From the Star Ledger:
New Jersey’s captive workforce: Opinion
Every month, dozens of jittery public workers gather before a five-member tribunal in Trenton, to be grilled on their personal lives: Divorces. Child custody issues. Family illnesses. Financial woes.
Why? To beg permission to move out of New Jersey. A state law that quietly went into effect two years ago requires all public employees to live in this state.
To get a waiver, you’ve got to ask for an exception — a process not unlike standing before the mean judge on “American Idol.”
…
Which leads you to wonder: Why was it that we passed this law in the first place?The idea behind it was simple: New Jersey jobs should go to New Jersey residents. And the taxpayer dollars that pay their salaries should stay in our state.
This law, passed in 2011, was the brainchild of Sen. Donald Norcross (D-Camden), who called it the “New Jersey First Act” — because it was all about putting “our own residents first,” he said.
Other states have similar residency rules for police officers or firefighters, so they can respond quickly to an emergency. But New Jersey was the first in the nation to enact such a broad requirement for all public employees — from state or municipal government to teachers at our public schools.
…
To the people at these hearings, though, it just sounds like a life sentence.Hensley says she’s paid taxes here all her life, unlike the Pennsylvania residents who got grandfathered in. How could she have anticipated this law, or her husband’s death, when she first took her job more than a decade ago?
“I feel like I’m a prisoner of New Jersey and I never did anything wrong except being a taxpaying citizen,” she said. “Now I’m just stuck here until I retire or die, I guess.”
Siegert, who teaches language arts, took on extra work as a custodian and coach at his Franklin Borough elementary school to try to make ends meet. But his wife’s medical condition leaves them no choice but to seek help across the border, he says.
“It’s hard enough to swallow your pride to move in with family,” he told the panel. “But if I can’t do that — what are my other options?”
…
That’s what New York state Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski and 25 of his colleagues asked Christie in June. The lawmakers sent him a letter expressing their strong opposition to New Jersey’s residency law, but so far they haven’t gotten an answer.Along with legislators in Pennsylvania, they argue this policy hurts the regional economy and reduces the talent pool for public jobs — while at the same time leaving them little choice but to propose identical laws to protect their own constituents, whose job prospects have shrunk.
“I don’t think it’s the right policy, but if a neighboring state like New Jersey is going to do that and limit the occupations open to New York residents, then New York is going to have to follow suit,” Zebrowski said. “I think it’s going to create a race to the bottom.”
“I feel like I’m a prisoner of New Jersey and I never did anything wrong except being a taxpaying citizen,” she said. “Now I’m just stuck here until I retire or die, I guess.”
Why not try to find a new job? Is staying so bad? Employment for life sure sounds like an enormous benefit in today’s economy.
Perhaps we should do the same with pension dollars or retirement benefits? Perhaps a downward cost of living adjustment for those who move to lower cost areas?
Friskies
Doh 3rd
How about a two tier medical system. $20 co pay for an out of state practitioner. Same with the pension. Full benefits if you maintain NJ primary residence. 10% reduction if your check goes to FL.
How about we reduce the workforce to the 1990 levels and cut
Salaries?
Going back to the “student debt is bad” argument, NY Fed posted some mapped data which is pretty interesting:
http://www.newyorkfed.org/householdcredit/index.html
Average student debt in NJ is $25,680. Approximately 16.9% of the state population has a student loan outstanding.
Are these numbers really so bad? I know college kids with a car loan larger than $25k. Basically, outstanding balance is the same price as a Honda Civic Hybrid.
So what is the big deal here? Is it that the aggregate numbers are big and scary?
One for Chi to get his panties in a bunch over.
Tar sands exploitation would mean game over for climate, warns leading scientist
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/may/19/tar-sands-exploitation-climate-scientist
Not to mention the fact that accruing additional student debt might very well have been the prudent thing to do in this environment.
If I graduated as an undergrad in the last 5 years, and my job prospects were low, I’d absolutely enroll in a graduate program and spend the time getting a Masters instead of sitting around on the couch playing video games or working at a dead-end part time job.
Is this really so irrational?
I think we are getting to a tipping point were the G8/G20 may actually step up and tackle tax avoidance.
Multinational CEOs tell David Cameron to rein in tax avoidance rhetoric Burberry, Tesco, Vodafone and BAE Systems join CBI chief in lobbying PM to stop moralising on tax ahead of G8 talks
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/may/20/david-cameron-tax-avoidance-multinationals
Apple Taxes: Company Avoids Paying Bllions By Using Offshore Companies, U.S. Senate Finds
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/05/20/apple-uses-companies-outs_n_3309151.html
#8 grim
A few thoughts on this. The first is what if you already have a masters. In a lot of cases that is the minimum entry level. Do you go back and get a second career.
I suspect the number does not cover tuition that would have been picked up by the parents.
I recall a period where people refinanced their loans to a low rate (1-2%) and will pay the minimums as long as possible.
From MarketWatch:
Dear Class of ’13: You’ve been scammed
Class of 2013,
No one else is going to tell you this, so I might as well.
You sit here today, $30,000 or $40,000 in debt, as the latest victims of what may well be the biggest conspiracy in U.S. history. It is a conspiracy so big and powerful that Dan Brown won’t even touch it. It’s a conspiracy so insidious that you will rarely hear its name.
Move over, Illuminati. Stand down, Wall Street. Area 51? Pah. It’s nothing.
The biggest conspiracy of all? The College-Industrial Complex.
Consider this: You have just paid about three times as much for your degree as did someone graduating 30 years ago. That’s in constant dollars — in other words, after accounting for inflation. There is no evidence that you have received a degree three times as good. Some would wonder if you have received a degree even one times as good.
According to the College Board, in 1983 a typical private American university managed to provide a bachelor’s-degree-level education to young people just like you for $11,000 a year in tuition and fees. That’s in 2012 dollars.
Instead, those of you at private colleges paid this year an average of $29,000.
And back then a public college charged in-state students just $2,200 a year in tuition and fees — in today’s dollars. You could get a full four-year degree for $8,800. Today that will get you one year’s tuition, or $8,700.
Notice, please, we are not even counting the cost of all the “extras,” like room and board. This is just the cost of the teaching.
Burn the mf’er down and start over.
7 – Fabius
This article is from the left leaning BBC and is full of dire future warming predictions but the fact is, the earth has not warmed at all in the last 10 years….contradicting previous predictions.
Climate slowdown means extreme rates of warming ‘not as likely’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22567023
Scientists say the recent downturn in the rate of global warming will lead to lower temperature rises in the short-term.
Since 1998, there has been an unexplained “standstill” in the heating of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Fab, I’m not saying pumping endless amounts of CO2 into the air is a good idea but, there are forces greater than us at work.
Forget global warming – it’s Cycle 25 we need to worry about (and if NASA scientists are right the Thames will be freezing over again)Met Office releases new figures which show no warming in 15 years
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093264/Forget-global-warming–Cycle-25-need-worry-NASA-scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html
The supposed ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years.
The figures suggest that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on the Thames in the 17th Century.
Based on readings from more than 30,000 measuring stations, the data was issued last week without fanfare by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit. It confirms that the rising trend in world temperatures ended in 1997.
Ice Age- I remember, clearly, class room discussion about the new ice age in 1975
http://denisdutton.com/cooling_world.htm
…..To scientists, these seemingly disparate incidents represent the advance signs of fundamental changes in the world’s weather. The central fact is that after three quarters of a century of extraordinarily mild conditions, the earth’s climate seems to be cooling down. Meteorologists disagree about the cause and extent of the cooling trend, as well as over its specific impact on local weather conditions. But they are almost unanimous in the view that the trend will reduce agricultural productivity for the rest of the century. If the climatic change is as profound as some of the pessimists fear, the resulting famines could be catastrophic. “A major climatic change would force economic and social adjustments on a worldwide scale,” warns a recent report by the National Academy of Sciences, “because the global patterns of food production and population that have evolved are implicitly dependent on the climate of the present century.”
Last post on this Grim, I promise (Fab started it)
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/719139main_2012_GISTEMP_summary.pdf
Climate Change Expectations. It is relevant to comment on expectations about near-term climate change, especially because it seems likely that solar irradiance observations are in the process of confirming that solar irradiance has weakened modestly over the latest solar cycle. If solar irradiance were the dominant drive of climate change that most global warming contrarians believe, then a global cooling trend might be expected.
On the contrary, however, the continuing planetary energy imbalance and the rapid increase of CO2 emissions from fossil fuel use assure that global warming will continue on decadal time scales. Moreover, our interpretation of the larger role of unforced variability in temperature change of the past decade, suggests that global temperature will rise significantly in the next few years as the tropics moves inevitably into the next El Nino phase.
The one major wild card in projections of future climate change is the unmeasured climate forcing due to aerosol changes and their effects on clouds. Anecdotal information indicates that particulate air pollution has increased in regions with increasing coal burning, but assessment of the climate forcing requires global measurement of detailed physical properties of the aerosols. The one satellite mission that was capable of making measurements with the required detail and accuracy was lost via a launch failure, and as yet there are no plans for a replacement mission with the needed capabilities.
It’s an interesting point, it’s clearly a higher carbon fuel source than typical, extraction is not easy.
But what about coal? What about China?
Don’t those two factors make any increased carbon release related to usage of the tar sands oil largely irrelevant?
Isn’t it just a matter of time before we’ll need to extract the tar sands oil? I’m not going to put on the tinfoil hat here, but the easy oil is going away.
IMHO – I feel that LED lighting is possibly the single most underestimated technology that can make major impacts on fossil fuel consumption globally.
I know you guys love 3d printing and additive manufacturing, but cheap LED lighting is a game changer.
#17….bingo! Also climate change is what it is..we need to deal with it, (unless someone is running to China and telling them to shut down their coal plants!!)
USDOE estimates that by 2027, LED lighting will be saving the US approximately $30 billion annually, and will reduce the need for 44 large power plants. I’ve read some other estimates of close to 15% reduction in global energy usage (which is approximately 334 million barrels of oil in the US annually).
Just for context, the energy savings associated to transitioning to LED lightbulbs is estimated to far outweigh the energy savings of hybrid cars over the next 15 years. This difference is likely to be underestimated since the likelihood of disruptive change in the LED industry is very high (due to the fact that the technology is still in its infancy). What I mean by this is that there is a very high likelihood of the quality of LED lighting to improve dramatically, and for the costs to also fall dramatically. These price of these bulbs will easily fall by 50% or more. The cost of a hybrid car is likely to get more expensive.
They should really force them to stay in NJ when retired. No pension for out of state retired NJ employees.
Near me the highly paid Cops/teachers who leave with six figure pensions all leave NY State for Florida to avoid the property taxes and state income taxes which are high ironically because of cops and teachers pensions.
Should public workers be forced to live here?
Yes. Also extend it so that you cannot collect a pension outside the state. Also other forms of payments like NJ Disability and Unemployment insurance should not be allowed to be collected outside the state.
during this refi process I imagined upgrading. just to see what it would be like. $1mn, 1 hr from new jack city, anywhere except bergen county. chatam, summit, westfield, madison, millburn, bernards, basking ridge. don’t get me wrong, i ain’t a crazy eddy with wine taste on a beer budget. if anything, im more of a beer guy with a wine budget. well, it is hard to find anything at that entry price. starter homes in summit ask $1.2, $1.3mn, POS in madison with no bacyard, etc, etc, etc.
A million dollar home ain’t what used to be. I’d say that 1.75 would get you a nice property.
so, instead of upgrading I may buy a pied-a-terre on the UWS. will see.
I had a bunch of those LED flashlights during Hurricane Sandy. One was a big maglite with 3 D batteries. They were old batteries in there when the storm hit. Those old crappy batteries are still in it and the thing still shines bright. I love that flashlight, it has two uses, one to light the way and the other to clobber criminals.
19.grim says:
May 21, 2013 at 8:19 am
USDOE estimates that by 2027, LED lighting will be saving the US approximately $30 billion annually, and will reduce the need for 44 large power plants. I’ve read some other estimates of close to 15% reduction in global energy usage (which is approximately 334 million barrels of oil in the US annually).
Grim [6];
The problem I’m thinking of are the dropouts — kids who went to college instead of entering the workforce or learning a trade simply because the state of the job market permits employers to require bachelors’ degrees for the mail room (no joke, just got a personnel memo last month – new hire for file clerk: Hofstra BA, with honors). The dropouts had no business going to college but were shuffled there anyway have non-dischargeable debt but nothing to show for it. They were financed freely without regard to cost or prospects of repayment because the gov’t is standing behind their loans.
They don’t even have to drop out. The over-credentialed basketweaving BA in the mail room stands in the much same position — overbearing debt load compared to their capacity for repayment.
I see the problem the same as the housing bubble – people who have no business buying the product or taking the loan to do so are being freely financed because of misguided motives.
@drgrist: Democrats should just deny that the IRS exists. Might show Republicans what it’s like dealing with them on climate.
Global Cooling might prove to be the real problem. Ban penguins…
Same reason to get more leverage in Real Estate I bought a beach condo, I also looked at Hompath properties in city last year.
I need to pay 200K extra to get my identical house in a slightly better neighborhood, then I need to pay and extra 500K on top of that to get a bigger and nice house in that better neighborhood, then I need to pay and extra 12K a year in property taxes.
So now I am at 700K out of muni bonds or getting a mortgage either way around 4%. That is $2,800 a month plus the extra 1k a month property tax so a total of $3,800 a month, so house has to rise $3,800 a month till day I die just to break even.
Next Stock Market/RE crash my wife wants me to go on timeshare.com or ebay and pick up a deeply discounted time share. Last March 2009 I saw some on there for like 2k. Best was gurneys inn on LI I saw a guy who wanted $200 bucks. also want to snag a small pied a tier condo in NYC cheap.
Large Surburban homes make little sense anymore. I have neighbors who live in homes they bought in 1990s who are clearing 500K a year. They have new BMWs, go on cruises, take fancy vacations, go to amazing restaurants, broadway shows. The few who are in this boat all say same thing. I hate my little POS crap house. But I would hate even more having a large expensive anchor of a trade up home which means I have to cut back on every fun activity.
It does cramp your style. I know this from the few neighbors still hanging on who paid 550K for homes in 2006 that their neighbors bought in 1997 for 250K. The extra 300K in mortgage each month kills them. And for what they have same house.
One was bragging he stopped paying mortgage after flood for six month, he was at 5% and forced bank to lower his rate to 4% with no impact to credit score, he does not have to pay back six months of missed mortgage payments but bank tacked it on to back end of mortgage. Guy looked happy, but all I thought he bought Spring 2005 and now he is paying a mortgage till Spring 2036!!!!!
anon (the good one) says:
May 21, 2013 at 8:35 am
during this refi process I imagined upgrading. just to see what it would be like. $1mn, 1 hr from new jack city, anywhere except bergen county. chatam, summit, westfield, madison, millburn, bernards, basking ridge. don’t get me wrong, i ain’t a crazy eddy with wine taste on a beer budget. if anything, im more of a beer guy with a wine budget. well, it is hard to find anything at that entry price. starter homes in summit ask $1.2, $1.3mn, POS in madison with no bacyard, etc, etc, etc.
A million dollar home ain’t what used to be. I’d say that 1.75 would get you a nice property.
so, instead of upgrading I may buy a pied-a-terre on the UWS. will see.
Brian: thank you for the Fab/Elite 140 rebuttal; I was going to cite roughly the same sources……I also love the data about the impact of fracking and use of gas over coal in cleaning the air across the Northeast by 20% of particulate matter over the last few years. Add the abject money wasting on demented alternative energy pandering, and then the environmental impact of creating these toxic batteries and solar panels etc……it is really about relieving people’s guilt and creating a myth that they can be enpowered to make a difference. Tell those Swarthmore undergrads to give up all their energy wasting and toxic waste producing electronics for the good of the earth…….if you saw the physique of most of those kids, they really should be protesting McDonald’s, Kraft, Coca-Cola for poisoning their bodies……of course that is self-inflicted…….
The same could be asked of private sector workers and business owners who benefit from government subsidies and infrastructure. Of course, its more convenient for the ignorant to beat up on and blame groups in the poor and middle classes that they’re not part of rather than looking at the government handouts their own companies get in free services and tax dollars.
$200 million NJ tax dollars to move Prudential a couple of blocks in Newark? Sure, just distract the teatards by blaming teachers for our high taxes. NJ shelled out $2 billion in outright tax subsidies to corporations in the past two years, where is the requirement that the employees of those companies live in New Jersey?
“where is the requirement that the employees of those companies live in New Jersey?”
They already do. They actually work!
#30
You lose the argument immediately when you don’t understand the difference between or intentionally conflate the meanings of tax credits and expenditures. Kind of like a government worker complaining about high taxes. Huh?
Difference is free medical for life and a pension for life that school teachers and cops get. Used to be you got more than you put in when you had kids in district which was made up as you paid taxes after kids were gone.
My neighbor the cop sold his house a few months before retirement, moved his family down south, crashed at his brothers house so his last day at work he could leave LI.
Quote why should I pay high taxes that are only going to overpaid cops and teaches, I can collect my huge pension down south with super low taxes. So he sold to a new family who will run a new set of kids through system, guess what new guy is a civil servant too. Only thing I can do is keep grieving my taxes to keep them somewhat reasonable.
Ottoman says:
May 21, 2013 at 9:35 am
The same could be asked of private sector workers and business owners who benefit from government subsidies and infrastructure. Of course, its more convenient for the ignorant to beat up on and blame groups in the poor and middle classes that they’re not part of rather than looking at the government handouts their own companies get in free services and tax dollars.
$200 million NJ tax dollars to move Prudential a couple of blocks in Newark? Sure, just distract the teatards by blaming teachers for our high taxes. NJ shelled out $2 billion in outright tax subsidies to corporations in the past two years, where is the requirement that the employees of those companies live in New Jersey?
Really, the issue is not so much where the public sector worker lives. It really is unfair to restrict where someone chooses to live and there really is little benefit to them living in NJ. The problem that needs solving is the outsized benefits. Ignoring salaries, the benefits needs to be lowered to match what is commonplace in the private sector for similar positions.
When I interview new job candidates, they ask how my company’s benefits are. We are on par with the average large company. Sometimes, a little better. Though when compared with the worst benefit plans of the public sector, we are far, far below that. Why do(or did in some cases) public sector workers pay almost nothing for their healthcare. Why do they not have copays. Why is the healthcare of their spouses covered by the state and for life? And why is a pension still commonplace? Especially one which guarantees to pay out at an abnormally high rate when so little is contributed by the employee. Answer these questions and maybe some public sector workers will gain the support of their private sector counterparts.
Public sector health benefits should absolutely include spousal carve-out provisions.
If your spouse is employed and is eligible for healthcare through their employer, they should not be covered by public plans.
If you are in the private sector and don’t know what spousal carve-out is, just wait, you’ll find out.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-your-boss-is-dumping-your-wife-2013-02-22
[26] Anon
Is it the liberal’s position that prior to the Industrial Age, there was no climate change?
re: [30];
teatards
This from the enlightened scholar of our day.
The law should state that you have to be a NJ resident if you want to collect a pension. However, if you want a 401K instead, you can be as free as a bird….
34.Libtard in Union says:
May 21, 2013 at 10:09 am
Really, the issue is not so much where the public sector worker lives. It really is unfair to restrict where someone chooses to live and there really is little benefit to them living in NJ. The problem that needs solving is the outsized benefits. Ignoring salaries, the benefits needs to be lowered to match what is commonplace in the private sector for similar positions.
When I interview new job candidates, they ask how my company’s benefits are. We are on par with the average large company. Sometimes, a little better. Though when compared with the worst benefit plans of the public sector, we are far, far below that. Why do(or did in some cases) public sector workers pay almost nothing for their healthcare. Why do they not have copays. Why is the healthcare of their spouses covered by the state and for life? And why is a pension still commonplace? Especially one which guarantees to pay out at an abnormally high rate when so little is contributed by the employee. Answer these questions and maybe some public sector workers will gain the support of their private sector counterparts.
Brian…wrong.
End the f’in pension already. My company dumped theirs 20 years ago.
It appears that anyone who disagrees with Ottoman is part of the Tea Party. Also, it seems Ottoman can’t fathom that some people think that the fraud in our crony capitalist system as well as at the lower levels of govt should both be removed.
38.Anon E. Moose says:
May 21, 2013 at 10:48 am
re: [30];
teatards
This from the enlightened scholar of our day.
Lib [34];
Why are public benefits so rich?
I think its a historical artifact. The general understanding used to be that gov’t paid less in raw dollars – it was a market-tested trade-off in view of the job security that was largely immune to market forces — the teacher or the traffic court clerk never had to worry about a bad season at the shore or a failed crop harvest.
Within that constraint, the unions negotiated for platinum benefits because they didn’t show up in reported salary figures, so were acceptable to politicians. After the benefits baseline was established, the unions started to squeeze the gap between public and private sector pay. Enter over-credentialing; cumulative part-time of pay and benefits from multiple jurisdictions — all designed to keep the headline salary number palatable for public consumption regardless of the true package cost.
I drove past a Volvo sporting a whole load of liberal bumper stickers this morning on my way in to work. I peaked at the driver who was talking on her phone (not hands free). She was wearing the kind of glasses that Sarah Palin made so popular. I was surprised she wasn’t driving a Prius or Subaru.
“Within that constraint, the unions negotiated for platinum benefits because they didn’t show up in reported salary figures, so were acceptable to politicians.”
Funny, these same politicians are going to be the ones refusing to pay their guaranteed benefits. It’s actually too big to pay and IMO too big to bail out. Plus there’s no political will (nor benefit) to do so. Wall Street has something the government wants. What does the teacher, fireman, sewer guy have. A union. Good luck with that!
Got popcorn?
I consider myself a centrist. I really just want to know what is the Gods honest truth on the subject. Politicians from both sides exploit fears about the subject in order to gain votes. I am offended when people cite political talking points that highlight fears about environmental disasters or fears about over-regulation. The NASA report seems to be unbiased and seems to want to find out which force is dominant, man made CO2 emissions and Particulate emsissions or other natural forces like Solar irradiance. I also noticed they use the term “climate forcing”, which seems to imply that they just want to understand what the truth is.
Also I love my cheesburgers, instant macaroni and cheese and hot dogs so leave them out of this :)
29.chicagofinance says:
May 21, 2013 at 9:23 am
Brian: thank you for the Fab/Elite 140 rebuttal; I was going to cite roughly the same sources……I also love the data about the impact of fracking and use of gas over coal in cleaning the air across the Northeast by 20% of particulate matter over the last few years. Add the abject money wasting on demented alternative energy pandering, and then the environmental impact of creating these toxic batteries and solar panels etc……it is really about relieving people’s guilt and creating a myth that they can be enpowered to make a difference. Tell those Swarthmore undergrads to give up all their energy wasting and toxic waste producing electronics for the good of the earth…….if you saw the physique of most of those kids, they really should be protesting McDonald’s, Kraft, Coca-Cola for poisoning their bodies……of course that is self-inflicted…….
[10] grim – you stopped your snippet 1 paragraph short of the meat:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dear-class-of-13-youve-been-scammed-2013-05-17
It is, as a result, no surprise that total student loans are now approaching $1 trillion. They have easily overtaken credit-card debts and car loans. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, total student loans have basically tripled since 2004. Fed researcher Lee Donghoon says that in the last eight years the number of borrowers has gone up by about 70%, and the average amount owed has also gone up about 70%.
Here is the thing, the science is very politicized on both sides. While there is data that support human CO2 based climate change, it is still very much a theory and there is little conclusive proof. The academic community is quick to label any dissenting person as a “Climate Change Denier”, which is short sighted. I am smart enough to know that we do not have models complete enough or accurate enough over the long term to model any of this and the systems we are dealing with have many inputs that are outside of our control and may have a bigger impact than suspected. Should we try and reduce environmentally unfriendly practices, should we reduce waste, absolutely, should we politicize this right away, probably not. Lets get the science right first, lets look into cooling techniques, white roofs, roads, etc, lets study more data before eliminating carbon emissions.
[26] anon
“Democrats should just deny that the IRS exists.”
Given how few of the traditional democratic constituency members pay net taxes, it might as well not exist.
And fair is fair. If the dems get to deny the IRS, can the Republicans ignore it too?
[36] grim,
The article implies it was a reaction to Obamacare. Obamacare will accelerate the trend but in fairness it existed prior to Obamacare. I had clients that were doing the same thing.
Interestingly, the employers quickest to adopt it are governments in democratic jurisdictions. Oh, the irony!
jcer,
I agree with your explanation exactly as written. To put it succinctly, until science can prove that global warming/climate change is a man-made phenomenon, the politicians can not be trusted. I agree, reducing pollution of all types is most likely beneficial.
I like to ask the hipsters, what caused the Ice Age? I also frequently ask them why the worst winter on record by far (for the world, not just the U.S.) was during 1881?
The climate change scientists are working with such a limited data set and even the data they do have is mostly theoretical making it very easy to manipulate, say to funnel money to the solar company on which they are a member of their board.
[34] libtard,
The 800 lb elephant in the room, that no one seems to want to name, is the PA-NJ tax compact. The states agreed that you are taxed where you live, not where you work. PA’s marginal rates are lower, especially at the high end, and if you commute through Trenton, you see a back up at the bridge crossings every day. Seems like most of official Trenton lives in PA.
Even my judge, a liberal democrat, is toying with the idea of decamping to PA so that her pension would be untaxed (in fact, as a senior judge, she can work and her salary is treated as pension).
[16] China coal plants – Water scarcity and pollution will throttle their economy back so much that they will address the problem out of economic necessity:
http://gigaom.com/2013/03/24/chinas-coal-plants-are-squeezing-its-water-supply/
and
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/11/will-china-ever-get-its-pollution-problem-under-control/
American Express 1-1-1993 killed Pension. They announced in Summer 1993 that was it. They were nice enough to say any current employees hired by 12-31-1992 would still accrue pension benefits and retirees would still get benefits.
They said at rate things were going in 5-10 years they would have to kill it completely. Turns out they got lucky 1993-1999 were a bull market which helped pension funding by the time the market collaspe came in 2008 the wave of layoffs Amex had after 9/11 and the retirees die off at a good rate nearly all the retirees as of 1991 are dead. Which is good for the retirement plan.
Amex does not have to worry about pension obligation Trouble is schools and cops and GM did not even learn their lessons after meltdown in 2001. The unions are only interested in collecting fees from new non-existant members many not even born yet and will put the pensions at risk of current workers.
No one at Amex was mad pension stopped, everyone hire after 1-1-1993 knew they were getting one and everyone hired before still have theirs. By the time time the next market crisis happens in 5-10 years like clockwork, Amex will be sitting pretty. In 2023 most pension people will long be dead.
Speaking of the IRS and taxes I hear Tim Cook is before a senate panel regarding how much Apple pays (or doesn’t pay) in US Taxes……
He got some splainin’ to do….
“He got some splainin’ to do….”
Apple does the same thing everyone else does. The percentages are the same, only the numbers are much bigger. Apple will play the Mr. Softy card soon enough. They will threaten the committee to lay off or they’ll be forced to move overseas, where the majority of their sales are.
Bread and Circuses. Today, the circus is in town.
47 – Jcer
Some of the most powerful computers in the world are used to predict the weather. There are so many forces at work that control the weather, meteorologists have enough trouble telling us what the temperature is going to be this weekend. How much stock can you place in a scientist’s prediction of the temperature 5, 10, 50, or 100 years from now?
I am suprised anyone in a Union would buy Apple Products
Libtard in Union says:
May 21, 2013 at 12:07 pm
“He got some splainin’ to do….”
Apple does the same thing everyone else does. The percentages are the same, only the numbers are much bigger. Apple will play the Mr. Softy card soon enough. They will threaten the committee to lay off or they’ll be forced to move overseas, where the majority of their sales are.
Bread and Circuses. Today, the circus is in town.
Money, Time and energy wasted…..
http://www.njherald.com/story/22304716/lawsuit-halts-work-on-solar-projects
Lawsuit halts work on solar projects
Posted: May 21, 2013 12:29 AM EDT
Updated: May 21, 2013 8:08 AM EDT
21, 2013 8:08 AM EDT
The future of about half of Sussex County’s solar projects hangs in the balance because of a financial dispute between the project’s contractor and developer.
The future of about half of Sussex County’s solar projects hangs in the balance because of a financial dispute between the project’s contractor and developer.
MASULLI REYES
jmasulli@njherald.com
The future of about half of Sussex County’s solar projects hangs in the balance because of a financial dispute between the project’s contractor and developer.
The contractor, Power Partners Mastec, has filed liens against the money for the project, in effect freezing funds and halting about half of the 27 projects in Sussex County. Mastec and developer Sunlight General Capital, which are considered partners on the solar projects, are pointing fingers over who should be paying for cost overruns and why the projects are delayed.
The county, looking for cost savings and greener technology, ventured into solar power through an arrangement with the Morris County Improvement Authority. The Morris County authority facilitated an agreement where the contractor, Mastec, and the developer, Sunlight, construct and pay for solar panels on the sites of participating school districts, municipalities and county buildings.
In return, Sunlight and Mastec were able to get lower-interest bond rates and have a steady stream of income to pay the bonds since the sites will purchase the solar power at a fixed lower rate for at least 15 years.
So far, the solar projects — including seven ground mounts, 12 rooftop mounts and eight parking lot canopies — have been planned, but only half have been completed or nearly completed, despite a completion date that was originally set for Dec. 31, 2012, now pushed back to Sept. 15.
The projects that have not begun yet are being delayed by this dispute, Sussex County Administrator John Eskilson said. It remains to be seen if they can be completed by September, depending on the dispute.
“If things wrap up and the projects can be started, there is a chance they can still be completed in the time frame, and if not, there are any number of things that could happen,” Eskilson said.
Mastec filed mechanics liens and construction liens, or liens on a property for the benefit of the company that supplied labor and materials, on the project’s bond money. A Morris County judge must determine if the liens will be dismissed and the funds unfrozen.
Mastec is alleging that the liens were necessary since Sunlight is not paying for cost overruns. But Sunlight, which is supposed to pay for the bonds under the agreement, is claiming that the liens are not necessary and are causing significant delays to the projects.
The Morris County Improvement Authority and the Somerset County Improvement Authority, which is doing a similar solar project, jointly filed in state Superior Court in Morris County a suit asking a judge to terminate the liens since the ongoing financial dispute between the companies could lead to harm for the authorities and county taxpayers, the suit filed in March said.
“There is no dispute that all three solar projects have been beset by extensive delays,” the court document said. “While the authorities do not take any position on the reasons for the delays, other than to say that such delays are not attributable to (them), Sunlight asserts that Mastec is entirely responsible for the delays and consequent cost overruns.”
If the project remains at a standstill and Sunlight cannot pay, the counties, as guarantors, may have to step in to pay the bonds, according to the lawsuit.
The court documents said that Mastec filed mechanics liens on the project in the amount of $19.924 million for Somerset, $17.308 million for Morris and $12.542 million for Sussex, but at the time of the filing the balance of each project fund was $9.859 million, $17.456 million, and $16.394 million, respectively.
“As such, the lien amounts claimed by Mastec exceeds the entirety of the funds available in the Somerset County Project, constitutes more than 99 percent of the funds available for the Morris County project, and constitutes more than 75 percent of the funds available in the Sussex County project,” the court document said. “To this effect, the authorities claim that the filing of the lien notices has effectively halted progress on the projects because any requisition payments could expose plaintiffs, the bond trustees, and the construction managers to potential liability and suit unless and until the lien notices are first terminated or discharged.”
“The counties’ taxpayers will be forced to incur the burden of unanticipated tax increases as the entire outstanding principal amount of the project bonds, plus interest, becomes due and owing,” the court document stated.
The attorneys representing Mastec, Sunlight and the Morris County Improvement Authority did not return calls for comment on Monday.
Brian: I am a centrist too. What I find shocking is how much conservatives just come across as nasty, mean, and selfish, but ultimately agreeable. Left leaners are actually outrageous, inappropriate, and intellectually closed-minded……
Mastec is making money hand over fist in this era of austerity and alternative energy depression…..
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=MTZ+Interactive#symbol=mtz;range=1y;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=undefined;
The End Is Nigh (Who You Gonna Call? JJ Busters Edition):
Man sets up video camera to catch ghosts, films girlfriend and 16-year-old son having s-x
A man who set up a video camera to capture paranormal activity in his kitchen instead recorded evidence of his partner engaging in a s-xual relationship with his 16-year-old son, an Australian court has heard.
A 28-year-old woman — who cannot be named for legal reasons — pleaded guilty to five counts of having s-xual intercourse with a young person.
Crown Prosecutor Jackie Hartnett told the court in October last year the woman had gone to her stepson’s room to discuss his driving lessons.
Although the pair had previously had a strained relationship, tickling led to kissing and then to intercourse, the prosecutor said.
The following day, the woman’s de facto partner set up a video camera in a bid to capture evidence of paranormal activity in the house, but forgot to turn it off.
Two words JJ: Survivor Benefits
Brian [58];
The only bad news there is that one of those parties has to win the suit and walk away with the cash. Pigs fighting at the trough, as far as I can tell.
solar + public subsidy == Solyndra-esque slush fund
[57] JJ
To me, the most hilarious thing was all the Occupy campers, frittering away the days on their iPads, iPhones, iPods, Mac Airs. . . .
#63 I’ve never understood the concept of giving money or loan guarantees to private companies from the government. In my mind the better thing to do is to tax breaks/credits to companies doing alternative energy. Let them run as real companies, who get funding through conventional means, but tilt the equation in their favor through favorable taxation and regulation. Solyndra and fisker type failure indicate why the government should not be in the business of allocating capital for operating businesses. Help companies succeed, don’t hand them a blank check, in fact such a thing has no place in our government.
Much has been made of profitable corporations that pay no income tax, or even get a refund, meaning that their tax obligation for the year was a negative number.
This is intellectual hide-the-ball at its best. What the protestors fail to tell the great unwashed is that the corporations paid no tax THIS YEAR. So how did they do it? Deductions, credits get you part of the way, but the big gun is the Net Operating Loss Carryforward. Have a massive loss that wipes out your income tax in Year One but have losses left over? Carry them forward to wipe out future years. You can even go back and restate prior years to use up NOL.
The NOL is one of the things that the left would like to get rid of, but good luck with that. I doubt that would get more than 10 democratic votes in the house.
(58) I wonder if the plunging price of SRECs had something to do with it. BTW, governments, better yet taxpayers, never learn. Who here remembers when the state of NJ forced all counties to incinerate their trash, back in the eighties? Some counties like Hunterdon fought it. Some counties like Somerset proposed locations that had high water tables and stymied the states (legislators) intentions. Some counties got stuck with a $100 million dollar bill for obeying the orders of the prophets. Linden?
Funny, Somerset chose a spot about a half mile from Gov. Keans family estate in Bedminster. That stretch, along Burnt Mills Road was always underwater every time it rained. That ruled it out. Of course, it made good play in the news and placated the enviro-luney crowd who yearned for such idiocy in Blue Blood country.
Nom [64];
They literally held vigil for Jobs, who died while the Occupy rape camps were still open.
#67….well, yes the trash issue was going to end the world too…..each county had to build their own incinerator, when they built Essex’s they found out that the over estimated the volume of garbage significantly (2x,3x?). Why you asked? They used the amount of tonnage all the wast disposal companies billed for each year…how could that go astray?? Well, turns out the garbage vendors over estimated the tonnage they collected..billing for a much higher number. When the trucks rolled into the new incinerator, turned out there really was only half the garbage!! Nevertheless, towns had to pay based on the estimates as that is how the project was contracted….btw, back in the day in NYC the garbage trucks would pull up near a hydrant and fill their truck with water to “make weight” at the scales so they could call it a day early!
damm Harry’s is going to be packed tonight. 19 Up Tuesdays in a row!! Record Highs, folks in NJ shore can pay to raise their houses just off last few weeks stock gains it is 1999 all over again.
Guess we are two years from a massive crash, smoke them if you got them
“One explanation is that the media’s China boosterism was really Obama boosterism in disguise, following the rule that the best way to promote statism at home is to point to (alleged) successes of statism abroad.”
“Had China invested the money and time it wasted on renewables into developing its shale resources and seeking to substitute coal with gas it would be on its way to a greener future. That’s something the Sierra Club might consider in its fervid opposition to fracking, given that Chinese contaminants account for most of the pollution in California’s Lake Tahoe.”
“Finally, there is the little matter of corruption. Western liberals adore the China model because they think being “China for one day” can force the kind of sweeping environmental legislation that democratic, interest-group driven politics prevents.”
GLOBAL VIEW
China Eco-Boosterism, Revisited
Why did Western liberals think China was a model for environmentalism?
By BRET STEPHENS
Once upon a time the future belonged to China—and China was going to be green. Greener than the hills of olde England.
“China is pulling ahead on the environment,” was the title of a 2009 column in Forbes. “China is pushing ahead on renewable technologies with the fervor of a new space race,” Peter Ford reported in the Christian Science Monitor the same year. “Green Giant” was the title of a 7,000-word thumb-sucker by Evan Osnos in the New Yorker, which spelled out the scale of the Chinese government’s investment in green tech.
And there was this: “Being in China right now,” wrote Tom Friedman of the New York Times in January 2010, “I am more convinced than ever that when historians look back at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, they will say that the most important thing to happen was not the Great Recession, but China’s Green Leap Forward. The Beijing leadership understands that the E.T.—Energy Technology—revolution is both a necessity and an opportunity, and they do not intend to miss it.”
Well, all of us columnists have off days.
The heady optimism of four years ago has now given way to more sober views, thanks to the accretion of facts. Facts like 16,000 dead pigs floating down Shanghai’s Whampoa river in March. Or the worst air pollution on record in Beijing in January, with levels of tiny particulate matter reaching levels 25 times higher than the standard in the U.S. Or 80% of the East China Sea lost to fishing because of the pollution, according to Elizabeth Economy of the Council on Foreign Relations. Or 1.2 million premature deaths due to air pollution, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study.
Another nugget: “A recent social media campaign led by locals and international activists shed light on the growing phenomena of ‘cancer villages’—areas where water pollution is so bad that it has led to a sharp rise in diseases like stomach cancer,” wrote Thomas Thompson last month in Foreign Affairs. “The China Geological Survey now estimates that 90% of China’s cities depend on polluted groundwater supplies. Water that has been purified at treatment plants is often recontaminated en route to homes.”
Think about that one as you plan your family holiday in the Middle Kingdom. But think also about how the minters of conventional wisdom managed to get it so totally wrong about China’s environmental prospects, even as the reality of China’s environment burns into your lungs the moment you step outside the airport terminal.
One explanation is that the media’s China boosterism was really Obama boosterism in disguise, following the rule that the best way to promote statism at home is to point to (alleged) successes of statism abroad.
“The Obama administration is busy repairing the energy legacy of its predecessor,” wrote Mr. Osnos. “The stimulus package passed in February [2009] puts more than $38 billion into the Department of Energy for renewable energy projects. . . . Obama vowed to return America’s investment in research and development to a level not seen since the space race. ‘The nation that leads the world in the 21st century clean energy will be the nation that leads in the 21st century global economy,’ [Mr. Obama] said recently.”
It’s hard to say, in the midst of the shale revolution, whether it’s Mr. Obama or his media ventriloquists who sound sillier. But an even sillier mistake was to conflate “green energy” and other supposedly environment-friendly investments with the interests of the environment itself. “Green,” in other words, should not be confused with green.
So it is with China, which is installing wind turbines and producing solar panels at world-beating rates. But as the Manhattan Institute’s Robert Bryce keeps pointing out, renewables will never substitute for traditional fuels. Had China invested the money and time it wasted on renewables into developing its shale resources and seeking to substitute coal with gas it would be on its way to a greener future. That’s something the Sierra Club might consider in its fervid opposition to fracking, given that Chinese contaminants account for most of the pollution in California’s Lake Tahoe.
Finally, there is the little matter of corruption. Western liberals adore the China model because they think being “China for one day” can force the kind of sweeping environmental legislation that democratic, interest-group driven politics prevents.
But the biggest reason China is so filthy isn’t a lack of environmental legislation. It’s rampant corner-cutting by unaccountable politicians and managers at state-owned enterprises trying to meet production quotas. Statism always wrecks the environment.
That’s a lesson you might have thought Western liberals would have learned following the collapse of the Soviet Union and all the environmental rot it exposed. Instead, it didn’t even occur to them that enthusing about a “Green Leap Forward” didn’t exactly hark back to an auspicious historical precedent.
But then, the left never learns. Let’s just hope the current Leap Forward doesn’t prove as catastrophic as the last one.
What is the expected start date for recent college grads for their first full-time jobs?
I know of a kid who is walking on May 26th and just got a job with a 6/3 start date…..he said most of his friends have dates such as 6/5 or 6/10….and I’m thinking GTFOH? ….am I outdated here……what happened to the obligatory 4-6 week trip?
Also, the right amount of money to give a college grad as a gift?
Gotta Keep at least one Paddy on the board.
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-apple-reduces-what-it-pays-in-taxes-2013-5
72 – ChiFi
I graduated college on a Friday and started work the following Monday.
This was only a few years ago… back when I was optimistic and excited to leave my mark on the world. I now realize the tractor trailer that hit me (known as reality) was the only mark being left.
Chifi,
On the one hand, because China still has a lot of state controlled companies, the government can force a great deal of “green” investment and are doing so. On the other hand, China also subsidizes stuff like electricity and coal, and it’s poor, so they have a huge amount of inefficient and dirty power plants, factories, trucks, etc.
So they can invite Tom Friedman and newspaper writers to their feelgood government projects, just like in the US. But the reality behind the special government advanced areas, is crappy.
Grim can you unmod my #9
Climate change, it’s 11:30 and its still in the 80s in my house. The average temp for May in this area is 71. Discuss.
#60 Chi
“What I find shocking is how much conservatives just come across as nasty, mean, and selfish, but ultimately agreeable. Left leaners are actually outrageous, inappropriate, and intellectually closed-minded……”
So how do you define a centrist? Right ultimately agreeable, but left closed minded.
I learned more cooking a handful of lunches for the NYT food critic with a 4-star rating on the line than in all the kolledge classes I took combined.
Practical exercise in the dialectic: get your dish into the pass on time, hot, perfect and tasting just right, or get the sous chef’s fist up your arse.
#75 Juice
It comes down to deferred income, something Eddie Ray wont step up to. NOL as an argument is a joke. Apple is holding 102 Billion offshore wit no tax paid on it.
I have a simple resolution to this. Deferring income will come with a 5% penalty per year. After 7 years you can claim you paid the full tax and hold offshore without issue. If you repatriate within seven years you can credit tax paid. Issue solved. Overall I like the German answer to this issue. IP is taxed so if you sell a 5 series in the US, BMW AG get a kickback on IP and have to pay tax on it. Every Ipod/Ipad/Iphone would pay back to Cupertino and pay.
Apples threat to pull out of the US would be meaningless. where would they go?
Statism at it’s finest: The state gives you a job – it takes away your freedom. Soul – meet devil.
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