From the Record:
Storms may push homeowners’ insurance rates higher
Homeowners’ insurance rates may go up as insurers seek to offset losses expected from the unusual pre-Halloween snowstorm that socked the region on Saturday, and from Hurricane Irene and other severe weather, according to industry observers.
“Rates usually don’t go up because of one storm,” said Loretta Worters, vice president of the Insurance Information Institute. “If there’s been a lot of disasters in certain areas over a period of years, there could be higher premiums where they see there is a lot of loss in a particular area.”
Some homeowners’ rates have already gone up this year, said Jennifer Manthey, a customer service representative at insurance brokerage Insurance Center of North Jersey in Hackensack, which received about 10 homeowners’ claims Monday morning.
“It’s unfortunate when people have been paying premiums for 20 years and they put in a small claim and their rates go through the roof,” Manthey said.
The average cost of a homeowners policy in New Jersey in 2008 was relatively modest at $691, ranking 25th among the states, according to the latest statistics available from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. That was below the national average of $791. The highest-priced state was Texas with an average annual premium of $1,460.
Last year a number of insurers received permission to raise homeowners’ rates. The state’s top homeowner policy underwriter, State Farm Fire and Casualty, was granted permission for a 4.6 percent increase.
Most of the claims for this weekend’s storm will be from fallen trees and limbs damaging automobiles and roofs, Worters said. Tree removal is covered only if the tree hits a house under most policies.
J. Robert Hunter, an insurance expert from the Consumer Federation of America, said that even with high losses this year from storms and tornadoes, the property and casualty industry is flush with capital, and most insurers shouldn’t need to raise rates. Snowstorms such as the one that hit the region this weekend should already be figured into pricing models, he said.
“Theoretically, there shouldn’t be a major impact,” Hunter said. “Sometimes insurance companies use the opportunity of events like these to try to raise rates they wanted to raise anyway.”
first good morning
From the NY Times:
What the Costumes Reveal
On Friday, the law firm of Steven J. Baum threw a Halloween party. The firm, which is located near Buffalo, is what is commonly referred to as a “foreclosure mill” firm, meaning it represents banks and mortgage servicers as they attempt to foreclose on homeowners and evict them from their homes. Steven J. Baum is, in fact, the largest such firm in New York; it represents virtually all the giant mortgage lenders, including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.
The party is the firm’s big annual bash. Employees wear Halloween costumes to the office, where they party until around noon, and then return to work, still in costume. I can’t tell you how people dressed for this year’s party, but I can tell you about last year’s.
That’s because a former employee of Steven J. Baum recently sent me snapshots of last year’s party. In an e-mail, she said that she wanted me to see them because they showed an appalling lack of compassion toward the homeowners — invariably poor and down on their luck — that the Baum firm had brought foreclosure proceedings against.
When we spoke later, she added that the snapshots are an accurate representation of the firm’s mind-set. “There is this really cavalier attitude,” she said. “It doesn’t matter that people are going to lose their homes.” Nor does the firm try to help people get mortgage modifications; the pressure, always, is to foreclose. I told her I wanted to post the photos on The Times’s Web site so that readers could see them. She agreed, but asked to remain anonymous because she said she fears retaliation.
Let me describe a few of the photos. In one, two Baum employees are dressed like homeless people. One is holding a bottle of liquor. The other has a sign around her neck that reads: “3rd party squatter. I lost my home and I was never served.” My source said that “I was never served” is meant to mock “the typical excuse” of the homeowner trying to evade a foreclosure proceeding.
A second picture shows a coffin with a picture of a woman whose eyes have been cut out. A sign on the coffin reads: “Rest in Peace. Crazy Susie.” The reference is to Susan Chana Lask, a lawyer who had filed a class-action suit against Steven J. Baum — and had posted a YouTube video denouncing the firm’s foreclosure practices. “She was a thorn in their side,” said my source.
A third photograph shows a corner of Baum’s office decorated to look like a row of foreclosed homes. Another shows a sign that reads, “Baum Estates” — needless to say, it’s also full of foreclosed houses. Most of the other pictures show either mock homeless camps or mock foreclosure signs — or both. My source told me that not every Baum department used the party to make fun of the troubled homeowners they made their living suing. But some clearly did. The adjective she’d used when she sent them to me — “appalling” — struck me as exactly right.
You pay premiums for years making insurance companies fat and as soon as you have to make your first claim your premiums go through the roof.
Its called “your fault” insurance.
Received my real estate tax bill this morning via email and it has broken below $1,200.00 per year.
CNBC does a Lowball! on mansions:
Mansion Markdown
NJ escapee #4
Was that $1200 or $12000 Where did you escape to ????
Good Morning New Jersey Have a friend who’s an HVAC mechanic and installer and has done quite a bit of work in flood ravished Cranford after Irene, most of the customers were telling him that did have flood insurance that their units were not covered for replacement because of a loophole in the policy about how they’re not liable if the sump pump went out. Imagine that!
What Those Wall Street Protesters Don’t Realize . . . Click Here!
oops http://www.youtube.com/embed/OAOrT0OcHh0?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showi
Escaped to Key West, FL, the southernmost city inthe US of A
funnelcloud says:
November 1, 2011 at 6:52 am
NJ escapee #4
Was that $1200 or $12000 Where did you escape to ????
and that was under $1,200 USD / yr
NJE,
My heart goes out to you. Without skyhigh taxes, how do you impress others with how well you are doing? I don’t know how you even bother to wake up in the morning.
At least in NJ, for our taxes we have beaches, water systems, police, paved roads, etc. What on earth can one get for $1,200 a year?
I wonder if Herman Cain and John Edwards can share a cell for campaign funding violations, should these presumed-innocent men be convicted, that is:
https://njrereport.com/index.php/2011/11/01/careful-with-that-claim-you-might-just-get-screwed-twice/#comment-486529
I wonder if Herman Cain and John Edwards can share a cell for campaign funding violations, should these presumed-innocent men be convicted, that is:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/10/30/john-edwards-s-trial-will-showcase-a-novel-defense.html
oops, wrong link in 13
Shore for 1,200.00 USD per year we have beaches, water systems, police, paved roads, etc. oh and some pretty good schools too.
When China starts building space stations, moon bases, etc., it will not be hat in hand begging “partners” to pony up cash for stripped-down versions of what was originally designed:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/01/china-space-rocket-launch
nj escapee #11
Been as far south as Miami, Never been to key west though , My buddy goes there 2x a year for vacation and loves it there, says the fishing is fantastic, $1200 a year is just another reason for him to go there when he retire’s . I’m sure I’d like to visit but I’ve spent enough time in Florida to know that its just not for me year round, Still haven’t found my Shan Gre La although A couple of area’s in north western NC are looking like good prospects to me.
funnel, key west is not for everybody otherwise it would get pretty dam-ned crowded on such a small island.
NJE,
With people wearing so little clothing, it helps them fit better.
Clot,
Are you writing for Newsweek now?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/10/30/niall-ferguson-how-american-civilization-can-avoid-collapse.html
America’s ‘Oh Sh*t!’ Moment
Has the U.S. deleted the very things that made it great? Niall Ferguson on how America can avoid imminent collapse.
by Niall Ferguson (/contributors/niall-ferguson.html) | October 30, 2011 10:00 AM EDT
Don’t call me a “declinist.” I really don’t believe the United States—or Western civilization, more generally—is in some kind of gradual, inexorable decline.
But that’s not because I am one of those incorrigible optimists who agree with Winston Churchill that the United States will always do the right thing, albeit when all other possibilities have been exhausted.
In my view, civilizations don’t rise, fall, and then gently decline, as inevitably and predictably as the four seasons or the seven ages of man. History isn’t one smooth, parabolic curve after another. Its shape is more like an exponentially steepening slope that quite suddenly drops off like a cliff.
If you don’t know what I mean, pay a visit to Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas. In 1530 the Incas were the masters of all they surveyed from the heights of the Peruvian Andes. Within less than a decade, foreign invaders with horses, gunpowder, and lethal diseases had smashed their empire to smithereens. Today tourists gawp at the ruins that remain.
The notion that civilizations don’t decline but collapse inspired the anthropologist Jared Diamond’s 2005 book, Collapse . But Diamond focused, fashionably, on man-made environmental disasters as the causes of collapse. As a historian, I take a broader view. My point is that when you look back on the history of past civilizations, a striking feature is the speed with which most of them collapsed, regardless of the cause.
The Roman Empire didn’t decline and fall sedately, as historians used to claim. It collapsed within a few decades in the early fifth century, tipped over the edge of chaos by barbarian invaders and internal divisions. In the space of a generation, the vast imperial metropolis of Rome fell into disrepair, the aqueducts broken, the splendid marketplaces deserted.
The Ming dynasty’s rule in China also fell apart with extraordinary speed in the mid–17th century, succumbing to internal strife and external invasion. Again, the transition from equipoise to anarchy took little more than a decade.
A more recent and familiar example of precipitous decline is, of course, the collapse of the Soviet Union. And, if you still doubt that collapse comes suddenly, just think of how the postcolonial dictatorships of North Africa and the Middle East imploded this year. Twelve months ago, Messrs. Ben Ali, Mubarak, and Gaddafi seemed secure in their gaudy palaces. Here yesterday, gone today.
What all these collapsed powers have in common is that the complex social systems that underpinned them suddenly ceased to function. One minute rulers had legitimacy in the eyes of their people; the next they didn’t.
This process is a familiar one to students of financial markets. Even as I write, it is far from clear that the European Monetary Union can be salvaged from the dramatic collapse of confidence in the fiscal policies of its peripheral member states. In the realm of power, as in the domain of the bond vigilantes, you’re fine until you’re not fine—and when you’re not fine, you’re suddenly in a terrifying death spiral.
Remember that poster that used to hang in every college dorm, of a runaway steam train that has crashed through the wall of a rail station and hit the street below, nose first? The caption was: “Oh sh*t!” I believe it’s time to ask how close the United States is to the “Oh sh*t!” moment—the moment we suddenly crash downward like that train.
snip
Shore guy #12
What do you get for $1200 a year??
I’d just like to comment,
What do we get for $12K a year?
We have corrupt politicians & public officials that vote themselves raises and sweet retirement packages on the general Public’s tab and create laws that make themselves immune from prosecution.
We have Troopers/Police that gather in packs on the side of route 80 or sleep in there cars with the lights on for $140K a year and collect an 80% pension at 49 years old because they are there to monitor traffic at 2am while 10 Dot worker watched by 4 supervisors Watched by 2 managers stand around watching 1 guy repair a hole in the road. Needless to say the police are no longer there to protect and serve the public, They are there to protect and serve the Public officials who pay their salaries /pensions by taxing the public.
We have roads and infrastructure that falling apart yet we have 100,000 people on the payroll.
We have school systems that provide all the perks, higher than average salaries/benefits to superintendents, teachers, staff, and yet our kids are graduating with mediocre Math and English skills.
So in its simplest terms what do we get for our tax money “NOT VERY MUCH” and I still have to pay to use the beach.
Funnel,
My tongue was planted firmy in cheek when I asked NJE what he can get for $1,200/yr. Just as it is when I point out that he may have turquoise water and 80 degree weather but he is sooooooooo far from Manhattan.
Our beaches for the most part provide free public access with some free parking. Only fees are at state parks e.g., Zachary Taylor State Park which has grills and great shade trees.
Raj meet jon, jon meet raj. love it
here’s a good photo
http://www.visit-florida-keys.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Fort-Zachary-Taylor-state-park-Key-West.jpg
Federal regulators have discovered that hundreds of millions of dollars in customer money has gone missing from MF Global in recent days, prompting an investigation into the company’s operations as it filed for bankruptcy on Monday, according to several people briefed on the matter.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Regulators-Investigating-MF-nytimes-752197815.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=
Check Carla’s purse
Corzine should be indicted.
Greece wants a referendum on their bailout plan!!!! Unbelieveable!!!!!
Other thing is home with multiple claims is red-flagged by insurance companies for higher prems even after owner sells.
I have a house not far from me. Thing burnt almost to groundpretty much in summer of 2010. I say 70% destroyed. Was empty for almost six months till it was rebuilt. In fact it was only completed by Spring of 2011. It was in the area most flooded in my town and in Irene it got wacked. Entire contents of house pretty much flooded, windows boarded up etc. House like 50% distroyed again and no one living there.
Lets say owner sells it, first of all in a lousy location near tracks and stores and not that big a house. I say most it is worth is 400K. Who is going to insure a house with like 600K in claims in 24 months that is ony worth 400K. It is a cursed house.
Everyone on that block should get redflagged. I actually have never made a homeowners claim in my life. I trim trees before they fall on house, take precautions when floods are coming and have new electrical and what sucks there is no discount for no claims no cash back,
I made one claim against ho insurance in 34 years. That was from TS Floyd in 1999. I think total claim was less than $4k.
Should we all start a soap-on-a-rope fund for Corzine?
Gator/Stu,
Why decamp to Panera when you can go to McDonalds and get a nice savory Mc Rib, which includes:
snip
“How many ingredients are there?
“At face value, the sandwich contains just pork, onions, and pickle slices slathered in barbecue sauce and laid out on a bun. But the truth is, there are roughly 70 ingredients. The bun alone contains 34, says TIME’s Melnick. In addition to chemicals like ammonium sulfate and polysorbate 80, the most egregious may be azodicarbonamide — “a flour-bleaching agent most commonly used in the manufactur[ing] of foamed plastics like gym mats the and soles of shoes.” According to McDonald’s own ingredient list, the bun also includes calcium sulfate and ethoxylated mono- and diglycerides, among other chemicals.
“Ooof. What’s the meat made of?
“Pig innards and plenty of salt. Typically, “restructured meat product” includes pig bits like tripe, heart, and scalded stomach, says Whet Moser at Chicago Magazine, citing a 1995 article by Robert Mandigo, a professor at the University of Nebraska. These parts are cooked and blended with salt and water to extract salt-soluble proteins, which act as a “glue” that helps bind the reshaped meat together.”
snip
http://theweek.com/article/index/220866/whats-the-mcrib-made-of-anyway
shore guy #23
I understand,,, sometimes I (or “we” “us” on the blog) get typing so fast that a rant seems to come off as a personal attack, not so, nothing personal, This,,,,,, like other blogs serves its purpose, Its a place for people to gather to vent about issue’s in the world when they can’t scream at family members any longer
“Greece wants a referendum on their bailout plan!!!! Unbelieveable!!!!!”
It is like a drowning man debating whether to get into the rescue boat.
“not so, nothing personal”
Not offense taken then, or now. NJE knew I was kidding, I just wanted to remove any doubt onthe part of anyone else.
Luckily you threw him out before he could sell off NJ infrastructure to syndicates in Spain or someother foreign entity. That guy is a real sleaze-ball.
nj escapee #26
Just checked out your photo & I’m not liking you very much at this moment, I have 12 inches of snow in my back yard and a ton of downed branches, Its going to be a long winter. Crack a cold one for me when your sitting on the beach!
John,
The other day you mentioned Koday bonds. I just read the following and seem to recall that Kodak invented OLED technology back in the ’70s or ’80s. Another missed boat for what was once THE name in imaging:
http://www.tgdaily.com/hardware-features/59375-new-oled-manufacturing-method-promises-lower-cost-flexible-screens
“Luckily you threw him out ”
Unfortunately, we were on the first floor when we tossed him.
Funnel, it’s understood that these are only words and we should have fun with them. As Herman Cain would say we all need to get a sense of humor or else life will really su-ck. :-) stix and stones baby!!
Shore [72, yesterday];
re: LIRR disability fraud
Its not all bad, they can just impound their future regular pension benefits to pay back the fraudulent disability benefits (with interest and penaties). If they live long enough the fund might break even. It’s not like the fraudsters would have to worry about getting kicked out of their house for not paying – America doesn’t do that anymore.
Speaking of humor, a blast from the WKRP past:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb-gdaHkbmM&feature=related
The snow in Jersey is another hidden cost of living far out in NJ. Pretty much when hiring I never find the perfect candidate. But to be honest, anyone relying on a Bus to get to work in NYC from NJ who lives more than 40 miles from city I no longer want to hire for a good job. I had three of them working for me over the last few years. One was great, the other two. Every five minutes, snow, power outage, bus late, accident in tunnel, can’t work late due to bus schedule, holiday eve must leave early due to bus schedule. Working on Saturday, due to bus schedule must drive in and expense. Holiday party or late night can I have a car service due to bus schedule which is super expensive. I see these resumes with those Hunterdoon addresses and I think great, every snowstorm, huricane, tropical storm, President in town, 9/11 cermony, Occupy Protest, Holiday Eve, event after work I will be hearing a whole list of excuses. Therfore the cube jobs with regular hours are best suited for them. Sadly the folks brag how they got a big house and saved 400k over living closer, meanwhile they make 100K a year less for 25 years. Obviously they are not math majors. Other funny thing is the department heads I know who do that commute who managed to make it to top don’t like to hire them as staff. They are like look I can’t make it in with bad weather so I need a good second or third in charge to cover, so I will hire someone closer to work who takes train or subway.
#5 grim – CNBC does a Lowball! on mansions:
They don’t come with the ATM feature anymore. Why would you put any money into a mansion you couldn’t immediately take out after you move in and then take withdrawals every 9 months after that?
3B – Not a single layoff yet, the plan was to lay off 100k Greek government workers and some additional pay cuts. Now they are also using the the electric bill to levy new property taxes, and since then there has been a run on generators. The Greeks will burn it all down to cheat the system. When I was there in 2008 they had nearly burned down the entire countryside to clear the old growth olive groves so they could build spec houses during the bubble.
JJ [45];
Working on Saturday, due to bus schedule must drive in and expense.
So is the problem with the people, or that you just don’t want to pay the freight of getting good people who spend their BSD paychecks on something nicer than a 80-y.o. decrepit cr@pshack that happens to be close to the city? The fault lies not in the stars, Brutus, but in ourselves.
the department heads I know who do that commute who managed to make it to top don’t like to hire them as staff. They are like look I can’t make it in with bad weather so I need a good second or third in charge to cover, so I will hire someone closer to work who takes train or subway.
Nice cover story; they just are embarrased that they might be living near “The Help” — might be uncomfortabe when they run into them at the Starbucks over the weekend after treating them shabbily all week long.
JJ, it’s the same damn story with any employee who lives 30+ miles from the city. Trains around here aren’t super reliable, either.
As for the insurance companies, they are a sleazy bunch. They pulled some crap with my folks and may parents sued the insurance company. Suffice it to say all claims were paid and the the rates were brought back to their original levels. You make a claim and the insurer ALWAYS tries to raise your rate or just flat out cancels you as a bad risk.
The LIRR fraud workers, I’ve heard about this for years, only now there are going after them! The entire metropolitan transit system is run and staffed by crooks!
Corzine, what a douche! Why not just take your billions and retire. Have a little fun, you clearly are incompetent, why not enjoy your incredible luck to have made all that money. Rather than screwing up other companies or the government, haven’t you caused enough damage yet.
“Corzine…Why not just take your billions and retire. ”
If there is any justice in the Universe, he will have invested most of his money in the company.
Shore I was talking the first time around, I think he should go to jail. But after getting pushed out of GS, he should have considered retirement, and after losing the governorship and really failing miserably he definitely should have retired.
JJ, how about this, they can work from HOME at odd times! It’s not 1960 anymore and there is this thing called the internet, manage for the future and not the past! I like to physically see people in the office, I think it’s good for productivity, but I don’t think every day is necessary.
I actually pay well. And most of time I don’t have anyone ever working OT or weekends. I do think when I am paying a 26 year old 130K a year I should not have to deal with every time there is an inch of snow on ground wah wah wah the bus is an issue. I also don’t like fact when I pay someone 250K a year from a purely ethical pont of view I have to pay for car service or deal with scheduling issues to support their choice to live in a huge mansion 60 miles away.
Average salary of my staff is same I make. The younger staff make 1/2 as much but remember their spouses work. The younger ones are in stage with dual income no kids yet. I am supporting multiple kids and a stay at home wife, two cars and a home. I have staff with homes on several acres. I am not jealous as I don’t want to live miles and miles from work in a mansion. Just be able to do stuff like get home for trick or treating or dropping kids off at before school activities or being able to work OT when needed is important. The extra juggling involved with a longer commute on an inferequent commuter line is not worth it. I almost bought the big house last Christmas. I have saved enough money to do it without selling current home. But the reality set in of snow, lawn services, heating, ac, maint and long commute of house plus having to drive kids everywhere as nothing is driving distance and the stress set in. Just this morning, walking one of my kids a few hundred feet to school for early band, catching the train with time to get coffee and being at work on time is priceless. The bus people also interfere with work with their work/life balance issues. Everytime they need to go to PTA, a before school activity, get home for trick or treating they need to come in very late or leave very early and then start this work from home or make up time type stuff. Meanwhile rest of us leave 15 minutes early or come in 15 minutes laste, the NJ bus people it is 2 0r 3 hours or work from home. I am flexible but I know GS, JPM, MS etc would just fire them if they kept it up. Plus the dual income mansion people have no spouse at home to do kids activities. They put the boss in a situation where if you don’t let them leave early all the time you are the bad guy meanwhile it is the two BMWs in driveway and mansion parents choose to have which is why the kiddies are sitting home with illegal nanny on holoween rather than trick or treating.
Anon E. Moose says:
November 1, 2011 at 10:33 am
JJ [45];
Working on Saturday, due to bus schedule must drive in and expense.
So is the problem with the people, or that you just don’t want to pay the freight of getting good people who spend their BSD paychecks on something nicer than a 80-y.o. decrepit cr@pshack that happens to be close to the city? The fault lies not in the stars, Brutus, but in ourselves.
the department heads I know who do that commute who managed to make it to top don’t like to hire them as staff. They are like look I can’t make it in with bad weather so I need a good second or third in charge to cover, so I will hire someone closer to work who takes train or subway.
Nice cover story; they just are embarrased that they might be living near “The Help” — might be uncomfortabe when they run into them at the Starbucks over the weekend after treating them shabbily all week long.
Unexpectedly, MF Global was caught paying CNBC to use the word “unexpectedly” more often.
#47 And who would be monitoring the electric company workers to monitor that in fact they are collecting the tax, or would even cut off the utilities for non payment??
Greece should just default already and get it over with.
#45 What jobs are you hiring for??? Because the only Wall St people working on a Saturday would be IB’s or back office/IT people. Also as far as leaving early for the holidays, all Wall Street closes early for the holidays including of course the exchanges. And all the area transit systems run early trains on those eve days. Also when the traders and sales people come in on those eve days, they are gone even earlier than the early close, because the customers are gone for the holidays.
Also the Fixed Income sales and trading people get all those other holidays that most people in the private sector do not get any more, like Columbus Day, and Veterans Day. Also all sales and trading people are out the door by 5:00 P.M. (Fixed Income),a nd the equity guys, many of them at 4:00 when the exchange closes. Sales and trading people typically 7:30 to 5, no lunch. Of course there are dinners form time to time which would mean of course getting home later, but in most cases you get to pick and chose which ones you will go to.
You forget I was in the business for many years, so I need to keep you on the straight and narrow when you start telling some of your “street” tales.
Gary, Corzine should have been indicted for how he ran the state. Christie claimed he cooked the books in NJ as well. It’s not going to happen. Corzine was rubbing shoulders with Obama 2 years ago and raising money for him.
re: #53 – 3B it gets better and better. The utility workers’ union has said it will refuse to collect the tax and shut off power. The Greek utility workers also did a sit in strike in the billing office so the new electric bills would not even get printed. I would like to see them enforce collections on anyone of those 3,000 small islands. Lots of stuff going on but not reported.
Germany should offer to pay Greece’s debt, in exchange for title to all the Greek Islands.
3B – From across the pond — THE FORMER finance director of Anglo Irish Bank William McAteer has been arrested by fraud squad officers investigating financial irregularities at a bank.
It is investigating whether Anglo Irish Bank used more than €7bn of short-term deposits from Irish Life & Permanent to mask big customer deposit withdrawals.
Corporate watchdog Paul Appleby is heading the near three-year probe into the bank’s dealings in the lead-up to its collapse.
#57 Juice: Unbelievable as I said. Default and be done with it. If I was the rest of the Europeans I would call their bluff. You go ahead with you referendum, and the deal is off, over the cliff you go.
#59 Juice: No surprise there.
#9 I keep looking for The Onion logo in that video. I know it is there somewhere.
The last Saturday I worked was in 1999. But on staff level certain things such as departmental BCP/DR test or lets say new trading system that may need a Business Acceptance Testing sign-off before go live date or a SIFMA type event after Katrina or 9/11. I am talking maybe staff works a Saturday once every four years. But it is prinicpal if that one day he/she works once a decade the bus impacts it I get irked. Like an electrical outlet I rarely use. I sell what it available at a moments notice. Plus I like to do team building, in my old company we would do a quarterly team building exercise, steaks, knicks games, happy hour. Great fun. The bus crowd makes it seem like torture. Oh my bus only runs from 42 st after six, oh my bus only runs every 90 minutes. I got so sick of bus people whining that we stopped it and now we do things at lunch. However, I miss the days of going out and treating staff to drinks and steaks and catching a train home. The NJ people way out also drove me nuts when I worked in consulting, we had a thing called a budget. I went on one god awful business trip where $200 car service rides and expensive flights out of newark and fact they had to fly in a day early ate up budget and we ate dinner at Quinzos and I still went over budget. Next trip had staff from queens five buck cab ride to cheap flight and we ate like kings.
3B says:
November 1, 2011 at 11:25 am
#45 What jobs are you hiring for??? Because the only Wall St people working on a Saturday would be IB’s or back office/IT people. Also as far as leaving early for the holidays, all Wall Street closes early for the holidays including of course the exchanges. And all the area transit systems run early trains on those eve days. Also when the traders and sales people come in on those eve days, they are gone even earlier than the early close, because the customers are gone for the holidays.
Also the Fixed Income sales and trading people get all those other holidays that most people in the private sector do not get any more, like Columbus Day, and Veterans Day. Also all sales and trading people are out the door by 5:00 P.M. (Fixed Income),a nd the equity guys, many of them at 4:00 when the exchange closes. Sales and trading people typically 7:30 to 5, no lunch. Of course there are dinners form time to time which would mean of course getting home later, but in most cases you get to pick and chose which ones you will go to.
You forget I was in the business for many years, so I need to keep you on the straight and narrow when you start telling some of your “street” tales.
Flu shot not as effective as thought (but get one anyway)By Rita Rubin
Flu vaccines don’t work as well as previously thought, although they’re still the best protection available against seasonal influenza, researchers report Tuesday.
Overall, flu shots in adults 18 to 65 are 59 percent effective, the scientists estimate. Evidence for protection in people 65 and older was lacking, they write in a paper published online by The Lancet.
They reached their conclusions by pooling the results—an approach called a meta-analysis–of 31 studies of flu vaccine. The effectiveness varied from year to year in the studies analyzed. In several flu seasons, there was no evidence of effectiveness
shore (21)-
I wish I could write like Niall Ferguson.
Ever catch any of the Ascent of Money shows on PBS? They are classic.
I get what jj is saying. I used to take teams out to a Houlihans or byob asian joints to celebrate the end of projects but that was in Jersey. I think the NYC rat’s maze is what makes people want to get out of Dodge as early as possible.
Shore (34) – Stu rigged up the generator today to run our furnace. Indoor temps are rising as we speak. We’ll now have heat, a few lights and the Wii. Next door neighbor bribed someone at the local Home Depot to let him know when the generator shipment came in and bought a new more powerful unit yesterday. Our refrigerator is actually working on this one. Looks like Lil Gator and I will be moving back home tonight. It seems like half the area is still without power.
FIOS is still down at our house (tree knocked it out). So Stu is moving to Trend Coffee Shop today. Too many people at Panera have made the wireless worthless.
All the local schools except for Glen Ridge are closed again today. I wouldn’t be making any firm Spring Break plans this year if I lived in Montclair or Bloomfield. 2 out of 3 snow days gone by November 1. I suspect that some pretty dumb decisions to keep schools open on snowy/icy winter days are forthcoming in an effort to save Spring Break for the staff.
Heard at the Halloween School Parade yesterday “The hot shower alone was worth all the dues we paid to the Country Club this year.”
I had a flu shot and my arm really swelled up. Shot is same as last year which is rare and because of that they doubled dosage.
I think you guys in Jersey with no power for three days makes my point about NJ bus people. I wonder how many asked to work from home with no power.
Even now, stuck on stupid:
“Why Renters are the Next Mortgage Crisis”
http://www.houselogic.com/blog/why-home-ownership-matters/renters-are-next-mortgage-crisis/
I agree with JJ 100% on his workers. I think if you make that kind of money, you need to front your own travel related expenses. I make similiar money, and regardless of the conditions i always try to make it in the office. I have taken cabs paid for with personal money many times when the train was not running. I hate doing it, but I forget it soon as the next pay check comes. who does not forget it is the manager when his end of year expenses come.
double (69)-
All of this is simply shilling and puffery by some paid hack who is ceerleading the sheeple right off a cliff.
DD [69];
“Brought to you by the National Association of Realtors®”
Does any more need be said?
Gator- Good luck getting the Fios back. Ours went out with Irene and we had no phone, internet, or cable for 2 weeks. They kept coming to our house and I finally took them down the block where the tree had fallen to show them their downed line. They hadn’t thought to look there.
Con’t [72];
That works in response to Meat [71], too!
http://hereisthecity.com/2011/11/01/probe-said-underway-at-broker-dealer-as-up-to-700m-missing/
You should have innoculated your peni$
JJ says:
November 1, 2011 at 12:58 pm
I had a flu shot and my arm really swelled up. Shot is same as last year which is rare and because of that they doubled dosage.
“regardless of the conditions i always try to make it in the office”
At the eulogy: “Even though the roads were icy, he died on the way to a job he loves. His children will miss him dearly.”
I did not think it was possible for a modern president to be worse than Bush. I was wrong. Read this and weep for freedom:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-secrets-20111031,0,273702.story
Obama’s secrets
The Obama administration should rethink its outrageous proposal that would allow the government to lie to citizens about whether documents exist.
October 31, 2011
One of the most disappointing attributes of the Obama administration has been its proclivity for secrecy. The president who committed himself to “an unprecedented level of openness in government” has followed the example of his predecessor by invoking the “state secrets” privilege to derail litigation about government misdeeds in the war on terror. He has refused to release the administration’s secret interpretation of the Patriot Act, which two senators have described as alarming. He has blocked the dissemination of photographs documenting the abuse of prisoners by U.S. service members. And now his Justice Department has proposed to allow government agencies to lie about the existence of documents being sought under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA.
At present, if the government doesn’t want to admit the existence of a document it believes to be exempt from FOIA, it may advise the person making the request that it can neither confirm nor deny the document’s existence.
snip
Clot,
No, I have not read him before this.
Shore, it is hard to image that a president could have been worse than Bush. Obama has done real well in arguably being as bad or worse!
JJ and Nick, you have to do what you have to do, but at some point safety is a priority. Especially when it does not materially affect the firms well being. Arguably business hours at work is the least productive place to be, after hours is where it’s at for actually getting work done.
Nom,
The grass is always greener…
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204394804577011760523331438.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth
(81) relo
Old news. And not surprising, esp if u consider who and why. High marginal rates are preferable to being executed for corruption.
Doom is nigh. The end of days is upon us.
Greek Government Spokesman: Referendum to Go Ahead
As they say in Greece once the sheep’s rear feet are in snowboots and he is up against a cliff pretty much you can do whatever you want.
Jets Back-up QB Mark Brunell earned 50 million playing in NFL and is now broke!!! Real Estate is to blame.
Former Huskies quarterback Mark Brunell has had a long, successful NFL career.
But after 17 seasons and five different teams, it might be time for Brunell, 40, to get a real job.
Brunell, currently backing up Mark Sanchez with the New York Jets, plans to retire after the season. He hasn’t been a regular starter since 2006 and he hasn’t started a game since 2009 with the New Orleans Saints.
According to the Fox affiliate in Jacksonville, Fla., where Brunell was the starter for eight seasons, the quarterback is broke despite earning close to $50 million in his playing days. He has secured a job in medical sales for his post-NFL career.
So where did all that money go?
The report said Brunell invested in nine businesses and the outcome was bad each time. He lost the most money investing in Champion LLC, a failed real-estate venture.
“The timing of the group’s real-estate acquisitions at the height of the real-estate market, in hindsight, clearly was not good,” Brunell told the Florida Times-Union last year.
He also lost money in the Whataburger fast-food chain. As investments failed, he tried to cover loans with his own cash.
The 10th leading passer in Huskies history is now facing six lawsuits and could be on the hook for almost $25 million.
Regarding Brunell
The guy “earns” 50 million but, after taxes and fees from agents, he likely has 20 million in his pocket — about 1.2 million a year. This is a GREAT salary but, this is not spend wildly and all will be fine money.
If one is taking a big hunk if that yearly income and investing for the long term, what one has left for living is upper middle class lifestyle earnings
Shore [86];
He probably thought real estate and fast food chains WERE investing for the long term. Ooops.
#45 JJ, I worked at MS for a few years; it’s definitely an appearance over substance shop; as is the case with the larger firms. Being visible for long hours was more important than the work being done so I understand why you might hate the longer commute bus folk.
But seriously, what cog in the ponzi scheme is your department spinning that makes bus people pariah?
http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-future-holds-more-extreme-weather-190445775.html
I don’t exactly know what JJ does but it sounds exciting. He is truly the World’s Most Inneresting Man .
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