Affordability is a little bit of a sticky topic. Realize that a house doesn’t need to be affordable by the median income to be saleable, it just needs to be affordable for it’s single buyer. But this leads to a bit of a catch-22, how can these new homes be “unaffordable” if they have clearly all been sold and are currently occupied. They certainly must have been affordable by someone. Less affordable to the median buyer? Sure, but does that really matter at all? Crux of the problem is that in all of this is the assumption that the median buyer should be able to afford a home. Says who, and why? Restricting development through larger lot sizes and environmental restriction will constrain supply, and with that cause rising prices. From a development perspective, it’s building that first square foot which is the most expensive, after which the marginal cost per square foot falls off dramatically. It pays for builders to build very large houses, as long as they’ve got buyers (which they do).
So again, what is affordability? Are we talking about an economic issue here or a moral one (right to the American Dream)?
From the Record:
Big homes, big lots making N.J. even more unaffordable
New Jersey’s problem with suburban sprawl is getting worse, according to a new report.
Development of big homes on big lots and zoning that favors businesses have made it tougher for lower-income residents to afford to live in higher-income suburban towns today than it was in 1970, a study by Rowan University found.
All this occurs despite the long effort to push towns to add affordable housing and adhere to “smart growth” initiatives and zoning rules, the report says.
“Municipalities are making it almost impossible to build apartments and town houses that are affordable to middle-class New Jerseyans,” said Adam Gordon, spokesman for Fair Share Housing Center, which paid for the study. “Middle-class families cannot afford a 3-acre home.”
…
The report says development of large suburban lots holding just one or two homes an acre dominated the state since 1986, while the construction of more affordable apartments, town houses and smaller single-family developments tapered.Before 1986, 58 percent of residential development was in cities and already built-up suburbs. Since then, two-thirds occurred in rural and less compact areas, the report says.
The report also says municipalities have focused on industrial and commercial development, which pays tax dividends, rather than multi-unit apartments and town houses that bring in more school-age children.
“Municipalities want as few households as possible on any given piece of land,” said Tim Evans, research director for New Jersey Future, a non-partisan research group that helped produce the report.
From the Courier Post:
N.J. towns taken by surprise at Gov. Christie’s $139 million in cuts
New Jersey’s struggling cities and towns are out $139 million in state aid that was presumed before Gov. Chris Christie scrubbed the appropriation in a spate of 11th-hour vetoes from this year’s state budget.
The cuts are so severe that many don’t expect them to stand. But if they do, towns will be hit hard: Camden was anticipating $69 million, nearly 40 percent of the city budget being drafted. Trenton, which was counting on $24 million, will see its budget deficit nearly quadruple. And Asbury Park, already awarded $10.4 million, will be unable to balance its $42 million budget — unless it raises the local tax levy by 101 percent.
“They know the consequences — they know the Camdens, the Newarks, the Trentons, the Asbury Parks, the Patersons of the world can’t operate without this money,” said David Rousseau, a former state Treasurer under Gov. Jon Corzine who is now the chief financial consultant for Trenton. “At some point, there will be a $300 million to $325 million supplemental appropriation bill that fixes some of the things that he needed fixed from the line-item veto.”
Christie unexpectedly wiped out all but $10 million from the program that helps cities and towns through extraordinary financial hardships like increased foreclosures, plummeting real estate values and a high number of successful property tax appeals. That’s after reducing $30 million from the program the prior year.
If the massive cut stands, the consequences will include layoffs and reductions in essential services to communities least able to withstand another hit, said Bill Dressel, executive director of the League of Municipalities.
Good Morning New Jersey!
From Bloomberg:
Lawmakers Mulling Fate of Fannie Mae Split on U.S. Housing Role
The U.S. housing industry is finding political traction in Congress as it objects to plans that would wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and eliminate any government role in mortgage finance.
Two members of the House Financial Services Committee, Gary Miller, a California Republican, and Carolyn McCarthy, a New York Democrat, plan to introduce legislation today that would create a government-run replacement for the two mortgage finance companies, which originally were chartered by Congress.
The measure directly challenges House Republican leaders, who have backed bills that would do away with the two companies and aim to minimize the risk that taxpayers will have to bail out future mortgage failures. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have cost the Treasury Department about $130 billion since they were seized by regulators in September 2008.
The Miller-McCarthy legislation is endorsed by the National Association of Realtors and the National Association of Homebuilders. It reflects concerns by the industry, consumer activists and some policymakers that a complete withdrawal of government support for home lending could deepen the housing recession.
“There was the idea that people were so tired of taxpayer losses related to housing that the traditional housing lobby would not be able to retaliate effectively,” said Jim Vogel, head of agency debt research at FTN Financial in Memphis, Tennessee. “It’s time to start waving the housing flag again.”
From CNN/Money:
Housing prices: No rebound in sight
Housing prices are likely to keep falling the rest of this year, and probably won’t show much improvement next year either, according to a survey of economists.
A CNNMoney exclusive survey of 27 economists showed the battered housing market is facing myriad problems and won’t turn around anytime soon.
Of the 22 who had specific predictions for the closely watched Case-Shiller home price index, the median forecast was for a 3.9% decline in the second quarter compared to a year earlier, and a 2.9% drop in prices over the course of the full year.
Only three economists expect prices to rise this year.
The outlook for 2011 is only modestly better — a 2% increase in home values, with six of the economists forecasting another drop in prices next year.
Economists are fairly evenly split on what it will take to turn the housing market around.
Nearly half were looking for a significant improvement in the labor market to boost housing, while the rest believe it will just take time to work through the inventory of foreclosed homes.
From HousingWire:
Obama administration pressures banks to reduce mortgage principal
The Obama administration is putting more pressure on banks to help underwater borrowers by reducing the principal on current home loans.
“We are continuing work with the issuers of the mortgage, the bank or service company to convince them to work with homeowners who are paying to see if they can modify the loan and possibly lower principal so that they are not burdened by these huge debts,” President Obama said during the Twitter town hall meeting Wednesday.
With national home prices falling 33% from the peak before the housing crisis, many borrowers are now left with properties worth less than the amount owed on the mortgage.
Nearly 30% of current mortgages are in negative equity, according to Lender Processing Services.
The administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program has done little so far to address negative equity. Servicers participating in HAMP reduced the principal on roughly 5,000 mortgages since the program launched in March 2009.
“We are going back to the drawing board to put more pressure on banks to see if we can help more homeowners through modification and see where reducing principal is possible,” Obama said.
From the WSJ:
Rents Rise, Vacancies Go Down
Apartment landlords are enjoying rising rents and falling vacancies.
The average effective rent, the amount paid after discounting, was $997 in the second quarter of the year, up from $974 a year earlier, according to a report scheduled for release Thursday by Reis Inc., which tracks leasing data for 82 markets. Second-quarter rents rose in all but two markets.
Rent levels rose fastest in San Jose, Calif., to $1,501 in the second quarter. The average effective rent in San Francisco was $1,806; Wichita, Kan., $495, and New York, $2,826.
Vacancies, meanwhile, fell in 72 of the 82 markets during the second-quarter vacancy rate to 6%, the lowest since 2008 and compared with 7.8% a year earlier, according to Reis. Vacancies declined fastest in Charleston, W.Va., Greensboro/Winston-Salem, N.C., and Richmond, Va.
“Rising rents and falling vacancies are the perfect situation for landlords,” said Rich Anderson, an analyst for BMO Capital Markets. “It’s like drinking without the hangover.”
…
Meanwhile, supply remains constrained. Roughly 8,700 new apartment units opened during the second quarter, the second-lowest quarterly tally for new completions since Reis began collecting data in 1999.
But there is new construction in the pipeline. The CoStar Group, a Washington, D.C.-based real-estate research firm, expects about 22,500 units to be added this year, followed by 94,600 in 2012 and more than 109,000 in 2013.
But as long as employers keep adding jobs to the economy, analysts say, they expect vacancy rates to keep falling and rents to keep rising. “Barring some unexpected shock from the global economy, we expect the recovery to continue through 2011,” Reis wrote in the report. “Vacancies should continue to decline while rents rise at an even faster pace than we observed in the first half of the year.”
grim (1)-
But remember, Meredith Whitney’s muni call is pure insanity.
Oh, this couldn’t possibly destroy the country:
“The U.S. government currently borrows about $125 billion each month. The Obama administration wants Congress to raise the limit by more than $2 trillion to meet the country’s borrowing needs through the 2012 presidential election.
The contingency discussions, which have remained a closely guarded secret throughout weeks of negotiations with Congress over the debt ceiling, are being led by Mary Miller, Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets, who is effectively custodian of the country’s public debt.
Miller’s team has debated whether Obama could ignore Congress and order continued borrowing — by relying on the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution — if it fails to raise the borrowing cap.”
snip
“There has been growing speculation in Washington in recent days that the administration could use the amendment to ignore the congressionally imposed limit on the amount of money the United States can borrow.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/07/us-usa-debt-exclusive-idUSTRE7660GE20110707
I’m sorry Uncle Sam but that card has been declined. Do you have another?
Shore 8 I do not think “O” will go there, it would energize the right to the point 2012 would be a sure lose for him. But then again what does he have to lose with the “R” house holding the purse strings he can not send out enough pork buy a win in 2012.
to buy
War POwers is being ignored why not the debt ceiling?
Juice the R’s have abused that also so they are not making a big stink. By pass the house to increase debt by 2 tril, all hell will break loose.
I assume these big lots with big houses must be in west or south Jersey. Most of the Mc Mansion construction in Bergen Co over the last 10 years, has been on postage stamp size lots.
It is, remember, Whitney’s call was based on states and local govts would refuse to cut spending, keep issuing debt and refuse to raise taxes resulting in a collapse.
Instead we got, govt spending being cut, less debt being issued and taxes being raised. Ten year munis is sweet spot of issuance, 2001 was a relatively high year for interest rates until after 9/11/2001 when Feds aggressively cut rates. Munis are paying off that debt rather than issuing new debt. The ten year munis issued between 2002 and 2006 had record low rates. Just by paying off the higher coupon 2001 munis, cutting spending and raising taxes for all of 2011 and most of 2012 even if govt gets stupid again most existing munis will get paid.
Hobo With a Shotgun says:
July 7, 2011 at 7:34 am
grim (1)-
But remember, Meredith Whitney’s muni call is pure insanity.
3b up by me in Wantage 5 ac to build, hell of a lot of lawn to mow.
the low income homeowner not having access to townhouses is silly. single family run down capes, splits and ranch on 40×100 to 70×100 are much cheaper. Plus no maint bills. What are the poor so entitled they need lawn service and snow shoveling included.
Ummm. Ummmmm. Ummmm.
snip
South Florida, where nearly all of America’s winter tomatoes are grown, is nearly as alien an environment for farming. It’s insane that tomatoes are grown there at all, Barry Estabrook writes in his delectable and angry new book, “Tomatoland.” This volume simmers like a big, bright kettle of heirloom tomato sauce.
Mr. Estabrook’s subtitle, “How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit,” is spot-on
snip
Why is South Florida such a grim place to grow tomatoes, the fruit we’ve agreed to accept — don’t ask, don’t tell — as a vegetable? Florida’s sandy soil, Mr. Estabrook writes, is as devoid of plant nutrients as a pile of moon rocks. “Florida growers,” he writes, “may as well be raising their plants in a sterile hydroponic medium.”
He continues, witheringly: “To get a successful crop, they pump the soil full of chemical fertilizers and can blast the plants with more than 100 different herbicides and pesticides, including some of the most toxic in agribusiness’s arsenal.” Migrant workers are coated with these chemicals too. The toll that’s taken on them, in the form of birth defects, cancer and other ailments, is hideous to observe and should fill those who eat Florida tomatoes with shame.
And all this for what? Hard, tasteless, uniform green balls that barely dent when they fall off a truck at 60 miles per hour and that must be gassed to achieve the sick-pink hue they present in supermarkets.
snip
“Tomatoland” is at its most potent and scathing in its portrayal of South Florida’s tomato growers and their tactics over the past half-century. It’s infuriating to read of their lack of regard for the taste of their product. Historically, when a farmer has learned to grow a tasty variety, that farmer has actually been scorned and prevented from shipping it.
“Regulations actually prohibit growers in the southern part of Florida from exporting many of the older tasty tomato varieties because their coloration and shape don’t conform to what the all-powerful Florida Tomato Committee says a tomato should look like,” Mr. Estabrook writes.
Snip
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/books/tomatoland-barry-estabrooks-expose-review.html
In mod.
Ummm. Ummmmm. Ummmm.
snip
South Florida, where nearly all of America’s winter tomatoes are grown, is nearly as alien an environment for farming. It’s insane that tomatoes are grown there at all, Barry Estabrook writes in his delectable and angry new book, “Tomatoland.” This volume simmers like a big, bright kettle of heirloom tomato sauce.
Mr. Estabrook’s subtitle, “How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit,” is spot-on
snip
Why is South Florida such a grim place to grow tomatoes, the fruit we’ve agreed to accept — don’t ask, don’t tell — as a vegetable? Florida’s sandy soil, Mr. Estabrook writes, is as devoid of plant nutrients as a pile of moon rocks. “Florida growers,” he writes, “may as well be raising their plants in a ster-ile hydro-ponic medium.”
He continues, witheringly: “To get a successful crop, they pump the soil full of chemical fertilizers and can blast the plants with more than 100 different herbicides and pesticides, including some of the most toxic in agribusiness’s ars-enal.” Migrant workers are coated with these chemicals too. The toll that’s taken on them, in the form of birth defects, cancer and other ailments, is hideous to observe and should fill those who eat Florida tomatoes with shame.
And all this for what? Hard, tasteless, uniform green balls that barely dent when they fall off a truck at 60 miles per hour and that must be gassed to achieve the sick-pink hue they present in supermarkets.
snip
“Tomatoland” is at its most potent and scathing in its portrayal of South Florida’s tomato growers and their tactics over the past half-century. It’s infuriating to read of their lack of regard for the taste of their product. Historically, when a farmer has learned to grow a tasty variety, that farmer has actually been scorned and prevented from shipping it.
“Regulations actually prohibit growers in the southern part of Florida from exporting many of the older tasty tomato varieties because their coloration and shape don’t conform to what the all-powerful Florida Tomato Committee says a tomato should look like,” Mr. Estabrook writes.
Snip
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/books/tomatoland-barry-estabrooks-expose-review.html
can’ty seem to find the offending letters, there are no bad words
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/books/tomatoland-barry-estabrooks-expose-review.html
Ummm. Ummmmm. Ummmm.
snip
South Florida, where nearly all of America’s winter tomatoes are grown, is nearly as alien an environment for farming. It’s insane that tomatoes are grown there at all, Barry Estabrook writes in his delectable and angry new book, “Tomatoland.” This volume simmers like a big, bright kettle of heirloom tomato sauce.
Mr. Estabrook’s subtitle, “How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit,” is spot-on
snip
Why is South Florida such a grim place to grow tomatoes, the fruit we’ve agreed to accept — don’t ask, don’t tell — as a vegetable? Florida’s sandy soil, Mr. Estabrook writes, is as devoid of plant nutrients as a pile of moon rocks. “Florida growers,” he writes, “may as well be raising their plants in a ster-ile hydro-ponic medium.”
He continues, witheringly: “To get a successful crop, they pump the soil full of chemical fertilizers and can blast the plants with more than 100 different herbicides and pesticides, including some of the most toxic in agribusiness’s ars-enal.” Migrant workers are coated with these chemicals too. The toll that’s taken on them, in the form of birth defects, cancer and other ailments, is hideous to observe and should fill those who eat Florida tomatoes with shame.
And all this for what? Hard, tasteless, uniform green b@lls that barely dent when they fall off a truck at 60 miles per hour and that must be gassed to achieve the sick-pink hue they present in supermarkets.
snip
“Tomatoland” is at its most potent and scathing in its portrayal of South Florida’s tomato growers and their tactics over the past half-century. It’s infuriating to read of their lack of regard for the taste of their product. Historically, when a farmer has learned to grow a tasty variety, that farmer has actually been scorned and prevented from shipping it.
“Regulations actually prohibit growers in the southern part of Florida from exporting many of the older tasty tomato varieties because their coloration and shape don’t conform to what the all-powerful Florida Tomato Committee says a tomato should look like,” Mr. Estabrook writes.
Snip
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/books/tomatoland-barry-estabrooks-expose-review.html
#16 Wow 5 acres!!! I guess that is what the article is referring to.
Not to sound elitist here but if you can’t afford to live there, then why should the government provide you provisions so you can.There is a reason I moved to morris county into a 1500 square foot house on 3/4 of an acre. To get away from the rif raf and scum that permeated my existence in lower bergen county. Also to not be so close to one another that I’m looking into my neighbors kitchen while taking a dump.
Socialist republic of NJ. i really hate you some times
When the going gets tough, change the rules….
ECB Suspends Rating Requirement For Portuguese Collateral
A stunner in the JCT press conference, who just announced that the ECB is willing to accept any junk that comes its way. Specifically he said that the ECB has decided to suspend a rating requirement for Portuguese collateral, and that the ECB will shortly issue a press release on the matter. Obviously the bank is now making stuff up as it comes alone. He also added that the suspension will be maintained unitl further notice. Expect this move to affect Irish and all other insolvent country debt as it becomes all too clear that the ECB will do everything in its power to give out cash against insolvent paper. And now you know what Europe’s QE looks like.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/ecb-suspends-rating-requirement-portugese-collateral
3/4 of an acre!!! I live on 1/10 of an acre, so do all my neighbors. Are you unemployed or retired. I had a neighbor who once said to me your kids run the pool pump every day at 3pm all summer as I am trying to relax in my backyard during my quiet time. He asks me can I run my pool pump at night or get a new quieter pool pump. So first of all I tell him it is illegal to run a pool pump at night as I have to turn of my pool pump, if skimmer clogs it will burn out my motor as I won’t notice and the other neighbor had an infant so why would she want to hear a pool pump at night waking up her kid? Guy has nerve to say why don’t you buy a new pool pump? I go that is $500 hundred bucks and btw the white noise of pump drowns out the screaming kids in pool. Finally I go I got a solution that works, how about you get a job like the rest of us so you are not laying around your back yard all day worrying about pool pumps at 3pm on weekdays. Guy left.
I am home only one weekends, neighbors are only out in yard from May 15 to Sept 15. Of those four months between vacations, family parties trips to beach I am home on average one weekend day each weekend. So for that four month period when neighbors are out I am home a total of 16 days. Neighbor noise is actually great sometimes. Kids can yell in pool and I can get my saw or drill out to do some projects. Funny part is the annoying quiet neighbor now actually invites his 20 something kids over to use pool instead of sitting by himself quiet. I actually have brought his family together with my nosy pool pump. I am such a happy home maker.
I am kinda glad he did not escalate the pool issue as I was about to say if you want quiet why don’t you move to florida where the rest of the cranky bitter people go to die in quiet. I am sure a nice family with younger kids could enjoy your house.
this same sob stiffed me when I put in a new fence, I replaced part of his concrete for free, cut down a tree that was overhanging his house when I moved in and hence the problem. You are nice to neighbors they walk all over you. You have to be mean to them to get some love.
BTW the best was this weekend, new neighbor to left, who has tattos, does work on front lawn with power tools with shirts off and cases of beer cursing has a two year old son, funny I am out by BBQ and I hear the kid talking smack to dad, dad goes you better cut it out or else you are getting it. Kids talks smack again, Dad smacks that kid twice and not more smart mouth out of kid. I love blue collar neighbor hoods, the boy is two he needs to man up and many up he did.
Painhrtz – Salmon of Doubt says:
July 7, 2011 at 8:58 am
Not to sound elitist here but if you can’t afford to live there, then why should the government provide you provisions so you can.There is a reason I moved to morris county into a 1500 square foot house on 3/4 of an acre. To get away from the rif raf and scum that permeated my existence in lower bergen county. Also to not be so close to one another that I’m looking into my neighbors kitchen while taking a dump.
Socialist republic of NJ. i really hate you some times
Pain [22];
What stinks about it is the incumbent landowners pulling up the ladder behind them, and/or sucking the blood from those who they would sell to. They got to buy a new house on good land for peanuts. Then they rewrite the zoning laws to constrain supply, so anyone who comes after them has to pay 3-4x time more by any meassure (real price, price/income, etc.) .
I look forward to being the generation in power that writes the medicare rules when the baby boomer locusts need it most. They are the first generation in a century to leave the country worse than they found it.
Good morning New Jersey!
LET’S GO METS!
re: # 24 – Having acres and acres of lawn that needs to be cut 30 weeks in a row? No thanks Forest Gump. I am sitting on the beach this summer and having a lawn maintenance crew cut my rented fenced in 1/4 acre shaded lot every other week.
Hell is being JJ’s neighbor.
I pay my $45/week to keep the Mexican immigrant economy going and my grass trimmed. I used to do it myself, and still have a top of the line Honda walk-behind mower in my garage, but after 3 months trying to mow the hilly/rocky yard of my new house, I gave up.
#22 To get away from the rif raf and scum that permeated my existence in lower bergen county.
In premier and prestigious Bergen Co, are you sure???
The Mets stink, but are a great source of schadenfreude. I’m amazed that the Braves are winning so much considering their mediocre hitting. They’ve got good starters and great relievers.
JJ,
I spend a week teaching my 2yr old son numbers from 1-10. Easy over 15 hours worth of pictures, flash cards, and mickey mouse round up numbers video. He finally learned them.
My in-laws come over and naturaly I want to show off and I ask him to count from 1-10. He says” I don’t know” and proceeeds to play with his new toy. I ask him again “come on grandma wants to hear you count” he looks at me and says ” No” I grabed him and two quick light whips with my belt and he was singing like a bird. Also, volunteered to show grandma what the numbers look like on flash cards.
Also, few months ago my wife tells me she’s concerned he could have ADD and she can’t get him to concetrate and focus at anything for a period of time. I took uot my belt, thretened him with it and told him that he must sit on a couch and watch Mickey Mouse Club House and can’t get up until I say so. He watched 90 minutes of mickey and then asked me if I can get up and play with his truck. Belt cures everything.
Grim
property ownership is one of the drivers of a strong middle class. While it may not be a “right”, driving home ownership into the top quintiles is just one more sign of brazilification. It is ultimately in societies benefit to maintain a string middle class and this includes having an economic environment that allows a fair portion of the middle class to access hoe ownership.
From a social stand point you would want to promote the accessibility of home ownership due to the increased ties to the neighborhood and local community that tends to generate a positive supportive influence.
pain,
You just pointed out one of the inexorable truths that so many find distasteful. That the middle class and upper class will virtually always self segregate from the lower classes. And people wonder why tearing down the ghettos and dispersing the former inhabitants amongst suburbia is doomed to failure.
anyone know what the deal is with wyckoff?
very good schools and pretty low taxes (relatively speaking of course)… paramus might be the only town that i’m seeing that has lower taxes, i presume it’s due to all the retailers…
does wyckoff have a lot of businesses that support that town tax-wise?
houses are a bit more expensive tho…
3b you have never had the pleasure of growing up and living in Garfield so you probably wouldn’t know about BC’s own Abbott district.
JJ to each his own, I did the right on top of each other thing most of my life did not want that to be all my life. have three neighboors, and unbuildable woodlands across the street. It is a much better existence.
Moose for once I actually agree with you somewhat. Land use restrictions and buildable lot sizes keep those towns at managable sizes while maintaining their identities. As far as greedy land owners no different than greedy lawyers, you can shoose to get your land or services elsewhere.
In the land of Unicorns the town will be adding anywhere from 200 to 300 additional housing units, all apartments. Depending on whether or not the developers get financing etc. This redevelopment was supposed to bring in mainly retail and commercial, and not only keep taxes stable, but lower them.Instead the potential is for far more students in the school system, and of course the ongoing funding battle with Oradell who pays far more of the regional school funding.
#37 I have driven through it on occasion, looks kind of old and run down, but did not realize it was that bad.
hype (23)-
Cash for trash. Taught in major universities worldwide.
The stench of death is now wafting all the way across the Atlantic. Breathe deeply, and fill your lungs with the gases of oblivion.
#36 danxp: I am not familair with Wyckoff’s tax base, but it is a great town surrounded by all good towns. It shares a regional HS with Franklin Lakes and OaklandI had the opportunity to move there some years back, and did not, which was a mistake. If you can find something there suitable, BUY IT!!!
Shit. I think a rabid unicorn is trapped in my backyard.
#42 Please return him. We have been looking for him.
41
thanks 3b
my only concern is its commutability to the city… not sure what my options are from there… i can always take a bus, but i could be looking at a 2-hr commute one way at peak rush hour…
Hobo.
Use it for Target practice.
Dan 208 to 4 is a parking lot heading towards the city every morning and the same heading home in the evening. I commuted in the opposite direction before I moved saw at least two fender benders a day and a lot of miserable faces on drivers.
#44 danxp: I understand the commute issue, one of the reasons I did not do it at the time, but still sorry I did not. Now that kids finished in school, I could do it, but I do not feel like it. Depending on where in Wyckoff you are, there is the train in Allendale, which you can drive to, or of course the bus. IMO if you are looking at the long term, you are better off in that northwest part of BC than elsewhere. You should seriously consider it.
JJ,
Entertaining story. You should write a newspaper column.
Why don’t we just we just move all the undersirables into Camden then ask the airforce for a few days of saturation bombing.runs. Then we can pave the entire area and create a commuter parking lot.
danxp THe 7;27 A.M. train from Allendale will get you into Hoboken for instance at 8:18 A.M. (51 minutes).
I was at Thanksgiving on Long Island a couple of years ago and most of the people there knew we were from New Jersey. Making small talk one person asked me if I took the Belt and I responded that my dad didn’t believe in corporal punishment. Some of the people were laughing hysterically, but far too many didn’t get it.
make money says:
July 7, 2011 at 10:06 am
JJ, I spend a week teaching my 2yr old son numbers from 1-10. Easy over 15 hours worth of pictures, flash cards, and mickey mouse round up numbers video. He finally learned them.
My in-laws come over and naturaly I want to show off and I ask him to count from 1-10. He says” I don’t know” and proceeeds to play with his new toy. I ask him again “come on grandma wants to hear you count” he looks at me and says ” No” I grabed him and two quick light whips with my belt and he was singing like a bird. Also, volunteered to show grandma what the numbers look like on flash cards.
Also, few months ago my wife tells me she’s concerned he could have ADD and she can’t get him to concetrate and focus at anything for a period of time. I took uot my belt, thretened him with it and told him that he must sit on a couch and watch Mickey Mouse Club House and can’t get up until I say so. He watched 90 minutes of mickey and then asked me if I can get up and play with his truck. Belt cures everything.
Interesting take: $3M cash buys you a small nursing home in Fl.
With the cost of higher education skyrocketing, many families are beginning to question whether a college degree is worth the price. The arithmetic is persuasive. At the stock market’s historical 9% annual return (nominal return over the past 50 years), $100,000 not invested in a four-year college education would be worth over $3 million in 40 years. That return would handsomely eclipse the nominal lifetime earnings difference of $1 million often quoted for college vs. high school graduates. Put aside the fact that the four-year degree is being slowly replaced by the five-year degree, which bumps the cost of higher education even higher.
The new book ‘Academically Adrift’ reveals that college has changed. And because of this change, the historical earnings advantage imparted by a college education may not hold up. By testing students longitudinally using the well-respected Comprehensive Learning Assessment, the authors show that irrespective of institutional quality and prestige, little or no academic skill advancement is now made through a college student’s sophomore year.”
ChiFi,
Mets are 6 games over .500 on the road and 3 games under at home. WTF?
Life is good, if you are on Team O! The the rest of us, who cares.
“There are 2 million fewer private-sector jobs now than when Obama was sworn in, and the unemployment rate is 1.5 percentage points higher.
• There are now more long-term unemployed than at any time since the government started keeping records.
• The U.S. dollar is more than 12% weaker.
• The number of Americans on food stamps has climbed 37%.
• The Misery Index (unemployment plus inflation) is up 62%.
• And the national debt is about 40% higher than it was in January 2009.”
Rents rise and vacancies go down?
Unfortunately this is much too narrow of a view to be anywhere but accurate.
Lets take the simple statement “vancancies are down” and analyze that for a moment. Are you measuring only multi-unit rentals and making that assessment? If I were to look on zillow, trulia, craigslist, etc. I am sure that I would find a huge assortment of single family homes that are now rentable due to dislocation in the housing market. I could find any number of sublets, tenants or roomate wanted signs in previously barren areas for rental units. I will make the counter-argument and say that rental units are at an all time high. Just open a paper and every house you see for sale is also for rent, the devil is in the details.
Now lets assess rent prices. If you have a massive number of forclosures, these people with poor credit due to forclosure now have to live somewhere. Naturally their rental prices will increase. Does that mean your rent price has increased, nope. Just walk in with your perfect credit and renegotiate rental prices, you can command that premium.
I’m a renter and I know from first hand experience. I rent a town-house that others couldn’t sell or afford for below market rates. They tried to raise rents on me and I declined and told them that if they did I would move in a heartbeat. Good luck finding a new renter in the middle of January.
“Having acres and acres of lawn that needs to be cut 30 weeks in a row?”
Even in the wealthiest towns in California, take Beverley Hills for instance, a very high percentage of homeowners have large/impressive homes with relatively little land around them. For instance, take a look at the area north of Sunset Strip on either side of Benedict Canyon Road.
Sunset Blvd., excuse me.
“There are 2 million fewer private-sector jobs now than when Obama was sworn in, and the unemployment rate is 1.5 percentage points higher.”
It is Bush’s fault.
“• There are now more long-term unemployed than at any time since the government started keeping records.”
It is Bush’s fault.
“• The U.S. dollar is more than 12% weaker.”
It is Bush’s fault.
“• The number of Americans on food stamps has climbed 37%.”
It is Bush’s fault that they need food stamps but I take credit for feeding them.
“• The Misery Index (unemployment plus inflation) is up 62%.”
It is Bush’s fault.
• And the national debt is about 40% higher than it was in January 2009.”
It is Bush’s fault. But I have hope that it will all change with my audacious secret plan for my second term.
Shore Guy – How about the water bill for 6 acres in the Hamptons?
18.4 million gallons?
http://www.businessinsider.com/mickey-drexler-water-hamptons-2011-7
47, 48, 49
wyckoff would be great but it looks like the houses are about 50-100k more than those in some other towns and about 200k more than those in the land of unicorns… at least in terms of list prices… which as we all know is an excellent barometer for the real pricing out there…
#58 Look at closed prices, that will give you a better idea. Also consider Mahwah, Ramsey, Midland Park, Hillsdale, WT. All those towns up around NW Bergen. prices may be lower in the land of Unicorns, but taxes are horrible, and going to get worse.
make money says:
July 7, 2011 at 10:06 am
JJ,
I spend a week teaching my 2yr old son numbers from 1-10. Easy over 15 hours worth of pictures, flash cards, and mickey mouse round up numbers video. He finally learned them.
My in-laws come over and naturaly I want to show off and I ask him to count from 1-10. He says” I don’t know” and proceeeds to play with his new toy. I ask him again “come on grandma wants to hear you count” he looks at me and says ” No” I grabed him and two quick light whips with my belt and he was singing like a bird. Also, volunteered to show grandma what the numbers look like on flash cards.
Also, few months ago my wife tells me she’s concerned he could have ADD and she can’t get him to concetrate and focus at anything for a period of time. I took uot my belt, thretened him with it and told him that he must sit on a couch and watch Mickey Mouse Club House and can’t get up until I say so. He watched 90 minutes of mickey and then asked me if I can get up and play with his truck. Belt cures everything.
I love it!!!!!!
I recall I got to around nine years old and my dad did his usual thing with his belt when I broke a window. You know what Dad was pushing 50 and it wasn’t so bad, after he was done I go to him is that all you got?
Turns out he had more, he pulled the pants down and repeat the five smacks with the buckle side. Buckle side is a whole new ball game. Anyhow that was the last window I broke. Tell your kid do not say is that all you got until he is at least 15.
JJ, Make, I was 15 was pulled in by cops for drinking beer behind a factory with the guys. Take us down parents have to pick us up , not arrested though. Mom & Dad come they lead me out from the Det. office where I was waiting. Dad so pissed levels me with a gut punch in front of police desk. Sargent turns cop who brought me in “won’t see him again” & they never did. Now the Dad would have been arrested. My Dad never hit me before or after with his hands but we did have the belt thing. Ex combat Marine Korea he didn’t need to hit you I was scared sh*tless if he just gave me the look.
Ex combat Marine Korea he didn’t need to hit you I was scared sh*tless if he just gave me the look.
Ah, the look. It still to this day reezes me when my dad looks at me. During the 4th of July I was talking some smack about my lazy cousin and in the middle of my story my Dad had enough and gave me the look. I immediately stopped talking and asked anyone if they wanted grilled veggies. Everyone laughed and my wife asked “what just happened”?
Funny stories. Whatever happened to the belt punishment?
Interesting how the miners are leading bullion now.
I guess Obama’s 60 million gallons all got used up over the July 4th holiday.
snip
Ricardo McDonald knows that attitude. He lived it in the NFL for eight years as a linebacker for the Bengals and Bears, and he sees it in players today. Standing in the lobby of the Intercontinental, McDonald still looks like he could play, though he hasn’t since 1999. Intelligent, well-spoken and wise, he has enjoyed a successful postfootball career in business. Yet as a player, he succumbed to the pressures of the game by coming back too quickly from concussions — decisions that put him at risk. He estimates he suffered “in the neighborhood of 20-plus” concussions in his career — at least seven times Bailes’ threshold number. He says he once played in a game the same week doctors said his brain was 60 percent swollen — and then suffered a concussion on top of that. He had an MRI recently, and the doctor told him he had the brain of an 80-year-old. He has headaches and memory loss. McDonald is 37.
snip
http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2011-07-07/john-mackey-and-other-retired-nfl-players-experience-living-hell#ixzz1RRRhNjt0
Everyone is looking to cash in on a dead child, it seems:
“a representative for a Casey Anthony Juror No. 6 is alerting media outlets that he is willing to grant one or two interviews in exchange for being paid.
“He will not entertain any offers that don’t include compensation for a myriad of reasons,” the representative said, according to a letter posted on TMZ.com.”
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-07-06/news/os-casey-anthony-juror-wants-money-20110706_1_casey-anthony-juror-interview-cash
How low does one have to be to be below Rupert Murdoch?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/07/us-newscorp-hacking-idUSTRE7641IO20110707
What weere the odds that an oil company would lie to federal regulators?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-07-07-montana-oil-spill-yellowstone_n.htm
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Exxon Mobil Co. had reassured federal regulators and officials from a Montana town since December that an oil pipeline beneath the Yellowstone River was safe, buried deep enough to avoid any accidental ruptures.
Then, on Friday night, the pipe failed, spilling an estimated 42,000 gallons into the flooded river.
snip
Uggghhhhhh!!!!
http://abcnews.go.com/US/casey_anthony_trial/casey-anthony-juror-nancy-grace-verdict/story?id=14017505
Al – In some states belting is considered whipping these days. If your neighbor is a nosy teacher the Social Services people will be all over you. They recommend medicate to get them to behave because they can’t belt them anymore and everybody has a label that needs medication.
Where there is a will, there is a family dispute:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/nyregion/love-and-inheritance-celeste-holms-family-feud.html
snip
On a recent afternoon, Celeste Holm, 94, sat in her vast living room overlooking Sheep Meadow, holding hands with her husband, Frank Basile, 48, assessing how things had worked out for her.
snip
Shore #67: See your post #66 for the answer.
this is why I do not twitter, nor do I have a facebook page. F*cking Orwelian world we are starting to live in
http://gizmodo.com/5818774/this-is-a-social-media-background-check
I like in the show Madman the Dad smack the other Dads kids if they were out of line. Even when I was little it already started you were only supposed to smack your own kids.
Once when I was little me and the kid down the block got into a massive fight over a stolen fight, Dad came down with belt to whip us both, Kids goes I am going to get my Dad, my Dad goes good, go down the block and get him, I got room for three on this belt. Needless to say that Dad never came up the block.
Make [51];
Really? Just accept the shame and move the damn fences in already.
Price alert. Overheard driver telling indy gas station owners that price going up ten cents at next delivery. I spoke to the owner and he confirmed ten cent price hike. I tanked up, refilled most of my reserve, and told the wife to tank on the way home. I will refill the rest of the reserve tonight.
In the closing process of a home. FHA’s appraisal is in and I see I am paying 88% of their number on the house. I’m told appraisers have throttled down from the days when they goosed numbers to serve mortgage approval, true? Original asking price was 3% above what turned out to be FHA’s appraised number. I bought the crummiest house on a great street in Glen Rock. Did I do okay? First timer and was flying blind, my worthless agent advised against offering less than 5% of asking if I wanted this home, in this neighborhood, etc.
76,
Dam Nom,
What kind of reserve are your talking here? Gas doesnt store well and it takes a lot of diligence to keep it fresh.
Nom 76 thanks will fill up the fleet tonight.
Chairman O [56];
I like your new re-election slogan. Without Me, Things Would Have Been Worse! Ranks right up there with all those jobs you ‘saved’.
Al 78
Gotta love the diesel!
Al,
if you have a gasoline car and really want to stock pile. get a propane conversion kit. you can stockpile propane all day and it does not degrade over time.
http://www.nashfuel.com/conversionkits.asp
AL
Nom owns a share in a small offshore tanker.
Ket [82];
I think their market (that is, cars with carbeurated engines) significantly shrank with “Cash For Klunkers”. Why don’t we do a nice little MSM news infomercial for Chairman O all about how his elightened policies impacted this “green” small business.
Kettle(81),
better than diesel.
http://tinyurl.com/5r7lu6h
Funny Gas is cheap in NJ yet everyone in NJ worries about Gas. I fill my tank in my car 3-4 times a year don’t really care if it is two bucks or five bucks. People in NJ go crazy over ten cents. I know people out their who drive 15K miles a year on a station car. How can you drive 15k on a station car I ask, I get back well 20 minute to bus, 20 minutes to supermarket, 20 minutes to bank. I go yikes. It is not gas that is problem it is fact you live in middle of nowhere.
Looks like Grandma and Grandpa are going to get shanked by the Congress. 1st Obamacare now changing the CPI for SS benefits. Thats what you get for relying on G_v for your livelihood. You old folks should have known better now hurry up and dig your own graves.
Next step. Means testing for SS.
I could give a crap about gas prices too except that I have to fill up my boat which is a dollar more on the water. As for car fuel its a business expense. The more it goes up the less revenue the b_stards get from me.
Mayne we would be better off if the DoD and Coast Guard billed the oil companies for protecting oil access and the sea lanes and if EPA billed them for environmental effects s that the price of gas more closely reflected its real cost.
New Gal,
You did 12% better than if you paid 100% of that value. Whether it was a good deal or not depends on how it suits your life, and how much you’ll be spending on repairs, taxes, versus the alternatives.
re. gas price (Brent up by almost 5% on the day, expect the pump price to quickly get to $3.70 on average):
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. today reiterated its long-trading recommendation for Brent futures.
“We continue to expect that oil demand growth fueled by moderate economic growth expectations will be sufficient to draw down crude oil inventories,” Goldman analysts led by London- based Jeffrey Currie said in a report dated today.
Great. Drain the SPR, divert tankers to Europe…then inadvertently create a shortage and watch pump prices whipsaw higher than they were to begin with.
Until we’re ready to start shooting TPTB, they will continue this madness.
Repeat again: the gubmint is our enemy. They spend all day, every day thinking of ways to wring everything of value out of us…and they won’t stop until they have broken us all.
The only effective resistance we have left is to take up arms against them.
Hobo,
The gub are just puppets. Lets take a closer look at the shareholders of the federal reserve bank. I think there are some interesting characters in there. The drug trafficking Q of E deserves a good old fashioned kick in the box. Dont you agree?
Al
take it one step further. Who has controlling interest in the primary FED shareholders?
95.
Rothschilds. The whole family.
Make
nice car but not scalable. Battery/electric cannot compete with high energy liquid fuels in a low density highly distributed society.
Try to scale the electric transport model to even 10 – 20% of the current market, without first restructuring societal transport modes and watch what happens to the price of rare earth metals and hence rhe cars. There are plenty of other critical choke points as well.
Any large scale implimentation would require substantial changes at Most levels of society and a few decades.
Liquid fuels still win hands down for the time being.
Hi All
Need a home inspector for bergen ASAP
Any recommendations?
Learned today that the travel teams in brig soccer are actually differentiated by skill level, A to D.
Explains why I thought my 8yo’s team seemed stacked. It is. She made the A team.
Now I feel like a jerk for not knowing this.
(78) al,
It’s all of 14 gallons, stored in a collection of gas cans. I use a stabilizer in some, but I periodically draw it down. More so when prices spike. I also never have that much as a rule since I rotate stock. Tonite, I will have about 12 gallons, a high for me.
Purpose is to hedge against price shocks, inattentive spouse, and provide a bug out reserve.
Mostly Comes in handy when the wife uses the suv and leaves it on fumes. That happens from time to time.
It is amazing how a spending zealot can be persuaded to see the light when face with a political “gun to the head.”
from FOX:
snip
After being branded by Republicans for the last two-and-a-half years as a chronic big spender, Obama and his aides are talking about deficit cuts — big ones — as something they wholeheartedly endorse.
Related Stories Obama Signals Deficit-Reduction Talks Back on Track After ‘Constructive’ Meeting
The rhetoric may reflect the reality that congressional Republicans are demanding such cuts as a condition for raising the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling before an Aug. 2 deadline. But the White House, while still at odds with the GOP over the prospect of tax hikes, has gone from complaining about Republican tactics to casting the talks as a unique opportunity to achieve historic cuts.
“Bigness is our target,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Thursday, after Obama finished meeting with eight congressional leaders at the White House. He compared the negotiations to those that yielded a balanced budget during the Clinton administration.
“The opportunity to do something this significant does not present itself very often. The stars, in some ways, have aligned here because of the circumstances of the economy, the dynamic in Washington, the recognition by members of both parties of what the probleproblem is in a very real sense,” Carney said.”
snip
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/07/white-house-pushing-for-bigness-in-deficit-reduction-deal/#ixzz1RT23Gefe
Gator,
From the land of the baby wearers, this comment from the NY Governor:
snip
“I can’t tell you how many people have come up to me from one end of the state to the other and complained about the property taxes that they pay,” he said. “The old question used to be when you went to buy a house, can you afford to pay the mortgage? Now the question is, can you pay the property taxes?”
But the days of New York being known as the “tax capital of the nation” are over, he said.
snip
“The news to government is that this is not an ATM machine for government, this is a home,” he said, standing in front of the Maroney residence. “This is the Maroneys’ home and you can’t just keep raising taxes and expect the taxpayers to pay for it.”
snip
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/07/governor_pays_a_visit_to_gedde.html
(87) al,
Means testing is a foregone conclusion in the planning community. Now the GOP is floating it, so it will happen sooner than expected.
”
Repeat again: the gubmint is our enemy. They spend all day, every day thinking of ways to wring everything of value out of us…and they won’t stop until they have broken us all.
The only effective resistance we have left is to take up arms against them.”
What are the odds we see Clot doing a perp walk into a Federal lockup anytime soon?
“Means testing is a foregone conclusion in the planning community.”
I am betting on August 2.
“Great. Drain the SPR”
The SPR should NEVER be touched to deal with price increases.
Nom,
401ks and IRA’s are the next logical target. 6 trillion could extend the game for years. In the current climate how could a reasonable person try to predict the tax rate when they are 59 1/2. Give me 6 months and I am out of my IRA even though I found the scam many years ago and stopped contributing.
Its all coming down the pike. Its you vs the Fed. Only those with foresight will keep their wealth.
106,
Right. The SPR is strictly for the US war machine. Those dirty A-RABS need some bombing even if it means Grandma and Grandpa have to dig their own graves.
“Only those with foresight will keep their wealth.”
No. Only the uber rich with foresight will keep their wealth. The Kulaks — professionals, small and medium-sized business owners, and moderatly-successful investors, will be bled dry.
oops:
No. Only the uber rich with foresight will keep their wealth. The Kulaks — professionals, small and medium-sized business owners, and moderatly-successful investors — will be bled dry.
“The SPR is strictly for the US war machine.”
No. It will also keep power plants and other essential facilities running in the event of an embargo or other disruption. Please don’t be a simpleton.
From a CNN e-mail. Is this an unusual time of day for an execution? I seem to recall most being right after midnight:
Mexican national and convicted murderer Humberto Leal Garcia Jr. has been executed by lethal injection in Texas.
The Obama administration and international leaders had asked for a reprieve on behalf of the inmate.
What makes Leal’s conviction unusual is that he was not informed about his right to contact the Mexican consulate upon his arrest — a right guaranteed under a binding international treaty.
Leal, 38, was convicted of raping Adria Sauceda, a 16-year-old girl in San Antonio, and then strangling and bludgeoning her.
According to a Texas official, Leal’s final words included: “I am sorry for everything I have done.”
plume (99)-
If she shows promise and is always itching to play, get her playing with another group from outside your town as a supplement. Even “A” level players who stick to town teams end up developing much more slowly.
Being on another team (or even a training group) will also force your kid to interact, speak up, learn how to work with people she doesn’t know and develop some stick in her game.
The evil of drum-machine-driven music:
“Our first thought was that songwriters in the 80s must have turned on their drum machines, loved what they heard and wrote a song to that beat – without changing the default tempo setting of 120 bpm. I would love this to be correct, but I have a hunch that it’s not, especially after having found this highly interesting manual for writing a hit single written by The KLF in 1988. They say that “the different styles in modern club records are usually clustered around certain BPM’s: 120 is the classic BPM for House music and its various variants, although it is beginning to creep up”, and also, “no song with a BPM over 135 will ever have a chance of getting to Number One” because “the vast majority of regular club goers will not be able to dance to it and still look cool”.”
http://blog.last.fm/2011/07/01/anatomy-of-the-uk-charts-part-3-the-curse-of-the-drum-machine
shore (112)-
In Texas, any hour is a good hour for an execution.
Dig that bastard up, and execute him again.
Finally, affordable housing for NJ:
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/10x10x10-cube-house/20c5vjam?q=stupid+videos&rel=msn&from=en-us_msnhp&form=MSNHRO>1=42010&overlaytype=multimediaviewer&name=hpvideo2&csid=ux-en-us&initialmoduleindex=2
“No. It will also keep power plants and other essential facilities running in the event of an embargo or other disruption. Please don’t be a simpleton.”
You got to be kidding me. If the gub had that benevolent intention they would be drilling the crap out of Alaska right now. Maybe they will be. If the price is right. The key is to get the price right and unfortunately that means 5 dollar gas for the peons. The thought of gub as a force for good has long since past. Why play the game?
For anyone looking for a cheap night out on the 11th, the NY Song Circle is having a showcase at The Bitter End, which is at 147 Bleeker St. (between LaGuardia and Thompson). It is $10 bucks to get in and starts at 8:00 p.m. There are something like 6 performers, so it is something like $1.33 per performer.
“The key is to get the price right and unfortunately that means 5 dollar gas for the peons. ”
Note my post at 4:59.
A public service message for the guys here:
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/gallery/AFC-West-cheerleaders-gallery-051611#photo-title=Electric%20slide&photo=29806805
100.
Nom. I see. Yeah I have a similiar set up. I was thinking you set up a 1000 gallon Co-op somewhere. It was discussed here a few years ago and the profits would be rolling in if we made it happen.
Who cares? The government will takle care of all of us when we are diabetic blobs unable to move from the dinner table without home health aids to boost us:
http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-obesity-report-20110708,0,3732059.story
America just keeps getting fatter
America continues to get fatter, according to a comprehensive new report on the nation’s weight crisis. Statistics for 2008-2010 show that 16 states are experiencing steep increases in adult obesity, and none has seen a notable downturn in the last four years.
Meanwhile, cases of Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure that health experts have long warned would result from the nation’s broadening girth and sedentary ways are becoming increasingly widespread, according to the report, titled “F as in Fat,” released Thursday.
Even Coloradans, long the nation’s slimmest citizens, are gaining excess pounds. With an obese population of 19.8% — it is the only state with an adult obesity rate below 20% — Colorado remains the caboose on the nation’s huffing, puffing train to fat land.
But in just the last four years, the ranks of the obese even in Colorado have grown 0.7%. Colorado’s hypertension rates have risen significantly as well, to 21.2% of adults.
The report, prepared by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America’s Health, is their sixth annual state-by-state accounting of obesity.
snip
This is amazing:
“In the last 15 years, the report said, adult obesity rates have doubled or nearly doubled in 17 states. Two decades ago, not a single state had an obesity rate above 15%. Now all states do.”
Obesity! Not a few pounds overweight. Obese!
But wait, there’s more:
The nation’s roughly 4.5 billion excess pounds still skew heavily to the Southeast, with eight of the nation’s 10 most obese states clustered near the Gulf and Atlantic coasts and along the southern Appalachian Mountains. Among the top 10, only Oklahoma and Michigan — which had a 1.2% increase in adult obesity in the last four years, the largest of any state — are outside the South.
shore
there isnt enough oil in the entire SPR to make anything but a minor blip in the price of oil. dirty pointless politics as always.
Shore 123
like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSaGrbnEesg
shore
eat like feedlot cattle, and look like feedlot cattle
“But remember, Meredith Whitney’s muni call is pure insanity.”
Hobo, given her timeline? yes.
Americans are donut eatinf fat asses. This is true.
I sometimes ponder if the citizens of the US have enlightened themselves enough to vote wisely 4 years after the Obamathon.
I look around and see a nation of blobs mixed in with Mexican pot bellied pigs and thats when I know its all over except the crying.
This really answered my problem, thank you!
new era hats
http://www.hats-world.com
wholesale new era hats
http://www.wholesale-cheap-newerahats.com/
“He looks at me and says ” No” I grabed him and two quick light whips with my belt and he was singing like a bird. ”
Damn make, you whipped the kid to count to ten huh? Too bad kids don’t learn from structured memorization or pain induced motivation for that matter. You want to get his brain going? take him outside and show him trees and animals, buy him ice cream and have middle school level conversations about current event, non controversial news paper articles… I also find playing cards is a great way to learn numbers, particularly war or go fish since they not only have to learn the numbers but also identify which ones are bigger and smaller.
Better that corn be turned into negative-net-energy ethanol than HFCS.
From the Essex County Freecycle Group:
Offered in Montclair: cloth diapers
Posted by: “Larissa”
Thu Jul 7, 2011 1:10 pm (PDT)
Large box of used cloth diapers. These have been through three kids so they aren’t beautiful but almost all of them are in fine condition. Most (15-20) are Motherease type with the Motherease cover. Also includes a few all-in-ones and several diaper wraps and doublers.
easy front door pick-up!
Larissa
Shore 133
i disagree. sell it to people for the economic benefit then have people pay to get liposuction annually. use all of that luscious human fat to produce high grade bio-diesel!
oh fuk!
Libtard at home says:
July 7, 2011 at 11:26 pm
From the Essex County Freecycle Group:
Offered in Montclair: cloth diapers
Posted by: “Larissa”
Thu Jul 7, 2011 1:10 pm (PDT)
Large box of used cloth diapers. These have been through three kids so they aren’t beautiful but almost all of them are in fine condition. Most (15-20) are Motherease type with the Motherease cover. Also includes a few all-in-ones and several diaper wraps and doublers.
easy front door pick-up!
Larissa
What is old is new again……
WSJ
ON STYLE
JULY 7, 2011
How Can Jeans Cost $300? Shoppers Shell Out More for Designer Denim, Lured by Signature Details, ‘Made in America’
By CHRISTINA BINKLEY
It is an enduring mystery to anyone reared on $50 Levi’s: How can a pair of jeans cost as much as the Phantom, the new look from True Religion that will be priced as high as $375?
The answer can be found here in Los Angeles, in the global capital of so-called premium denim—one of the few areas of fashion that remains largely American-made. An industrial zone here near the city’s center is home to True Religion, J Brand, Seven For All Mankind and other pricey denim brands that have elevated what was once workman’s togs to a luxury industry all its own.
This is a rarefied segment of the denim business. Americans bought $13.8 billion of men’s and women’s jeans in the year ended April 30, according to market-research firm NPD Group. But only about 1% of jeans sold in the U.S. over that year cost more than $50.
The prices of “premium” jeans—industry jargon for luxury-priced denim—appear to be edging slightly upward after a downturn following the financial crisis. Right now, J Brand’s Maria women’s jeans can sell for $226. Men’s Aidan jeans from Seven For All Mankind cost $225. Prices for Gucci jeans range from $495 to $665. Premium jeans are made in the U.S., which is a big part of their allure.
Gloria Vanderbilt and Calvin Klein introduced the world to so-called designer jeans decades ago, and what began as a relatively small trend endured. Jeans are worn everywhere from the office to the opera these days. But there is a less-than-subtle caste system for denim: A pair of “Sevens,” as some call jeans from Seven For All Mankind, conveys a statement about one’s fashion savoir faire (and income) that less expensive brands don’t.
It costs about $50 to make a pair of Super T jeans, True Religion’s best-selling style with oversized white stitching, estimates founder, chairman and chief executive, Jeff Lubell. The wholesale price is $152, he says, and the average retail price is $335. Of course, plenty of these jeans sell at substantially less than full price.
The Phantom was first shown to retailers in January, and True Religion is building its fall marketing campaign around the jean. With less prominent logos and detailing, it resonates with the current antilogo trend in fashion, but its details are designed to appeal to real “jeaners,” as Mr. Lubell refers to premium-denim lovers. It has a small American flag hand-embroidered on the waistband. A subtle logo on the pocket is like a ghost, or phantom, of the brassy original logo.
“The Phantom is my Ferrari 458 Italia,” says Mr. Lubell. “It’s the newest, hottest baby of mine.”
As with all fashion, a big part of the price of luxury denim is in the multiple profit margins taken at each level of production. Most any piece of clothing contains parts and services from potentially dozens of providers: from fabric and button makers, to designers and seamstresses, and wholesalers and sales agents. After all this, designers and retailers say the typical retail markup on all fashion items, including jeans, ranges from 2.2 to 2.6 times cost.
In the luxury business, those mark-ups cover huge marketing budgets (someone has to pay for giant billboards and ads in fashion magazines) as well as the costs of running stores, headquarters, shipping, and other overhead.
The profit margins on premium jeans can be substantial. Mr. Geliebter says his gross profit margin for private-label jeans, which he makes for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Sears Holdings Corp. and other retailers, are less than 20%, whereas the margins for his own premium lines are 40%-to-50%.
It seemed a few years ago that the high end of the denim business was doomed, with the financial crisis killing many consumers’ appetites for expensive jeans. Premium-denim makers cut back on styling and details, and cut prices in many cases to under $200. Manufacturers hit a price floor at around $150, mainly because premium denim is manufactured primarily in the U.S., which can’t compete China and other nations with low labor costs.
Beyond the rise, or waistband height, and leg silhouette—bootleg, skinny, or cigarette—the details that make jeans brands stand out are often on the pockets. J Brand’s pockets are unadorned, while True Religion is known for its highly stylized pockets with swirly embroidery.
Jeans brands also try to stand out from season to season by using patented materials, such as rivets and stitching, and by using special washes and distressing methods. These might involve dying, pressing, and even using sandpaper and drills on the raw jeans. These methods can be particularly expensive when done in the U.S., where factories must meet more stringent environmental and labor standards than in many low-cost nations.
Most premium jeans’ cotton denim fabric comes from the primary maker of high-end denim fabric used in the U.S. and Europe: Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Denim, a unit of the International Textile Group. There, in a plant known as White Oak, shuttle looms dating from the 1950s weave the denim fabric that winds up in many premium denim brands, including J Brand. The looms are older, narrower, and slower than highly efficient modern looms, but they weave fabric with slight irregularities known as slubs, which impart a texture and character that modern looms lack.
Delores Sides, a spokeswoman for Cone Denim, says most of the weavers employed there have at least 20 years of experience, and one woman has being working at the mill for 55 years. They are employed full time and are paid benefits such as health care, she says.
The Cone fabrics are shipped by truck or train to Los Angeles, where denim brands cut and sew them to their designs. Each part and bit of labor may ultimately be marked up five times or more before the pants reach retail stores. So the $23.30 spent for a Los Angeles-based seamstress to sew a pair of Super Ts will cost the consumer more than $100 at full price. Other notable costs include roughly $10 worth of fabric (1.8 yards a pair, on average), 44 cents for pocket linings, 37 cents for a zipper, and $2 for the embroidery on a back pocket. Washes for coloring and fading may be done in Los Angeles or, sometimes, at mills in Mexico.
To be produced domestically, jeans have to be priced at “$200-plus,” says Shelda Hartwell-Hale, a vice president at Directives West, an L.A.-based division of fashion consulting firm Doneger Group.
Jeans makers say that manufacturing in the U.S., in addition to appealing to consumers, allows them to move quickly. When Jeff Rudes, founder and chief executive of J Brand, saw designer Jil Sander’s electric colors in New York’s Jeffrey boutique earlier this year, he asked his designers to come up with a hot pink and an emerald green color for jeans. Five days later, the first, small run of jeans were shipping into Barneys New York. Mr. Rudes says it typically takes his company six to eight weeks to make a pair of jeans in the U.S., compared with three to six months in China.
True Religion is one of the industry’s giants, making 4 million units of clothing a year. He estimates that his $300 jeans could sell for $40 if he manufactured in China.
Still, Mr. Lubell has caved when it comes to jackets, the cutting and styling of which is more complex than pants. He makes them in Mexico, where costs are higher than in Asia, but less than in the U.S. The jackets retail for about $375. “If I made them here,” he says, “they would be about $600.”
.Allow me to first state this. This… its not a kids movie. Okay? Dont go in thinking the camera is going to turn away at the last second when something brutal is about to happen. This is one of THE most viscerally enjoyable gore-fests to come out in a very long time. This is, by definition, an actual Grindhouse movie. None that any other movie in recent memory can actually claim to be. Youve seen Death Proof? Machete? Planet Terror? Compared to this those are all kids movies. The movie doesnt contain a very deep meaning, it doesnt contain a very diverse narrative. The whole plot is in the title, and god bless Eisener for that. Rutger Hauer (of Blade Runner fame) delivers a magnificent performance as the hobo… who has the shotgun. Believe me when I say they dont make movies as enjoyable, as violent, or as crazy very often. Okay, there was a story. Hauer is new in a town which has no law, no justice, yada yada. He doles out vigilante justice in classic action movie fashion. As hes dealing death blows to crime within the city, the leader of the gang delivers his own justice. All leading up to a final showdown. Take my advice. SEE THIS MOVIE. It doesnt matter the cost on whatever OnDemand service youre using. Youre gonna love it if you enjoy good ol fashioned action movies that are light on plot, and heavy on VIOLENCE!!!
22 out of 22 members found this review helpful
And I shall never lay my eyes upon a crazier movie than this. So a drifting hobo (Rutger Hauer) comes to what is essentially Crime Town, USA. He tries to keep to himself, but the local crime lords keep messing with him until he reaches his breaking point, to which he reacts by buying a shotgun from the pawnshop, and the rest is exploitation in its absolute purest form. You ought to know right off the bat if this is for you or not the moment you’re finished reading the fourth word of the title; you know exactly what you’re in for. It is insanity layered on top of insanity on top of insanity. There’s s–t that doesn’t get explained, there’s s–t that doesn’t makes sense, and that is always ALWAYS for the best, at least in this case, which makes the outrageous inexplicable as if it were a brilliant vision. This is how you make a modern exploitation film; you don’t pump millions upon millions of dollars into a plot, story and character development, you use your entire budget, as small as it may be, and give the audience the craziest s–t that your wildest acid trip could possibly conceive. Don’t even waste your budget on getting big name actors, just get one capable, under-appreciated actor and let him carry the film, and boy, does Rutger Hauer do just that. He’s brilliant in the role and dominates the movie. I was, admittedly, a little drunk when I watched this, but that the way to do it here: with a couple of cold ones and a couple of friends.
9 out of 9 members found this review helpful
It is always a pleasure to see movies like this still being made. You only need to look at the poster and you can expect some of the things you are to see. But thats not even the beginning. This film does not hold back at all. It doesnt care if it offends you and it enjoys itself throughout the entire run-time. While watching this, I would compare it to The Toxic Avenger, which is one of my all-time favorite B-movies, with its content, violence, characters, and humor. Rutger Hauer was perfectly cast. I couldnt think of many actors who would be as good at the part of the Hobo as he was. Incredible one-liners, over-the-top and explicit violence and gore, and an extremely dark sense of humor, this is one movie not to miss.
3 out of 3 members found this review helpful
Meh need another drink….
Down at my abode in Spring Lake. Made a foolish mistake of running over a curb going out for some Mexican and blew out my tire sidewall. Normally would be no issue, but my 2008 hybrid car has no spare or jack or even a lug wrench, just fix a flat and an air pump that runs off of the car battery which won’t work on a sidewall flat. I limped home deflated with the burritos intact and will call for a tow in the morning. I am now thinking that it was bad engineering and a bad purchase decision of mine allowing them to make room for the hybrid battery by ditching the spare. It could cost me not just time but also piece of mind or perhaps even more. I broke down once on the NJ Turnpike on my way back from great weekend at the Shore with no spare tire and spent about 3 hours in the hot August sun waiting for a tow. With me was perhaps one of the hottest women I ever dated. Needless to say we did not speak much after that day and I still regret not getting the spare replaced or having a bottle of water to quench our (her) thirst.
Time for a trade in. Anyone have a driving recommendation? Yes I need a hatchback so no 2 seater please, been there and done it with a Porche and a 300zx and will eventually inherit a Corvette.
Disgusting. Rather than foreclose, instead reward the irresponsible. Foreclose — sell the house to someone who can afford to live there.
“We are continuing work with the issuers of the mortgage, the bank or service company to convince them to work with homeowners who are paying to see if they can modify the loan and possibly lower principal so that they are not burdened by these huge debts,” President Obama said.
I shot the sheriff, but i did not shoot the deputy…..
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