Struggling to get by in Jersey

From the Record:

Report: 25 percent of N.J. families are poor

Poverty levels in New Jersey are bad and getting worse, as a quarter of the state’s households now struggle to afford housing, food, medical care and other necessities, according to a new report by a leading poverty research group.

The study, released today by the Legal Services of New Jersey Poverty Research Institute, says that in one of the nation’s wealthiest states, 2.1 million people live in households that have a hard time meeting their basic needs. That number grew by about 359,000 during and after the Great Recession and now comprises 24.7 percent of New Jersey residents.

Hardest hit is Passaic County, where 37 percent of the residents are poor, followed by Cumberland, Essex and Hudson counties, while Bergen County’s rate stands at 18 percent. Even in Morris, Hunterdon and Somerset and other wealthy counties in northern New Jersey, 10 to 14 percent of the residents are poor, according to the report, which is based largely on 2011 data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The number of households having a hard time staying afloat financially highlights the underside of a state where the median household income ranked third in the country in 2011.

“The numbers are very troubling,” said Melville Miller, president of the legal services agency. “It’s very bleak. That awfulness needs the attention of society, writ large.”

The institute defined poverty as living on incomes less than twice the official poverty line. The 173-page report, the seventh annual study by the institute, goes into great detail about how the official poverty rate masks actual financial woes in New Jersey because it fails to account for the higher cost of living in a state where median home prices are twice the national average and rents are 30 percent higher.

Officially, a family of four with an income below $23,550 is considered to be in poverty, with the same figure applying throughout the country. But the report contends that New Jersey households remain poor until their incomes are at least double the official levels.

The poverty rate by the official measure stands at 10.4 percent, less than half the rate as defined by the institute.

While more people struggle to get by, the report cites major obstacles to reversing the trend, including continued high unemployment, wages that fail to keep up with inflation, a loss of middle-class jobs, a lack of low-priced housing and inadequate government aid for the poor. It notes that Superstorm Sandy made things worse by disproportionately damaging housing where lower-income households lived.

This entry was posted in Demographics, Economics, Employment, New Jersey Real Estate. Bookmark the permalink.

92 Responses to Struggling to get by in Jersey

  1. grim says:

    Counterpoint – NJ routinely ranks among the lowest poverty levels by state.

    http://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acsbr11-01.pdf

  2. grim says:

    From the WSJ:

    Loan Size to Be Cut for Fannie, Freddie

    Federal officials are preparing to reduce the maximum size of home-mortgage loans eligible for backing by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a move that is likely to face resistance from some lawmakers in Congress and the real estate industry.

    The proposed move is designed to wean the mortgage market off government support and allow the market for non-government-guaranteed mortgages to take a bigger role. But critics argue that any such move will shrink the pool of eligible home buyers, stunting the nation’s housing recovery.

    “It would be counterproductive to make changes to the loan limits before private capital is fully engaged,” said Gary Thomas, president of the National Association of Realtors.

    Currently, Fannie and Freddie Mac can back mortgages that have balances as high as $417,000 in most parts of the country and up to $625,500 in expensive housing markets, including parts of California and New York, and as much as $721,050 in Hawaii. Mortgages within the limits are called “conforming” loans; mortgages that exceed them are called “jumbo” mortgages.

    The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie and Freddie, hasn’t announced how far it will drop the loan limits, which would take effect Jan. 1, 2014, and a spokeswoman declined to elaborate on specifics. But in a statement, the agency said a “gradual reduction in loan limits is an appropriate and effective approach to reducing taxpayers’ mortgage-risk exposure…and expanding the role of private capital in mortgage finance.”

  3. grim says:

    30yr – Any updates on the new (now old) accelerated foreclosures law for abandoned properties? I haven’t seen much of anything on this in the press lately, and I’m not quite sure I’m seeing it in the REO timelines either.

  4. Comrade Nom Deplume, knee jerk savant says:

    Super storm Sandy was racist!

  5. Still hurtling toward oblivion.

  6. anon (the good one) says:

    an unintented, positive, outcome of the W, Cheney, ignominious failed war to support big oil, Halliburton, et al, is that this time around some ppl have found their brain, at dat time Fox labelled antiamerican the few who raised concerns and this time around ppl on both sides of the aisle are stranding up againstit, one thing it puzzels me about regressives is why they don’t use the deficit as reason against wars.

  7. Fast Eddie says:

    Six f.ucking turnovers! Who are the linebackers again? And this is the worst rushing team in the league already and perhaps the worst in the history of the franchise. If you can’t hold on to the football AND can’t block, you need to go. Ok, back to real estate.

  8. chicagofinance says:

    fka….create a conclusion and twist your facts to fit it
    “The institute defined poverty as living on incomes less than twice the official poverty line.”

  9. Brian says:

    ” one thing it puzzels me about regressives is why they don’t use the deficit as reason against wars.”

    Because they don’t believe in no government at all. They believe it does have some core roles. National Defense is one of them.

  10. Comrade Nom Deplume, knee jerk savant says:

    [6] anon,

    You write like a bot. What was that?

  11. Comrade Nom Deplume, knee jerk savant says:

    [7] Eddie,

    No, lets stay on the Gints for awhile. I’m enjoying it.

  12. Fast Eddie says:

    Nom,

    18 – 1.

    Any questions? ;)

  13. JJ says:

    Jets are undefeated and Giants have not won a game this season. Lets savior the moment.

    Jets will loose soon as Rex cant stand to be underfeeted. He loves feet and being underfeeted does not feel right to him.

  14. anon (the good one) says:

    in turn, the bottom 40% fight the wars

    @SenSanders: Today, one family, the Walton family of Wal-Mart, owns more wealth than the bottom 40%.

  15. Fast Eddie says:

    @SenSanders: Today, one family, the Walton family of Wal-Mart, owns more wealth than the bottom 40%.

    What’s your point? I’m serious, I don’t get what you’re trying to say by this illustration.

  16. Juice Box says:

    Sometimes the better team does not win, case in point the Giants and Jets yesterday.

  17. Fast Eddie says:

    Sticking your hand in front of a 10 AMP, 7.25 inch circular saw could result in the loss of the hand.

  18. Juice Box says:

    re #15 – If you have no debt and have a few dollars in your pocket you have more wealth than 30% of America. It is very easy to be debt free. It is a choice however that few make, I doubt Anon wants to redistribute the debt, just the wealth.

  19. toomuchchange says:

    Something’s going to have to give.

    Prices go up, that’s a given and a fact of life. We are continuing to see the cost of some things, like housing and education, continue to rise substantially. Yet household incomes for many are staying the same or shrinking.

    It looks like this situation will continue indefinitely, more or less unchanged, for a lot of people.

    This is one of the bigger domestic problems we have avoided dealing with and it looks like we intend to continue to avoid dealing with it as long as possible. It will catch up to us eventually though.

  20. Anon E. Moose says:

    Anon [14];

    That is so odd and downright inequitable, considering how each and every one of those 40% built a world-beating distribution and retail network employing millions… Oh, you mean they haven’t?

  21. JJ says:

    Jets Superbowl in NJ in 2014!!!

    Actually just hoping they somehow beat pats this week so I can unload my remaining tickets before they fall apart.

    Juice Box says:
    September 9, 2013 at 10:21 am

    Sometimes the better team does not win, case in point the Giants and Jets yesterday.

  22. Wake me up when my invitation to anon and Bernie Sanders’ wedding comes.

  23. Juice Box says:

    re # 19 – Workweek is only what 34 hours now so what do you expect? My old man worked 2 shifts whenever there was time available to put food on the table for his family of six, my grandparents spent their days toiling in the fields to grow vegetables to feed their large family of twelve. This generation? Well they want free wifi at work so they can tweet and stare at cat pictures all day meanwhile they have only a handful of kids and want to spend the weekends watching the Mexican guys cut their grass.

    Replacing workers with machines is the future. We must save the Robots.

    http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/515926/how-technology-is-destroying-jobs/

  24. grim says:

    23 – Since when is rising productivity a bad thing? Perhaps we should go back to digging trenches by hand and powering factories by water wheel?

  25. anon (the good one) says:

    @MotherJones: Overworked America: 12 charts that will make your blood boil: http://t.co/0HmSNTHCg3

    “What’s your point? I’m serious, I don’t get what you’re trying to say by this illustration.”

  26. grim says:

    Want to create a million jobs in the US overnight?

    Make online/automatic bill-pay illegal, require physical check remittance via mail.

  27. nwnj says:

    $20 tickets were available for the first jets game through ticketmaster. It looks like the price collapse has already happened.

  28. Fast Eddie says:

    [25],

    Whah! It’s not fair! Whah! Cry my a river. You want more money? Get another job. Pushing a mop doesn’t cut it? Learn to construct whole sentences, lose 20 pounds, cover the tats and remove the piercings. Certain jobs and roles are gone, get over it. Find another one. $15 an hour for making french fries isn’t going to happen either. Sorry!

  29. Comrade Nom Deplume, unpacking boxes for the foreseeable future says:

    [12] Eddie

    Sooo 2007.

    See you in February

  30. Comrade Nom Deplume, unpacking boxes for the foreseeable future says:

    [21] JJ

    Ordinarily, I root for a man of your virility and perspicacity, and envy you for your unerring life filled with success, beautiful women, etc., but this time, I hope your investment tanks, and tanks hard.

  31. Anon E. Moose says:

    Grim [26];

    You laugh — my 50-something BIL is a sorting machine maintenance mechanic for the USPS. Hoping he sees retirement — and his pension.

  32. Anon E. Moose says:

    Con’t [31];

    I send lots of things by mail that I could send by other means — doing my bit to keep him employed. OTOH, my mortgage still gets paid electronically.

  33. nwnj says:

    Already tanked massively, you can get PSLs for +50% off. You can get individual tickets for $20.

    http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/spo/4043888124.html

    Comrade Nom Deplume, unpacking boxes for the foreseeable future says:
    September 9, 2013 at 11:50 am
    [21] JJ

    Ordinarily, I root for a man of your virility and perspicacity, and envy you for your unerring life filled with success, beautiful women, etc., but this time, I hope your investment tanks, and tanks hard.

  34. grim says:

    sorting machine maintenance mechanic

    Used to work for a joint that employed hundreds of people managing remittance in a lockbox environment. The drivers would deposit millions on dollars every day at the Federal Reserve Operations Center in East Rutherford. They would get so much mail that the post office would no longer deliver, they would need to pick up and drop off presorted mail multiple times a day. All this was with serious automation and scanning. I remember one particular Friday, heading into a holiday weekend, where they cleared out all pending work before the weekend, last run of the day to the Fed was $15 million.

    Today? I think they’ve got 7 people managing everything, end-to-end. Without automation and their “robots”, it would have taken 10x the amount of people to do the job, now, it’s gotten so “automated”, that the mail doesn’t even need to drop. Deposits are probably double or triple what they were in the late 90s, the thing is, none of them ever touch the mail.

    500 jobs became 150 jobs, which became 7 jobs. All because of something so simple as paying a bill online.

  35. grim says:

    I’m sure Stu could share some stories about the outbound print/mail business too.

    I remember being at a place that did monthly billing invoices for utilities and cable providers. They had more than a dozen mega printers, each one larger than Ford Expedition. They would print so much, and so fast, that the paper actually needed to be on rolls, loaded via forklift. Why? If it was sheet fed, the stacks would fall over under their own weight. Toner was fed in with cartridges that were like 5 gallon pails, they used chemical fusers because they ran so fast it was impossible to heat the toner up fast enough to melt it.

    Hundreds of guys working that place, every day, 3 shifts, the printers stopped only to load another roll.

    Today? Ghost town. Last I heard they had to pay to have the printers hauled away as scrap.

    All of their clients are still in business, with more subscribers today than ever before, where did the mail go? All done via online statements.

  36. Ragnar says:

    I’m in favor of as much robotics and productivity gains as is economically justifiable. Obamacare makes the economics of robots over labor even more attractive.

    People in higher income countries have to strive to move up the global economic value chain. Ideally something more economically productive than twerking on youtube or posting on social media.

  37. Libtard in Union says:

    Direct mail is only hot in the insurance (mostly healthcare) business and the jobs are still printed roll fed, but on much smaller presses that have inline binding and low temperature fusing as real ink is used. This is variable printing where each book is unique. The postage and sorting (mostly presort) is all automated. OCE is the market leader in this technology.

  38. freedy says:

    Don’t miss Newt tonight. Shameless

  39. Anon E. Moose says:

    Before ‘going postal’, my BIL worked in Hazelton PA doing pretty much the same thing (line maintenance) for one of those print/mail outfits that did utility bills (among other things). One day he was clearing an error on one of the lines, and looked down to see his uncle’s bill — name and address matched. So before starting back up, he took out a pen and jotted a quick note to say ‘hello’. Hilarity ensued… ;-)

  40. freedy says:

    in other news Olive Garden is investigation serving smaller plates to help with the lazy ,fat, and other wise healthy american public curb the carbs

  41. grim says:

    Coded many a line for the Siemens OCE 2140/2240s back in the day. In fact, I still have my plastic type/print gauge/ruler in my desk drawer…

  42. grim says:

    Here ya go:

    https://njrereport.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/gauge.jpg

    This ruler and my coding was responsible for no less than a few million pieces of junk mail in the 90s. Easily kept a dozen folks in North Jersey employed.

  43. Anon E. Moose says:

    Freedy [40];

    Makes sense – part-time workers serving parts of dinner plates. Brave new world.

  44. grim says:

    in other news Olive Garden is investigation serving smaller plates to help with the lazy ,fat, and other wise healthy american public curb the carbs

    More like investigating smaller plates (at the same price) in an attempt to enhance profitability.

    If the Olive Garden really cared about the health of its diners, they’d really just need to close down.

  45. Fast Eddie says:

    If the Olive Garden really cared about the health of its diners, they’d really just need to close down.

    Amen!

  46. Libtard in Union says:

    But they treat you like family!

    Of course, in my family, the breadsticks never made it around the table, but there was plenty of salad.

  47. Brian says:

    Want a job? Move south or west and get a job in firearms manufacturing.

    Made in America!

  48. Brian says:

    To me, it sounds similar to when most jobs in the country were somehow connected to farming. When was that…maybe 100 to 150 years ago? Now it’s mostly agri-business with the occasional small time farmer. That era came and went and the world didn’t come to an end. Don’t be such a Debbie downer.

    23.Juice Box says:
    September 9, 2013 at 11:03 am
    re # 19 – Workweek is only what 34 hours now so what do you expect? My old man worked 2 shifts whenever there was time available to put food on the table for his family of six, my grandparents spent their days toiling in the fields to grow vegetables to feed their large family of twelve. This generation? Well they want free wifi at work so they can tweet and stare at cat pictures all day meanwhile they have only a handful of kids and want to spend the weekends watching the Mexican guys cut their grass.

    Replacing workers with machines is the future. We must save the Robots.

    http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/515926/how-technology-is-destroying-jobs/

  49. Libtard in Union says:

    Plenty of job growth for dishwashers at the Olive Garden. Now there will be twice as many plates to wash.

  50. Libtard in Union says:

    In other news Gator Junior had a 5 goal game against West Orange, playing only half the game. This was their tune-up tournament. 3 tune up games in and he has 6 of the 8 teams goals. He also assisted on one (and it might have been both) of the teams other two goals. I’m waiting for the call up from the U10s. :P

  51. grim says:

    Breaking news from Olive Garden – In an attempt to make their “family style” dining even more family style, guests will now be required to wash their own dishes upon conclusion of the meal.

  52. JSMC says:

    #48

    150 years ago the industrial revolution was starting, so all those lost farming jobs just switched to factory jobs. Now, with automation getting better and more efficient, just what new industry do you see to employ half the workforce? And no, web designer won’t cut it.

  53. Brian says:

    Energy…and the quest to produce it.

    52.JSMC says:
    September 9, 2013 at 2:45 pm
    #48

    150 years ago the industrial revolution was starting, so all those lost farming jobs just switched to factory jobs. Now, with automation getting better and more efficient, just what new industry do you see to employ half the workforce? And no, web designer won’t cut it.

  54. Brian says:

    Healthcare…as fcuked up as it is in this country, there seems to be a growing middle class globally. They probably would like access to better healthcare.

    53.Brian says:
    September 9, 2013 at 3:00 pm
    Energy…and the quest to produce it.

    52.JSMC says:
    September 9, 2013 at 2:45 pm
    #48

    150 years ago the industrial revolution was starting, so all those lost farming jobs just switched to factory jobs. Now, with automation getting better and more efficient, just what new industry do you see to employ half the workforce? And no, web designer won’t cut it.

  55. grim says:

    just what new industry do you see to employ half the workforce

    The manufacture of both debt and dollars, also, don’t forget about career consumption of public subsidy … just to name a few options.

  56. Brian says:

    I heard they moved all the junk mail printers over to the federal reserve…..

    Ha ha.

    55.grim says:
    September 9, 2013 at 3:06 pm
    just what new industry do you see to employ half the workforce

    The manufacture of both debt and dollars, also, don’t forget about career consumption of public subsidy … just to name a few options.

  57. Juice Box says:

    Zimmerman is even dumber than he looks.

  58. yome says:

    Barnabas system is in the process of laying off workers. Beth Israel in Newark even laid off Doctors. Claraa Maas got rid of Managers and remaining managers will handle 2 units. This are senior workers.Must be on their late 40s ,early 50s. Hard to find a job at this age,unless you are willing to take a hair cut. Who is next?

  59. 1987 Condo says:

    #59….this is going to be more and more common going forward, the waste, inefficiency, cost or whatever you want to call it in the hospital system is a major cog of the health care cost crisis and we will start to see it being addressed. The ACA transparency requirements, as I have noted before, are going to bring to light the hospital systems that are really out of wack….this is going to be interesting….

  60. Juice Box says:

    # 60 – There will be death panels with Bebos in-charge before they ever wring out the waste.

  61. Dan in debt says:

    NSA!!!! NSA!!!! NSA!!!!! Maybe no the NSA but same idea. Robots and data centers.

    http://www.northjersey.com/news/222958351_Tearing_it_Down_in_Totowa.html

  62. Dan in debt says:

    They jack up the minimum wage to $15 and you may start seeing robots at the fast food places.

  63. JJ says:

    I am not looking forward to robotic rubs and tugs

  64. Libtard at home says:

    Your robot isn’t either.

  65. JJ says:

    Sadly 99% of PSLs tanked in value. However, that said my PSL is worth double what I paid. The row one field level between goal line and 25 yard line non-club seats always go for a ton.

    Most folks are surprised with the drop of ticket price between first row and second row it is very large. That said in total there were only around 250 of these seats out of 86,000 seats for sale.

    Very rarely do they go on sale as usually you needed Jets tickets for 50 years, be a sponsor, work for NFL, Jets etc. Broadcasting stations etc. to get the seats.

    That said I am shocked how far other seats fell in value. I have some seats in the UD, A pair in section 337 row one. Those dont have a PSL but are row one 40 yard line, UD. Even those the resale is way down. Dont matter row one people dont take clients to UD.

    Also as prices fell in lower rows made sales in upper rows even harder. For instance Mezz endzone row one is at face for Buff, those are good seats and you paid for a PSL and had to be a 30 year season ticket holder to get them yet after eating two preseason games a regular game is selling at face.

    I use seatgeek, fansnap, ticktalk and read sports business news daily so I know when to buy and sell. I also buy and sell Giant tickets. I do it for fun plus I make like 2-3k a year scalping. Funny not big money but to me good trading exercise plus it is a inefficent market.

    nwnj says:
    September 9, 2013 at 12:02 pm

    Already tanked massively, you can get PSLs for +50% off. You can get individual tickets for $20.

  66. Feed the robots with Olive Garden.

  67. In related news, Bebo is running for the Ward 3 death panel seat in Jersey City.

  68. lib (50)-

    If he keeps this up, get him away from town teams. Some opponent will try to take him out.

  69. chicagofinance says:

    The End Is Nigh (Choom Edition):
    NINE MILE, Jamaica — Napa and Sonoma have their wine tours, and travelers flock to Scotland to sample the fine single malt whiskies. But in Jamaica, farmers are offering a different kind of trip for a different type of connoisseur.

    Call them ganja tours: smoky, mystical — and technically illegal — journeys to some of the island’s hidden cannabis plantations, where pot tourists can sample such strains as “purple kush” and “pineapple skunk.”

    The tours pass through places like Nine Mile, the tiny hometown of reggae legend, and famous pot-lover, Bob Marley. Here, in Jamaica’s verdant central mountains, dreadlocked men escort curious visitors to a farm where deep-green marijuana plants grow out of the reddish soil. Similar tours are offered just outside the western resort town of Negril, where a marijuana mystique has drawn weed-smoking vacationers for decades.

    “This one here is the original sinsemilla, Bob Marley’s favorite. And this one here is the chocolate skunk. It’s special for the ladies,” a pot farmer nicknamed “Breezy” told a reporter as he showed off several varieties on his plot one recent morning.

    While legalization drives have scored major victories in recent months in places like Colorado and Washington state, and the government of the South American nation of Uruguay is moving toward getting into the pot business itself, the plant is still illegal in Jamaica, where it is known popularly as “ganja.”

    Some would like to see that change, with increasingly vocal advocates saying Jamaica could give its struggling economy a boost by taking advantage of the fact the island is nearly as famous for its marijuana as it is for beaches, reggae music and world-beating sprinters.

    “I can get stronger stuff at home, but there’s something really special about smoking marijuana in Jamaica. I mean, this is the marijuana that inspired Bob Marley,” said a 26-year-old tourist from Minnesota who only identified herself as Angie as she crumbled some pot into rolling paper.

    An online vacation guide called Jamaicamax promises to organize ganja tours in the Negril area. But there’s a caveat: First you have to smoke a marijuana “spliff” with your guide, presumably to show you are not law enforcement.

    “After you smoke a spliff with us and we get to know you then we will take you on the best ganja tours in Jamaica and you’ll smoke (and eat if you want) so much ganja you’ll be talking to Bob Marley himself,” the travel website says.

    “The government needs to free up marijuana soon, man, because it’s a natural thing, a spiritual thing,” Breezy said before sticking his nose in a clump of pot plants and taking an appreciative sniff. “And the tourists love it.”

  70. Disneyworld should offer bong hits.

  71. chicagofinance says:

    JJ: Canadian cinema…
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293563/

  72. Anthony's Weiner says:

    I dig ur vibe –

  73. chicagofinance says:

    Rags: I will give you a call from reception when I’m out of the meeting should that work……feel free to text me at nine one seven, six nine six, eight nine four nine

  74. grim says:

    Go long robots – the global wage arbitrage game is just about up for low cost off-shoring work. The big cost savings have all but evaporated, everyone is scrambling for the ‘next hot market,’ but they are fewer and far between. The last frontier are areas that are geopolitically ‘hot’, which is a major turn-off for the big multinationals. It has gotten so bad that there is essentially no first mover advantage anymore, it pays to be second or third into a market, and simply hire away all the trained employees from your competitors, let them do the work. Rinse, repeat, wages click up, costs related to attrition and training skyrocket, poof goes the savings.

  75. I declare war on the robots.

  76. toomuchchange says:

    We are continuing to import poverty to the tune of hundreds of thousands a year, via legal immigration, as poor former immigrants bring in their poor parents, brothers and sisters as well as their spouses and kids.

    The Senate bill proposes to greatly increase legal immigration, including the immigration of poor people to work in jobs like construction and fast food (yes, fast food, I kid you not, they want more than a 100,000 visas but they aren’t going to get them — yet. Who knows what future lobbying and payola will do?).

    Those of you who do not want a future of paying for tens of millions of new poor people and their descendants who we do not need should make your feelings known to your representatives in Congress. Oh yeah, and if we allow this bill to go through anywhere like it is now, we will of course be stuck paying for a greatly expanded group of needy long term Americans who lost the competition with the new foreign labor.

  77. anon (the good one) says:

    @CNBC: ‘I believe Apple is a very undervalued situation right now; to me, an $AAPL investment is a no-brainer right now.’ – @Carl_C_Icahn on #CNBC

  78. anon (the good one) says:

    it was written a while ago. a must read .

    Why the future doesn’t need us.
    Our most powerful 21st-century technologies – robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech – are threatening to make humans an endangered species.
    By Bill Joy

  79. chicagofinance says:

    JJ: check this out….

    TECHNOLOGY
    Verizon Plans Largest Debt Sale Ever

    Proceeds From Deal, Expected to Raise $20 Billion, Would Fund Venture Buyout.
    By MATT WIRZ
    And MIKE CHERNEY

    In a development that is sending ripples throughout the corporate-bond market, Verizon Communications Inc. is expected to raise $20 billion or more Wednesday in what would be the largest-ever debt sale by a company.

    The New York telecommunications company will sell debt ranging in maturity from three to 30 years, the banks backing the deal said Monday. The deal would help fund Verizon’s $130 billion buyout of U.S. wireless joint-venture partner Vodafone Group PLC.

    The new 10-year Verizon bonds were being shopped around to yield 2.25 percentage points more than comparable Treasurys, according to initial price suggestions. That is about 0.70 percentage point more than where nine-year Verizon bonds were trading.

    The arrangers of the deal, J.P. Morgan Chase % & Co., Morgan Stanley, Barclays PLC and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said Monday they would sell both fixed- and floating-rate debt in the offering, which is on track to eclipse a $17 billion deal brought to market this past spring by Apple Inc. as the largest to date. The banks didn’t specify the amounts or yields of the new securities.

    Anticipation of what would be a record-breaking deal already is pushing bond prices down and yields up for Verizon and other companies in the telecommunications industry. That turbulence has broad implications for investors and for companies that need new financing.

    “This is a big question mark … on where other corporate bonds trade,” says Kenneth Berlin, a bond analyst at Legal & General Investment Management Americas.

    The yield on Verizon’s nine-year bond has risen by more than half a percentage point to 4.512% since deal chatter started in late August, according to MarketAxess. Yields on similar bonds issued by competitor AT&T Inc. have risen 0.41 percentage point.

    A spokesman for Verizon declined to comment. A spokeswoman for AT&T declined to comment.

    Companies have sold a record amount of debt over the past year and a half, while yields on their bonds have declined. But since the Federal Reserve indicated in May it might taper its bond-buying program, sentiment has shifted and yields have risen, spurring companies contemplating large purchases to pull the trigger.

    “We’ve been waiting for M&A activity to pick up and now you’re starting to see some of these large deals,” such as the buyout of Vodafone’s stake in Verizon Wireless, says Kathleen Gaffney, co-director of investment-grade fixed income at Eaton Vance.

    As companies raise more debt for purchases, the prices of their existing bonds will fall, creating bargains, says Ms. Gaffney, who doesn’t own Verizon bonds. But for those already invested in the debt, the process can be painful.

    “My view is the whole sector’s going to get hit with that much coming in, but Verizon’s going to take the worst of it,” said Mary Talbutt, portfolio manager and trader at Bryn Mawr Trust Co. Still, Ms. Talbutt said she planned on holding on to the Verizon bonds currently in client accounts, noting that most of bonds mature in three years or less. She said she would consider buying the new Verizon bond.

    “It may be that this one becomes a once-in-every-few-years opportunity if the price and size is balanced,” says Tom Murphy, a bond portfolio manager at Columbia Management.

  80. Juice Box says:

    So lets get this straight we are going to Bomb Syria to help these people?

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/09/08/syrian-rebels-take-christian-village/2781763/

  81. Alan says:

    My wife and I are paying ton of taxes each year, but my son was getting third world education in public elementary school. We were forced moving him to a private school paid with out of pocket money on top of all the taxes we pay. Now I know where all my money goes.

  82. juice (83)

    Yep, we’ll help AQ, Saudi and Qatar…and they won’t have to lift a finger.

    We are completely and totally fuct.

  83. Syria will be so much better once it has become a Sunni-controlled slaughterhouse. No need to worry; Saudi and Qatar can control their AQ rebels.

    Not.

  84. Only good outcome for us is if every Sunni and Shia in the Middle East can manage to end up dead.

  85. grim says:

    but my son was getting third world education in public elementary school

    This comment is worthless without the town and elementary school names.

  86. Barratt Homes has now officially launched the advertising suite at one of its most luxurious development in the country, Bentley Priory in Stanmore, North London. More than one hundred potential buyers attended the opening weekend to discover more about the firm’s plans for the prestigious website, with 5 even using the plunge and reserving a house there. Brendon O’Neill, Handling Director for Barratt North London, says: "It is a hugely essential and exciting time for us to be commencing th

  87. Brian says:

    “With respect to Arab countries offering to bear costs and to assess, the answer is profoundly yes,” Kerry said. “They have. That offer is on the table.”

    Read more at http://mobile.wnd.com/2013/09/is-this-what-syria-war-really-about/#pEXzDK3sU5XklIl0.99

    Scrapple n’Ricin says:
    September 9, 2013 at 8:48 pm
    juice (83)

    Yep, we’ll help AQ, Saudi and Qatar…and they won’t have to lift a finger.

    We are completely and totally fuct.

  88. Brian says:

    So there’s your job creation JSMC…

    Mercenaries

  89. Let’s send Kerry into Syria in the front wave of infantry.

    What a spectacular dumbass he is.

  90. I’m now actually glad that Shrub prevented that dolt from becoming POTUS.

  91. chicagofinance says:

    Ragnar: I was in a minor car accident on the way home from work. I am calling your place tomorrow to cancel out….sorry…..I’m fine….some kid blew a stop sign bolting from class…..cops were nice guys….Middletown cop and two Brookdale cops….

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