From Bloomberg:
Christie Signs 2% Cap on New Jersey Property Taxes
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, whose state has the highest property taxes in the U.S., signed legislation capping annual increases in the levies at 2 percent.
The measure reduces the current 4 percent threshold on real-estate taxes, the prime funding source for schools and local governments, and cuts the number of exemptions to four from 14. Christie, a first-term Republican, said the new limits will affect calendar-year budgets that begin in January 2011.
Christie and the Democratic-led Legislature agreed on the cap July 3 after lawmakers resisted his call for a constitutional amendment limiting the increases to 2.5 percent. The governor vetoed an earlier 2.9 percent statutory limit approved by lawmakers as he called a special session of the Legislature and pushed for stricter restrictions.
“This is all about making New Jersey affordable again,” Christie said. “We’ve waited 30 years for a solution to the property tax problem in New Jersey and we’ve waited for politicians to fix it. They didn’t. This puts the solution in your hands.”
…
New Jersey property taxes rose 72 percent from 1999 to 2009 to an average of $7,281, according to data from the state Department of Community Affairs. Towns, schools and counties raised a total of $24 billion through the levy last year.Christie, the first Republican elected governor of New Jersey since 1997, defeated Democrat Jon Corzine in November after pledging to end chronic budget deficits without raising sales, personal-income or business taxes. He has said curbing increases in local property taxes would make the state more affordable for residents and help it lure new businesses.
good luck on the whole 2% thing…….
Goldman Sachs, Citigroup Sued Over Subprime Loans
Cambridge Place Investment Management Inc., founded by ex- Goldman Sachs Group bankers Martin Finegold and Robert Kramer, lost more than $1.2 billion as a result of the banks’ untrue statements, according to a copy of the complaint filed July 9 in state court in Massachusetts.
The banks sold securities backed by mortgages that came from a “small group of now notorious subprime mortgage originators,” used faulty appraisals, accepted misleading information in loan applications, and violated their own standards for underwriting, the firm said in the lawsuit. The banks offered or sold $2.4 billion of residential mortgage- backed securities using untrue statements, according to the lawsuit.
This cap is surplus from BP and is so leaky as to offer little protection to homeowners.
Nothing like exempting the very things that are driving taxes higher.
Nice one, NJ Supreme Court.
DWI is fine in NJ if you don’t speak english..Guess police must now on keep translators on patrol car just in case a norwegian au-pair or mexican illegal is caught drunk driving. I hope Christie simply gets rid of this Supreme Court.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/071210_NJ_top_court_rules_police_must_explain_DWI_test_laws_in_native_language.html
It would’ve been really better if they set the cap at the adjustable mortgage rate.
Heh.
I figured the cakes must all taste like shit. The crap that goes into colorings, fancy decorations, etc. are pretty much 100% carcinogenic (don’t even get me started on commercial shortenings). I just enjoy the guy’s management style. He’s an amalgam of every pastry manager I’ve ever known.
These ladies do a fantastic job with cake:
http://justdessertsnj.com/
No bullshit, real ingredients, open kitchen, great food. They aren’t a pastry shop, they aren’t a bakery, they just do cake right. They have a little shop in Hawthorne. Most everything is made to order that day, so call ahead.
Taxpayers have paid out nearly $1 million per year in settlements to congressional employees who have been harassed or otherwise treated badly by their political bosses over the past 14 years, according to records from the Office of Compliance.
The payouts stem from hundreds of complaints from employees, some of whom may have been sexually harassed or treated so poorly that third-party mediators were brought in to negotiate cash payoffs to settle the cases.
In fiscal year 2007, for example, the OOC — an agency that administers a confidential dispute resolution system — settled 38 cases, with 25 resulting in monetary awards worth $4 million. In fiscal year 2009 — the most recent year reported by the OOC — the office settled 13 cases for nearly $830,000.
These settlements may be especially relevant if aides who were allegedly abused by former Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) seek restitution. Massa resigned under allegations that he sexually harassed male staffers. Quite often, the harassment cases, after a secretive mediation process, can land staffers retroactive raises, vacation time and cash payouts for their perceived pain and suffering.
For privacy reasons, the details of all these cases — including the names of the victims and the alleged harassers — are almost never made public. Lawmakers, regardless of whether they are guilty of workplace violations, do not pay a dime for the settlements, while taxpayers foot the bill for the lawyers.
An unprecedented new report to be released Tuesday by the OOC sheds light on the larger problem of harassment in the congressional workplace — the OOC is often stymied by members of Congress and at times left largely powerless to inform employees about their workplace rights.
When the OOC recently tried to make contact with the Hill’s 30,000 employees to send them a survey gauging their knowledge of workplace rights, the office was blocked from having access to congressional e-mail addresses; only 892 surveys were returned.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39637.html#ixzz0tc2QBw8v
confused: “The most transparent congress in history”
Mortgage Implode-O-Meter sued into oblivion. Sad to see it. Lawyers take note:
In Bizarre Ruling, Maryland Court Denies ML-Implode.com Anti-SLAPP Motion Against Downpayment Launderer
In what is sure to go down in free speech history as a gross error, if not a blatant miscarriage of justice, ML-Implode.com has been denied its motion for anti-SLAPP dismissal in the Maryland lawsuit, Russell vs. Krowne (et al.) (a-k-a Global Direct Sales and The Penobscot Indian Tribe vs. Implode-Explode Heavy Industries, Inc./ML-Implode.com).
The lawsuit concerns blog criticism posted on the site by contributor Krista Railey (“The Mortgage Whistleblower”) regarding Russell’s Grant America Program (“GAP”), a collaboration of his Global Direct Sales, LLP, and the Penobscot Indian Tribe of Mass. The venture specialized in arranging seller-funded downpayment FHA loans (“SFDPAs”). Put in lay terms, GAP arranged to make it appear there was a downpayment on FHA loans where there was no downpayment (FHA loans require at least a 3% downpayment).
To achieve this, funds were channeled through the Indian tribe, allowing the resulting loans to pass muster by having an apparently “government-sourced” downpayment (Indian tribes count as “governments” for federal purposes).
From HousingWire:
Seriously Delinquent Prime RMBS Rise for 37th Straight Month: Fitch Ratings
The 60-plus-day delinquency rate for US prime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) rose in the 37th consecutive month in June, according to Fitch Ratings.
The credit-rating agency noted the “seriously” delinquent rate — of 60 days or more — within prime jumbo RMBS rose to 10.4% in June, up from 10.3% in May and 6.4% at the same time last year.
The five states with the highest volume of prime RMBS loans outstanding — California, New York, Florida, Virginia and New Jersey — represent a combined two-thirds of the estimated $354bn market, Fitch said.
“The 60-plus-day delinquency rate for US prime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) rose in the 37th consecutive month in June, according to Fitch Ratings.”
never you mind that sweet pea…
LeBron James found a team, and Mel Gibson is oh so crass..
think I will order a carrot cake from the link above (serious).
SAS
2% cap! Thank God. Our problems are solved! Happy Days are Here Again!
I officially fu*cking hate everything.
Mostly people, especially the profoundly ignorant ones.
This overnight will never, ever seem to end.
sl
From the Star Ledger:
Christie signs the cap: It’s hardly hard, but just how soft will it be?
I just left the signing ceremony for that property-tax cap bill.
It was held at a firehouse in Hamilton Township just outside Trenton. There was much back-patting among the assembled politicians after the bill was signed.
Afterward I got talking to a guy who lives in Hamilton. He told me he pays more than $5,000 for a house one an eighth-acre lot with lousy services.
What will the cap bill do for this guy?
…
The answer lies in the aspect of the law calling for referendums on any tax hikes that exceed 2 percent.
There are a couple of problems with this. The biggest problem is that pensions, health benefits and several other costs are exempt from the cap. That means you might very well get hit with a 6 percent tax hike under this “hard” 2 percent cap.
But the biggest problem lies in the reliability of the promise that referendums will be held whenever that 2 percent cap is exceeded. That has been the law since 1976. But those referenda are rarely held. Instead the elected officials find ways around the cap to avoid putting the increases up for a vote.
Will that finally change? I’m cynical after 34 years of seeing this dodge in action. However Christie asserted that this time around the state Local Finance Board will be a lot more strict in defining just what will constitute an emergency that permits an increase without a referendum. He promised to “get the Local Finance Board out of the process.”
“If the local governing body wants to raise them above 2 percent, they’ll have to put it on the ballot,” he said of taxes. “There’s not gonna be anybody in Trenton that can override that.”
…
The first three tries weren’t very encouraging, but maybe the fourth time’s the charm.
June WARN Notices…
COMPANY
CITY
EFFECTIVE DATE
WORKFORCE AFFECTED
BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON CORPORATION
LODI
8/27/2010
39
BROOKS BROTHERS CUSTOMER SERVICE
EDISON
8/14/2010
85
COASTAL LEARNING CENTER
POINT PLEASANT
6/30/2010
25
HARTZ MOUNTAIN CORPORATION
BLOOMFIELD
8/9/2010
226
HOST INTERNATIONAL, INC
NEWARK
9/10/2010
135
MARRIOTT TEANECK @ GLENPOINTE
TEANECK
8/13/2010
207
NEBRASKA MEAT CORPORATION
NEWARK
6/2/2010
230
NEW BREED LEASING OF NJ, INC
KEARNY
8/14/2010
73
RAFAELLA APPAREL GROUP, INC
BAYONNE
8/16/2010
66
SBLI USA MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE CO. INC
NEWARK
6/30/2010
69
THOMSON, INC
PRINCETON
8/27/2010
62
WARREN HOSPITAL
PHILLIPSBURG
6/23/2010
20
WELCH ALLYN
BRANCHBURG
8/1/2010
148
Christie is just another shuck-and-jive artist. I had some hope for him, but he’s just another cheap politician, operating under the cloak of “maverick”.
Nothing will change unless we start executing these crooks and burn Trenton to the ground. The system is irretrievably broken.
17.
16. Final Doom says:
July 14, 2010 at 6:11 am
Christie is just another shuck-and-jive artist. I had some hope for him, but he’s just another cheap politician, operating under the cloak of “maverick”.
Nothing will change unless we start executing these crooks and burn Trenton to the ground. The system is irretrievably broken
Unfortunate, but True! The last chance to change things was in 2000 when the did the 10% Pension Bump, which should have been a 10% Pension Reduction.
From MarketWatch:
Mortgage applications to buy homes hit 14-year-low
The number of mortgage-loan applications for home purchases dropped to its lowest level in 14 years last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.
Application volume for mortgages to purchase a home sank a seasonally adjusted 3.1% for the week ending July 9, compared with the week before, pushing volume to its lowest since December 1996, the MBA said.
More interesting is the fact that sales are plummeting during a time of incredibly low interest rates.
Seems that the government stimulus to keep mortgage rates low to boost the housing market was a waste of time and money.
Stu called it right on Christies tax cap. What we got was bread and circus. The only cap that will work is a cap with NO exceptions.
Oh well, back yo planning my Escape From NJ
This is not news for those who read njrereport, but yet another story about $1 million+ mortgage defaults.
“Here’s something the banks didn’t expect: Wealthy people are really bad at paying their mortgages…”
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/top-stocks/blog.aspx?post=1779873
SAS
Do you have any good mind control contracts? Perhaps we could get a sleeper agent/Manchurian candidate or 2 into the state government and get a state constitutional amendment limiting pension payouts to a certain % of the available funding
Pension bomb in Nj will make the 2% CAP absolutely worthless.Next up should be converting the pension system to a nice 401k !!!!!!! Hahahaha!
I’m laughing at all of you who thought that Christie was going to be anything different. My town just released its budget with much hue and cry about how much they cut, but the crony appointments, no-bid contracts, and no-show jobs given to their friends go on and on and on…
Not to nitpick here, but the times piece is crap.
Having a million dollar mortgage doesn’t imply the debtor is wealthy. Remember back to the heady days of the bubble and recall that getting a loan for a million dollar homes wasn’t a hard thing to do.
These defaults aren’t the rich, they are the big bubble debtors and speculators who bought grand homes as a leveraged bet.
Only in America can owing someone a million dollars mean you are rich. Hell, if I owed a million, I’d say I was pretty damn poor.
Juice,
401K’s for all government workers. if the private sector has it so great as the government employees suggest then lets share the wealth and get all of those poor under appreciated government workers onto the great 401k’s that the private sector gets!!!
Nowhere does the Corelogic and NYT analysis look at income, they infer that it is the “wealthy” that make up this group.
Shame shame, I would posit that the real wealthy probably owned for much longer than the past few tears and likely have little or no mortgages at all.
Conspicuous consumption is not wealth, and it isn’t the “rich” who are defaulting. These are speculators exercising an option that the market gave to them freely.
Auuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh
CANNOT.escape.this.place. Too many fu*cking people. I’m charting myself to death.
sl
italic off
“Nowhere does the Corelogic and NYT analysis look at income, they infer that it is the “wealthy” that make up this group.”
Expecting actual journalism from NYT is a bit too much. It is always, about narrative. Class-warfare against the “rich”, based on fake and fabricated interpretation, is essential part of the Hope and Change. Why anyone wastes their money to buy NYT is beyond me.
So the banks based their business model on fees and back-end dollars — they effectively blew a hole into the bottom of the American economy and helped to decimate the American middle class. What’s next?
Exemptions, exclusions, emergencies, loopholes, waivers, etc.. Just a stroke job.
“Only in America can owing someone a million dollars mean you are rich.”
is that you George Orwell?
but, you are leaving one part out….wealth extraction from all other countries in order to fund debts (via military & trade policies).
this enable the saps to keep going…
God bless America! or we will drop a bomb on you, steal your wealth, and force you to buy treasury.
SAS
“Seems that the government stimulus to keep mortgage rates low to boost the housing market was a waste of time and money.”
No, it means that the stimulus wasn’t big enough. Just ask Paul Krugman. If we only pass new trillion dollar stimulus to unions, everything will be great again.
I think any investment in the crumbling infrastructure would be helpful. Roads, electrical grid, and domestic mfg. These are real and would provide jobs.
NY Times can have some interesting in depth articles. Their coverage of the arts and culture is excellent. Of course appealing to your average NJ resident is difficult what with all of the interesting things they tend to follow. Awkward silence.
Hilarious…….!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6Oc3WizIRg
Essex,
Ditch diggers? Are these the kind of jobs America needs?
For years I heard that we didn’t need to do the hands on shit anymore, we were the new knowledge and service economy. We did the jobs that paid the big bucks.
And Christie thinks it’s a good idea to dump $180 million into Xanadu to create retail jobs?
What good are retail jobs? Other than putting some highschool kids to work, who can afford to live in North jersey on a retail salary?
Waste 180 mil to create jobs we don’t need.
Retail sales surprise lower.
Ukraine Milk Company Powered by 4,000 Cows and GE Biogas Engine
Producer of Baby Nutrition Products Saving CO2 Based on Special “Green Tariff”
Press Release Source: GE On Wednesday July 14, 2010, 8:37 am
grim says:
July 14, 2010 at 8:54 am
Retail sales surprise lower.
____________________________
No suprise there. Nobody has got any money. Except the banks, Apple and Intel.
Come on everybody – group hug for sl ! (John, be quiet) She’s sinking in the ER and needs some help! Hang in there kid!
Grim, I imagine a US firm like CAT would encourage ditch digging.
hyde (7:17)-
The only cap that will work is a cap in the bean.
“The only cap that will work is a cap with NO exceptions.”
Final Doom – Saw you mention the show Cake Boss yesterday. Have you heard of cake farts? it is definitely NSFW but also sort of funny. Best NOT to google it from a work computer.
We used to have ditch diggers but John hired them all as quants.
Grim, I agree with you on NYT article. When I review folks finances I will look at non real estate assets versus debt ..and include the motgage in that debt number, that often provides an interesting ratio and tells me a bit more about their “wealth”.
boss (9:43)-
Is that what happens after you get donkey punched?
“Have you heard of cake farts?”
group hug baby, I will bring the onions. Who is sick in ER? I thought we were of a higher gene pool on this site and illness, unemployment, financial loss could not happen to us.
buyer (9:52)-
I’d be willing to bet there’s not a single person in the newsroom at NYT that would understand what you just posted.
They’re very good at tuning into “feelings”, though…
I think our transformation into the stupidest nation ever to exist is pretty much complete. The shocker is that that last couple of generations appear to have consciously chosen self-lobotomization.
EWellie says:
July 13, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Mr Hyde–
The only thing I’m advocating is living in an area with access to culture. IMO, Manhattan is the best place to live in the U.S. Is there crime? Yes. Is there so much more than you get anywhere else? Absolutely. The last thing I’d want is to be stuck in a small town with narrow minded people–a little crime or a few gangs is the price you pay for LIVING. Friends of ours recently moved to Charlotte. They’re in a “development” in the middle of nowhere. Even when you go to Charlotte proper, there’s little there for a person who is used to real cities. Psychologically, the place would kill me in three months. My point is, we have little to really complain about in this area, and if someone doesn’t like or appreciate the advantages of living here, well they don’t have to live here.
I think you’re missing one huge aspect: We’re humans and we change and adapt to life, surroundings, etc.
After 5-6 years in NYC, we moved to Bucks County. Knew nobody out here. Was there a rough adjustment period? Of course. But you start to find new and fun exciting things to do. Or you take the extra money you have in your pocket and travel. Two years ago we were in a 750 sq ft apt. We now have a place 4x that size.
Things change, people change … that’s life, EWellie.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cake-farts
I think sl should serve up some “hot shots” to a few of the worst patients in her ER. That should get everyone there on their toes pretty quick.
I hate that guy. We watched Night and Fog in HS and Elie Wiesel came in an spoke afterwards and he was like yada yada yada, meanwhile guy wrote like 57 books and is filthy rich with all his yada yada yada.
I guess at least he did not have to spend time in Bucks County.
Things change, people change … that’s life, EWellie.
“Retail sales surprise lower.”
unexpected ?
I thought we were of a higher gene pool on this site and illness, unemployment, financial loss could not happen to us.
Still true, but you misunderstood, she IS the ER.
“The Obama administration’s stimulus push has saved or created about 3 million jobs and is on track to save an additional 500,000 by the end of the year, according to a new report by President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers”
“save”
Delusion indeed.
Repeat a lie enough, and it becomes the truth.
Delusion 10:26
bwhahahahaha!!!!!!!!!
Let me guess, 2 million of those “saved” jobs were the census jobs where they fire you every other Friday and rehire you on Monday morning!
Birth/death also created approx a million jobs last year. Funny, fed/state tax receipts don’t confirm.
I’d like some stats on what constitutes a saved job, and what kinds of jobs are being saved.
Won’t be holding my breath.
Doom
when does civil war 2.0 start? The current act is getting old very quickly. Although we have probably had arguably 1 and possibly 2 “cold” civil wars in the last 200 years
Wantan 10:36
you and I appear to have found the 3 million jobs mentioned in the article.
Now Now folks jobs are being created while being destroyed at the same time.
Here is a good example. Just this week my FIL was finally offered a job after loads of interviews. He has been out of work for the last year and a half. Only problem is the job requires relocation to another state and the job is akin to working for the BORG in his industry. They will need to sell the house in this market and they would have to leave allot of family, friends and hobbies behind and his wife would have to shut down her small business.
So for every job created there is one destroyed. It is a win win right for the administration too since they can claim my MIL retired and left the workforce.
The ER totally turns me off. Dated an ER Doctor and she was running late for our tryst, anyhow she shows up like two hours late all excited some guy got shot in chest with no heart beat so they sliced open chest and she stuck her hands in there and manually pumped his heart and saved him. She said my hands were in his chest for like two hours. I was like just hearing yada yada yada and I was thinking no way are those hands going anywhere near me that night, such a turn-off. Of course she was an adreneline junkie and was ready to go like a bunny. She like to come off late night ER Saturday night shifts at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan where NYPD takes all their shooting and stabbing victims as it was exciting and come to my apt a few blocks away and work it off!! She also had this big firefighter boyfriend she was “exclusive” with but did not want to marry so she had me on the side. ER Doctors are sooooo crazy when I met another girl who just happened to live two blocks from her she goes this is great. You go exclusive with her too, that way we could double date with my big fireman boyfriend and after we ditch them off you come over and we can do the nasty. Best of both worlds we both can have “real” relationships, still have each other on side. I was like you are one crazy nutso adrenline junkie, sounds great but when the big firefighter finds out I am getting my butt kicked here to kingdom come and I will have a wacked out girl trying to kill me. Meanwhile she was so smoking insanely hot after her firefighter friend kicked my butt all would be forgivin for her, he ain’t dropping a hot ER doctor when he is a 90K firefighter. Since then I avoided all ER Doctors.
Grim,
“These defaults aren’t the rich, they are the big bubble debtors and speculators who bought grand homes as a leveraged bet.”
You expect NYT reporters to inspect data? Especially data that gets in the way of a good headline??:)
jj (10:47)-
The classics come when you least expect them.
10:47 “insanely hot”……Pics or it dint happen.
Let them eat sh*t…..
WYOMISSING, Pa.—Nowadays, former chief executive Anne Stevens spends time job hunting and making créme caramel in the kitchen of her 13,400-square-foot home in this Philadelphia suburb.
Nine months after leaving the highest job at Carpenter Technology Corp., she typically devotes at least three hours a day making calls to company executives, recruiters and professional contacts. A board member at Lockheed Martin Corp. and one-time Ford Motor Co. executive, Ms. Stevens faces a job market unusual in the exclusive ranks of top executives—but not unfamiliar to many Americans.
“There just aren’t a lot of [CEO] searches out there,” she says.
View Full Image
CEOREDUX
Scott Lewis for The Wall Street Journal
Anne Stevens is among a growing number of job-hunting former CEOs.
CEOREDUX
CEOREDUX
No one knows how many out-of-work CEOs are looking for corner office suites, but recruiters say their numbers are growing. Fewer big businesses are switching bosses these days and mergers and bankruptcies have further reduced their job prospects. Only 48 companies in the S&P 500 index changed leaders last year, the lowest level since recruiters Spencer Stuart began tracking it in 2004.
Replacement of big-business CEOs picked up in the second quarter, according to Spencer Stuart. But it will take more than a slight gain to find good homes for every unemployed chief. Just two of 13 major corporations switching leaders in the latest quarter chose an outsider.
Some boards are loath to change chiefs during economic turbulence, and the choppy recovery so far hasn’t sufficiently heartened boards, recruiters say.
Big-company mergers have eliminated dozens of senior management jobs, too. Jonathan Schwartz, the former chief at Sun Microsystems, now owned by Oracle Corp., and Todd Stitzer at Cadbury, now owned by Kraft Foods Inc. are among those hoping to be CEOs elsewhere. Mr. Stitzer says he has flirted with several mid-sized U.S. concerns about taking their helm.
“We have a much higher flow of former CEOs than we have seen in many years looking for a position again at the CEO level,” says James G. Aslaksen, a senior client partner for recruiters Korn/Ferry International. He finds these job hunts can now last 18 months, up from no more than a year in 2005. Among major corporations, however, “the [CEO] opportunity pool is fairly small,” adds Dennis Carey, also of Korn/Ferry.
Smaller companies have started to look for new CEOs again, recruiters report. But many former corporate chiefs want another big-company post.
Carlos Gutierrez, a former Kellogg Co. CEO who resigned as U.S. Commerce secretary early last year, desires to run a public company with at least $14 billion in annual revenue. He says he’s spurned feelers about running concerns that he felt were too small, headquartered abroad or privately owned.
Chiefs with controversies on their resumes face high hurdles. Mike Zafirovski left Nortel Networks Corp. last August amid a dismantling of the fallen technology giant following a bankruptcy-court filing. He prefers to lead another large business and has prepared a detailed, two-page chart of his career financial-feats, according to someone familiar with the matter.
Mr. Zafirovski spent more than three years trying to turn Nortel around, but critics say he didn’t move fast enough. Its bankruptcy hurts his job hunt, according to recruiters.
Ms. Stevens, now 61, was a first-time CEO when Carpenter, a developer and maker of specialty alloys, hired her in November 2006. The nursing-school dropout had received her engineering degree at age 30. She spent a decade working for Exxon Corp., then joined Ford as a business planner in 1990.
She eventually advanced to chief operating officer for the Americas, overseeing more than $75 billion in annual revenue. That made Ms. Stevens the highest ranked woman in the U.S. automotive industry.
She managed the Detroit auto maker’s tricky vehicle recalls and plant shutdowns following the turmoil after September 11, 2001. Bill Ford Jr., Ford’s executive chairman and previous CEO, says Ms. Stevens played a key role in crafting a North American turnaround plan.
Ms. Stevens even aspired to run Ford. Once she turned 57, however, “age was running against me,” she recalls. “To go for my dream, I had to leave.”
So eager was she to be a CEO that she took the first helm offered—at Carpenter. Its headquarters in her hometown of Reading, Pa., made the job even more appealing. As a result, she says, she “didn’t probe deep enough” into its boardroom personalities, customers, products and operations.
“I didn’t realize how much [Carpenter] lacked structure and systems,” Ms. Stevens says. “If I knew then what I know now, I would have never taken the job.”
Carpenter achieved record results during her first two years, as Ms. Stevens sold assets, enlarged melting facilities and shook up senior management. But profits and sales slipped in the fiscal year ended June 2009.
Ms. Stevens says she “found it difficult to build a close relationship” with fellow directors. The stressful situation often woke her up at night. Board members opposed her strategy to expand the company during the downturn, she remembers. In summer 2009, the board stripped her of the chairman’s title. She soon quit.
Splitting the top roles “was an emerging practice,” says Gregory Pratt, an outside director who now is chairman. Board members appreciate “the improvements she made in Carpenter’s business” and she “was an excellent CEO,” Mr. Pratt adds. He says Ms. Stevens never told him she had significant concerns about board communications.
As she seeks work in the U.S. or abroad, Ms. Stevens is getting assistance from Mr. Aslaksen and his colleagues. Boards needing a new chief often value a battle-tested executive like Ms. Stevens, suggests Mr. Carey, a Korn/Ferry vice chairman.
Ms. Stevens has also approached private-equity firms about leading a small portfolio company.
Despite her search, Ms. Stevens has yet to score any face-to-face interviews. “It is going to be a challenge” for Ms. Stevens to find another CEO post because the huge supply of potential chiefs enables boards to overlook “anyone who has any taint of controversy,” says Judith von Seldeneck, head of Diversified Search Odgers Berndtson.
The unemployed chief executive keeps busy serving on the Lockheed Martin board, caring for a sick friend – and knitting afghans.
Yet Ms. Stevens was so sure her next corner office would require relocation that she put her French country-style home up for sale in November.”I don’t need a house that big,” she observes. “I used the house a lot for entertaining while I was CEO.”
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9ZzZquaXrR8/TDx26RBvpcI/AAAAAAAAGE8/v7HjOFBqYLM/s1600/MortgagesvsPropertyValue.png
Speaking of charts and stats……think this is for real? Unbelievable…
Cindy (11:10),
The asset declines, yet the debt remains. It’s a bitch.
Hoped you’d like that chart BC…
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-11/bank-profits-depend-on-debt-writedown-abomination-in-forecast.html
Statement 159 – “abomination”
I’m going back to find the Fleckenstein interview (podcast) I just listened to. Will post – about 20 plus minutes…
Cindy – what is more unbelievable is the mark to fantasy on the securities for that debt.
Ok, who changed all the formatting on this website? It looks to much like Microsoft Word right now…
http://www.kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Entries/2010/7/8_Bill_Fleckenstein.html
Author of “Greenspan’s Bubbles” – Bill Fleckenstein
“We have done a few things better than Japan”…maybe….
BC – I think you might like this…
jj- you need a doctor…..
Old theme isn’t compatible with the newest version of wordpress.
I didn’t code the old theme, and updating the code would be a nightmare.
Hi Sean – (11:20) …I have been reading way too much today…totally disillusioned lately.
Grim @ 7:43 gave me a good laugh though…
“Hell, if I owed a million, I’d say I was pretty damn poor.”
re: “updating the code would be a nightmare.”
Grimmy cum-on already you are lazier than a bunch of out of work middle managers.
Download something alraedy and install it, here are 1218 free themes for wordpress.
http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/
Comment stolen from the NJ.Com article that Grim linked to.
“this cap is as hard as christie’s belly”
Hey-
Any way to get the posts numbered again??
No numbers and no more sheep. Oh well.
Working on the numbers,
http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/14/retirement/boomers_retirement_savings/index.htm?section=money_latest&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_latest+%28Latest+News%29
47% of early boomers could run shy of cash
On the bright side, that’s down from the estimate seven years ago. In 2003, 59% of early boomers ( ages 56-62 ) ran the risk of running short of money in retirement.
Chicago & Grim: Nudge?
“What’s the difference between now and then? Much broader use of policies governing work-based retirement plans, such as automatic enrollment in 401 (k) plans and automatic increases to 401 (k) contributions.”
Well…..and – not paying the mortgage.
http://www.hollywoodtoysandcostumes.com/cached/1310151S.jpg
Cop out Christie. Just another huckster.
Hey, that’s my wife!
Was it McSkeevey or Corslime that put in the $7 Security Surcharge on Motor Vehicle Registration?
If that’s your wife Meter, then I’m gonna apply to be your fireman.
For those who haven’t scrolled up yet: The punchline of post 10:47 is the mention of the 90K firefighter.
Also, I think the NJREREPORT may be on the verge of its own social unrest in response to this….ahem…. less than optimal format situation.
Grim, set a fund raising goal. An amount which will get you behind the keyboard and coding something similar to what we had before. We’re all hooked, we’ll pay up.
“Id like some stats on what constitutes a saved job, and what kinds of jobs are being saved”
The last metric I heard the White House say they were using was that any job that received any funding at all (could be $100, or less) is counted as saved. The WH said that since jobs that get some outside funding are less likely to get eliminated, it is logical to count this way.
John Lovitz was more convincing when he claimed his wife was Morgan Fairchild. “Yea, that’s the ticket. Morgan Fairchild.”
Is it possible to crack an iphone? I want to turn my wife’s old iphone into an ipod so I can use it to listen to music and Pandors.
Is there a way to turn an IPhone into a 30.06?
When will the whiskey app be ready for the IPhone?
You guys have totally ruined my memory!!! I did a google image of that crazy doctor and what I got back was a still pretty women but apparantly the only image was a recent shot where she appears to be a 40 year old married women in conservataive doctors clothes in a office shot for her practice on the upper east side.
Far from the 28 year old ER resident who dressed like a slut off hours in tight leather pants and halter tops with F-Me boots that like to do the nasty in scrubs fresh off stickin her hands in some gunshot victim. That girls was super crazy back then, like time she was on top of me and told me her father was chief of police in her home town in upstate NY and would shoot me dead if he found out what I was doing with daddy’s little girl. Some memories are better off left alone. Glad I am not one of her patents. Well maybe she is no longer insane.
db2 –
Not sure what you mean. The iPhone already is an iPod. If you have Wifi you should be able listen to Pandora without having to buy a data plan from a mobile provider.
http://www.techi.com/2010/05/iped-launches-for-105-in-china-runs-on-android/
iped is better
Meter-
I was told that without mobile service the wifi on an iphone will not work. What I want to do is use her old phone as an ipod touch.
db2 –
Try it. I’m pretty sure it will work thru Wifi alone.
12:40 Doom
You need one of these…http://virtualeconomics.typepad.com/virtualeconomics/2010/07/bourbon-vending-machine.html
parked outside your place of business.
“When will the whiskey app be ready for the IPhone?”
http://virtualeconomics.typepad.com/virtualeconomics/2010/07/bourbon-vending-machine.html
oopss..
http://calculatedriskimages.blogspot.com/2010/07/mba-purchase-index-july-14-2010.html
MBA: Mortgage Purchase Applications lowest since December 1996…
Nice chart – you can hardly tell where it is headed – from CR
Number of NJ jobs created/saved inflated?! Ya think?
http://www.news12.com/articleDetail.jsp?articleId=255735&position=1&news_type=news
d2b
Google “cydia” it is one of several ways to unlock/crack the iphone.
d2b
I agree with meter. the phone will work as an ipod without a cell connection. the wifi should be functional as well.
Here is new “i” product, which is actually being ofered by the White House. It is called the iSuck.
If they were to block the WiFi because the phone isn’t on a plan, they would be asking for lawsuits. WiFi is totally independent of the cell network.
If you had a reliable WiFi link you could run Skype for all your voice needs.
On a related note, anyone see the trailer for Wall Street : Money Never Sleeps? Funny scene there when Gordon Gekko is released from prison.
http://showhype.com/video/wall-street-money-never-sleeps-trailer/
Happy Daze @ 1:52 ….Nice….
Cindy (1:06)-
Better than a wet dream.
Property Taxes done right in California.
About 118,000 Santa Clara County properties received reductions averaging $175,000 in their assessed values. Because property taxes are roughly 1 percent of assessed value, on average, each of those homeowners will save $1,750 in taxes.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/11/MNGP1EAU7A.DTL#ixzz0tgK5Vceh
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/07/11/MNGP1EAU7A.DTL
Fed sees 5-6 more years of bad economy.
I’d say it’s a slam dunk that we can now triple that number.
“Fed sees 5-6 more years of bad economy.”
Doom,
What did they expect after spending/guaranteeing 12t? A trillion is not what it used to be.
Happy,
I own one of those phones. It ranks amongst my most prized posessions.
I’m modding it by gutting the old circuitry and wiring in a Bluetooth headset. I’ll cherish the day I can walk down the street with that thing paired to my iPhone,
Ubergeek, this is why you guys get no numbers.
which is leakier the BP cap or Charles Nelson Riley’s butt plug?
The fact the USA wants to check it out makes me nervous.
Every single economic report has been dismal so far this week. Tomorrow we get some juicy data. I’m looking forward to it.
Libtard,
Ain’t no thang.
Don’t pay no nevah mind.
Data, shmata.
This should turn out really well:
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–Illinois didn’t appear to have trouble attracting investors to a $900 million taxable municipal bond deal Wednesday, despite weak tax revenue, persistent fiscal woes and a yawning pension hole.
Investors bid up prices on the longest maturity part of the taxable Build America Bond deal, due in 2035, pushing down the risk premium to 325 basis points, or 3.25 percentage points, over the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond. Before the sale, the premium–the bonus investors demand to buy the bonds instead of extremely safe Treasurys–was forecast at 340 basis points, give or take 10 basis points. Citigroup was the offering’s lead bookrunner.
Foreign buyers were particularly interested in the bonds, which as part of the Build America Bonds program offer higher interests subsidized by the federal government.
Indeed, foreign investors placed orders for over a quarter of the deal, said Patrick Brett, director of U.S. municipal strategy at Citi. The deal, which saw strong demand overall, had a broad base of global investors, with more than 90 participating, Brett said. Types of investors included pension funds, insurance companies and some sovereign wealth funds, he said.
Foreign interest in Illinois’s $900 million BAB deal makes sense, market participants said. “If someone is a non-U.S. investor, and they are thinking Greece versus the state of Illinois, they might want Illinois,” given that the state has backed the bonds with its unlimited taxing ability, said Richard Saperstein, managing director and principal of Treasury Partners, a division of HighTower Securities in New York.
“Illinois is going to attract a special buyer,” Saperstein added. “It’s someone that can withstand the headline [risk] and potential-downgrade risk.”
Saperstein said he didn’t participate in the deal, citing Illinois’s financial woes.
lib (3:17)-
Should be good for another +150 to the Dow, on virtually no volume.
So I got back Sunday night after a week in Vegas. Some of my observations follow.
Last time I was there was in 98 when I got hitched. This time we were back with kids in tow, so no gambling really. I knew the place changed a lot and I was looking forward to the lux hotel (Mandalay Bay suite) the celeb eateries and of course, the desert/Valley Of Fire/Lake Mead drive.
The strip at night was jammed packed. Twice it was so bad down at the south end that we had to duck into a Casino because of the kids – people were back to back for a few blocks.
However, many of the casinos were light on gamblers (esp Mandalay Bay for most of the week).
Shows were fairly packed but tix were very gettable a day or even a few hours before show time.
The restaurants (we went to three – Koi, Red Square and Top Of The World at the Strat for old times because it is where we had our “reception” dinner) were sparse patron wise. There was a lot of pretense – hostesses would take down your name on the BLANK sheet on the clipboard and make you wait at least 5 mins even though the restaurant was 80% empty. We got “reservations” an hour before arriving everytime. I was not expecting to get into the celeb chef restaurants so easily. That being said….the food was pretty good but my socks were not blown off, with the exception of one appetizer at Red Square – and it is all crazy over priced for what you get.
Mandalay Bay was a spendy stay – the lobby is beautiful – rooms nicely appointed with great finishes but the overall scheme was uninspired and so beige I had to play Marco-Polo to find my children. Colorwheels, people!
Also, I expected better service. There was a lot of nickel and diming at Mandalay including charging us to use the “resort” (pools) area each day. The “beach” had so many beach chairs that you couldn’t walk on the “beach” – so don’t believe the photos. We could barely get the kids to the wave pool since there was about 5 inches between each chair, and good luck getting one of those. Cabana rentals – 350 per day Umbrella rentals – 200 spf 70 from the hotel store – 15. We went with the spf 70.
I do miss being able to go downstairs and get a Starbucks :)
Shopping: sign o the times? – every mid tier clothing store I entered offered 40% sale merch and a few had 40% all regular priced too.
My favorite day was when we hiked a bit in The Valley Of Fire and it only cost 10 bucks and some bottled water.
“Illinois is going to attract a special buyer,” Saperstein added.
“Special” in that short bus kinda way, I take it.
Final Doom says:
July 14, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Fed sees 5-6 more years of bad economy.
I’d say it’s a slam dunk that we can now triple that number.
Does this mean we have to extend Unemployment Benefits & Public Employee Stimulous Payments by an additional 260 to 312 weeks? Given the current State 26 week basic plus Federal 99 week extension that would be a maximum of 437 weeks Unemployment. 8.4 years should be sufficient to find a job or possibly die before you need one.
Doom
“Illinois is going to attract a special buyer,”
Is that the investor who rode the short bus?
Funny that Illinois debt gets sold on the back of a Citigroup pitch whose central idea is, “hey, at least we’re not Greece”.
Sad thing is, Illinois will probably end up looking a lot more like Argentina.
Personally, I find comfort in the fact that Illinois is even more fuct than us.
Grim,
Maybe this is right up your alley:
http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/10/01/steampunk-phone-does-nothing-useful-is-very-cool/
Biden out front busy saying “we inherited it” again today.
News for you Joe we are one-third of the way through Obama’s term, and you may still be pointing fingers at the republicans but they did not vote for $787 Billion Stimulus Bill because the knew it would not work. You are on your own in November, finger pointing and playing the blame gain ain’t going to work.
Babs Vegas is now a singles club scene and hang out at pool scene.
Two weeks ago I went to Hamptons with family, same thing. The party crowd does not shop or go to restaurnats.
Juice,
they didn’t vote for the stimulus because Obama proposed it, not because it wouldn’t work. They had no probs with the Bush TARP.
“we inherited it”
Juice (4:23),
Surprised he’s not blaming the black hole, Fannie Mae, on FDR?
Juice: “You are on your own in November, finger pointing and playing the blame gain ain’t going to work.”
The talking points have been distributed in JournoList already. This is from Obamaweek:
“Eleanor Clift: Obama’s Poll Numbers Down Because He Hasn’t Blamed Bush Enough
Obama hasn’t done as good a job as Reagan of blaming his predecessor,” wrote Clift after sharing some of Obama’s dismal poll numbers.”
Barbara: “they didn’t vote for the stimulus because Obama proposed it, not because it wouldn’t work. They had no probs with the Bush TARP.”
It is one thing to vote for emergency panic TARP, when SecTreasury says that armageddon comes if we don’t, and another thing to vote for trillion dollar funding for Obama’s cronies, ie nothing to do with job creation.
The government must maintain fiscal stimulus in the near term before gradually reducing spending and raising revenue to rebound from the longest U.S. economic slump since the Great Depression, said Roubini, 52. A value-added sales tax is probably “the best idea on the table” to contain the federal deficit once the recovery gains momentum, according to Roubini.
Making a commitment to a fiscal plan will prevent markets from “getting spooked,” said Roubini, who in August 2006 predicted a “painful” U.S. recession that came to fruition in December 2007.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-14/roubini-says-obama-should-address-nation-as-adults-on-economy-tom-keene.html
Barb – You must mean the Dems not BUSH or the GOP becuase when the first vote on the $700 Billion TARP Bill failed back on September 29, 2008 only 65 House Republicans voted in favor of H.R. 3997, and when it passed later with loads of PORK only 91 House Republicans voted for it, and only after Paulson and lobbyists scaring the bejeezus scared out of them that there would be martial law declared if it did not pass.
They Dems also rode the good will of the election and change of guard to pass the Stimuls in Feb of 2009. “Save or create 3.5 million jobs” Remember that slogan? Boehner actually dumped a copy of the 1,071-page bill to the floor in a gesture of contempt and said the bill that was about jobs, jobs, jobs has turned into a bill that’s about spending, spending, spending. The House vote was he House vote was 246-183, with all Republicans opposed, and only three GOP Senators voted for it.
People will Remember come November, that the Stimuls Bill was all about unemployment benefits, food stamps, medical care and billions for the states to offset cuts they might otherwise have to make in aid to schools and local governments to keep the entitlement class going.
My most fervent hope is that the gubmint collapses and everyone on both sides of the aisle is hanged from streetlights, a la Mussolini.
@JuiceBox,
And exactly who appointed Paulson and gave him carte blanche?
Nice revisionist history you have going on in your head.
The entitlement class is about to get a big surprise.
yo’me – they are pitching a VAT tax on Bastille Day freaking great, I need a drink….
My most fervent hope is that the gubmint collapses and everyone on both sides of the aisle is hanged from streetlights
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right.
Or is it idiots and castrati?
meter – No revision necessary, I am merely quoting the voting record on the two Bills. TARP and Stimulus, both were opposed by the GOP.
He won’t rest until he kicks some @ss and plugs that d@mn hole.
http://tinyurl.com/27qvfwh
By hole do you mean the leaking well or the rapidly expanding deficit?
I wish someone would plug his pie hole.
Oh well, so much for the cap, one day and already it’s blown for next year.
From the Record:
N.J. towns to see 11.7 percent health insurance cost increase
Many New Jersey municipalities will likely pay 12 percent more for their employees’ health insurance next year, an increase that’s lower than last year and outside the new 2 percent cap on property tax increases.
That means towns could raise property taxes above the 2 percent cap to cover the costs of the rate increases, without asking voters, because health insurance costs are one of several exceptions to the cap.
“It absolutely is possible,” said William Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey League of Municipalities. “This is a property tax driver. This is a poster child example of why an artificial spending limitation is not … sensitive to the fiscal realities of the day.”
“The Obama administration’s stimulus push has saved or created about 3 million jobs and is on track to save an additional 500,000 by the end of the year, according to a new report by President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers”
i know Barry Soetoro (aka Omama) is a GW in disguise, however from my experience there is some truth to that. I’ve been working a gig out in the midwest, shipping & logistics of Pine Beetle kill wood to asian and middle east countries. From my pn the ground experience, alot of forest agencies have gotten stimulus money to help clear forest and do biology and things of that nature (not to be confused with fire fighting budgets). so…I’ve seen stimulus money be put to real work. Hell, I’ve even made a little jack of my own from it.
Now, if we can get that money back from AIG and Citi…thats a different story.
SAS
Clot 3:33,
Chasing yield always works. Just ask John.
This should turn out really well:
Valuations reverting to the mean is a b!tch and more stimulus is not what is needed. Kinda like trying to keep a 104 degree fever going.
Avandia Raises Heart Risk But Should Stay on Market, FDA Panel Finds.
I like the part where they tell Avandia patients to ask their doctor if they are unsure about it’s safety, after the FDA Medical experts reach a split decision themselves.
Confused
the large majority of people taking avandia shouldn’t be anywhere near it.
But then again if only those who it would be truly useful to took it, then it wouldn’t make any money….
Listen Granny I said double cheese, now get that order right!
“In a rare departure from this year’s intense political posturing over the soaring budget deficit, House leaders of both parties recently signaled that they are prepared to tackle a leading long-term liability — Social Security — by raising the retirement age.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/13/both-parties-mull-raising-retirement-age/
I think a whole lot of upper income people will be very upset if means-testing is implemented. And as to raising the retirement age- Just where are people in their sixties going to be hired? People in their 40’s and 50’s can’t find work now. Any person doing physical work will absolutely not be able to perform up until age 70 anyway. It’s ridiculous.
I hope the Republicans retake Congress so they can finish the job of flushing this country down the toilet. This slow motion train wreck is getting tedious.
Finally, numbers, good lord that took all evening.
SALT LAKE CITY – Investigators examined records at several state agencies Wednesday to find the origins of a list being circulated around Utah that contains the names and personal information of 1,300 purported illegal immigrants and demands that they be deported immediately.
Utah is looking into whether a state worker may have illegally accessed a database containing the sensitive information to help compile a list that has sent chills through the Hispanic community.
The dossier — sent from an anonymous group to reporters, state officials and politicians — marks the latest example of hysteria that has spread since Arizona passed its harsh immigration crackdown this year. Immigrants liken the list to a modern-day witch hunt.
A 36-year-old Salt Lake City woman whose name was on the list along with those of her husband and three children, told The Associated Press through a translator that she’s consumed by fear. She said her family is considering returning to their home outside of Mexico City where they all have citizenship.
“Our worst fear was that immigration will come for us or will stop us while driving or being out on the street,” said the woman, who requested anonymity to protect her family’s identity.
The list contains Social Security numbers, birth dates, workplaces, addresses and phone numbers. Names of children are included, along with due dates of pregnant women on the list.
Gov. Gary Herbert’s spokeswoman said Wednesday it will likely be several days before it’s known whether state workers leaked the personal information.
“Finally, numbers, good lord that took all evening.”
good.
SAS
Numbers? Hmmm.
Donations have been light, I had to let my developers go.
Yea, the GOP are loadin up for November. I think they’ll do so well, they’ll be able to shoot themselves in both feet!
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20010568-503544.html
“That there’s no evidence whatsoever that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue. They increased revenue, because of the vibrancy of these tax cuts in the economy. ”
McConnell’s argument is that even though the government would be forgoing hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue by extending the tax cuts on relatively wealthy Americans, that loss will be more than offset by the growth spurred by keeping the money in taxpayers’ pockets.
confused 154
A 36-year-old Salt Lake City woman whose name was on the list along with those of her husband and three children, told The Associated Press through a translator that she’s consumed by fear. She said her family is considering returning to their home outside of Mexico City where they all have citizenship.“Our worst fear was that immigration will come for us or will stop us while driving or being out on the street,” said the woman, who requested anonymity to protect her family’s identity.
ummm, you’re in the nation illegally…….. what did she want, a plastic trophy and a gift certificate to KFC?
how about we use Dooms philosophy and just heavily mine the US mexico border. Our own little DMZ
Yeehaw! paying one credit card using another one is always a sound financial practice!
.New Jersey is planning to refinance about $250 million of general-obligation bonds to push $202.5 million of debt-service costs into future fiscal years.
http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a1qlQ9NgxJJE
“She said her family is considering returning to their home outside of Mexico City where they all have citizenship.”
Go back and attain US work visa or citizenship legally. How hard is this to understand? This is a sovereign country, not a temp agency. Oh, who am I kidding, its not even a temp agency, its an old dish rag.
162. Barbara
More like the US has become the Worlds Half Way House.
Sorry Barbara, but it is a temp agency. The US has morphed into a nation that has whole industries that US workers cannot afford to work in the low paid industries. Many stable industries of the past are now gone to the US worker. Meat packing, vegetable picking, construction, landscaping all gone to the lowest common dollar. You wonder why you find houses with 40 illegals sleeping in shifts, that is the only way they can make the economics of the labor intensive industries work.
The worst of this situation is he Mexican vegetable farmers who had to shut up shop because they couldn’t compete with cheap US imports brought in by NAFTA. The only way they can make a living is by working illegally in the US growing vegetables for export to Mexico.
In all these complaints about Unions, here is one trying to make a small difference.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kurt-friese/colbert-speaks-for-farmwo_b_632202.html
Ok finished painting some trim pieces. Got to do the whole house window trims, doors next, baseboard, then last crown molding. Unplanned plumbing work over July 4th, thus pushed over one more week on trim works.
I am a regular to this board for 4 years, love it.
Let’s see in 4 years if I made the right decision buying in this April.
Got plenty of toys though, miter saw, table saw, circular saw, reciprocating saw, tools and tools – during first week demolition, i filled a 36 cubic yard dumpster. I think I give homedepot a decent stimulus.
And, hired a tax lawyer this week. Dame town is telling me tax going up by $1,500 in November. I just move in less three months and not all my walls are covered by dry walls yet.
Have a urge to recall Christie, since he did not get me the -2.00% tax increase year-to-year.
What if we all citizens automatically reduce our property tax by -10%, then everyone has a tax lien then no body cares right?
Must the be paint thinner I am smelling all night in garage. see ya
Thinking. It’s always the same thing. To think is to go insane.
Sent via Blackberry
Hyde [20:00];
ummm, you’re in the nation illegally…….. what did she want, a plastic trophy and a gift certificate to KFC?
Nope, Pollo Loco…