From the Record:
Kelly: N.J. refuses to return Madoff victims’ overpaid taxes
If you invested with convicted Ponzi scammer Bernie Madoff and you live in New Jersey, you may have gotten robbed twice.
First, Madoff fleeced you.
Then, Trenton likely took a cut.
And Trenton isn’t in the mood to give back the cash.
One of the little-known stories to emerge from the Madoff scandal is the fact that New Jersey’s cut-the-budget government has so far refused to refund state income taxes paid by Madoff victims on investment income that turned out to be an illusion. Think of it as overpaying your taxes – but with this twist: You overpaid on income you never actually had.
…
State Sen. Richard Codey, the former Democratic president of the Senate who introduced a bill last year to repay taxes to Madoff investors, says the total figure could be as low as $10 million. But Codey, whose bill was never taken up by the Legislature, is quick to add that the amount could be as high as $25 million.Other estimates range from $48 million to $120 million.
…
Ross, who says that he overpaid his New Jersey taxes by about $70,000, estimates that New Jersey probably owes about $30 million to Madoff investors across the state. But Ross is not sure and says the state should simply take the list of investors – easily obtainable from federal investigators – and run a basic computer check of state taxation records.But the state has so far declined – a decision that Ross harshly criticizes.
“It is so immoral that the state of New Jersey should benefit from this,” said Ross, who achieved national fame as Fort Lee’s mayor in the 1970s for going undercover for the FBI and exposing a bribery scheme.
foooooooooooist!
From the Star Ledger:
Gov. Chris Christie says 2.5 percent tax cap will push towns to run more efficiently
Gov. Chris Christie today said there will be “bumps and bruises” while implementing his proposed 2.5 percent property tax cap, but it would be worth it if the plan puts a lid on property taxes that politicians can’t pry off.
…
The governor has been traveling through the state to promote the cap, which is modeled on a similar policy in Massachusetts that bans local governments from hiking property tax collections more than 2.5 percent without getting voter permission, with very few exceptions.
The Massachusetts cap law has kept property taxes down relative to home values, but has been criticized for polarizing communities and expanding the gap between the towns that can and cannot afford to vote for higher property taxes.
CHANGE!
>The Obama Administration handed out more than $400 million in awards to federal employees last year, up by more than $80 million from the prior year, according to new government data. The biggest winners were air traffic controllers and top managers in Washington, a review of fiscal year 2009 salary reports from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management showed. OPM’s data, obtained by the Asbury Park Press through a freedom of information request, account for 1.3 million employees, or about 65 percent of the federal civilian work force. <
Why the surprise? The State of NJ is a much bigger Ponzi than anything Madoff ever cooked up.
grim (2)-
2.5% is 2.5% too much. The cap should start at 0% and be LOWERED every year.
Speaking of states that operate as giant Ponzis:
“If you were to have faxed me this balance sheet and asked me to guess who it belonged to, I would have guessed, Citadel, Magnetar or even a proprietary trading desk at a bank.” So begins a story by Alexandra Harris of the Medill Journalism school at Northwestern, which, however, does not focus on some exotic product-specialized hedge fund, or some discount window (taxpayer capital) backed prop desk (hedge fund) at a TBTF bank, but instead at the 61% underfunded, $33.7 billion Illinois Teachers Retirement System (TRS), which just happened to lose $4.4 billion in 2009 (a year when, courtesy of America’s conversion from capitalism to socialism, the market rose 60%), and 5% in2008. Yet underperformance can be explained. What can not, is that the TRS has now become a shadow AIG. As Harris notes “TRS is largely on the risky side of the contracts, selling and writing OTC derivatives, including credit default swaps, insurance-like contracts that guarantee payment in the event of a default, that were blamed in part for the 2008 collapse of Lehman Bros. and bailout of insurance giant American International Group Inc., or AIG.” Demonstrating just how far the fund is willing to go in the “for broke” category, knowing full well that if it repeats AIG’s implosion, the government will likely bail it out, is the disclosure that a stunning 81.5% of the fund’s investments are considered risky – this means it is the fourth-riskiest investment portfolio for a pension fund in the U.S! All it will take is another Flash Crash-like event, or a liquidity crunch, and the 355,000 “full-time, part-time and substitute public school teachers and administrators working outside the city of Chicago” will likely end up with a big, fat donut in their retirement portfolios courtesy of some deranged lunatic, portfolio manager, situated externally at a bank like Goldman Sachs, who in taking a page straight out of Obama’s bailout nation, has decided there is no such thing as risk. And to those naive enough to think the TRS is the only such fund which has now gone all-in on “no risk and infinite return”, wait until such stories start emerging about every single massively underfunded pension and fully insolvent fund in the US.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/61-underfunded-illinois-teachers-pension-fund-goes-broke-becomes-next-aig-waiting-selling-bi
Hope you’re doing well picking the WC games, Grim.
I’m just scuffling along and barely keeping my head above water by hitting a couple of draw lines. Have yet to hit a win bet.
Strange tournament so far. Lots of good defensive play. The only thing I’m sick of is the continued whining about the ball. I watched a bunch of good 12 y/o’s play with the same ball in a tournament all weekend, and they liked it fine.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704256604575294773110972964.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories#articleTabs%3Darticle
I drove around NJ today, from Philly to Morristown.
All I know is this, I was zapped by radar 5x. I passed 3 state cops, and 9 local cops, 2 of which were in Mendham running loser speed traps.
Meanwhile, the roads are crumbling and looked like a 3rd world disgrace, but then again, so were many of the faces I saw in Morristown…3rd World peoples making NJ more 3rd World.
NJ is doomed. You people need to wake up and get out while you can.
If you don’t get my comment, just wake up to the fact that NJ is a facist police state, where you are just host, whose blood and money is literally sucked by the parasites…. the parisite towns, the parasite populace, the parasite goverment at all levels
as,
Don’t you want somebody to love?
I knew the moment my son was born in NJ, I would have to take the shame of knowing that my son had a birth certificate from the armpit state.
But articles like what grim posted really show that the armpit metaphor is yet too kind to attribute to this place.
I think it’s time that New Jersey becomes two states. Really. Like draw a line from the wealthier franklin la
kes area down to chatham. That should be its own state
12. Wow. Get a grip.
Aren’t you scared that what he ends up gripping is a 30.06?
I like jp and as. The more people I meet who give the impression they’re about to snap, the more I think armed overthrow of the gubmint may occur in my lifetime.
As much as I believe BP should be held accountable for the
clean up / etc. I think our broke and desperate Govt.
will be looking to liquidate them at all costs.
son had a birth certificate from the armpit state.
Under arm deodorant is no help.
Went to an open house this past Sunday in Woodcliff Lake. It was a CHC, 4/2.5 with a great layout and incredible back yard at the end of a cul-de-sac. The only negative is beyond the end of the sac, there is a 75 foot barrier of trees and beyond that the Parkway. You can’t see the road but you can hear it for sure. Too bad, it’s a really nice house and property.
The price tag is 669K and has been on the market since last year. It was originally listed in the low 800s. The realtor, whom was very nice, called me yesterday and said, “I’m sure the owners will listen to any offer.” I wouldn’t pull the trigger on that house due to the highway.
I also notice that I’m seeing more price tags recently with “5” handles on it that’s making me pause and look more closely at the pictures. Hmmm…. my imagination or is the expected slide finally arriving in Graydon’s town?
There was an article in one of the online business journals that said sellers in the NY/NJ area are still holding on to their “price” hoping for some sort of rebound. Perhaps they’re starting to wake up and realize it ain’t happening. Tick… tick… tick… tick…
Yea, and I am hoping to return to my 30s.
Maybe they can outfit the house with a whole-house noice cancelling system.
Besides the noise of that road. I suspect if there is a stop-and-go backup, the CO and other fumes are just delightful.
I feel my age rebound coming. Any day now, I will regain the lost ground. 35 here I come.
#9 as –
NJ has always been thick with police radar; it was that way when I lived there in the 80s when I first bought a radar detector.
That said, it has gotten worse lately. I was riding my motorcycle in Hunterdon Co earlier this year and got my first ticket in 10 years. Some times I can “do the shuffle” and get off with a warning, and it looked like it was working, but the cop wrote the ticket anyway. I got the strong impression that the word came down: “no warnings, get the revenue!” The night I went to traffic court, almost every seat was taken. Considering how many people just pay the ticket instead of fighting it, that implies that a lot of tickets are getting written.
Shore,
Funny thing is, the owners have been in that house for 40 years. Regardless, I’m hoping capitulation is upon us. Geezus, I’m much too cordial this morning. Please, someone post something that will totally p1ss me off!
so whats the story on the spring selling season?
” Im hoping capitulation is upon us. ”
I doubt it. Absent some huge gwneral economic shock, or a pressing need to sell, people like your 40-year homeowners will feel no compellling reason “to give the place away.” If they can, they would prefer to leave it empty. We will see aa slow slide down.
“so whats the story on the spring selling season?”
1)If you bribe them they will come.
2)Fannie/Freddie continue to be the dumping ground for banks sheet.
is the seller in a short sale responsible for income taxes on the forgiven debt? or is there some sort of government program in place to waive the tax? I’m looking at a short sale by owner
as says:
June 14, 2010 at 11:32 pm
NJ is doomed. You people need to wake up and get out while you can.
Come on over to Bucks County. The water’s fine! Ladies, please just leave the 80s hair in Joisey.
This was posted yesterday. As doom and gloom as I am, i couldn’t help but laugh at this. come on … martial law within the next year?
http://www.morningliberty.com/2010/05/16/economic-collapse-martial-law-24-experts-warn-of-2010-meltdown/
In the last quarter of the year we could even see Martial law, which is more likely for the first 6 months of 2011. The FDIC will collapse in September 2010. Commercial real estate is set to implode in 2010. Wall Street believes there is a 100% chance of crash in bond market, especially municipals sometime during 2010. The dollar will be devalued by the end of 2010.
xroads-
No tax due on short sale deficiencies since late 2007.
yikes (28)-
These guys are channeling me. :)
I’m 100% with them. We are at the edge of oblivion.
From Bloomberg:
U.S. Housing Recovery Dependent on Jobs, Harvard Report Says
Job growth will be the key factor in whether the U.S. real estate market can extend a recovery after the end of the federal homebuyer tax credit, according to a Harvard University study.
High unemployment is fueling the foreclosure crisis and discouraging the household formation that drives property demand, according to the State of the Nation’s Housing report issued today by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. The weak labor market resulted in people “doubling up,” or sharing residences, rather than buying their own home, the report said.
“What happens with jobs will matter the most to the strength of the housing rebound,” said Eric Belsky, executive director for the center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “If employment growth surprises on the upside or downside, housing numbers could too.”
The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 9.7 percent last month from 9.9 percent in April, the Labor Department said June 4. For all of 2010, it probably will be 9.6 percent, the highest for any year since 1983, according to the average estimate of 82 economists polled by Bloomberg.
…
“It comes down to whether consumers perceive that the market has bottomed or if they continue to wait,” Yun said. “If they wait, it pushes the market down and becomes a self- fulfilling prophecy.”
Mounting foreclosures are another headwind for a real estate recovery, according to the Harvard report. There were 2.1 million loans in the foreclosure process in the first quarter, almost quadruple the number from three years ago.
“The foreclosure trend is going to get worse before it gets better,” Thomas Lawler, an independent housing consultant in Leesburg, Virginia, said in an interview. “The biggest risk for housing is that you’ll see more foreclosed homes hitting the market and not have an offsetting rebound in household formation triggered by a recovering jobs market.”
worst match of the Cup so far is Slovakia/New Zealand.
at least we get Ronaldo v Ivory Coast and then Brazil scoring a touchdown against N Korea later
From CNBC:
Housing Double Dip in Second Half: Analysts
Upcoming data this week, expiration of friendly government policy and chart analysis points to a housing market double-dip in the second half of the year, according to some economists and analysts.
“We expect the first of May housing data out this week to show a significant decline from April, given that May is the first month after the second round of housing stimulus expired,” wrote James Moore, economist at Morgan Joseph. “Consumers who were willing, and had the means, to take advantage of the housing stimulus, were pulled forward in terms of the timing for their housing purchases, which may well pressure housing activity throughout the rest of this year.”
Clot – sounds like a good excuse to get the Remington 870 express this week.
have you seen Denzel in ‘Book of Eli?’
It’s an end-of-days type movie … he who has the water and the vehicles wins.
(unless, of course, you’re Denzel – hope that’s not too much of a spoiler)
“If they wait, it pushes the market down and becomes a self- fulfilling prophecy.”
[31],
Lower prices beget lower prices. Same as it ever was. Wash, rinse, repeat.
“The biggest risk for housing is that youll see more foreclosed homes hitting the market and not have an offsetting rebound in household formation triggered by a recovering jobs market.”
For those of us who were prudent, and did the right things, while the masses were running like Disney lemmings towards the economic cliff, this presents opportunities, not risk.
The risk is for the imprudent, the reckless, the under-earned yearning to live large. Give these, the underwater, the heave-ho, into affordable rentals and let the market breath free.
Clot,
In high school, were you voted “Most Likely to end up in a Dog Day Afternoonish Standoff with Police”?
CBOE is the big news today,!!! Well at least for a few hours till it starts trading then back to housing
“If they wait, it pushes the market down”
Isn’t this just free-market forces at work? Ya know? The same forces that inflated a bubble.
“It comes down to whether consumers perceive that the market has bottomed or if they continue to wait,” Yun said.
Hey @sshole, consumers are f*cking stunned zombies, laying in a pool of muck, oblivious to the dogs licking the sh1t off their face. Ask yourself that question again. Or, in my best Sarah Palin voice, I can ask you, “so, how’s that housing recovery workin’ out for ya?”
Real estate research firm Zelman & Associates has issued an estimate that sales of new homes nationwide were down 25% to 30% in May from April.
The chief economist for the National Association of Realtors estimates sales of existing homes also fell 20% to 30% in May.
ICEBERG, DEAD AHEAD!!!
I wonder if the hotels in Wildwood Crest will drop their prices once the Gulf Oil starts hitting the beaches? Oh I forgot, “O” says everything will be alright.
31-Doesn’t this all just boil down to common sense? What ninny doesn’t realize that without a job you can’t (shouldn’t) take on a mortgage? Actually, it’s more than that. I would say that without some kind of a secure job what ninny would take on a mortgage now? I have lived the unemployment nightmare and if you think I am going to buy Anything I don’t need anytime soon forget about it. I am one of the lucky ones because I have a lot of marketable skills to fall back on. And, I am keeping my extra cash around for liquidity- I need to be able to help my loved ones since who knows what the future has in store for them. Sorry for my rambling this am.
OT: Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Tonight
Chico’s House of Jazz
Asbury Park, 8:00pm
http://www.app.com/article/20100611/ENT/6110313/Dirty-Dozen-Brass-Band-will-blow-you-away
What ninny doesn’t realize that without a job you can’t (shouldn’t) take on a mortgage?
That’s so yesterday. It’s all about appearances now. You can’t invite people over to the house for a barbecue without a brick paver patio and outdoor kitchen. Nothing says “I’m prestigous” like an outdoor sink! And don’t forget the enclosed trampoline in the corner of the yard so Graydon and his gay friend Carter can bounce up and down.
Final Doom says:
June 15, 2010 at 6:34 am
I like jp and as. The more people I meet who give the impression they’re about to snap, the more I think armed overthrow of the gubmint may occur in my lifetime.
doom: The end is nigh….I come home, look at the counter and see a bottle of Knob Creek with the seal broken. I said WTF is this? My wife said she needed something to take the edge off. I relented and said OK, but never before noon……..jeez :(
Fkn A
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/ll_do_it_myself_calif_man_on_osama_ucVBC7ebgsRScxBCmAs5eI
I come home, look at the counter and see a bottle of Knob Creek with the seal broken. I said WTF is this
Are you just upset she didn’t wait for you to get home to crack into the bottle?
http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/15/real_estate/new_housing_bubble/index.htm
“Is a Housing Shortage Coming?” OMG
I knew many here would get a kick out of this one…
“Once the job market rebounds, however, people will look to have their own home again.”
Sort of dovetails with #31 – recovery dependent on jobs…
And don’t forget the enclosed trampoline in the corner of the yard so Graydon and his gay friend Carter can bounce up and down.
___________________________________________
LOL!! In the old days you just bounces off the trampoline and hit the ground. Then your mom would come out and yell at you for being a dope for letting it happen. Nothing like being told that you bounce onto the ground again because it may put some smarts into you.
Nom
Subtitle I, Section 1801 of the House financial reform bill titled “Inclusion of Minorities and Women; Diversity in Agency Workforce.” Sponsored by California Democrat Maxine Waters, the provision requires each federal financial agency, the Fed Board of Governors and the 12 regional Fed banks to “establish an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion.”….
…But Ms. Waters and the House are hunting bigger game—to wit, the political allocation of credit. They want to put a network of operatives at the highest level of government who are responsible for making sure that regulators put the hiring of, and lending to, minorities at the top of their priority list. The House provision makes that very clear by making each diversity officer a Presidential appointee who must be confirmed by the Senate. The post, says the bill, will be “comparable to that of other senior level staff.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704575304575297130299281828.html
Hershey laying off 500-600 in PA?
Wow, end is nigh…
Slots at the Meadowlands?
Bring it on, baby…
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/poll_shows_nj_residents_favor.html
Slots at the racetrack? Waste of time, we need full-blown resort casinos.
Slots will just eat deeper into AC revenues, move the same tax dollar from south to north.
The rebellion will never happen. Most Americans get winded running up two flights of stairs!!
55- Wrong. Most Americans get winded running Down two flights of stairs.
Kiwis equalize in stoppage! terrible ending for Slovakia, which dominated the game.
new zeland is one of the worst teams in the cup!
Nom,
Re 51, remember the Soviet blue hats?
#54
“Slots at the racetrack? Waste of time, we need full-blown resort casinos.”
Full-blown, half-blown, just bring it on. NJ is losing hundreds of millions to neighboring states. Why should PA & NY reap the benefits of NJ dollars? Yonkers/Chester/Bethlehem at our borders and AC says no to Meadowlands? Gimme a break.
The tax revenues generated for our state would be staggering.
Gambling
If the state can’t run it properly, let it go private.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/041910_Firm_offers_500_million_to_install_Meadowlands_VLTs.html
59 – Regarding full-blown casinos, is there some federal hurdle that would have to be climbed to accompish this? I know that AC is grandfathered, but can a new full scale casino be built without Federal approval? I seem to remember something about no sportsbooks and wonder if the same applies to table gaming?
Anyone?
Instead of VLTs at the Meadowlands how about chariot races?
46. Your move to Stepford should be great for your wife!
Juice,
Can we add some flood walls so that we can occasionally flood it for live action naval re-enactments?
Hyde – Round up some BP execs and then toss them into a tank with sharks with laser beams on their heads.
That would sell lots of tickets.
I was thinking of feeding wall street execs to the lions, but BP execs to sharks works for me as well.
#61
I’m not aware of any federal hurdle to climb.
However, the hurdle must first pass NJ Senate. The Senate’s President, Stephen Sweeney(D), West Deptford/Gloucester, is strongly opposed to expansion to North NJ.
[2] grim
The Star-Ledger’s story makes it appear that Mass. voters are at one another’s throats over Prop. 2 and the tax cap.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Overrides are built into the legislation and many communities use them. It only becomes contentious in a few instances where the voters are truly split. Most are not.
I can remember hearing only of a few contentious override elections over the last 20 or so years since Prop. 2 went into effect. The S-L’s hype is totally over the top.
The market is up again today for no good reason. I read on Zero Hedge that the PPT is trying to get the markets above the 200 day moving average.
If anyone has a reason other than complete manipulation of the futures markets I welcome your thoughts.
[52] grim,
Reason for Hershey is simple:
Wife has had to swear off chocolate lately.
I relented and said OK, but never before noon……..jeez :(
What is with the whole time constraint thing with you?
– –
Regarding Whine’s risk-reward view of housing purchases, is there a way to reduce risk by linking geography and time to the buyer? By this, I mean removing the risk concept “all real estate is local.”
Imagine a color wheel, then put a group of mortgages tied to each other in each of the pie pieces. Each piece is time and place independent, but the debtor chooses a specific wheel. This could be based on the buyer’s willingness to live in a certain place for a few years, enter the military for a few years, etc. Theoretically, the debtor would agree to physically trade homes at points in time and move for the risk reduction.
If you are having trouble imagining an individual electing to reduce future options in this manner, imagine the millions of dollars being shuffled to specific 529s.
Hype…the auction rate tests?
Juice 65,
instead of sharks, how about we use genetically modified SEA BASS!!!!!
New Hampshire is Open for Business—Dem Governor gets rebuffed on tax hikes.
“New Hampshire Governor Signs Repeal
Of Interest and Dividend Tax on LLCs
BOSTON—New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch (D) June 10 signed legislation (H.B. 1) repealing last year’s controversial expansion of the state’s interest and dividend tax to limited liability corporations, partnerships, and associations.
Under the bill, a revenue measure enacted in a special session June 9, distributions from LLCs, partnerships, and associations are subject to the tax only if they have transferable shares.
Expansion of the tax was inserted in last year’s budget, without any hearings, prompting an immediate outcry for repeal . . .
Excluded from the final bill were several other tax provisions that had advanced in the Legislature earlier in the year, including a local option for increases in the rooms and meals tax, a new tax on electricity products, and an 8 percent tax on estates in excess of $2 million.
The budget bill also creates a special commission to study the state’s business tax structure. The panel, composed of legislators and business representatives, will submit a draft report by the end of 2010 on business tax rates and tax credits for insurance companies and a draft report by late 2012 on safe harbors for reasonable compensation deductions under the business profits tax and tax credits and deductions for net operating losses.”
Seems to me that NH gets it. Perhaps they should go back on the Nompound site selection list.
hey, Renewable Energy does actually have an impact..
Who can blame them. Creating fancy powerpoints in Bali about Unicorn driven future energy plans is more fun than dealing with offshore oil drilling plans.
wash examiner:
Enamored With Wind, Obama Ignored Drilling Risks
“The problem was, Obama and Salazar were more interested in pursuing their vision of a clean energy future. Under Obama, the Minerals Management Service, driven by a strongly ideological commitment to green energy sources such as wind and solar power, chose to stress ‘renewables’ while de-emphasizing the tough and dirty work of managing the nation’s existing offshore oil wells. . . . Salazar chose Elizabeth Birnbaum to head the MMS in large part because of her record of environmental and green-energy advocacy. . . . Birnbaum came in for heavy criticism of MMS’ handling of the Deepwater Horizon/BP Gulf oil project. The general tone of the critique was that MMS had not paid enough attention to regulating such environmentally sensitive undertakings. What received less attention was why that attention wasn’t paid, and that was because Interior and MMS were busy pushing offshore renewable energy projects.”
Hershey laying off 500-600 in PA?
How could this happen??!!??. Posters over here have repeatedly assured us that PA is a business friendly state.
Hershey in Westfield?
At the very least it should be dark Godiva.
instead of sharks, how about we use genetically modified SEA BASS!!!!!
Will they be ill-tempered?
“Hershey laying off 500-600 in PA?”
As I recall, this was a negotiated agreement with the union in order to keep the Harrisburg-area plants operating. Without the cost savings, I recall that Hershey was going to move production elsewhere.
Stu,
I was thinking about your one post yesterday and it hi t me. Before long, will be a corp VP or president — you may be earning minimum wage by then but think of how proud Gator will be being married to a corporate chief.
Boken,
Yes, very ill-tempered, they will be sea bass flown in fresh from the oily gulf…
How long before we see this about NJ pension funds???
Illinois pension fund uses OTC derivatives to recoup returns, jeopardizes pensions
Dale Rosenthal, a former strategist for Long Term Capital Management, the hedge fund known for its epic collapse in 1998, and a proprietary trader for Morgan Stanley, has seen his share of financial complexities.
But when shown a seven-page list of derivatives positions held by the Illinois Teachers Retirement System as of March 31, obtained by Medill News Service through a Freedom of Information Act request, the University of Illinois-Chicago assistant professor of finance expressed disbelief.
“If you were to have faxed me this balance sheet and asked me to guess who it belonged to, I would have guessed, Citadel, Magnetar or even a proprietary trading desk at a bank,” Rosenthal said.
But right now, TRS is largely on the risky side of the contracts, selling and writing OTC derivatives, including credit default swaps, insurance-like contracts that guarantee payment in the event of a default, that were blamed in part for the 2008 collapse of Lehman Bros. and bailout of insurance giant American International Group Inc., or AIG.
I hear that officials in Hudson County are calling SC asking, “Where can we get some of those machines?”
(the following comes from Fox):
Hackers must be behind Senate candidate Alvin Greene’s victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary last week, Rep. James Clyburn claimed in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday.
Trying to account for how a candidate who had no money and no campaign infrastructure was able to pull out a victory over a well-funded local lawmaker in a statewide race, the powerful South Carolina Democrat said the touch-screen voting machines used by the state are notoriously unreliable. Without citing evidence, Clyburn said the voting machines could have been compromised.
“I believe there was some hacking done into that computer,” Clyburn told Fox News, suggesting that somebody at the state could have deliberately bought those machines so that the system would be vulnerable. South Carolina uses a machine called the iVotronic.
“Maybe somebody wanted the machines that were easily hacked into … We had no business with those machines in South Carolina,”
Indeed a new world. I had to double-check this wasn’t April Fools joke.
Since the earlier elections did not result in “fair” results according to DOJ, now people get to officially vote 6 times. The theory is that Latinos can now bundle the votes. Heck, maybe Hudson county or ACORN voting is fine too.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_el_st_lo/us_voting_rights_election
“Residents get 6 votes each in suburban NY election
By JIM FITZGERALD, Associated Press Writer Jim Fitzgerald, Associated Press Writer – Tue Jun 15, 4:15 am ET
PORT CHESTER, N.Y. – Arthur Furano voted early — five days before Election Day. And he voted often, flipping the lever six times for his favorite candidate.
Furano cast multiple votes on the instructions of a federal judge and the U.S. Department of Justice as part of a new election system crafted to help boost Hispanic representation.”
“The problem was, Obama and Salazar were more interested in pursuing their vision of a clean energy future. Under Obama, the Minerals Management Service, driven by a strongly ideological commitment to green energy sources such as wind and solar power, chose to stress ‘renewables’ while de-emphasizing the tough and dirty work of managing the nation’s existing offshore oil wells”
Commies! How dare they look at the long term future of our national energy needs instead of maintaining the status quo of kowtowing to an industry whose production is on the wrong side of the bell curve!
We need more short-sighted thinking in this country! Sarah Palin demands it.
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2010/06/15/beware_of_fake_property_tax_reform_98517.html
More on Cap 2.5 and New Jersey tax reform…
Daughter went to work – grand son just woke up and said he wants a “This blueberry walks into a bar…”
I will try to keep up with him today – (almost 4)…wish me luck….
[76] jamal
“How could this happen??!!??. Posters over here have repeatedly assured us that PA is a business friendly state.”
Compared to NJ and NY, it is very business friendly.
But if you want a “worker friendly” state, well, I think I can help you out.
http://www.ambafrance-us.org/spip.php?article360
Better get started.
The operator of the biggest options exchange climbed as much as $4.75 to $33.75 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading as of 10:52 a.m. New York time. CBOE raised $339 million selling 11.7 million shares at $29 each yesterday after offering them at $27 to $29, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed.
up your nose with a garden hose
twice as far with a hershey bar
grim says:
June 15, 2010 at 9:13 am
Hershey laying off 500-600 in PA?
Wow, end is nigh…
@89 – did you get in on the IPO?
As much as I believe BP should be held accountable for the
clean up / etc. I think our broke and desperate Govt.
will be looking to liquidate them at all costs
We’ll see. I’m long the Oct. 30 puts.
If they go belly-up, I told my wife she can redo our bathroom with the proceeds.
re#82n – Hyde the pension funds are chasing return by gambling in those markets.
One thing to remember about the pension funds, they base their calculations on a magical yield of 8% CAGR annually.
The pension funds then “discount” the costs of paying benefits in the future because they assume that the values of their investments will be much higher by the time benefits have to be paid out years from now.
This magical assumption of 8% CAGR then permits the politicians to contribute fewer dollars to the government run pension plans when doing their budgets. This then allows the politicians to spread the money “saved” in pension contributions to fund pet projects throughout their budgets and avoid cuts.
One thing to remember in many states the taxpayer legally is on the hook to make up the difference whether the pension plan achieves 8% CAGR annually or not.
Fun times ahead….
Believe, hope, believe, hope, believe…..
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/15/oil.spill.disaster/
Obama on Monday told residents in Theodore, Alabama, that “it’s going to take time for things to return to normal.”
“And in the end, I am confident that we’re going to be able to leave the Gulf Coast in better shape than it was before.”
Shore Guy says:
June 15, 2010 at 8:03 am
” Im hoping capitulation is upon us. ”
I doubt it. Absent some huge gwneral economic shock, or a pressing need to sell, people like your 40-year homeowners will feel no compellling reason “to give the place away.” If they can, they would prefer to leave it empty. We will see aa slow slide down.
You’re damn skippy that I’m not giving my damn house away to some stinking damn real estate terrorist vulture. If you want my damn house, you will pay my damn price. I will hold that position even in death. Unless you pay my damn price, you won’t be able to take my deeds even from my damn cold dead hands.
qwerty 94
From what i am reading, it sounds like they would have to TRY to do a worse job of mitigating coastal impacts.
Juice:
Yep i am familiar with that. Pensions are toast. they will either be paid out with worthless $ or you will see then start to get rolled back.
Anyone who believes that their pension will be worth anything is at about the same place as the guy trying to flip houses for a 100% profit in 2009
Mr Hyde says:
June 15, 2010 at 11:57 am
Anyone who believes that their pension will be worth anything is at about the same place as the guy trying to flip houses for a 100% profit in 2009
Is this a damn dig at me? Let me tell you something, there’s plenty of opportunity for flipping and there would be even more opportunity if all this damn doomsday talk would stop.
Commie.
Shore:
people like your 40-year homeowners will feel no compelling reason “to give the place away.” If they can, they would prefer to leave it empty.
From the circles i travel in these are the same people who counted on their home funding their retirement. Its amazing how many people blew their savings on gluttonous consumption assuming their house would provide their retirement and how many were planning on trying to flip a house to boost their retirement funds.
I think many people in this demographic are refusing to sell because if they do sell at anything besides a sizable markup, they have no retirement to speak of. We have an entire demographic that just got blown out at the roulette table and are taking their few remaining dollars and doubling down.
Its going to get very ugly before things can begin to improve.
decided we’re going on a budget in the Yikes household. we’re pretty frugal to begin with, but the last few years we haven’t watched what we’ve spent because things were good.
but if 1 of us is going to stay home w/ the kid, we need a budget. just curious how some of you on one salary INVEST while on a tight budget.
our leftover $ will be for vacations, maybe an SUV (used, of course), and other misc stuff like putting aside $ for the kids’ tuition (we have 1 yr’s worth of savings set aside for anything catastrophic), but we don’t see much investing in our future.
Doom
They better get cracking on those new Basic Training programs. The demographics have changed a bit:
PHILADELPHIA — A nonprofit group says that up to 90 percent of young Philadelphians are ineligible for military service because of criminal records, obesity or lack of education.
Pennsylvania-based Mission: Readiness released its report Monday. It says 1 million Pennsylvanians are ineligible for the same reasons.
Mission: Readiness is made up of more than 150 retired generals and admirals. The group wants state and federal funding for pre-kindergarten programs that it says give children a solid foundation for academic and personal success.
The report says 145,000 Philadelphians ages 18 to 24 cannot meet the military’s medical, moral and mental standards.
Nationally, the Defense Department estimates that 75 percent of young adults are disqualified from military service.
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2010/06/ap_philadelphia_unfit_061410/
What bubble…
More college-educated jump tracks to become skilled manual laborers
Armed with a bachelor’s degree in theology from Notre Dame, Adam Osielski was pondering a route well traveled: law school.
He watched his friends work long hours as paralegals while studying law and weighed the all-encompassing commitment. That was five years ago. Today, Osielski, 29, is a journeyman electrician rather than a law firm associate. Or, as Osielski might say with his minor in French, an ?lectricien.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/14/AR2010061402838.html
the above articles. Sad state of affairs
97. Bingo. I’ll work til I drop I guess. Barring any unforeseen windfalls. (please god)
College Degree does not make you good looking or have a great personality.
Girl I know who used to hire at Morgan Stanley said as soon as they walk in my office and I look at them I say:
Front Office
Middle Office
Back Office or
Mail Room
Resume and degree will help you but you first have to pass the sniff test.
Mr Hyde says:
June 15, 2010 at 12:27 pm
What bubble…
More college-educated jump tracks to become skilled manual laborers
Armed with a bachelor’s degree in theology from Notre Dame, Adam Osielski was pondering a route well traveled: law school.
[102] hyde
I was contemplating the same thing this morning when I was showing the HVAC guy around my attic to assess a repair.
[101] hyde
A decade or so ago, Philly was tagged as the fattest major city in America. Then-Mayor Street launched an initiative to get the weight down. I think that only an influx of professionals helped. Now that the same professionals are out-fluxing, Philly is Phat again.
Little Nancy Boy can’t fix his own AC?
Comrade Nom Deplume says:
June 15, 2010 at 12:45 pm
[102] hyde
I was contemplating the same thing this morning when I was showing the HVAC guy around my attic to assess a repair.
America: A Hot Mess
gary (41)-
We engaged with the iceberg months ago. We are now in deck chair rearrangement mode.
grim (54)-
What we need is a sports book INSIDE the new stadium.
If I’m going to a Jets’ game again, I want one of those cool field box seats, free-flowing whiskey and a chance to fade the Jets in the 4th quarter against the Pats.
Also, it would be cool if I could walk over to Cabela’s at halftime and get some .223.
“I think many people in this demographic are refusing to sell because if they do sell at anything besides a sizable markup, they have no retirement to speak of. ”
Indeed. The self-delusion involved in convincing one’s self that everything will be better if they just stand pat and wait for Godot. Half the state will be paralyzed Estragons and Vladimers.
105. The world will be a better place once these banks cease to exist. Forever.
You can come to a game with me anytime. Now that I officially hate Revis cause he is a money chasing sob you have to scream at him everytime he is near me.
Giant fans I heard are pissed that Jets lowered PSLs so much last week.Row one Endzone for $2,500 for jets, Row one UD sideline for Giants $5,000.
That UD is way way up there, you maybe sideline but so is a 747 flying by
Final Doom says:
June 15, 2010 at 1:16 pm
grim (54)-
What we need is a sports book INSIDE the new stadium.
If I’m going to a Jets’ game again, I want one of those cool field box seats, free-flowing whiskey and a chance to fade the Jets in the 4th quarter against the Pats.
Also, it would be cool if I could walk over to Cabela’s at halftime and get some .223.
We’ll see. I’m long the Oct. 30 puts.
Anyone employing a long straddle on BP? I’m not a stock guy, but doesn’t volatility seems to be a good bet here?
Now that I officially hate Revis cause he is a money chasing sob you have to scream at him everytime he is near me.
……………
John, don’t hate the player hate the game. He is playing the same game as the pigs in your business do. You should feel a sense of kindred spirit with him.
Nationally, the Defense Department estimates that 75 percent of young adults are disqualified from military service.
Not true, they could walk in front of the other troops performing Mine & IET clearance functions. Those who get back in shape could request reassignment.
Confused 118
Talk about motivation
hype (116)-
Just like Revis, if jj makes one false step, he could end up being a squeegee guy at the Lincoln Tunnel.
Then again, the TBTF trade is as close to risk-off free money as any scam I’ve ever seen.
We have morphed into a fascist society of massive gubmint coupled to TBTF banks and criminal corporations.
hyde (118)-
The smart thing to do- if endless war becomes our official military policy- is conscript convicts into dangerous military service.
Dont look now but Spain is on deck
homeboken’s 2010 WC tote board
Currently 1-5
Last Portugal money line Even = Loss
Next up – Brazil total goals v DPK Over 2.5
home (122)-
The Brazil line is a sucker bet. DPK is the most defensive team on the planet. They will lose, but they will park the bus in front of the goal for the full 90.
DPK also mistakenly rostered their best striker as a GK, and now the guy is not allowed to play.
Doom,
In the end that backfired on Rome.
…Democracy could ‘collapse’ in Greece, Spain and Portugal unless urgent action is taken to tackle the debt crisis, the head of the European Commission has warned.
In an extraordinary briefing to trade union chiefs last week, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso set out an ‘apocalyptic’ vision in which crisis-hit countries in southern Europe could fall victim to military coups or popular uprisings as interest rates soar and public services collapse because their governments run out of money.
The stark warning came as it emerged that EU chiefs have begun work on an emergency bailout package for Spain which is likely to run into hundreds of billions of pounds. …..
112- Neighbors of mine have already completed building their retirement home in Delaware. (By the way, many of my neighbors here in Central NJ are leaving now for Delaware, not Pa.). Their smallish 25+ yr. old house is overpriced. They reduced it by 10 grand, still no takers. It is still overpriced by at least 25%. I can’t wait to see how long they can hold on for. Perhaps they should try renting it instead?
Doom you may yet get your european riots this summer!!!
Doom – In case my record of 1-5 didn’t make it clear, I am a total sucker for WC wagers, this bet was right up my alley.
Doom 119:
Agree on the risk-free trade. Look at the markets. The low volume robot trades just blew the S&P thru the 200 moving average. It is not a market anymore, just a casino with a few players rigged to win every single bet. It is amazing how the TBTF banks have totally captured our gubbmint. Some days I still cannot believe it (like today).
New Jersey, one could argue, is the Rodney Dangerfield of America.
The Garden State has been the butt of more jokes than, well, BP.
And now this.
Comedian Rob Ryan and “The Reel Public” have spoofed Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind” in “Newark State of Mind.”
The video is not conducive to attracting business or tourist dollars to New Jersey’s largest city.
Think Tony Soprano mixed with The Jersey Shore plus lots of garbage. “Garbage so high, it’s like a scene out of ‘Wall-E'”, raps Ryan, while the chorus belts out:
“Newark.
Homeless people, hookers and crack bums,
There’s nowhere they won’t poo,
Welcome to Newark…”
In the music video, Ryan plays a young man living in Brooklyn who loses his tech job and can only afford to live in Newark, where “even Onstar is scared for its life.”
One has to wonder what Newark native Cory Booker, currently the mayor, would say about all this.
Last fall, he banned Conan O’Brien (remember him?) from Newark airport after O’Brien dissed Booker’s fine city. The mayor’s Youtube channel is filled with videos showing a city “on the rise”.
But “Newark State of Mind” sees things very differently. This video goes from bad to worse, or funny to funnier (depending on your perspective), when it shows a (fake) dead guy outside the singer’s apartment.
Maybe there’s a way to turn this to Newark’s advantage, to promote the video as a marketing tool. Certainly there have to be tourists who come to New Jersey to check out sites from “The Sopranos” or determine whether GTL is real.
Why not play that up? People come to Hollywood to see the stars’ homes, why not go to Jersey to see where, as the song says, “Killers will take you and hide you, and no one will find you, afraid of Newark”?
Fuggidaboudit, say the locals.
CNBC headquarters is located up the Turnpike in Englewood Cliffs, where I queried a few of my New Jersey-based colleagues about the video.
“Thank God for the Turnpike,” says Squawk Box producer Rob Contino. He compares Newark “to Compton or Watts…the business area is nicer – slow, but nicer. The Prudential Center is nice, but don’t linger.” He adds, “Let’s just say ‘The Situation’ would not be so tough in the streets of Newark. (It’s) so bad the guys from ‘Cops’ wouldn’t come back.”
“This redefines ‘The Jersey Swipe’,” says producer Meghan Reeder. . . .”
111 Final Doom
I can just imagine the sports betting in a Philly stadium.
Whereupon betting, fans attempt to influence the outcome…
N.J. senator wants pay caps on Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield execs
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/nj_senator_proposes_imosing_pa.html
Salary caps are the new bullspit. EU parliament is mulling capping banking bonuses at 50% of salary and larger cap of 500k EUR.
While I’m here, I just wanted to mention
BP
stands for
Broken Pipe
TRENTON — Facing a pugnacious governor who has not shied away from fighting with the state’s public workers unions, members of the Communications Workers of America are planning to vote on whether to establish a fund to push back with their own media campaigns.
Leaders of the Communications Workers of America have proposed members dedicate a small portion of their salaries toward what they call a Strategic Media and Public Education Fund, which will focus on positive radio, television, internet and print advertisements on the roles of state workers, as well as ads critical of Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed civil service reforms and state budget cuts.
…Democracy could ‘collapse’ in Greece, Spain and Portugal unless urgent action is taken to tackle the debt crisis, the head of the European Commission has warned.
Here too.
134 – That is fantastic socialist logic. We are being asked to cut your pay, and layoff our workers so let’s say no to all that. Instead, let’s spend large sums of unbudgeted money on a media campaign to convince our own supporters that we are the good guys.
Money well spent
NEW ORLEANS – A bolt of lightning struck the ship capturing oil from a blown-out BP well in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, igniting a fire that halted containment efforts in another setback for the embattled company in its nearly two-month struggle to stop the spill, the company said.
confused 137
A bolt of lightning struck the ship capturing oil from a blown-out BP
God has spoken…
Wasn’t a Zeus/Poseidon thing was it?
Will the Greater Fool start buying stocks now, or selling? Tis 3:30…
138.Mr Hyde says:
June 15, 2010 at 3:10 pm
confused 137
A bolt of lightning struck the ship capturing oil from a blown-out BP
God has spoken
Apparently he’s after “O” too!
One of the stately old trees that shaded President Obama’s lawn was felled in a powerful storm Tuesday afternoon, USA TODAY’s David Jackson reports.
You’re looking at a shot of the damage on the White House lawn.
We don’t know any details about it, but many of the trees on the White House lawn are historic. Some bear plaques memorializing the president or other benefactors who planted them.
Doyle Rice, one of USA TODAY’s weather wizards, says a line of severe thunderstorms roared through the metro Washington region from 5 to 6 p.m. ET, bringing dozens of cloud-to-ground lightning strikes and dumping heavy rain and hail across the area. The National Weather Service reported wind gusts of nearly 70 mph in some spots.
132 meter
“Salary caps are the new bullspit”
Libs should be careful. Once GOP gets power, its payback time. Following the Nationalized HC template, congress could mandate that trial lawyers muct deliver 80% of any settlements to clients and capping lawyer salaries at $100k (and settlements at $1M).
This would bankcrupt the Democratic Party (and give us decent malpractice reform).
@142 –
I’d welcome tort reform – in particular caps on legal fees and salaries. It would discourage frivolous and shot in the dark lawsuits that currently clog the system.
$1M cap per settlement is particularly low though. Unless you relish the idea of big businesses poisoning, bilking, basically profiting at all expense off consumers.
I do hope as a tradeoff to large cash settlements they’d have the wherewithal to institute an instant execution clause for cases of wanton fraud (on Madoff scale) and malicious malpractice.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_lightning_strikes_jesus_statue
138 – “God has spoken…”
That Maicon goal was a thing of beauty.
somebody please help me get into soccer.
I like the way the game moves, but it’s raw and surfacey and wild.
In baseball, I must imagine the undercurrents and secrets and plots.
144
Here is the before picture. It too could have been a Zeus / Poseiden thing.
http://banderson.files.wordpress.com/2006/09/giantjesus.jpg
There are some serious rednecks in that no mans land between Cincinntucky and Columbus.
“Madoff victims screwed by NJ”
what victims?
they knew all along the game.
Its like musical chairs, as long as the music keeps going, nobody loses.
SAS
146
Drinking helps.
136. Socialist? Heh heh heh. What a maroon.
Or mop boy at a peep show.
Final Doom says:
June 15, 2010 at 2:29 pm
hype (116)-
Just like Revis, if jj makes one false step, he could end up being a squeegee guy at the Lincoln Tunnel.
Then again, the TBTF trade is as close to risk-off free money as any scam I’ve ever seen.
We have morphed into a fascist society of massive gubmint coupled to TBTF banks and criminal corporations.
Or mop boy at a peep show.
Final Doom says:
June 15, 2010 at 2:29 pm
hype (116)-
Just like Revis, if jj makes one false step, he could end up being a squeegee guy at the Lincoln Tunnel.
Then again, the TBTF trade is as close to risk-off free money as any scam I’ve ever seen.
We have morphed into a fascist society of massive gubmint coupled to TBTF banks and criminal corporations.
1W
6L
Staggering. Doom, good call.
How dare you insinuate that God disliked a 6 story, $230,000 statue made of styrophome and fiberglass!
Just because it was struck by lightning and went up in a roaring inferno that torched the adjacent building means nothing. Nothing! I tell you.
Hurray for Touchdown Jebus.
styrofoam?
http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/06/15/architecture.economy/index.html
I like this story, and it’s timely and unique.
Today, Osielski, 29, is a journeyman electrician rather than a law firm associate.
For years now I’ve been saying that I should’ve obtained my electrician’s license right after high school. Every single electrician and owner I’ve ever run across have always had top end cars and beautiful homes. The next door’s neighbor’s son has his own electrical business. He’s single with 2 condos, paid off, a vette, a harley that’s black and chrome as well as a Yukon Denali also black and sparkling chrome. It’s not just about the money; it’s the fact that an electrician is one of the most lucrative professions.
“We have morphed into a fascist society of massive gubmint coupled to TBTF banks and criminal corporation”
We seem to have become a land of scarpers.
Shore 80 – Sigh….everytime Uncle Si giveth, Stu’s boss takes it right back. It’s like they have some sort of direct line of communication of something.
157. My friend was a Philosophy Major, went to MA level. Did carpentry in school as a side job. continued with it throughout life. What else do you do with that degree? Yet I am sure some badass success is making a go out it right now with that vague piece of paper.
That’s the thing about it. In many cases, it’s a piece of paper. High risk high reward type jobs are like that. You produce or you go. No one cares what the paper says.
Who buys foreclosed homes?
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20106130314
Essex… Education and jobs are more often that not correlated. Even in things like Engineering or Science, as time goes, one becomes a spread sheet “manager”.
My ESL and Mouse skills… I meant to say “Education and jobs are often not correlated”.
Just saw a great saying for Clot:
“Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be a convenience store, not a government agency.”
and one for Jamil:
The Democratic Party: Reducing America’s Carbon Footprint One Job at a Time.
re #162 – Orion – Where is Tom Vu and when you need him?
Some Tom Vu quotes.
“Today I’m gonna show you how to drive a sports car. First, you need a lot of money!”
“Your friends are loser!”
“What if you bought a house worth $300,000 for $200,000. Think of the profit you could make!”
“Do you think these girls like me? No, they like my money!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYqDS9i8zJw&feature=player_embedded
This post is a complete lie, it is obvious to me as well as everyone else you have no friends.
Essex says:
June 15, 2010 at 5:00 pm
157. My friend was a Philosophy Major, went to MA level. Did carpentry in school as a side job. continued with it throughout life. What else do you do with that degree? Yet I am sure some badass success is making a go out it right now with that vague piece of paper.
heh heh. In fact, he and I are not on speaking terms — he wanted to remodel my kitchen. I had other ideas.
Gary [157];
You should see the pictures from the 10th birthday party my cousin just gave his daughter – Mad Hatter theme – costumes and decorations beyond belief. I guess it just couldn’t wait until her Sweet 16.
He’s an electrical contractor doing new construction in BR, LA. Still going gang-busters since the population influx post-Katrina. Wife drives a Hummer. She visits my uncle and his sister with their daughter – he’s too busy to take enough time off to travel. Clearly doing well, though.
Similarly, and plunging one of my interests, I would not be suprized at all to learn that aircraft mechanics earn more than the pilots flying them – would be curious to see data on that.
Does anyone on this post know about the 15000 nj tax credit
Patterson is going after the Indians to get $100M in Cigarette Excise Tax Revenue. The Demacratic Legislature think they can crank it up to $2B in Indian Cigarette Excise Tax Revenue. A figure Patterson feels is unrealistic. Actually if they raise the Tax to $100 per pack, they could meet the $9B shortfall. They would have to couple it with a new law making it illegal to quit smoking though.
Actually, Patterson could come up with an Imputed Cigarette Tax for Non Smokers which would definately solve the Budget Issue. $100 per pack if you smoke, $50 per pack if you don’t smoke, imputed on average smoking habits.
Confused, your rants are dwarfing Jamil’s.
Confused [172];
The funny thing about indians and cigarette taxes is that local business near reservations (mostly upstate) complained that they were getting undercut by the Indians because they didn’t charge tax. The Indians compromised – they said ‘we’ll charge what you charge after tax, then everybody will be on a level playing field’.
Forgetting the anti-trust implications that wouldn’t have passed the laugh test if a state gov’t were not involved, the Indians didn’t remit the tax, they just priced and collected as if they were obligated to. They pocketed the extra revenue. Some deal, huh? They get the benefit of a gov’t mandated revenue cushion in their price structure.
Nicholas, confused
don’t make me release the krackin!
It would actually be quite a musing to see a cracking let loose on BP
171
Vince what are you looking for exactly? The bill passed in the assembly and the senate quite easily. CC has it on his desk but has expressed concerns signing it. I guess thats where it stands for now. I’m not sure what the odds are for a veto, but I’m hoping for one.
“Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be a convenience store, not a government agency”
Actually, someplace, I have a photo of me standing in front of a store on the Kansaas-Nebraska border (near Holton, KS, if I recall correctly) and that is essentially what the (HUGE) sign said.
Maybe I can dig it up in the mass of pre-digital photos.
Maybe I can dig it up in the mass of pre-digital photos.
Pat (146)-
The same interior, mental game exists in soccer. You just have to watch it for a while to pick up on it.
Attacking is basically no more than trying to get the ball into space and bringing one more attacker into the space than the defense can deliver. Mostly, that effort involves identifying weak, slow or tired opponents who can’t (or won’t) respond to the challenges over the course of 90 minutes. Once weak links are identified, good attacking teams work the ball into those areas over and over, attempting to break the defenders.
Most defending in the international game is about getting numbers “behind the ball”: i.e., forming a human shell around the goal, inviting the attack, then (hopefully) sucking in the attack, dispossessing and launching a successful counterattack.
60-65% of all goals in international play come from teams making mistakes playing the ball away from their own goal. The rest of the goals come on counterattacks. Unlike club teams- who have tons of games and plenty of practice time- national teams have to rely on instinct and speed, speed, speed. You won’t see a lot of 35-40 pass sequences, but you will see a lot of raw athleticism and skill.
boken (153)-
Hey, I already made the disclaimer that I’m not exactly on fire with the WC bets.
Lost a bundle taking the under on that Brazil game.
Man, I hope CC vetoes this 15K tax credit piece of crap. The faster we stop playing kick the can games, the faster things start to sort out.
I will try.
Take Chile on the win line tomorrow. A little pricey at 9-5, but they are a fast, hard-attacking team up against a weakling.
Now that we’ve had time to digest Bojangles’ speech (that sounded like it was written by Aaron Sorkin, in a mushroom-induced trance), here’s the real story on the subsurface lake of oil that’s just waiting to get blown all over kingdom come by the next hurricane that passes through.
This is from Matt Simmons, not some apocalyptic nut like me:
“Matt Simmons was on Bloomberg earlier, adding some additional perspective to his original appearance on the station, in which he initially endorsed the nuclear option as the only viable way to resolve the oil spill. Simmons refutes even the latest oil spill estimate of 45,000-60,000 barrels per day, and in quoting research by the Thomas Jefferson research vessel which was compiled late on Sunday, quantifies the leak at 120,000 bpd. What is scarier is that according to the Jefferson the oil lake underneath the surface of the water could be covering up to 40% of the entire Gulf of Mexico. Simmons also says that as the leak has no casing, a relief well will not work, and the only possible resolution is, as he said previously, to use a small nuclear explosion to convert the rock to glass. Simmons concludes that as punishment for BP’s arrogance and stupidity the government “will take all their cash.” Now if only our own administration could tell us the truth about what is really happening in the gulf…”
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/matt-simmons-revises-leak-estimate-120000-barrels-day-believes-oil-covers-40-gulf-beneath-su
Cool video of nuking a gas leak in Uzbekistan, 1966. Best part is the voice-over that sounds like Ren (of Ren & Stimpy):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpPNQoTlacU
How about this for a Constitutional amendment? Saw this in the comments of nj.com today.
“Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators or Representatives, and Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States .”
“60-65% of all goals in international play come from teams making mistakes playing the ball away from their own goal. The rest of the goals come on counterattacks.”
You forgot the other two. Set pieces and the long ball. Stick Peter Crouch in the box and keep firing balls his way.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/aug/22/peter-crouch-tottenham-interview
Crouch is actually not that great in the air.
NEW ORLEANS – Scientists provided a new estimate for the amount of oil gushing from the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday that indicates it could be leaking up to 2.52 million gallons of crude a day
174.Sas3 says:
June 15, 2010 at 6:31 pm
Confused, your rants are dwarfing Jamil’s
True, but they accurately reflect the current thinking and actions in Albany.
Oilbama still hasn’t received the memo that the campaign ended, and he was actually elected.
The one highlight of his Oval Office address tonight was where he called on all nations and all oil companies to volunteer skimming ships and send them to the Gulf as soon as possible. Oh wait, wrong speaker, 57 days later, this still hasn’t happened.
This has not only been a complete failure of leadership for 57 days, but there is absolutely no acknowledgment that a course correction is or was needed, as we continue to head into the abyss on the same rudderless path.
Kiss the Gulf sealife and wildlife goodbye.
“Now, a mobilization of this speed and magnitude will never be perfect, and new challenges will always arise. I saw and heard evidence of that during this trip. So if something isn’t working, we want to hear about it. If there are problems in the operation, we will fix them.
But we have to recognize that, despite our best efforts, oil has already caused damage to our coastline and its wildlife. And sadly, no matter how effective our response is, there will be more oil and more damage before this siege is done.”
I hate my job!
On the bright side, I received a congratulatory note in an email today from a coworker today that was pretty funny…
“Thanks again for the support and congratulations on the added accountability (job security).”
The executive at the head of our vertical gave a ‘town meeting’ today to update us on our recent successes. When looking at our year over year revenue and ebitda, you could really see the impact of the recent headcount reductions to our bottom line and margin expansion. I asked him the loaded question simply because I wanted to see what terminology he would use for chopping heads. He came up with workflow efficiencies. Nice!
Clot…Check out the end of the comment thread on this Montclair issue.
http://www.baristanet.com/2010/06/staycation_montclairs_thank-yo.php
Stu (194)-
At least he didn’t bullwhip your back and call you lackey.
In other news…my prediction of over 50,000 gallons per day on the BP leak has come to fruition. What a surprise.
Drill Baby Drill!
stu (195)-
You should do that town a favor, tote an AK into the next town meeting, and clean out that communist hellhole.
Maybe you could even make it to your office with that AK before you get mowed down by a SWAT team.
Workflow efficiencies implies failure to achieve full budget fix. Job searching, lack of attention to projects and overall downgrade in work atmosphere follow.
Two 19 year olds were beaten with iron rods and then electrocuted to death by their own families as they belonged to different sub-castes and had ‘planned’ to elope. [Hindu families in India]
A bit more “tolerant” families will simply shun the kids by refusing to speak to them for years on. Even when the families may be fine, there is a lot of pressure from friends and relatives.
Doom, your techniques are badly needed in many parts of India.
Also, to give credit where it’s due, Islam seems more tolerant of these things — as long as one converts, many things become fine with inter-racial and inter-religious marriages. In the above Hindu case, there is no solution — no conversion, nothing.
S
Pat (200)-
Stealing pencils, too.
sastry (201)-
All this stuff is way beyond me. Most days now, I just wake up and want to kill people.
Once the pencils go, it’s off to Harvey Cedars, where, if you’re lucky, you’ll still have access to the beach after paying for retention.
Stu-
I left a few droppings of my own at barfistanet.
Wonder how long it will take before they get moderated.
Signing off now. I’m gonna crawl into bed and try to think of what somebody in my family would have to do to get the rest of us mad enough to beat him with iron rods and electrocute him to death.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/06/15/msnbc_trashes_obamas_address_compared_to_carter_i_dont_sense_executive_command.html
Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Howard Fineman react to President Obama’s Oval Office Address on the oil spill. Here are the highlights of what the trio said:
Olbermann: “It was a great speech if you were on another planet for the last 57 days.”
Matthews compared Obama to Carter.
Olbermann: “Nothing specific at all was said.”
Matthews: “No direction.”
Howard Fineman: “He wasn’t specific enough.”
Olbermann: “I don’t think he aimed low, I don’t think he aimed at all. It’s startling.”
Howard Fineman: Obama should be acting like a “commander-in-chief.”
Matthews: Ludicrous that he keeps saying [Secretary of Energy] Chu has a Nobel prize. “I’ll barf if he does it one more time.”
Matthews: “A lot of meritocracy, a lot of blue ribbon talk.”
Matthews: “I don’t sense executive command.”
Amazingly, even the English-language papers I had in my Gujarati hotel room a month ago while denouncing the violence of the type sastry describes, have op-ed articles essentially sanctifying the punishment for the “transgressors”.
I almost choked on my yoghurt:
June 15 (Bloomberg) — The property boom in China isn’t a bubble because it’s supported by “solid” demand for residential housing, according to Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=av4pOFd4COh0
When I was in India I read a story of a tourist that was raped in Goa. The next day the rapist was found dead in the street. Community policing at its finest.
Everyone seems down on BHO right now. This for example:
http://m.usatoday.com/News/1798233/full/;jsessionid=D0E368245BF6E293AC2053C7A0104504.wap1
BHO don’t need no stink’n facts:
http://wap.cbsnews.com/site?t=YEk7wb2sjUuv6axw3lpnzQ&sid=cbsnews
___
Nom: you didn’t give a link to Newark State of Mind
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U7kuqow3gg
Invisible-hand-of the-free-market-man!
http://www.salon.com/entertainment/comics/this_modern_world/2010/06/15/this_modern_world/index.html
my God, i thought you were going to chip in with some decisive insght at the end there, not leave it with ‘we leave it to you to decide’.
Hi there could I reference some of the insight found in this blog if I reference you with a link back to your site?
Interesting piece! Do you have any opinions that you might be willing to divulge to explain your last point a bit further? thanks
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