Blame it on the Soy Phytoestrogens and BPA? From MarketWatch:
Women leave nest, men stay with parents
As more adults decide to live with mom and dad, young men appear to be less willing to fly the nest than women, a new study finds. This, experts say, could be an early sign of larger economic problems.
Millions of young Americans are living at home, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. The number of “millennials” — adults aged 18 to 31– living at home rose to 36% last year. That represented the highest percentage in the last four decades, and a significant increase from 32% just five years earlier. In 2012, 56% of adults aged 18 to 24 lived in their parental home, Pew found, as did 16% of adults aged 25 to 31. However, millennial males (40%) were significantly more likely than millennial females (32%) to live with mom and dad.
There are some demographic reasons for the gender gap. On average, men tend to marry later than women, says Zhenchao Qian, chair of sociology at Ohio State University. “There are more single young men than women out there,” he says. “This gives unmarried men more time to live with their parents.” Men marry at around 29 years of age, approximately two years older than the average for women, and both sexes are marrying around two years later in life than two decades ago, according to a 2012 survey by Bowling Green State University’s National Center for Family and Marriage Research in Ohio.
Perhaps a more controversial theory: Sons may also have an easier time at home. Even in 2013, parents expect their sons to do less housework than their daughters, Qian says. “Parents give their sons more freedom than their daughters,” says Kit Yarrow, chair of the psychology department at Golden Gate University in San Francisco, Calif. and co-author of “Gen Y.” For Americans aged 18 to 24, “it’s easier for a young man to live at home and still feel independent than it would be for a young woman,” she says. An even less flattering reason: “Women tend to mature, emotionally, faster than men.
…
Young women tend to outperform men in post-secondary education. Some 71.3% of female high school graduates in the class of 2012 enrolled in college versus 61.3% of males, according to the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. The former also appear to be better students. “Females tend to finish college faster than males,” according to the Pew report. What’s more, men who had earned bachelor’s degrees in 2011 had an unemployment rate of 16.1% in October 2011, compared with 11.2% among females, a separate Bureau of Labor Statistics report found.
Found the balls, from the NYT, JJ – You may need to rethink your hiring plans:
Homeownership: Where Single Women Prevail
The number of single people buying homes has dipped in the last few years, but single women remain better represented among buyers than single men. Today they are buying at roughly twice the rate.
According to the National Association of Realtors, single women accounted for 16 percent of home buyers last year, lower than their long-term average of 20 percent. Yet they were still well ahead of single men, who accounted for only 9 percent.
Women began to outpace men in home-buying in the late 1990s, and although no one is really sure why men haven’t caught up, “it may be as simple as most guys don’t get serious about housing until they meet the right woman,” said Walter Molony, a spokesman for the association.
Demographic changes are helping to fuel the trend. More women than ever are the primary earners in their households, according to a recent Pew Research Center study.
In a record 40 percent of American households with children— nearly four times the level in 1960 — women are the breadwinners. And about two-thirds of these breadwinners are single.
Grim – Lil Gator and I saw a Fit EV while we were walking on Ridgewood Ave today. Stu said it must have been you showing houses in the Ridge? True? We’re still waiting for ours.
Yep, I was in the neighborhood. Surprised I didn’t notice you guys. By the way, there is basically nothing for sale right now in GR. Sold out, done, close up shop for the rest of the summer. You could have fists full of dollars and it wouldn’t matter.
Inventory numbers surprise me. I’m seeing more lawn signs than I have in this area for the last two years. One of note tried the “Happy Days are Here Again” pricing strategy and badly missed; required $75k in price cuts made over 2 mos.
Your eyes aren’t playing tricks, you are seeing more inventory coming to the market than this time last year, but it’s getting sold very quickly, along with some of the older properties, leading to a greater drawdown of inventory. Recently the inventory pace has picked up a little bit.
New Listings (Randolph)
July 2012 – 23
July 2013 – 43 (89% more new listings in fact)
However…
Contracts (Randolph)
July 2012 – 19
July 2013 – 31 (63% increase in contracts)
And…
Sales (Randolph)
July 2012 – 22
July 2013 – 31 (41% increase in sales)
Looking at the previous six months:
New Listings
Prev 6 2012 – 249
Prev 6 2013 – 261 (12 more new listings than this period last year)
Contracts
Prev 6 2012 – 143
Prev 6 2013 – 171 (But 28 more contracts than this period last year)
Current Actives
July 2012 – 163
July 2013 – 142 (21 fewer active properties than the same time last year)
The other thing to keep in mind is the 142 properties, on average, are priced significantly higher than last year:
List Price
July 2012 – $508,997 (avg) $459,000 (med)
July 2013 – $577,007 (avg) $517,000 (med)
And the new listings are priced much higher as well, so you might be right with your “Happy Days” theory.
List Price of New Listings
July 2012 – $472,795 (avg) $429,000 (med)
July 2013 – $584,217 (avg) $539,900 (med)
@MotherJones: “Conservatives are just hellbent on trying to keep poor people from getting decent health coverage” http://t.co/XmuNRmd4jY
Everyone will have to nut up when the shooting begins.
When you visit colleges and check out stats, most colleges now seem to have more females than males…usually 60/40 split.
I’ll make up a reason……boys, especially those in sports are told how special and good they are, trophies, awards, travel clubs, coaching, etc….then in college and work world there are far fewer folks reinforcing their “specialness”….but at home Mom will!!!
This will end well.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100929269
Steady flow of REO properties is now moving through the sheriff sales in NJ. This inventory will begin showing up in MLS within 3 or 4 months and it won’t stop for 5 years or more.
Whereabouts? I’m seeing lots of dumps in Essex Co (Newark, Orange, Irvington) starting to move with surprisingly short timelines… Any news on the accelerated foreclosures for abandons? Could this be the driver here?
Contrast with Bergen Co, where you see one sale for every 10-15 cancels, settles, and adjournments.
I would ask the Gen-Y men to defend themselves but apparently, according to this article, they don’t have the b@lls to do so.
juice: where tf are you?
Ozzy is awful (awesome, too)
By LARRY GETLEN
By the fifth song of last night’s show at the PNC Bank Arts Center by heavy-metal pioneers Black Sabbath, frontman Ozzy Osbourne was a sweaty, sopping mess, a result of the manic energy he brought to the band’s only area show.
So intense was Osbourne’s presence that to a point, it even overshadowed his inability to stay on key.
This year’s return of Black Sabbath has been a significant event, especially after a contract dispute that caused original drummer Bill Ward to bow out of the new album, “13,” and guitarist Tony Iommi’s cancer diagnosis during its recording.
All of this made the show a multilayered triumph that largely managed to overshadow Osbourne’s shortcomings.
While Ozzy is the celebrity of the band, largely regarded by metal fans as a goofy beloved uncle, Iommi and bassist/lyricist Geezer Butler are in many ways its heart and soul, and seeing the three of them together made the night the most joyous of heavy- metal reunions.
The band, with Ozzy’s solo drummer, Tommy Clufetos, behind the kit, treated fans to favorites mostly culled from their first four albums, with hits like “Black Sabbath,” “Iron Man,” “War Pigs,” and “NIB” matched with deep cuts, including “Behind The Wall of Sleep,” “Fairies Wear Boots,” and “Under the Sun.”
Clad in his traditional long black overcoat, Iommi gave no indication of his recent health issues. His fingers leapt from string to string as if in a meth-propelled game of Frogger, and his crisp, aggressive guitar tone, long the secret sauce in the Black Sabbath stew, dominated the sound.
While his riffs were crisp throughout, there were times when he took a slower, roomier approach to his solos, substituting his usual hypersonic speed for blusier bends or vibrato. But he was on fire just as often, as on the band’s signature song, “Black Sabbath,” or new album opener “End of the Beginning.”
Butler, one of rock’s premiere lead bassists, flew across his strings as if the fingers on his right hand were rubber, and Clufetos traded Ward’s jazzy swing for straight-on bash.
Given the dark soul of the band’s songs, Ozzy was downright gleeful in the role of ringmaster.
Fit for his age (64!) in tight black T-shirt and jeans, Ozzy prompted the crowd, “Lemme see your hands!” about once per song, and during a segue in the middle of “Into The Void,” he motioned to Iommi in sync with the music as if playing a game of peek-a-boo.
But Ozzy’s vocals were often cringeworthy. While he pulled it together somewhat on the cocaine ode “Snowblind” and on “Black Sabbath,” most songs contained at least several off-key passages, and on some, like “Under the Sun” and the new album’s “Methademic,” Ozzy’s voice never found its way.
His inability to find the pitch, though, seemed to barely affect the crowd, which reveled in the return of its heavy metal heroes. Throughout the night, Ozzy wanted to see their hands, and they gleefully obliged at every turn.
11
Ozzy is old. “Show me your hands”.
What happened to show me your ti7s?
Take away taxes!!!!!! Yea!!!! Cries of the idiots!!!! Now let’s see, if you take away taxes, how much will it cost you to call 911, or better yet, how much will it cost to send your child to school? How much will it cost you to get food that has been checked for its safety? I’m sorry but taxes are not evil. You need them to grow an educated and healthy population. Why do you think these services became public and funded by tax dollars in the first place? All these services started out private but changed why? Because only the rich could afford these services. You people are the pawns of the rich. Of course the rich want these services to be privatized and taxes eliminated; this way they can profit from owning these services and at the same time, not having to pay taxes on that profit. You people are idiots who complain about taxes and live in one of the least taxed countries in the developed world. Why do you think we are in debt? They cut taxes for the wealthy and increased spending. Why? To strangle the govt programs so that they can be eliminated. Bush was no idiot.
Someone’s reply to the above comment:
Michael is another tax-n-spend moocher who wants all “his” services for free.
In the 60’s, we didn’t have the 911 system, nor did we have it’s bloated bureaucratic anchor hanging around our phone system. It was a feel-good program for ambulance chasers. Not to mention that cops are not your friend, and I don’t want a fat donut-muncher at my door. Of course, I would like to know why Michael thinks it would cost $3000 for a public servant to do his job.
How much would it cost to send my kid to school? I don’t have kids. Why should I have to pay for Michael’s?
Food safety? WoW! Howe did we ever get out of the dark ages without the minions at the FDA telling us what we can eat? BTW- this is the same organization that tells us that we cannot use raw milk. Nice method of controlling the food supply, isn’t it Michael?
My reply:
Bite me, you never answered my question. Why did we make these into public services in the first place? Go back to our country’s history and see why before you make your ignorant assumptions.
First off, you are right cops are not my friend, they provide a very important service to our country that really benefit the rich. Why are wealthy people able to drive 100,000 cars and nothing happen to them in our country. Try going to Russia, Brazil, Jamaica, or some other country (besides wealthy Western European nations because they are like the U.S) and drive that 100,000 car around without armed body guards. Yes, you won’t have a car and you will prob be held for ransom. It’s not about a cop being your friend, they provide a service that you don’t even realize or appreciate.
This is one of the best places on the planet to be wealthy. Why do you think we have the most millionaires? We have one of the lowest tax rates for a developed nation and the wealthy don’t have to walk around with armed bodyguards. They are worshipped like gods. Yes, that is changing, because we are marching towards a 3rd world nation. You can’t take too much from the bottom or they will become angry and do things that don’t benefit a society as a whole.
#$%$ like you always carry the lower taxes mantra but never ever appreciate or realize what those taxes do for you. But you know what, just get rid of taxes and privatize everything, it’s so much better when everything is run for profit as opposed to paying for services collectively that benefit our society. You guys are idiots.
Btw, I pay 27,000 a year alone in property taxes, and I’m not #$%$. I’m happy with the services I receive. You think the military is cheap or it”s cheap to take care of the elderly and poor? You have no humanity or conscious. There is an unemployment rate. That means there are not enough jobs to go around for everybody, no matter how hard you work. Plus, if you don’t provide assistance to the poor, what do you think they will do to survive Einstein? They will turn to robbing and stealing from the people who have it.
Sir, you have just been ripped!!!
In that article it also states the three reasons men stay home longer than women.
1) Girls are giving more chores by their parents
2) Parents have stricter rules with girls (curfews, sleeping over BFs)
3) Girls mature earlier than men.
I would add a fourth one that girls have become a higher percentage of college graduates and are better students. Which means they can afford to quicker.
The problem is these boys have to become full blow men at 35 and support a wife, own a house, raise kids and the 20s is the time to do it. My nephew who lives at home and has been out of college four years has never, washed clothes, ironed, mowed the lawn, paid a bill etc a day in his life. Is he magically supposed to find a wife in his bedroom and magically have the skills necessary to be a dad?.
About a decade ago, you heard the term “parasite single” come over from Japan to describe 30+y/o living at home. About 5+ yrs ago, you first heard the term herbivore male to describe 25+ y/o that behave like 12 y/o during summer recess (no job, sleeping late, playing video game, they did not go out because no money).
What those these two japanese terms above have to do with Millenials. Easy. Both are the product of collapsed speculating bubble economics where the banking cartels were saved, and as a result you create damage the present generation plus the next one.
We are in year 7 or so. Japan is in year 23 or so. We got 33 or so years to go, Japan has about 17 or so.
It’s very ironic that the likely next Fed Chairman Larry “don’t trust the boobs” Summers, which also was the big pusher to bail out our banking gangster cartel, was the same one that told the Japanese Central Bank NOT to bail out their banking cartel because it would lead to what Japan has experienced and we will continue to experience for the next 30 yrs or so.
JJ can go into the details of both how to counter act the herbivore males with a massive dose of “hooker, blow & testosterone” and the details of how debt not destroyed in bankruptcy is zombie debt hunting future generations. In the words of the Grand Torino character – “no job, no car, no girl” and add “no marriage, no kids, no first or move up house, no furniture purchase = combined economic activity from social relations and transactions.
Michael,
I presume you enjoyed your public display of autofellatio. Ripped indeed. Epic, even.
I hate to sprinkle on a dose of sexism here, but you tell me…..how many times will a pair of parents front a daughter $50K to buy a condo for herself?…..they only do the same for a son if he is married…..subjective rules….
Problem is by me folks are absolutely desperate to hire young males in the summer at big pay. Problem is they dont want to work
With Sandy everyone is short staffed. 18-23 year old healthy strong males can easily make 1-2 k a week. My nephew was looking for a job. I told him, my contractor needs folks for rip outs, sheetrocking, billing, getting him permits, picking up stuff, light electrical, plumbing. Just as long as you are healthy and can work. He had work 12 hours a day 7 days a week. He will pay you $1,200 a week cash. He looked at me like I was absolutely insane. He was like I was thinking a 20 hour a week unpaid internship in some office type thing near by to get dad off my back. I dont pay for school or nothing anyhow, that sounds like a lot of work.
Back in my day when we paid all our own bills. I would have worked 12 hours a day 7 days a week as it ment I could have school year off, get a car, go on spring break.
I even had jobs doing car valet work, (too much running), checking beach passes (too hot), finally he old brother got him a part time airconditioner job three days a week and drove him to and from work and mommy made him lunch. He also does not own a car or interested in buying one as he borrows daddys car.
I have three male nephews between the ages of 19-21 who live right near me and I paid to have my condo fully painted by professionals cause they dont do work. 25 years ago if my uncle was having a condo painted for 2k, we would have said 1k cash we do it you save 1k we make 1k. Heck there is not a shortage of jobs for young men at all.
A pessimistic pragmatist says:
August 5, 2013 at 9:11 am
About a decade ago, you heard the term “parasite single” come over from Japan to describe 30+y/o living at home. About 5+ yrs ago, you first heard the term herbivore male to describe 25+ y/o that behave like 12 y/o during summer recess (no job, sleeping late, playing video game, they did not go out because no money).
Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
No more of that Mama I’m Coming Home crap, band was back to it’s roots. Crowd was great weather was perfect and Ozzy was good. Last time I saw him was 2007 and he was off key then too, however he wasn’t his usual drunk self trying to drown the crowd with a fire hose he put on a true Sabbath show.
Thank you Ragner. I’ve followed this blog for a while now but have never participated before. This is hands down one of the best intellectual blogs out there.
I can’t stand this whole movement against taxes that really picked up with the tea party. Listen geniuses, take away taxes and you still are going to have to pay for it, one way or the other. Either pay for it collectively, which is better for the country, or pay for it on a per use basis, which will lead to a spike in bankruptcies, but with no taxes, you won’t even be able to declare bankruptcy. You will be a slave to your debtor.
I also love all these greedy corporations and business owners who cry about taxes. Wait, you use the transportation system paid for by tax dollars for your business, yet you don’t like taxes. You use the educated workers, paid for by public education, to create products that you will profit from, yet once again public education is a scam and needs to be eliminated. What a bunch of jokers, who are afraid to look in the mirror and see the truth, that they are nothing but greedy individuals trying to get out of paying their fair share. They have no compassion or ethics. Just bitter individuals who only care about themselves. I’m so sick of hearing people bitch about taxes. If you don’t want to pay taxes, then give me an alternative to the current system that won’t send our country down the tube to becoming a banana republic.
Good stuff out from LPS this morning:
LPS Mortgage Monitor – July 2013 Mortgage Performance Observations
Between 1990 and 1998, Russia’s economy suffered perhaps the worst downturn of any major country that was not the victim of either war or natural disaster. The proximate cause of course was the collapse of the Soviet Union and the replacement of its system of central planning with a market economy. Larry Summers played a large role in shaping this transition, first as chief economist for the World Bank, then as the undersecretary for international affairs at the Treasury Department and later as the Deputy Treasury Secretary. Since Russia’s economy had been guided largely by central planning for close to 70 years, this transition would have been difficult even under the best of circumstances. However the actual transition was hardly the best of circumstances. Corruption infested every aspect of the privatization. Those with connections in the government were able to become billionaires almost overnight, as they were allowed to buy Russia’s businesses and resources at a small fraction of their market value.According to the World Bank, Russia’s government was paid just $8.3 billion from privatizing assets over the years 1990-1998, a period when most of its economy was turned over to private control. By comparison, Lukoil, Russia’s largest private oil company, had a market value of $268.8 billion on August 2, more than 30 times as much as the payments that Russia’s government received for all the assets it sold over this 8-year period. The data clearly show the devastation that this failed transition imposed on the Russian people. According to the United Nation’s Human Development Report, Russia’s per capita income fell by one-third between 1990 and 2000, a decline that dwarfs the falloff in the Great Depression in the United States. This had enormous consequences in the daily lives of the Russian people as the system of social supports that provided basic services collapsed with nothing to replace it. The Development Report shows a drop in life expectancy fell from 68 in 1990 to 65 in 2000, a drop implying that millions of people would be dying at a younger age than would have been the case a decade earlier.The Development Report has no shortage of grim statistics about the plight of the Russian people in the 1990s. (Those getting depressed by this story should know that Russia made rapid progress in most measures of economic and social well-being after breaking with the Summers agenda in 1998. By 2012, the losses of the 1990s had been more than completely reversed.) However, the question remains whether we can blame Larry Summers for this disaster?At the American Economic Association convention in January of 1994, Larry Summers gave a talk about the successes of the first year of the Clinton administration. He boasted how “this administration” (a phrase repeated many times) had created more than 1.8 million jobs. He also boasted about the 2.0 percent growth the economy had seen to date. [Note: These were weak numbers. The economy was coming out of the 1990-1991 recession. We might have reasonably expected 3-4 percent growth and 3 million jobs.]This was peculiar for two reasons. First, the economy almost always creates jobs and grows; the relevant question is the rate of job creation and the pace of economic growth. Boasting that jobs are being created and the economy is growing is a bit like taking credit for the sun rising. The other reason that Summers’ talk was peculiar was that he was making these boasts to economists, all of whom know that the economy typically creates jobs and grows.Alan Blinder, who was also on the panel and one of Summers’ colleagues in the administration as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers, provided an interesting contrast in his own presentation. Blinder managed to talk forthrightly about the fact that the economy was not growing as fast as the administration wanted, nor was it creating as many jobs as was hoped. He did this in a way that provided useful insights to the audience while not providing any of the reporters in the room with fodder for embarrassing headlines in the next day’s paper.But the point of this digression is Summers, not Blinder. Summers apparently felt that the Clinton administration deserved credit for the meager number of jobs and slow growth that the economy had generated up to that point. If that’s the case, then by the Summers standard, surely we can hold Mr. Summers accountable for the devastation that Russia’s transition inflicted on its people in the 1990s.
CEPR
Michael, years ago Tom Souzi ( who is a ahole), nevertheless, had a great comment. He responded to a senior citizen complaining why she has to pay school taxes in retirement and insult to injury she never had kids so she has been paying school taxes whole life and never sent any kids to a LI school. All the senior citizens stood up and applauded.
Tom then said I tell you want come Monday any senior citizen in room who wants to be exempted from School taxes please come to my office. You just need to sign an affidavit you wont use the services of anyone who has a job that requires a HS degree going forward. So no lawyers, CPAs, Police, Ambulence, Engineers, Nurses etc. All of those services are provided as a result of the free education they receive. Without a free education we would have shortage of people requiring a HS degree or those people would have to charge more to cover paying for an extra 12 years of school.
No one showed up in his office on Monday.
re # 17 – The boomers won’t have anyone to sell too unless household formation improves quickly, the boomers kids will be left the house, and I guess and they won’t want to live in it either.
According to Ezra Klein, a major plus in the case for Larry Summers as Fed chair is his experience dealing with financial crises. While it is true that he took a leadership role in dealing with far more crises than Janet Yellen, the other leading contender for the job, it is hard to believe that his record in this area would be a plus if he was being graded by the outcomes.Starting with the Mexican peso crisis in 1994, Summers helped to negotiate a deal that protected big investors in Mexico’s debt, like Goldman Sachs. Mexico suffered a severe downturn in the immediate aftermath of the crisis and has had the slowest per capita GDP growth of any country in Latin America in the two decades since the crisis. That one doesn’t look like much of a success story.Then we can go to the East Asian financial crisis in 1997. As even the IMF now admits, Summers and the rest of the Committee to Save the World (CSW) largely misdiagnosed the crisis. They saw it as a problem of economies that were badly misbalanced as opposed to being largely an issue of liquidity and confidence. Malaysia broke with the IMF and applied capital controls, which were roundly rejected by Larry Summers, and managed to escape some of the worst effects of the adjustment.The deal for the East Asian countries was that they had to repay their debts in full. In order to do so, the currencies of the countries in the region plummeted against the dollar and their exports to the U.S. soared.It was not only East Asian countries that hugely increased their exports to the United States. Because of the harsh terms imposed by the Summers-IMF gang, developing countries throughout the world began to accumulate foreign exchange (i.e. dollars) like crazy as insurance, so that they would not be put in the same situation as the East Asian countries in dealing with the IMF.This led to a huge run-up in the dollar. That in turn caused the trade deficit to explode, reaching a peak of almost 6.0 percent of GDP (@$960 billion in today’s economy) in 2006. The trade deficit has been the fundamental imbalance in the U.S. economy. It means that a huge amount of the income generated in the United States is being spent overseas rather than creating demand domestically.In the 1990s this hole in demand was filled by the demand generated by the stock bubble. In the last decade it was filled by the demand generated by the housing bubble. Currently the demand gap is being partially filled by the budget deficit and partially going unfilled, leaving millions unemployed. This outcome hardly seems like an item to put on Summers’ boast sheet.Finally we have Summers’ role in the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Summers was one of the people who pushed the Democrats in Congress to accept the no (real) conditions TARP bailout given to them by Henry Paulson. Once in the White House he was the staunch defender of the bankrupt banks belligerently challenging anyone who proposed letting the market work its magic and put these behemoths out of our misery. As a result of Summers’ work the too big to fail banks are bigger and more profitable than ever.In fact, if we want a serious assessment of Larry Summers performance as a crisis manager we might ask what happens when countries don’t take his advice. Probably the best example in this category would be Russia in 1998. The CSW had been struggling with the Yeltsin government for years to keep them paying their bills and maintain the ruble’s link to the dollar. In the summer of 1998, Yeltsin gave up the effort. He abandoned the link to the dollar and temporarily defaulted on Russia’s debt.The word from the Summer’s crew, which was dutifully repeated in the business press, was that Russia’s economy would go down the tubes. While it did fall sharply in 1998, it made up all the lost ground in 1999 and then grew by more than 10 percent in 2000. In fact, Russia enjoyed a decade of exceptionally strong growth before the economic crisis in 2009 finally sent it into recession. The Russians probably do not miss the wisdom of Larry Summers.In short, if we look at Larry Summers track record in dealing with crises it is pretty abysmal. But on attendance, he gets an “A.”
CEPR
While I agree that the tea party, whatever ‘it’ is at this point, is nothing more than a side-show. One of the main things that created it was the TARP bailout, and the fact that congress passed it while it was opposed by over 90% of the people.
“you use the transportation system paid for by tax dollars for your business, yet you don’t like taxes”
Isn’t this paid for by gas taxes? I haven’t heard much clamour about them.
“You use the educated workers, paid for by public education, to create products that you will profit from, yet once again public education is a scam and needs to be eliminated.”
So wouldn’t this be NOT in their long-term best interest? They’d run out of educated workers/new ideas/etc from said workers.
“…give me an alternative to the current system that won’t send our country down the tube to becoming a banana republic”
In the current system that you are defending, are we not on our way towards a banana republic right now?
22.Michael says:
August 5, 2013 at 9:42 am
Thank you Ragner. I’ve followed this blog for a while now but have never participated before. This is hands down one of the best intellectual blogs out there.
I can’t stand this whole movement against taxes that really picked up with the tea party. Listen geniuses, take away taxes and you still are going to have to pay for it, one way or the other. Either pay for it collectively, which is better for the country, or pay for it on a per use basis, which will lead to a spike in bankruptcies, but with no taxes, you won’t even be able to declare bankruptcy. You will be a slave to your debtor.
I also love all these greedy corporations and business owners who cry about taxes. Wait, you use the transportation system paid for by tax dollars for your business, yet you don’t like taxes. You use the educated workers, paid for by public education, to create products that you will profit from, yet once again public education is a scam and needs to be eliminated. What a bunch of jokers, who are afraid to look in the mirror and see the truth, that they are nothing but greedy individuals trying to get out of paying their fair share. They have no compassion or ethics. Just bitter individuals who only care about themselves. I’m so sick of hearing people bitch about taxes. If you don’t want to pay taxes, then give me an alternative to the current system that won’t send our country down the tube to becoming a banana republic.
You’ve told that stupid story at least three times. Whether or not it’s true, it is misleading. Jobs require a HS certificate or college diploma ONLY due to the current amount of them vs amount of population. What jobs were performed in the past without a HS/college degree that now require them? Answer: A LOT Are the services provided better, cheaper, more effeciently? Answer: HELL NO
25.JJ says:
August 5, 2013 at 10:00 am
You just need to sign an affidavit you wont use the services of anyone who has a job that requires a HS degree going forward. So no lawyers, CPAs, Police, Ambulence, Engineers, Nurses etc. All of those services are provided as a result of the free education they receive. Without a free education we would have shortage of people requiring a HS degree or those people would have to charge more to cover paying for an extra 12 years of school.
27
How many financial crises did Summers help create? Yeah, I guess that makes him highly qualified.
Larry Summers? Under his watch the Securities Modernization Act was introduced and passed in Congress, stripping CDOs, MBSs and all that good stuff of any regulation whatsoever….. Now that the Fed has greater oversight of the TBTF they want to make him the top regulator?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/04/can-larry-summers-play-nice-with-other-financial-regulators/
OK, I’ve tried this before, but here goes:
Any interest in a GTG in about 2-week’s time (target range 8/19 – 8/29)? I’m thinking a Thu. evening happy hour might work best. For my own convenience I’ll suggest a Morris Co. venue, but am open to other suggestions.
That douche Summers never got into a situation that he couldn’t make worse.
Naturally, he will be the next Fed chairsatan.
Heh, a relative of my wife does fire inspection in the Trenton area. The local bodega owners get freaked out when he’s in there because they are afraid to allow people to purchase cigarettes on their food stamp debit cards. Somehow, they think they Fire Marshall is responsible for monitoring cigarette purchases. All the people walk in and go “pack of cigarettes” and the owner keeps saying “no”. He said he has to explain to them that he doesn’t care and that’s not his job.
Grim 2 – Stu says we should consider selling. If only we didn’t need another place to live.
Moose,
I’d be up for GTG if a few others are interested as well.
[13] Michael
Personally, I don’t like paying taxes. Professionally, hell yeah, tax baby!
OT Alert
Kids, this is why you win first, celebrate later.
http://www.grindtv.com/action-sports/moto/post/meghan-rutledges-early-celebration-costs-her-x-games-gold-in-moto-x/
They never effing learn, do they?
Moose,
Cannot make a GTG in that part of Jersey ever again unless it coincides with the Darby.
[18] ragnar,
Again, epic is only half a description. And WTF was that all about, anyway?
Michael [22];
You’re arguing with your own straw man. The power to tax is the power to destroy. The argument of the ‘tea party’ in not so anarchist as you’d make it seem. The left shows no respect for the burdens it imposes by its tax-and-spend, cradle-to-grave social safety nets on those who actually pay the bill.
Questioning the wisdom of a particular levy, or the weight of the aggregate burden, does not make one opposed to all taxes or all government.
I agree with others that you should consider that Obama has already made great strides towards making the country a banana republic (i.e., crony capitalism, which is the only kind Obama shows any affection for) all under the cheering adulation of the left.
A flat tax with taxes due on election day solves many problems — it is politically unfeasible because of insufficient opportunities for graft. Selling favors, influence and exemptions is the ruling class’ stock and trade.
Comrade, yes humorous I have no idea what that’s about. A few folks would like to make this a new Daily Kos I guess. Look up the definition of another odd term I used.
Say what you want about the Obamunists, they can sure spin with the best:
“Jason Furman, the new chairman of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, says part-time employment has been inflated by the across-the-board budget cuts that began to bite in March, forcing some federal workers to take time off without pay.
Analysts say some employers are offering part-time over full-time work to sidestep the new health care law’s rule that they provide medical coverage for permanent workers. (The Obama administration has delayed that provision for a year and into 2015.) But Furman disputed the idea that the health care law will ever drive companies to favor part-timers over full-timers and says the notion makes even less sense now: “Why would they shift people to part-time for something that’s not going to happen until 2015?”‘
/snip
[41] moose,
Let’s not forget today’s news regarding the end of the Apple ban, which I am sure is of interest to you.
Putting aside whether one agrees or disagrees with the end result, I see further confirmation of a trend we’ve discussed here before: stealth protectionism and a gradual erosion of property rights. It’s almost as if it was all by design.
Joyce-28 -well written and good pts but totally disagree.
“Isn’t this paid for by gas taxes? I haven’t heard much clamour about them.”
You do realize that the gas tax has become obsolete based on how many cars and f–ck-n big trucks use the road. Why? Every vehicle has become more gas efficient, hence, bypassing the gas tax and making it obsolete. Not enough funds to keep up.
“So wouldn’t this not be in their best long term interest? They would run out of educated workers/new ideas/etc. from said workers”
You think that actually comes to business owners minds? They would much rather participate in the race to the bottom in calling for less taxes. All they care about is making more money. They don’t even realize how important educated workers are. They believe their business is gold due their own intelligence, never realizing how important good workers are to their business’s success. They believe it’s all due to their own genius. When was the last time a business owner or CEO gave credit to their workers for their sucess instead of blaming workers for their problems. Henry Ford decided to pay his workers a great wage. The other big owners flipped and accused him of being stupid. Why are you paying them more, what’s your problem buddy? His reply, I want them to be able to afford my products. The new age wealthy just don’t get it. You can’t suck everyone dry, eventually they can’t afford your product.
As for banana republic, the U.s is nowhere near that. It’s nice to think that but it’s not true.
[15] michael
“You can’t take too much from the bottom or they will become angry and do things that don’t benefit a society as a whole.”
That’s what the ammo, slit trench in a remote, wooded area, and bags of lime are for.
As if on cue, this hits my newsfeed . . . Coming to a Western, industrialized country near you????
http://news.yahoo.com/communist-party-makes-comeback-japan-134436281.html
JJ-25- You get no respect but you make some damn good pts buddy. You summed it up perfectly. Great post.
It’s like the Abbott district debate in nj. Yes, it sux paying for it but what’s the alternative. If a city like Paterson didnt get these funds, do you know what the education system would look like. If you think it’s bad now, imagine if you cut all the funding. You would have a bunch of kids from Paterson going over the hill to wayne and robbing the people silly. No one realizes how important it is that these urban poor kids get some kind of education. They would never know how to follow rules because no one was there to teach them. It would be 20 times worst than its current state. You would have a 5% graduation rate as opposed to 40 or 50 %. Trust me, it would be hell. These idiots who wish for the end of Abbott funding better watch out what they wish for.
Be sure to ask Obama your housing questions.
http://m.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/08/05/ask-president-obama-your-questions-about-housing
You would have a bunch of kids from Paterson going over the hill to wayne and robbing the people silly.
Why do you assume they would make it over the hill? They’ll never take the hill.
Summers is a shill. The financial services industry couldn’t ask for a better representative.
I would GTG, but couldn’t do it on the 22nd as I’ll be in gay Paris thanks to a lucrative credit card offer or two.
From Bloomberg:
http://www.bloomberg.com/visual-data/best-and-worst/most-exclusive-zip-codes
Twelve of the 25 wealthiest ZIP codes are located in NY, NJ or CT
Michael, you seem to enjoy reading. I suggest you read “Economics in One Lesson”. There is a free pdf at the link: http://mises.org/document/6785/Economics-in-One-Lesson
Campaigning for lower taxes (and lower spending) is “a race to the bottom”? Check your premises.
Abbot Districts: Scrapple has offered numerous helpful suggestions about what to do with Abbot Districts in recent years.
“No one realizes how important it is that these urban poor kids get some kind of education.” – Especially their unionized teachers – ZING!
As for the Henry Ford $5 wage, it was a business decision, not an economic program. If you pay employees more than the value they contribute, your company eventually looks like 2008 GM:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/03/04/the-story-of-henry-fords-5-a-day-wages-its-not-what-you-think/
“The reason for the pay rise was not as some of our contemporaries seem to think it was. It was nothing at all to do with creating a workforce that could afford to buy the products. It was to cut the turnover and training time of the labour force: for, yes, in certain circumstances, raising wages can reduce total labour costs.”
Why do mental defectives like Michael keep showing up here?
Abbot Districts are great…for janitors, unionized layabouts and other grifters who leech off skools. For kids? Not so good.
Abbott District kids should be conscripted into lifetime military service. They can be cannon fodder for our perpetual war machine.
Has anyone noticed the gorgeous schools recently built in East Orange and Vailsburg Newark? It’s a shame that the kids still won’t attend them regularly. Give a kid a dollar and he’ll never work hard. Make that kid work hard for a dollar and he’ll figure out how to earn two dollars. Don’t make me bring up Bebo again.
Henry Ford also knew he had to at least pay his workers enough so they could actually buy a Ford.
“They would never know how to follow rules because no one was there to teach them”
Really, what happened to their parents? What made the parents so bad at their responsibilities? No amount of money pouring into the Abbott districts will fix the problem of a lack parenting. Teachers are hired to teach academic subjects, not to be mommy and daddy. That is the fundamental problem with the education system throughout NJ, not just in the Abbot districts.
Have you actually looked at the amount of money Newark gets, it’s around 450 million a year. That is an incredible amout of money for a 40-50 % graduation rate. Tell me is that money being spent on providing a robust education or is it for spending on things like bloated administrators and multiple teachers aids. Multiply 450 million by 10 years and it is in the billions of dollars. There needs to be a reurn on investment, just saying that getting some kind of education is not sufficient. That’s what the tea party people are saying.
Regarding your banana republic comment, Moose is absolutely correct that Obama’s love for crony capitalism is a hallmark of a banana republic. Bailing out banks and creating monopolies in the healthcare sector thanks to Obamacare are just 2 ways that limit free market capitalism. If you do not believe me, I just spoke to Still Looking over the weekend and she is in the eye of the hospital consilidation storm that will continue until 2015 when Obamacare kicks in.
JJ,
Should the workers of Boeing be able to afford a 737?
Michael,
If you don’t think the US is a banana republic, you’re lost and probably can’t be helped. In terms of governance, the only difference between the US and other terrible countries is that we mask it better. The amount of spending is more important than the amount of taxation (cause govt’s can’t borrow/print, right? right?). So the crusade against taxation really needs to be about the usage of taxation to favor the well-connected and punish their competitors. I really laugh at those that claim the elites want to shrink govt so they can rule the country when in reality the elite use the govt in order to rule the country.
That douche Summers never got into a situation that he couldn’t make worse.
Naturally, he will be the next Fed chairsatan.
Doom, as soon as I heard his name being mentioned I knew it was a done deal. QE4EVA will not only continue but will go higher with Summers.
Really, what happened to their parents?
They’re at quick check getting some Yodels, an orange soda, a pack of smokes and $40 in lottery tickets paid with the help of some gubmint cheese whiz.
In terms of governance, the only difference between the US and other terrible countries is that we mask it better.
The issue in the US is that corruption is much less streamlined than in other parts of the world. For example, in many countries in Latin America, if you are stopped for a traffic violation, you can simply pay the bribe on the spot and take care of the situation. Here, in the US, you need to appear before the prosecutor and a Judge before you can pay your bribe (to avoid points). Think of all of the overhead required here, you’ve got to pay the prosecutor, the judges, upkeep and maintenance on the court buildings, etc. Would be much easier to just pay the bribe on the spot and move on. The cops should be asking for your credit card, not your license.
Regarding gas taxes, I’m for raising gas taxes in NJ to pay for infrastructure improvements. Our state gas tax is TOO DAMN LOW.
I’m also for including a surcharge/penalty based on vehicle weight, since there is a direct correlation between road wear and weight.
Connecticut, California, Maryland, Kentucky, Nebraska, Georgia and North Carolina all raised their gas taxes this year, but somehow it’s too taboo to talk about in NJ?
re: # 59 – School Budget for Newark is just over a Billion Dollars for 36,000 students, local levy only raises about 12%. Problem is there are about dozens of bastards are born in that hellhole every day. The cycle will rinse and repeat forever unless the cycle is broken, no politician including Booker has the courage to tell them to go on Birth Control that experiment in the early 90s was shut down quickly.
Grim,
Recently in Montclair, there was a sting set up (funded through a federal grant) to get drivers to stop for pedestrians at crosswalks. Those who were willing to spend a morning in court could pay a fine that was 3 times that of the original, but the court would then remove the points. Nearly everyone paid the larger fine. Much cheaper than seeing your insurance rates rise in perpetuity.
Yes, it’s a bribe. As are those $200 PBA cluv cards that you can use to avoid all but a drunk driving ticket.
I’m also for including a surcharge/penalty based on vehicle weight, since there is a direct correlation between road wear and weight.
Problem is it is weight x miles = wear on rod.
Most cars I see that are very light and get good fuel mileage get driven 15k a year while a lot of the old heavy clunkers are train station cars being driven 1k a year.
How do you account for that?
68 – Attach a fixed fee surcharge at time of vehicle registration. This approach would be very similar to that of the “gas guzzler” tax, except instead of a one-time fee at sale, it would be recurring as long as the vehicle is registered.
http://www.epa.gov/fueleconomy/guzzler/420b13037.pdf
#65…actually agree with you on that…but then again, I voted for Anderson in 1980…..(look it up..there’s a connection)
Be able to fly in a 737, yes?
Henry was a cheap. mean and practicable man. He knew a corporation could not mass market stuff to middle class if the Fortune 500 type companies did not make a living wage.
Zeinth TVs, RCA radios, Ford Cars, Fridges, Ovens, Central Heat etc. All Mass Marketed middle class staples of the 20th century could not be mass market if workers did not make enough to afford them. Even in 2013 pay too little and Iphones and Disney vacations would not sell to middle class. Todays version of a Zeinth TV
joyce says:
August 5, 2013 at 1:21 pm
JJ,
Should the workers of Boeing be able to afford a 737?
64
grim,
Can’t argue with that. And to agree further, because we still have to go through to charade and song & dance before we can pay our bribe, certain people (like Michael evidently) still believe in the system.
lib (57)-
Please, please bring up Bebo again.
“Don’t make me bring up Bebo again.”
Then all the workers need today is being to afford a (ford) rental car when split up among 100+ people.
What low middle class/poor person can afford all the stuff you listed today? They can’t. They use credit, not money.
71.JJ says:
August 5, 2013 at 1:48 pm
Be able to fly in a 737, yes?
Henry was a cheap. mean and practicable man. He knew a corporation could not mass market stuff to middle class if the Fortune 500 type companies did not make a living wage.
Zeinth TVs, RCA radios, Ford Cars, Fridges, Ovens, Central Heat etc. All Mass Marketed middle class staples of the 20th century could not be mass market if workers did not make enough to afford them. Even in 2013 pay too little and Iphones and Disney vacations would not sell to middle class. Todays version of a Zeinth TV
joyce says:
August 5, 2013 at 1:21 pm
JJ,
Should the workers of Boeing be able to afford a 737?
Stockpile .223, water and food. All else will be soon rendered superfluous.
grim,
Raising the gas tax is something that would be great if the all proceeds went only to infrastructure AND we cut fraud/waste elsewhere. The latter will never happen so I can’t support the former. Think car registration & inspecting… now we’re only going to test emissions and nothing else, did the registration fees go down? When hell freezes over maybe.
http://www.state.nj.us/ttfa/financing/apprevenues.shtm
Our gas tax isn’t indexed for inflation, and hasn’t changed in 24 years.
We’d need to double the gas tax to just adjust for inflation, let alone raising it even higher to account for increased infrastructure spend.
I’m surprised that the gas tax only brings in a pitiful $540 million. Contrast with sales/use taxes that bring in almost $9 billion.
re # 69 – The transportation trust fund in NJ was raided. It is empty. Putting more money in there won’t fix the roads.
http://www.state.nj.us/ttfa/
Juice – So what you are saying is we’re going to need to triple the tax to account for debt payback too?
re: #79 – 14.6 billion in the hole, the 500 million gas tax collected today is not even paying off the bonds, it is a 991 million annual debt payment. Allot more bonding would be needed to do any kind of meaningful road work, if they raised another 10 billion they would need to perhaps raise the gas tax from #3 in the nation to #1 in the nation to pay for it.
correction 3rd lowest gas tax to the highest gas tax.
I’m also for including a surcharge/penalty based on
vehiclebody weight.The fat, stup1d, b@stards need to pay more of their fair share.
#79..since some schmoes out there are trying to get around without gas (aka electricity), we need to tax them too!!!
I am all for raising the Gas Tax in New Jersey. Keep Snooki at the shore and out of Hamptons. Also they should make all tunnels and bridges out of NY to Jersey one way.
No surprises here, lending standards will continue to fall now that the refi bubble is popped and banks scramble to keep the mortgage pipelines full. From Bloomberg:
Fed Loan Survey Shows Easier Lending for Mortgages, Businesses
U.S. banks are seeing an increase in demand for credit and are providing loans more readily to home buyers and businesses, according to a Federal Reserve survey.
“Domestic banks, on balance, reported having eased their lending standards and having experienced stronger demand in most loan categories over the past three months,” the central bank said in its quarterly survey of senior loan officers released in Washington today.
…
A “modest” group reported easing standards on prime residential and non-traditional mortgage loans while a “large” fraction of banks in the survey saw increased demand for mortgages.
Joyce [74];
They use credit, not money.
That is all that is made available to them, and the only medium accepted. What do you think the Federal Reserve Note is?
Higher gas tax plus higher tolls. Why even bother going to work
[58] JJ,
Two words: River Rouge.
but they don’t want to go on birth control…..men consider it a sign of virility to knock up many girls, and many young girls want a baby because they think the child will give them someone who will love them…..
Juice Box says:
August 5, 2013 at 1:40 pm
Booker has the courage to tell them to go on Birth Control
One of my criteria for Nompound siting was jurisdictional. The state and localities must be red enough so that deficits at the state level cannot be made up through RE property taxes.
All other state taxes are easily avoided. Not so for real estate taxes.
83 – Damn, caught.
Fair enough; I’ll rephrase. They borrow, use credit cards, store financing… not income or savings.
86.Anon E. Moose says:
August 5, 2013 at 2:35 pm
Joyce [74];
They use credit, not money.
That is all that is made available to them, and the only medium accepted. What do you think the Federal Reserve Note is?
“Although these cases rarely involve national security issues, documents reviewed by Reuters show that law enforcement agents have been directed to conceal how such investigations truly begin – not only from defense lawyers but also sometimes from prosecutors and judges.”
“A secretive U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration unit is funneling information from intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a massive database of telephone records to authorities across the nation to help them launch criminal investigations of Americans.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-dea-sod-20130805,0,2087915,full.story
If you dont have money and you parents dont care knocking up girls is no big deal.
chicagofinance says:
August 5, 2013 at 2:56 pm
but they don’t want to go on birth control…..men consider it a sign of virility to knock up many girls, and many young girls want a baby because they think the child will give them someone who will love them…..
Juice Box says:
August 5, 2013 at 1:40 pm
Booker has the courage to tell them to go on Birth Control
Based on Godwin’s law, we have only a few more hours before this thread moves to forced sterilization.
re: # 89 – Chi this is an issue of choices as well as wants. They need money, to get said money they must accept some contraceptive. Prevention is key.
The burden on our society to take care of bastards is incalculable. Illegitimacy is the single most important social problem of our time, and is barely mentioned by politicians and the MSM, they would rather talk about gay marriage.
re: #95 – Not today and not from me anyway. How about a reward system instead. For each year you don’t get knocked up or knock somebody up you get a check.
97 – Sounds like the State Farm safe driver discount, the problem is it could only apply to women.
[93] Joyce,
Interesting article. They interviewed Gertner, a former federal judge from the court where my father worked ( he couldn’t stand her) and one of the partners at one of my old firms.
I met her and her clerks once. Gertners’s’ clerks were as bad as she was. When I was introduced, they couldn’t hide their disdain for my alma mater, a crosstown rival. But when I mentioned the top tier NYC firm I was joining after my clerkship, their jaws literally dropped. That felt good.
[99] redux
To be clear, the former partner was a different person, not Gertner.
Not nazi reference from me today either. But I will leave with this:
Abolish the police
http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2013/08/abolish-your-local-police.html#links
Joyce do you know how Germans tie their shoelaces?
So says the guy with the electic car.
grim says:
August 5, 2013 at 1:59 pm
http://www.state.nj.us/ttfa/financing/apprevenues.shtm
Our gas tax isn’t indexed for inflation, and hasn’t changed in 24 years.
We’d need to double the gas tax to just adjust for inflation, let alone raising it even higher to account for increased infrastructure spend.
I’m surprised that the gas tax only brings in a pitiful $540 million. Contrast with sales/use taxes that bring in almost $9 billion.
Loans for day care issued to New York City parents
Mayoral candidate Christine Quinn unveils loan program to help offset the high cost of day care in New York City.
Aaron Smith
CNNMONEY.COM — 27 MINUTES AGO
Child care is so expensive in New York City that City Council Speaker and mayoral frontrunner Christine Quinn is launching a loan program to help middle-class parents pay for daycare.
City Council Speaker Quinn unveiled a pilot program Monday to provide subsidized child care loans to families that she described as “middle class.” Her office describes the plan as the first of its kind in the U.S.
Parents with children aged two to four will be able to receive loans of $11,000, at a 6% interest rate. Applicants must have an annual income of between $80,000 to $200,000, and a credit score of at least 620, according to Quinn’s office. Their finances will be reviewed by financial counselors from the Neighborhood Trust Credit Union, which will administer the loans.
In a press release detailing the plan, Quinn said that New York City has some of the highest child-care costs in the country. In Brooklyn, day care costs can cost $1,700 per month, while it can run as much as $2,300 a month in Manhattan.
Loans for daycare? J3sus chr1st. That will have the same effect on daycare prices that Sallie Mae had on tuition prices.
JJ [104];
They should make it like student loans for college — the kid will just pay it back. If they did it for primary and secondary schools too, think of the money they wouldn’t have to spend on school budgets! You don’t think landowners will mind that their property taxes don’t go down accordingly, do you? Even if they were forced to rebate property taxes, the increase in per student tuition that they could charge because of decoupling the price by way of the new school loan program will still be a net win!
Forget mayor, with brilliance like that, this woman needs to run for President. It would be an affirmative action two-fer — first woman AND first open homosexual. After that we can just rotate the Presidency through every aggrieved identity politics minority, like the Lord of the Flies kids passed the conch around.
Cassidy Introduces Flood Insurance Reform Legislation
August 05, 2013
WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) introduced the Home Protection Act of 2013. This legislation prevents portions of Section 205 and Section 207 of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 from going forward until FEMA and local stake holders complete and implement the LAMP process. This two-way dialogue between local stakeholders will help ensure appropriate credit is given to community flood protection measures.
“Over 280 Members of the U.S House of Representatives already supported delaying flood insurance hikes on the homeowners and small businesses” said Cassidy. “This legislation would give homeowners and small businesses certainty that their flood insurance rates won’t arbitrarily and unfairly increase. It’s another critical step toward providing a long-term solution to the National Flood Insurance program by balancing fiscal solvency with consumer affordability.”
A copy of the legislation, the Dear Colleague and a memo detailing Dr. Cassidy’s flood insurance actions are attached. The original co-sponsors include Reps. Rodney Alexander (R-LA), Charles Boustany (R-LA), Steve Scalise (R-LA), Mike Grimm (R-NY), Walter Jones (R-NC), Alan Nunnelee (R-MS) and Steven Palazzo (R-MS).
I like this, but what about folks who just dropped 100K to raise their house to get cheaper flood rates?
If you are in a V zone it made sense anyhow. But if you were not in a V and did it soley to save on insurance you are screwed.
Brian says:
August 5, 2013 at 4:15 pm
Loans for daycare? J3sus chr1st. That will have the same effect on daycare prices that Sallie Mae had on tuition prices.
Middle class is 80K to 200K in that article
#104…..1998…2 kids in the Prudential subsidized day care in Roseland…$21,000 a year….1998!!
Nom might like this:
http://southierecords.tumblr.com/post/14845549912/murders-and-stuff
I apparently live in the very Western reaches of Hipsters, surrounded by Pretentious People.
[110] expat
LMAO!
I’m having a really busy day and I can’t wait to respond to some of these comments. For now, I can only comment on the Abbott talk.
First, some of you lack some serious compassion for the people at the bottom of society. It’s so easy to bash the children of the Abbott districts. I live in wayne in the pines lake section. I can easily b-tch about my property taxes and blame the kids from Passaic and Paterson for why they are so high, just like everyone of my neighbors. Even though everyone of these neighbors can easily afford these taxes, hence why they live here. Bottom line, it’s not these kids fault that they never had “true parents” or any type of normal upbringing. You people, just like my neighbors, seem to think that the children of abbott districts should act and learn just like the kids in the rich suburbs. You expect the same results from Abbott districts as suburban districts. Do you even understand how your statement lacks compassion and makes you seem selfish. You act like it’s one big waste of money trying to educate the bottom class of society. What a selfish statement.
It’s funny, if the kids in Paterson did as well on state tests as the kids in Wayne, what do you think the parents in Wayne would say? They would have a riot and demand immediate changes.
If we really care about every American, regardless of race, we would never throw the people with the hardest lives under the bus. If you guys think it’s so good to be on welfare, then go do it. I doubt you would be jumping up and down about receiving your free Obama phone. No one said it was easy to educate the inner city youth, but throwing the children under the bus and cutting the funding to educate them is pretty ruthless. Will the inner city education system ever be as successful as its suburban counter parts? No, but saying its not working and it’s a waste of money is just plain wrong and ignorant.
P.S property values in Paterson are so low because it is such a great place to live. Don’t tell me they are lazy either. There is an unemployment rate for a reason, there are not enough jobs to go around. ESP good jobs. It would be great if we lived in a utopia where all you had to do was work hard and you have a great life. Too bad it doesn’t work that way. We live in a capitalist society. In a capitalist society, there are a few winners at the expense of the many losers. You know, in order for John Smith to get wealthy, it has to be at the expense of the many loser Joe’s.
I will be back on later tonight when I get a chance.
[112] Michael
I don’t think I lack compassion what so ever. In fact, should the miserable ever show up at my property, wanting to partake of my food or wealth, I would gladly share a little of what I stockpiled with them and put them out of their misery.
So would clot.
re # 112 – Lack compassion? We are discussing a real problem here one that money itself cannot solve which is a lack of parenting. Perhaps we should discuss further incentivizing them to be parents instead of further incentivizing NOT to be parents.
[48] “If a city like Paterson didnt get these funds, do you know what the education system would look like. If you think it’s bad now, imagine if you cut all the funding. You would have a bunch of kids from Paterson going over the hill to wayne and robbing the people silly.”
So, NJ’s population having been essentially disarmed, they are then held-up twice: once for the usual government “family” that runs things in this state, and a second time to prevent the mob from streaming out of the ghetto and over the hills to rob and plunder the sheeple.
What’s not to love?
Michael,
Capitalism isn’t a zero sum game where “winners” are made at the expense of “losers”. Capitalism is a positive sum game where people interact freely for mutual benefit.
Government wealth redistribution is in contrast a negative sum game where people are compelled to transfer wealth, punishing effort and success, while those who receive the transfers are provided no incentive to learn wealth-creating skills or behaviors. The redistributors (mostly politicians and government employees) are rewarded for steering and effecting the above wealth transfers.
BTW, I don’t just “seem selfish”, I am a proudly self-interested individual. My main aspiration for Abbott district children is that they too emphasize reason and self interest in their actions, and start making decisions that are in their long run self-interest as self-supporting human beings.
Did Michael set a record for the usage of the words ‘compassion’ and ‘selfish’ in a single post?
[116] ragnar
You are attempting to reason with him. In my experience, this doesn’t work. The only workable response is to avoid them if they aren’t a threat and crush them if they are.
Oh the Joys of home ownership!
I am now officially at war with the wasps and the ants. I was out in the yard this evening spraying a wasp nest. I found two nests. Seems they like my zip code or something. I was stung yesterday while pulling weeds and went back tonight to wipe them out. They seem to like my place all buzzing around the rooftop and yard yesterday as the kids were having a good time in the pool. Anyway neighbor was stung several times last week, my wife stung once and I was stung yesterday while walking through my gate. They seem to nest in the hollow spaces in aluminum fencing/gates.
As I was spraying a Pest Control salesman was knocking on my door and saw me running around the house after I sprayed a nest. He then proceeded to point out additional nests about to hatch. I am not sure but by next week I will have a swarm. Signed the contract on the spot. Guess I will need pest control service after all.
We have ants as well everyday the make their way inside and scout for food. Well the ultrasonic Riddex does not work after a month they are still around.
War on bugs is on….
The nations slide into degeneracy is accelerating. We need more public schools to reach our final destination.
Newark should be paved and made into a giant runway. Lets get the Mayor of Newark elected to the Senate! Failing up. Its the American way.
I propose a fat tax and a flat tax. Thighs rub together when you walk? Bam! $500 fine.
Michael,
Lets send the unproductive to Canada. They care. We don’t.
Terro ant bait is cool stuff. Two days of almost limitless entertainment watching those poor creatures commit suicide and poison their kin. Kids love it. Cheaper than renting a movie on netflix.
Michael, you are hopelessly misguided. It’s nice and easy to take the ultra liberal view from the comfort of your home in Wayne. You need to spend some time in the ghetto rather than simply reading about it from some Pultizer prize winning author’s opinion on the subject. No amount of money dumped into a school system will solve the issue that going to school simply ain’t cool. It doesn’t matter if the school is constructed of bricks made of gold or if the computer has science and computer labs that would make proctors at Princeton (or Cornell) blush. Because these schools have exactly that. I know, I lived in Jersey City long before the gentrification of downtown.
Let me tell you the story of Bebo. Bebo was the five year-old who lived in the adjoining section eight brownstone to the left of ours. Bebo liked to come into our bachelor pad and bang on my piano and always, always, always asked for a quarter. He used to call the piano a panano so we dubbed our home the Pinano Republic. A lot of people like to say that the educational problem is due to the need for both parents to work long and often different shifts to make ends meet leaving little time to raise their children. Well Bebo’s parents were always home so this wasn’t the case with him. They didn’t have to work as they both were getting paid by you and me to stay home. They spent most of their food stamps on booze though. One can drink almost 16 hours a day if you don’t have to sober up to work. So how do they buy booze with SNAP? Easy, they trade it to others for cash at $12.50 Snap to $10 cash. Some of the bodega owners simply took it at that rate for booze themselves. Well, Bebo’s parents were always out on their porch and Bebo was always creating havoc for us right under their nose. Now, although Bebo was a normal enough kid, he was obviously undereducated. He couldn’t count to ten and he couldn’t read a lick. One day, I looked up what opportunities there were for Bebo and asked his folks why he wasn’t in school. In Jersey City at the time, HeadStart provided free all day preschool and kindergarten as well as free transportation both ways. I told this to Bebo’s folks and they literally got mad at me. Maybe it was because they thought I was trying to rid my home of their little menace, but I truly was in it to help little Bebo. His folks said that Bebo didn’t need no school. They both never went to school and they were doing just fine.
A few months after that conversation, Bebo played with matches and burnt his apartment down, as well as destroyed a lot of ours. I moved out soon after. I went back to visit some friends a few years later and Bebo’s home was rebuilt and looked much better then before. Bebo was still out raising havoc and his folks were still on the porch sipping their juice. No amount of educational funding is going to fix this issue.
So keep listening to those brilliant ivory tower experts who couldn’t tell a crack pipe from a crock pot. One day, you might even become one of them. Hipsters do have a lot of money to spend on ebooks.
Patterson, Newark, Camden, Trenton, etc. The problem is gangs. No matter how much money they throw at the schools, you can’t learn under those conditions.
Michael says:
August 5, 2013 at 4:51 pm
I’m having a really busy day and I can’t wait to respond to some of these comments. For now, I can only comment on the Abbott talk.
Between the Terro baits and ortho home defense, I don’t see bugs in the house often.
grim says:
August 5, 2013 at 8:57 pm
Terro ant bait is cool stuff. Two days of almost limitless entertainment watching those poor creatures commit suicide and poison their kin. Kids love it. Cheaper than renting a movie on netflix.
Tard – Sadly Bebo’s Facebook page for his DJ business went dark last September. A quick search says someone with the same name is working hard selling sneakers in a place with about a 70% bastard rate….
I don’t know how the story will end but I haven’t heard about Hope and Change in those neighborhoods in a long time.
re # 126- inner city? heck those gangs are everywhere. Friend of mine retiring soon after a few decades of chasing kids that are packing through back yards and over fences is retiring. It won’t be Jersey, most retired POs leave do the not?
[124] grim – I don’t doubt your ability to entertain your infant in a way you find appropriate, but I am quite surprised a hi-tech guy like you doesn’t understand the Netflix business model.
Terro ant bait is cool stuff. Two days of almost limitless entertainment watching those poor creatures commit suicide and poison their kin. Kids love it. Cheaper than renting a movie on netflix.
michelle (112)-
Wrong. For the kind of money we dump into these sinkholes, I expect them to actually be better than the alleged “blue ribbony” skools.
“You expect the same results from Abbott districts as suburban districts.”
Merely bringing Abbott skools up to the generally rotten level of suburban ones won’t help those kids hack it in either college or the job market.
ragnar (116)-
Bojangles-style crony capitalism is, though.
‘Capitalism isn’t a zero sum game where “winners” are made at the expense of “losers”.’
Gangs were really not much of a problem in downtown Chilltown. Just a multi-generational belief that schools ain’t cool.
Public schools are largely like free public libraries, in practice. The education that can be acquired is great, but the value that most people attach to the institution is commensurate with the price.
A retelling of the story of Bebo. My day is complete.
BTW, what’s the deal with actual postings on a Monday night? I only stopped in to see if Michael’s predictable diatribe had faded into the ether as is the usual fate of most 5PM posts here.
One of my employees teaches summer “enrichment” in Newark skools. She is still young and not at all jaded. Her take is that most of these kids are ruined for life by 5th grade.
Bebo like firoo[sic]
The sad part is that’s about 4 years too optimistic.
Her take is that most of these kids are ruined for life by 5th grade.
#28 Joyce
“While I agree that the tea party, whatever ‘it’ is at this point, is nothing more than a side-show. One of the main things that created it was the TARP bailout”
No, Dick Armey had Tea primed and ready to go. It was a high jacked movement from day one. My biggest WTF moment back then, was when the buses started rolling. Where does a grass roots movement go from a Rick Santelli rant to PVC coated buses in 4 months.
We obviously disagree on what ‘day 1’ was. But nevertheless, yes soon after it became out obamacare and other crap… and the bailouts were no longer spoken about.
Apple has patented a piece of technology which would allow government and police to block transmission of information, including video and photographs, from any public gathering or venue they deem “sensitive”, and “protected from externalities.”
In other words, these powers will have control over what can and cannot be documented on wireless devices during any public event.
And while the company says the affected sites are to be mostly cinemas, theaters, concert grounds and similar locations, Apple Inc. also says “covert police or government operations may require complete ‘blackout’ conditions.”
“Additionally,” Apple says,” the wireless transmission of sensitive information to a remote source is one example of a threat to security. This sensitive information could be anything from classified government information to questions or answers to an examination administered in an academic setting.”
The statement led many to believe that authorities and police could now use the patented feature during protests or rallies to block the transmission of video footage and photographs from the scene, including those of police brutality, which at times of major events immediately flood news networks and video websites.
http://rt.com/news/apple-patent-transmission-block-408/
We had a 40 year teacher who just retired in June. In the last year, her school district allowed the children of people “employed” in the district to use the school as a way to maintain enrollment. As a result, sons and daughters of gang bangers and various slugs infested her classroom. She taught 1st grade. In her entire career before 2012-2013, she had maybe 10 students suspended in total and in this past year 12. Also, one of her students stole several items out of her pocketbook during one particular day and was handing them to her parents during pick-up in front of the teacher…..truly heartwarming stuff.
The Original NJ ExPat says:
August 5, 2013 at 10:50 pm
The sad part is that’s about 4 years too optimistic.
Her take is that most of these kids are ruined for life by 5th grade.
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