From Reuters:
Obama to back mortgage finance reform to speed housing recovery
President Barack Obama will propose overhauling the U.S. mortgage finance system in a speech on Tuesday, weighing in on a tangled and polarizing problem that was central to the devastating financial crisis in 2007-2009 and that continues to slow the economic recovery, the White House said.
Obama will propose eliminating mortgage finance entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over time, replacing them with a system in which the private market buys home loans from lenders and repackages them as securities for investors, senior administration officials said. The mortgage securitization process is deemed essential to the smooth flow of capital to housing markets and the availability of credit.
The government’s role would be relegated to providing some form of insurance or guarantee, and to providing oversight, according to officials and a White House statement.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, originally chartered by Congress to expand mortgage finance, were taken over by the government in 2008 amid mounting losses in the financial crisis. Propping them up cost taxpayers $187.5 billion, although the firms have now returned to profitability.
“We have to end Fannie and Freddie going forward and replace them with a commitment to the notion that private capital must be wiped out before the government pays on any form of catastrophic guarantee or reinsurance,” a senior administration official told reporters.
…
The president generally agrees with the bipartisan Senate proposal that would replace Fannie and Freddie with a system that would allow private firms to securitize mortgages, a senior administration official told reporters in a conference call. A government reinsurer of mortgage securities could backstop private capital in a crisis, the official said.Obama would want the Senate measure to go farther in helping first-time home buyers and in making sure affordable rental housing is available, the official added.
The Senate bill, though, remains at odds with the bill advancing in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives that would liquidate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over five years and limit government loan guarantees.
From Bloomberg:
Americans With Best Credit in Decades Drive U.S. Economy
Americans have made progress putting their finances in order and are ready to borrow again — giving the world’s largest economy another driver of spending and growth.
Household net worth soared to a record high in the first quarter, Federal Reserve data show, and the financial-obligations ratio relating consumer debt to income matched the lowest in 33 years. Consumer loans are rising, and the American Bankers Association reports the share of delinquencies on bank cards is the smallest since 1990.
“Household finances are in the best shape in decades,” said Joseph Carson, director of global economic research at AllianceBernstein LP in New York, with $435 billion in assets under management. “We now have a creditworthy borrower. It’s a powerful ingredient” for the U.S. expansion and “definitely a step up from where we have been.”
Credit is thawing gradually for residential mortgages, one reason new-home purchases in June reached the highest since 2008. Lenders also are easing standards for auto loans to expand the pool of buyers and drum up more business. That has put car sales on track for the best pace since 2007, helping companies including General Motors Co. (GM), Ford Motor Co. (F) and parts maker Lear Corp. (LEA) to report better-than-estimated earnings.
Frankly, what we’re going to end up with is not at all going to be what was intended. Law of unintended consequences is running very strong here, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the power shift straight to Wall St, where they are licking their chops over the prospect of owning the mortgage market. So, we shift from F&F over to a very small handful of Wall Street Banks running the mortgage show, and the “too big to fail” just got a whole lot bigger. I have no faith that the legislature knows enough about this market to plot an effective course to a private market solution, instead, it will be driven by lobbyists and the actual bills will be nothing but massive, pork-filled tomes, and the US Taxpayer will still bear all the risk.
From CNBC:
Obama still pushing home ownership as ‘American dream’
President Barack Obama will use Phoenix, Arizona as a backdrop to tout his administration’s accomplishments in the housing recovery and to admit that more work needs to be done, according to a White House release.
He is likely using Phoenix, one of the hardest hit housing markets in the recent crash, because while home prices there are up over 20 percent from a year ago, they are still down over 40 percent from their peak in 2006.
The President will offer ideas, “to help more responsible homeowners refinance, to cut red tape, to increase home values by fixing our broken immigration system, to help the hardest hit communities rebuild, and to ensure those who rent have decent and affordable options,” the release read.
He will also call for reform of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which, while now highly profitable, are still blamed for much of the foreclosure crisis.
While not backing a specific proposal on Capitol Hill, and there are many, he does believe there is, “a limited and targeted role for a catastrophic guarantee” for the mortgage market, according to one senior administration official.
…
The crux of his call, however, will be for more mortgage refinancing, which is, ironically, harder now that mortgage rates are rising. Rates are rising because the Federal Reserve is signaling it will stop buying mortgage-backed securities now that the economy is improving.
…
The government’s HARP (Home Affordable Refinance Program) has been successful, allowing more than 2 million borrowers, some with negative home equity, to take advantage of lower rat, but only borrowers with government-backed mortgages qualify.
That has left millions of borrowers out. Mr. Obama has pushed for more refinancing in the private mortgage market and will call for it once again. Senior administration officials, however, admit, “the window is closing given interest rates coming up over the last few months.”
On the topic of HARP 3 and mortgage refinancing, from LPS, via the Street:
Nearly 6 Million Borrowers Can Still Refinance: LPS
An estimated 6 million borrowers remain eligible to refinance their loans, according to the June Mortgage Monitor report from Lender Processing Services.
The rapid rise in the 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage in May and June to roughly 4.5% has reduced the incentive for borrowers whose rates are already lower than 5% to refinance their mortgage.
According to the report, the pool of borrowers who can refinance has shrunk 33% from 8.9 million in March to 5.9 million in June.
Still, that is at least 12% of active loans that are potentially “refinancible.” LPS determines the pool of eligible borrowers by including those who have at least 20% equity in their home, have a credit score of greater than 720 and pay an interest rate of more than 5% on their mortgage.
4 shot in Montclair last night – that aught to be good for home prices
From CNBC:
Price hikes from the emerging middle class
Consumers trying to keep their budgets balanced will be dismayed to find that keeping up with the Joneses is getting pricier as the global middle class expands.
Economists generally consider the middle class to be people with the financial resources to make discretionary and small luxury purchases—from an automobile to concert tickets. By that broad brush, about 2 billion worldwide qualify, said Jack Plunkett, CEO of Plunkett Research.
By 2030, that number will balloon to 5 billion, with many of the newcomers in developing countries such as India, China and Brazil.
Consumer spending in Brazil, Russia, India and China accounted for 8.1 percent of global gross domestic product in 2010, according to IHS Global Insight. It is expected to reach 12 percent by 2015. U.S. consumption as a percentage of GDP peaked at 22 percent in 2002 and is expected to be roughly 14 percent by 2015.
That emerging middle class pushes prices higher, because there are more people vying for resources and products. Rising wages, which help create a middle class, also inflate prices because goods are more expensive to produce, Plunkett said.
“The long-term effect is going to be pretty dramatic,” he said.
and aught to be good for guns’ sales too. more guns on the streets are needed.
grim says:
August 6, 2013 at 7:04 am
4 shot in Montclair last night – that aught to be good for home prices
From the AP:
TransUnion: Rate of late payments on US mortgages falls to lowest level in 5 years
Homeowners are doing a better job of making timely mortgage payments, a trend that brought down the national late-payment rate on home loans in the second quarter to the lowest level in five years.
The percentage of mortgage holders at least two months behind on their payments fell in the April-June quarter to 4.09 percent from 5.49 percent a year earlier, credit reporting agency TransUnion said Tuesday.
The latest rate also declined from 4.56 percent in the first three months of the year.
The last time the mortgage delinquency rate was lower was the third quarter of 2008, a time when home prices were sliding and the U.S. economy was in recession.
7 – It’s no coincidence that this violence is taking place on Mission Street, which is widely known for not having a bike path. Perhaps Montclair needs to invest $40 or $50 million on the construction of a new community center on Mission? Or is it that the parents didn’t eat enough placenta after having their kids.
9. community center?!?! my taxes should not go into that non-sense.
what we need is more prisons to lock up all those troublemakers.
Yeah, turns out my joke wasn’t really a joke at all … and it actually is just up the street from Mission too.
http://montclair.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/montclair-group-calls-for-community-center
Fannie and Freddie going forward should be for first time primary home buyers only. Trade up homes, flippers, vacation homes should all be private market.
People don’t save anything by having Fannie and Freddie. If anything they get them selves more into debt.
GM was the first car company to do zero down and zero percent financing which an economist gave a great presentation of unintended consequences.
A person goes to GM showroom to look at a nice loaded family sedan Chevy Impala for 25K, with 5% down and a 20k loan at 5. But when he gets there he finds out GM has zero down zero percent financing special that just started. She was amazed at amount of folks who went and bought a Caddie or GMC Denali XL at 50K, putting them at double the loan balance over five years but with no interest. A lot of folks did not realize the burden of paying off 50% principal in five years, the additional car insurance and the double the gas bills and GM had back a lot of these cars 1-2 years later in a repo. And these folks had no cars and ruined credit histories. GM just sold car to someone else. The zero down loan principal was set at the depreciation rate or greater.
Folks with easy credit and no money down buy more than they need. Fannie and Freddie is the reason why middle class folks end up in big trade up homes that are a noose around neck when they are 55 and laid off for good.
Without Fannie these folks would have stayed in their little pos cape they bought at 25 and guess what at their 55 year old lay off they mortgage is already done. Instead they traded up at 45 to a mcmansion and have 20 years left on a mortgage.
More importantly, what happened to the Entenmann’s Bakery outlet on 23 in Little falls???
chicagofinance says:
August 5, 2013 at 11:24 pm
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.
June Core Logic HPI report out:
http://www.corelogic.com/research/hpi/corelogic-hpi-june-2013.pdf
NY Metro sees the largest year over year jump in prices yet:
New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ (YOY)
Single Family (Including Distressed) – Up 7.2%
Single Family (Excluding Distressed) – Up 7.5%
New Jersey Statewide (YOY)
Single Family (Including Distressed) – Up 3.0%
Single Family (Excluding Distressed) Up 3.7%
I heard this issue discussed on Bloomberg about a year ago. I am almost sure that I posted something on these threads. I recall something to the effect of a greater spread in the offerings of product; as things stand now, it is more black and white. That being three markets: approved, approved with damaged credit/high risk; out. In a new competitve market, it would be the mortgage equivalent of credit cards, where there would be multiple shades of gray, and the rates would cascade across a bunch of numbers depending on your profile and the bank entity.
grim says:
August 6, 2013 at 6:39 am
Frankly, what we’re going to end up with is not at all going to be what was intended. Law of unintended consequences is running very strong here, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the power shift straight to Wall St, where they are licking their chops over the prospect of owning the mortgage market. So, we shift from F&F over to a very small handful of Wall Street Banks running the mortgage show, and the “too big to fail” just got a whole lot bigger. I have no faith that the legislature knows enough about this market to plot an effective course to a private market solution, instead, it will be driven by lobbyists and the actual bills will be nothing but massive, pork-filled tomes, and the US Taxpayer will still bear all the risk.
Either way, the rates would be HIGHER, although some people could get really low rates that practically hugged the bank cost of money…..
The best way to allow the mortgage market to function is have zero mortgages backed up by the taxpayers and eliminate FHA completely. The risk of lending needs to have the risk built in rather than supported through some safety net. Greed is balanced by fear and the best form of regulation is the fear of going bankrupt.
So she basically did nothing for 39 years. Year 40 she had actual troubled students to deal with and she quit. lazy bitch
chicagofinance says:
August 6, 2013 at 8:49 am
chicagofinance says:
August 5, 2013 at 11:24 pm
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.
Grim (11):
There was gunfire Friday Night/Sat Morning in the PRM. I could hear the police cars speeding up and down Clairmont Avenue.
There is a surge in gang violence on the south side of Bloomfield Avenue on the East Orange border. I feel sorry for the residents of Glen Ridge who live right next door.
But money, millions and millions of dollars of taxpayer money will fix the problems. Just ask Anon and Micheal.
“4 shot in Montclair last night – that aught to be good for home prices”
Well Montclair’s new motto is where the city meets the suburb. The development-centric council now in place is all gung ho about building seven to ten floor cardboard-looking condo boxes around Montclair’s six NJ Transit rail stations. Some hipster urban planners have claimed that the new trend is for people to abandon the suburbs and move to the cities. Of course, this concept will most likely have the same shelf life as pine nuts had in the foodie realm.
Talked to someone in the mortgage finance biz who said rate locks would either be non-existent, or would carry a high cost in a private mortgage market. Essentially, F&F provide the mechanism that allows for a 30-60 day rate lock with little risk to the actual lender (F&F bear the interest rate risk, but typically pass on the float-down benefits).
This would be a shocker to many, imagine not knowing what your mortgage rate would actually be until a few days before closing? At which point, you couldn’t do anything about it. Or worse, being asked to pay a few thousand dollars for the privilege of locking.
FHA rates are not always the lowest. Excel Bank and Morgan Stanley have a program where your home loan is 100% collateralized by your stock and bond holdings and is market to market daily at 102% and is also secured by house. No fees and insanely low rates. Much lower than FHA
chicagofinance says:
August 6, 2013 at 8:55 am
Either way, the rates would be HIGHER, although some people could get really low rates that practically hugged the bank cost of money…..
Imagine me the tax payer bearing the interest rate risk of a investor.
You buy a car you get the rate that day. You dont go to GM and say I want a 30-60 day lock on my rate.
Also the buyer can somewhat control the risk. He can push to close quicker if rates are rising, drag out closing if rates are falling or put down more or less at closing depending on rate. Also fact we dont do a pre-payment penalty is crazy it lets buyer mitigate a ton of risk by making extra payments or refinancing.
He or she does not need this lock protection. Also higher rates might be better as it would force then to prepay mortgage.
grim says:
August 6, 2013 at 9:07 am
Talked to someone who said rate locks would either be non-existent, or would carry a high cost in a private mortgage market. Essentially, F&F provide the mechanism that allows for a 30-60 day rate lock with little risk to the lender. This would be a shocker to many, imagine not knowing what your mortgage rate would actually be until a few days before closing? At which point, you couldn’t do anything about it.
FHA isn’t cheap money, by far, in fact it’s typically more expensive than a low down payment (10%) conventional loan with PMI. The only benefit is you can put down less money up front, but you pay for that ability. At least with a conventional, once you hit 80% you can cancel PMI and save some money, that doesn’t exist with FHA, you need to refi out (which won’t provide any benefit when rates rise).
[7] anon,
I saw this posted on CNN and I thought of you. And I actually agreed with this poster that if you are truly serious, this is the extent you which you must go and further since even this thought-out and serious explanation would, IMHO, have only a marginal effect:
“There is actually a very simple solution to the gun violence plaguing America. It’s called a universal, nationwide ban on firearms. The first stage would be a three month grace period for everyone to peacefully hand over their guns at the municipal level. The second stage would be to confront those who have failed to hand over their guns with a general door to door canvas and to give them yet another opportunity to peacefully hand over their guns. The third stage would be for the ATF to use modern technology to locate and forcefully confiscate the remainder of the illegal guns. The final stage would be strict mandatory prison sentences for anyone using or even possessing a firearm in the United States. This could be done over a ten year period, easily, creating a much more peaceful United States of America.”
BTW, in law school, we called hypos like these “issue spotters”.
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood…
http://www.baristanet.com/2013/08/multiple-montclair-shooting-on-mission-street-montclair-leaves-four-wounded/
[7] anon,
I saw this posted on CNN and I thought of you. And I actually agreed with this poster in that if you are truly serious, this is the extent you which you must go and much further since even this thought-out and serious explanation would, IMHO, have only a marginal effect:
“There is actually a very simple solution to the gun violence plaguing America. It’s called a universal, nationwide ban on firearms. The first stage would be a three month grace period for everyone to peacefully hand over their guns at the municipal level. The second stage would be to confront those who have failed to hand over their guns with a general door to door canvas and to give them yet another opportunity to peacefully hand over their guns. The third stage would be for the ATF to use modern technology to locate and forcefully conf1scate the remainder of the illegal guns. The final stage would be strict mandatory prison sentences for anyone using or even possessing a firearm in the United States. This could be done over a ten year period, easily, creating a much more peaceful United States of America.”
BTW, in law school, we called hypos like these “issue spotters”. I’ll let you figure out which class it would be for. Moose, no helping.
Oops didn’t see Grim’s post at #5. No problem here. Move on folks.
Is there a gun free school zone around Bullock?
Grim 11 – The federal gov’t gave a giant FU to Montclair on that plan. The site is going to house a 4 story building for homeless veterans.
Four-story building housing homeless veterans planned for Montclair Center: Feds
In what municipal officials and residents see as a major blow to the recent redevelopment of Montclair Center, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has conditionally approved a plan for a program run by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark to demolish the Social Security structure on Bloomfield Avenue and replace it with a four-story building to provide permanent housing and mental health services to homeless veterans.
The application from Domus Corporation, part of Catholic Charities, will have final approval once an environmental assessment of the property at 396 Bloomfield Ave. is completed, according to a July 15 document obtained by The Montclair Times. The plan is to collaborate with Mount Carmel Guild Behavioral Health System, another Catholic Charities program that provides mental health services.
In March, when the property became available, Montclair Mayor Robert Jackson said the township wished to buy it, demolish the obsolete structure and turn the site into a high-end, mixed-use development with residential, retail and office space, with hundreds of thousands of dollars in proceeds from the site to be used to benefit local homeless groups.
Jackson vows to fight the federal government’s decision, which he calls “outrageous.”
“If you look at it from a planning perspective, it’s an offense,” said Jackson. “Think of the people who have invested in and are looking to invest in our town. What message does that send? I know what message it sends. It’s a terrible message.”
To at least one developer, it does.
“It would be a death knell for development,” said Dick Grabowsky, a Montclair-based developer who is a major player in the revitalization of Montclair Center. “It would be a devastating blow to people trying to improve this town through redevelopment.”
– See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/216239781_Four-story_building_housing_homeless_veterans_planned_for_Montclair_Center__Feds.html#sthash.HNqtKdku.dpuf
So much for moving here for the diversity…
“That’s awful, the last thing we need are dregs wandering around,” said one longtime resident on neighboring Seymour Street who asked her name not be used. “I don’t like the idea of homeless, vagrant-type people.”
“It’s been a tough area and now we have some viable business and gotten rid of a lot of vagrants hanging around when the Social Security building was open, and now having them living here 24/7? People are already nervous. Homeless translates to mental issues and drug abuse.”
[7] anon,
I saw this posted on CNN and I thought of you. And I actually agreed with this poster in that if you are truly serious, this is the extent you which you must go and much further since even this thought-out and serious explanation would, IMHO, have only a marginal effect:
“There is actually a very simple solution to the g-un violence plag-uing America. It’s called a universal, nationwide b@n on f1rearms. The first stage would be a three month grace period for everyone to peace-fully hand over their gunz at the municipal level. The second stage would be to c0nfr0nt those who have failed to hand over their gunz with a general door to door canvas and to give them yet another opportunity to peacefully hand over their gunz. The third stage would be for the ATF to use modern technology to locate and f0rcefully c0n-f1sc@te the remainder of the illega1 gunz. The final stage would be strict man-datory pri-son sentences for anyone using or even poss-essing a fire-arm in the United States. This could be done over a ten year period, easily, creating a much more peaceful United States of America.”
(Heavily edited for mod screen)
This was a serious suggestion from a left wing poster. BTW, in law school, we called scenarios like these “issue spotters”. I’ll let you figure out which class it would be for. Moose, no helping.
FHA isn’t cheap money, by far, in fact it’s typically more expensive than a low down payment (10%) conventional loan with PMI. The only benefit is you can put down less money up front, but you pay for that ability. At least with a conventional, once you hit 80% you can cancel PMI and save some money, that doesn’t exist with FHA, you need to refi out (which won’t provide any benefit when rates rise).
But what FHA does is give a bunch of people who have no idea how to save money bidding power to drive prices higher than they should be. If the market wouldn’t allow it to happen on its own, the taxpayers shouldn’t be providing that opportunity.
There was also a shooting yesterday in a quiet town in the Poconos. Guy with beef against town shoots up a board meeting and kills three. Sounded like something of a nutter and reminded me of a shooting spree in NH decades ago when Carl Drega went off over a beef with the town. My wife got locked down at the courthouse over it until the shooter developed a fatal and sudden case of lead poisoning.
BTW, no ARs used in either to best of my recollection. So much for the scary gun rule.
And while there is a theme emerging, there is no easy solution. Do we confiscate the guns of everyone who files a tax appeal? I see a few constitutional issues with that.
There was also a shooting yesterday in a quiet town in the Poconos. Guy with beef against town shoots up a board meeting and kills three. Sounded like something of a nutter and reminded me of a shooting spree in NH decades ago when Carl Drega went off over a beef with the town. My wife got locked down at the courthouse over it until the shooter developed a fatal and sudden case of lead poisoning.
BTW, no ARs used in either to best of my recollection. So much for the scary gun rule.
And while there is a theme emerging, there is no easy solution. Do we c0n-fisc@te the guns of everyone who files a tax appeal? I see a few constitutional issues with that.
Hold on here, didn’t the town nix Montclair State’s proposal to put a dorm hi-rise at the old Acura dealership on Bloomfield Ave – But they get a homeless shelter instead? Awesome.
South end of Bloomfield is dead if this thing goes up.
[28-29] gator
I’ve long noticed that liberals are always in favor of diversity somewhere else.
[2] grim
Prior to the financial crisis, the big banks lobbied for just that. I hesitate to elaborate because I don’t know how much of that has become public and if it hasn’t, I cannot discuss due to attorney-client privilege.
I’ve long noticed that liberals are always in favor of diversity somewhere else.
And they love higher taxes! You know, it’s for the children.
Grim 33 – Not sure if the town officially nixed it, but they certainly dragged their feet on it so long that the College wound up going in a different direction. Dorms got built on campus instead.
http://www.baristanet.com/2009/12/developer-shelves-msu-dorm-project-on-bloomfield-ave/
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/09/new_montclair_state_dorm_build.html
@13, they opened up a new one, in Totowa, between route 46 and valley road, next to the entemann’s factory there. check it out. Big, nice and clean.
Based on yesterday’s post directed at me about capitalism. First, I’m for capitalism as there is yet to be a better economic system available. It’s a potent economic system in theory, but as with any economic system, it falls apart over time. Let me try to explain in as simple of a way possible.
Let’s analyze the game of monopoly to help us better understand the dangers of capitalism. At the beginning of the game, each player starts on an even paying field, just like in a capitalist system. As the game progresses, some players start to become wealthy at the expense of the others (aka lowering one players capital in order to increase another’s). With this wealth, they begin to buy the important resources, which makes them grow even wealthier, by being able to collect more money from the other players. Eventually, the wealthy player (family in a capitalist system) has grown so wealthy and powerful that it has a strangle hold on all the important resources that generate wealth. The rest of the players now have no shot in hell of ever being able to compete in what was once a fair game (fair economic system). Game over!
This is where we are currently at in this country. Is it no surprise that people in our country are starting to give up on believing they can ascend the economic ladder. We are getting towards the end of the game, unless the wealthy give back (by giving good jobs, good wages, and paying fair share of taxes). They are doing none of the above. This will lead the rest of the players feeling hopeless, hence hitting the reset button aka revolution. It has happened over and over again throughout history. I do not know of one society that has not escaped this problem.
Now apply this to the people living in our inner cities, whom seem to disgust a lot of you based on your comments. You question why they don’t value education or working hard. Well, if you were the monopoly player who is going broke the next time you land on boardwalk, you too would lose interest in the game (capitalist system). You have a feeling of hopelessness. That it’s impossible to get out of your current situation.
This is what’s happening. The wealthy have become insanely rich at the expense of the other players. Why would anyone want a billion dollars, all you are doing is taking more money from the other players in the game, and the worst part, you don’t even need it. Do the wealthy not realize this, that if they take too much, the game will be over.
It’s obvious something is wrong with an individual that has a billion dollars and still wants more. Their brain is wired for absolute greed and no compassion. A normal individual would be happy with 100 million. These insane greed machines never ever stop. Talk about a deadly addiction.
So please have an open mind when it comes to the bottom of society. These people were born into a family with no chance. Ever wonder why the European immigrant has stopped coming to the U.S.? They don’t want to be some rich person’s tool to increasing their wealth, aka someone’s b-tch.
Great, Obama handing over the keys to bankers to have total control of capital. What a joke. Just as bad as the idea of privatizing social security. The taking never ends.
Montclair’s leadership is really a complete and utter joke. Montclair’s form of government is antiquated and expensive. It also creates extremely overpriced public services, but then again, Montclair is so liberal that paying double for a service to keep it from being privatized is a good thing. Thank heavens for the continual influx of financially inept immigrants from Park Slope and the upper east and west side of Manhattan. If it weren’t for them and their undying reliance on prenatal dance and homeopathy, Montclair would have already collapsed under the weight of its debt.
Last week, there was a thread on the Montclair online Water Cooler about what to do with a homeless person that was harassing people outside of Starbucks. The dialogue is, let me say, intriguing. I’ll copy the results here:
—
Sitting in front of starbucks valley rd, a homeless person looking busy at a
table and mildly harassing customers…bags in tow and all, not mean. What
should one do?
—
Buy him/her some coffee!
—
In the past, I’ve seen people set up a table in front of the Upper Montclair
Starbucks, and recently I’ve seen someone camped out in front of the Starbucks
in the Siena. In the former case, they were aggressively seeking donations.
While sympathetic to people and animals in need, I do not feel that passersby
should be harassed. Shouldn’t it be the responsibility of the business or the
town to monitor the activities of people who camp out in front of local
businesses?
—
What makes you think he ir she is homeless?
—
I saw this person further down on Church Street near Anthropologie yesterday.
People were trying to enjoy their lunch outdoors and he was harassing them. He
followed 3 women out of one store, across the street to another store, asking
them lewd questions. It was disturbing so I left quickly.
He was either homeless or very down on his luck as he had belongings in a
garbage bag and was very dirty and smelled horrible.
It was disturbing to say the least but I wasn’t sure what to do, I’m glad the
first poster posed the question.
I admit I haven’t taken the trouble but doesn’t the township with so many social
services have a number one can call to report this and they intervene to check
out the person as the would in Manhattan?
—
There is no Social Service to help these people in Montclair. The Salvation Army
is probably their best bet, but they wouldn’t intervene. The person would have
to go there on their own.
BUT, you can alert the police to their behavior and they can direct them to the
hospital for possible psychiatric care or maybe a social service in another
town, like Newark or East Orange. Or the Salvation Army.
We do have one shelter in Montclair, I’m not sure if it’s still there, but it’s
hard to get into and you have to leave early in the morning and can’t return
until around 6pm.
—
Call the police? The criminalization of the poor is shameful and this NIMBY-ism
is pathetic….Since when is it a crime to be homeless? Is there no empathy for
someone who is hungry, or cold, or penniless? Seems like some people in this
town care more about lost dogs, landscaping faux pas, and farmer’s markets than
the poor…surely there’s some empathy in this idyllic Shangri-la called
Montclair????
—
As I sit and read the comments, I tend to agree. There is no crime in being
homeless. Maybe this person was one of those lost in the economic downturn. He
could have been one of our neighbors but because we are focused on the smell,
the garbage bags, and the comments, we do not recognize this.
—
I try not to comment on many things but this is one thing I couldn’t sit idly by
and watch. Why not try and approach to see if he needs help in some way. Find
the shelter # or someone who will approach and help if you do not want to.
Something seems off about criminalizing or speaking ill or an individuals simply
because thier appearance doesn’t “fit” in with what we want to see or are used
to seeing. Homelessness exists everywhere…even Montclair.
Th number for the police, who shiuld have the appropriate # is
973-744-1234, I believe
—
You are right ! He might not have been homeless, in fact he was wearing a suit
and tie! It’s the uncleanliness, untidyness, haphazard movements way he
approached people and interacted with them, not to say the plastic bags that he
dragged with him, that scared people away, does it sound familiar? I was one if
the last and yes u might have bought him a coffee but then again he might live
on upper mountain and be loaded! I didn’t ask, was on my way out anyway.
—
the reason I asked is that there are some quirky characters that hang out at
that uptown starbucks, who to some, could occur as homeless
growing up in montclair, there were 3 homeless people that I recall, alan duke,
who was probably around 30, the man in the black suit, rumored to be alan’s
brother, and gloria, who would take out her teeth and yell things at me and my
friends – you would normally see them outside hanes or in front of blimpies on
bloomfield avenue.
I haven’t actually seen any homeless people recently, but the question regarding
the individual you are describing seems to be more one of mental illness – all
homeless people don’t have mental illness, and all people suffering with mental
illness are not homeless. perhaps a call to the police department would be the
way to go – they have access to the proper resources, authorities and help
groups.
—
I remember Alan Duke. He came from a good home, and his father would frequently
collect him and bring him to AA meetings and such. Most of the characters I’ve
seen on the streets of Montclair in the 26 years I’ve lived here have been
harmless, though they may lack eye appeal. People must remember there are many
group homes in town, and that Newark is a short bus ride away.
Also, a call to the police will result in nothing more than a trip to the
Mouintainside ER, for a brief stay, a sandwich, a discharge, and a whopping
charge to the state for charity care.
Call the police or social services.
—
One of my neighbor’s fits your description. Sometimes he wears a suit,
sometimes his clothes are in very bad shape and most times he is just
walking his dog and yelling obscenities.
I asked other neighbors and found out he is a lawyer. Apparently he has
some kind of disorder.
He is nice to some and horrible to others. But he rents in town and is part
of our community.
I’m sure there is a story behind this person too.
Michael,
So dumping millions (maybe billions of dollars) into inner city schools is going to even the income gap? Want to fix it? Take all of that wasted money going into the ghetto schools and use it to lobby the government to share the spoils a little more evenly. Though realistically, you could never compete with the 1%. They already own the government.
Until our government is changed to one where the highest bidder always gets their rules written in their favor, you are preaching to the sheeple. Don’t waste your time. We are too busy fighting over the crumbs.
So how much money did you send into the Obama fundraising coffers?
Baa baa.
Whoops, I need a from in the second paragraph. Until our government is changed “from” one where the highest bidder always gets their rules written in their favor, you are preaching to the sheeple.
[42] Michael,
Might I suggest that you try not to come across as a typical liberal snarkmeister? Most of the denizens of this board are well educated professionals, and are well aware of the externalities and negative collateral effects of capitalism. It follows that, in general, the typical liberal approach of employing syllogism and ad hominem attack will usually engender a like response. You would be taken much more seriously if you argued the issues and not the emotions. And trying to “dumb down” an issue that many on this board probably understand better than you simply comes across as insulting.
No one really disagrees over what the problems are; we disagree over the solutions.
Did the Fed just shit the bed?
I never said dumping millions into the ghetto schools will even the field. I specifically said that providing that money to these schools helps contain the wild fire from spreading to the wealthy communities. If you cut all funding, you will not get the same results we are currently getting. You will get an enormous population of people who can’t even read or write, as opposed to not reading or writing at a high level. You think ghettos are scary now, they will become full blown war zones. Go to brazil and visit the favela. You want that sh-t in our backyards? You guys want stupid gun laws to make you feel safe. Laws don’t apply in favelas. It’s the law of the gun and gangs. That money we send to the ghetto education centers help contain the situation from getting worst. I never said it will fix it. Read my monopoly metaphor and understand that I don’t think the situation can be fixed because it comes with the capitalist economic system. Btw, the poor in Brazil are about to start a revolution. They are at the point of the end game in their economic system. The top just took too much, and left the rest with nothing.
I’m not a liberal, but why is that a dirty word? It means open minded. I respect the people in this blog, hence why I even waste my valuable time trying to discuss these important issues. Btw, I’m as far from being a left as I am from being a part of the right. I believe everything in moderation is the key to life. Going to one side of the spectrum makes you lose your ability to look at issues with an open mind.
If you have a better idea to helping contain the ghetto from spreading besides through education, I’m open for ideas and would love to hear them.
I never said dumping millions into the ghetto schools will even the field. I specifically said that providing that money to these schools helps contain the wild fire from spreading to the wealthy communities. If you cut all funding, you will not get the same results we are currently getting. You will get an enormous population of people who can’t even read or write, as opposed to not reading or writing at a high level.
As a teacher, and someone who has dealt with several inner city teachers, the large amount of funds that already go into these schools never even makes it to the classroom. It goes towards hiring construction firms and administrators. The level of education would remain the same, regardless of spending 10k per student, or 25k per student. The system is rotten to the core with people on the take and throwing any money at the problem only enriches the thieves. In fact, cutting funding might actually serve to drive them away. The best solution is to allow the students that are serious about education a way out. Vouchers that would allow these students to attend other schools would provide that. There is a reason all these cronies fear vouchers. The exodus would spell the end of the gravy train.
Ben,
“The system is rotten to the core with people on the take and throwing any money at the problem only enriches the thieves. In fact, cutting funding might actually serve to drive them away.”
Well said. You think that might explain why Wash DC & suburbds is flush with cash?
Michael,
I’m not arguing with you about the need to level the playing field. Where I disagree with you is in taking it from the middle class to fund the lower class. You are advocating that we fight over the crumbs. The failures of the Montclair school system is a perfect example of why you don’t take from the successful to narrow the achievement gap. All you end up doing is bringing the performing down to meet the underperforming. We moved from Montclair after our sons experience in Kindergarten. He came in reading at the 2nd grade level and knew basic math as well. The daycare we sent him too was not child-centric and their curriculum was all about preparing kids for elementary school. Sidebar: Our son’s privatized daycare was significantly cheaper than Montclair’s tax subsidized pre-K. Well, once in Montclair kindergarten, he was forced to sit around for an entire year waiting for the other students to catch up. Montclair was not big into differentiated learning or tracking of any sort. Not when the majority of the funding for the schools is targeted at narrowing the so-called achievement gap. It was incredibly frustrating reviewing our son’s homework. Draw a line. Draw a curve. What shape is that box. He learned this stuff at home with us and in day care when he was two and three.
And the saddest part of all of this is that after ten years of focusing almost entirely on narrowing the achievement gap, we find out that it has actually widened.
Look at what Nom wrote above. You would do well to explore the issues from all sides.
Ultra libs and die hard conservatives are no different than religious fundamentalists. Believe it!
From the ” what have you done for me lately” department:
“‘The city failed to fund this all along, and now Mayor Emanuel has made it clear he is going after the hard-working men and women on the Chicago Police Department to make up for that,’ said Michael K. Shields, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, who described Mr. Emanuel, simply, as anti-labor. ‘He’s trying to stiff us out of our pay.”‘
Montclair. What a world away. This morning I dropped off some mail at the Stanton post office and drove to work along Dreahook Road to the highway and out. Driving along Dreahook on a sunny day is like watching paradise pass by. The vistas are gorgeous. You feel like you are living in a different time. Then I read this stuff. To me, it is almost unimaginable.
If you have a better idea to helping contain the ghetto from spreading besides through education, I’m open for ideas and would love to hear them.
Let’s begin with having a mother and father in the house to provide structure and guidance. That would be a nice start.
There is a reason all these cronies fear vouchers. The exodus would spell the end of the gravy train.
Oh, the humanity!! But, what about the children!!
Did everyone see this article about temp workers fueling the so-called economic recovery in NJ in Sunday’s Star Ledger?
Temp work helping to fuel New Jersey’s jobs recovery
I can’t stress enough that temp/contract workers at any $ level will not spend money on anything except what they need to survive – anything extra has to be hoarded for times “between” contract jobs. I also see white-collar contract workers suffering from all sorts of stress related ailments (heart attacks, elevated blood pressure, etc), which ultimately is also a drag on the economy. The stress of not knowing if your contract job will end at any moment is tremendous, and if it ends the mortgage/rent can’t be paid, etc.
And all temp /contract workers I know are truly resentful of paying for over the top government employee benefits in our taxes. –
For example it is hard to see people (teachers, police, etc) taking early retirement with incredible pensions and Cadillac health benefits while the contract/temp workers are the sukcers paying for them.
And I wrote this after you proclaimed your middle position politically.
As for a solution to the problem, take the money from the schools and use it to put away the drug pushers and the gang bangers (permanently). Then watch the economy in the ghetto improve by leaps and bounds.
My wife was a CASA volunteer in Newark. If you saw how many families game the system using their children/relatives (cousins with drugged out parents) to collect government checks only to waste it on booze and smokes, you too would not advocate sending more to the ghetto. The issue is really about accountability, not quantity.
Here’s the link: http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2013/08/new_jerseys_jobs_recovery_fuel.html
Re: Montclair
I suggest building a 10 story concrete wall around the whole town then excavating a 100 yard moat in front of it so that the Montclair communists can’t infect the rest of the state. Perhaps free bikes for the homeless and some asphalt bike paths would keep the homeless actively moving.
Nobody will be moving to the cities once the shtf. People forget what NYC was like in the 70’s and 80’s. He’ll on earth.
And when the government is involved, the accountability always goes out the window.
Couldn’t tell you about the DC school system.
I really know nothing of the mechanics. Jersey seems to be its own animal. Suburbs provide good education. Cities provide crap education on the suburbs dime with and endless supply of revenue thanks to the Abbot rulings and school funding laws.
michael (46)-
I’d say that when somebody busts a cap on four people on a Monday night in the PRM, it’s a pretty good sign the wildfire has spread to wealthy communities.
“I specifically said that providing that money to these schools helps contain the wild fire from spreading to the wealthy communities.”
The solution to all this is obvious: give @ssault weapons to the homeless.
micheal (48)-
Colombia and Argentina have known the solution for years: walled communities and personal militias. Since we’re devolving into a 3rd world banana republic ourselves, best we imitate those who have mastered the game.
“If you have a better idea to helping contain the ghetto from spreading besides through education, I’m open for ideas and would love to hear them.”
We should strive to be like Brazil. It’s the world’s biggest open-air toilet, yet they can still stage big events like the Olympics and World Cup.
Montclair does not try to fight the crime down on Mission Street. There used to be a satellite branch of the MPD down in (B)Lackawanna Plaza. It closed up years ago. If I recall correctly, it was ineffective. I’m fairly confident that Montclair is purposely ignoring the gang violence down there. I think there game plan is by allowing it to be contained in the lower 4th ward, it won’t be forced into the other areas of town. Meanwhile, the town council is 100% focused on bringing more people into town through development to try to pay down the debt. Sadly, the debt is what is making it impossible to have sufficient services as so much of the tax revenue goes to pay for debt service.
61
Ben,
I was talking about more than just the school system, and it was a rhetorical question.
Invest in barbed wire!
Ignore my improper use if there (their) in 66. Sorry again.
The effect of gangs on towns is not to be dismissed. And Montclair has problems with them.
A few years ago my husband was sitting in his car on a side street (outside a school in the afternoon) waiting for my son finish playing in an AAU basketball game in Montclair. A group of teenage kids came down the street and at one point they all turned on one of the kids and started punching him, then the beaten kid staggered to his feet, and they all kept on walking as a group down the street. Definitely a gang initiation rite.
What would Bebo do?
NBC promo for Football
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KeG_i8CWE8#at=45
Premier League that is…..
(55) I grew up with strict but loving parents. They and their families were immigrants escaping Stalin and Hitler. My paternal grandfather bought a 3 family house within 2 years of being in this country, not having anything but a wooden chest coming through Ellis Isle. Success at Capitalism is part luck, but for most it is hard work and use of god given intelligence.
I rarely have sympathy for the down and out. I have an uncle that married one of my aunts. The fellow was a Vietnam Vet who made it by being self-employed afterwards. Eventually owned a sports/gogo club and was going strong. But his stupidity did him in. Cheated on his wife…blah, blah. Now rents and is essentially moneyless. Wife never worked and never drove. Decided to stay with her man. She is now toothless as couldn’t afford dental care. Sorry, no sympathy for either.
BTW, my grandfather bought that first house in Newark. Sold it for a good profit ten years later in 61. He knew it was time to move on. Had a solid brick 2 family built for him in Somerset County for retirement.
Not bad for someone who fought against the Red Army during the years of the revolution and was jailed twice and escaped twice – and had the knife scars to brag about.
That’s why talk about Montclair and it’s shenanigans always unnerves me. It parallels in so many ways what went on in the USSR in the early part of the 20th century. The political system transformed once hard working individuals into corrupt energy-less drones. It will take a century to transform those same people back to being productive, self-sustaining citizens.
Vouchers are not the answer. Good in theory but think long-term. It’s like the good ol charter school con. Charter schools by definition are for-profit institutions. You guys cry about corruption in ghetto schools but fail to realize charter schools are worst. They tell you up front we are run for profit on tax dollars. It’s sickening how anyone can support the charter school or voucher program. Any education institution that is run for profit, I want no part of. Over the years it will lead us to an even worst position that we are currently in. Ben, you sure you are a teacher? I have never met a teacher who supported voucher programs or charter schools. I call bull shit on your teacher claim. Charter school teachers are only till they get their shot at a public teaching position. No one is going to go to college and get two degrees to get paid 50,000 a year. You would be better off skipping college and being a mechanic.
Since when does liberal mean open minded? Liberal is a set of values…….”liberals”, as a construct, in fact are poisoned with a sense of moral authority that enhances their closed-mindedness……they think they know best, so they are empowered to lecture everyone……in fact in many cases, liberalism as a “set of behaviors” is rather socially repugnant, since it advocates that that some people are better than others…..
Michael says:
August 6, 2013 at 10:55 am
I’m not a liberal, but why is that a dirty word? It means open minded.
Montclair has compassion and that’s clearly stopping the wildfire.
What Brazil and the US needs is actual capitalism. Not a crony mixed economy, nor a welfare state. Where people invest in themselves because they are free to go create value in the world and are free to keep the rewards. Where value-destroying people and companies are bankrupted rather than bailed out. Where work or a job isn’t what you wait for other people to “give you” but rather something you do.
Libtard is probably a better capitalist than I am in his actual behavior – he’s constantly optimizing voluntary economic transactions, not just at work. He doesn’t sit around waiting for the world to hand him something, he goes out and does things. The Bebo story (first time I heard it, thanks) is rather like the experiences of many others: lots of people have a tough start in life. In the US, you can make good choices to change that, or you can make bad choices and stay the same or get worse. I saw a lot of people around me growing up making bad choices, that they knew were bad choices, and I have zero compassion for them. I only have compassion for innocent people.
BTW, neither Dems nor 99% of Repubs back actual capitalism.
Ben, you sure you are a teacher? I have never met a teacher who supported voucher programs or charter schools. I call bull shit on your teacher claim.
Rofl, call bull shit all you want. I’m a teacher, and people on this board have known it for years. I’m sorry, I’m not an NJEA talking piece, so you aren’t going to hear the typical teacher bs from me. I never claimed vouchers would reform the entire system. What they do provide is some poor kid a chance at getting out of the hell hole that the union is hell bent on keeping them restricted to.
And I didn’t say a word about charter schools, yet your whole counter argument seemed to be circled around them. Therefore, you didn’t argue my points at all.
Montclair is a perfect example of a town with two sides of the track. It’s pretty sad. One side super wealthy and the other very poor. What happened to their education system is simple. The wealthy didnt want their kids getting educated with the other side of town. They abandoned their public schools for expensive private schools and left the town public education system with only the poor side of town children attending. Hence, it became pretty close to a ghetto school district. Why do you think your child was so far ahead of the other children in your child’s kindergarten class before you decided to bolt? The teacher had to focus on the majority of the kids who were well below your child’s level.
Same can be said of towns like englewood, clifton, west orange, etc….the wealthy side abandoned their towns education system.
I have had to give up on a number of companies because they have become de facto uninvestable…… you can but Petrobras at the top of the list….
Ragnar says:
August 6, 2013 at 11:43 am
Montclair has compassion and that’s clearly stopping the wildfire.
What Brazil and the US needs is actual capitalism. Not a crony mixed economy, nor a welfare state. Where people invest in themselves because they are free to go create value in the world and are free to keep the rewards. Where value-destroying people and companies are bankrupted rather than bailed out. Where work or a job isn’t what you wait for other people to “give you” but rather something you do.
Ragner#77— well said!!!!! I totally agree. The middle class can’t support the weight of the top and bottom!
And the outrageously high taxes in Glen Ridge go to…????
They can’t go to the school system because despite what Libtard claims the scores are marginally better than Montclairs if not downright worse when you factor the minorities. BTW I would avoid both towns.
On average, stupid unmotivated parents = stupid kids.
The problem is culture. Oops I said it. Oh no he di – int.
Bill Cosby said it about 20 years ago, so he got thrown off the race bus.
Michael: please review the economic history of Argentina….the only country in the history of the world to receive an investment grade sovereign credit rating and have it degrade to junk status……Detroit also should be a healthy primer to educate the masses…why don’t you review that one too?
[48] “If you have a better idea to helping contain the ghetto from spreading besides through education, I’m open for ideas and would love to hear them.”
I think the history of this country has shown that within a generation or two, any poor family can rise to enjoy a middle class lifestyle (i.e., live better than 85% of humanity) if they try. No government-ghetto containing necessary. The reason “the ghetto” spreads is in large part due to the misguided policies of the big government libs.
It’s what happens when the government gets in the business of handing out stuff without conditions. I wouldn’t object, in principle, to most of the stuff that the government doles out (healthcare, food, housing, cell phones) if it placed some reasonable limits on the freebies that simultaneously controlled costs and guided people toward a more independent life.
For example, one out of every seven Americans cannot even feed themselves, and rely on free food from the government’s “SNAP” programs. One in seven!
Now, I will gladly pay taxes to help make sure that poor families have enough food to eat. However, I’d like to avoid paying for obese “poor” people to stuff soda, ice cream, cookies, cakes, and potato chips down their gullets. But god forbid we put limits on what types of food the free government money can buy. For example:
——–
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/08/food_stamp_choices_should_people_be_allowed_to_buy_junk_food_with_their.html
“Our view is that people have the smarts to purchase their own food, and we’re opposed to all limitations on food choice,”
…
There are compelling reasons not to impose new rules on what food stamps can buy, according to anti-hunger groups. Making low-income families in the grocery line pay separately for forbidden foods would be cumbersome and potentially stigmatizing, they argue.
———–
So people aren’t smart enough to pay for their own food, but they’re smart enough to trust them to buy whatever they want? We wouldn’t want those poor, wretched masses to feel “stigmatized” when they need to get their Chips Ahoy fix now, would we?
Just let those “poor” people stuff themselves into obesity, and then give them free healthcare to treat their obesity. It’s a cost-free and consequence-free world we live in, right?
These programs are designed and run to get and keep as many people on the government dole as possible, not to improve anything.
Chi-76– liberal can mean many things, one being open minded
Ragner-84- You hit on the head. Our country does not value education like we used to. At the top of our values, seem to be money and entertainment. It’s rather sad. Complete opposite of some Asian countries. I truly believe education is the answer to everything. Too bad our country has lost that mentality.
Did their $15,000-30,000+ also abandon them? I think not.
I recall another speech from the early 1990’s at Howard that was on C-Span where he kept asking the students “are you dead?”
Ragnar says:
August 6, 2013 at 11:52 am
Bill Cosby said it about 20 years ago, so he got thrown off the race bus.
http://www.villagevoice.com/2004-05-18/news/ebonics-weird-names-500-shoes/1/
I’m from the Bronx, partially raised by a single parent and we were dirt poor.
What does that have to do with my success or failure? College is free for the poor in the USA. Even most poor parents will let kid plop on couch in summers when he has no place to live. After graduation kid gets a job, saves 2-3 years and moves on up like George Jefferson.
Maybe it is the kids fault. BTW teachers area roadblock to success. Not a reason for success.
Also most folks dont want success. I did a scientific experiment once. I had a staff member assigned to me once as his performance manager/mentor. He did not work for me. I was to collect his reviews for various consulting engagements and advocate for him with his Partner, Senior Manager, Manager and HR. He was passed up for promotion twice and three strikes you are out.
I took him on and said do everything I tell you for one year and I pretty much can guarantee a promotion. So one day he comes to me the manager accused me of this and than what ever. I go the girl is 27 and she is irrational as her Dad just died and she is working long hours and has no life or boyfriend and she moved to NY from the midwest a few years ago so who knows if she has friends.
So I go apoligize to her even though it is her fault, after he yelled at me he said yes. Then I go you are good looking young and single and 29, talk to her about her problems. He is like what about my problems. I go you dont have problems if she dont have problems. He ends up listening to her women shit for a few hours a day for a few days and then she was happy again.
So a few weeks later promotion time comes and I am about to do my pitch. Mind you this girl was girl who faught against his promotion, she starts arguing about why he should be promoted before I could open my mouth. Partner goes do you agree and I say yes, HR put it in the book
So I get to break him the news and he is happy, next week I take him out for drinks and he said he appreciated I made him manager but he does not like the way it happened. I then say well now that you are manager you get a new performance manager anyhow but I can still mentor you. He said no thanks. I am glad I got promoted but weird I just do what you tell me none of it is work related and yet I get promoted. Last I looked on linked in he never got promoted again.
Bottom line most folks want to do what they want to do. Most folks success in life or failure in life is all about inflexibility. The street kids, they want to have baggy pants, tattoos, do bad in school, commit minor crimes, get girls pregant, do drugs that is fine. But on other hand it is a life of welfare.
Anyone of them if they did exactly what I told them within five years would be rich. But dressing like an oriole, respecting elders, kissing butt, doing well in school, networking and saying yes maamm and no sire aint in their dna.
I could get them to do it like I got that guy at old job to do it but it would not last for long. They dont want to be an uncle tom or a cracker and sadly uncle toms and crackers like our Prez or CEO of American Express or CEO or Xerox are the black folk who get ahead. Even Jay Z and Beonce, their whole audience is white and sponsors our white. Want street cred be flavor flav he still lives in projects in bronx and is pretty broke considering how many albums he has
(Wow maybe I should try for a full sentence this time):
Did their $15,000-30,000+ property tax bills also abandon the public school systems?
joyce says:
August 6, 2013 at 11:58 am
Did their $15,000-30,000+ also abandon them? I think not.
michael (75)-
So you are against the Amerikan university system in its current form? I agree with you.
“Any education institution that is run for profit, I want no part of. Over the years it will lead us to an even worst position that we are currently in.”
Happy 86- I agree our welfare state has grown out of control. Problem is, people wouldn’t need these services if there was some actual job creation going on. Business owners and CEO’s who hate welfare should do something about it. Higher someone instead of sitting on immense cash reserves, all in the name for the search for never ending profit growth, which is not possible. The minute you higher someone for a decent wage, is one less person leaching as opposed to contributing.
Michael,
If you want to call bullshit on something, start with #91
Michael is such a master of the straw man, I’m tempted to call troll on him.
Scrapple-93- I’m not against it but you see the negatives that come with private education. If we didn’t have public universities, most would not be able to afford college. It’s insane how much a school like Yale or Northeastern charge these days, but that is what happens with private education. It becomes unattainable for the majority, which is not what education is about It is wrong for financial aid (tax money) to go to religious and wealthy colleges like Harvard, but it’s worst (I think) to only allow rich kids to go these schools. Pick your poison.
Michael (79):
Seriously, the rich families abandoned the school system? What a crock. I drive by the high school every day. I see the rich kids and the poor kids walking to school. The only difference is the path they take to get there. The poor kids come from one side of town and the rich kids from the other. Do you really think all well to do kids to the Montclair Kimberely Academy? No way, it costs 30k/year. Do not try to generalize the fact that people who make a great living are leaving the rest of society behind and not pay their fare share.
Michael (97)-
You are a troll.
Specious argument; blame Congress and the current administration for creating a really poor business climate. The cash is not in the U.S…….I have argued on these threads for several years, the trapped cash should be repatriated through a corporate tax holiday? A gift to the U.S. based corporations? Absolutely. Unfair? Ok, sure. However, when faced with the issues we have, and the inability to use sharp economic policy to police the business world, “blunt force” instruments (i.e. tax holiday) are the best solution. The correlation maybe on 40-50% effective, but I am comfortable giving away part of the store, so that the rest of the population can benefit from the bulk of the store.
BTW – Bernanke has no business trying to use monetary policy in lieu of Congress’ clear mandate and obligation to enact fiscal policy.
Michael says:
August 6, 2013 at 12:02 pm
Happy 86- I agree our welfare state has grown out of control. Problem is, people wouldn’t need these services if there was some actual job creation going on. Business owners and CEO’s who hate welfare should do something about it. Higher someone instead of sitting on immense cash reserves, all in the name for the search for never ending profit growth, which is not possible. The minute you higher someone for a decent wage, is one less person leaching as opposed to contributing.
And the outrageously high taxes in Glen Ridge go to…????
Fund Newark and Patterson schools.
Ban overnight on street parking.
“If you have a better idea to helping contain the ghetto from spreading besides through education, I’m open for ideas and would love to hear them.”
All hype 98- Maybe I’m wrong, I was making assumptions about Montclair based on the school demographics and test scores. Montclair has very progressive population, so you might be right.
He is right.
Michael 103 – He is right. Michael 79 – Lil Gator started school in Montclair before we left for GR. Plenty of wealthy kids are still in the Montclair schools – at least at the elementary level. In fact one of the kids in Lil Gator’s kindergarten cohort at his school was Yogi Berra’s granddaughter. Another kid lived in a giant house in the estate section of town and when I asked his mother where her son was going to camp for the summer, she complained that her husband was forcing her to spend the summer at their place on Martha’s Vineyard…on the beach. Oh and she flies the family up there on her own plane.
The percentage of poorer kids as a whole increases as you get from the elementary school to the high school.
Chi-100- great post-that’s what I’m talking about!!!! Something needs to be done, can’t keep going down this road of businesses scared to invest in our country. Also, believe we should use tariffs as a tool to help this fix this country’s mistake with experimenting with globalization. Time to get this country back to where it was. Where someone at the bottom knew that if they worked hard and went to college, society would keep its end of the bargain with a career to be proud of. Not the current state, in which college graduates are forced to steal crappy jobs that used to be occupied by high school graduates.
105- it was my fault for looking at it from the high school level. Do you think that they keep them in the elementary schools because the elementary schools are isolated to neighborhoods as opposed to the high school which encompasses the whole town?
I know clifton, follows similar story.
I think that as kids grow older into middle school and high school age, the causes for the achievement gap become more pronounced and the families of higher performing kids realize that more and resources begin going to closing the gap as their kids get older. Lots more shrinks and civil service people needed at the high school (think drug counseling) than at the grade schools.
And I can’t stress enough how much better GR is run than Montclair. And it has nothing to do with demographics. GR has no ratables whatsoever. Montclair has them and squanders the revenue.
102-Brian, that’s too funny!!! Truth is, my town (wayne) employs that exact same tactic combined with high taxes. Why do you think 9 out of 10 people in Wayne are white. If they lowered taxes, the smaller houses would be taken over by the unwanted demographics, which would cause the white flight, and the end of Wayne.
And I know I am going to hear a few people tell me that high property taxes as a way to keep people out is myth. You are crazy if you think otherwise. How can poor person afford large property tax bills? Combine that with no on street parking to combat the poor’s strategy of having multiple families in a house to be able afford an area, and you have the keys to how Wayne stays predominately white in a country where white communities are going the way of the dinosaur.
Montclair neighborhood where 4 were shot is becoming more violent, residents say
http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2013/08/neighbors_say_montclair_neighborhood_where_4_were_shot_is_becoming_more_violent.html#incart_river_default
MONTCLAIR — Four people were shot this morning in a section of Montclair where neighbors say ongoing violence has been a problem for several months.
The Essex County Prosecutor’s office said three men and a woman were shot on Mission Street around 1 a.m. today. The woman is in serious condition, Essex County Chief of Detectives Anthony Ambrose said. The men have non-life threatening injuries.
It’s the third shooting in the neighborhood since June 1.
Rev. Clenard Childress Jr., a pastor at New Cavalry Baptist Church, said, “It’s obviously ongoing; it’s probably the same people.”
An 18-year-old who refused to give his name said two of the victims fled after being shot and collapsed in front of his house on Mission Street. The other two victims were found in the vicinity where they were shot.
There were blood stains on the street and on the railing outside the house where the shooting took place. A woman who lives in the house said her son is a friend of one of the victims.
“Over the past two years, it’s just getting horrible,” said Ta-Tanisha Harrell, who said she moved from East Orange so her children could live in a safer environment. “If I wanted to be in the ‘hood, I would have stayed in the ‘hood.”
If I wanted to be in the ‘hood, I would have stayed in the ‘hood. Instead, the ‘hood came to me – neighbor Ta-Tanisha Harrell”Instead, the ‘hood came to me.”
The violence is due to gang fights that have been coming into the neighborhood from out of town, said Trevon Alexander, a 16-year-old who lives a street over from the shooting scene.
“It’s just a bunch of gang warfare — Crips, Bloods,” Alexander said.
The teen said he knows the girl who was shot and that he’s praying for her recovery.
“I’ll visit her family later,” he said.
On June 1, there was another shooting on Mission Street, neighbors said. Two men have been charged in connection with that shooting.
Three of the victims in this morning’s shooting are from Montclair and the fourth is from Newark, according to police.
Police currently have no description of the suspect.
Michael,
You need to start reading the NJREP archives. The overnight parking thing has been covered many times before.
Make NJ “shall issue” concealed carry state.
“If you have a better idea to helping contain the ghetto from spreading besides through education, I’m open for ideas and would love to hear them.”
More public security cameras.
“If you have a better idea to helping contain the ghetto from spreading besides through education, I’m open for ideas and would love to hear them.”
What is to stop folks from paving over front lawn and parking there?
The Hamptons first did the overnight no parking rule it justed ended up with ten cars on front lawn.
They later made it number of bedrooms plus one car. We had a five bedroom house so we had six cars in driveway and two hidden in garage. Even a multigeneration family does not need more than eight cars.
Michael says:
August 6, 2013 at 12:48 pm
And I know I am going to hear a few people tell me that high property taxes as a way to keep people out is myth. You are crazy if you think otherwise. How can poor person afford large property tax bills? Combine that with no on street parking to combat the poor’s strategy of having multiple families in a house to be able afford an area, and you have the keys to how Wayne stays predominately white in a country where white communities are going the way of the dinosaur.
“More public security cameras.”
Nice, in practice, but then someone has to monitor them.
The building department.
116.JJ says:
August 6, 2013 at 12:58 pm
What is to stop folks from paving over front lawn and parking there?
The Hamptons first did the overnight no parking rule it justed ended up with ten cars on front lawn.
They later made it number of bedrooms plus one car. We had a five bedroom house so we had six cars in driveway and two hidden in garage. Even a multigeneration family does not need more than eight cars.
After a gang shooting, many locals clam up and don’t talk about what happened to the police for fear of retribution. Camera’s don’t care.
117.Libtard in Union says:
August 6, 2013 at 12:58 pm
“More public security cameras.”
Nice, in practice, but then someone has to monitor them.
Aren’t cameras more about apprehension after the fact versus prevention through monitoring. The exception is a potential perp deterred because of the presence of cameras, or a perp apprehended and unable to become a serial perp….
Libtard in Union says:
August 6, 2013 at 12:58 pm
“More public security cameras.”
Nice, in practice, but then someone has to monitor them.
Aug. 6 (Bloomberg) — Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority plans to sell $600 million of revenue debt tomorrow with an initial yield of 7.15 percent on 30-year securities, according to three people familiar with the sale who requested anonymity before the pricing is final.The sale would be the first for a borrower from the commonwealth since November. The agency, which runs the largest U.S. public-power system, is rated one step above junk by Moody’s Investors Service.The extra yield above benchmark debt on bonds maturing in July 2043 would be 2.58 percentage points, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Is Doral involved?
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=DRL+Basic+Chart&t=my
Michael (111)-
High taxes are a function of corruption and mismanagement. Period.
The most exclusive townships in central and western NJ (Bedminster, Peapack, etc) have the lowest property taxes. Townships full of rich people will forego spending that they see as frivolous.
“Townships full of rich people will forego spending that they see as frivolous.”
IE, Glen Ridge won’t use tax dollars to turf the main athletic field, even though it’s used 800 hours per year and requires 100 to 150K in maintenance per year due to it’s overuse. Town also has no long-term debt. Montclair has 220 million.
You don’t find a lot of white guilt/placenta encapsulator types in Peapack, either.
I’d love to go on Montklair Patch today, but I got banned a long time ago.
Scrapple-123- lol yea western and central jersey, where you have to already have money, there are no jobs for a large poor/immigrant population there. Wayne, Bergen County, and Essex county are far too close to these large poor/immigration hubs. Don’t worry, Morris county is on its way there judging by their tax increases compared to the rest of Jersey’s counties. Montville’s taxes are almost on par with Wayne’s now. 15 years ago big difference between the two, not not so much.
Enough already. I’m now going to stop feeding the troll.
Montclair has the ratables but has mission street and several other problems that the whity glen ridge does not have. GR only survives because it does not have to deal with such problems or their magnitude.
Yet even if as you say rich abandon secondary education montclair still manages to have lower taxes and better scores (once you factor minorities) from elementary to high school than glen ridge.
You can bash Montclair daily -I am sure they are all corrupted-but comparing it to glen ridge is silly.
124-wouldn’t it make sense in the long run to put turf down. Don’t get me wrong, I love grass fields!! With inflation, the maintenance costs will rise as opposed to a one time fee for turf. How is Glen Ridge being financially smart with that move?
It’s like comparing renting to owning a home. Owning blows away renting long term, due to inflation. Your mortgage payment never goes up. So eventually, even with high property taxes, you make off with owning. For example, a house purchased in 1970 in Ridgewood for 60,000 made off like a bandit long term when that same house is now worth 1 million in 1999, due to inflation. Renters are not protected from inflation.
Chifi,
That’s the speech I was thinking of.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/71120-1
Anon- 129- I agree, Montclair is a wonderful city with beautiful tree lined streets to go with an ideal downtown. It has a great history to boot!! Comparing Glen Ridge to Montclair is like comparing apples to oranges. Glen Ridge doesn’t have to deal with the spillover from Newark, like Montclair does. Only thing they have in common are the wealthy at the top.
Asking home prices are now starting to lose steam as mortgage rates rise, inventory expands, and investor demand declines. Nationally, asking prices dropped 0.3 percent in July – the first month-over-month (M-o-M) decline since November 2012.
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2013/08/trulia-asking-home-price-slowdown-amid.html
#116…towns can restrict percentage of land that is built upon or covered by asphalt, etc…otherwise you get Staten Island
#38….Thanks!!
#101…your property taxes (except for county) stay in GR…you are getting no state aid most likely and that puts all school burden on you, where as Newark et al, get full state aid to cover student cost via the state income tax
Most towns do not have rules on books regarding how much of front yard can be paved. Even when they do I see people do a circular driveway with white gravel over non concrete sections.
Also is there a rule grass has to be grass?
Salt water is bad for grass, houses near water folks want it maint free. Lot of homes by the water now using astro turf in lawns. Cant they just park on that?.
My one hampton house was a wide ranch with grass on sides. At night we used to drive across grass and put 3-5 cars in backyard so cops cant see them from street.
Some towns have rules that cant be enforced. Most people just follow them.
Brian says:
August 6, 2013 at 1:03 pm
The building department.
116.JJ says:
August 6, 2013 at 12:58 pm
What is to stop folks from paving over front lawn and parking there?
The Hamptons first did the overnight no parking rule it justed ended up with ten cars on front lawn.
They later made it number of bedrooms plus one car. We had a five bedroom house so we had six cars in driveway and two hidden in garage. Even a multigeneration family does not need more than eight cars.
Another Episode of Mr. Bebo Softee (clot Edition):
B’klyn man busted for selling popsicles with cocaine, Oxy on the side during ‘Operation Snow Cone’
By JOSH SAUL
A Brooklyn man was busted for selling more than just popsicles from his Bay Ridge ice cream truck.
Authorities say Mina Gatas, 20, was nabbed by undercover cops for allegedly selling cocaine and Oxycodone along with frozen treats out of his truck parked at Owl Head’s Pier near a city park in Bay Ridge.
The Brooklyn DA called the sting “Operation Snow Cone” arresting Gatas last night after he allegedly sold cocaine from his truck to cops.
The sweet-selling dealer also allegedly sold to the undercover at a Bay Ridge deli where he worked, the spokesman said.
“Our undercover officer was doing an investigation and he struck up a conversation with the defendant in the deli,” said a spokesman for District Attorney Charles Hynes. “The defendant told him, ‘I can get you narcotics.’ They exchanged phone numbers and set up a buy.”
The undercover then allegedly bought cocaine from Gatas at the deli and out of the ice cream truck, which Gatas partly owns. Both times the undercover paid $825 for 15 grams of cocaine but actually received just under 13 grams, the spokesman said.
Gatas was arraigned this morning and bail was set at $10,000.
Michael 105 – Montclair doesn’t have neighborhood schools. Montclair has a magnet system. That’s Montclair 101…so don’t espouse opinions on a school system that you know nothing about.
Montclair has had a magnet system since the 1970s in order to desegregate the school system.
http://www.montclair.k12.nj.us/Article.aspx?Id=671
http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/montclair_focus_group_report_2010_0310.pdf
Sunday night in SoHo I saw a truck selling pot lollypops on the side of the road, and they had a sign for it.
Here’s what the MPS would look like if the district returned to neighborhood schools:
School % Whites % African Americans % Hispanics % Asians
Edgemont Montessori School 72.19% 22.11% 5.70% 0.00%
Rand School 38.14% 48.29% 4.43% 9.14%
Bradford School 91.97% 2.43% 5.60% 0.00%
Hillside School 56.41% 33.18% 8.14% 1.66%
Watchung School 58.61% 28.60% 8.70% 3.02%
Northeast School 82.81% 5.14% 6.13% 5.93%
Nishuane School 10.50% 77.43% 7.92% 3.27%
All my “rich” friends in Montclair make a point of sending their kids to Montclair HS
#135..don’t know about most…but my town does!
OK I have a real estate question!! Please bring your A game to answer it.
I have a winter tenant about to sign a lease for my place.
He is calling us tonight and he had one question, which I have no clue what the answer is.
The place has electric heat/ac. Specifically it has a brand new American Standard (Trane) Outdoor Heat Pump/AC. 4TWB3030
The guy is worried electric heat if very expensive. The unit is brand new and he asked me how much it costs to run for month as he may want us to take a bit off rent.
I have no clue, it is a 1,200 square food space. Is it a lot more money than gas or oil I dont know. I dont talk to prior owner and even if I did he never used the unit as it was put in after sandy.
What do you think electric will cost and how efficient is it vs oil or gas? What should I tell him?
http://www.bbheating.com/custres/documents/4TWB3030-SUB-102-1.01.pdf
You guys are right, I know nothing about the Montclair school system as I previously stated. I was only make assumptions based on evidence that I had looked at. Never said it was fact. My apologies.
From the sound of it, Montclair is even more progressive than I had previously thought. I have much admiration of “old money” not turning their backs on their own community, which seems to be the calling card or mo of “new money”. Much respect to these individuals trying to help instead of turning their backs on people of lesser means or of different color.
#39 Michael
And then when the game is over they head to the Gulch. When they get there they realize, there is no one to make drinks or cook food. That’s when it dawns what they just had and what they just lost. “They paved paradise and put in a parking lot!”
An except from my dissertaion, “Who shovels sh1t in the Gulch?”
Michael…Anon. I’ve lived in Montclair for 16 years. I know how things work there and there ARE a lot of things one can compare between Montclair and Glen Ridge. Yes it’s true Glen Ridge does not have the three block neighborhood where gangland has moved in (despite the warnings over the last decade that the Sabagh has continued to deny vehemently). If there is anything killing Montclair though, it’s not the diversity (that ultra libs love to triumph) although Montclair is extremely segregated. It’s that one out of every five dollars collected goes to paying the debt service which has built up over the years on absolutely unnecessary town expenditures. Mostly, relating to the schools and white guilt. The last, but not least expenditure was the granddaddy of them all. The Bullock School. It was supposed to be paid for by the State. When the state school construction fund went bankrupt, the town decided to pay for it themselves. They built what will be a 40 million dollar school that they didn’t need.
But getting back to comparing the two towns. The housing stock is awfully similar. And there are plenty of folks who would buy into the placenta encapsulation in Glen Ridge too. Not everyone drives a Prius or Outback in GR, but plenty do. The biggest difference between GR and Montclair from the taxpayer point of view is that my services are excellent in the Ridge. In Montclair, my curbs were smashed with metal sticking out of them. I would get fined when a commuter through a soda can in my trash. Yet my trash collection was horrific. It’s a good thing Montclair is paying 6 figures for an environmental coordinator. But blame it on the diversity. That town is run as if Krugman was mayor.
FabMax,
Typical clown comment of someone pretending to know something about a book they never read or understood.
You go beyond just setting up and knocking down strawmen, you lefties are now doing airtight skipole jobs on multiple strawmen.
#51 Lib,
Corruption in the allocation and use of funds is a separate discussion from the need for the actual service. I am all for stopping corruption and accountability for actions. Abbot districts are a good example in this argument. There is a clear need for the educational services. The delivery (by the private sector contracts) is full of corruption and cronyism. When “for profit” is brought into the equation, the service becomes secondary. Same with vouchers, there is greater profits to be made in educating the smartest and easy to handle kids. That’s all that vouchers do, it allows the charters to select the kids they want to teach. If you have a voucher in the projects, its still not getting you into Hoboken Charter outside of a lottery win. The net effect of vouchers is to pull further funding from the public system and still leave it with all the problem students to handle.
144
Fabius,
Isn’t your real problem with the Gulch the fact that there will be much less to tax when they’re gone? Seriously, I do not put much stock into your favorite author, Rand, and I have never read the entire book (any of hers) only excerpts. But if the joke is on them in the end (going to the gulch without their servants), then what do you care? Why not wish them well?
Hi folks,
I have few questions. I lurk here a lot. I need to some howtos.
We are thinking of buying a new construction home. There seems to be lot going on in Monroe.
Can anybody give a pros and cons of buying new construction?
anyinfo will be appreciated. Please realize this will be the first time i will be buying a home. So really have very little clue on home buying.
newbie.
“From the sound of it, Montclair is even more progressive than I had previously thought.”
You have no idea. Unfortunately, most of these progressive ideas are excellent in theory but fall apart when applied. Like trying to turn Montclair into a bike and walk-centric community like Berkely or Burlington Vermont. Montclair doesn’t exactly have CA weather or the lack of car traffic that Burlington has. The last mayor was so hell bent on biking that he eliminated a ton of parking spots. Now fewer people frequent the restaurants and stores on Bloomfield Avenue. It also doesn’t help that he raised the parking rates tremendously. Half of Bloomfield Avenue is vacant. But it MUST be the diversity. Not the largest PILOT that Montclair ever negotiated and then couldn’t collect becuase of a loophole that the developer of the Siena was able to exploit. Montclair people think their sh1t don’t stink so the townsfolk choose to ignore the many problems which the town has. Whenever a candidate for council speaks the truth, they lose. People prefer to smile and say, “we’re diverse and accepting.” When in reality, they should be saying, “I am lucky I can afford to pay for years and years of white guilt.”
“The delivery (by the private sector contracts) is full of corruption and cronyism.”
So you delegate authority (the legal use of force & violence) to an entity, the state, and then are surprised when they sell said authority to the highest bidder? Yes, they are often enticed by outside parties with bribes etc… but doesn’t it take two parties for a bribe to happen? The giver and receiver. Maybe delegating authority to stragners was the problem in the first place.
“When “for profit” is brought into the equation, the service becomes secondary.”
Why is it industries with little govt interference, the firms have to actually respond to consumers needs and wants?
Fabius Maximus says:
August 6, 2013 at 2:47 pm
#51 Lib,
Corruption in the allocation and use of funds is a separate discussion from the need for the actual service. I am all for stopping corruption and accountability for actions. Abbot districts are a good example in this argument. There is a clear need for the educational services. The delivery (by the private sector contracts) is full of corruption and cronyism. When “for profit” is brought into the equation, the service becomes secondary. Same with vouchers, there is greater profits to be made in educating the smartest and easy to handle kids. That’s all that vouchers do, it allows the charters to select the kids they want to teach. If you have a voucher in the projects, its still not getting you into Hoboken Charter outside of a lottery win. The net effect of vouchers is to pull further funding from the public system and still leave it with all the problem students to handle.
Congratulations, Mr (ms?) Newbie. Do you know anything about construction techniques? If not, please get educated. There is a lot to learn.
Lesson 1: Stop by often, have camera in hand.
#100 chi
And as I have pointed out over the years the repatriation is a give away with no return. The CBO did an analysis of the last repartiation holiday and the net result was no jobs, lots of bonuses and stock buy backs.
http://www.offthechartsblog.org/cbo-ranks-repatriation-holiday-dead-last-in-job-creation/
I have always advocated a simple solution to the repatriation issue. Have a 2-5% levy per year on the cash held offshore. You can offset the levy when you eventually repatriate and pay taxes on the money.
152. Do i have to visit often even if it is big builders like Toll, pulte, Hovnovian(sp?)or Hallmark?
#146 Ranger
There has always been an open invitation to sit down and debate that book. I read it in my teens and my initial view still holds today. What if the workers did the same thing, shut up shop and disappeared. How long before the wheel stops then. The workers are not in it for profit, they are in it for survival. The “productive citizens” do not produce, they feed money into a slot machine that is always geared to pay out the labors of others.
Newbie…yes. It keeps the builders honest. They will take shortcuts.
As for comparing new vs. buying old. If home is well-maintained, an older home will actually be cheaper to maintain. Everything that might have gone wrong with the house has and has been corrected. When you buy a new home, there will be cracks, leaky pipes (bad welds, seals), etc. I think both have their pluses and minuses.
JJ – I would tell him in the colder months more perhaps double the electric bill.
For electrical systems how many watts per hour is key.
Dunno if this helps but here is a simple formula.
(Wattage ÷ 1000 × Hours Used Per Day) = Daily Kilowatt-hour (kWh) consumption
For 1200 sq ft house say 5 with heated rooms using 1500 watts per day per room would estimate to $337 a month.
Feel free to play around with the formula.
(1500 watts ÷ 1000watts per kWh)X(10 hours)X(5 heaters)X(30 days per month)X(.15 cents per kWh) = $337.50
You think Montclair is broke? Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel released the city’s second Annual Financial Forecast on Wednesday. Not only does the report predict a $369 million financial shortfall for the city’s operating “budget” in 2014, but it also predicts a shortfall of more than $1 billion by the year 2015.
Sometimes the major problems are inherent at design stage. E.G., Pulte built massive 55+ community in Somerset County where my MIL lives. Almost all homes have heating problems. Tenants complaining left and write. Then again, I would never build nor live in a slab floored house with forced hot air. In Florida, maybe. In NJ, no way.
Hint: try, if you can, to heat with anything but forced air. Electricity is out, of course. All other choices are more expensive: hw baseboard or radiant. These are more expensive options of course, and if the builder is selling strongly, he will say f-with-u.
Too Brother homes are pre-fabs, for the most part. Their homes in Greenwich, NJ are so thin walled, that you can put your fist through from the outside.
Bottom line is does the builder perceive today as good times or bad?. Bad times – they will bend over. Good times – bohica.
(159) write=right. I tried ebonics and failed.
#148 Joyce
My problem with the Gulch and the “Nompound” concept is that they destined for immediate failure. With the former, you have a group of people who have used money for everything, taken to a place were money has no value and are told to survive. Unless the develop a communal living arrangement they won’t last long. Its like asking the question could Brooke Astor boil an egg if her life had depended up it. With the latter, placing a load of type A people with their gold and armaments behind the walls of a compound is never going to end well. There is no way their would be enough trust between the parties to make it work.
I would call Rand an interesting author, but never a favorite.
#155
Holy crap. I just read the last two sentences and could only be reminded of Karl Marx.
#151 Joyce
And that is why my preferred vendor of public services is the government. A very interesting read on this topic is “Drift” by Rachel Maddow (shock horror). If you can put on the political blinkers, she covers the rise of the service industry surrounding the military very well. Everything has been outsourced from feeding the troops to doing the laundry. All for profit.
JJ-Electric heat..I had that in my condo…check with utility, there is usually a discount rate in the winter for heating with electricity..makes it a little more palatable.
I’ve noticed that all of the vinyl siding is sagging on all of the houses in my sister’s Toll Brothers development. Also, the metal trim/flashing used on all of the garage doors is all rusting. If it’s on one home, it does not look that bad. But when every single home in the development suffers from the same problems, it’s pretty ugly. I’m still super happy with my GR home. I have yet to have to call a plumber/electrician. In my multi, the plumber is considering renting from me as he’s there so often.
And my point is your option is also fit for corruption. So I do not choose A or B, but another way.
Just for fun, check this out: (this is not the other way I was talking about, but interesting nonetheless) Main take away = zero long-term liabilities.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/24/business/a-georgia-town-takes-the-peoples-business-private.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Fabius Maximus says:
August 6, 2013 at 3:44 pm
#151 Joyce
And that is why my preferred vendor of public services is the government. A very interesting read on this topic is “Drift” by Rachel Maddow (shock horror). If you can put on the political blinkers, she covers the rise of the service industry surrounding the military very well. Everything has been outsourced from feeding the troops to doing the laundry. All for profit.
Really think we have to stop feeding the troll.
Thanks for all that great electric advice. OMG what a calculation to figure out, SEER ratings, watts, days below 32, number of sides of house attached, amount of showers taken etc.
Now on to last leg. What type of stuff should I ask the winter tenant for. Reference, License, Credit Check, Deposit etc. I dont know.
Summer folks paid 100% up front with deposit so little less risky. This guy is moving in for eight months.
#166 joyce
An interesting concept. I would say that the small size and high net worth help. It would be interesting to start running the numbers. It does raise some questions. How happy the residents will be when 911 is outsourced to Bangalore.
#167 Clot
Whats on Zero Hedge today?
JJ did you hold your nose and pull the handle on Jets season tickets for this year. From the sounds from training camp, its going to be an ugly year for the fans.
The article did say that the longest contract they would ever sign with a vendor is 1 year. So, if the govt is responding to the individuals needs & wants, they would fire a vendor that outsourced dispatch to India.
Fabius Maximus says:
August 6, 2013 at 4:12 pm
#166 joyce
An interesting concept. I would say that the small size and high net worth help. It would be interesting to start running the numbers. It does raise some questions. How happy the residents will be when 911 is outsourced to Bangalore.
165. When was your house constructed?
I am thinking that right now all the good workers are looking for jobs and hence we should see decent construction. I have seen some homes built during boom time and it is bad.
BTW, price quote difference in some these developements is a lot?
Price between 2010 and now is almost $75k. I am assuming 2010 was very depressed.
To continue:
Which brings me back to the point that the govt is the focal point; people have delegated authority to them and have given them a veil of legitmacy in the use of force. If some private person is forcing you buy their service or stealing from you, we all know that’s inherently wrong. But if the govt does it, it appears legitimate (to the sheep).
Of course. I already sold Steelers.
The worse the Jets is the better time to buy tickets. I added two seats in section 337 row one around 40 yard line visitors side.
Generally in football if you can get a row one lowest row possible on visitors side in a non premium seat it does not matter teams record at all.
In old stadium I had 40 yard line row one visitors side (actually row two as they had a front row club jammed in front of seats in row one) Man I could sell those seats all night long. Right behind visitors bench other team is buying.
I also have my pair an actual row one sideline on visitors side field level. There are like only 5k “money’ seats in stadium out of 86k. Jets tickets are liking buying penny stocks and Giants tickets are like blue chip stocks. Jets tickets you can still make money you just have to fight for best seats and then make sure they are all sold before Holloween cause come November they are worthless.
Fabius Maximus says:
August 6, 2013 at 4:15 pm
JJ did you hold your nose and pull the handle on Jets season tickets for this year. From the sounds from training camp, its going to be an ugly year for the fans.
Ouch, from CNBC – And we’re sure these are the people we want to run the mortgage securitization market?
DOJ files civil suit against Bank of America
The U.S. government on Tuesday filed two civil lawsuits against Bank of America for what the Justice Department and securities regulators said was a fraud on investors involving $850 million of residential mortgage-backed securities.
The Justice Department and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed the parallel suits in U.S. District Court in Charlotte, according to the court filings.
The securities date to about January 2008, the government said, putting them just at the beginning of the global financial crisis.
Bank of America responded to the lawsuits with a statement: “These were prime mortgages sold to sophisticated investors who had ample access to the underlying data, and we will demonstrate that.”
“The loans in this pool performed better than loans with similar characteristics originated and securitized at the same time by other financial institutions. We are not responsible for the housing market collapse that caused mortgage loans to default at unprecedented rates and these securities to lose value as a result.”
CBO?……which party was in charge of that analysis? Terrible source.
2-5% Levy…based on what? Who has jurisdiction on that? You want companies to en masse leave the country? The Elite 140 are barred from making such naïve comments…..
Fabius Maximus says:
August 6, 2013 at 3:01 pm
The CBO did an analysis of the last repartiation holiday and the net result was no jobs, lots of bonuses and stock buy backs.
I have always advocated a simple solution to the repatriation issue. Have a 2-5% levy per year on the cash held offshore. You can offset the levy when you eventually repatriate and pay taxes on the money.
Newbie…House was built during late 90s semi boom (I think).
JJ: I run a credit report. Before the rental market went crazy making a listing agent for a rental prudent, I would have the tenant run a free credit report at the many free credit report sites. Maybe check a few references too. Was always good enough for me. Also, verify employment.
JJ: why go to the game when you can get FOYP?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn5zytfm9No
Why would anyone abandon public schools?
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/florida-school-bus-driver-draws-flak-breaking-fight-article-1.1418996
(Scroll down for video, grab your Skittles and enjoy!)
Scrapple,
This troll likes to be fed, and refuses to take offense, unlike nasty little Flagmax or Anon the lefty. This is sort of a Pollyanna-troll. I’m betting tears come to his eyes during the 30-something hours worth of speeches at the Democratic conventions. Or even Bush Sr’s “thousand points of light” BS speech. Montclair sounds like an ideal place for his/her next move.
It’s Pat’s next trolling project…..I’ll bet the house since this blog is real estate focused….
Ragnar says:
August 6, 2013 at 6:00 pm
Scrapple,
This troll likes to be fed, and refuses to take offense, unlike nasty little Flagmax or Anon the lefty. This is sort of a Pollyanna-troll. I’m betting tears come to his eyes during the 30-something hours worth of speeches at the Democratic conventions. Or even Bush Sr’s “thousand points of light” BS speech. Montclair sounds like an ideal place for his/her next move.
Inflation…?
Additionally, Cedar Grove renewed a five-year contract by Joseph Smentkowski Inc. to pick-up the town’s solid waste. According to Tucci, the Jersey City-based hauler is charging $1.9 million – $467,745 less than it’s previous contract, which was awarded in 2008. – See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/verona-cedargrove/218540171_Cedar_Grove_Council_looks_at__76K_in_road__pool_improvements.html?c=y&page=1#sthash.EP7TMS9K.dpuf
[180] chifi,
As much as it pains me to say it I agr, . . I ag . . ., I . . AGREE (ack, choke, spit) with Fabius on the repatriation measure.
God, that hurt.
[184] Ragnar
So long as he stays classy, I have no problem with Michael making his case. Aside from some early deviance, he has taken the high road. If we feel he is deluded, point out why. If he feels we are deluded, let him make the case.
It would be a nice change to argue with a lefty that doesn’t question ones intelligence for questioning his reasoning.
[162] theo
I had the same thought.
Had primary house inspection on house 2 today. The inspector is repeating everything I said about the house, right down to the word “overengineered.” To be sure he found things I didn’t or couldn’t, but nothing major and a pleasant surprise for every negative one.
Appraisal and pool inspections tomorrow. If there is money coming off, this is where it will be.
I call BS. Once you’re late 90 days you fall off this stat, you’re not late, you’re in default. Show me the stat of how many Home occupiers are 4 months late.
From the AP:
TransUnion: Rate of late payments on US mortgages falls to lowest level in 5 years
Homeowners are doing a better job of making timely mortgage payments, a trend that brought down the national late-payment rate on home loans in the second quarter to the lowest level in five years.
The percentage of mortgage holders at least two months behind on their payments fell in the April-June quarter to 4.09 percent from 5.49 percent a year earlier, credit reporting agency TransUnion said Tuesday.
The latest rate also declined from 4.56 percent in the first three months of the year.
The last time the mortgage delinquency rate was lower was the third quarter of 2008, a time when home prices were sliding and the U.S. economy was in recession.
[188] …all the defaulters are still defaulting (and enjoying it), it’s just their ranks are still growing, but growing at an infinitesimally decreased rate.
EHHHH! Wrong answer JJ. That would mean 30 year mortgages for poor people and 5 year balloons for everyone else. It would still drive down prices drastically. You would be better off requiring cash only sales on residential real estate. Prices would fall further and very quickly, but just as quickly stabilize.
“Fannie and Freddie going forward should be for first time primary home buyers only. Trade up homes, flippers, vacation homes should all be private market.”
#177 Chi
“CBO?……which party was in charge of that analysis? Terrible source.”
Well there goes the last shred of your objectivity (and credibility). The CBO and GAO are probably the last bastions of truth left in Washington.
#181 Ragnar
Care to clarify “nasty”?
#184 Eddie Ray
Not surprised there is agreement, more surprised there is admission.
BearsFan: you still have time to back out…..
This is a Colts Neck Swift911 message.
The Colts Neck Police Department is currently investigating a house burglary that occurred on Richmonde Ct. last night between Midnight and 5:00am, while the homeowners were asleep in house.
Unknown Subjects used a ladder and forced entry through a screen in an open upstairs window, removed jewelry and cash, exited through same window.
1987 (183) – How can that be? Just last election the Jackson slate was telling Montclair voters that privatization wouldn’t solve Montclair”s budget woes, but shared services would. Voters were told the town would be able to make money by selling its services to neighboring towns. Essentially Montclair taxpayers would take on the financial risks of union labor contracts and rising pension costs and the other town would get services for a fixed fee. What rising costs but less revenue won’t pay down the debt? Luckily nothing has been done by the current council to expand shared services beyond the existing contract with Glen Ridge.
Incidentally that contract was renewed last year for less than the previous one. Montclair taxpayers are paying over $800/household for fire services. Glen Ridge gets the same coverage from the Montclair FD for about $250/house. It’s a great deal if you live in Glen Ridge.
http://www.northjersey.com/topstories/montclair/138023523_Montclair_to_give_Glen_Ridge__200_000__bonus__to_sign_new_fire_services_pact.html
http://www.baristanet.com/2012/01/and-the-winner-is-montclair/
[193] Fabius
You should be extremely surprised I agreed with you (in principle anyway) and utterly shocked that I admitted it.
I conceded that you have a point. savor it, you aren’t right that often.
Seconded. All opposed?
[193] Fabius
You should be extremely surprised I agreed with you (in principle anyway) and utterly shocked that I admitted it.
I conceded that you have a point. savor it, you aren’t right that often.
#196 Eddie Ray
I think you need to level set you ego a little here. Yes I will say I am surprised by your admission as you kept very quiet the last time I bought it up.
In almost 7 years of discourse, I have a fair read of your views and positions. I can place you on almost any issue including a few that would surprise people. I think the only big discussion we haven’t had yet is EITC. At some point I’m sure that will come up and that has the potential to be a classic.
As for savoring, that would imply that I need your view to validate my own position. If you have learn’t anything about me over the same period, I’m not in here to score points with my views. I put my views and arguments up to stand up on their own merits. If you agree, feel free, if you don’t step to the plate and defend the other side.
[201] Fabius
“I think you need to level set you ego a little here. Yes I will say I am surprised by your admission as you kept very quiet the last time I bought it up.”
Don’t recall seeing it actually.
“In almost 7 years of discourse, I have a fair read of your views and positions. I can place you on almost any issue including a few that would surprise people.”
It would surprise me too. Ont make the mistake of thinking I’m alway serious here.
“I think the only big discussion we haven’t had yet is EITC. At some point I’m sure that will come up and that has the potential to be a classic.”
Agreed. I’m well acquainted with demogrants in general and EITC in particular, as the EITC folks at IRS will attest.
“As for savoring, that would imply that I need your view to validate my own position.”
I think it adds tremendous value. Don’t you?
“If you have learn’t anything about me over the same period, I’m not in here to score points with my views. I put my views and arguments up to stand up on their own merits. If you agree, feel free, if you don’t step to the plate and defend the other side.”
Isnt that what we were doing?
Hi. Just wanted to get to 200 comments here. Thanks.
Nice. (201)