From HousingWire:
How does negative equity create a big obstacle for first-time buyers?
First-time buyers know owning is a better investment than renting, but the type of homes first-time buyers are looking for are being kept off the market in part because nationally, those homes are almost three times more likely to be stuck underwater than more expensive homes.
That’s the finding of the Zillow (Z) negative equity report for the first quarter.
The national negative equity rate fell to 18.8% in the first quarter, with almost 9.7 million American homeowners with a mortgage underwater, owing more on their mortgage than their home is worth.
Specific to the challenges of first-time buyers in terms of affordability, among all homes with a mortgage nationwide, roughly one in three (30.2%) priced within the bottom third of home values were underwater in the first quarter, compared to 18.1% of homes in the middle third and 10.7% of homes in the top third.
It is very difficult for an underwater homeowner to list their home for sale without engaging in a short sale or bringing cash to the closing table, which is a major contributor to inventory shortages across much of the country, even as negative equity slowly recedes.
…
“The unfortunate reality is that housing markets look to be swimming with underwater borrowers for years to come,” said Zillow chief economist Stan Humphries. “It’s hard to overstate just how much of a drag on the housing market negative equity really is, especially at the lower end of the market, which represents those homes typically most affordable for first-time buyers. Negative equity constrains inventory, which helps drive home values higher, which in turn makes those homes that are available that much less affordable.”
read at your own risk: (Prof of Social Welfare at Berkeley??)
Neil Gilbert: The Denial of Middle-Class Prosperity
Government data show that average disposable income has increased across all income groups since 1979. Countless reports now claim that the middle class is being crushed by inequality, declining mobility and diminishing income. A closer look at the facts suggests otherwise: Members of America’s middle class are better off than they were 30 years ago, and they live much more comfortably than counterparts in other countries.
The problem with the research showing middle-class stagnation is that it looks at market incomes, which exclude taxes, government transfers and adjustments for household size. Market income is an accurate gauge of employment compensation but a misleading way to consider a family’s financial resources. It overlooks the welfare state’s enormous power to redistribute income.
The Congressional Budget Office’s 2011 report on income inequality trends offers a more precise accounting, dispelling the notion that the past three decades have been characterized by the rich getting richer at the expense of the poor while the middle class stays about the same. The CBO adjusts market income by subtracting taxes and adding the cash value of social benefits. When households are then divided into five equal income groups, the data reveal that average disposable household income has increased across all groups since 1979. The average household income grew by 40% for the middle quintile and increased by 49% for the bottom quintile.
The CBO data also show, however, that the top quintile did much better than everyone else. From 1979 to 2010, the average after-tax income of the top 1% increased by 201%, to $1,013,100 from $337,700. The top 1% also took home almost 13% of all after-tax income in 2010. (Many of these families, though, are not ultrarich, as the starting pretax income for the 1% in 2011 was $388,905.)
Yet even here there’s more to the story. Between 1979-2011, young workers entered the labor force as older employees retired. A 25-year-old who began working in 1979 may have started in the bottom quintile, but the worker very likely reached a higher income bracket by age 53 in 2007. So not only did entry-level incomes rise, but many who started at the bottom also climbed toward the top. Between 1996-2005, for example, the Treasury Department estimates that about half of the taxpayers in the bottom 20% moved into a higher income bracket.
And how has the middle class fared amid the changing mobility? One might judge not well when compared with the top 1%. But consider everyone else on the planet: The American middle class boasts the fourth-highest disposable household income in the world. The U.S. finishes behind only Luxembourg (a country of 500,000 people), oil-rich Norway, and Switzerland, which stayed out of both World Wars and imposes the strictest immigration laws on the continent.
The average U.S. family has 38% more disposable income than a family in Italy, 25% more than a family in France and 20% more than a household in Germany, when adjusted for purchasing power, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Inequality in the U.S. is not a struggle between the “haves” and the “have-nots,” but a social friction between those who have a lot and others who have more.
The public often agrees with politicians who declare that the middle-class struggles to make ends meet. But this is a quest to satiate our desires for material consumption within our limited resources, not a struggle for survival. Americans have long accepted inequality as a necessary consequence of a system that rewards merit, productivity and, often, luck. This process is sometimes distorted by discrimination, exploitation and larceny, which the government exists to address.
Movements like Occupy Wall Street have accomplished so little because members of the 99% realize that things at home are still pretty good. The fair, reliable income data reinforce that instinct with fact.
Dr. Gilbert, a professor of social welfare at the University of California, Berkeley, is a fellow of the American Academy of Social Welfare and Social Work.
http://www.realdailybuzz.com/rdb.nsf/DocView?Open&UNID=926cbeff709a86ee85257cdc00022cd0
Click to Link
Goebbels couldn’t have written a better paper than post #1.
What’s that old saying? I think it is, “the death of my neighbor is not a reason for me to claim I’m in better health”.
“The average U.S. family has 38% more disposable income than a family in Italy, 25% more than a family in France and 20% more than a household in Germany, when adjusted for purchasing power, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.”
“This story struck a particular chord with me considering my mother left Chile for the United States back in the early 70′s after Salvador Allende was elected President. She was able to instinctively see the writing on the wall, and got out ahead of the political chaos, military coup and dictatorship that followed.
Beyond my own person connection, I find this to be a very important story in that it further highlights the fact that the current war/civil unrest cycle is an interconnected global phenomenon. Since the parasitic Central Bank driven financial system is more or less entrenched in every country on earth, every country on earth is experiencing increased concentrations of wealth into the pockets of a handful of oligarchs. Meanwhile, those nations which heretofore had a middle class are finding that this entire socio-economic class is disappearing into the dustbin of history via a variety of methods, not the least of which is criminal quantities of student loans. These loans are pushing an entire generation into inescapable serfdom, while many university administrators are enriching themselves at their expense.
So it appears student loan based debt serfdom is also a major issue in Chile, and one activist, known as “Papas Fritas,” decided to take matters into his own hands. During a takeover at Universidad del Mar, he was able to get his hands on $500 million of student debt, which he subsequently torched.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-19/chilean-activist-burns-500-million-student-loan-docs-protest-against-debt-serfdom
hmmm..for years Europe was the “model” for how things should be here..so I am surprised that you consider them lesser to us…
..as far as student loans….and college..I am sure you have that handled…and I expect that those will all be forgiven and bailed out en masse in the future…
I am sure things suck here in the US, but probably not as bad as past years in the history of the nation….I tried to give things away to GoodWill and was told my stuff was crappier than they would give to the “poor”…..but if I had new stuff they would consider it!
[3] clot
“What’s that old saying? I think it is, “the death of my neighbor is not a reason for me to claim I’m in better health”.
Relative to what? Excepting anon and a few cranks, I don’t think anyone can deny that our middle class (whatever that amorphous term means) has improved over the decades. From my perspective, it has and this is reflected in the ever increasing cost of housing and education, monetization of more goods and services, and the increasing volume of discretionary purchasing. What it has not done is keep pace with the growth of the uber rich, however I also point out, ad nauseum, that as the uber rich’s slice of the pie has grown to absorb nearly all GDP growth, their share of taxes has grown at a comparable, if not faster, pace.
Michael, Joyce, anon, and some posters in the past paint me as an apologist for the rich. This is hardly so; billionaires can take care of themselves just fine without me. What I have been trying to do is to point out that the wealthy, perhaps more so than the desperately poor, have an integral place in our economic biosystem. In nature, eradicating or severely restricting a key species in the ecosystem has consequences. So it is in economics.
All I’ve tried to do is question the unsupported theses that everyone (and usually the left, sorry Joyce) use to attack the other side with, and point out that there will be consequences for our collective decisions and that we might not like them.
And on that cheery note, I leave you with this:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8nzeJrXFttg
[5] condo
“.I tried to give things away to GoodWill and was told my stuff was crappier than they would give to the “poor”…..but if I had new stuff they would consider it!”
That just speaks volumes.
Situation will dramatically improve once we get a billion Chinese addicted to meth.
“Relative to what? Excepting anon and a few cranks, I don’t think anyone can deny that our middle class (whatever that amorphous term means) has improved over the decades.”
Thanks to the social safety nets put in place since the last time the 1% were given free rein to exploit America’s resources, including its labor, for their own personal gain. Of course, the wealthy and their tools on the right have done their best to dismantle them while vilifying the very systems that have kept most people from subsisting in tenement slums and dying from pollution.
Yes the wealthy do have an integral place in our economic bio system. Without their unfiltered excesses, the average person would never feel uncomfortable enough to take to the streets and demand change. That’s how we got social security, the FDA, unions, tenants rights, etc, etc. Everyone thank the rich for their greed and stupidity.
Remember, when McDonalds workers collect $1.2 billion in government welfare each year because they can’t get a living wage, it’s the workers that are the welfare queens. Not McDonalds.
$15 minimum wage….there’s an app for that.
http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/133859/fast-food-workers-on-strike-globally
So at a time when rising food cost inflation has hit these fast food restaurants hard, a minimum wage increase would seriously dent their profitability. This might force these operators to raise menu prices exorbitantly. If the wage-hike takes places, restaurants might also cut down on the workforce and invest more in technology.
In fact, technology in restaurants has caught up in a big way and might be the solution for the future. Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (BWLD – Analyst Report) has started ordering through tablets, ordering through kiosks has been introduced at Panera Bread Company (PNRA – Analyst Report) while Burger King Worldwide has already launched the pay-by-app facility.
Ottoman says:
May 20, 2014 at 8:23 am
Remember, when McDonalds workers collect $1.2 billion in government welfare each year because they can’t get a living wage, it’s the workers that are the welfare queens. Not McDonalds.
Seems we kicked the hornets nest again, condo.
But note ottomans words carefully. He said “exploit America’s resources . . .” , not “exploit the cheap or obtainable resources. . . ” This is further to the point I have oft made in the past, that there are many who feel that the money in your bank account, the land your house sits on, the IRA you have at Fidelity, and most certainly anything carried on the balance sheets of American corporations as assets, or held in the accounts of the “rich” without an offsetting non discretionary expense, are not their property but are the collective property of “the people.” And anything you possess that they feel you shouldn’t have is an ill-gotten gain and must be returned to collective control.
Ottoman, fine prose, but hardly original.
http://www.dsausa.org/?COLLCC=3730349435&
Back to the salt mines. Ottomans and anons fair shares need to be paid.
http://www.nextepsystems.com/Additional-Info/Restaurants/Subway-Touchscreen-Drive-Thru-Kiosk-Worlds-Fastest-Drive-Thru
Subway Drive Thru Kiosks Test The Waters For The World’s Fastest Drive Thru™
Rob Woodward, owner of 25 successful Subway franchises, decided to implement a
Drive Thru Of The Future kiosk by NEXTEP SYSTEMS. What he saw was increase of his sales by 15% overall. “A $10,000 a week store would generate an additional $1500 a week in sales.” He also makes the statement that the new Subway drive thru kiosks are “faster, more accurate, and more profitable” than traditional drive-thrus. Orders are larger due to the automatic upselling, and labor is reduced because a dedicated employee is not required to take orders at the drive-thru. But what about the investment? “Our investment in a drive thru kiosk at Subway is typically paid back within 24 weeks. …payback is clearly huge.”
Human labor discrimination act of 2016.
14 – The “Human labor discrimination act of 2016” will be watered down in such a way by lobbyists so that only small businesses will be subject to it’s rules. Large fast food chains and corporations will be exempt.
Go long kiosks.
“The unfortunate reality is that housing markets look to be swimming with underwater borrowers for years to come,” said Zillow chief economist Stan Humphries. “It’s hard to overstate just how much of a drag on the housing market negative equity really is, especially at the lower end of the market, which represents those homes typically most affordable for first-time buyers. Negative equity constrains inventory, which helps drive home values higher, which in turn makes those homes that are available that much less affordable.”
They’re finally admitting it without mincing words. What have some of us been screaming for the last few years? But lets be honest; those houses that sold in the 600K to 800K range in the more haughty towns are as royally f.ucked as the low end starter houses. Whether you put 5% down or paid cash for the right to live in Haughtyville, no one in this range has the stomach or resources to take a six digit hit. Thus, as Clot has noted, it’ll be years of wandering in the abyss.
Well said.
Ottoman says:
May 20, 2014 at 8:21 am
“Relative to what? Excepting anon and a few cranks, I don’t think anyone can deny that our middle class (whatever that amorphous term means) has improved over the decades.”
Thanks to the social safety nets put in place since the last time the 1% were given free rein to exploit America’s resources, including its labor, for their own personal gain. Of course, the wealthy and their tools on the right have done their best to dismantle them while vilifying the very systems that have kept most people from subsisting in tenement slums and dying from pollution.
Yes the wealthy do have an integral place in our economic bio system. Without their unfiltered excesses, the average person would never feel uncomfortable enough to take to the streets and demand change. That’s how we got social security, the FDA, unions, tenants rights, etc, etc. Everyone thank the rich for their greed and stupidity.
It is very difficult for an underwater homeowner to list their home for sale without engaging in a short sale or bringing cash to the closing table…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XGAmPRxV48
Gary (19):
That clip should be required viewing for everyone in a basic financial responsibility class. It is straight and to the point about what happens when one makes bad decisions.
Make labor below a certain price illegal and only illegal people will do it.
Government says its illegal to contract to work below a certain price.
Government also pays people not to work.
Government then complains that unemployment is high and labor participation is low.
In the link, think about what the author calls the “low reward zone” – the government has so many programs that low-wage jobs simply trade government assistance for a low paid job. Not much incentive to switch, particularly if people in that zone on government assistance can find off the books income that doesn’t threaten their benefits.
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/01/effective-marginal-tax-rates-for-low-income-workers-are-high
It’s because of this that some of these studies showing a higher minimum wage could increase or not effect employment – as the government defines and distorts employment. Cutting all government assistance would also cut unemployment.
While raising the minimum wage isn’t a good thing, keep in mind that the economy has multiple distortions to markets happening simultaneously.
Putting people on government assistance into actual work – like cleaning up the side of the road, would also cut unemployment and change the dynamics of the ‘low reward zone” while keeping people in the habit of setting their alarm clocks.
Yes by comparative standards the middle class lives well in the USA as it does in the countries Herr professor compares us to. I think the anger comes from the youth as they have really been burned by the recession and the inability to enter society get a job…buy a home, etc. But I love the rhetoric of the left, the government is responsible, wages are not the problem it’s stealth inflation. I was watching Elizabeth Warren on Colbert last night talking about her book and it’s obvious she doesn’t get it, policy cannot fix it, the inequality she talks about is a result of the cost basis of American workers being too high and globalization. These politicians think they can hit a button and return to the golden days but it’s not reality, it costs far more for Americans to have a middle class existence today and we are competing against 3 billion people in Asia who will work far cheaper and jet travel, computer and telecom advances pretty much make offshoring viable today in a way they never were before and globalization is 1000 lb gorilla that cannot be stopped, nor should it be.
So what is this a sign of? Larger welfare lines for the future?
Street Justice says:
May 20, 2014 at 8:50 am
http://www.nextepsystems.com/Additional-Info/Restaurants/Subway-Touchscreen-Drive-Thru-Kiosk-Worlds-Fastest-Drive-Thru
Subway Drive Thru Kiosks Test The Waters For The World’s Fastest Drive Thru™
Rob Woodward, owner of 25 successful Subway franchises, decided to implement a
Drive Thru Of The Future kiosk by NEXTEP SYSTEMS. What he saw was increase of his sales by 15% overall. “A $10,000 a week store would generate an additional $1500 a week in sales.” He also makes the statement that the new Subway drive thru kiosks are “faster, more accurate, and more profitable” than traditional drive-thrus. Orders are larger due to the automatic upselling, and labor is reduced because a dedicated employee is not required to take orders at the drive-thru. But what about the investment? “Our investment in a drive thru kiosk at Subway is typically paid back within 24 weeks. …payback is clearly huge.”
Yep, more and more automation is on the way. It’s behind the curve, but we had our water meter replaced two weeks ago with one that can be read remotely and I’m sure our gas meter will be done within the next few year.
The repetitive low level jobs are just the beginning, though. The automation replacement competition will continue moving higher-and-higher on the learning curve. Think IBM Watson with industry expertise.
The machine learning/AI innovations that are underway could in our lifetimes conceivably replace every customer service related position, as well as many professionals(lawyers, accountants, etc.) that can’t possibly be imagined.
Dogs can detect many cancers but good luck getting anyone to let you see one for a screening right now. They could train hundreds of dogs to do this right now with the knowledge they have. Instead people will wait and some will die as the “new, patented” screening electronic sensor is not available yet. So the morally correct currently available system is not available until the financially profitable one is patented and profit is realized.
“The goal of the research is to one day produce a new screening system or electronic sensor to detect ovarian cancer’s odor signature, Otto said.”
http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2014/05/truly_mans_best_friend_dogs_use_snouts_to_detect_prostate_cancer.html#incart_river_default
I by increasing minimum wages we will reduce poverty and the corresponding welfare and entitlements, tie the increase to a tax cut.
24
Architects can be contracted online already for some building projects.
Yes, the welfare apparatus is corporate welfare. I agree completely. So why don’t you agree with me that we need to end it?
10.Ottoman says:
May 20, 2014 at 8:23 am
Remember, when McDonalds workers collect $1.2 billion in government welfare each year because they can’t get a living wage, it’s the workers that are the welfare queens. Not McDonalds.
Guess it isn’t a good sign that my dog constantly licks my knee.
All Hype [20],
And to paraphrase Don Corleone, “It makes no difference to me how a man makes his living, as long as his interests don’t conflict with mine.”
The crash and destruction has left a financial debris field that has left us unable to pass or sidestep. So, the poor decisions made by the muppets in allowing themselves to be fleeced has indeed conflicted with our interests. They need to be whacked but it’s the “muscle” of the Fed and the government that has provided “protection” to sustain the muppet masses from complete financial suicide at OUR expense. We have no recourse but to stand aside and take it… and pay for it. The so-called maf1a and the government appear to be one in the same; extortion with consequences to protect their interests.
Does the learned counsel wish to offer an example?
Contrary to your statement, I’ve continously inplied you carry the water for the Republicans et al and think the “other side” or either side actually believes the crap they spew… and they actually don’t know and don’t want the “unintended consequences.”
It’s akin to saying Bernanke didn’t know exactly what he was doing. Yeah, everything he did was for the little guy…. right
6.Comrade Nom Deplume, a.k.a. Captain Justice says:
May 20, 2014 at 7:57 am
Joyce, … in the past paint me as an apologist for the rich.
I rest my case.
6.Comrade Nom Deplume, a.k.a. Captain Justice says:
May 20, 2014 at 7:57 am
All I’ve tried to do is question the unsupported theses that everyone (and usually the left, sorry Joyce) use to attack the other side with, and point out that there will be consequences for our collective decisions and that we might not like them.
Government intervention does not always solve free market “issues”. Most frequently, it makes the ‘problem’ worse. Minimum wage jobs are just another example of supply and demand. When you artificially increase the price of a fast food worker’s salary, beyond what natural free market forces would pay, the outcome is not always the desired one.
The better way, and the way that more people might have been helped, would be to encourage small business growth and creation. Remove barriers to entry for small business and lower their tax burden. If more businesses desire and need low skilled workers, it drives up the price of labor.
Artificially increase the price of low skilled labor, and the market deems the price to high, and finds another way to do business. Too late now, the cat’s out of the bag. I don’t think this is a trend you can reverse.
Michael says:
May 20, 2014 at 9:38 am
So what is this a sign of? Larger welfare lines for the future?
Marx would be proud
nwnj,
Wake me up when Trenton is closed and NJ’s state of the union is being run by 4 guys in Pune. I would sign that automation bill tomorrow.
22
Where exactly does globalization fit in with American patriotism?
Who exactly do you wave the flag for?
Would the “Founding Fathers” approve of globalization?
One nation, under God, or Global nation, under God?
Globalization is a crock. Pick a country to love and live there.
That is what a true patriot would think.
To love that country like a family.
Anything less is being a traitor.
29 Grim,
Better he licks your knees then your balls.
Phoenix, my family made an investment in a company working on a device that detects breast cancer(it’s being tested at englewood hospital). The story we have heard is that the devices are viable at this point but they get stonewalled, the intrenched medical interests do not want to reduce the number of mammograms performed and rumor was that GE might be interested in buying the company just to kill it. The hardware exists, as do the dogs that do the trick but the medical industry does not want it, it is so much cheaper than the invasive testing and reduces the need for it.
grim,
I love your blog, but the filter is killing me.
The military does not train soldiers to fight for “America”. They train you to fight for the man standing next to you.
Phoenix says:
May 20, 2014 at 9:52 am
22
Where exactly does globalization fit in with American patriotism?
Who exactly do you wave the flag for?
Would the “Founding Fathers” approve of globalization?
One nation, under God, or Global nation, under God?
Globalization is a crock. Pick a country to love and live there.
That is what a true patriot would think.
To love that country like a family.
Anything less is being a traitor.
My FIL says he hates small towns because they have lousy gene pools. The first time I heard him say this I asked him why he thinks that way. He says because everyone smart or good-looking leaves forever leaving only the stupid and ugly to procreate so each generation is a little bit worse. Not only could I not find a flaw in his logic, I see it extending to the entire US eventually.
38.
Those that get caught stonewalling these devices (those that actually work) should be drawn and quartered. I thought capitalism was going to be the driving force, not the stonewalling one. Isn’t that the way it is supposed to work?
^^^BTW, I wish we knew what small towns Michael and anon escaped from so we can return them to their respective tribes.
Yes, right next to the horse & carriage drivers
23.Michael says:
May 20, 2014 at 9:38 am
So what is this a sign of? Larger welfare lines for the future?
Yes, right next to the horse and carriage drivers
23.Michael says:
May 20, 2014 at 9:38 am
So what is this a sign of? Larger welfare lines for the future?
Yes, right next to the horse and carriage drivers
Michael says:
So what is this a sign of? Larger welfare lines for the future?
Phoenix, our founding fathers were capitalists. I’d love for America to get the jobs back but we need to outcompete these other countries to do so. Companies are global and the elite are not necessarily American, globalization cannot and will not be stopped. Ultimately the end goal is one where humanity benefits by increasing productivity so that all of humanity is far wealthier. The problem is that america is laying down and dying, we are not fighting to keep capabilities here, we need to compete with the low wage countries by becoming more efficient and effective and that is the point. When a worker can make 2 pairs of shoes an hour you can’t pay them too much when you can mechanize and that same work can make 100 pairs of shoes there is significantly more room to pay them a living wage.
How does negative equity create a big obstacle for first-time buyers?
Did someone really write an entire article to answer this question. Maybe the follow-up article will be,
How does negative equity create a big obstacle for first-time sellers?
I’m going to write and article now entitled, How does getting hit in the face by a shovel hurt first-time grave diggers?
The way it “works” is that laws and “regulations” are written with the best of intentions, then the lobbyists descend upon Washington, and make sure “regulations” are only barriers to entry for newcomers to industry in order to keep established corporations in business.
Phoenix says:
May 20, 2014 at 9:58 am
38.
Those that get caught stonewalling these devices (those that actually work) should be drawn and quartered. I thought capitalism was going to be the driving force, not the stonewalling one. Isn’t that the way it is supposed to work?
well said
Street Justice says:
May 20, 2014 at 9:47 am
Government intervention does not always solve free market “issues”. Most frequently, it makes the ‘problem’ worse. Minimum wage jobs are just another example of supply and demand. When you artificially increase the price of a fast food worker’s salary, beyond what natural free market forces would pay, the outcome is not always the desired one.
The better way, and the way that more people might have been helped, would be to encourage small business growth and creation. Remove barriers to entry for small business and lower their tax burden. If more businesses desire and need low skilled workers, it drives up the price of labor.
Artificially increase the price of low skilled labor, and the market deems the price to high, and finds another way to do business. Too late now, the cat’s out of the bag. I don’t think this is a trend you can reverse.
Michael says:
May 20, 2014 at 9:38 am
So what is this a sign of? Larger welfare lines for the future?
Aren’t the rich great at providing us the proper amount of crumbs? Aren’t our politicians great at convincing us they are doing the lord’s work? Aren’t party cheerleaders the epitome of Forest Gump? The masses ARE truly asses.
Not always, in fact I’d say that’s the minority of times. The lobbyists write most of the first drafts.
49.Street Justice says:
May 20, 2014 at 10:05 am
The way it “works” is that laws and “regulations” are written with the best of intentions, then the lobbyists descend upon Washington, and make sure “regulations” are only barriers to entry for newcomers to industry in order to keep established corporations in business.
Phoenix says:
May 20, 2014 at 9:58 am
38.
Those that get caught stonewalling these devices (those that actually work) should be drawn and quartered. I thought capitalism was going to be the driving force, not the stonewalling one. Isn’t that the way it is supposed to work?
[49] Street – Lobbyists actually (and literally) write the laws. If you mean “best of intentions” in an altruistic sense…Do you come from a small town, BTW?
The way it “works” is that laws and “regulations” are written with the best of intentions, then the lobbyists descend upon Washington, and make sure “regulations” are only barriers to entry for newcomers to industry in order to keep established corporations in business.
Will globalization lead to the following; the end of nationalism and countries as we know it?
Phoenix says:
May 20, 2014 at 9:52 am
22
Where exactly does globalization fit in with American patriotism?
Who exactly do you wave the flag for?
Would the “Founding Fathers” approve of globalization?
One nation, under God, or Global nation, under God?
Globalization is a crock. Pick a country to love and live there.
That is what a true patriot would think.
To love that country like a family.
Anything less is being a traitor.
42, what I have heard is that they have had a working device for the better part of 3 years, a 90 odd percent success rate in internal testing, they’d like the FDA to approve using this for screening lower risk people to catch breast cancer earlier. They cannot get approval to sell this thing, they are relatively cheap as medical tech goes and it should be a no brainer burt in order to sell them insurers would have to pay for the test which means the FDA needs to not only approve the sale of the device but certify it effectiveness so this can be used in leu of mammograms thus saving insurers money. My guess is VOC based cancer testing technology will be suppressed as long as possible.
And what Ottoman saying about the FDA? including it among his list of other “great” programs. How do you define great, by it’s popularity regardless of the effects and outcomes I suppose.
55.jcer says:
May 20, 2014 at 10:12 am
42, what I have heard is that they have had a working device for the better part of 3 years, a 90 odd percent success rate in internal testing, they’d like the FDA to approve using this for screening lower risk people to catch breast cancer earlier. They cannot get approval to sell this thing, they are relatively cheap as medical tech goes and it should be a no brainer burt in order to sell them insurers would have to pay for the test which means the FDA needs to not only approve the sale of the device but certify it effectiveness so this can be used in leu of mammograms thus saving insurers money. My guess is VOC based cancer testing technology will be suppressed as long as possible.
The United States has plenty of things going for it in the global marketplace. The current situation is the rise of a global middle class. I believe that it will accompany a decreasing birth rate and decreasing infant death rate. Global age demographics will then change within a few generations causing a global shrinking working age population. The United States has the potential to see the reverse.
jcer says:
May 20, 2014 at 10:03 am
Phoenix, our founding fathers were capitalists. I’d love for America to get the jobs back but we need to outcompete these other countries to do so. Companies are global and the elite are not necessarily American, globalization cannot and will not be stopped. Ultimately the end goal is one where humanity benefits by increasing productivity so that all of humanity is far wealthier. The problem is that america is laying down and dying, we are not fighting to keep capabilities here, we need to compete with the low wage countries by becoming more efficient and effective and that is the point. When a worker can make 2 pairs of shoes an hour you can’t pay them too much when you can mechanize and that same work can make 100 pairs of shoes there is significantly more room to pay them a living wage.
No different than goodyear buying out the guy who invented a tire that would last the life of the car. Then you wonder why I don’t trust super wealthy corporate heads to do what’s in the best interest of everyone. This is why I have a problem of all the growth going to the 1%. I don’t care how we compare to the middle class in some other country. I care how I compare to the people in my own country. If 1% of the country is taking all the gains, I have a major problem with it.
jcer says:
May 20, 2014 at 9:54 am
Phoenix, my family made an investment in a company working on a device that detects breast cancer(it’s being tested at englewood hospital). The story we have heard is that the devices are viable at this point but they get stonewalled, the intrenched medical interests do not want to reduce the number of mammograms performed and rumor was that GE might be interested in buying the company just to kill it. The hardware exists, as do the dogs that do the trick but the medical industry does not want it, it is so much cheaper than the invasive testing and reduces the need for it.
lmao….awesome lib!
Libturd in Union says:
May 20, 2014 at 10:09 am
Aren’t the rich great at providing us the proper amount of crumbs? Aren’t our politicians great at convincing us they are doing the lord’s work? Aren’t party cheerleaders the epitome of Forest Gump? The masses ARE truly asses.
54 no it won’t nationalism is something they were aspiring to build most places in Europe people are still cling to regional identities, that’s something we are wired for, we identify with people most like us and in any kind of situation it is us versus them. From an academic standpoint globalization shouldn’t stop, from my own perspective I want americans to win and to prosper. I avoid buying chinese goods whenever possible because I don’t think they are playing the game fairly. I try to buy things made in germany, italy, japan,isa, and korea over chinese produced goods and I wish the USA would compete more. I don’t know how in countries that are so high cost or have such impediments to business they can manufacture and we cannot? That is the failing of politicians and the left simply doesn’t get it. We need to make stuff here, sending factory workers to college doesn’t help, bring back factories and prosperity will follow.
The thing that America has going for it, it has a lot of resources compared to other countries. Too bad the fruits of these resources go to a selected few. The rest get a few crumbs.
Street Justice says:
May 20, 2014 at 10:14 am
The United States has plenty of things going for it in the global marketplace. The current situation is the rise of a global middle class. I believe that it will accompany a decreasing birth rate and decreasing infant death rate. Global age demographics will then change within a few generations causing a global shrinking working age population. The United States has the potential to see the reverse.
52, 53
“Lobbyists actually (and literally) write the laws. If you mean “best of intentions” in an altruistic sense…”
I mean that the public demands “something be done” and many support laws and regulation thinking that they will right some social injustice without understanding the details or the consequences of a law.
“Companies are global and the elite are not necessarily American”
Companies have no loyalty.
Companies don’t care about America.
They only care about themselves.
Reminds me of a movie called “The Corporation” where they compared a company to a person, then a DSM IV.
If the elite and the companies are running the country through the lobbyist lawyers, then lets give up the charade we call nationalism already.
Let the companies provide the army and the soldiers, let them create a new flag while they are at it.
Globalization to me is not beneficial, it is detrimental. You gain some and you lose some, some things you might have gained without it, even more if you sold it yourself like Switzerland does with it’s drug companies.
What resources does the US have that other countries do not?
I agree, we have the largest supply of billionaires. So how the hell do we have a problem with job creation? It makes no sense.
jcer says:
May 20, 2014 at 10:22 am
54 no it won’t nationalism is something they were aspiring to build most places in Europe people are still cling to regional identities, that’s something we are wired for, we identify with people most like us and in any kind of situation it is us versus them. From an academic standpoint globalization shouldn’t stop, from my own perspective I want americans to win and to prosper. I avoid buying chinese goods whenever possible because I don’t think they are playing the game fairly. I try to buy things made in germany, italy, japan,isa, and korea over chinese produced goods and I wish the USA would compete more. I don’t know how in countries that are so high cost or have such impediments to business they can manufacture and we cannot? That is the failing of politicians and the left simply doesn’t get it. We need to make stuff here, sending factory workers to college doesn’t help, bring back factories and prosperity will follow.
Are you kidding me?
Grim says:
May 20, 2014 at 10:31 am
What resources does the US have that other countries do not?
You can buy those at any Pep Boys for about $20 each. The safer your tires are, the faster they will wear out. It’s all about rubber compound and number of heat cycles that it can take. Tires that last forever are akin to $4 sneakers that you buy from a bin at the supermarket. Those soles will last forever too.
No different than goodyear buying out the guy who invented a tire that would last the life of the car.
“If 1% of the country is taking all the gains, I have a major problem with it.”
Some people, through hard work and determination, strive to join the 1%. Some, even make it there. Other people, who take no responsibility for their lack of effort, feel the government (who always have and always will have the back of the 1%) should even the playing field. Kind of like a handicap in golf or bowling. Even the playing field and hard work and determination will end up being trumped by lack of effort. It’s one huge stench-filled dung heap of moral hazard.
I was thinking about the college loan bubble the other day. I can afford to pay for my kids college in cash when I sell my multifamily investment real estate. But why would I do that if I know Uncle Sam has the back of every kid who will not be able to pay back their loans, as was the case with Harp, Tarp, FHA, Hemp, etc. So how do I hide this asset that will be a deterrent to my sons abilities to attend college for free? This is what Anon and Michael are advocating. Right? Why should I sweat and toil to maintain my college tuition investment when Joe Blow’s dad spends his weekends drinking beer and fly fishing?
Why? Because one day, due to the continued printing of money to bailout both corporate and individual retards who continue to take no responsibility for their actions (I didn’t realize my arm would reset/I didn’t know those CDOs were polished turds), the devaluation of our currency will no longer be possible. And when that day comes, I will have a nickel and the rest of the redistributionists will have nothing. I will take my nickel to where it has some value. The rest of the Krugman devotees will be stuck here in this cesspool of failed government policies that continue to rely on rewarding laziness and abysmal behavior. Enjoy the crumbs! Go de Blasio!
The Founding Fathers were more worldly and freethinking than I suspect most Americans are today. All of them spent some of their lives as citizen of what would later be a foreign country. Many of the founding fathers spent extended periods living in France and England. Most of them studied the classics, and the history of government. Some were bastards and first generation immigrants – Hamilton. He also favored a whisky tax and import tariffs. Many were deists, and definitely more interested in reason and less religious than the conservative right is now. It would have been great if Ben Franklin had invented an ab0rti0n technique alongside his other scientific inventions (and I suspect he would have welcomed such an invention as human progress), as that would force today’s religious conservatives to face reality more than spout convenient mystical platitudes.
Priced out: ‘I can’t afford a home in my town’
http://money.cnn.com/gallery/real_estate/2014/04/02/housing-priced-out/
How does one wind up owing $759k on this?
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/13-Columbus-Ave-Glen-Ridge-NJ-07028/38656377_zpid/
http://tax1.co.monmouth.nj.us/cgi-bin/m4.cgi?district=0708&l02=070800125____00017_________M
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.819305,-74.199499,3a,75y,36.3h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sWx7BwiCtZWEx10tOg1NCqQ!2e0
“It’s more affordable out in the suburbs, in family areas. But that’s not where I’m at in my life.”
Too bad.
69
Ragnar,
Not to mention Hamilton being in favor of having a monarchy in this country along with a central bank and on and on…
Christies’ Sixth Bond Downgrade
But as if the recent coverup revelations weren’t enough, there are two other fronts on which Christie’s presidential fate has just been fatally damaged, in spite of his Black Knight routine. On May 14, Moody’s downgraded New Jersey’s bonds for the third time this year, and the sixth time since Christie took office. Here’s the Star Ledger:
Another Wall Street rating agency — Moody’s Investors Service — has downgraded New Jersey’s debt and is sounding the alarm about the state’s “lagging economic performance.”
It was the third ratings cut this year for New Jersey, the sixth downgrade since Gov. Chris Christie took office, and the latest sign that the Garden State’s ailing fiscal condition is taking a turn for the worse.
Moody’s action comes two weeks after the Christie administration disclosed an $807 million shortfall in the state budget, which the Republican governor is scrambling to plug before the fiscal year ends June 30.
The agency said revenue shortfalls have been a persistent problem over the last three years, placing New Jersey in a “weakened financial position.” Even before the current $807 million shortfall came to light, state revenue growth in the last three years had come in short of Christie’s projections by billions of dollars.
Of course, we it’s no surprise that Christie tried to shift blame on this front as well. But it just won’t matter. After losing the instant appeal of his “bipartisan problem-solver” luster in Bridgegate, this is the worst possible news for a would-be presidential candidate trying to carry the banner for the supposedly business-savvy Republican establishment. And one more reason he can’t carry the sensible center in the general election is one more reason the right won’t hold their nose and vote for him in the primary.
Gator’s example is exactly what I am talking about. Dude buys a house for $235,000 in 92 and now owes $750,000 on it. The foreclosure is coming. He’ll declare bankruptcy, the house will foreclose and he will owe nothing. Maybe his credit gets dinged. Big whoop. I’m sure his credit is in the toilet already. The bank hasn’t lost a penny when you consider the 21 years of interest only payments the owner has been paying. And they’ll get most of their money back when they sell it anyhow. The owner walks away rich. Moral hazard.
I really need to figure a way to convert my multi into hidden gold purchases.
Debt downgrades… who cares? Montklair’s debt rating was in the toilet. Do you know how they got out of it? They refinanced. Rather than have 250 million due in 15 years, they now have 210 million due in 30 years. The debt payments are less, but the total cost of the loan will be huge as interest payments will be made for an extra 15 years. Christie will do the same thing. Just be careful if implements a gas tax. Why cut spending when you can increase taxes?
Hey anyone seen all of the new rest areas building they are building along the GSP. Now that’s a necessity if I ever saw one. I wonder how much Burger King, Sbarro, Starbucks and Cinnabon are contributing to the building costs. Gotta raise the tolls again. There’s two up in North Jersey and one down around exit 43. I think they are planning to build a new one closer to Cape May as well. But the state is broke and can’t replace infrastructure.
Libturd,
The house was purchased for 235K. Long term trend appreciation @ 3.5% should have the house at 500K. It’s not anyone’s problem but his that he’s in dire financial straights. Bring back debtor’s prisons. Why isn’t that a crime? He committed theft!
Lib #68,
Great post. I completely agree with you but name a country, historically, that stepped back from the precipice and decided to hold people accountable for their mess. Politicians have no skin or care for any of it. They will do whatever
is necessary to keep political structure in tact. I would lever up your kids student loan debt rather than put your hard money at risk. We all know the end game. Kids have to take more loans bc they are only ones paying high rates and interest. Warren’s bill will go down. It will explode eventually and govt. will have to cast one large net to fix it.
I sold my 1969 Plymouth in 1992 and it had two of the orginal tires on the car when guy from NJ bought it and was about to drive it 100 miles home.
People forget tires used to last a real long time. Why? today we only get four tires with a car with either run flats or a minispare.
My 1969 Pymouth from factory had 7 tires mounted on 7 rims. I had four tires on car. a full sized spare and two mounted snow tires. We were rotating seven tires. 67.The Original NJ ExPat says:
May 20, 2014 at 10:43 am
You can buy those at any Pep Boys for about $20 each. The safer your tires are, the faster they will wear out. It’s all about rubber compound and number of heat cycles that it can take. Tires that last forever are akin to $4 sneakers that you buy from a bin at the supermarket. Those soles will last forever too.
No different than goodyear buying out the guy who invented a tire that would last the life of the car.
Bystander. They won’t. Not here, not anywhere. Which is why I turns Joyce’s and my stomach when people say the rapist is better than the murderer by applauding the left or the right. These idiots actually believe the government cares about them when all they care about is their lever pulling ability. Dolts…all of them.
75 – Sure it’s all Christie’s fault. He single – handedly borrowed money and promised pension obligations over the past five decades. OOOOKKKKEEEEDDOOOKKKEEEYY.
JJ…Continental CrossContacts. On my Xterra…we got 65,000 miles easy. Might have been 70. Great, quiet, grippy 70K mile rated tires. And not priced like Michelins, though better. Lousy on snow, but I had 4wd. Now I have Scorpions (Pirelli) as winter tires on the Mazda since the OEMs are complete garbage. Can’t wait to replace those POS.
JJ, tires today are made of softer rubber for increased stickiness to the road (improves performance). And also, to sell more tires.
plume (6)-
The ever-growing cost of housing and education are simply a result of the financialization swindle, not a sign of a healthy or growing middle class.
The first step of the swindle is to convince someone just moving into the middle class that both housing and education are “worth the investment” of becoming a lifelong debt serf. Of course, the “payoff” of the swindle is when the poor sap borrower realizes the financed asset dwindles in value as the debt remains.
Fast #78,
If that guy turned a 235k house into a 750k windfall then he played the game brilliantly. Just remember who the smartest people are from the whole mess – those that bought in ’96 for 200k and then took i/o home equity loans for 500k by 2006. If you stashed that money then defaulted while playing the foreclosure delay game, man, you made out like kings. I’m sure we’d all play it differently next time around. Plus, remember that our frustrations are with the clowns who played fairly and now can’t get out without expecting us to cover their lost 20%
gary (17)-
Don’t forget the gnashing of teeth.
“Thus, as Clot has noted, it’ll be years of wandering in the abyss.”
street (49)-
Bingo. Capitalism is dead in Amerika. We are 100% fascist.
“The way it “works” is that laws and “regulations” are written with the best of intentions, then the lobbyists descend upon Washington, and make sure “regulations” are only barriers to entry for newcomers to industry in order to keep established corporations in business.”
Honestly, great post. Might sound crazy, but this post set me off. Changed my mindset and philosophy. I’ve had it. I’m sitting here doing the right thing, busting my ass, while a bunch of parasites have no direction besides stuffing their face and looking at facebook. I’m done worrying about people who refuse to take care of themselves.
Libturd in Union says:
May 20, 2014 at 10:47 am
“If 1% of the country is taking all the gains, I have a major problem with it.”
Some people, through hard work and determination, strive to join the 1%. Some, even make it there. Other people, who take no responsibility for their lack of effort, feel the government (who always have and always will have the back of the 1%) should even the playing field. Kind of like a handicap in golf or bowling. Even the playing field and hard work and determination will end up being trumped by lack of effort. It’s one huge stench-filled dung heap of moral hazard.
I was thinking about the college loan bubble the other day. I can afford to pay for my kids college in cash when I sell my multifamily investment real estate. But why would I do that if I know Uncle Sam has the back of every kid who will not be able to pay back their loans, as was the case with Harp, Tarp, FHA, Hemp, etc. So how do I hide this asset that will be a deterrent to my sons abilities to attend college for free? This is what Anon and Michael are advocating. Right? Why should I sweat and toil to maintain my college tuition investment when Joe Blow’s dad spends his weekends drinking beer and fly fishing?
Why? Because one day, due to the continued printing of money to bailout both corporate and individual retards who continue to take no responsibility for their actions (I didn’t realize my arm would reset/I didn’t know those CDOs were polished turds), the devaluation of our currency will no longer be possible. And when that day comes, I will have a nickel and the rest of the redistributionists will have nothing. I will take my nickel to where it has some value. The rest of the Krugman devotees will be stuck here in this cesspool of failed government policies that continue to rely on rewarding laziness and abysmal behavior. Enjoy the crumbs! Go de Blasio!
Absolutely stunningly excellent use of the word Onan.
“College was once about preparing boys and girls to become men and women, not least through a process of desensitization to discomfiting ideas. Now it’s just a $240,000 extension of kindergarten.”
Global View
To the Class of 2014
Students who demand emotional pampering deserve intellectual derision.
Dear Class of 2014:
Allow me to be the first to offend you, baldly and unapologetically. Here you are, 22 or so years on planet Earth, and your entire lives have been one long episode of offense-avoidance. This spotless record has now culminated in your refusals to listen to commencement speakers whose mature convictions and experiences might offend your convictions and experiences, or what passes for them.
Modern education has done its work well: In you, Class of 2014, the coward soul has filled the void left by the blank mind.
When I last delivered a commencement address via column to the Class of 2012, I complained about the dismaying inverse relationship between that class’s self-regard and its command of basic facts. This led to one cascade of angry letters, blog posts and college newspaper columns from the under-25 set—and another cascade of appreciative letters from their parents, professors and employers.
Of the former, my favorite came from a 2012 graduate of an elite Virginia college, who wrote me to say that “America has a hefty appetite for BS, and I’m ready and willing to deliver on that demand.” I gave him points for boldness and cheekily wrote back asking if we might consider his letter for publication. The bravado vanished; he demurred.
Well, Class of 2012, I did you a (small) injustice. At least the pretense of knowledgeability was important to you. For the Class of 2014, it seems that inviolable ignorance is the only true bliss.
It’s not just the burgeoning list of rescinded invitations to potentially offensive commencement speakers: Ayaan Hirsi Ali at Brandeis, Condi Rice at Rutgers, Christine Lagarde at Smith and Robert Birgeneau at Haverford.
In February, students at Dartmouth issued a list of 72 demands for “transformative justice.” Among them: “mandate sensitivity training”; “organize continuous external reviews of the College’s structural racism, classism, ableism, sexism and heterosexism”; and “create a policy banning the Indian mascot.” When the demands weren’t automatically met, the students seized an administration building.
At Brown, a Facebook FB -0.35% page is devoted to the subject of “Micro/Aggressions,” a growth area in the grievance industry. Example of a micro-aggression: “As a dark-skinned Black person, I feel alienated from social justice spaces or conversations about institutional racism here at Brown when non-Black people of color say things like ‘let’s move away from the White-Black binary.’ ”
And then there are “trigger warnings.” In Saturday’s New York Times. Jennifer Medina reports that students and like-minded faculty are demanding warnings on study material that trigger “symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.” Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” was cited by one faculty document at Oberlin as a novel that could “trigger readers who have experienced racism, colonialism, religious persecution, violence, suicide and more.”
Similar Tipper Gore -type efforts are under way at UC Santa Barbara, George Washington University and other second- and third-tier schools. Did I just offend some readers by saying that? Sorry, but it’s true. Any student who demands—and gets—emotional pampering from his university needs to pay a commensurate price in intellectual derision. College was once about preparing boys and girls to become men and women, not least through a process of desensitization to discomfiting ideas. Now it’s just a $240,000 extension of kindergarten. Maybe Oberlin can start offering courses in Sharing Is Caring. Students can read “The Gruffalo” with trigger warnings that it potentially stigmatizes people with hairy backs.
This is the bind you find yourselves in, Class of 2014: No society, not even one that cossets the young as much as ours does, can treat you as children forever. A central teaching of Genesis is that knowledge is purchased at the expense of innocence. A core teaching of the ancients is that personal dignity is obtained through habituation to virtue. And at least one basic teaching of true liberalism is that the essential right of free people is the right to offend, and an essential responsibility of free people is to learn how to cope with being offended.
I’ll grant you this: It’s not all your fault. The semi- and post-literates who overran the humanities departments at most universities long before I ever set foot in college are the main culprits here. Then again, it shouldn’t be that hard to figure out what it takes to live in a free country. The ideological brainwashing that takes place on campus isn’t (yet) coercive. Mainly, it’s just onanistic.
There’s good news in that. You can still take charge of your education, and of your lives. The cocoon years are over; the micro-aggressions are about to pour down.
Deal with it. Revel in it. No consequential idea ever failed to offend someone; no consequential person was ever spared great offense. Those of you who want to lead meaningful lives need to begin unlearning most of what you’ve been taught, starting right now.
Bystander [86],
You better believe I would play it differently!! If I was handed a no asset/no income loan during the height of the ruse and I’m now sitting in a house seriously underwater, every monthly payment would be invested into a basket of funds. It’s a no-brainer.
Exactly!! This gets me heated.
Btw, this makes me think the whole monetary system is a faux. When someone declares bankruptcy, who replaces the value? How can you just erase debt?
Libturd in Union says:
May 20, 2014 at 11:10 am
Gator’s example is exactly what I am talking about. Dude buys a house for $235,000 in 92 and now owes $750,000 on it. The foreclosure is coming. He’ll declare bankruptcy, the house will foreclose and he will owe nothing. Maybe his credit gets dinged. Big whoop. I’m sure his credit is in the toilet already. The bank hasn’t lost a penny when you consider the 21 years of interest only payments the owner has been paying. And they’ll get most of their money back when they sell it anyhow. The owner walks away rich. Moral hazard.
I really need to figure a way to convert my multi into hidden gold purchases.
Agree, blatant theft!!! Why am i paying my mortgage?
Fast Eddie says:
May 20, 2014 at 11:17 am
Libturd,
The house was purchased for 235K. Long term trend appreciation @ 3.5% should have the house at 500K. It’s not anyone’s problem but his that he’s in dire financial straights. Bring back debtor’s prisons. Why isn’t that a crime? He committed theft!
Michelle #92
one consolation ,
If the guy pulled money out of the home and spent it, He will still have to pay taxes to the IRS as income even if he goes bankrupt, if he can’t cover he will be in a world of shit.
Here’s a fun real estate listing: look this one up in Zillow
31 Felmley Rd, Whitehouse Station, NJ 08889
Originally listed for $2.1mn in December 2010, it has been on and off the market every year since, now down to $869,000 “as -is”.
In Zillow, looks like the agent accidentally put the price as $799k, for one day, then bumped it up to $899k the next.
Isn’t that around Clot’s area? Any good stories of shattered dreams?
I predict Michael’s persona will flutter back into place if we just give him a bit of time.
And early on he was telling us how he understood the monetary system and what inflation truly was (and none of us did)… and now look at him.
In theory, I believe in the socialization of many services. Education, medicine, law, etc. But the problem arises due to the lack of accountability. Take for instance, my son’s third grade classroom. It costs over $19K to educate each student in his school. His classroom has 25 kids in it. That’s $475,000 that the town of Glen Ridge has to educate my son’s third grade class. We get no state aid and the township has no busing due to it’s small size. We probably pay another $200 per year in fees and gifts as well, but that’s another story altogether. My son’s teacher is paid the princely sum of $23,000 to teach in this classroom. That leaves $452,000 over. Doesn’t it make you say, what the fukc? Where the heck is the rest of the money going? The principal, the secretary, the lunch lady, the crossing guard, the janitor, the music and gym teacher, the insurance, plus even the one or two ADHD cases won’t eat up $452,000. There are twenty or so other classrooms in the school. Some economies of scale will certainly be gained when paying the support staff.
I should open a tiny private school. Heck, I would pay the teacher $150K per year and could get the best of the best. Maybe hire two of them. I would have that teacher move up a grade each year with his/her students so they could really perform differentiated teaching. Heck, my school could be only for kids heading into kindergarten this year. For PE, we could walk to the park. For art and music, I could hire a consultant to come in once every seven days. The nurse would be an immedicenter clinic. My school would have one classroom. That’s it. With this kind of personalized attention, these kids would all become Brainiacs. I could personally pocket 100K per year profit easy. I could run 13 separate schools (individual classrooms) and make $1.3 million a year. All with the best paid teachers ever and personalized attention like you’ve never witnessed.
Why the heck can’t Glen Ridge get by on it’s 19K per student? Well, maybe it has something to do with accountability. Maybe there are too many people in the support staff? Does a school really need a library with a full time librarian. Heck, in ten years, I doubt libraries will even have books. How many curriculum experts are necessary? Who needs a superintendent when my private school will have 13 classrooms.
The bottom line is that the government can not be trusted to socialize anything. It’s no surprise that private school enrollment is growing exponentially. We DO need charter schools. Public school administrations can not be trusted to spend wisely. It’s reaching the point where half of my son’s friends attend Kumon to suppliment their education because that $475,000 is not enough to teach their kids how to do third grade math or write.
Our government, especially in NJ, is simply way too big. I can’t wait to see the huge clusterfukc ACA will be.
Student loans pre-govt manipulation was based on the degree to be earned and current grades plus a loan application and meeting with a loan officer.
Back around 70 years ago a straight A student, marched into a bank in his best suit and several good references and if he was pursuing Pharmacy, Law, Accounting or Medical School the bank felt it was worth the risk.
Flash forward to the present and folks straight out of Harlem High who barely graduated and deal drugs can march into that same branch bank and get a student loan.
Why the bank gets paid to process the loan and govt takes on default risk.
90.chicagofinance says:
May 20, 2014 at 12:36 pm
Absolutely stunningly excellent use of the word Onan.
“College was once about preparing boys and girls to become men and women, not least through a process of desensitization to discomfiting ideas. Now it’s just a $240,000 extension of kindergarten.”
When theory diverges that far from reality, it’s time for you to reconsider the validity of that theory.
Kicking the can a bit further…and blaming everyone else…and this guy wants to be Pres too.
“At a news conference in the Statehouse today, the Republican governor said his plan is to reduce a $1.6 billion payment that was scheduled to be made before June 30 — to $696 million. The governor also intends to shrink a $2.25 billion payment that was set for next year to $681 million.
“We will not make the payments that apply to the sins of the past,” Christie said. The new, lower payments he has proposed will cover the cost of employees currently active in the pension system, the governor said, but will not chip away at the total unfunded liability in the pension fund accrued before he was governor.”
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/05/christie_unveils_plan_to_cover_800m_budget_shortfall.html#incart_river_default#incart_m-rpt-1
New Jersey state workers, no soup for you!!
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/05/christie_unveils_plan_to_cover_800m_budget_shortfall.html#incart_river_default#incart_m-rpt-1
Christie is toast for pres, and it will be the lack of job growth and budget problems that are his undoing. No one would have cared about the bridge nationally.
He tried going to the middle at the wrong time and it failed. Serves that goon right for parading out a $34B budget in the first place.
If I was a state worker…I would definitely be fully funding my IRA each year. I’ve told many that I know who are, but they aren’t.
Cue Sweeney, et al going putting on a nice show for the sheep.
I dont know which is worse, folks who tell you only 2-4 folks using your place or folks outright telling you six folks will be using place.
I advertise a two bedroom place and I get people who put three adults and three kids.
I appreciate their honesty, then they add in something like I have friends nearby and you are thinking so are they jamming six folk in and having folks over to boot.
Other thing is beach passes, do they think I just have passes for multiple of people?
Finally in my rant I love folks who give you a gmail address and a cell phone number and want to book. I call up and verify and they give me real information or they just go away as they were frauds. But why do folks think you can book a place with a gmail, cell phone and pay pal. I mean the only folks who would agree to that are folks with fake places anyhow.
JJ: Are you on VRBO and/or Homeaway? Those are the two I listed my property on but only averaging about one hit a week. I have a friend who swears by Air BnB so I may put the house up there next…best thing about it is it’s free, unlike VRBO/Homeaway…the plan I picked cost me $750.
#106,
I generally rent private places when I go on vacation and I’ve found myself gravitating more towards airbnb recently. Its a more user friendly interface, makes the total cost more transparent, and allows direct booking online in many cases. Also, the map search is functionality is much better than the other two.
Pete – good to know. Thx.
Correction to the Libtard School. Jr.’s teacher made $23K as an aid. Gator tells me teachers start in the 50s in Glen Ridge. Though still…$475,000 per classroom? No wonder private schools are thriving. I may go pro voucher.
I was going to respond with, “So, that’s still only about 75 of the 475. Where does the rest go”
But a better response is, “Why does a 3rd grade teacher need an aid?”
109.Libturd at home says:
May 20, 2014 at 5:17 pm
Correction to the Libtard School. Jr.’s teacher made $23K as an aid. Gator tells me teachers start in the 50s in Glen Ridge. Though still…$475,000 per classroom? No wonder private schools are thriving. I may go pro voucher.
I’m not sure where she was an aid? Just that she was.
ragnar (95)-
The only stories in my area are those of shattered dreams. 21 Felmley’s backyard is 78.
Other than that, it’s as nice as any other POS in Jersey next to a roaring interstate highway. Excellent home for the deaf family.
Got EBT card?
“Isn’t that around Clot’s area? Any good stories of shattered dreams?”
Stu, the purpose of public edumacation is to line the pockets of administrators, contractors and cronies, not to teach your kid to do anything other than baa like a sheep.
Do you need to be so unrelentingly vile?
Have you ever dealt with children who are cognitively, behaviorally and/or emotional impaired? You realize that an inclusive classroom is mandated by law. So you have kids who are incapable of being in a classroom, that ARE in a classroom. All it takes is one kid to wreck an entire class, and there is no way to reason. There are also instances where one on one teaching is not sufficient.
A kid in my child’s school died this week. She was so impaired for whatever reason and died in her sleep……..the school has to take all comers…..
joyce says:
May 20, 2014 at 5:22 pm
But a better response is, “Why does a 3rd grade teacher need an aid?”
110
Pretty common in elementary schools. My wife teaches first grade. Anything over maybe 23(?) students she has to have an aid, no choice. I don’t know if it is state, locally, or union mandated. I think it increases as kids older.
The amount of differentiated education elementary teachers have to perform and track amazes me. Every one is special and gets a trophy. The world needs ditch diggers too.
Lots of aids also shadow special Ed kids all day long, once gain mandated. $23K to do that job is eligible for saint hood IMHO.
The teachers and aids are not the problem they deserve every penny they are paid provided they are good at their jobs(tenure is a legitimate problem). Dealing with children all day is no easy task, the problem is the fat in the school system, all of the non-teacher, non-physical operations employees in the school system. There is a lot of political fat in the educational system, if you go to Democrat run cities in NJ there are political people on the payroll with expense accounts who pretty much never go to work. That is why the only solution is the charter schools or vouchers in places like Newark.
chicagofinance,
How many teacher’s aids were in the elementary school you attended?
Hughes,
I know a 7th grade teacher that occasionally has an aid in the room; don’t know the specifics but am told the aid doesn’t do much. This is from the teacher; so I do think they mean the aid doesn’t appear to do much… just that they don’t do much. Each situation is different I’m sure (or I’d hope).
jcer,
Agreed all around.
Great post. Is she really going to rag on someone making 23,000 dollars a year having to work with kids. Sign me up for that job!!(sarcasm)
People go too far with attacking govt workers. They are not all fat cats. The actual blue collar workers get payed very little, but get screwed by the political patronage jobs that make the headlines. A regular govt worker doesn’t even make 60,000, never mind a 100,000 dollar pension.
chicagofinance says:
May 20, 2014 at 6:34 pm
Do you need to be so unrelentingly vile?
Have you ever dealt with children who are cognitively, behaviorally and/or emotional impaired? You realize that an inclusive classroom is mandated by law. So you have kids who are incapable of being in a classroom, that ARE in a classroom. All it takes is one kid to wreck an entire class, and there is no way to reason. There are also instances where one on one teaching is not sufficient.
A kid in my child’s school died this week. She was so impaired for whatever reason and died in her sleep……..the school has to take all comers…..
joyce says:
May 20, 2014 at 5:22 pm
But a better response is, “Why does a 3rd grade teacher need an aid?”
[110] Joyce,
I love you but sometimes the more you say, the more it’s evident just how much you don’t know.
I don’t suggest screwing with me on knowledge of the IDEA. Today alone, I spent over three hours in IEP meetings.
[80] JJ (who is long gone by now) – I rotate 8 wheels and tires on our FWD family sedan (not a Camry, btw). It makes my family safer, brings me pleasure, and saves us money:
People who don’t understand tires think buying tires is like serving duty, just an unexpected inconvenience that you hate. If you hate buying tires, the first thing you should do when you buy a new car that is a year-round driver is buy a second set of wheels with winter tires (and TPMS sensors, unfortunately). For the cost of one insurance deductible you won’t have to buy tires for at least 5 years, maybe 6 and you will not only save yourself from at least one accident or curb slam on an icy road, you will also:
1. Enjoy winter driving with comfort and no fear or white-knuckling (I can’t wait to drive on snow/slush/ice)
2. Have beautiful looking wheels all the time (huh?)
Just bite the bullet and buy yourself 4 winter wheels (preferably alloy) and tires. My current preference is the Michelin X-Ice series. The important thing is to buy them before your first winter with the new car. I buy mine from Tirerack.com and they show up at your doorstep mounted and balanced. I spent $1200, but you can cheap out and spend less by not buying the TPMS sensors or opting for steel wheels. I advise against both cheap choices. Just pay $1200 so your car looks great and you don’t have to stare at the low pressure tire warning light all Winter. Here’s what you do next:
1. Go to Target and buy the most expensive automotive wax they have, probably Maguire’s something or other “Gold”, it’ll run you about 12 bucks.
2. Wax your new, clean, and yet to be mounted Winter wheels liberally before mounting INSIDE and OUT.
3. After mounting the Winter wheels, take yout relatively clean OEM wheels and wash and clean them, if necessary, and liberally wax them too, also INSIDE and OUT. I took my OEM wheels off at 1200 miles the first year, so they didn’t need anything except waxing.
4. Do nothing except put on your Winter wheels in the late fall and swap them out in the late Spring. If you have the time or energy you can re-wax both sets of wheels every year, but I just did my first re-wax in 3.5 years and the wheels didn’t really look like they needed it. Both wheel sets come out of the car wash completely clean, inside and out, Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. My neighbor just commented the other day that my car looks like it’s brand new. It hasn’t been garaged ever, parked every night on the street. Zaino for the body, two sets of waxed wheels. That’s it. As I mentioned several years ago, we buy a new car every 9 or 10 years whether we need one or not. Besides this one, we still have the one we bought new 12 years ago this month. My only regret is that I wish I waxed the wheels on that one too. The SUV looks pretty damn good after 12 years on the streets of Boston, but the wheels would look a lot better if I waxed them early on. Lesson learned.
My 1969 Pymouth from factory had 7 tires mounted on 7 rims. I had four tires on car. a full sized spare and two mounted snow tires.
114, chicago: vile? Are you tell me that asking the need for an additional employee is automatically invalid? What if that additional employee was the deputy special assistant to the Superintendent’s secretary? I was aware that aids are used for various purposes (Hughesrep mentioned a policy that mandates one based on class size alone. Nothing to do with special needs).
119, idiot: At what point did I rag on the aid?
120, comrade: As mentioned above, aids are used in classrooms for more than just kids with disabilities. I never brought up the IDEA; you and chicago heard what you wanted to hear, not what I actually said.
I was in elementary school from 1973-1980 in NYC. In 1975 my class was 38 kids with one teacher (the year NYC went bankrupt). From 3-6 grades, they separated out the top 24 kids in the grade and IGC (intellectually gifted children) and the other kids went to 3 other classes. Two regular and one special ed. This approach is now verboten with mainstreaming…..
joyce says:
May 20, 2014 at 7:54 pm
chicagofinance,
How many teacher’s aids were in the elementary school you attended?
Chifi…you is old!
I need an aide to help me assemble and fire a rocket launcher.
Teen faces life in prison over hash brownies
“Five years to life? I’m sorry, I’m a law abiding citizen. I’m a conservative. I love my country. I’m a Vietnam veteran, but I’ll be damned,” Lavoro said. “This is illogical. I’m really upset, and I’m frightened, I’m frightened for my son.”
yet not one banker ever spent a day in jail except for Madoff who stole from the wealthy..
http://news.yahoo.com/life-in-prison-pot-hash-brownies-texas-150807587.html
Here’s a idea I can get behind:
Asia’s exploding demand for meth@mphetamine has left them with a problem… too few cooks and not enough ingredients. As AFP reports, strong and growing demand for drugs in Asia is driving up global production of meth@mphetamine, with seizures in the region tripling in five years to record levels, a UN report below shows. China has had particularly severe problems, it said. In 2008, Chinese authorities seized six tonnes of meth@mphetamine. That figure soared to more than 16 tonnes in 2012, accounting for about 45 percent of total meth@mphetamine seizures for Asia that year, the UNODC said. The drug is often trafficked long distances, as we show below, adding the routes being used by drug sellers are becoming increasingly well-trodden. As demand rises, so production has increasingly shifted to Asia with ‘Walter Whites’ making bases in China, Myanmar, and the Philippinnes.”
Link to above: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-20/desperately-seeking-walter-white
Puts into perspective who the laws are for in this country.
Phoenix says:
May 21, 2014 at 7:23 am
Teen faces life in prison over hash brownies
“Five years to life? I’m sorry, I’m a law abiding citizen. I’m a conservative. I love my country. I’m a Vietnam veteran, but I’ll be damned,” Lavoro said. “This is illogical. I’m really upset, and I’m frightened, I’m frightened for my son.”
yet not one banker ever spent a day in jail except for Madoff who stole from the wealthy..
http://news.yahoo.com/life-in-prison-pot-hash-brownies-texas-150807587.html
The End Is Nigh (clot School Edition):
Two schoolkids were arrested Tuesday for putting rat poison in their teacher’s water bottle in a Brooklyn classroom, sources said.
The boys, 9 and 12, put the substance into the fifth-grade teacher’s bottle at PS 315 in Flatbush on Monday, according to law-enforcement sources.
The teacher told police she became nauseous. While she was sick, another student told her that the two kids had put the poison in her bottle.
She was treated at her doctor’s office and was not seriously injured. The next day, she went to the 70th Precinct station house to report what had happened.
The kids were arrested and charged with reckless endangerment, assault and criminal possession of a weapon. It was not clear why they did it, and their names were not released.
Is there a worse crime? Maybe stealing from a wealthy disabled child ?
yet not one banker ever spent a day in jail except for Madoff who stole from the wealthy..
131- bitch had it coming
Former German Ambassador, and Vampire Squid employee, mulls run for Governor.
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/05/former_ambassador_to_germany_seriously_considers_bid_for_nj_governor.html#incart_m-rpt-1
Turnabout is fair play. You detain our thugs, we’ll detain your thugs.
Just one day after the FBI issues arrest warrants for 5 Chinese military officials, Caixin reports that Fang Fang – the former CEO of JPMorgan Asia – has been arrested in Hong Kong by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (or anti-graft agency).
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-05-20/china-arrests-former-ceo-jpmorgan-asia
132 expat
Sure that is bad.
But that is ONE child vs thousands of taxpaying citizens, retirees, children and their families, people who put their retirement into the stock market, etc.
No comparison in my book.
Madoff wasn’t a banker.
Posted without comment. About the only thing in this screed that is open to debate is the number.
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/politics/2014/05/16/orig-jag-crossfire-robots.cnn.html
[134] street
How delicious would it be for the Governor of NJ and the Mayor of NYC to be Red Sox fans?
Hudson County baby!!!
Weehawken has agreed to pay its former tax collector at least $120,000 to settle a whistleblower lawsuit claiming Mayor Richard Turner illegally ordered high assessments of luxury properties to fill township coffers.
John Fredericks, the tax collector, will receive the funds, which include terminal leave pay for nearly 154 days and a $15,000 pay raise, in exchange for stepping down on May 14. The settlement agreement stipulates that the township has not admitted any wrongdoing.
Fredericks had been seeking about $1 million in punitive damages from Turner and about $250,000 in back pay.
The three-page agreement calls the settlement the “compromise of a doubtful and disputed claim.”
Fredericks’ payout includes the $15,000 increase to his roughly $110,000 salary, retroactive to May 2011; terminal leave payments staggered over five years; $45,000 for his attorney, Louis Zayas; and an additional $30,000 for Fredericks.
The Jersey Journal has reached to Zayas and Turner for comment.
Fredericks filed the suit in December 2012 in federal court, claiming Turner ordered the tax collector to hit Weehawken waterfront properties with levies as high as 30 percent more than they should have been. The township’s labor attorney has called the charges “bogus.”
“Asia’s exploding demand for meth@mphetamine has left them with a problem… too few cooks and not enough ingredients.”
Confucius say, “He who can turn MSG into PCP deserve Mandate of Heaven.”
In other news, for the second time in 2014, my train arrived into Penn Station on time. Well actually, it was one minute late, but I’ll take it. Go Government!
136.
Ragnar, you are right.
No bankers have gone to jail. At least none I can think of. Well, maybe there is one from one obscure bank in Utah perhaps.
Justice should not be decided by class, race or money.
Rope is cheap.
Thought these comments were worth sharing to highlight the fact that most public workers don’t make much. For some reason, the majority of public opinion thinks govt workers are fat cats, which is far from the truth. It’s only the political patronage jobs that are for the fat cats.
Lauren_Schwartz Van Nest_347 52 minutes ago
Unfortunately the pay has only gone up for a select few. My husband, a public employee in NJ has not had a raise in 5 years, not even a true cost of living raise either.
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The Scratch
The Scratch 35 minutes ago
@Lauren_Schwartz Van Nest_347
I know several people in the private sector making 70 to 80 cents on the dollar of what they made 5 to 6 years ago. None of them feel sorry for public employees.
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TheWorkOne13
TheWorkOne13 32 minutes ago
@The Scratch @Lauren_Schwartz Van Nest_347 Good. Hopefully their 401k is gone too…i mean, that’s the attitude of the private sector towards the public right? Mickey d’s is hiring.
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damt
damt 27 minutes ago
@TheWorkOne13 @The Scratch @Lauren_Schwartz Van Nest_347 Yep I kind of figure the way the general public is taking the bait that they would be up for public floggings as well. My husband hasn’t had a raise in 4 years and he works for the Turnpike. They should stop lumping all public employees into one group. Many of them don’t make much at all.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2014/05/pay_for_nj_public_employees_climbed_360m_in_2013_report_says.html#incart_most-comments
My suggestion is to abolish the Federal Reserve, abolish the FDIC, revive the gold standard, and let the banking system relearn how to function as a genuine intermediary channeling savings into productive investment, and tell bank depositors that they should police the safety of their deposits.
In doing so, the “banking industry” would cease to operate as a government sponsored monetary mafia, where bankers are the collectors and enforcers of twisted scheme to defraud the public while enriching the politically well-connected.
Bankers are guilty, just like corner dealers and hoes are guilty. But if you want to change anything real, you have to go after the heart of the system, and that’s in the Fed, Treasury, and Congress. The question isn’t why haven’t bankers been put in jail, the question is why we accept Bernanke, Geithner’s, and Barney Frank’s activities and advocacies as legal and proper.