From Newsroom New Jersey:
New Jerseyans more positive about state, but not like in the ’90s
It’s official! Garden State dwellers are feeling a little more optimistic about the state according to a Fairleigh Dickinson/Public Mind poll released Wednesday.
The poll, conducted by telephone, of 801 registered New Jersey voters was taken July 27-Aug. 2 and has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
The poll reflected the opinions of 42 percent of the population that say they feel the state is on the right track, up 7 percent from May. The cynic-count is down 7 percent from May with 48 percent saying they still feel the state is still on the wrong path.
Sixty percent of the respondents said they would prefer less government spending to higher taxes, even if it took cutting programs to reach that goal. Approval numbers for Governor Chris Christie, who took office in January, and his job performance came in just below half with 47 percent saying they approved while 36 percent gave a collective thumbs down.
A Rutgers-Eagleton poll released in November 2009 showed that only 35 percent of New Jerseyans believed things would improve over the next 10 years, while 41 percent believed conditions would remain the same and 19 percent felt things would get worse, according to The Star-Ledger article.
From the Times of Trenton:
Official: Home values match market
The Princeton tax assessor has issued a public letter defending the controversial borough and township property revaluation, saying recent sales of homes in the township suggest that the assessments were close to market value.
Many residents of the Princetons have balked at the new assessments on their homes which in some cases will lead to steep tax increases that they think are unjustified.
In his letter, tax assessor Neal Snyder also noted that township tax assessments were 14 years out of date before the revaluation and that many valuation trends during that time are the cause of the very different new assessments.
…
Property owners of more expensive homes in the two Princetons will, on average, see their taxes decrease as a result of the revaluation, while owners of more modest homes will see a tax increase, according to a Times analysis. This shift and the assessment figures have angered some residents, and many question the accuracy of the results. More than 200 people turned out for a community meeting on the issue last month.
From the NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development:
2010- July WARN Notice
COMPANY
CITY
EFFECTIVE DATE
WORKFORCE AFFECTED
ABC Supply Company
Avenel
9/1/10
86
Bank of America
Piscataway
9/17/10
89
Chartwells/Compass
Newark
9/1/10
246
Cosmetic Essence, LLC
Teterboro
8/31/10
147
Merck & Co, Inc
Lafayette
9/27/10
90
Philips Electronics North America
Union
9/10/10
82
President Container Group
Moonachie
10/1/10
234
Science Applications International Corp
Piscataway
9/18/10
49
Toshiba America Consumer Products, LLC
Wayne
9/30/10
60
1300 jobs gone in last months report, roughly 1100 this month, with most of those positions likely never to return. Thank goodness for Xanadu, we’ll all go work there!
Survey is wrong. who did they talk to ? Garfield,Newark,Trenton,Camden,Passaic,etc.
all the entitlement folks,or pension people.
From Bloomberg:
Stripper Finds Degree Profitable for Goldman Wasn’t Worth It
Carrianne Howard dreamed of designing video games, so she enrolled in a program at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, a for-profit college part-owned by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Her bachelor’s degree in game art and design cost $70,000 in tuition and fees. After she graduated in December 2007, she found a job that paid $12 an hour recruiting employees for video game companies. She lost that job a year later when her department was shuttered.
These days, Howard, 26, makes her living in a way that doesn’t require a college diploma: by stripping at the Lido Cabaret, a topless club in Cocoa Beach, Florida. “I didn’t know what else to do,” she says. “I’ve got a worthless degree. It’s like I didn’t attend school at all.”
From the AP:
Senate approves higher gov’t mortgage fees
Higher monthly fees are coming for consumers who take out home loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration, the primary source of mortgages for first-time homebuyers.
The Senate late Wednesday unanimously approved legislation giving the FHA the power to hike monthly premiums it charges to consumers. The measure now goes to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it.
The new law would affect new loans and not ones that already have been made.
…
The combined impact of lowering the upfront fee and raising the monthly fee would mean a borrower taking out a mortgage of $170,000 at an interest rate of 5 percent would pay an extra $38 a month.
From the Center for Public Integrity:
Whistleblower: Fannie Mae Bungled HAMP Anti-Foreclosure Program
Fannie Mae executives bungled their stewardship of the federal government’s massive foreclosure-prevention campaign, creating a bureaucratic muddle characterized by “mismanagement and gross waste of public funds,” according to a whistleblower lawsuit by a former Fannie Mae executive and consultant.
Caroline Herron, a former Fannie vice president who returned to the mortgage giant in 2009 as a high-level consultant, claims that the homeowner-relief effort was marred by delays, missteps and executives preoccupied with their institution’s short-term financial interests.
“It appeared that Fannie Mae officers were focused on maximizing incentive payments available to Fannie Mae under various federal programs – even if this meant wasting taxpayer money and delaying the implementation of high-priority Treasury programs,” she claims in the lawsuit.
Herron alleges that Fannie Mae officials terminated her $200-an-hour consulting work in January because she raised questions about how it was administering the federal government’s push to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, known as the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP.
Also from Newsroom NJ:
Trenton Mayor Tony Mack’s home in pending foreclosure
New Trenton Mayor Tony Mack and his wife Kara are among the latest New Jerseyans caught in the wave of foreclosures sweeping the country.
Mercer County Sheriff Kevin Larkin scheduled the Mack’s Berkeley Avenue home for sheriff’s sale on Aug. 25. Beneficial Mortgage Co. filed for foreclosure, citing $319,457 due on the home loan, an outstanding water bill, interest and costs.
The mayor’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the pending foreclosure. It was first reported by the Trentonian from the sheriff’s notice in its own legal ads.
…
Even locally, the Macks have plenty of company. The sheriff’s website listed 60 Mercer County properties up for sheriff’s sale today. RealtyTrac reported 7,778 new foreclosure filings in New Jersey in June alone.
For the first six months of 2010, the company found 38,333, including 2,742 in Mercer County.
Seems to be Michelle Oblama and her entourage are enjoying yet another splurge; this time on the southern coast of Spain. $1500 per night, on average, for 60 rooms over 6 nights runs you about $540,000. Nice. I wonder if she matched that amount to help those suffering from job losses? How many outings, affairs, vacations does this make now for the posse? I better go get ready for work so I can help pay for this thing.
Gary, if you take off the blinders of hate…
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20012789-503544.html
“She is a private citizen and is the mother of a daughter on a private trip,” [Gibbs] said. “And I think I’d leave it at that.”
CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller reports the C-32A (757) the First Lady used to fly to Spain – one of the planes that usually serves as Air Force Two, and sometimes Air Force One – operates at a Department of Defense reimbursement rate of $11,351 per hour.
So a 6.5 hour flight to Spain would run $73,781.50 – double for the round trip.
The White House says that as a policy, official trips by the first family are paid by the government but all personal elements paid are personally. Since this is a private trip, the White House seems to be suggesting that the Obamas are personally paying all costs associated with the vacation.
Camden preparing to close library system
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20100806_Camden_preparing_to_close_library_system.html
Great Employment News!!!
U.S. To Train 3,000 Offshore IT Workers
Federally-backed program aims to help outsourcers in South Asia become more fluent in areas like Java programming—and the English language.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/integration/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226500202&subSection=News
Would you like fries with that?
Supersize your meal, ma’am?
Sorry, just practicing for my new job.
renter (11)-
They have libraries in Camden?
grim (13)-
You could be a stripper, too.
Camden will be a great place to recruit front-line infantry troops for our next endless war, as there will be plenty of illiterate, desperate, violent people.
U.S. To Train 3,000 Offshore IT Workers
JB/HE,
As we all are well aware, the model going forward is contract employees. There is an enormous opportunity to run with this and turn into a very lucrative business.
The preacher man says it’s the end of time and the Mississippi River she’s goin’ dry
The interest rate is up and the stock market’s down
And you only gettin mugged if you go down town
I live back in the woods you see my woman and the kids and the dogs and me
I’ve got a shotgun a rifle and a four wheel drive
And a country boy can survive country folks can survive
I can plow a field all day long I can catch catfish from dusk till dawn
We make our own whiskey and our own smoke too
Ain’t too many things these old boys can’t do
We grow good ole tomatoes and homemade wine
And a country boy can survive country folks can survive
Because you can’t starve us out and you can’t make us run
Cause we’se them ole boys raised on shotguns
We say grace and we say mamm if you ain’t in to that we don’t give a damn
We come from the West Virginia coal mines
And the Rocky Mountains and the western skies
And we can skin a buck we can run a trotline
And a country boy can survive country folks can survive
I had a good friend in New York City he never called me by my name just hillbilly
My grandpa taught me how to live off the land and his taught him to be a business man
He used to send me pictures of the broadway nights I’d send him some homemade wine
But he was killed by a man with a switchblade knife
For forty three dollars my friend lost his life
I’d love to spit some beechnut in that dude’s eyes and shoot him with my ole 45
Cause a country boy can survive country folks can survive
Because you can’t starve us out and you can’t make us run
Cause we’se them ole boys raised on shotguns
We say grace and we say mamm if you ain’t in to that we don’t give a damn
We’re from North California and South Alabam and little towns all around this land
And we can skin a buck and run a trotline
And a country boy can survive country folks can survive
A country boy can survive country folks can survive
15. Bleach….Eyes….Ahhh
trotline=troutline…..(damn interweb typos)
#9 I’m waiting for her to say, “Let them eat cake.”
Ugly payroll numbers.
Dandy Don on the dollar; Good Night the party’s over.
Revisions might just be uglier than the headline. 100k downward revision for June? Nice work fellas.
Not sure if this was discussed yet. You guys are going to love it.
Notes From Underground: Markets awash with a rumor about an Obama August surprise
“There is a Reuters blog making the rounds that the Obama administration is planning a surprise for the 15 million homeowners who are undergoing severe stress on their mortgages. It is surmised that Fannie and Freddie are going to absorb the mortgage losses by writing new mortgages based on the depreciated value of the homes in foreclosure. This will be a major act of forebearance on the part of the two NATIONALIZED mortgage lenders.”
http://yrah53.wordpress.com/2010/08/05/christmas/
Print and buy a trillion more of mbs, buy long dated treasuries, increase swap lines with ECB’s, etc.. One major problem; Got demand?
Al [25],
There is only one option available; print until you die, trash all paper.
27. Indeed. My question is whether to buy more miners now before QE 2.0 or wait until the flash crash 2.0
26.
Wantan. If they buy a trillion more MBS that could push rates sub 4%. Which would mean its time to refinance once again. Im like a refinancing machine. Thanks Ben
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
What is wrong with this picture?
12 – HEHE – “Despite President Obama’s pledge to retain more hi-tech jobs in the U.S., a federal agency run by a hand-picked Obama appointee has launched a $36 million program to train workers, including 3,000 specialists in IT related functions, in South Asia.”
From the jobs release: “In July, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was little changed at 6.6 million. These individuals made up 44.9 percent of unemployed workers.”
Call me stupid but these folks sure could do with some training in a new line of work.
Just saying…How about a $36 million program to address OUR unemployed.
sx (20)-
No. It’s trotline…a series of baited hooks on a rope, usually stretched across a channel or river. Allows for maximum catch with minimum interruption of beer consumption.
grim (24)-
Hey! Lying is hard work.
Al [28],
Don’t be a d*ck for a tic. Some will wait for their buy limit orders to get hit, others will step up and buy the market. Fantasy sellers of RE have pie in the sky sell limit orders. On the flip side, fantasy buyers of miners have pie in the sky buy limit orders.
Use chaos to sell to the late comers, not to buy a train that has left the station.
I bet Mr. O listens to this type of stuff when he is doing deals.
Shout out to GM, Ford and Chrysler you playas, Hey AIG, Citi and BAC don’t be playa hatas, you need a fine ride for me to pop my booty into, yo Fannie/Freddie you better shape up or you gona need to get roughed up, Me and Mrs. O gonna go toe to toe and slap you up to head until the playa’s dead
name the music act below for extra points.
Mum mum mum mah
Mum mum mum mah
I wanna hold em’ like they do in Texas Plays
Fold em’ let em’ hit me raise it baby stay with me
(I love it)
Love game intuition play the cards with Spades to start
And after he’s been hooked I’ll play the one that’s on his heart
Oh, oh oh oh oh, o-o-o-o-o-oh
I’ll get him hot, show him what I’ve got
Oh, oh oh oh oh, o-o-o-o-o-oh
I’ll get him hot, show him what I’ve got
Can’t read my,
Can’t read my
No he can’t read-a my…
Russia. On fire. Literally.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/russia-fire-extinguishers-interactive-visualization-country-fire
Could jj actually be Lady Gaga?
35.
Marc Faber said the next war would be a dirty war. Weather weapons ftw.
Who’s next? How about some torrential rains to overflow the Three Gorges Dam wiping out everything along the Yangtze River if China doesnt revalue their currency.
You cant fight a land war in Asia but you sure as hell can starve them out.
“Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people…. [There is also an] inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and … degeneracy of manners and of morals…. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.
A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defence agst. foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.
Oppressors can tyrannize only when they achieve a standing army, an enslaved press, and a disarmed populace
A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained in arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country.”
-James Madison
http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2010/08/economic_policy
Christina Romer Exits
More Weather Doom.
Massive Evacuation Under Way as Pakistan Floods Spread South
“Pakistani authorities began evacuating more than 500,000 people from flood-risk areas in the south Thursday, as the overall number of people affected by devastating floodwaters topped four million.”
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/Thousands-in-Pakistan-Flee-as-Floodwaters-Spread-South-100015244.html
Dam thats a lot of displaced people in a country on the verge of societal breakdown.
The horsemen ride on.
You can spend millions training “South Asia” persons (might as well just say India) but the quality will still suck. You get what you pay for, very little.
Every company that has outsourced to “South Asia” has nothing but frustrated customers.
31. I stand corrected! Cool!
39. “academic stars” are all he has and we see where that has gotten the DEMs. Say hello to a major sweep in the Nov. Elections…and away we go. Back to the new normal.
c6RQZ5 ahccftmaasnl, [url=http://babxjjabcocs.com/]babxjjabcocs[/url], [link=http://qaooovrxikkn.com/]qaooovrxikkn[/link], http://ebxztwrmfihz.com/
Dam the dollar is tanking hard today.
Index 80.27
-.56
“You cant fight a land war in Asia but you sure as hell can starve them out.”
The US already has military bases at every single trade route in the Pacific that China relies on for petroleum imports. We also nearly every Arab Nation that has the ability to supply petroleum to China. The only exception being Iran. It’s not a coincidence that the Bush administration was eager to ramp up tensions with Iran. Hillary seems to be eager to do the same. If you squeeze of the petroleum during a conflict, the economy of that nation will implode. We basically squeezed off the petroleum supply from Japan during WW2 while they were invading China which was their primary reason for attacking us. Japan, a nation that always imported 100% of their petroleum, knew that the second they ran out of petroleum, they were done for. I doubt China has an interest in waging war with the US.
““academic stars” are all he has and we see where that has gotten the DEMs. Say hello to a major sweep in the Nov. Elections…and away we go. Back to the new normal.”
I’d love to see the personal investment portfolio’s of these academic stars. I’m willing to bet half the people on this forum know more about finance and investment than these clowns.
http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB10001424052748703748904575411713335505250.html
Opinion piece from Peggy Noonan: “American Is at Risk of Boiling Over”
“But I’ve never seen the gap wider than it is now. I think it is a chasm. In Washington they don’t seem to be looking around and thinking, Hmmm, this nation is in trouble, it needs help. They’re thinking something else. “
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2010/08/christina-romer-said-to-resign-over.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JessesCafeAmericain+%28Jesse%27s+Caf%C3%A9+Am%C3%A9ricain%29
More on Romer’s exit from Jesse.
We are shipping the jobs over there so we don’t have to work them over here!
“I’m willing to bet half the people on this forum know more about finance and investment than these clowns.”
Ben,
Half? You’re being much too kind to the clowns.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-06/dodd-warns-of-senate-fight-if-obama-picks-warren-to-head-consumer-agency.html
“Dodd: Warren Nomination to Consumer Bureau Could Stir a Fight”
I am so sick of this dude.
51 – BC
I’m just a lowly second grade teacher and even I can see these folks are so out of touch that they are ruining my country.
“Half? You’re being much too kind to the clowns.”
You’re probably right.
Cindy people are mad cause old rules were go to college get a good job, marry a good wife, buy a house with a 30 year mortgage work for company with a pension and invest in S&P 500 stocks or buy 5% FDIC CDs have a few kids retire early and enjoy your company health care and pension and leave a nice intertance for kids. Fat and stupid whole life on autopilot.
Today it is all timing, when to buy a house, when to buy stocks, when to lock in long term rates, when to sell, manage your career, netrworking, two incomes, day care, leased cars etc. The average person in USA is pretty stupid when it comes to financial matters and some suffer from lack of decision.
AIG retirees left who money in AIG stock, people letting CDs roll over short term who now are earning nothing, people who bought houses needing two incomes where one got laid off, people leasing cars who lose job then lose car.
Falling interest rates, Falling Stock Prices and Falling Home prices were telegraphed to the masses from the summer of 2007 when money markets and auction rates securities were starting to crack. Time to get out of stocks, limit RE expsoure, lock in a fixed rate mortgage, go long bonds or lock in at least 5 year cds. The average person read the tabloids and ate their fast food and did not see what I saw coming.
I would say opportnity is much better now. The smart and nimble have nothing to fear and sit back and wait for the masses to panic. In June/July in BP and European “blip” I jumped back in and locked in some good bonds. Now back on sideline. Who are people selling in a panic and what are they re-investing in I don’t know. But these are people whose 401Ks have been distroyed.
I likes second grade, Miss. Donahue did not beat us. Was a good break between the beatings in first and third grade.
Cindy says:
August 6, 2010 at 10:33 am
51 – BC
I’m just a lowly second grade teacher and even I can see these folks are so out of touch that they are ruining my country.
Cindy, we can expect to see Dodd become a major lobbyist for finance/insurance companies in a few months.
Nom – You’ve got mail…
JJ – 56
No, I wouldn’t beat you but I would subject you to my horrific guitar playing and you would have to sing “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” over and over again.
thank god the gop congress of 2006 is history. That 4.5% unemployment rate and several trillions smaller debt was awful. We got change!
Sas3 – 57 – So true….
In the words of Grim – hummph…(I think that’s how he spells it.)
“Cindy, we can expect to see Dodd become a major lobbyist for finance/insurance companies in a few months.”
Funny, I thought he was acting in this capacity since he was named Chairman od the Senate Banking Comm. My bad.
of
62 – BC – Good one…
You have a great day all….
http://seekingalpha.com/article/219124-bis-we-have-failed-to-learn-from-the-nordic-crisis?source=dashboard_macro-view
Oh, one last one from Seeking Alpha – Pragmatic Capitalist
Long Island Rail Road Union workers with OT make like 200K a year with early retirement, big pension and free medical for life and can ride for free. Working on the Rail Road is a great job. Even better when they get on train at stop next to home that is when work starts and ends when they get off.
I would love to work on the rail road.
Cindy says:
August 6, 2010 at 10:51 am
JJ – 56
No, I wouldn’t beat you but I would subject you to my horrific guitar playing and you would have to sing “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” over and over again.
Re [32];
grim (24)-
Hey! Lying is hard work.
Quoth the real estate professional.
jj, I used NJTransit and LIRR for a couple of months recently. LIRR beats the cr@p out of NJTransit any day. Better trains and lower prices.
S
Milwaukee Teachers fight to get Viagra included in their Medical Benefits
http://cbs3.com/wireapnational/Despite.facing.budget.2.1845936.html
36. like elvis — lady gaga is in everyone.
Milwaukee Teachers Fight For Viagra Drug CoverageRYAN J. FOLEY, Associated Press Writer
MADISON, Wis. (AP) ― With the district in a financial crisis and hundreds of its members facing layoffs, the Milwaukee teachers union is taking a peculiar stand: fighting to get its taxpayer-funded Viagra back.
The union has asked a judge to order the school board to again include Pfizer Inc.’s erectile dysfunction drug and similar pills in its health insurance plans.
The filing is the latest in a two-year legal campaign in which the union has argued, so far unsuccessfully, that the board’s policy of excluding erectile dysfunction drugs discriminates against male employees. The union says Viagra, Cialis, Levitra and others are necessary treatment for “an exclusively gender-related condition.”
But lawyers for the school board say the drugs were excluded in 2005 to save money, and there is no discrimination because they are used primarily for recreational sex and not out of medical necessity.
Taking out short sales and Fk,house prices are up in NY
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-05/morgan-stanley-sees-san-francisco-double-dip-housing-drop-as-nyc-bottoms.html
thank god the gop congress of 2006 is history. That 4.5% unemployment rate and several trillions smaller debt was awful. We got change!
Yes, we all miss Clinton and his peace and surpluses, but life goes on…
Taking out short sales and Fk,house prices are up in NY
I tried to use that excuse once with one of my experimental stats profs.
You know, if you remove all the failing assignment grades from my records as outliers, I’ve actually got an A in this course.
soak the rich says:
August 6, 2010 at 10:57 am
thank god the gop congress of 2006 is history. That 4.5% unemployment rate and several trillions smaller debt was awful. We got change!
———————————————————–
The GOP and Clinton administration planted the seeds of destruction long before 2006 and GWB supplied the fertilizer. Epic economic turmoil does not happen overnight. Get a clue.
“Taking out short sales and Fk,house prices are up in NY”
LMAO. If we removed Timmy’s strings, would he be a puppet?
If you take out my heart, I’m a stat.
Cindy (59)-
You know “Anarchy in the UK” by chance?
Camden’s not getting rid of libraries. They’re just considering converting them to indoor bike trails.
sx (69)-
From seeing a few pictures of Lady Gaga, I’d wager she’s had everyone in her.
“…like elvis — lady gaga is in everyone.”
BC (74)-
I thought if we removed your heart, you’d be a quant.
From CNBC’s web site. Makes me want to puke a grand cru. “I think that the big picture is that there is a jobs recovery, there is momentum, but we’re at this inflection point where we’re just starting to see the gain — just not as fast as we’d like,” said the head of an online job-listings site.
“White House seems to be suggesting that the Obamas are personally paying all costs associated with the vacation”
Highly doubtful they’re personally writing a check for a $600,000+ week-long vacation when their net worth is about $2-3 million.
80 Double Down – I believe what they are saying is that they are paying for just the personal costs of the trip. Like probably just their own room and what it would cost them to fly there commercial not the actual costs of the trip. The military jet, extra rooms for secret service etc, are likely being billed to the taxpayer, as they are “security requirements” because of the Obama’s first family status.
#80 Down: They seem to be going with a bunch of friends (40 of then?) and I presume some will chip in their share.
sastry (82)-
Please tell me you really aren’t this naive.
This bank teller obviously must think she’s a public employee.
Clemencia Garzon is mad. Very very mad. Mad enough to dress up like a ghost (although she looks more like a mummy) and to stand outside Bank of America branches in the broiling heat to gather attention to her case. Today, she’s been standing outside the branch on Valley Road in Upper Montclair.
According to Garzon’s blog, she was a model bank teller who was never the same after slipping on some oil in a grocery store in 2006. She claims that when she asked the Ridgewood, NJ branch of Bank of America to accommodate her request to perform her teller duties sitting down, she was required to ask each individual customer whether they objected.
On October 04, 2008 I had an Arthroscopic medial Meniscectomy on my Knee due to I had fell. I wake up with pain and go through the day in pain. The manager at the bank didn’t understood or related to what it is like to work stand up. I became medical discriminated. I was not permitted to be seated while working. I tried to give the manager all doctor’s notes but she refused to see it. My doctor mailed to the bank a note asking the very modest request of being able to sit but this request was denied. After several plead to allowing me to seat and my excruciating pain was unbearable the manager finally told me that I could sit. However, I had to ask the customer if they did not mind me sitting. This was very embarrassing to me.
I choose to be a GHOST because this way I feel the DEAD and the life appearing as a visible form. I have decorated my ghost costume with parts of the letter that I sent to some people asking for help.
http://www.baristanet.com/2010/08/the_ghost_of_bank_of_america.php#more
No way they are paying out of pocket. Secret service, commo, cost of moving hard cars, C-17s for movement, embassy support, hotel rooms (5 star accomodations with suites) incidentials (in room videos etc)… Dudes, this is an 8 figure plus vacation. I’ve been on the receiving end, trust me.
52: Cindy,
Far be it from me to correct a teacher or put words in your mouth, but I think you you misspelled douche.
I am so sick of this dude.
good read
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-06/no-free-lunch-for-americans-as-deficits-bedevil-backers-of-bush-s-tax-cuts.html
Gator (84)-
Only Baristanet would devote a thread to this whining nutjob. Hopefully, she and her evil employer will both come out of this much worse for the wear.
Doom 88 – I so look forward to your comments there! And please – arthroscopic menisectomy? Can’t get more minor than that. I was back at work days after mine.
In another sign of the utter stupidity of American Civilization, Tori Spelling’s 3 year old has 26,119 followers of his twitter feed.
Name Liam McDermott
Location Liam’s World
Bio Daily Quotes from 3 year old Liam McDermott as dictated to mom Tori Spelling (Tori&Dean:HSH on Oxygen)
http://twitter.com/LiamsWorld
Gator (89)-
Unlike this whining ginch, you are not 265 lbs. of pork rind and bad attitude.
When I was a teller we stood all day, wanted it to appear we were ready to help at a moments notice, in a suit no less. Thursdays was late night and after a ten am to 8pm shift boy my dogs were barking.
Nice little short sale just hit the market today: 660 Larger Cross Rd, Bedminster (near US Equestrian Team HQ). Asking 1.95mm, 10+ acres, barn/stables, access to riding trails.
No one will be spared.
Exotic Deals Put Denver Schools Deeper in Debt
In the spring of 2008, the Denver public school system needed to plug a $400 million hole in its pension fund. Bankers at JPMorgan Chase offered what seemed to be a perfect solution.
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David Zalubowski/Associated Press
DEFENDER OF THE DEAL Senator Michael F. Bennet of Colorado, above, who as superintendent of schools in 2008 recommended the financing, said no one could have predicted the financial crisis that caused it to go sour.
Payback Time
Banks and Public Money
Articles in this series are examining the consequences of, and attempts to deal with, growing public and private debts.
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Royal Bank of Canada
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Karl Gehring/Denver Post
OPPOSING VIEWS Thomas Boasberg, now Denver schools chief, says critics are politically motivated.
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The bankers said that the school system could raise $750 million in an exotic transaction that would eliminate the pension gap and save tens of millions of dollars annually in debt costs — money that could be plowed back into Denver’s classrooms, starved in recent years for funds.
To members of the Denver Board of Education, it sounded ideal. It was complex, involving several different financial institutions and transactions. But Michael F. Bennet, now a United States senator from Colorado who was superintendent of the school system at the time, and Thomas Boasberg, then the system’s chief operating officer, persuaded the seven-person board of the deal’s advantages, according to interviews with its members.
Rather than issue a plain-vanilla bond with a fixed interest rate, Denver followed its bankers’ suggestions and issued so-called pension certificates with a derivative attached; the debt carried a lower rate but it could also fluctuate if economic conditions changed.
The Denver schools essentially made the same choice some homeowners make: opting for a variable-rate mortgage that offered lower monthly payments, with the risk that they could rise, instead of a conventional, fixed-rate mortgage that offered larger, but unchanging, monthly payments.
The Denver school board unanimously approved the JPMorgan deal and it closed in April 2008, just weeks after a major investment bank, Bear Stearns, failed. In short order, the transaction went awry because of stress in the credit markets, problems with the bond insurer and plummeting interest rates.
Since it struck the deal, the school system has paid $115 million in interest and other fees, at least $25 million more than it originally anticipated.
To avoid mounting expenses, the Denver schools are looking to renegotiate the deal. But to unwind it all, the schools would have to pay the banks $81 million in termination fees, or about 19 percent of its $420 million payroll
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/business/06denver.html?src=me&ref=business
Doom #83, it will be a PR and ethics nightmare if there are any public funds used. I presume similar figures would apply for private vacations of families of past presidents, no?
SA3 yeah like $3-5M weddings paid for no doubt with tax deuctible contributions to someone’s favorite charitiy.
doh!
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2010/08/06/hps-ceo-mark-hurd-resigns/?mod=yahoobarrons
Requirement: wax first……request the “Back, Crack & Sack”……
15.Final Doom says:
August 6, 2010 at 8:21 am
grim (13)- You could be a stripper, too.
mark hurd , probably had a load on , put the hand down the pants
#55 its all timing, yes your right, especially when to die!!!
My short sale died….apparently we weren’t offering BOA market value for the house. The story we were told was that BOA had an appraisal from fall 2009 stating the house is worth 425. It was on the market at 400 for 6 months and didn’t sell but this appraisal somehow supercedes that truth.
Magical thinking on a corporate level…………
79, DL “From CNBC’s web site. Makes me want to puke a grand cru. “I think that the big picture is that there is a jobs recovery, there is momentum, but we’re at this inflection point where we’re just starting to see the gain — just not as fast as we’d like,” said the head of an online job-listings site.”
I have a feeling the original owner of that quote does not understand the basic mathematical concept of an inflection point. If we truly are in a jobs recovery, the curve is concave upward. If we are now at an inflection point on this same curve, that signals the curve is about to trend concave downward (jobs numbers heading lower).
what a fool
http://www.observer.com/2010/real-estate/too-rich-haggle-andrew-ross-sorkin-pays-over-asking-price-uws-co-op
briefly, on the 250k salary thing in the Northeast: you guys are being silly. Get real.
If you want to be a baller, and drive a luxury car and an SUV (maybe $1000 a month), AND buy a house bigger than you need AND have a monthly clothing budget AND dine out at restaurants three nights a week AND send your kids to private school …
sure, 250k a year isn’t that much.
but who needs all that? millionaire next door, guys. don’t act like you haven’t read it.
Two Words for you Yikes…..Marriage Penalty.
renter (101)-
Sorry you had to suffer their stupidity. They will own that house forever.
yikes (103)-
Sorkin is full of shit. Typical of the co-opted media, he talks a snarky line but pulls his punches when it’s time to lay it down.
106:thank you
My 9 year old said “I don’t know why they call it a short sale, it should be called a long sale.”
Battle Looms Over Huge Costs of Public Pensions
There’s a class war coming to the world of government pensions.
The haves are retirees who were once state or municipal workers. Their seemingly guaranteed and ever-escalating monthly pension benefits are breaking budgets nationwide.
The have-nots are taxpayers who don’t have generous pensions. Their 401(k)s or individual retirement accounts have taken a real beating in recent years and are not guaranteed. And soon, many of those people will be paying higher taxes or getting fewer state services as their states put more money aside to cover those pension checks.
At stake is at least $1 trillion. That’s trillion, with a “t,” as in titanic and terrifying.
The figure comes from a study by the Pew Center on the States that came out in February. Pew estimated a $1 trillion gap as of fiscal 2008 between what states had promised workers in the way of retiree pension, health care and other benefits and the money they currently had to pay for it all. And some economists say that Pew is too conservative and the problem is two or three times as large.
So a question of extraordinary financial, political, legal and moral complexity emerges, something that every one of us will be taking into town meetings and voting booths for years to come: Given how wrong past pension projections were, who should pay to fill the 13-figure financing gap?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/07/your-money/07money.html?_r=1&hp
It’s all for the kids, right?
Milwaukee teachers fight for Vi*gr* drug coverage
MADISON, Wis. — With the district in a financial crisis and hundreds of its members facing layoffs, the Milwaukee teachers union is taking a peculiar stand: fighting to get its taxpayer-funded Vi*gra back.
The union has asked a judge to order the school board to again include Pfizer Inc.’s er*ctile d*sfunction drug and similar pills in its health insurance plans.
The filing is the latest in a two-year legal campaign in which the union has argued, so far unsuccessfully, that the board’s policy of excluding er*ctile d*sfunction drugs discriminates against male employees. The union says Vi*gra, Ci*lis, L*vitra and others are necessary treatment for “an exclusively gender-related condition.”
But lawyers for the school board say the drugs were excluded in 2005 to save money, and there is no discrimination because they are used primarily for recreational s*x and not out of medical necessity.
The filing last month comes as the union, the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association, is also protesting hundreds of layoff notices issued to teachers for the coming school year. Citing a “financial crisis” caused by exploding benefit costs and revenue shortfalls, the district’s outgoing superintendent proposed laying off 682 employees in April.
The district gave layoff notices to 482 teachers in June, but recalled 89 of them last month. Additional teachers may be called back, but these are still the first layoffs of Milwaukee teachers in decades.
At least one lawmaker questioned why the union is fighting for Vi*gra while teachers are losing their jobs. A consultant for the school board has estimated that reinstating the drug benefit would cost $786,000 per year — the cost to keep perhaps a dozen first-year teachers employed.
State Rep. Jason Fields argues that the money could be better spent any number of ways — including saving jobs.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Fields, a Milwaukee Democrat. “The fact that is the point of contention is kind of frightening. What are our priorities? I’m all for love and peace. But almost 1 million dollars? And you go to court over this issue?”
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iGvAw44XehrKzx43-IAcbHxMrEiQD9HE1PHO1
[20] essex,
No worries. It isn’t as though I thought you were a self-sufficient country boy, so I didn’t catch it.
“76. dan says:
August 6, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Camden’s not getting rid of libraries. They’re just considering converting them to indoor bike trails.”
POST OF THE DAY!!!!!!!!!
Abolish all public unions. Declare muncipal BK. Cut off the leeches before they bleed us all dry.
Folks, this problem has an easy fix.
[48] Cindy
Peggy Noonan wasn’t the only one saying things like that in 1994. My mom thinks I am a fcuking Nostradamus because I said pretty much the same thing at pretty much the same time.
Now, like her, I hope that I am not right. But I say that with some trepitation because it has recently occurred to me that being right may be a better option than being wrong. That is because I have come to the awful realization that things could be worse than she and I considered possible.
Is it time for scotch yet?
Home from the pit. One of the fu.ckin busiest Friday’s ever. Two heart attacks, septic ancient people, managed to send home about 5 of the people I saw today.
On thecell phone with First Valley Funding when security goes rip-tearing down the hall….I’m off duty and hence, now running in the opposite direction. Bad enough I got snagged to put an intravenous line in some gorked-out patient who the nurses needed help with… Yes. Never Mind. I’ve answered my own question: yes. it is time for scotch.
sl
The Nompound is a little closer to reality. Located some properties that meet most or all of the major Nompound criteria, at least on paper, for undeveloped land. One parcel is 300+ acres and has surface water features. All are near a major ski resort. Am now making inquiries, researching the areas, and crunching numbers.
Hard part about this is convincing potential investors to come into something that is NOT a turnkey operation right now. Since there is no housing on site, I have to find out how much is permitted and then figure out feasibility. Even with fractional ownership, that will cost prospective nompounders north of $70K. On the plus side, at least for me, it is near a family member’s Nompound.
Last.
111. Busted! I lived on a golf course in Kentucky. Go figger.
DL – 117 – Can’t sleep – so your last is basically my first.
Nom – 114 – Her line “Pessimism isn’t in our DNA” hit me hard. It isn’t who I am but I have watched that change over these last few years. Now I can see that my childrens’ futures will not be as promising and open to opportunity as mine was. It has been a hard pill to swallow.
Doom – 75 –
“You know “Anarchy in the UK” by chance?”
No, that ditty alludes me. And I’m pretty sure “It’s a Small World” won’t cover the bases.
Working full days now to get ready for the school year. I don’t officially report until Wednesday the 18th. Staff meeting on the 18th, district meeting – in-service on the 19th , then a furlough day the 20th. The kids come on the 23rd. If I were not working now, I would waste two weeks of the school year getting up and running.
So I am back to reading/posting in the AM and trying to catch up at the end of the day. With the pay cut and furlough days, being the faculty senate rep. won’t be any fun this year. I have a job. For that, I am truly thankful.
The MTA approved $600 million dollars’ worth of overtime compensation last year, according to an audit by state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. That means many MTA employees more than doubled their salaries through accumulated overtime pay.
Here’s what 600 million dollars looks like in numeral format for you recent public high school graduates: $600,000,000
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/MTA-Spends–100112929.html
Just got a knock on the door from the Montclair PD. Someone entered the next door neighbor’s house last night and stole their laptop.
Our crazy dog was barking up a storm around 4AM. Looks like he saved us from the same fate. Just gave him a big hug and a pigs ear to say thanks.
What, no scrambled eggs for breakfast too?
Oh Grim, he is getting a little bit of everything. Just don’t tell Stu :)
I think he’ll have to get a trip to the Farmer’s Market today and an extra long walk.
Local, state governments cut school days, buses and streetlights amid downturn
Education, transportation and even public safety aren’t safe as budget axes swing
Plenty of businesses and governments furloughed workers this year, but Hawaii went further — it furloughed its schoolchildren. Public schools across the state closed on 17 Fridays during the past school year to save money, giving students the shortest academic year in the nation and sending working parents scrambling to find care for them.
Many transit systems have cut service to make ends meet, but Clayton County, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta, decided to cut all the way, and shut down its entire public bus system. Its last buses ran on March 31, stranding 8,400 daily riders.
Even public safety has not been immune to the budget ax. In Colorado Springs, the downturn will be remembered, quite literally, as a dark age: the city switched off a third of its 24,512 streetlights to save money on electricity, while trimming its police force and auctioning off its police helicopters.
Faced with the steepest and longest decline in tax collections on record, state, county and city governments have resorted to major life-changing cuts in core services like education, transportation and public safety that, not too long ago, would have been unthinkable. And services in many areas could get worse before they get better.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38603837/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times/
Easy….
narchy in the U.K.
C F C F
1. I am an antichrist, I am an anarchist,
C F
don’t know what I want, but I know how to get it.
C
I wanna destroy the passers by,
G F C – G
‘cos I wanna be anarchy. No dog’s body !
C F C F
2. Anarchy for the UK, it’s coming some time and maybe,
C F
I give a wrong time stop a traffic line.
C
Your future dream is a shopping scheme,
G F C – G
’cause I wanna be anarchy. It’s in the city.
C F
3. How many ways to get what you want,
C F
I use the best I use the rest.
C F C
I use the enemy, I use anarchy,
G F C – G
’cause I wanna be anarchy. It’s the only way to be.
C F C F
4. Is this the MPLA, or is this the UDA,
C F C
or is this the IRA, I thought it was the UK,
G F C
or just another country, another council tenancy.
G F C ~ G F C
I wanna be an anarchist, and l wanna be an anarchist.
G F C
And l wanna be an anarchist. I get pissed, destroy!
(Sex Pistols)
Final Doom-Muzzled says:
August 6, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Nice little short sale just hit the market today: 660 Larger Cross Rd, Bedminster (near US Equestrian Team HQ). Asking 1.95mm, 10+ acres, barn/stables, access to riding trails.
Just ran a zillow on it … man, the pool is far from the house. looks like quite a hike. for a house that is 220 years old … no way I’m paying over a mil for it. looks like the owner bought in 1983, probably on the cheap (i’d guess $300k? maybe 500k?) and they’ll make money regardless.
duh – just saw the owner bought in 1983 for $325k.
Just sell it for 750k and walk away with a nice profit. don’t be greedy and ask $1.5 mil, nobody’s paying close to that.
Cindy: I have time zones in my favor. I also have Bloody Marys for breakfast.
A couple I work with just bought a house in Doylestown for $425k. Asking was 450. He had to do a transfer with the money he made on a rental he sold in Va. and has to rent this to avoid cap gains. The couple was divorcing and he bid two days after it came on the market. He probably overpaid but we may end up being neighbors so I kept my mouth shut.
yikes (126)-
Zillow is wrong. The guy is massively underwater.
Can’t walk away with a penny on a short sale. Banks won’t let you.
so the foreclosure next door finally sold. The guy who bought it had to then hire a lawyer to get the illegals out. Turns out they had not been paying rent for two years. So the “tenants” get free public representation and demand that the new owner find them suitable housing. He does but they balk because…..wait for it….THEY WOULD BE EXPECTED TO PAY RENT SO ITS NOT THE SAME AS NOT PAYING RENT. The bitch in this house got the cops out on my husband when he politely asked one of the guys living there to turn down the car alarm that was going off every 15 mins and making it impossible to sleep. He had to ask two times, so he was “harrassing” them.
SL: Any thoughts to share?
http://www.slate.com/id/2262769/
DR/SONJ 131
I have so many stories related to this…. some great, some agita-inducing.
Would love to tell my tales at a GTG. I’d type them right now but I’m enjoying being outside far too much right now.
This Slate article author is a moron and his article is sickeningly false. They should rename Slate to Slant.
sl
130 – What I saw last week reminded me once again of the utter peril of purchasing
at sheriffs sale. In some counties the courts expect new owners
To subsidize the living situations of the “tenants” of the former
Owner – for years! Precious few courts will sign an order
For the sheriff to remove the occupants.
Couldn’t he just have vomited on her?
Barbara says:
August 7, 2010 at 2:04 pm
The bitch in this house got the cops out on my husband when he politely asked one of the guys living there to turn down the car alarm that was going off every 15 mins and making it impossible to sleep. He had to ask two times, so he was “harrassing” them.
The climate is so bad that some sheriffs will not
Execute on a writ of possession – which is a command of the court,
w/o a further order to remove the occupants
Samivel
the ownercant press charges of tresspassing?
When will the sanity return? That is what I want to know.
The occupants present a back dated lease w/ former owner
Which stops judicial process in it’s tracks. Lease is a sham but
New owner is forced to offer new lease. Issue: what’s fmv rent?
Good luck getting this. Housing situation is so dire lease won’t be
Determined a sham & new owner is stuck w/ the occupants he/she
Finds.
The anti foreclosure/eviction well runs deep & is national
In scope. These elements share info on daily basis.
116.
Nom, I do miss the nompound talk. Its time to break it out again. 300 acres is a sh_tload of land. I would think smaller and more mobile. Im looking at properties along the Canadian border. Dirt cheap, fresh water, with utilities. Sure the house may suck but its 4 walls and a roof for less than 80k. You could canoe across the border if you wanted.
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/16524-State-Rt30-North_Constable_NY_12926_1099656713
http://www.askbutwhy.com/2009/08/sir-james-goldsmith-interview-on.html
Posted by a commenter @ TBP. Originally from 1994 – Just try to ignore Charlie Rose and Laura Tyson and listen to Sir James Goldsmith on NAFTA, GATT, reduced wages and unemployment.
NJGator says:
August 7, 2010 at 8:13 am
Just got a knock on the door from the Montclair PD. Someone entered the next door neighbor’s house last night and stole their laptop.
Our crazy dog was barking up a storm around 4AM. Looks like he saved us from the same fate.
1) Did the neighbor leave their doors unlocked?
2) How, in this day and age, do people NOT have burglar alarms? They aren’t expensive.
Cindy, thanks for the video. I just sent an email to Tyson to express my disgust.
Most ridiculous realtor names/signs.
Just cuz I’m awake…
sl
From the Philly ink. Al Heavens is a tool. He does nothing but re-cycle NAR talking points.
“Condo sales booming across Philadelphia.”
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/homepage/20100808_Condo_sales_booming_across_Philadelphia.html
samivel (133)-
That’s why you have to do an Oklahoma Eviction: you, a couple of pals, and some aluminum baseball bats.
Only thing that’s guaranteed to work in NJ.
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