn’t this number be a lot higher?
Or
Tech Field doesn’t equal Field Tech
from NYTimes:
McCain Rejects Broad U.S. Aid on Mortgages
By LARRY ROHTER and EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Published: March 26, 2008
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Drawing a sharp distinction between himself and the two Democratic presidential candidates, Senator John McCain of Arizona warned Tuesday against vigorous government action to solve the deepening mortgage crisis and the market turmoil it has caused, saying that “it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/us/politics/26mortgage.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
from the above article:
““Rampant speculation” on both sides is the root cause of the crisis, Mr. McCain said. He placed part of the responsibility for the mortgage mess on lenders, who he said had grown “complacent” in a rising market and as a result acquired a “false sense of security” that caused them to “lower their lending standards.”
But in a departure from Democrats, who have focused on the lending industry’s role in the crisis, Mr. McCain suggested that some homeowners had also engaged in dangerous practices, including borrowing too much in hopes that a rising market would cover their mortgages.”
“Treasury Secretary Paulson said housing prices need to be allowe
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23809831d to continue to drop
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Wednesday that housing prices need to be allowed to continue to drop while every effort is made to ensure the adjustment does not cause excessive harm to the economy.
“A correction was inevitable and the sooner we work through it, with a minimum of disorder, the sooner we will see home values stabilize, more buyers return to the housing market, and housing will again contribute to economic growth,” he said on prepared remarks for delivery to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The Treasury chief also said no one should conclude that broker-dealers and other big financial firms will get permanent access to new lending facilities made available by the Federal reserve to ease market stresses.
Paulson also the troubles that brought down Wall Street’s once mighty Bear Stearns underscore the government’s need to strengthen and clarify the rules governing an array of financial players from commercial banks to investment houses.
Paulson, in a speech Wednesday to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce here, says the Bush administration will soon release such a blueprint aimed at promoting, among other things, the smooth functioning of financial markets.
For months the financial markets — rocked by the double blows of a housing and credit crises — have been suffering through extreme turmoil, threatening to plunge the U.S. economy into a deep recession.
Will I get slammed if I ask a car chat question before the weekend thread?
44 Al
Tata overpaid
86
Already Ford, Land Rover, Ta-Tas being discussed, so I’d say it’s fair game.
Pat,
YES! I’ll back into you with my ’61 Vette!!
I keed, I keed!
grim (23)-
continued:
“…we are sick and damn tired of paying out PMI settlements to lenders. All the defaulting loans are killing us.”
patient [87],
Not so fast. Do the currency conversion.
“The Treasury chief also said no one should conclude that broker-dealers and other big financial firms will get permanent access to new lending facilities made available by the Federal reserve to ease market stresses.”
I guess making a new one available every month technically is not considered “permanent”
OK, Rich makes the vote.
Nice neighbor (not the nude dude) backed out and just winged the rear corner (behind gas cap) of my new car at 8 miles per hour as I drove past his car. His 3 boys (7, 6, 4) were having a go at it in the back seat, so he was distracted. I was doing 10 miles per hour coming out of a J-turn.
He called it in to his carrier. Looked like minor scratches. I took it in on Monday. Three days, $800 bucks to fix.
Adjustor just called from the dealer and said 8 more days, replace bumper cover, damage to quarter panel, some other stuff under there. A lot more $$.
Is there anything I need to check, like gas tank safety? Does this go on the title?
Make Money,
Did your renters pay up for March yet? We are approaching April.
Skep-tic,
I totally agree. It actually does not matter what you make at all, it only matters what you SAVE. You can make $400k a year and save zilch versus the gal who makes $100K and lives frugally with substantial savings.
#76 skeptic: Exactly. There is wealthy, and the appearance of wealthy. Two very differeent things.
Nice piece on NPR about the $300 jeans crowd and retirement. I think I’ll start my own hedge fund. Are those tax breaks still in place.
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/03/26/gen_x_investing
Nice confessional side bar as well.
The problem is when you have a family and make under 100k combined… you CANNOT save anything.
#93
Hard to say without seeing pics of the damage. Sounds like no, from your description, but all disclaimers.
(79)-
“Paulson said the Federal Reserve needs more information from investment banks now that the central bank is lending funds to the institutions.”
Er, Hank…wouldn’t the best time to have gotten that info- or at least gotten a promise from the I-banks to provide that info- have been BEFORE you opened the window and began accepting beer cans, deposit bottles and handwritten IOUs?
More members of our esteemed academia busted as part of the Gambino roundup.
“OPERATION OFF-THE-HOOK”
Charged with promoting gambling were Jerry Maietta, 37, the athletic director at North Bergen High School, and Ralph Marino, 52, an aide at the school. Also charged with promoting gambling was John Prato, 36, of Brick, a teacher at Freehold Regional High School.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/Crime_ring_busted.html
Starting over:
Re: Zillow
I work and live in a community with massive amounts of multi-families. I noticed Zillow does not seem to note the difference when coming up with a zestimate. I noticed the same when looking at NJ.COM solds they include multi-family and use the numbers for overall home prices in the area. So looking a public web sites such as these wont help. Why can’t you get on an email basis with an agent.
KL
Grim,
I wanted to post this on yesterday’s car thread but my workplace connection was crappy. I’ve got a rally blue 2003 WRX with about 67k miles. Super fun to drive although I didn’t quite realize how small it was until I had owned it for 6 months or so. Last summer some college kid followed me into a parking spot and asked me if I would consider selling it. I hope to sell it in a couple of years for somewhere around 10 grand. For a car to retain close to 40% of its price in a resale is fine by me. Next up on the list: Subaru Legacy or Outback, depending on whether I need room for a stroller by then. I have not had a single issue with my Subaru in 5+ years, and while they may not be as blingy as others, they will take a serious beating and come back for more.
“The good news in today’s report parallels the sideways pattern in existing home sales over the last four months, as revealed Monday, along with the similar sideways trend in the housing starts and permits figures since December at around a 1.0 million rate,” analysts at Action Economics said in a report.
Now my story about high salaries are for people who fit the profile and are willing to get educated and do the career that pays rather than the career they want to do.
I see plenty of guys with pony tails and earrings keeping it real at starbucks at $12 an hour. Girls who want to do low paid surburb jobs or teaching gigs near Mommy’s house after graduation or while they are Moms and macho guys into the low paid fireman/cop gigs.
The reality is nearly all of those people just had to finish school, wear a suit, get glued to a blackberry and get on the 7am to the city to make a good buck and sell their soul to be a company man/woman. A lot of people don’t want to do it. But it should not be my problem. It they truly tried and failed that is one thing, but holding onto a pony tail and an earring and complaining you can’t get a high paying office job is stupid.
The other thing is a lot of people don’t want to manage people, do sales, do public speaking, work lots of OT or do a stint at a demanding blue chip company, go back at night for masters or certifications and do networking etc. Which are the things that get you beyond six figures. That is fine with me but they should not be amazed that people who do it make more than them.
[44] Who signed the first deal?
I see these deals happen all the time.
GM sold off Fiat at a loss back a few years ago…
GM had to pay $2 billion to escape a put option that could have stuck the U.S. carmaker with the struggling Italian company
Not to mention the other GM deals that soured, like Suzuki, Isuzu, etc…
WHO THE H**L negotiates and signs off on these deals!!!
I picture some half-a**ed corporate suits who got straight D’s thru most of college going on business trips and getting totally wiped out on expensive whiskey and then signing the deal papers whith one hand while groping at the breasts of a hooker with the other hand…
Sean (100)-
Damn. Where am I going to get my high school betting lines now?
ssbs-
getting totally wiped out on expensive whiskey and then signing the deal papers whith one hand while groping at the breasts of a hooker with the other hand…
I dunno. Seems to me, that on a whole, policy rather than business deals are contemplated in this deep, self-reflective manner.
kl (101)-
“I noticed Zillow does not seem to note the difference when coming up with a zestimate.”
They must have borrowed their black box from Bear Stearns. Maybe it was the “smoke-damaged” one from Cayne’s office.
Too bad that some people would rather have a relationship with an algorithm than with a living, breathing, thinking person who could actually help them.
[93] Pat
If your tank is damaged in some way as to perforate it, you will have a check engine light come on, for Evaporative Emissions (like a loose gas cap).
If you are leery of the “mechanical repair” work performed by the body shop, bring it to a mechanic you trust. Body shops do notoriously horrible mechanical work: it’s not their forte.
As far as the title: your title is fine. Only a “totalled” vehicle gets titled as such. This happens when the ins company pays you for the vehicle because the cost to repair is more than the car is worth: and if you buy it back for a small fee, the title will now have “salvage” on it.
Bear Stearns Sale to JPMorgan to Be Probed by Senate
Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, and Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, the panel’s top Republican, sent a letter to Bear Stearns Chief Executive Alan Schwartz, JP Morgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, and New York Fed President Timothy Geithner seeking details on how the buyout was negotiated.
“Americans are being asked to back a brand-new kind of transaction, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars,” Baucus said in a statement. “With jurisdiction over federal debt, it’s the Finance Committee’s responsibility to pin down just how the government decided to front $30 billion in taxpayer dollars” for the deal, Baucus wrote.
…
Baucus and Grassley said in their letter that they want to know the names of all negotiators and lawyers involved in the transaction as well as all the steps taken in the transaction and their specific dates and a list of steps yet to be taken.
They want a description of the assets to be secured by the Federal Reserve, including their value and the types of mortgages underlying the assets. The senators asked for all copies of documents that will be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The senators asked for a response no later than March 28. Finance Committee spokeswoman Carol Guthrie said the panel doesn’t have plans to hold hearings “as yet.”
Young and Wealthy But Normal (YAWN)
A class of self-made millionaires that live relatively modest lives. Instead of spending wealth on gaining luxurious items and living expensive lifestyles, these individuals prefer to make contributions to charitable causes and spend time with their families.
The concept of social responsibility may have contributed to the emergence of this new class of wealthy individuals. All in all, these individuals can be a great benefit for society because they redistribute a vast amount of wealth for social good. However, it may be difficult to become a YAWN because it can be very tempting for wealthy young people to be drawn to more extravagant lifestyles.
The state gov should cut jobs/employees to reduce spending just like the private companies.
Wendy where have you been? Corzine is kicking 3-4k state employees to the curb and is pushing for towns to consolidate.
jmac #102
Your bugeye WRX is all the rage with the kids these days. Definitely clean it up and sell it private party on NASIOC to get the best price. But remember, those kids are mega-informed.
When shopping for your next one keep this in mind: in 2008 all of the Legs are just sedans, and all of the Outbacks are just wagons and sit higher. Across both lines the 2.5XT or 3.0R are looking for premium fuel. The base 2.5 or 2.5i are good to go on regular gas, but a little underpowered.
Jason (Subaru owner and fan)
Sean,
I’m thinking Wendy meant the state should cut MORE jobs/employees to reduce spending just like the private companies.
wendy
but but but but what about all of the promised benefits, and the poor unfortunate souls who are out of jobs?!?!?!??!
[SARCASM OFF]
I say a 30% reduction in the state workforce would be a goos start. Start with the police chiefs who are bringing in 200K/yr and work your way down
re: (109) Sure the Senators all must have shorted JPM before they sent that letter.
“Americans are being asked” LOL!
I don’t like what subaru did to the noses of most of their lineup, and prefer the last generation Legacy styling to the current gen. Also, I don’t like the direction they’re going with WRX and STI lines recently.
That said, I almost pulled the trigger on an STI a couple years ago, but the $4500 – $7000 insurance quotes kept me away…
Colonel Klink speaks and the markets tumble.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Wednesday that housing prices need to be allowed to continue to drop while every effort is made to ensure the adjustment does not cause excessive harm to the economy.
“A correction was inevitable and the sooner we work through it, with a minimum of disorder, the sooner we will see home values stabilize, more buyers return to the housing market, and housing will again contribute to economic growth,” he said on prepared remarks for delivery to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The U.S. Treasury chief also said no one should conclude that broker-dealers and other big financial firms will get permanent access to new lending facilities made available by the Federal reserve to ease market stresses.
Make sure you read what Colonel Klink had to say about medicare and social security.
http://search.us.reuters.com/rsearch/rcomSearch.do?blob=paulson&WTmodLoc=ussrch-top-quote
Make Money,
Did your renters pay up for March yet? We are approaching April.
4 rents are still outstanding. 2 have paid 50% only as they swear that this is all they have.
I can forget about my Bentley now. Lucky if I can make my M6 pmnt.
Pennsylvania, here I come…
The state gov should cut jobs/employees to reduce spending just like the private companies.
Can’t do that cause you run a risk of not being re-elected. It’s a lot easier to secure an election by raising property taxes.
Rich In NNJ Says:
March 26th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Sean,
I’m thinking Wendy meant the state should cut MORE jobs/employees to reduce spending just like the private companies.
________________________________________________
(1) Cutting jobs is not a panacea or cure-all for an enterprise in trouble–just ask Citigroup. The issue is really whether the enterprise is productive and well-managed, and cutting imagined “redundencies” everytime the going gets tough only postpones the inevitable day of reckoning when the organization has to face whether or not is actually functioning at an optimum level. American firms are addicted to layoffs that have been shown to do have done little or nothing to make them any more profitable or efficient–yet people still think that “more layoffs” is always the solution. It’s not.
(2) For every job/expense cut by the state, there is a corresponding service cut. Citizens need to state the services they receive that they want cut instead of making generalized statements about the need for cuts across the board–such statements are essentially meaningless, since the NIMBYism comes out as soon as the cutting gets specific.
The state of NJ should force towns to merge. Give them the option to merge on their own, or the state comes up with a plan.
It will never happen on its own.
The problem is when you have a family and make under 100k combined… you CANNOT save anything.
Thats BS. You can always save regardless of how much you make.
Saving is not lefover income. It’s a scrifice. Americans will re-learn this phenomenon.
Deutsche Bank Layoffs
http://dealbreaker.com/2008/03/layoffs_at_db.php
BY (123),
We can’t afford what we have… so lets see. What to cut… what to cut…?
Hmmm, I guess a “across the board” cut of a certain percentage everywhere would be fair, no?
What do you think we should cut?
bubbleyum 123,
Ok here are some specifics.
I want police wages brought in-line with NYC police. The cops always say that they need to be compensated for their job risk. OK NYC is riskier then 90% of Nj so lets align Nj police pay with NYC police pay!
next we need to immediately cap all retirement benefits and increase time in service requirements.
force town mergers so that we can decrease overlaping police/ fire/ medical services!
these 3 things would go a long way to fix our problem. they will never happen
Sean (116)-
“Americans are being asked” LOL!
Yeah…like Abner Louima got “asked” about that plunger handle.
Sean (119)-
I have a Post-It above my computer. It reads:
“See Paulson on TV? Find something to short.”
No disclaimers. I am receiveing messages from God again today.
Since we are talking about cars anyhow, I am trying to find a new “used” car – 2006-2008 model. Wife has the monster SUV so it will be for me but needs to fit three kids in back in case I have to. My budget is 15k to 30K. So far kinda like Caddie CTS, maybe Vovo S80. Kinda want something that is practical but still can fit the kids and has at least some “name” appeal and has a little flash to it. Had a chance to pick up a e320 off lease but with all the repair problems and the fact there was only 3 months left on warranty I backed out. Plus my wife thinks the e320 looks like a glorified camry so she was not impressed and can’t understand why it is so expesnive given it looks like a camry but is less reliable than a camry. Any suggestions?
make (120)-
So I guess those big rent increases are off the table now?
CTS looks nice, but the 3 people I know who have them are complaining of electrical issues across the board. Small stuff mostly (resetting radio/clock stuff, PW switches) but up to SES lights coming on for little things and having to go to the dealer. Gremlins and sensors mostly. Not what I look for in a historically ‘elite’ marque.
If going used, definitely get a CPO from the better European or Japanese manufacturers.
Read this with your lunch.
From Bloomberg:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aN.cnCGH92GQ
131
toyota avalon has no snob appeal but is a very nice full size sedan for the money
Orion (134)-
Why? So I can lose my lunch?
Orion [134],
Just the tip of the iceberg. Then more iceberg’s to come. Future generations will be handed this bill. Unfortunately, they, along with current taxpayers, didn’t sign up for this contract.
Closter
SLD 520 HOMANS AVE $1,650,000 1/27/2006
SLD 520 HOMANS AVE $1,400,000 3/26/2008
Make, #120
You said:
4 rents are still outstanding. 2 have paid 50% only as they swear that this is all they have.
So … out of 6 apartments, you end up with the equivalent of one complete rent payment for March?
:)
fasten your seat belt, the market starts to get ugly…
kettle1 Says:
March 26th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
bubbleyum 123,
Ok here are some specifics.
I want police wages brought in-line with NYC police. The cops always say that they need to be compensated for their job risk. OK NYC is riskier then 90% of Nj so lets align Nj police pay with NYC police pay!
next we need to immediately cap all retirement benefits and increase time in service requirements.
force town mergers so that we can decrease overlaping police/ fire/ medical services!
these 3 things would go a long way to fix our problem. they will never happen
________________________________________________
To answer Rich, I would definitely agree with 1 and 3, especially the forced town mergers, which I have been advocating ever since I moved to this state. I would also agree with the increased in-service requirements for pensions, though I don’t think a cap on benefits would be either necessary or produce that great a savings if an in-service requirement were put in place. Whether these changes will happen or not will ultimately be determined by whether the people who benefit from these services are willing to see them cut anyway. As Americans as a whole have been demonstrating for quite a while, you can spend money you don’t have for quite a while.
“fasten your seat belt, the market starts to get ugly…”
bi,
Where have you been? The market has been ugly. Every steroid induced pop has been Clemensized.
I am avoiding Japanese. They make great new cars with their low depreciation but make for a terrible late model used car choice. As soon as a caddie, audi, buick, volvo etc. is out the door it took a big hit while the Toyota or Honda is still close to sticker price even when used. That plus you have to go to Lexus or Infinity at least one up from the base to get a halfway decent model and then I am in the over 35K range for a used 2007.
The other problem with Lexus/Infinity is they are all leased. Caddies/Buicks etc. have more people who buy it outright so they are more on the market in the 1-2 year old range, you gotta wait three years for the luxery Jap cars to come back.
Make 125.Thats BS. You can always save regardless of how much you make.
Saving is not lefover income. It’s a scrifice. Americans will re-learn this phenomenon.
_________________________________
Incorrect. Around 90k gets you enough rent, food, utilities and commuting money for 2 adults and expenses for a child with enough left over to make sure the child has some extra-curricular activities (sports teams etc).
I agree that *most* americans need to learn sacrifice; however NJ is fubar with the amount of people who really are ‘working poor’. It is out of control, which is evident from the exodus that we’re experiencing.
76 skep
“These people informed me that several individuals where I work who are at my level use their services.”
I get these calls all the time (and emails, too).
I’ve asked, and no one at my firm has ever admitted to doing business with any of the clowns making the claims.
It’s the same sales pitch from the folks from Merrill who want manage my assets.
91 BC
“patient [87],
Not so fast. Do the currency conversion.”
Unless it comes to 0, they overpaid.
Kettle1
Once again you are making STUPID statements without facts. Oh yea I forgot, I read it on the WEB so it must be true.
#52 grim said:
“There is plenty of opportunity, but only for those who are both highly qualified and can transition/liason with business…If your salary is low, it is because you don’t add much value.”
#103 John said:
“The other thing is a lot of people don’t want to manage people, do sales, do public speaking, work lots of OT or do a stint at a demanding blue chip company, go back at night for masters or certifications and do networking etc. Which are the things that get you beyond six figures. That is fine with me but they should not be amazed that people who do it make more than them.”
I work in tech for financial services and both of the above comments are spot-on. $100k in tech is peanuts if you actually know what you’re doing and you’re not in menial, commoditized, monkey work roles like networking and admin.
Goldman Sachs ups subprime mortgage mess loss estimate to a HP-worthy $1.2 TRILLION. But just wait until they find out about the Alt-A and Prime mess
http://housingpanic.blogspot.com/2008/03/goldman-sachs-ups-subprime-mortgage.html
136 & 137,
And re-read it with your dinner, keeping the mop nearby.
147 bergen,
Please correct me then. I have no vested interest in my comments here and would be more then happy to be provided with correct info if what i present is wrong…..
So I work in advertising, and today i’m “behind the glass” watching focus groups in Seattle. As part of this, you learn basic info about the group’s age, employment, etc.
I’m currently watching the first group. Four of eight people in the group are realtors / real estate admins. Guess they’ve got some free time on their hands…
John– you could also get a brand new completely loaded Taurus for $30k. Again, no snob appeal, but full warranty, etc. New Taurus is apparently a vast improvement over the old
#143 John
I almost fell off the chair yesterday with your CTS comment. The main reasons for 1-2yr used Caddys are Repo’s and Reapers (the old folk passing on to the big caddy dealership in the sky. Add in the dealer demos and courtesys and that should cover most of it.
The car you should look at given your criteria and gas prices is the VW Passat GLS TDI.
Grim, watch out for the Honda Fit. Mrs PGC put the veto pen to it as the steering wheel kept hitting her knees when she changed gears. For you I would take a look at the Prius. You can get entry level for $21K and fully loaded for $27K. It is very spacious especially in the back seats. The technology in it is impressive. It has boat loads of low end tourqe, and will cruise quite happily. I worked out that with my daily 70mi commute, it will pay for itself in 5 years.
#109
Here is a link:
http://tinyurl.com/2wt7n2
Patient,
Please tell me you weren’t involved. This will be interesing, the market is gonna love this.
Re (39):
Victorian:
This is the most frightening chart I have ever seen!!
Grim, watch out for the Honda Fit. Mrs PGC put the veto pen to it as the steering wheel kept hitting her knees when she changed gears. For you I would take a look at the Prius. You can get entry level for $21K and fully loaded for $27K. It is very spacious especially in the back seats. The technology in it is impressive. It has boat loads of low end tourqe, and will cruise quite happily. I worked out that with my daily 70mi commute, it will pay for itself in 5 years
I tried to make sense of buying prius, with 4$/gallon gasoline and 50 miles/day commute… (12000miles/year). It just does not make any sense over corolla. (about 12 years to pay off higher cost).
And thats without counting loss of interest.
At 6$/gallon it will change.
Problem is that I need a hatchback for the dog(s). Why doesn’t anyone make a hybrid hatchback? Otherwise I’m stuck with a mini-SUV hybrid. Fuel economy numbers on those are less than impressive.
You said:
4 rents are still outstanding. 2 have paid 50% only as they swear that this is all they have.
So … out of 6 apartments, you end up with the equivalent of one complete rent payment for March?
This business is not what it used to be. It’s spread out across but if it was all in one 6 family dweling then I won’t even breakeven on taxes.
3 tennants are unemployed. I doubt they will catch up the two that paid half will catch up.
Ar eBasebal Bats more intimidating in wood or aluminum?
155 Dman
Lovely weather we’re having, isn’t it?
make (159)-
Aluminum. According to my brother, you don’t need a broken wooden bat at a crucial moment in the “process”.
I agree – but I would never buy a new car. In the tristate area used Taurus’s are sold at the Newburg auction by Ford Motor Leasing at least twice a week. You need a dealer number to get in. The car I have now it a loaded Sable Wagon which I got 21 months old with 9k on the odometer for $11,300. The previous owner spent $23,000 for the car. I plan on hitting the auction again, I tip the dealer $200 for letting me use his number and ID badge. Only weird thing is Newburg is a cash business and they charge you a big 2% fee if you want to use a registered check. So with tax I had to slip $12K through the slot after I won my big on the car and was handed the title and keys and off I went. Even weirder you can’t drive the cars ahead of time. But they disclose everything so what is the point. Lots of non Ford products there too as every non Ford car traded in in the Tri-state area ends up there. I saw a few 911 converts mixed in even. The day I went the auction was Three hours and they sold 3,000 cars. Had like ten bays going at once.
Best deal there was Hertz cars, they pre-order in advance from Ford and sometimes over buy and find they have depreciating cars on the lots that they just bought that are only being rented 5-10 days a month. They had some Taurus’es 1-3 months old with litterally a thousand miles on the odometer for 8k off new.
skep-tic Says:
March 26th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
John– you could also get a brand new completely loaded Taurus for $30k. Again, no snob appeal, but full warranty, etc. New Taurus is apparently a vast improvement over the old
Just a thought;
Goldman, yesterday, estimated credit market losses will eventually be 1.2T. At this point, banks have written off approx $120B. Is Goldman telling us, if the banks write off the remaining 90%, that the banks will be completely decimated? What’s the total # of job losses? Back to my apple cart.
If I put 20% down, how much are my monthly pmnts for a bag of apples?
It will be soon that we borrow to buy our groceries if above statemnet is true BC.
Clot,
For one tennant only I’m temted to hire someone like you brother in law.
When he saw my number on his caller ID, he picked up the phone and screamed “What do you want”
I lowered my voice and said “my rent”
“Stop harrasing me or I’ll call the cops and then he hung up”
I was tempted to go visit him last night.
Re 154, the BEST two used cars I ever got were from Dead people, old people babied the cars and don’t drive much, then someone inherits it and wants to sell quick. Had a car once the guy bought new drove two weeks went to his winter home in florida and right before he was to come back had a heart attack and dropped dead, I almost shot it in my pants when I went to look at the one year old car and saw the original paper mats on the floor and dealer paperwork still on backseat. If you know anyone dead selling a car give me a car.
make (164)-
He’s my brother. I’m his agent.
Let’s talk. First, you’ll need to pay for his round trip ticket here from Crowder, MS. Next, you’ll need to park him in a VIP at Scores for the duration of his trip.
These are the non-negotiables.
grim,
have you considered either the mini cooper or clubman? both get somewhat ok gas mileage (>30 mpg – though they do take premium) and the hatchback is great (though our dog sits in the back seat while the seats are up, not down).
There is a sexier version of the Prius coming out next year with 80 mpg, you might want to drive a beater until then.
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=109981
make (164)-
I don’t know where these tenants are, but there are plenty of people out there who can do what you need done for a bag of dope.
Just saying.
Can I brag a bit?
I called the 1 trillion loss 2 or 3 weeks ago on this blog. Pat me.
$1,000,000,000,000. How many cups of Ramen is that?
Honda Fit is a hatchback. Not a hybrid, but to me that is a plus
Demonstration in front of Bear Sterns, housing activists.
Orion,
I’d be impressed just to view a pile of one trillion individual ramen noodles.
Regarding #125 makemoneysays who feels “you can always save money regardless of how much you make”
That attitude is BS. Many families I know have had medical bills (even with insurance)pile up, or other problems- year after year (car repairs, emergency house repairs such as hot water heaters having to be replaced, etc). And all this eats up $. So no, not everyone can save $. Especially with a family and income of under $100,000.
Even if they try their hardest.
And I resent John’s attitude and comments that it’s easy for a hard worker to get those $200,000+ jobs and that a “low-paying” job of #100,000 is hard to fill. Get real! NJ is filled with business jobs paying less than $100,000, even with a MBA or other graduate degree. It’s not a matter of laziness. It’s the reality of what is out there.
And people in their 50s are laid off routinely because companies view them as too expensive. Few get good packages – I know many who were lucky to get 6 months salary – and then they could NOT get another job because no one would hire an “older worker”, esp. a white male.
Sean (173)-
What the hell is a “housing activist”?
I thought I was a housing activist. I am active in the housing markets.
The people in front of Bear need a new moniker. How about “losers”?
#144 Doughboy
On Fox this morning, a reporter outside a DC gas station getting peoples comments.
Reporter : What is the breaking point of gas prices?
Old man : There isn’t one.
Reporter : At what point do people say I can no longer afford this?
Old man : When they lose their job and their money. People today have too much money. Until they feel real pain, they’ll pay any price.
Reporter : Umm Ok, back to the studio
Clotpol,
CNBC did a a horrible job of reporting it, the footage was blurry and they did not interview anyone.
I was able to make out NACA on their t-shirts.
http://www.naca.com/index.jsp
#157 Al,
My figures were $3.00 gas and my Ford explorer getting 15mpg vs 55 in the Prius. I worked out I save $3400 a year in gas. After 5yrs I’m still left with a 12K car,
John,
I have been looking into 2003/2004 M3s and you can get a beautiful and fast car for around $30K. Insurance was even the same as my Saturn SUV! You know what that means, it means I am getting old when an M3 costs the same to insure as my Saturn Outlook. I guess they see my 3 kids and know I won’t drive the car past 65.
It would be a tight fit for the three youngsters in the back what the hey.
#158 grim.
The Prius is a liftback with a false trunk. You could get the dogs in, if they were not Great Danes.
MS – I said 100K jobs were for under 30 and over 50. Based on who applied for my 100K job. It is extremely hard to find good workers in the 28-40 year range at that price. Companies like Chase/Citi etc. want experienced people but not too young and they don’t want old people. My brother is looking at 46 years of age and since he is getting close to 50 he is having a hard time. Yes NJ is filled with those lower paying job, but it is NJ!! They need to work in NYC and deal with the commute. Plus nobody cares what you did over a year ago. You have to stay fresh. Some 60 year old gentleman send me a resume recently and he still had his Y2K experience on it and the fact he was a tax accountant in the 1970’s. Wow if I am every time traveling and I need my taxes done in 1973 he is the man. I heard in the year 10,000 we will need to add another digit on the computer so in around 8,000 years his Y2k experience will be of use again.
Growing up my Mom made 7K with four kids to feed, we fixed our own cars with used parts or from the parts car we had under the tarp in the driveway, begged the plumber to get us a used boiler and install it for free if I worked as a plumbers helper for two weeks. My mother had medical cause she knew that would wipe us out and she always saved for her retirement even when we could see our breath at night in the winter and was sharing one working battery between two cars, I had to jump off one to get going and then jump off someone in the parking lot to get home on my car I had registered in Florida so I would not have to pay NY auto insurance that I paid $50 bucks for out of the penny saver.
There is always a way to save. Even people on welfare shoud be saving some of their check.
#182 John: I agree. As the child of immigrant blue collar parents, yes you can save.
The reality is most Americans do not want to deny themselves anything, and so resort to crying that they cannot save.
They buy what they want, and cry for what they need.
orion 171
well at $0.25/single serving package you get 400 trillion single serving packages of ramen!
158
Dogs?
How do you keep the first one from killing the second one?
Re 182: The Arch-Bishop of Brooklyn once said at a meeting I was at that the difference between the poor of 1907 and 2007 is that in 1907 the working class immigrants came into the church with holes in their shoes to put money in the poor box and in 2007 they come in with $100 dollar Nike shoes on their feet looking for a hand-out.
183 3b
#182 John: I agree. As the child of immigrant blue collar parents, yes you can save.
The reality is most Americans do not want to deny themselves anything, and so resort to crying that they cannot save.
They buy what they want, and cry for what they need.
—————————————–
Would you consider making sure that your kids have access to extra curricular activities, not ever going out to eat, brown bagging every lunch, and driving 2 econo-used cars “buying what they want”?
Granted, they’re putting max contribution into a 401k, but outside of that, there is no ‘liquid savings’.
Re: IT jobs
Grim,
I hear what your saying and I think there is still a deep hangover from the tech bust in the early 2000s. Companies were desperate to hire anyone who breathed the words “systems development”. They paid 22 year olds with zero knowledge six figure salaries and stock options. I don’t even want to know how many were able to retire without doing a lick of work. Still, the past eight years have been an atrocity for American tech workers. Salaries have been cut in half, production support is 24 hours and the expected skill set is longer than the Constitution. The sad thing is that for every outsourced job there is another job to oversee their work. Real money is now in IT project management, otherwise you are the corporate equivalent of a grease monkey.
Anyone have info on MLS – 2485762? It is on the Franklin/Somerset border and friend wants to put an offer in.
kettle 184,
Ramen costs $0.25???!!!
Thanks for the math.
sorry, but i just geeked out….
CLotpoll
400 trillion packages of ramen noodles would cover all 50 US states and the district of columbia to a depth of 1.5 miles
orion, i guessed at the price, i have seen them run from 10 for $1 to .25 each
my mom is a social worker. I certainly do not envy the lives of the families she works with, but most have far beyond the minimum. Big screen TVs are common as is digital cable w/ HBO, etc. Everyone has a cell phone. Massive consumption of fast food (let’s say your family of 3 goes to McDonalds 8 times a week. That is easily $150 per week aside from the health problems it causes). Very common for mom to smoke a pack a day (another $50+ per week). Expensive sneakers for all of the kids. Again, I do not envy their situation, but I agree that perhaps the biggest problem people in these circumstances face is their own unwillingness to sacrifice in the short term to gain longterm.
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wned/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1250390
Protesters enter Bear Stearns headquarters
=====
O.K. Bob, what were you up to today?
Yes,
I never did a single extra circular activity growing up that cost money. Plus we used ceral box packaging, or bread bags or a dented lunch box to transport our lunches as we could not afford to buy brown paper bags. Heck my mother got the next door neighbor to throw her day old newspaper over the fence as we could not afford a subscription.
You are living large big guy with brand new brown paper bags!!
I have a ten year old sable with a broken attenna and a few pounds of bondo that is just about to celebrate its one year aniversery without an oil change. Now if you cars are even crappier than that I give you big time kudos. Even worse I traded up in 2000 to my used Sable from a 1975 model car.
Re Would you consider making sure that your kids have access to extra curricular activities, not ever going out to eat, brown bagging every lunch, and driving 2 econo-used cars “buying what they want”?
I thought 173 Sean was kidding.
The New Municipal Tax idea may have a big impact, in determining where to live in NJ. I think they are more likely to opt for an Income Tax versus Sales Tax though. People could avoid the Sales Tax. Bethlehem PA has a 1% Income Tax. It would appear the State is refusing to address the State Cost issue, so they are off loading more taxes to the local level. This way critics can direct their anger locally versus Trenton, even though Trenton is the cause. May be time to eliminate the Legislature, as we are paying them for not doing their job.
“I have a ten year old sable with a broken attenna and a few pounds of bondo that is just about to celebrate its one year aniversery without an oil change. Now if you cars are even crappier than that I give you big time kudos”
Sable is a luxury car, my friend. I drive a 7 yr old Dodge neon. Chicks dig it
AS PER AMTRAK, THERE IS A POWER ISSUE RESULTING IN EXTENSIVE DELAYS ON THE NORTHEAST CORRIDOR, AFFECTING AMTRAK AND NEW JERSEY TRANSIT SERVICE. CURRENTLY, ONLY ONE AC POWERED TRAIN CAN TRANSVERSE THE TUNNELS AT A TIME. THERE IS NO ETA FOR A RETURN TO NORMAL SERVICE.
Re 196, yea but at the time Dodge owned Mercedes so you really have a base model Benz.
John, at least your mother probably cleaned the bread crumbs out of the Stroehmann’s Sunbeam bags before she made you wear them to school over your socks ’cause you had no boots.
My bags were always full of mold after they got hand-me-downed from my brother in 1965 to my sister in 1967 and then to me.
There.
#187 doughboy: No I would consider that making every effort to save. (I know people that do nto save a dime, period 401k or otherwise.)
However I would cut back on the 401k To have at elsat some liquid savings.
198, where did you see that? If so, my 2.5 hour commute is about to get a lot longer.
Pat- how did you know that? We had these damm rubber galloshes we wore over our shoes for school (no sneakers allowed), when they got a little to small my Mom used to put plastic bread bags over our shoes so we could still shove our feet in there and get another year out of them. She also did that with the hand me down ones with holes in them so my shoes would not get wet from the leaks.
http://www.trips123.com/carrier_select.asp?agencyname=NJ+TRANSIT+Rail
Thanks to all for the zillow feedback. Sean, I will try your url tonight. I think a lunch hour at the hall of records is also on the menu.
You are all right that I will eventually need to get an agent’s help. I am looking in a new part of the state (I continue to commute a long way until the last of my children finish high school next year), and I don’t know the ins and outs of the new area near my office just outside of Trenton.
Although I can buy for cash at any time from now until then if I see a bargain on what I want, pricing and neighborhoods down here are a mystery to me so I’m starting early. Having been forced to sell and move (to a rental) last year when I wasn’t ready, I want to find a place in which I can be happy for the long term.
After having horrible experiences with agents last year (not that my being one enormous raw post-divorce nerve helped at all), I find myself very cautious to move forward on that front. I don’t have a lot of confidence that I can separate recommendations of people’s good friends from recommendations of the truly capable. I know I can do this–I’m just not yet sure how.
what are everyone’s thoughts about buying an investment property in the poconos or the catskills…
renting it out for much of the year while enjoying it for yourself as well…
there are properties listed for as little as $30k…
does it make sense to do something like this?
203,
Ahhhh, memories.
I too as a youth have worn the plastic bread bag over my shoes.
#206, no. gangs…
#207 Rich: Not because the boots were too small, but simply because they were imposiible to get over dress shoes (Catholic school)
At the end of the school year some kids used to throw their gym sneakers up on the telephone lines as a celerbtation.
God help us if we came home from school and told my Mom we threw our skips (fake sneakers) up on the electrical/telephone wires.
Got my first pair of Pro Keds in the 8th grade;thought it was the best thing.
208
huh? gangs in the poconos?
210. yes
their are many gangs in the poconos. big problem
I posted this one before – the house in Colonia for $249,000 that’s very clearly a teardown. Horrible condition.
What was odd was that the realtor took the time and trouble to take multiple photos of the devastated interior.
But this ad just popped up in Craigs’. Extra bonus – squatters (???!!!)
Handy man Special, House Being sold ‘AS IS” condition. Buyer responsible for C of O** Complete Renovation Required * Buyer responsible to Vacate the tennents
http://cnj.craigslist.org/rfs/618890676.html
#210, y. friend sold house because of that.
PGC Says:
March 26th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
#157 Al,
My figures were $3.00 gas and my Ford explorer getting 15mpg vs 55 in the Prius. I worked out I save $3400 a year in gas. After 5yrs I’m still left with a 12K car,
Hmm, not a fair comparison – you have to compare Prius to similar size sedan…
In addition – you will get about 45 miles/gallon on prius, UNLESS all you drive is CITY.
Real life prius mileage is something like 45-50 city/and 45 highway. (at highway speeds hybrids are actually LESS efficient that regular cars due to added weight.)
I do not know how NJ driving affects prius gad mileage – I would assume it will actually benefit hybrids as we do quite a bit of acceleration-brake.
My problem – usually buy used cars for about 3-5K – small corolla’s/ camry/honda civics. They get about 30mpg the way I drive. Used hybrids – forget about it. I do not think you can buy them this cheap. With my average monthly bill of about 130$ (at 3$ gasoline) even if hybrid will give me 60mpg I will still only have about 700$/year savings.
To pay for extra 7K in costs of a car(real life price difference between corolla/Prius is actually more than that right now) it will take about 10 years…
Count in higher maintenance costs for hybrids (are they higher?) and interest on that 7K over 10 years – and I just fail to see how hybrid will save me money.
Keep in mind, that this is if hybrid gets 60MPG/3$/gallon. Obviously, gas at 6$/gallon – twice as fast pay off.
But even at 5 years pay off – that’s with 60 MPG and paid with cash – no interest on that cash. If you have to take out a loan – cheaper car is better.
P.S. I have data which do show that extra environmental costs (in terms of carbon footprint) to make hybrids are well offset over the course of 100,000 miles driving – on the order of 10 times. So I believe they are better for the environment, just too expensive.
#210 Ther Poconos are now refered to by locals who live there as the ghetto in the woods.
Here’s my idea of some stylin’ kicks:
http://tinyurl.com/2odctf
Walk onto a pitch with these, you’d better have game.
my commute is 3 miles to highway, barely any traffic for 28 miles, and 1 mile off of highway. A hybrid would do bupkus for me, once you are on the highway it is all petrol.
#216
“Poconos are now refered to by locals who live there as the ghetto in the woods.”
that is hilarious. do they have fly fishing turf battles?
I don’t think this has been posted. FGIC has some interesting news. Does this mean NY State is holding the bag if they take control?
Futures on the Chicago Board of Trade showed traders see a 40 percent chance the Fed will lower the 2.25 percent target lending rate by a half-percentage point at its April 30 meeting, compared with 28 percent odds yesterday. The remaining bets are for a cut of a quarter-percentage point.
this is the first i’ve ever heard of gangs in the poconos… sounds like a joke…
is it a problem in all parts of the poconos?
what kind of gangs? bloods, crips, russians, asians?
i thought i had a solution for where to park my down payment money…
so, is it not even a good idea to rent a place there in the summertime or winter ski season because of these gangs?
i thought i had a solution for where to park my down payment money…
A bank.
Real estate isn’t liquid enough for funds that might need to be accessed quickly.
Keep your powder dry.
tosh (220)-
Great to see the words “stricken” and “bank” in the same sentence…
“Got my first pair of Pro Keds in the 8th grade;thought it was the best thing.”
3B,
Converse, Chuck Taylor’s. High tops, have to protect the ankles. They are so old that I heard they are new again?
#223, here is better than in bank
http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/21/pf/saving/save_your_money.fortune/index.htm?section=money_pf
223
that’s where i currently have it, earning a whopping 2.75%
re poconos gangs…
just googled it and found a number of stories of gang activity there… bloods, crips, wannabes moving there and causing chaos…
oh well…
re: Poconos
Many families moved from NYC to escape the issues of inner city life. The problem is their children. Their children were already part of gangs when they were relocated to the Poconos and they brought the thug life with them.
jlx,
Hudson City is paying 3.75% APY on a 91 day CD, a full 100bps above what you are getting now. The 6 month is paying 3.50%, a pittance, I know, but still better than your current rate.
FYI, my Wamu online savings is paying 3.55% as well. Crap but something at least.
ORMAL AMTRAK AND NEW JERSEY TRANSIT TRAIN OPERATIONS ARE RESUMING, WITH EXTENSIVE DELAYS.
Now this is funny, normal serice with extensive delays.
#225 BC Bob: I alternated between Pro Keds,and High Top Converse or Cons as we called them.
Once in High School I had an after school job, and so I could buy my own sneakers.
No more skips for me. Funny thing is those skips never seemed to wear out.
normal service with extensive delays
It’s nothing if not accurate.
You can still get 1-2 year NJ high rated muni bonds in 5K increments from your BD with 3.3 tax free interest. That is a good place to park short term money. If they cut rates again on April 30 and if you have to sell before maturity you might also be able to liquidate for more than you paid for it.
You can buy also CDs on the secondary market from a BD and get get 4.25% FDIC insured.
Very tough to get safe good short term yield right now.
Mike 230:
Did your rate drop after the latest fed cut? My HSBC was earning 3.55 as well, until it was dropped to 3.05 days after the last FFR cut.
Maybe wamu will drop too? If not, I may open an account there to transfer funds to.
john,
BD = ?
Chuck T’s were not skips, My Mom bought Big A’s which was alexanders knock off of the Chuck Ts. Looked the same except soles would crack in halp and round patch said Big A. Now those were skips.
broker dealer, like Fidllity. If you have a Fidelity on-line account just use the Fixed Income Research tool.
#215 Al,
I take you points, my case was build on my Ford Explorer. I looked at the Corrola and when you start to get away from the base model, the options the price goes up severly. Bottom line was I don’t like them. I loved the Corollas of the 80’s, but these days they leave me cold. Also the Corrola is classed as a small car vs the Prius as a midsize.
My Commute is 90% highway 55+ roads. There are lots of factors in drving affect mpg. I get better mpg going to work vs returning home as it is uphill against downhill. The mileage drops to 45mpg at the worst of winter with the cold and the “winter blend” of gas. Going to work in the summer I get the high 60s.
On the maintainance side. As most of the braking is done by the engine, rotors and pads should last probably 70K. The CVT transmission has only 7 moving parts so there is expensive rebuilds. It really only needs Oil changes every 5K and the transmission fluid every 50K.
#234 John If you buy 5k increments of munis from a retail broker, they will rip you a new one on the way in (buy) and on the way out (sell). the markup/markdown are ugly for amounts that small.
If you purchase 5k increments of Munis, they should be strictly for buy and hold IMO.
#235,
yes, the rate dropped. I was actually getting 5% all the way up until the latest rate drop. Then it dropped like a rock in water to the current rate.
Does anyone know a good resource to identify NJ Savings Banks that are on watch for deteriorating credit quality? This FDIC crap is to be taken seriously…..
The thought is that you don’t want your kids to sacrifice so we buy them hunderds of dollars worth of toys before they even turn 3 yrs old.
As a nation we have turned into that brat you see at the mall punching on his Mom caus ethey want that $750 tonka truck.
#242 – That’s a really good point. Please post anything you might find.
call reports on fdic
Just go to fdic.gov and look in the lower right corner for most searched docs
Why don’t the Fed subsidize manufacturers something like 10K for each car they put out there that goes over 60 miles on a gallon?
Then sit back and watch car technology take off.
Better yet 250 million grant for a vehicle that goes over 100 miles on a gallon and is produced in USA.
Just think of it as defense spending. Instead of the trillions we send to Iraq.
242 chi
I don’t, though that’d definitely be a good list to have. My fear is that it would be hopelessly useless, as necessarily relying on public financial disclosure, which at this point is misleading enough to be worthless.
#245 – Thanks Pat ! A clicky for the link .
Regulators don’t disclose bank ratings. You can find links to private (pay) sources that try to divine such info on the FDIC website or to get the call report data, go to:
http://www2.fdic.gov/ubpr/UbprReport/SearchEngine/Default.asp
This is only updated through end of 07. Capital analysis section provides the Tier 1 and Total Capital measures–this is the metric most oft used to determine if the bank is undercapitalized. If a bank fails to meet capital requirements, FDIC deems it to be a “troubled” bank and will impose restrictions, but I don’t think that is made public.
Does anyone know a good resource to identify NJ Savings Banks that are on watch for deteriorating credit quality?
cf,
I’m only a finance rookie, but couldn’t we use the quoted rate at a given term, in comparison with other banks, as a proxy for risk? That is, if we believe these markets are efficient.
Nom: agreed….what I am searching for is something akin to the AM Best ratings. I recall someone here posted a link to a graded dataset of NJ Banks, and a number of eye-openers appeared in the “crud” section.
Honestly, I think we have speculated that Amboy is one of the dicey ones. Essentially, any bank that is offering unusually high “outlier” deposit rates is to be suspected.
It seems like such a basic value-add. Someone must know SOMETHING. There is a prominent local savings bank here in Monmouth that I think may be sliding…..
249
Nor does it capture much current shite.
Chi,
It’s apparently confidential list
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_bank_list
This article puts the number at 76:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=fdic+problem+bank+list&fr=yfp-t-501-s&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8
jlx,
Notwithstanding the gang activity, this is not farfetched, though I would not buy a house there unless I lived in it or it was slopeside.
That said, I am giving serious thought to buying property in NE PA. The goal is to buy a significant lot, preferably partial farmland, with subdivision ability. The thinking is tax benefits, food and timber source, and sanctuary location, just in case. My Dr. bro in law has just such a spread in Maine, and one F500 family I represented has them in different countries. My thinking is to parcel small sections for indiv. houses and garden plots for the investors and tenant-farm/timber-farm out the rest to cover costs and provide some return on investment. If there is an existing house, it would be “time-shared” out to the investors (12 investors means four weeks, probably one week in each of W/S/S/F).
To be viable and economical, I figure that I would need to assemble a small group for investment, such that each could invest 40-50K for an interest in the land and its profits and tax attributes. NE PA is attractive b/c it is not subject to NJ tax meltdown, conservative local politics, and a straight shot from Manhattan. For folks in NJ, there are additional tax benefits.
chi –
Only the regulators assemble any worthwhile ratings and they cannot disclose. Nor can anyone in the bank disclose them, even to potential suitors. Also, you cannot FOIA or FOIL bank examination reports. Many have tried.
That said, you can look at capital ratios and determine if a bank is well-capped, adequately capped or under-capped by comparing the number to the required level. That is what any commercial service will do. But unlike insurance rating agencies, there is no comparable metric for depository institutions. Just be sure to keep less than 100K there.
Per the other comment, typically banks in tougher shape will offer higher rates on deposits in order to get their ratios up. Thus, a bank offering lower rates should be in better shape. But this is not indicative of a troubled bank. If the FDIC finds a bank to be troubled, it will clamp down on high interest CDs.
John Browne newsletter. Good Stuff.
March 19, 2008
Why the Rich are Getting Poorer
As our consumer dominated economy faces the threat of imminent stagflation (economic recession and financial inflation at the same time), losses will not be limited to the poor. Many get-rich-quick investors also will become poorer!
The effects of recession, falling asset prices, insolvency, inflation and a falling dollar are set to have a sometimes devastating effect on the real value of many investment portfolios, including those of the wealthy.
Why are the rich going to lose money when many have had expert professional advice? The answer is in varying and individual combinations of greed, arrogance, ignorance and a naive belief in government propaganda, both by investors and their professional advisors. Ignorance led them to believe government figures. Arrogantly, they assumed they had discovered a new world in which asset prices would continue to boom. They were tempted by the greed that held that the higher the leverage, the greater the returns. Naively, they appeared to buy into the belief that America could go on consuming more than it produced, financed by foreigners that had an endless appetite for American government debt.
There is little doubt that the vast amounts of cheap, U.S. dollar liquidity pumped into both American and international economies by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board (particularly under former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan) averted some naturally occurring and corrective recessions and led to a series of unprecedented asset booms. The mistake was in thinking that this virtual world of financial make-believe would go on forever.
Added to the vast new Fed-inspired liquidity boom was a new type of leverage created by means of derivatives, particularly the Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO’s) used to ‘securitize’ real estate mortgages. In 2006, The Economist reported that a hedge fund, investing in CDO’s through property vehicles, could leverage its capital by some 52 times. In other words, a fund with paid-up capital of $100 million could command property investments of a staggering $5.2 billion.
Of course, leverage of 52 times yields massive returns, provided that the prices of the underlying assets continue to climb, as they did under Greenspan. To give some idea of the size of increases in asset values, The Economist further reported that the value of residential property in just the developed world rose by an unprecedented $25 trillion between 2001 and 2006!
Vast fortunes were made, as CDO’s with a rating of ‘triple A’ were sold to wealthy investors throughout the world, greedy for unusually high dollar returns.
It was not only real estate that benefited from the largesse of the American Fed Reserve Board. Auto and credit card lending boomed, adding greatly to the funds of the wealthy. Indeed, things became so good for borrowers that what became known as ‘covenant-lite’ loans were made by lenders who were both greedy and foolhardy.
The abundance of liquidity boosted consumer demand and corporate profits. Increased earnings were reflected in stock market prices that climbed to new nominal record levels.
However, the real financial implications of imprudent lending and borrowing and the rising level of U.S. government debt did not go unnoticed by the foreign exchange markets. The U.S. dollar began a dramatic decline, depreciating by more than 20% percent against the Euro in the past two years.
Now, the whole vast economic model of abundant liquidity and excessive leverage is moving in reverse. The liquidity boom has morphed into an insolvency crisis, aggravated by a fall in asset values. American consumer demand is falling dramatically. In a consumer economy, where 72 percent of GDP is comprised of consumption, American domestic corporate profits and stock markets look set for dramatic falls, leading to margin calls and yet more forced asset sales.
In short, a great ‘de-leveraging’ has embraced the American economy. The massive and excessive liquidity is now being squeezed out of the price of most assets. Investors, who remain owners of leveraged American domestic assets, stand to be hit hard–very hard. This financial suffering will be made worse as investors realize the effects of taxation, inflation and the debasement of their dollar currency upon any positive nominal returns they salvage.
The astute investor can insulate himself from this mounting financial dilemma. He should diversify immediately out of U.S. dollar-based assets into high (total return) yielding assets denominated in strengthening currencies of ‘producer’ nations such as those of Switzerland, Australia and Canada. In light of current conditions, it is then and only then that the astute investor is likely to become richer, not poorer.
Kurt (42): do you have a link? i have a relative who is losing his power plant job and is looking for work.. might be a good candidate for the field services engineer..
At the end of the school year some kids used to throw their gym sneakers up on the telephone lines as a celerbtation.
Funny, now I heard in Freeport LI the drugdealers throw it up to show their new locations.
Maybe Dubya can put Jack Bauer on this case.
Oh…er, Jack Bauer is a fictional character.
Oh, well:
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush, addressing an embarrassing flap that has strained U.S.-China relations, told Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday that the shipment of nuclear missile fuses to Taiwan was a mistake. The president’s national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the matter came up when Bush called Hu.
“It came up very briefly,” Hadley told reporters. “Basically, the president indicated that a mistake had been made. There was very little discussion about it.”
The U.S. military’s mistaken delivery to Taiwan of electrical fuses for an intercontinental ballistic missile has raised concerns over U.S.-China ties. It has also triggered a broad investigation into the security of Pentagon weapons.
China on Wednesday strongly protested the mistaken delivery.
Actually on 5k munis in the secondary they don’t get you on the way in as they actually offer higher yield as mutual funds won’t waste their time with small lots. They still will get you on the way out but if you stick shorter term just let them mature. The trick is you have to look all the time and catch the odd high rate ones. I nailed a NY GO triple A three year 5k this morning at 4.1% But it is a pain in the ass, better just get a 25k or 50K and call it a day fishing for little fish takes a lot longer than catching one big one.
My Pruis gets 40.4 MPG.
I drive mostly highway, about 27 miles each way, plus 2 miles to get to the highway.
I drive like an a**hole. Mostly 80+ MPH when I can.
If I drive nice, I can get the avg to move north of 45 MPG.
The Pruis is huge inside. Bigger than my Passat on the outside.
The Prius gets better fuel economy in town because it relies on the electric motor/battery to propel it at low speeds… plus it shuts off at idle, so you don’t idle at traffic lights, etc. So in-town you are on battery power, and after about reaching 13MPH, the gas engine kicks in and you start conmsuming fuel.
You can change to battery only up to (23 MPH?) with a Toyota module avail in Japan/Euro, but it voids your warranty here.
The Pruis is warranteed out the a**. So forget what a “particular part” costs to repair… whereas, I’ve watched Ford use consumers as their quality control team for years. And they go back any buy another POS. Hmm. Go figure.
#257 John: Times have changed I guess.
194
Apparently your ma still had enough left over to send her son, Johnny, to the finest available how-to-be-a-bitter-dickhead lessons.
From Bloomberg:
FGIC Sees No Need to Honor Agreement With IKB, Calyon
FGIC Corp. said it’s walking away from an agreement to provide $1.9 billion in guarantees on mortgage-linked securities because Credit Agricole SA and IKB Deutsche Industriebank didn’t live up to their side of the deal.
FGIC “has no further obligation” because certain responsibilities weren’t met and IKB, the German bank that had to be bailed out four times in the past year, misrepresented its condition, FGIC said in a statement today. FGIC, IKB and Credit Agricole are fighting the matter in court. If FGIC wins, the benefit “could be material,” the New York-based company said.
Bond insurers are seeking ways to relieve themselves of guarantees on collateralized debt obligations to temper their losses amid rising mortgage defaults. Security Capital Assurance Ltd.’s XL Capital Assurance Inc. last week was sued by Merrill Lynch & Co. after XL voided obligations on $3.1 billion of CDOs because of what it called a breach in agreements over rights to influence matters such as whether the CDOs should be liquidated.
“These guys should have a new motto: Heads we win, tails we rescind,” said Julian Mann, the vice president for fixed income at First Pacific Advisors LLC, which manages $3.4 billion of bonds. Mann doesn’t oversee positions in bond insurers, he said.
250 grim
These markets are not efficient.
I promise.
251 chi
Uh – when is the next GTG?
ORCL barfs and sucks IBM and CSCO by association
253 nom
I like you. Where have you been hiding?
I really want to see “Cops: Poconos”
If you don’t want to get a Prius, you could try “hypermiling”. Guys out there are getting 50+ mpg out of regular Accords. But they also huge nuisances on the road.
258 clot
Ooooops
260 spam
Thank g*d you are not one of the pr*cks who finds someone going 45 in a 55 in the slow lane who pulls up next to them in the fast lane and does the same.
I have posted this before lending and FDIC.
http://wallstreetexaminer.com/blogs/winter/?p=1505
Pick any local builder and you will find the local bank that backed them, they usually have a sign up on the development.
Orion wrote:
“I called the 1 trillion loss 2 or 3 weeks ago on this blog. Pat me.”
I think Nouriel Roubini called 2 to 3 trillion some time last year.
Chi,
Weiss Research has its “Safe Money Report.”
Weiss did a presentation in July 2007. Part II was “some large banks and thrifts may be at risk.”
Someone posted a link here, and I saved the report.
Could that be it?
I could email it to grim for forwarding.
“Brokers Believe Worst Is Over and Recommend Buying of Real Bargains.”
“Wall Street in looking over the wreckage of the week, has come generally to the opinion that high grade investment issues can be bought now, without fear of a drastic decline. There is some difference of opinion as to whether not the correction must go further, but everyone realizes that the worst is over, and that there are bargains for those who are willing to buy conservatively and live through the immediate irregularity.”
-New York Herald Tribune, October 27, 1929
BC Bob [273],
Incredible.
Walking past the pret a manger on 6th in midtown – put me in mind of chi. And pret.
#110 John
I wonna be OAWN.
I’d settle for W.
NJpatient,
Been lurking for the past few weeks. Have been working in Newark for the past year, and spouse has now relocated jobs to a train town on the midtown direct, so we are house hunting. But the tax/muni debt/unfunded liability situations (which I know something about) scares the bejeezus out of me, and I don’t know that I want to buy in this state. If the spouse weren’t getting relo assistance, I would rent, no question.
Been on this board more because it seems to be the best source of info on the NJ housing market. Appears to be a lot of RE professionals, and other profs. Makes for a good board and discussion.
BTW, do people here really get together IRL? I saw references to happy hours and such, but it must be tough with a wide geo area. When I worked in the district, that was tough enough, but here?
BC (273)-
Can you say “value trap”?
Nom (278)-
There’s a contingent here that’s devoted to alcohol and human interaction. Not yer usual online community.
So far, nobody’s snapped or come on to someone else’s spouse at a GTG, either.
I think we all dump our phobias, neuroses, repressed anger (Gary) and obsessions in posting here. Very healthy.
I guess jlb is with his attorney now, preparing his restraining order against me.
I’m 48 y/o, and he’s the first person I ever encountered in my life who said he was scared of me.
look at this absurd piece of spam i just received. recession proof? come on…
http://www.trulia.com/school_study/
Right,,, build more high rise condos? That ship has sailed folks.
Can the next get together be in central jersey? Come Monday, we’re officially off to Bucks County, PA (to rent) for a year. We’ll be buying in March/April 2009.
Will still follow this board (don’t post as much, but try to read everything) and offer pithy updates in our home-buying process.
Tempted to pull a JB and get my real estate license so I can do my own homework. Already like what I see in regards to prices falling in the Bucks County area. Schools are great.
Will miss NYC a helluva a lot, though.
BC BOB,
Just for you:
Our Financial House of Cards
http://www.mises.org/story/2926
Don’t worry, blood. My husband and I will meet you at the pub in Yardley when you get moved in.
Or we could do an old tavern on 232.
There are a couple of other folks around here that might show.
http://www.visitorscentral.com/buckscountypa/restaurants.html
There is no longer any tolerance for unqualified or low-performing individuals. If you aren’t a superstar, don’t waste our time. We can hire marginal techs overseas for a quarter of your salary. If your salary is low, it is because you don’t add much value.
Spot on!
blood, two interesting weekend drives when you want to go wandering:
turtle soup http://www.geryvillepublickhouse.com/Come_Inside.html
venison/brunch (call for menu)
http://w ww.theinnatsaintpetersvillage.com/restaurant.php
Saps[285],
It only takes a small amount of money to create a ton of leverage. On the flip side, small losses result in major de-leveraging. Large losses, creates a drought.
The geniuses, financial engineers, should have been required to first trade their own capital. In addition to this, Moe, Larry and Curley should have been removed from the corner offices neons ago.
12,700!
The problem, the charltans would have a sheriff in town. Checks and balances? What a revolutionary idea. Can you imagine M3 being curtailed at 1.5%, the current rate of yoy gold production. What would the wizards do to occupy their time. Got an apple cart?
stu – 271
Pat Roubini first. Me second.
278 Nom de Geurre
What clot said at 280
281 clot
You’re unquestionably an imposing fella, but JLB’s abject cowardice is exceeded only by retrainwreck101’s
If every town disbanded their Police Force and simply hired one Marshall, they could have the Marshall, when needed, Deputize it’s Citizens into a Posse. Would save Mucho Dinero, and not operate much differently then Volunteer Fire and Emergency Services.
Somehow, I can’t see the fat @sses in my town riding in a Posse.
They’re either Eucharistic Ministers or Obnoxious Drunks.
All the other folks seemed to have left Dodge.
Confused, your capitalization is catching.
seem?
#278 Nom Deplume-
I have been serious irritated that I couldn’t make the last GTG and am now throwing out that I will buy the first round at a Gold Coast GTG, when/if it ever happens. I’m completely serious about this. I’ve probably saved at least a $100k with advice, information, suggestions, and ideas from this site.
FYI, Clot, CF, Grim et al that does not mean Laphroaig 10 or the other expensive Scotch you like. Sorry, I do want to have 20% to put down when I buy a house.
JM
“…seriously irritated…”
JM
#253 Nom Deplume-
I own a lot about 10 miles west of Milford. My father in law knows a lot of people up there. If you are serious, please send contact info to Grim. I have looked at some different things up there as well.
JM
295
JW Red ain’t so bad.
BklynHawk Says:
March 26th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
FYI, Clot, CF, Grim et al that does not mean Laphroaig 10 or the other expensive Scotch you like. Sorry, I do want to have 20% to put down when I buy a house. JM
Hawk: my grandmother’s husband (the only grandfather I ever knew) taught me two things: love the Mets & a shot of J&B every morning for “medicinal purposes”. He lived to 89.
#299 CF-
ok, mid-tier Scotch I’m good with…
JM
298…yeah…my great grandfather made it well into his nineties with the AM shot of bourbon practice….very disciplined fellow…can learn a lot from the older generation….
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) – The head of the top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc (T.N) said on Wednesday it was having trouble finding enough skilled workers to fill all the 5,000 customer service jobs it promised to return to the United States from India.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We’re having trouble finding the numbers that we need with the skills that are required to do these jobs,” AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson told a business group in San Antonio, where the company’s headquarters is located.
So far, only around 1,400 jobs have been returned to the United States of 5,000, a target it set in 2006, the company said, adding that it maintains the target.
Stephenson said he is especially distressed that in some U.S. communities and among certain groups, the high school dropout rate is as high as 50 percent.
“If I had a business that half the product we turned out was defective or you couldn’t put into the marketplace, I would shut that business down,” he said.
Gone are the days when AT&T and other U.S. companies had to hire locally, he said.
“We’re able to do new product engineering in Bangalore as easily as we’re able to do it in Austin, Texas,” he said, referring to the Indian city where many international companies have “outsourced” technical and customer support workers.
“I know you don’t like hearing that, but that’s the way it is,” he said.
Stephenson said neither he nor most Americans liked the situation, and the solution was a stronger U.S. focus on education and keeping jobs. Business needed to help, such as AT&T’s repatriation of service positions and education grants, he added.
Gold coast eh? Will have to get out a map.
Whomsoever is moving to Bucks, it is a fine move but if you work in NYC, it is a bear. Works well only if one spouse is at home, or there are no kinder.
FWIW, I lived on the corridor for the past 5 years between NY-PHL-DC. Amtrak and Septa have been like another tax. Glad not to be doing that anymore.
Al 44,
Not that there’s anything wrong with selling assets. But Jaguar and Land Rover never belonged to Ford or America in the first place.