Was doing some shopping last night, and came across the following sign taped to a cash register at a local small business. Are we really so sure the recession is over?
Coincidentally… From the AP via the Cherry Hill Courier Post this morning:
Business survey: Mood is downbeat in N.J.
Some small business owners surveyed across New Jersey remain pessimistic about their short-term future.The New Jersey Business and Industry Association Tuesday released results from its annual survey. Nine percent of the membership, or 1,311 members, responded. More than three-quarters of those respondents represented small businesses.
Most respondents said they did not expect a significant economic upturn in the first half of next year. Many said business picked up slightly this year. But they reported that sales and profits remain at recession levels.
“Despite improving business conditions, most companies are still struggling to shake off this terrible recession,” said NJBIA President Philip Kirschner.
From the Philly Inquirer:
As demand falls, so do third-quarter home values
Falling demand for housing since the federal tax credit ended in June took a bite out of prices in the third quarter, and experts say those declines will continue.
Two price indicators – the Case-Shiller Index and the Freddie Mac Conventional Home Price Index – show declines in the third quarter of this year from the second.
The indicators diverge on year-over-year measures, with Case-Shiller’s showing a 1.6 percent increase, while Freddie Mac’s had a 3.1 percent decrease over the third quarter of 2009.
Case-Shiller tracks prices in 20 cities; Freddie Mac follows nine census divisions.
No matter which measure you follow, the outlook is generally not good.
“Housing demand fell off a cliff after the second tax credit expired,” said IHS Global Insight economist Patrick Newport, adding that this was now showing up in broad-based declines in prices.
In June, prices rose in 18 of the 20 cities tracked by Case-Shiller. Three months later, prices dropped in 18 cities.
“Going forward, weak demand, foreclosures, and a glut of homes for sale,” Newport said, “should translate into another 5 [percent] to 10 percent drop in the Case-Shiller aggregate indexes.”
From the Star Ledger:
N.J. unemployment benefits reduced to 26 weeks, from 99 weeks
Starting tomorrow, anyone who files for unemployment can count on receiving a lot less help from the government.
With an emergency federal extension expiring tonight, New Jersey residents who file for unemployment will be eligible for only up to 26 weeks of benefits, down from 99 weeks, state Labor Department officials said today.
The change comes after Congress failed earlier this month to approve a $12.5 billion extension of federal jobless benefits, which last up to 73 weeks and kick in after a claimant has exhausted the state-funded benefit of 26 weeks.
Lawmakers had already passed four such extensions over the past year but stopped short of a fifth approval.
The expiration is expected to have a big impact on jobless residents in New Jersey, which is one of the states to have received the maximum 73-week extension from the federal government. The state, which continues to struggle with high unemployment, had a jobless rate of 9.2 percent in October.
First-time filers will now only be eligible for up to 26 weeks of benefits, said Kevin Smith, a state Labor Department spokesman.
Meanwhile, the state’s 400,000 continuing claimants will most likely see their benefits terms cut short, though most of them will be allowed to collect at least 20 more weeks, he said.
Good Morning New Jersey
I keep thinking about that office manager on 60 Minutes who lost her jopb out in Callifornia and was making about 60K , she had to resort to collecting aluminum cans for some kind of income. She was also living in a friend of a friends crawl space. Her 99 weeks unemployment was about to expire.
Drove through Paterson on Sunday, down towards Main Street from Route 19.
The Rt 19/80 overpass has the beginnings of a tent city, at least a dozen homeless were living there in crudely built shelters. The residents appeared to be taking turns panhandling at the stoplight at the bottom of the off-ramp (I caught the shift change before the light turned red).
Got a job? Good. Be eternally grateful. The problem is that business is generally a pretty unforgiving place. They tend to use people up and toss them aside pretty quickly. There is no real security in the business world. You are only as good as your last deal. There is also no loyalty generally speaking. Your boss would likely sell you out faster than you can say….R I F.
One advantage to working in bigger organizations is that you tend to get pretty decent severance packages. One reason that I avoid small firms is that there is more risk and less upside, unless of course you have a piece of the company. For all of the talk of small business as the driver of employment, I say, B.S. Small firms suck.
One reason that I avoid small firms
Didn’t you leave the private sector?
One advantage to working in bigger organizations is that you tend to get pretty decent severance packages.
Really? Point the way. Severance is going the way of the dodo for everyone but upper level executives and public sector workers. Last I heard, some very large firms were paying out 2 weeks plus any unused vacation time, and that was for folks lucky enough to have the title of “employee”, consultants just get shown the door.
I guess if your goal is a large severance pkg, big companies are they way to go. I never really took a job because of the severance pkg opportunities though.
Large Co environment is a circle j k these days. Not sure how anyone could stand it and if you have been in that environment for most of your career, you will never be able to handle the transition to a small company or start up type environment. Your breadth of experience will be very limited and in the new world where mobility and adaptability are key, big Co experience will be of little value.
There might be a day when upperlevel executives and public sector workers will be consultants and outsourced employees.
What a miserable bastard this moose guy is.
Working for small v. big company- good luck these days finding a small business owner willing to part with his/her money. I don’t see much trickle down effect to staff at all. To wit- no 401k, no pension, who knows about a raise. Small places can be somewhat pleasant enough to work in, provided you fit into their culture.
2 million lose jobless benefits as holidays loom
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40447966/ns/politics-more_politics/
Lamar #11 – Have to love a guy who preaches about personal responsibility and then blames everyone else!
Do you see what I seee?
Never thought I’d say it but my wife & I are scrapping by.
30 year (14)-
The funny thing is, I cannot get him to fess up as to what he does for a living. I’d be willing to bet 10K that he’s some sort of bankster or corporate lawyer (he won’t confirm or deny, so I think I’m on the right track) and either knows that admitting it will completely undermine his arguments here or is just ashamed and self-loathing.
Where you sit is where you stand. Too bad the guy doesn’t have enough sense to know that the regulars here understand that. We all have skin in the game, so to speak; admitting where we’re coming from professionally isn’t a handicap.
From the new level of snark and stridency in moose’s posts, I’m now beginning to suspect he’s just a troll.
I’m the first to admit that my industry is riddled with problems, but the vast majority of people I help to buy or sell thank me at the end and seem to be happy some time later with the choices they made. A few of them even refer family and friends to me.
There are worse ways to make a buck out there.
“Are we really so sure the recession is over?”
A bunch of BS stats doctored by a printing machine and a paper carry trade skewed the stats. In the meantime, 25M are still unemployed/underemployed. This is no recession, it’s grandpappy’s depression. We will not have a sustainable recovery until the underlying is blown away and we restructure. Never in history has a bubble been reflated via a printing press, This will not be the first.
Contagion spreading in the EU. Funny thing, they conducted a bank stress test back in the summer. They reported that over 90% were well capitalized. Either they are full of s#it (we all know that) or a systemic collapse is brewing. In the meantime, spreads are blowing out in EU land. I guess the vigilantes are viewing things a bit differently as comapred to the ECB?
Good news. Seems like a goodly amount of the food stamps in circulation are being used to buy soft drinks.
Anybody ever here of Sicklerville,NJ The subject came up the other night from someone I know looking to purchase there and they mentioned it being very reasonable. Checked it out on Weichert http://www.weichert.com/NJ/Camden/Sicklerville/Gallery/ and there’s some nice homes even under 300K. Must be in the boonies or maybe alot of laid AC employees there.
BC (20)-
You mean Portuguese 1 year notes topping 5% today isn’t a good thing?
Lamar [23],
Greece and Ireland still blowing out, one would think that their problems were addressed for at least 1-2 years? Central Bankers can delay, manipulate, lie, kick the can, etc… However, they can not alter the cycle. The market forces are too powerful for these dolts. Hop on board Mr Market’s trend, he’s the ultimate winner.
grim says:
November 30, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Ok, even if we cut real estate agents out of the mix, we’re only removed 1 of about dozen hungry mouths.
Title insurer – Largely a scam, and why does the buyer need to pay to insure the lender?
Home Inspector – Scam, unqualified lackey who is going to miss anything of any importance
Mortgage Lender – You guys ever see what a broker makes on commission? He’ll usually get paid more than the agents.
Surveyor – Pony up about 1200 bucks for these guys to spend the afternoon playing around in your back yard with yellow telescopes
Lawyers – Biggest scam jobs, they’ll inevitably find 25 issues that are going to cost you $300 an hour to ensure are managed correctly
Town Inspector – Don’t forget about paying your vig to the town inspector for making sure there is a smoke detector in the kitchen (but completely misses the fact that 1000 square feet were added on without a permit)
Appraisal – What, you thought the mortgage broker was going to pay for it? Again another lackey who comes out to tell you what you already knew.
Title search – Didn’t I already pay someone 1200 bucks for title something?
Notary fees, doc prep fees – You thought that $300 an hour included photocopies? Hah!
Funny stuff, JB. When we bought nearly 2 years ago we started to notice all this crap and were appalled. So we tried to cut corners … but really, it’s difficult. They make it so you can’t just avoid most of these. A scam, indeed.
Essex says:
December 1, 2010 at 6:10 am
One advantage to working in bigger organizations is that you tend to get pretty decent severance packages. One reason that I avoid small firms is that there is more risk and less upside, unless of course you have a piece of the company. For all of the talk of small business as the driver of employment, I say, B.S. Small firms suck.
Ignorant phallus….unless you are just trolling…..sooner or later, working for a large corporation will turn a person into an institutionalized eunuch. The exceptions are whether you can carve out a niche to play by your own rules or get the sadistic pleasure of being a task master and fcuking with people.
I think a lot of women who are in a bind older divorced, widowed, single mom etc is that America values two things when selecting a women and number one is good looks. In the USA per todays WSJ the rich men unlike Europe who look for breeding, education, wealth etc. The trader wants a trophy wife. The second desirable trait is a women not in debt with no kids who can help with my kids, organize my life, has education etc. Women also have a lot of Daddy/Mommy issues. Daddy/Mommy pays for car/college – Daddy/Mommy pays for first apartment and wedding etc. Then if good looking on to husband who takes over the roll.
A hard divorce after a 20 year marriage with 2-3 kids and Mommy and Daddy either dead or old on a fixed income have left these women in a bind, they can’t use their looks, can’t turn to Mommy or Daddy, have no husband and no work experience or child care.
The solution is to re-marry. Trouble is with ease of getting nannies etc. The 50 year old divorced/recently widowed man in good health, with a good job and a big house and new cars is hot prey with the women circling him with cakess and platters before the divorce papers are finalized or the body cold. The unemployed 50 year old women with 20 extra pounds a few wrinkles a temp job living in a one bedroom apt with two kids on a pull out couch is no match for the Childless businesslady in her later 30’s early 40’s in shape pretty with lots of cash or the beautifuly young divorce with one kid and who has big alamony/child support and took the guys house and car and since she is home already watching her one kid nothing would make her happy than to let you move into her big house and watch your two kids at same time, even better maybe her husband was also a 42 long.
My friend whose wife left him when he was 38 with two young beautify daughters he only had 40% custody of and a good house and a nice house was asked out on a date the day his wife left. In the end he had so many choices he picked one six months later to stop the mad rush of women. Talk about good choice, a very hot 35 year old women with a great job, who had an amazing vacation home she owned and only a rental in town. She was never married as for some reason she was sterile and could not have kids. Kinda a turn off for most men. But she loves kids and was so happy to be a step-mom. She moved into his house from her apartment, gave her half her income and they kept her vacation home and car. My friend is just an average Joe. But to him, he wanted to live the lifestyle. Marrying some lady with zero assets and two kids of her own would just be an anchor around his neck.
Maybe we can find some free land for a Nompound:
http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/7-towns-where-land-is-free.html
Saw on Bloomberg this morning that Google is trying to buy Groupon for $6 Billion. Today’s daily deal for NY is for bikini burlesque bootcamp. One step closer to oblivion.
[28] shore
That piqued my interest. Unfortunately, most, if not all, of those grants are not sized for nompound use, and come with other conditions that are geared to economic development, not simply getting property onto the tax rolls.
Further, there is no such thing as free, and the attendant costs may not be any better than the Nompound I am currently attempting to negotiate.
Chifi
For some reason I cannot fathom, I cannot find your email easily right now. So shoot me an email as I want to discuss business, including something I am working on in your neck of the woods that may have referral potential.
“The 50 year old divorced/recently widowed man in good health…, is hot prey with the women circling him… 50 year old women with 20 extra pounds a few wrinkles….”
It seems that nature is a zero-sum game. As a lad, I watched attractive lasses fending off the guys, mostly several years older, and, while my buddies and I did just fine, there was a need to go seeking companionship. By my mid 30s, I noticed that for a good proportion of the hot lasses of yore, well, the bloom, as they say, was off the rose. At the same time, I noticed that those of us who lacled beer guts, washed-up well, and knew how to dress, started getting hit on all the time. By 40, the effect, both ways, was even more pronounced. A bit of grey at the temple and a few developing lines around the eyes makes a guy more desired, so it seems, but for women, it seems not to be the case, and 40’s women looking for a 40’s guy find:
1) Women in their later 20s and 30s also want them, and they are at a disadvantage lookswise;
2) The good catches are taken;
3) The available ones are available for a reason.
[29] gator
Bikini burlesque bootcamp may make oblivion a little easier to take.
Also, if I can get an XM25. Sounds like a BMW, but a lot more fun and practical for oblivion. Or as PJ O’Rourke would say “now THAT’S how to waste taxpayer money1”
“bikini burlesque bootcamp”
What a country. At graduation, does one get a set of fans? Or is a pole de rigueur nowadays.
[32] shore
That’s funny. Thanks to the gym daily for 5 months, and also to a weeklong bout with a stomach bug, I have dropped the spare tire and look better than I have since, well, ever.
However, despite the fact that I am now better looking than JJ, I doubt that I will be GMILF bait if I find myself suddenly single unless the practice takes off. Looks and physical virility are nice, but IMHO, power and money are the real aphrodisiacs and I don’t have much of either right now.
[34] shore
Fans? You are so dating yourself.
ChiFi – 26
Sadistic taskmaster – Amen. Can’t tell you the number of pissed off managers “leaders” who thrive on jerking off others in the corp environment – pissy little power play for wanna bees. Put’em in a room with the big boys and watch’em schrivel up.
#32 Shore Guy
Men become distinguished, women get older.
JJ – beauty fades but stupid is forever.
I know many males who married the trophy / princess / the world owes me type women. These men are not happy to say the least.
Nomad,
Dating is one thing, saying “I do” to a dolt, that is another thing altogether.
In the immortal words of Arthur’s mother:
“Marry Suzy Johnson. And cheat.”
Well, off to play with blocks and sippy cups.
Camden plans on laying off half its police force.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/12/your_comments_state_approves_p.html
wonder if the savings can be used for bike paths?
“EDMOND, OK — Two women are arrested for shoplifting and police say they used their bodies to conceal the goods. Edmond police authorities say it was at the Edmond TJ Maxx that loss prevention officers found the duo stuffing items under their belly fat and breasts.
They say they took four pair of boots, three pair of jeans, a wallet and gloves; $2,600 worth of store merchandise.
Ailene Brown, 28, and 37-year-old Shmeco Thomas were arrested for shoplifting and are facing felony charges.
Officer James Hamm said, “These two were actually concealing them in areas of their body where excess skin was, under their chest area and armpits.”
Police say Brown also had a knife in her purse they say she used to cut security tags in the store. ”
http://www.kfor.com/kfor-news-fat-roll-shoplifters-story,0,3781914.story
You have to be pretty big to hide “3 boots under your bra.”
Number 41 That’s horrible who will protect the drug dealers trying to make an honest living?
safe (41)-
Nice to see Camden will be turning into the urban hunting zone that is so manifestly its destiny.
“off to play with blocks and sippy cups”
Nom,
You landed a job with the legislature?
It is oblivion outside my living room window right now. Literally. WTF with this rain?
I think shore guy is Shecky Greene.
“Camden plans on laying off half its police force.”
Anyone wanna road trip to the aquarium?
9. Of course a series of meaningless generalizations like the ones you posted should serve you well in any position.
8. Ahhhhh who ‘is’ Essex….only the webmaster knows for sure.
re: # 27 “In the end he had so many choices he picked one six months later to stop the mad rush of women”
Cumon JJ your friend is weak little sissy girl who probably needed someone more to fold his laundry than another wife. He could have at least enjoyed a couple of years of being single. it This is NY and 38 and single again is no big deal. A few weeks of diet and some sit-ups and hitting the weights a few times a week and he could have been out there tearing up the city, to say nothing of Vegas, South Beach or LA.
26. Spoken like the true closeted weirdo i know you to be. But really?
Just to brighten the day:
http://cache.abovethelaw.com/uploads/2010/11/attractive-withc-260×471.jpg
Even I am a catch being happily married. 50% of marriages end in divorce, most recently I received three good lines from a recently divorced women with a stack that would make IHOP proud and what a body, short shirt and low cut blouse with heals.
My favorite flirting lines.
Too bad you are married, followed by I bet you are really good in bed with the added I loved to tease married men I want for myself but can’t have followed up by lets dance then turn and bend and grind it into you until your are hard then walking away. I have to say I know the game, but man what a game she plays, I say within three or six months she will be taken again. She is working hard at it, she has a lifestyle she is used to. She told me plenty of rich older men want her, but she is trying for a rich younger man and she likes to party and then go home and f&ck all night and you can’t do that with a guy over 50. She even added in that she likes rap music and went to the yankee stadium rap concert this summer in her Escalade dressed all ho-ed out and out baby-mamm’d every baby mama in there, she was dressed to kill and dressed so every guy wanted to f&ck her, heck she got in free as she was working it so hard, then added too bad I did not have a guy like you to take to the show. OMG, divorce ladies in their early 40’s work it harder than any lady on earth.
There are Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanfics more original than the previous post.
Hey look
Fed to Name Recipients of $3.3 Trillion in Aid During Crisis:
The Federal Reserve, under orders from Congress, plans today to identify recipients of $3.3 trillion in emergency aid the central bank provided as it fought the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-01/fed-will-name-recipients-of-3-3-trillion-in-emergency-aid-during-crisis.html
lamar, 47
Henny Youngman…. ‘take my wife…… please.’
sl
I think jj has moved to Housewives of NJ from GG.
Shore Number 48 great idea, sea life on the inside and wildlife on the outside.
Nothing left to do but wait for the final dusk of oblivion to settle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOshw4kIGR4&feature=player_embedded
Lamar [11];
Why, thank you, sir.
Mocha [13],
Take away the breast and they’ll seek employment. Did you see the ADP numbers?
That doesn’t account for cash off teh books jobs liek construction, restaurants, and pole dancing.
Fed buys $8.17 billion in Treasurys on Tuesday
Yields through the roof
Is Bergabe printing useless?
#43 Mike,
They are not drug dealers! They are unlicensed pharmaceutical street sale contractors.
So three couples are out for a romantic dining experience and the first guy looks into his wife’s eyes and says –
Pass the honey honey.
Not to be outdone the second guy looks into his wife’s eyes and says –
Pass the sugar sugar.
The third guy senses he us up and says to his wife –
Pass the bacon PIG!
We have a strong dollar, equities rallying today,housing down in prices and muni yields at an attractive level. Quit you belly aching and start investing. It is almost bonus time so start thinking about how you are going to put your cash to work.
JJ’s future.
Gary Lineker may have be 50 now, but don’t expect him to be slowing down any time soon.The youthful former footballer marked entering his sixth decade by partying at the Funky Buddha members club in London until 3.30am this morning.
Although he was probably one of the oldest revellers in the club, Lineker no doubt felt younger as he celebrated alongside his 31-year-old wife Danielle and eldest son George, 18.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1334624/Gary-Lineker-goes-clubbing-teenage-son-wife-Danielle-50th.html
“We have a strong dollar”
JJ,
You are now qualified to become Treas Sec and speak to Chinese students. Are you cracking it today?
http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/US/M
Finally, straight talk about our debt:
In final report, federal debt commission warns of fiscal ‘reckoning’
The bipartisan panel’s recommendations include a cap on discretionary spending, Social Security reforms and an overhaul of the tax code. A final vote on the plan is set for Friday
snip
The bipartisan debt commission issued its final report Wednesday, warning that without the sacrifices it calls for, a fiscal “reckoning will be sure and the devastation severe.”
snip
We’re not interested in 14 votes for whitewash. The problem is just too plain big and too important for our country,” Bowles told fellow commissioners gathered in the Hart Senate Office Building.
The co-chairmen set a Friday deadline for a final vote, to give members time to absorb the changes. They conceded that it may be a nonstarter for some members today.
Still, “whether we get two votes or 18, this baby isn’t going away,” Simpson told fellow commissioners. He said he suspected the proposals would live on regardless of the outcome of the final vote, particularly if a congressional stalemate occurs next spring when lawmakers must vote to raise the nation’s debt limit, something many new Republican members have vowed to oppose.
At least one member of the commission, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), immediately offered his support.
“While there are things in this plan I dislike intensely, there are also things in this plan I think are grand-slam home runs for the American economy,” he said. “I don’t see another alternative. I just don’t.”
snip
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-deficit-panel-20101202,0,511701.story
Safe Number 64 Since there’s no overhead the savings can be passed on to the customers. It’s nice to know the Bloods and Crypts have an affordable plan for their families.
re: # 69 – They also recommend freezing all defense spending including Homeland Security, Veterans and International affairs to just 3% of GDP by the end of the decade.
I say we just put pillows over the face of people while they are sleeping once they reach 62…
71.Juice Box says:
December 1, 2010 at 12:07 pm
re: # 69 – They also recommend freezing all defense spending including Homeland Security, Veterans and International affairs to just 3% of GDP by the end of the decade.
I say we just put pillows over the face of people while they are sleeping once they reach 62…
Like in Logans Run, except then do Soylent Green with the body’s, waste not, want not.
Juice
– or just flat out start cutting every budget by a flat % each year and let the individual gov’t departments decide how to cut.
Nomad,
After cutting everything that can easily go, then instituting a 1% cut for each of the next 10 years for the remaining budget items would do wonders.
Nom,
You have mail.
Clot, don’t get too angry
Jamie Dimon: America’s Least-Hated Banker
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/magazine/05Dimon-t.html?_r=1&hp
Did I just hear that the US is pledging to back the IMF in the Europe bailout?
WTF???
Well if ADP says so there word is good enough for me. I’m assuming they print the checks out every week also for these private sector workers. So please finish this headline story by telling us what the average wage is for these newly hired outsourced workers who will be gobbling up all the forclosed properties at what they can afford. Hopefully they were’nt just hired for Black Friday and Cyber Monday
JB [77],
What Europe bail out? It’s another bail out for our banks.
http://www.lse.co.uk/FinanceNews.asp?ArticleCode=m40kb5k72lhcrw0&ArticleHeadline=US_ready_to_back_bigger_EU_stability_fundofficial
Shore [80],
IMF, what a surprise. I AM FCKD
What time does the revolution start?
Ket,
Lie back and think of England.
BC, that is.
So what happens when the slow moving tsunami of debt, default and destruction jumps the pond and arrives here? Everyone owes. No one can pay. No one can borrow. What you have is all that you’re going to get. Kinda gives a whole new meaning to the word “bleak.”
Real Nompound territory:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11875131
Spare a dime? How about $50?
Please Help: Kari’s Cafe facing eviction in 2 weeks
In order to stay open until 2011, Kari’s Cafe needs to be current on rent by December 15. The total amount needed is $5000. I have spent my life savings making the cafe a warm and inviting place to visit, and have borrowed money from my mom and grandpa. Now I am asking for your help.
I am working with a business broker to find investors or buyers for the business, but in order to make that transition smooth and seamless, I need to stay current with the rent!
If 100 people are able to donate $50 to the cause, we will reach our goal. If 1000 people can donate $5, we can reach our goal. If you would like to donate via paypal, the address is thespinninghand@gmail.com.
Please e-mail me at kariscafe@gmail.com if you have ideas or would like more information.
Yours truly,
Kari Capone
This is a fascinating interview by the secret service agent who first got to Kennedy after he was shot:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9245000/9245736.stm
52.Essex says:
December 1, 2010 at 10:14 am
26. Spoken like the true closeted weirdo i know you to be. But really?
Yo’ electric guitar masturbater……
An article I’ve posted in the past…..
===========================
Odds are you’ve run across one of these characters in your career.
They’re glib, charming, manipulative, deceitful, ruthless — and
very, very destructive. And there may be lots of them in America’s
corner offices.
One of the most provocative ideas about business in this decade so
far surfaced in a most unlikely place. The forum wasn’t the Harvard
Business School or one of those $4,000-a-head conferences where
Silicon Valley’s venture capitalists search for the next big thing.
It was a convention of Canadian cops in the far-flung province of
Newfoundland. The speaker, a 71-year-old professor emeritus from the
University of British Columbia, remains virtually unknown in the
business realm. But he’s renowned in his own field: criminal
psychology. Robert Hare is the creator of the Psychopathy Checklist.
The 20-item personality evaluation has exerted enormous influence in
its quarter-century history. It’s the standard tool for making
clinical diagnoses of psychopaths — the 1% of the general
population that isn’t burdened by conscience. Psychopaths have a
profound lack of empathy. They use other people callously and
remorselessly for their own ends. They seduce victims with a charm
that masks their true nature as pathological liars, master con
artists, and heartless manipulators. Easily bored, they crave
constant stimulation, so they seek thrills from real-life “games”
they can win — and take pleasure from their power over other people.
“There are certainly more people in the business world who would
score high in the psychopathic dimension than in the general
population. You’ll find them in any organization where, by the
nature of one’s position, you have power and control over other
people and the opportunity to get something.”
On the broad continuum between the ethical everyman and the
predatory killer, there’s plenty of room for people who are ruthless
but not violent. This is where you’re likely to find such people as
Ebbers, Fastow, ImClone CEO Sam Waksal, and hotelier Leona Helmsley.
We put several big-name CEOs through the checklist, and they scored
as “moderately psychopathic”; our quiz on page 48 lets you try a
similar exercise with your favorite boss. And this summer, together
with New York industrial psychologist Paul Babiak, Hare begins
marketing the B-Scan, a personality test that companies can use to
spot job candidates who may have an MBA but lack a conscience. “I
always said that if I wasn’t studying psychopaths in prison, I’d do
it at the stock exchange,”
There’s evidence that the business climate has become even more
hospitable to psychopaths in recent years. In pioneering long-term
studies of psychopaths in the workplace, Babiak focused on a half-
dozen unnamed companies: One was a fast-growing high-tech firm, and
the others were large multinationals undergoing dramatic
organizational changes — severe downsizing, restructuring, mergers
and acquisitions, and joint ventures. That’s just the sort of
corporate tumult that has increasingly characterized the U.S.
business landscape in the last couple of decades. And just as wars
can produce exciting opportunities for murderous psychopaths to
shine (think of Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic),
Babiak found that these organizational shake-ups created a welcoming
environment for the corporate killer. “The psychopath has no
difficulty dealing with the consequences of rapid change; in fact,
he or she thrives on it,” Babiak claims. “Organizational chaos
provides both the necessary stimulation for psychopathic thrill
seeking and sufficient cover for psychopathic manipulation and
abusive behavior.”
But how can we recognize psychopathic types? Hare has revised his
Psychopathy Checklist (known as the PCL-R, or simply “the Hare”) to
make it easier to identify so-called subcriminal or corporate
psychopaths. He has broken down the 20 personality characteristics
into two subsets, or “factors.” Corporate psychopaths score high on
Factor 1, the “selfish, callous, and remorseless use of others”
category. It includes eight traits: glibness and superficial charm;
grandiose sense of self-worth; pathological lying; conning and
manipulativeness; lack of remorse or guilt; shallow affect (i.e., a
coldness covered up by dramatic emotional displays that are actually
playacting); callousness and lack of empathy; and the failure to
accept responsibility for one’s own actions. Sound like anyone you
know? (Corporate psychopaths score only low to moderate on Factor 2,
which pinpoints “chronically unstable, antisocial, and socially
deviant lifestyle,” the hallmarks of people who wind up in jail for
rougher crimes than creative accounting.)
This view is supported by research by psychologists Belinda Board
and Katarina Fritzon at the University of Surrey, who interviewed
and gave personality tests to 39 high-level British executives and
compared their profiles with those of criminals and psychiatric
patients. The executives were even more likely to be superficially
charming, egocentric, insincere, and manipulative, and just as
likely to be grandiose, exploitative, and lacking in empathy. Board
and Fritzon concluded that the businesspeople they studied might be
called “successful psychopaths.” In contrast, the criminals —
the “unsuccessful psychopaths” — were more impulsive and physically
aggressive.
Most criminals — whether psychopathic or not — are shaped by
poverty and often childhood abuse as well. In contrast, corporate
psychopaths typically grew up in stable, loving families that were
middle class or affluent. But because they’re pathological liars,
they tell romanticized tales of rising from tough, impoverished
backgrounds. Dunlap pretended that he grew up as the son of a laid-
off dockworker; in truth, his father worked steadily and raised his
family in suburban comfort. The corporate psychopaths whom Babiak
studied all went to college, and a couple even had PhDs. Their
ruthless pursuit of self-interest was more easily accomplished in
the white-collar realm, which their backgrounds had groomed them
for, rather than the criminal one, which comes with much lousier
odds.
Psychopaths succeed in conventional society in large measure because
few of us grasp that they are fundamentally different from
ourselves. We assume that they, too, care about other people’s
feelings. This makes it easier for them to “play” us. Although they
lack empathy, they develop an actor’s expertise in evoking ours.
While they don’t care about us, “they have an element of emotional
intelligence, of being able to see our emotions very clearly and
manipulate them,” says Michael Maccoby, a psychotherapist who has
consulted for major corporations.
Rail service is suspended between Newark and New York in both directions due to overhead wire damage near Portal Bridge. PATH is cross honoring NJT tickets at Newark, Hoboken and 33rd Street. For up-to-the-minute information, check the NJ Transit site.
Dollar doom back on. The Eurotrash couldnt steal our doom for long.
Gator is gonna be pi$$ed.
One in ten workers are psychopaths. Thank God I am normal.
That I am Shore. I am never in a good mood when I have to take PATH or DeCamp. Happy Chanukah to me.
I don’t get the whole Chanukah Holiday. I mean a candle that was supposed to last one day lasted eight days.
I don’t see big deal, heck at Stonybrook I knew a Jewish kid who crazy glued fishing line to a quarter and could get like 50 pacman games for quarter. Maybe that should also be a Jewish Holiday. Heck in Great Neck I know some Jewish Girls who could photcopy a bed bath and beyond coupon and use it like ten times, big deal.
80: Hello, I’m from the US government and I’m here to help.
A U.S. Treasury envoy has been sent to Europe for talks.
JJ Number 93 I guess you don’t qualify to be a department store Santa. Probably won’t be too many openings for that position since everybody is cyberbagging it this year. Would vouluntary take the job at Victoria Secret though just to get in the holiday sprit of things and help the needy
Funny part about Victoria Secrets as I once had a job near one, only ugly and fat women shop there. Hot women have men buying it for them as gifts.
77.
Grim,
“Did I just hear that the US is pledging to back the IMF in the Europe bailout?
WTF???”
Looks like that was a false story according to the WSJ. Dont worry we will get our dollar doom.
JJ Number 98 Well at least the magazine is cool
We have another drug arrest right outside Montklair’s new $30M+ school. I believe this is three since the opening of school on 9/13. If you had h*roin and a repeat offender in the pool, please come forward to collect your prize.
http://www.baristanet.com/2010/12/alleged-h*roin-dealer-arrested-near-bullock-school-for-second-time/
New York City Off-Track Betting Corp., the bankrupt operator of horse-race gambling sites, plans to shut down in two days unless the state Senate passes legislation to keep it in business.
OTB “intends to discontinue all business operations and shut down each and all of its facilities” on Dec. 3, Chief of Staff Sylvia Hamer wrote to Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday. “The corporation will have exhausted all unrestricted funds available to continue its operations beyond that date unless circumstances materially change.”
A copy of Hamer’s letter was provided by New York Governor David Paterson’s office. OTB, which is trying to restructure in bankruptcy, pressed lawmakers at a special session this week to pass the legislation. The state Assembly passed the bill yesterday. The Senate didn’t take it up and must approve the legislation by Dec. 3 to avert a shutdown, said Jessica Bassett, a Paterson spokeswoman.
I saw this research report looking at the Case Shiller data. Case Schiller recently came out and said that you should stop looking at the seasonally adjusted data since the seasonal adjustments are no longer showing a stable trend and instead have been growing, distorting the data.
It appears that the guys from Zillow did a pretty good job of determining the cause of the seasonal distortions and show (big surprise) that their index, ZHVI, is better at showing the swings in house prices since it does not include distressed sales.
I figured that this crowd could enjoy some more chart pron…
http://www.zillow.com/blog/research/2010/11/04/case-shiller-not-just-a-home-price-index/
Here is a link directly to the ZHVI index.
http://www.zillow.com/local-info/#metric=mt%3D34%26dt%3D1%26tp%3D6%26rt%3D2%26r%3D102001%26el%3D0
Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s pledge to boost IMF resources to help other crisis-hit economies could prove a tough sell for a Congress suffering from bailout fatigue and worried about mounting U.S. debt.
Obama joined other leaders of the G20 countries in London this week promising to triple funding for the International Monetary Fund as part of a package of actions to combat the global economic crisis.
The new funds are aimed mainly at struggling poorer countries, notably in eastern Europe.
“The IMF has to play a big role,” Representative Gregory Meeks, a Democrat who heads the House Financial Services subcommittee on international monetary policy and trade, said in an interview with Reuters.
His panel is scheduled to hold a hearing later this month on the G20 meeting and the IMF request.
The IMF could receive up to $500 billion in new funds, of which $40 billion would come from China. The United States, Japan and the European Union would each contribute $100 billion with the rest coming from other countries.
Congress would have to authorize and appropriate its $100 billion share. Because technically it is a credit line, it will not be counted in deficit numbers that are already starting to alarm lawmakers
But there is already rumbling that, after last year’s $700 billion banking bailout and Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus plan, Republicans may find the IMF package a little hard to swallow.
“We are spending taxpayer dollars here in Washington at a staggering rate,” said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Republican Leader John Boehner. “The Administration has signaled they may need more money for TARP (the Troubled Asset Relief Program), and now they want more money for the IMF.”
DEMOCRATS READY TO PUSH
Democratic leaders say they are ready to push the request through Congress.
“We are part of a global economy, where the health of economies around the world has a direct impact on the U.S. economy,” said House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.
Analysts predict they could face skepticism from a bailout-weary public as well as from Republicans who have sought to stake out positions as fiscal conservatives.
“There will be significant resistance to this request, but ultimately the success will depend on how effectively President Obama can sell this as being in America’s interest,” said Eswar Prasad, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Ernest Istook, a former congressman who is now an analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said arguments that the IMF funds would not add to the mounting U.S. deficit were not persuasive
re #105 – ????
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-01/u-s-isn-t-discussing-extra-imf-money-for-europe-official-says.html
Anyone get a chance to look at that FED data yet? From ZH site it looks like GS borrowed hundreds of billions of dollars under a FED program and it only has a market capital of 80 billion dollars.
Really? WTF is going on here. How is this not stupid/corrupt? Please someone explain to me how buying all the MBS trash, while secretly loaning an additional x3 leverage to GS rescued the economy. They should have let them fail.
Perhaps North Korea or Cuba will agree to host the site:
http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/did-amazon-just-pull-the-plug-on-the-wikileaks-website/19740475
Nicholas [103, 104];
Read as “What Double Dip? The first one’s not over.” Concur?
FED fed bonuses. Nothing more. Chi fi that article is drivel.
hey – what do you think will happen to housing when they kill the mortgage interest deduction?
JJ – maybe you should hold off on your trade-up until this happens….
Schrod-Cat,
You have mail.
Moose,
I think that the first dip in housing is not over. It has been one long downhill slide the bubble burst.
I think that the word “double dip” has connotations that tie it to the word “recession”. I don’t like to use it in conjunction with other markets.
re: #107 – Nicholas they used their new FED credit lines to loan to their clients, so their clients could take even larger positions for or against whatever they wanted. It was a Godsend as it was now raining money at near zero interest that enabled enormous profits. You have to remember Investment Banks did not have FED discount window access, they could not borrow from the FED. Now all of a sudden in the chaos they could get money from the FED and loan it to their Hedge Fund clients, Institutional clients and perhaps their own prop desk to place huge best on the volatility of the day.
Ricky [111];
Odds of that somewhere between nil and nada. Best we can hope for is that they limit it to first lien mortgages on primary residences only – no summer houses, no HELOCs; and bring the cap down below $1 MM, maybe half that. Write the rules so that no one can play games: e.g., half-mil first mortgage @ 12%, interest free second for another half-mil by the same lender with the same term.
Pre-housing bubble (aka 1990’s) Homes in Canada apples to apples to USA were priced at 20% less. Since Canada gives no mortgage interest deduction many think home prices are inflated 20% in USA to cover the mortgage interest deduction. I for one would love it if they killed the mortgage interest deduction. My starter house would not be too impacted, but 1.5 million dollar homes would take a big hit.
“WTF is going on here.”
Nicholas [107],
Exactly my sentiment when the announcement was made that GS had become a bank holding company. The kings of WS were exposed for what they are; welfare queens.
In the real world, overleveraged hedge funds which make the wrong bets are blown out. However, Government Sachs makes the rules.
Homes Prices are Plunging: Let’s Talk About the Deficit
Wednesday, 01 December 2010 07:59
The media almost completely overlooked the housing bubble on the way up. In the years 2002-2007 there were probably 1000 stories written about the deficit for every story that raised any questions about house prices being inflated.
Of course the bubble did eventually burst, giving us the worst economic disaster in 70 years. But hey. no one ever said that an economics reporter could learn anything. Yesterday’s Case-Shiller data showed that house prices in its 20-City index fell 0.7 percent in September. This would be an 8.5 percent annual rate of decline, which would imply the loss of more than $1 trillion in housing wealth over the course of the year.
The data for the bottom third of the housing market looked even worse. Prices for homes in this segment of the market had a 2.6 percent one-month decline in both Seattle and Boston. They fell by 3.4 percent in Phoenix and 3.7 percent in Portland. Prices for homes in the bottom tier fell by 3.9 percent in both Tampa and Chicago. They fell by 7.0 percent in Atlanta and 7.4 percent in Minneapolis.
The sharp decline in house prices in the bottom tier since the expiration of the first-time buyers tax credit means that the loss of home equity for many recent buyers will have exceeded the value of the credit. In such cases the credit effectively went to the seller, or in the case of underwater mortgages, to the bank that held the mortgage.
For one more interesting data point, the Census Bureau released data on new home sales prices for October last Wednesday. This release reflects much more up-to-date data since it is based on contract prices. The Case-Shiller index is a 3-month average that is based on closings, which typically occur 6-8 weeks after a contract is signed. The report showed that the price of a median home fell 13.6 percent in October hitting its lowest nominal level in 7 years.
These data on falling house prices were largely invisible in business and economic news reporting yesterday. Instead, the focus was the budget deficit and the deficit commission reports. After all, if we don’t do anything and the deficits follow their projected course, we will have a really high budget deficit in 2025.
What does it take to get economic/business reporters to pay attention the economy?
Dean Baker
“My starter house would not be too impacted”
JJ,
A corner office on WS, yet, cutting his own grass in a starter home? HMMM.
“Homes Prices are Plunging”
Yome[118],
No need to worry. Essex says you lose more just by waking up.
Shore
Ket,
Lie back and think of England.
????
I am a housing bear, I can’t bear to buy a high priced house. Funny in my town where the average home sells in the low 400’s, and some can be found for as low as 200K there are a few of us who have good jobs. Strangely I say the average couple I know makes 200K. I know two people in my town who make around one million. Yet they alive in little houses like me. The most extreme is someone I know in a 60×100 split with four kids who in the boom year on wall street pulled down a nine figure annual salary. His house is worth like 500K. Bi-weekly he was making almost 50 million. That is five million a day. His house at 500K was around one hours salary.
#
#
Mr Wantanapolous says:
December 1, 2010 at 3:46 pm
“My starter house would not be too impacted”
JJ,
A corner office on WS, yet, cutting his own grass in a starter home? HMMM.
My boss and firm’s principal partner is heading upstate this weekend to celebrate his birthday in the company of good friends. The boss is not a big wine drinker but the company he will be entertaining definitely is. I wanted to give a nice bottle of red and white to place on the table that evening. I’m not a wine guy myself so I’m turning to what has evolved into a jack of all trades blog for advice.
Throw some suggestions my way! Thanks.
gator (101)-
If I lived in your town, I’d do as much smack as possible, just to dull the pain of the taxes.
“We have another drug arrest right outside Montklair’s new $30M+ school. I believe this is three since the opening of school on 9/13. If you had h*roin and a repeat offender in the pool, please come forward to collect your prize.”
The fish was “THIS” big.
Pics or it didn’t happen.
BC (117)-
I keep calling GS to ask them when I can sign up for the Christmas Club, Passbook Savings, free checking and get my toaster.
To date, no one calls me back with an answer. However, for some reason, whoever takes my call seems to be giggling and guffawing when I ask these questions.
Please advise.
Goldman Sachs Emergency Fed Loans Topped $24 Billion in Crisis
Blankfein said ,GS is solvent.Fed pushed them to take the money!
JJ didn’t drop any names but he came mighty close. Do you think that there is a reason why he associates himself with living near super-rich people? If you didn’t know it people usually frown on this type of behavior.
Name dropping
– recently also called name-checking, is the practice of mentioning important people or institutions within a conversation,[1] story,[2] song, online identity,[3] or other communication. The term often connotes an attempt to impress others; it is usually regarded negatively,[1] and under certain circumstances may constitute a breach of professional ethics.[4] When used as part of a logical argument it can be an example of the appeal to authority fallacy.[5]
Purposes
Name dropping is used to position oneself within a social hierarchy. It is often used to create a sense of superiority by raising one’s status. By implying (or directly asserting) a connection to people of high status, the name-dropper hopes to raise his or her own social status to a level closer to that of those whose names he or she has dropped, and thus elevate himself or herself above, or into, present company.
Name dropping can also be used to identify people with a common bond. By indicating the names of people one knows, one makes known his or her social circle, providing an opportunity for others with similar connections to relate.[6]
As a form of appeal to authority, name dropping can be an important form of informal argumentation, as long as the name being dropped is of someone expert on the subject of the argument and that person’s views are accurately represented.
Looks to me like GS was borrowing 10 billion per day for at least 10 days straight. They had one day where they borrowed 18 billion.
I don’ t know whether to add the numbers together or take it as a one day, overnight, borrowing facility.
Either way, 18 billion is a lot of coin.
Zieba – for wine you can find nearly anywhere that does not taste like cat pi**ss.
Cakebread Cellars Chardonnay get a 2006 bottle if you can swing the price good white wine a bit on the pricey side because of the name and year. A 2008 could be about $22 while a 2007 or 2006 could be nearly $47. For red a Cabernet is always the right choice your local store should carry Franciscan Cab it’s from Napa and 2006 is a good year priced around $22-$28.
Odom [126],
You must be calling a wrong #, possibly the rectory or convent. God is housed at another address.
Burn the mf’er down and start over. The whole gubmint/bankster complex is rotten to the core, and blood will have to be spilled to make things right.
Anarchy NOW!!!!!!!!
BC (131)-
So this means I shouldn’t expect a holiday fruitcake from my GS personal banker?
Happy Hanukkah!
nich (129)-
Margin calls are a byatch.
Yome [127],
Did the fed force them to accept FDIC debt guarantees?
Fcuk Hannukah. Fcuking made-up holiday, so the Jewish kids wouldn’t feel they were getting the short shrift.
>>Shore Guy says:
December 1, 2010 at 3:11 pm
Perhaps North Korea or Cuba will agree to host the site:
http://www.aolnews.com/surge-desk/article/did-amazon-just-pull-the-plug-on-the-wikileaks-website/19740475<<
I think he needs to be concerned about who's gonna host his funeral. It's interesting how much things can get rather "controlled" in a hurry when there's determination to do so.
119. I paid well under market in 2002 and did a lot of work to the place. But like anything it only hurts if you want to sell. And we aint. ;-)
meanwhile life is goooood baby. Love my place. New roof, hot water heater, kitchen, back porch, patio, windows, you name it. Tight little place on a hill. Cozy. Plenty of great memories and just a sweet little crib.
Juice,
Thanks! Since this is on short notice, something readily available is good.
I’ll come back at the start of the graveyard shift to harvest remaining suggestions.
Back to the housing world where no one has seemed to notice today that mortgage apps fell big from a shortened Thanksgiving week since the US and Europe has decided to print money and bail out everyone as if aliens had given us a loan.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 1, 2010) — The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 26, 2010. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 16.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. This week’s results include an adjustment to account for the Thanksgiving holiday. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 34.2 percent compared with the previous week.
The Refinance Index decreased 21.6 percent from the previous week. This is the third weekly decrease for the Refinance Index which reached its lowest level since June 2010. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 1.1 percent from one week earlier and is at its highest level since the beginning of May 2010. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 22.9 percent compared with the previous week and was 2.7 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
The four week moving average for the seasonally adjusted Market Index is down 5.8 percent. The four week moving average is up 3.8 percent for the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index, while this average is down 8.2 percent for the Refinance Index.
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 74.9 percent of total applications from 78.6 percent the previous week. This is the third consecutive weekly decrease for refinance share which is at its lowest level since June 2010. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 5.7 percent from 5.3 percent of total applications from the previous week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.56 percent from 4.50 percent, with points increasing to 0.96 from 0.87 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value (LTV) ratio loans. The average contract interest rate increased for the fourth time in five weeks and is at the highest level reported since August 2010. The effective rate also increased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 3.91 percent from 3.83 percent, with points decreasing to 0.88 from 1.04 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate also increased from last week.
B of. A’s Merrill Lynch unit tapped the primary dealer facility for $2.02 trillion, according to tabulations made by Raymond Stone of Stone & McCarthy Research Associates. Citi borrowed $2.02 trillion, and Morgan Stanley /quotes/comstock/13*!ms/quotes/nls/ms (MS 24.92, +0.46, +1.88%) used the same facility to borrow $1.9 trillion, Stone said, though Morgan Stanley’s borrowings slowed after the Fed granted the bank holding company status.
And it wasn’t just U.S. firms. Foreign institutions participated aggressively, eligible because they had branches state-side.
On Dec. 20, 2007, for example, at least seven German banks, including Dresdner Bank and WestLB, received 28-day loans under the term auction facility. Switzerland’s UBS /quotes/comstock/13*!ubs/quotes/nls/ubs (UBS 15.48, -0.04, -0.27%) was a big seller of commercial paper. Deutsche Bank /quotes/comstock/13*!db/quotes/nls/db (DB 49.85, +1.89, +3.94%) , France’s BNP Paribas /quotes/comstock/24s!e:bnp (FR:BNP 46.55, +0.95, +2.08%) and Societe Generale /quotes/comstock/24s!e:gle (FR:GLE 37.32, +1.61, +4.51%) and Britain’s Barclays /quotes/comstock/13*!bcs/quotes/nls/bcs (BCS 16.86, +0.72, +4.43%) and Lloyds Banking Group /quotes/comstock/13*!lyg/quotes/nls/lyg (LYG 3.99, +0.21, +5.56%) also show up prominently.
At least one lender directly owned by a foreign government, the Korea Development Bank, also participated.
The Fed said it’s incurred no credit losses on programs that have been since wound down and that it doesn’t expect to incur any losses on remaining programs.
“Many of the transactions, conducted through a variety of broad-based lending facilities, provided liquidity to financial institutions and markets through fully secured, mostly short-term loans,” the Fed said.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-reveals-credit-crunch-aid-for-banks-funds-2010-12-01
Ha Ha funny I do follow the only bit of advice that makes sense in Rich Dad Poor Dad, try to associate yourself with rich and successful people and you won’t learn much from poor people.
Weirdest name dropping was a few weeks ago a guy I know was name dropping my name which is a rarity. He used my name to get on a board and to meet the Pope. Please I was like Boards/Popes that is so 1990’s for me time to let the new guys hope on my connections. Right now I want front row seats to the Jets/Pats game on Monday, that would be like the Springsteen, opening up for the Who , opening up for the Stones, Opening up for the Beatles for us Football fans.
Nicholas says:
December 1, 2010 at 4:07 pm
JJ didn’t drop any names but he came mighty close. Do you think that there is a reason why he associates himself with living near super-rich people? If you didn’t know it people usually frown on this type of behavior.
The RE Blog is breaking down cause RE refuse to drop like a brick or rise like a brick. in five years gold blogs will have same problem. In reality large trophy homes are no longer in vogue, just an anchor around your neck. A few ladies in my neighborhood agree I rather live in my paid off starter at 50 and have a maid, lawn service, BMW, can go out to dinner and take nice vacations and still save than live in a big money pit of a house sucking up all my money. More people starting think like that look out below.
“He used my name to get on a board and to meet the Pope”
JJ,
Slap the ole monkey elsewhere.
“in five years gold blogs will have same problem.”
JJ,
Yes, akin to 1996-2001 Nasquack, only more volatile. If one does not ring the register or buys the top, that’s a problem. Otherwise, buckle in.
He actually did, back in the 1990’s I used to club promote events in my church sponsored club nicknamed “catch a catholic club” We even had 800 once at toy building at $100 bucks a pop with big silent auctions where people were dripping 100’s like you and I drop nickels, all money went to church. All singles all high quality stock. To get in to my event you needed a desirable zip code, be a graduate of a catholic college, have a good job and be presentable. We even did a 50/50 mailing men to women. Keep quality up we went around with mailing list to take names of losers to make sure they could not attend the next event. Anyhow I was bringing them into the fold by the thousands and pulling down big bucks for Church. Got me meetings with BOD Catholic Charities, Arch Bishop, Bishop and even seats in first few rows when Pope was in town. Plus nice free invites to the Waldorf and Bishops house for cocktail parties and dinners. Did it for a few years then gave it up but I go my friend on board and he stayed with it, even went to Vatican to meet Pope and had a meeting with their VIPS. Coolest thing I saw was at a Board meeting Church showed me their 1,000 year business plan. Way cool. They started a 1,000 year plan a few hundred years ago. They also show me the thousand year plan for New York from 1800’s sick cool how much of it came true. I can tell you what is going to be happening in the year 2, 900 but that is best kept amongst us players.
Mr Wantanapolous says:
December 1, 2010 at 5:02 pm
“He used my name to get on a board and to meet the Pope”
JJ,
Slap the ole monkey elsewhere.
All my neighbors homes a 2x in price what mine was/is. The guy directly behind me (a Doc) just slapped a $300k addition on his home — that is about what I paid for mine in total. Go figure.
And yet, I have plenty of room and my wife and I are very happy with the place. It’s an excellent layout, everyone has plenty of space and privacy. We have a really easy route to add a 4th B.R. suite if we choose.
BC (147)-
I’m still shocked to find out that this isn’t a gold blog.
solvent = what delinquent kids are sniffing after school
#151 Lamar
“solvent = what delinquent kids are sniffing after school”
What are the kids who are current on their payments sniffing?
Of course the mood is down in NJ, NO CAN AFFORD TO LIVE HERE!!
137 Lamar –
While it may be 2010 in some places, for the folks celebrating the festival of lights it’s 5771.
You ought to rein it in a bit
Funny thing is Lamar’s Jewish.
I grew up in south jersey. Education levels were not high, and there is NO industry outside of strip clubs, hair salons and the public school system. Everything else is retail.
Oh, and pizza shops…..everywhere…..
I have to give a shout out to our host and thank him for handing over the keys today of a really nice rental. The place is a big butt ugly 70’s split in a good town. It’s a dead end street, backing to woodland, great schools and a big back yard. Its big, functional and meets our needs.
What is the value of a good agent? In true board style we lowballed the rent. The “owner” took six weeks of Grim chasing, for them to agree the contract. I think they hoped we would just go away. If I had presented the offer, they probably would have just ignored us.
So I’m now in a house I would be hard pushed to buy without sending the spouse back to work. I have a big split for the price of a Cape Cod. PITI for me would be double the rent as 60% of the rent goes to the tax bill. After commission and maintenance, the owner is getting just under 1% on their purchase money.
The icing on the cake is that the “owner” paid the commission, so Grim can frame a copy of the check with the owners logo to hang on the wall as a trophy.
Grim, thanks again.
Fabius,
congrats but if the owner isn’t clearing anything worthwhile, and your furnace kicks it in Feb, well…..good luck with that. Numbers so eschewed will eventually bite all of us in the ass, renters are no exception.
JJ (27)
Well… I dunno. That’s logic of times past (ok, granted… Jersey is ten years behind, but still…). A 38 year old woman has anyone she wants too. Guys her age (bored by young stupid chicks), older guys (she’s young, but not fresh from HS), young guys (“now I’m a man!”). Trouble is too many of them—especially in Jersey and all over flyover country—let themselves go. Halle Berry was FHM’s sexiest woman in the world recently and she’s in her 40s. Doesn’t look like much plastique either. It’s easy… you just got to be committed to working out, not eating like a pig, and being hot. At a party the other day, a woman in her late 40s was grabbing my eye. She was hot, she knew it, knew lots of subtle moves. Enjoyed playing the crowd. Let me tell you, the Chris Christie types ain’t getting the girls if they can get it up at all. It’s no different. Hot 45 year old man, hot 45 year old woman, either one will score if they wanna.
So where’s the shot from? Kari’s Cafe? Bank of America? Inquiring minds wanna know. All I can say, is go nothing against no wikileaks, they helped the US immeasurably (I think they’re Obama’s only brilliant move: Iran and N. Korea are SCREWED) especially now that they are going to rip the lid of B of A (will school the Republicans, who are ready to get plowed right by the banks… umm, hurts so good).
Fabius, grim,
Congratulations! Well Done! :)
Barbara says:
December 1, 2010 at 7:20 pm
I grew up in south jersey. Education levels were not high, and there is NO industry outside of strip clubs, hair salons and the public school system. Everything else is retail.
Oh, and pizza shops…..everywhere…..
Barb: are you expert enough to identify the toppings on the pizza based on the contents of the vomit?
clot: is this worth anything?
http://eatalyny.com/
The passing of the father of the most-sane special weapon:
http://wap.cbsnews.com/site?t=Y8nxbnYwCz1Crt76XarUGA&sid=cbsnews
“NO industry outside of strip clubs, hair salons and the public school system. Everything else is retail.
Oh, and pizza shops ”
Lindenwold?
“based on the contents of the vomit?”
It is not quite the Oracle of Delphi.
Anyone up for a Hanukkah GTG (impromptu) at the still_looking flood plain on Saturday?
sl