From HousingWire:
New home sales gains screech to a virtual halt in September
Gains in sales of new single-family houses in September 2014 came to a screeching virtual halt, printing at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 467,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
This is 0.2% above the revised August rate of 466,000 and is 17% above the September 2013 estimate of 399,000, when sales were slowing dramatically on rising interest rates last year.
This was below analyst expectations of 462,000, and after August’s indecipherable 18% jump, which has now been revised downward 10%.
Worse, July’s sales gains were revised downward to a solid decline.
“The volatility of this report makes it difficult to gain a true picture of what’s going on when taking a granular look. Slowly but surely the housing market as a whole is improving, but it ultimately marches to the beat of the economy, and this is especially true for new home construction and sales,” said Quicken Loans Vice President Bill Banfield. “Once we see the economy and job improvement gain traction, the housing numbers will follow.”
The median sales price of new houses sold in September 2014 was $259,000; the average sales price was $313,200. This represents a 4% drop.
From USA Today:
Housing market is waking up to a new hangover
First came a historic national crash in home prices, then a surprisingly sharp jolt off the bottom. Investors, desperate for yield and fueled by Fed-induced cheap cash, swarmed the most distressed housing markets, buying bargain-basement properties and turning them into rentals. Some markets saw double-digit annual price appreciation. Some analysts started to float the word “bubble,” again.
Now, finally, reality is setting in yet again.
Foreclosures have fallen to new lows since the crisis, and investors, while not selling their homes, are not buying nearly as many. That has taken much of the air out of home prices. In addition, the number of homes for sale is rising, pushing sellers from the driver’s seat to the way, way back.
“What a difference a year makes,” said Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow. “At this time last year, we were worrying about a number of frothy markets that looked like they could be on the edge of another housing bubble, places where homes were appreciating at more than 20% per year and where buyers’ heads were spinning just trying to keep up.”
Now those markets, while not in the red, are barely in the black. Los Angeles, for example, saw home prices rise over 18% in the third quarter of 2013 from the same time in 2012. Now its annual appreciation for the quarter is down to 8%, according to Zillow.
“Buyers don’t have the same sense of urgency as they did before. They can be a little bit more discerning,” said Greg Bender, a Los Angeles-area Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices.
Bender is seeing homes sit on the market far longer than they did just six months ago. It is no longer a seller’s market.
From the Record:
Home prices still years away from rebound to pre-recession peaks, analyst says
After a strong 2013, New Jersey’s home market has cooled, and home prices are unlikely to get back to housing-boom heights until 2022, according to an appraiser who tracks the state’s housing market. If he’s right, the real estate market will need 17 years to get back to its 2005 high after having its worst downturn since World War II.
Jeffrey Otteau of the Otteau Valuation Group in East Brunswick, whose forecasts are widely followed in the real estate community, predicted that state home prices will rise 2 percent this year and 3 percent next year. That’s a slower pace than last year, when prices were up about 4.2 percent — the first significant rise in years. And the number of sales is down this year, compared with last year.
“Momentum in home sales has slowed, but even with this slowdown, the housing market is much better than it was two, three, five years ago,” Otteau said in an interview Thursday.
He said this year’s cooler housing market reflects the spotty recovery of the state’s economy, where the unemployment rate is down, but the state still hasn’t recovered even half of the jobs lost in the 2007-09 recession. And incomes in New Jersey have not kept up with inflation, though Otteau said there are some recent figures suggesting that wages are starting to rise in the state.
“House prices go where incomes lead them,” Otteau said. “That’s a big question here for New Jersey.”
Re: Armstrong from previous thread
I love his writings. I especially enjoyed reading his latest post about Hillary. I’m beginning to think Hillary has some Mongolian blood in her. Her fat, wide face and prominent cheek bones scream Mongol. It doesn’t help that she has about an inch of hamburger fat under her facial skin.
I demand someone better looking. I’m not looking at that medusa for the next 4 years.
How long after 1637 did it take for tulip prices to get back to tulip-boom highs?
After a strong 2013, New Jersey’s home market has cooled, and home prices are unlikely to get back to housing-boom heights until 2022
50-100 years of wandering in the wilderness. Much gnashing of teeth. Chinese water torture. Dead money. Smoke ’em if you got ’em.
Too negative. Let’s get the crowd pumped with a cheer. Everyone,
J E T S, Jets, Jets, Jets.
Anyone there? Bueller? Bueller?
“Home prices still years away from rebound to pre-recession peaks, analyst says”
Imagine how high home prices would be right now if the recession didn’t come along.
I wonder how long it will be before CSCO and PMCS rebound to their 2000 peaks?
Isn’t it ludicrous that the housing bubble is now treated as if it wasn’t a bubble at all? I’m convinced by hook or crook(s) that home prices measured in dollars will get back to their “highs” measured in dollars to make all the bad loans “good”. When the 1965 CH Colonial in Foreclosureville gets back to $500,000 the problem might be keeping it from overshooting to $5,000,000 in the months that follow.
[8] Maybe that’s when they dust off the Nixon playbook. Wage and price freeze and WIN! buttons (Whip Inflation Now!).
Typing from cell but itching to have an all day conversation on today’s topic. Lead story in yesterday’s RE section on Bergen record was telling. A sea of people with negative equity or 20% evaporated. They even discussed anger and backlash against house tour guides. I have agents sending me apologies that there’s nothing for sale. The dirty secret is out, nowhere to hide now. I wish I had off today; a pot of coffee and a hundred posts would be justified.
I wonder if Paul Volcker already has a bought and paid for grave with an inflation-adjusted rotisserie already installed.
@SenSanders:
If poor people want food stamps, they should become massive corporations. – @StephenAtHome http://t.co/6PesmVrOdP
Here’s an interesting canary in a coal mine. In 2012 a family from up here sold their $900K Brookline home and downsized to this Glen Rock home when they moved to NJ to take a new job. I even mentioned this in a post back then showing how money was being extracted from the market by those who were in a position to. Now it’s back on the market. Bought in 2012 for $605K, offered now at $599K now. Shows well:
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/100-Concord-Ave-Glen-Rock-NJ-07452/37920371_zpid/
This is probably one of the feel-good bag-holder stories to which Eddie was referring:
http://www.northjersey.com/news/hawthorne-couple-trade-up-overcome-loss-1.1118248?page=all
The Marshalls have a similar story. Ryan is a certified financial planner in Wyckoff, Amanda a fifth-grade teacher in Hawthorne. The couple, both 32, were high school sweethearts who grew up in Hawthorne, married soon after college, and bought their first home in Hawthorne — a few doors away from Amanda’s mother’s house — in 2007.
Almost as soon as they signed the papers, they began watching their home lose value. That was discouraging, Ryan said.
But they soon decided their best choice was to try to build as much equity as possible. As interest rates dropped, they refinanced their mortgage — not to another 30-year loan with lower monthly payments, but to a 20-year loan that didn’t cut their payments, but allowed them to pay down the debt more quickly. They also budgeted carefully and occasionally made extra payments on the mortgage. The Marshalls were always good at saving; in fact, they had made a down payment of more than $100,000 on their first home, having saved up by working and keeping their expenses under control during college.
Amanda said that as a result of her husband’s planning, “we definitely had options; we weren’t paralyzed or trapped.”
They ended up selling their first home for $427,500, a loss of more than $125,000, when you count the $40,000 they spent on new baths, hardwood floors, a deck and other improvements.
“I still think about how much we lost in the house,” Ryan said one day recently, sitting at the large dining room table in his new home, a large colonial high on a hill in Hawthorne, with views of the New York skyline.
“I try not to anymore,” said his wife.
Expat,
Yes, that’s the lead story. Insult to injury, they paid 617K for a house in Hawthorne that needed a ton of work. House agents love these types of folks because they can be swindled repeatedly. The overpaid in a bubble and overpaid during a financial disaster.
And try refinancing when the house appraisal is 20% less than what you paid. Your downpayment has evaporated and you have 400 bucks in the bank.
Who says Obama isn’t getting anything positive done? He is still successfully driving all those wealthy, dual-national leeches from our shores. Last quarter’s number was the third highest ever, and Obama is on pace to break his own record, set just last year.
http://intltax.typepad.com/intltax_blog/number-of-expatriates/
BTW, the first guy on this quarter’s list was named Osama. You think we want him gone? You bet!
Imagine if they just moved in with Mom up the street for free. Put the 100K in 30 year plain old investment grade Munis in 2007 instead of house dowpayment then invested the mortgage payment into plain old investment grade 30 year munis as well as reinvested the muni interest into more muni bonds the last 7 years. They both almost be ready to retire at 39!!! Instead of being saddled with massive debt at 39!!!
Also my math says they started dating at 16 in HS but waited till height of property bubble in 2007 to buy. RE did not begain its real climb till Spring of 2002. Why did they not buy then?
Also they are “good savers”? yet like to borrow on leverage? there borrowing got them in trouble. Also why Hawthorne? Yea next to mom but fiancially a stupid investment. Williamsburgh or Lower manhattan back in 2012 they be filthy rich right now. Who would use this idiot as a financial planner
The Original NJ ExPat says:
October 27, 2014 at 8:12 am
This is probably one of the feel-good bag-holder stories to which Eddie was referring:
http://www.northjersey.com/news/hawthorne-couple-trade-up-overcome-loss-1.1118248?page=all
The Marshalls have a similar story. Ryan is a certified financial planner in Wyckoff, Amanda a fifth-grade teacher in Hawthorne. The couple, both 32, were high school sweethearts who grew up in Hawthorne, married soon after college, and bought their first home in Hawthorne — a few doors away from Amanda’s mother’s house — in 2007.
Almost as soon as they signed the papers, they began watching their home lose value. That was discouraging, Ryan said.
But they soon decided their best choice was to try to build as much equity as possible. As interest rates dropped, they refinanced their mortgage — not to another 30-year loan with lower monthly payments, but to a 20-year loan that didn’t cut their payments, but allowed them to pay down the debt more quickly. They also budgeted carefully and occasionally made extra payments on the mortgage. The Marshalls were always good at saving; in fact, they had made a down payment of more than $100,000 on their first home, having saved up by working and keeping their expenses under control during college.
expat (8)-
Much more likely we’d witness another deflationary credit collapse. However, the next one will wipe out Western civilization.
expat (13)-
Are they leaving Glen Rock because the job evaporated?
gary (15)-
Funny how people who should absolutely know better- like financial planners- are the ones who fall hardest for these swindles.
I should add here that I am one of those people, having bought in 2006. Never again, though…I have learned my lesson. The hard way.
My feed got polluted with some story about Honey boo boo and molestation. Don’t know the story, don’t want to, but what I have seen of Honey Boo Boo suggests a pretty significant ICK factor.
I think I am the only adult in America who wasn’t molested as a child. Pretty sure anon was though.
[21] luge,
Got that beat. Bought in 2008, sold in 2012. Talk about lessons learned. Good thing the purchase and sale were both relos; that took a lot costs away, and a lot of the sting.
Only relo deal I will ever get is a one-way Penske truck to hell.
And don’t think it’s just the Bergen County towns that are drunk on some delusional potion. I went to three open houses in Little Falls last weekend and they’re just as f.ucked up in their asking prices as anywhere else. It’s really not much difference in prices either. I want to pay 600K for a house just to look at a neighbor’s rusty cyclone fence and watch the roof further decay on his garage? F.uck you.
[17] redux,
And we should not be concerned about the fact that so many wealthy US citizens are saying sayonara (and taking their wealth with them). Obama got this.
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/08/brain-drain-and-capital-flight-64-of.html
So under our EB-5 program, we are replacing each renunciant with a Chinese national at a rate of 3 or 4 to one. See, He Got This.
[25] eddie,
What continues to boggle my mind is the fact that builders here in SE Chester County are still building. Both comm. and residential, and these are new projects, just started this year.
Not infills either; whole areas are being developed. There is a huge swath on 202 being developed for commercial, and I just noticed a house farm going up in Kennett Square, and not on the good side. Even in more rural parts of the county, I am seeing growth.
What I don’t get is what is fueling the growth. Jobs? Don’t know of any major new employers moving in, except for some replacing existing employers moving out. Organic growth? Maybe but enough to justify lots of new retail and housing?
Aside from that, I am hard-pressed to understand the reason for this area to keep growing, and I question whether the infrastructure can handle it. Aside from US 202, US 1, and parts of US 30 and 100, all highways around here are single lane. Congestion is already a big issue. When it comes to getting around, I actually miss New Jersey.
My guess is that the housing/retail/medical is to soak up demand for expanding families and retirees (this is a pretty popular area for the gray set). Otherwise, I have to wonder to whom will they sell?
And I don’t know if this is related or not, but I have noticed a huge influx of New Jersey license plates on our roads as of late. Friggin locusts, wonder if we can spray to keep them out.
Europe got pounded again, and we are about to be.
I think last week was a dead cat bounce. Didn’t take the bait.
I went to one open house yesterday and it absolute sh*t show. Started at 700k last Dec. and now at 510k. The place was literally a zoo – there were several bird cages and two dogs cages. It was sad..wood floors were destroyed and smelly basement. Easily 200k just to make it liveable and decent. The current family is living in squalor. Only one other attendee in 3 hours. One another note- can any experts tell me how to come up with value on home? Owner paid 540k in July 2004. It is split level and similar size and shape house went for 490k in Sept 2013 but it had one car garage, 1.5 baths and no pool. This place is 2 full, 2 car garage and ingrpund pool.with newer liner and pump. All things else being equal what is there? Owners want 550k.
I relate it all to a personal story regarding a family member. They bought a house in Glen Rock in late 90s for 235K, sold a few years later for 410K and that seller sold for 710K in 2006. That is all you need to know concerning the level of f.uckery people are now enduring. Add to that the property tax increases and stagnant wages for 15 years running.
On Saturday, I was talking to a friend who used to work in the chemical manufacturing facilities in Linden. He said regulations wiped out 10s of thousands of jobs. The east side of the turnpike in Linden is barren. We also talked about all the Pharma and Telecom jobs that have evaporated. So, what’s left? Wall Street jobs? HAHHAAAHAAA!!! Sure, NYC will save us.
Result? F.ucked bagholders as far as the eye could see.
What’s Krugman’s cure for the US economy again? “Aggregate demand” created by currency devaluation plus a bunch of ditch digging? That should give home prices and home buyers a real adrenalin shot.
Look at how great it’s been working for Brazil and Dilma. Looks like she’s been reading a translated NY Times.
“Don’t let anybody tell you that, you know, it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs,” – Hillary Clinton
So under Hillary, the only new jobs are from government, and perhaps self-employment? Not everyone can get paid $100k+ for public speaking gigs.
I want to point out some improper premises before leaving the topic.
1) employment is the natural state in a free economy. “Employment” is just people doing useful things for one another. When “creating jobs” becomes the mania, that just shows you how messed up an economy is with job-killing rules like minimum wages, legally privileged unions, and employer mandates.
2) the connection between “business” and “jobs” should be pretty obvious to most non-retarded people who have lived in the semi-free world. I imagine Hillary had in mind the Krugmanesque idea that “job creation” is something that government does by inflating “aggregate demand” in its magical way.
Nom [27];
re: continued building
Nom, I said years ago, the builders would find the (new home) bottom for us. They keep building because that’s what they have to do to eat. They can’t survive sitting on the sidelines, or on one-up remodeling jobs. There’s plenty of margin in new homes, so they just keep on building. They’ll find the right price to sell it — unlike the amateur hour that is directed by Hubby and his “Suzanne researched this!” wife.
14- So what, they have to buy again right? So they will get a discount on their new place.
You guys also always talk about taxes. Do you realize how cheap rates are right now. How many hundreds of thousands are low rates taking off the housing prices right now? Housing is not expensive right now, whether you realize it or not. Unless you are paying in cash, these houses are cheap right now if you have to borrow. You guys are wrong. Sorry.
I remember when Hilary was going to beat Obama and got all of the Northeast endorsements. Not so sure Armstrong won’t get his way. Though would love to see Biden run just for the raw entertainment value of having a known bullsh1tter in command.
“Mainstream media soon jumped on the bandwagon.
CNN host John King presented Clinton’s comments as a fumble “a little reminiscent there of Mitt Romney saying corporations are people, too,” and USA Today called the comments “An odd moment from Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail Friday – and one she may regret.” In an article egregiously headlined, “Hillary Clinton No Longer Believes That Companies Create Jobs,” Bloomberg’s Jonathan Allen stripped away any context from Clinton’s words in order to accuse her of having “flip-flopped on whether companies create jobs,” because she has previously discussed the need to keep American companies competitive abroad.
Taken in context, Clinton’s comments are almost entirely unremarkable — and certainly don’t conflict with the philosophy that trade can contribute to job growth, as Allen suggests. The full transcript of her remarks shows she was making the established observation that minimum wage increases can boost a sluggish economy by generating demand, and that tax breaks for the rich don’t necessarily move companies to create jobs:
CLINTON: Don’t let anybody tell you that raising the minimum wage will kill jobs. They always say that. I’ve been through this. My husband gave working families a raise in the 1990s. I voted to raise the minimum wage and guess what? Millions of jobs were created or paid better and more families were more secure. That’s what we want to see here, and that’s what we want to see across the country.
And don’t let anybody tell you, that, you know, it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs. You know, that old theory, trickle-down economics. That has been tried. That has failed. That has failed rather spectacularly.
One of the things my husband says, when people say, what did you bring to Washington? He says, well I brought arithmetic. And part of it was he demonstrated why trickle down should be consigned to the trash bin of history. More tax cuts for the top and for companies that ship jobs over seas while taxpayers and voters are stuck paying the freight just doesn’t add up. Now that kind of thinking might win you an award for outsourcing excellence, but Massachusetts can do better than that. Martha understands it. She knows you have to create jobs from everyone working together and taking the advantages of this great state and putting them to work.
Economic experts agree that job growth is tied to the economic security of the middle class.
U.S. economic growth has historically relied on consumer spending, and middle class consumers are “the true job creators,” Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz points out. Right now, the U.S. economy is “demand-starved,” as Economic Policy Institute’s (EPI) Joshua Smith puts it. Steiglitz says that, of all the problems facing the U.S. economy, “The most immediate is that our middle class is too weak to support the consumer spending that has historically driven our economic growth.”
In a testimony before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Economist Heather Boushey noted that “It is demand for goods and services, backed up by an ability to pay for them, which drives economic growth” and “The hollowing out of our middle class limits our nation’s capacity to grow unless firms can find new customers.”
UC Berkeley economist Robert Reich agrees that the problem in the U.S. economy is demand. “Businesses are reluctant to spend more and create more jobs because there aren’t enough consumers out there able and willing to buy what businesses have to sell,” he writes, and places the blame on low paychecks and growing inequality: “The reason consumers aren’t buying is because consumers’ paychecks are dropping… Consumers can’t and won’t buy more.” He says the key to job growth is “reigniting demand” by “putting more money in consumers’ pockets.” From The Huffington Post:
Can we get real for a moment? Businesses don’t need more financial incentives. They’re already sitting on a vast cash horde estimated to be upwards of $1.6 trillion. Besides, large and middle-sized companies are having no difficulty getting loans at bargain-basement rates, courtesy of the Fed.
In consequence, businesses are already spending as much as they can justify economically. Almost two-thirds of the measly growth in the economy so far this year has come from businesses rebuilding their inventories. But without more consumer spending, there’s they won’t spend more. A robust economy can’t be built on inventory replacements.
The problem isn’t on the supply side. It’s on the demand side. Businesses are reluctant to spend more and create more jobs because there aren’t enough consumers out there able and willing to buy what businesses have to sell.
The reason consumers aren’t buying is because consumers’ paychecks are dropping, adjusted for inflation.”
Ragnar says:
October 27, 2014 at 10:18 am
“Don’t let anybody tell you that, you know, it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs,” – Hillary Clinton
So under Hillary, the only new jobs are from government, and perhaps self-employment? Not everyone can get paid $100k+ for public speaking gigs.
I want to point out some improper premises before leaving the topic.
1) employment is the natural state in a free economy. “Employment” is just people doing useful things for one another. When “creating jobs” becomes the mania, that just shows you how messed up an economy is with job-killing rules like minimum wages, legally privileged unions, and employer mandates.
2) the connection between “business” and “jobs” should be pretty obvious to most non-retarded people who have lived in the semi-free world. I imagine Hillary had in mind the Krugmanesque idea that “job creation” is something that government does by inflating “aggregate demand” in its magical way.
36- She is right. We need got damn demand. It’s as simple as that. WE NEED WAGE INFLATION!!!!!!!!!! Raising the minimum wage is not trying to solve poverty. It’s only trying to jump start the got damn economy. You people don’t get it.
“Can we get real for a moment? Businesses don’t need more financial incentives. They’re already sitting on a vast cash horde estimated to be upwards of $1.6 trillion. Besides, large and middle-sized companies are having no difficulty getting loans at bargain-basement rates, courtesy of the Fed.
In consequence, businesses are already spending as much as they can justify economically. Almost two-thirds of the measly growth in the economy so far this year has come from businesses rebuilding their inventories. But without more consumer spending, there’s they won’t spend more. A robust economy can’t be built on inventory replacements.
The problem isn’t on the supply side. It’s on the demand side. Businesses are reluctant to spend more and create more jobs because there aren’t enough consumers out there able and willing to buy what businesses have to sell.
The reason consumers aren’t buying is because consumers’ paychecks are dropping, adjusted for inflation.”
Michael,
That couple in Hawthorne lost a ton on the first purchase then over-paid for a house that needs a ton of work. Who won on the deal? Yes Michael, having low rates is nice on a 30 yr. mortgage but buying something you’ll regret is not a deal. Go out and see the inventory. In fact, post a few links of houses that you would buy for close to the asking price and let’s see if we agree. Ok?
“EPI called the minimum wage a “critically important issue” that “would provide a modest stimulus to the entire economy, as increased wages would lead to increased consumer spending, which would contribute to GDP growth and modest employment gains” (emphasis added):
The immediate benefits of a minimum-wage increase are in the boosted earnings of the lowest-paid workers, but its positive effects would far exceed this extra income. Recent research reveals that, despite skeptics’ claims, raising the minimum wage does not cause job loss. In fact, throughout the nation, a minimum-wage increase under current labor market conditions would create jobs. Like unemployment insurance benefits or tax breaks for low- and middle-income workers, raising the minimum wage puts more money in the pockets of working families when they need it most, thereby augmenting their spending power. Economists generally recognize that low-wage workers are more likely than any other income group to spend any extra earnings immediately on previously unaffordable basic needs or services.
Increasing the federal minimum wage to $10.10 by July 1, 2015, would give an additional $51.5 billion over the phase-in period to directly and indirectly affected workers, who would, in turn, spend those extra earnings. Indirectly affected workers–those earning close to, but still above, the proposed new minimum wage–would likely receive a boost in earnings due to the “spillover” effect (Shierholz 2009), giving them more to spend on necessities.
This projected rise in consumer spending is critical to any recovery, especially when weak consumer demand is one of the most significant factors holding back new hiring (Izzo 2011). Though the stimulus from a minimum-wage increase is smaller than the boost created by, for example, unemployment insurance benefits, it has the crucial advantage of not imposing costs on the public sector.”
39- They are not saying to raise the minimum wage to solve poverty. They are just saying that this recession is happening due to lack of demand. If we raise the minimum wage right now, it’s the quickest way to inject life (demand) into our economy. No one is saying to raise the minimum wage when the economy is doing well. They are advocating a minimum wage hike bases on what’s hurting the economy right now. There is no demand. So let’s create it. Too much money is tied up at the top of the economy. Let’s give a little back to the rest of the economy so that it can create demand and get this economy going again.
Ok, Michael..I will just run to my boss right now and tell him I need wage inflation. That will work. I will tell him that job market in CT is so strong and we need housing to rise even though it is dirt cheap now apparently. I will tell him to ignore this announcement below:
http://m.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/UBS-property-listed-for-lease-signaling-plans-to-5840825.php
How does raising redistributing taxes from the middle class to raise the minimum wage of the lower class create demand? What do you gain from the increase in the purchase of lottery tickets, booze and cigarettes from what you lose from the decrease in middle class spending on manicures and car washes?
Plus, as Grim likes to remind everyone, a heck of a lot of those minimum wage workers are not lower class. They are kids and seniors from middle class families.
Quite honestly, it’s just another base placating strategy to maintain power, as was the ACA.
If you don’t see it, then you are simply ignorant.
Want to get the economy kick started, reduce the amount a company and an individual can lobby or donate to $1 per candidate.
[36] Michael,
Having seen this firsthand, I can tell you that the politicians on Beacon Hill in Boston have done much to create a fertile environment for job growth and economic prosperity. . . .
In New Hampshire.
So much of the NH economy is derived from capital fleeing the Bay State that it really is part of the eastern Mass. ecosphere. More businesses relo to NH from MA than from any other state by a ridiculously wide margin. Drive up any major highway from Mass. to NH and observe what you see on each side of the border. If Mass. sneezes, NH catches a cold.
And yes, the dems have held sway there as of late, but the one thing that would be fatal to them is to try to make their state just like Mass.
Oh yeah. I nearly forgot. Baa.
And Nom…market about to turn green. Again. Don’t miss this Xmas rally. There is no stronger nor more retarded discretionary spending stimulus than low fuel prices. Heck, people will drive 30 miles to get a nickel discount on gas in this country. Yet they won’t clip coupons from the Sunday paper.
[42] libturd,
For my part, I would much rather see redistribution and social engineering done by means of the min. wage than by increasingly progressive tax rates. It is far easier to avoid the effects of cost inflation through elasticity than to avoid taxes. In fact, properly played, it will MAKE me money.
If my pizza delivery goes up to $24 for a cheese pie, delivered, I adapt. I break out the pizza stone, get dough, cheese, sauce and pepperoni, and make Pizza Night into a family affair for about $5 a pie. I grow veggies instead of paying higher prices at the supermarket, and the kids get to have a hobby. I get the girls to help me wash and vacuum the car in good weather rather than pay $10 to have someone else do it. I save money, enjoy some family time, and probably live healthier too.
Then there is the moneymaking aspect: After this correction plays out, I am going in hard on tech again. Security, robotics, internet of things, and power management are all trends I see with legs. Min. wage simply grows those businesses.
Also, direct profit as complexity and chaos is good for lawyers: How many mom and pops will want to jettison their employees? I see plenty of potential for ownership model businesses where every former employee is now an owner building equity. Not the easiest minefield to navigate so that requires some careful legal planning. Then there’s the legal business that comes out of bankruptcies, asset or stock sales, employment disputes, etc.
So I say Raise the Min. Wage! I have a carcass to pick.
[18] jj – I was thinking the same thing. I didn’t even know they had $600K houses in Hawthorne. I guess because it abuts Bergen County you get a little bit of money smell with the right wind conditions.
Also they are “good savers”? yet like to borrow on leverage? there borrowing got them in trouble. Also why Hawthorne? Yea next to mom but fiancially a stupid investment. Williamsburgh or Lower manhattan back in 2012 they be filthy rich right now. Who would use this idiot as a financial planner
[45] libturd,
I have a sh1tload of cash on the sidelines, waiting for opportunities. But this market seems awfully skittish so I am easing in right now.
The way I look at it, doesn’t matter what they purchase. What matters is that they will spend every new dollar they get. This will create demand in the economy one way or another. You are just trying to jump-start the economy. It’s obvious too much money is at the top, why? Demand says so. Give these people a little raise, they will spend, create demand, and jump start the rest of the economy. Otherwise we can just sit here, wait it out, and maybe have a deadly fight with deflation. I rather try and give the minimum wage strategy a try.
Libturd at home waiting for the explosive diarrhea says:
October 27, 2014 at 10:57 am
How does raising redistributing taxes from the middle class to raise the minimum wage of the lower class create demand? What do you gain from the increase in the purchase of lottery tickets, booze and cigarettes from what you lose from the decrease in middle class spending on manicures and car washes?
Plus, as Grim likes to remind everyone, a heck of a lot of those minimum wage workers are not lower class. They are kids and seniors from middle class families.
Lib [42];
Want to get the economy kick started, reduce the amount a company and an individual can lobby or donate to $1 per candidate.
Companies and individuals give their money to politicians for one main reason – they think it is of value to them. Think ROI. Microsoft thought they were above the fray with respect to government lobbying, spending a pittance on it for years. Until they got slammed with the huge IE antitrust lawsuit/investigation; now they spend millions per year which funnels through and enriches ex-politico cronies on K Street, with the goodly portion landing in the coffers of the politburo and/or their families and friends.
Prohibiting demand for political favors is making same the mistake of prohibition, or the current drug war. As long as government influence is worth selling, there will be a buyer.
The answer with respect to buying and selling of government favors is to eliminate the supply — i.e., reduce the size and scope of government. If taxes were lower, it wouldn’t be worth anyone’s time to lobby for some kind of tax code loophole. If government spent less, lobbying for a government contract would be far less lucrative.
Went to BWW the other night. Place packed, food was ok, overly noisy. Looked to me like every waitress, busboy and other staff were working as fast as they could. The kids working there looked like they could be one of my kids, or my neighbors. I like that. Tipping one of them makes me feel like I am helping in my community. I hope I am going to have a place to eat after they put in kiosks to replace these kids as I will avoid any place that uses kiosks.
50 Moose.
Make Clot president, give him executive powers, and all of our problems will be solved.
Of course, I’m sure we will have some new ones, but hey, change can be fun!!
[20] clot – I don’t know the guy at all, I just cyber-stalked him. From the looks of his Linked In profile and both his and his wife’s FB pages it could be job evaporated (he’s on his second since coming to NJ), going back to Boston area, divorce, or all of the above. Recent pictures on the guys FB page are him hanging out with lots of buddies or him and the kids. Similarly, wife’s FB recent photos are her and the kids.
BTW, that’s my MIL’s starter house. They sold it in the early 70’s.
expat (13)-
Are they leaving Glen Rock because the job evaporated?
clot – that would make the most sense, but I don’t put it past Yellen & Co to try mailing every citizen $50K as a last ditch effort. I hear they are running a trial by wrapping government cheese in $100 bills to see if it does anything to increase money velocity.
expat (8)-
Much more likely we’d witness another deflationary credit collapse. However, the next one will wipe out Western civilization.
From the article in post [14],
Ryan is a certified financial planner in Wyckoff…
Lol! Yes, the article has all kinds of quips that will amuse the informed. The poor muppets.
So what are you trying to say? That it’s important that workers get paid a wage that reflects the price of goods and services? I agree, that’s why I am stating to raise the minimum wage, so it produces wage inflation for everyone.
You can’t keep cutting jobs and sending them overseas in the name of more profit. You have to have some balance. Eventually, you suck the worker (the person who pays/creates your business profit) dry. This means if you don’t give workers raises, eventually your business will go bust. The economy goes into recession/depression due to deflation. If you don’t increase the workers ability to pay for the product, you must lower the product. This will destroy most businesses as well as the economy. Maybe, I’m looking at it wrong, but educate me if I am.
Bystander says:
October 27, 2014 at 10:47 am
Ok, Michael..I will just run to my boss right now and tell him I need wage inflation. That will work. I will tell him that job market in CT is so strong and we need housing to rise even though it is dirt cheap now apparently. I will tell him to ignore this announcement below:
http://m.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/UBS-property-listed-for-lease-signaling-plans-to-5840825.php
Stiglitz is to economics what Krugman is to economics.
Witch Doctors scamming the world from their ivory towers.
Stiglitz and Krugman:
Is that a new Sitcom or a Vegas comedy act?
[46] redux,
Anecdata:
Another interesting dynamic I see in response to wage inflation (and I think I have commented on this before) is in the child sitting business.
When I was hiring sitters in NJ and here, the average asking rate was $15 per hour. And there were few alternatives. But around 5 years ago, one or two local businesses, mostly gyms, would offer an occasional “Parents Night Out” deal where you could drop your kids for three hours for anywhere from $10 to $20 per kid.
Used to be an isolated thing. Now virtually all of them are offering these evening hours, and not just occasionally but every week. So if I want to have dinner out, there are any number of places I can take the girls for a few hours for very short money.
In time, I expect some tie-ins between businesses; for example, a restaurant will “validate” your kid’s receipt from the gym, or offer a discount if you show a gym receipt.
Has this affected rates for sitters? Last year, the average asking rate was $15 per hour. Now its $12. And I am seeing more negotiating and better responses to posted jobs.
35,
I agree. Biden would be great theatre. Are there any good looking democrats?
I know we have some folks that keep saying we are in throes of inflation, specifically pointing out the exclusion of Food and Energy….
PSE&G gives customers a break on gas heat price
October 24, 2014 Last updated: Friday, October 24, 2014, 4:34 PM
By KATHLEEN LYNN
The cost of gas heat is heading down again for customers of Public Service Electric & Gas, which says it will give customers credits on their gas bills this winter, reflecting the continuing drop in the utility’s cost for natural gas.
PSE&G of Newark, the state’s largest utility, said the typical customer will see savings of about 31 percent in November, December and January, for a total of about $118. That’s on top of an earlier reduction in the gas rate, which took effect Oct. 1 and brought the gas supply rate to its lowest rate in 14 years. The two actions mean that the typical gas bill will be more than $200 lower this winter, the utility said.
The cost of gas is going down because PSE&G is getting lower-cost natural gas from the Marcellus shale formation, an underground rock formation mainly in Pennsylvania and in surrounding states, the utility said. While many consumers benefit from the lower costs, environmentalists have criticized the way that the gas is extracted from the shale, through “fracking,” or fracturing the rock, which they say threatens to pollute groundwater.
“Since 2009, PSE&G’s residential gas customers have benefited from steady reductions in the cost of natural gas,” said Jorge Cardenas, PSE&G vice president of asset management and centralized services. Those reductions have added up to a 45-percent cut in the typical gas bill, PSE&G said.
Karen Johnson, a spokeswoman for PSE&G, said that giving the credits, rather than reducing the rate, is “the fastest way to ensure that our customers are not paying more for the gas than we pay for it.”
“If we reduced the per-therm rate further, we might have to increase it later, which we would prefer not to do,” Johnson said.
PSE&G sells natural gas to its customers at cost, making no profit on the transaction. PSE&G is New Jersey’s oldest and largest regulated gas and electric delivery utility, serving nearly three-quarters of the state’s population, including 600,000 customers in Bergen and Passaic counties.
About 49 percent of U.S. households use gas for heating, according to the Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department’s statistical arm.
The U.S. cut its 2014 gas price forecast for Henry Hub in Louisiana, the benchmark for New York futures, to $4.45 million Btu from the previous estimate of $4.46. Average prices will drop 14 percent next year to $3.84, the report said.
–
http://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-state-news/pse-38-g-gives-customers-a-break-on-gas-heat-price-1.1117651
[51] phoenix
You won’t. It is ridiculously easy to foresee this. Your hostess seats you and instead of leaving paper menus, she leaves two tablets. She doesn’t say “Your server will be with you in a moment”, she simply directs you to the table and says “here are your menus, and you can simply touch to order. If you have any problems, simply press here (to flag one of the few servers left).”
The servers will simply be the people who bring out the platters and say “who ordered the mild wings?” They will likely still “serve” extra drinks, extra orders, handle changes, etc., but will get jobbed in that many folks won’t much feel like tipping them. Look for the tablets to have reminders and their pictures on them so you remember to tip something.
I can easily forsee a BWW, Crapplebees, Friday’s or Ruby Tuesday cutting server headcount by up to 50% and getting more stations served (and more revenue) per server. Huge Win.
Added bonus: you may get headcount under the threshold for Obamacare.
So tell me again why these businesses aren’t flocking to this?
As far as food, I have been food shopping in NJ since 1986 and do the weekly for my family. Besides the periodic rise and then drop in meats, I have not seen tremendous inflation. I shop at ShopRite, shop the sale items, replace meat with chicken when prices are crazy, etc. Chicken legs were $0.99 lb in 1986 and I can still find them for that of $1.19 almost 30 years later…
AG,
Good looking Democrats? 99% of Hollywood starlets. Maybe you can convince Scarlett Johansson to run.
Fast Eddie, Gary -30 Linden had so much at one time, General Motors , Gordon’s Gin , Tetley Tea, GAF Corp. Exxon Research, Mapes & Sprowl , Simmons Mattress and many more like the chemical companies your friend was talking about. Remember driving by GM on a Saturday night and the parking lot was full to meet the manufacturing demand of the front wheel drive Riviera, Seville, and Tornado’s. Knew so many people that quit their jobs to go work there.
Now if anon, otto, and Fabian want to aim their outrage in this direction, they will find an advocate in me:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102123997?trknav=homestack:topnews:6
re # 63 – “I can still find them for that of $1.19 almost 30 years later…”
Anecdotal. At the checkout this weekend was a middle aged couple. Their entire shopping cart was filled with chicken thighs and drumsticks. It rang up for $1.19 a pound. It was as if they thought they hit the chicken lottery or something.
Mike [65];
Remember driving by GM on a Saturday night and the parking lot was full to meet the manufacturing demand of the front wheel drive Riviera, Seville, and Tornado’s. Knew so many people that quit their jobs to go work there.
My parents drove Olds’ for decades… Last one was an ’84 Toronado that was so bad it turned him off the brand forever.
Myself, I miss the hangars at Linden Airport that were sacrificed along with one runway to build the Home Depot. Airport is still operating, but a shell of itself.
I started my post college work life in 1995 in tech and startups. A good wage was 30k. By 1999, 50k was easy for even d*psh*ts. By 2001 after tech crash, you could not find a job and I was offered 30k by Sony in NYC. Luckily, I held out and made 57k. It look a long time to find that one. Fast forward to 2005 with housing bubble and 100k is easy for any schmo. Now, and for past 10 years, 100k to 125k is where most FT jobs fall even 10+ years experience. To answer your question, bubbles drive wage inflation..not good hearts of our fine American corps. With no new bubble, the govt prints money and creates regulation to stimulate status quo but not wage inflation. They also cuts prices on basics like energy/oil to create more dollars for consumers. You think the stagnant economy is not reason for oil drops. Illuminati know growth is f-ed and trying to do anything to keep us from flatlining. Wage arbitrage is name of game, not your belief in American exceptionalism
Isn’t that a little extreme? I would think that by increasing the minimum wage, you would be in a better position in your fight with inflation. Just giving 50,000 to every citizen would send the economy into hyper-drive. The battle with inflation will be fierce under this scenario.
The Original NJ ExPat says:
October 27, 2014 at 11:29 am
clot – that would make the most sense, but I don’t put it past Yellen & Co to try mailing every citizen $50K as a last ditch effort. I hear they are running a trial by wrapping government cheese in $100 bills to see if it does anything to increase money velocity.
expat (8)-
Much more likely we’d witness another deflationary credit collapse. However, the next one will wipe out Western civilization.
#67..we have CPI proof in stats and my own 30 years of being in the supermarket, not anecdotal…that was one example, lets go shopping! I do not buy expensive red meats or shop at Whole Foods, or Kings…that is for the rich I guess!
The inflation I see is in Tuition and Healthcare. Food and energy not so much.
Gasoline prices more than doubled in the last 10 years.
73 –
http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation_Rate/Gasoline_Inflation.asp
Gasoline prices? Well below 2008 highs…$2.69 by me today.
I paid $1.31 in 1981 at Exxon, Route 1 South between Newark and Elizabeth. So prices have “doubled” in 33 years, if we are Cherry Picking dates.
And you have never even seen a bad job market. Folks graduating college in huge recession years like 1982, 1992 or even 2009 had a hard time.
My older sister graduated Grad school in 1982 and was only one in her graduating class to get a job. She was Valedictorian, with a double major and was published.
Kids 10 years out of school make a boatload more money than we did then years out of school. Problem is they spend a boatload more.
When I was 32 I had a 200 sq foot rent controlled apt in a dumpy part of city, no cell phone or smartphone, no internet, heck I bribed cable guy for free cable so no bill for that. Most of friends that age had roomates, most had no car. No starbucks, 50 cent coffee of truck and no fancy food maybe dollar menu for lunch. No gym, just a old weight set. Going out was tall boys in the parking lot or sidewalk, before “lick and rolling” your way into a club.
My 32 year old staff, live alone in condos or coops, have late models cars, eat lunch at 12 dollar fancy hipster joints, have five bucks starbucks, latest Iphones, designer clothes, central air, go to expensive clubs and nice restaurants and go to concerts and spots games, They hit stubhub, grubhub, etc and spend apple money, credit card money like it is going out of style.
Lets take the same staff, three of them in three condos/coops all 32 and transport them back 20 years. One would bribe a super or something and get a dumpy rent stabalized two bedroom walk up around 90 and 2nd in the city throw up a wall and make it a three bedroom, each would pay 1/3 of bills. There would be no AC, no one would have a car, no cell phones or internet. Tall boys on couch watching their one TV before they hit the bars with specials be a big night out. Someone would brew a pot of coffee in morning and grab a 50 cent bagel off the truck.
If kids today on their 120K jobs lived like 1992 they would have boatloads of money. How is it the bosses job you want to live like a CEO at 32
Bystander says:
October 27, 2014 at 12:45 pm
I started my post college work life in 1995 in tech and startups. A good wage was 30k. By 1999, 50k was easy for even d*psh*ts. By 2001 after tech crash, you could not find a job and I was offered 30k by Sony in NYC. Luckily, I held out and made 57k. It look a long time to find that one. Fast forward to 2005 with housing bubble and 100k is easy for any schmo. Now, and for past 10 years, 100k to 125k is where most FT jobs fall even 10+ years experience. To answer your question, bubbles drive wage inflation..not good hearts of our fine American corps. With no new bubble, the govt prints money and creates regulation to stimulate status quo but not wage inflation. They also cuts prices on basics like energy/oil to create more dollars for consumers. You think the stagnant economy is not reason for oil drops. Illuminati know growth is f-ed and trying to do anything to keep us from flatlining. Wage arbitrage is name of game, not your belief in American exceptionalism
#74…wow..I do have a good memory! Of course I have every energy and tax bill on a spreadsheet from 1980 on……water bills where appropriate..it is no fun living with me from a spending perspective!
I brought coffee “singles” to work until I was 40…I calculated it was about $0.11 a cup of coffee….after my 1987 Condo debacle it took me until about age 40 to feel I could afford a Dunkin Donuts coffee on occasion during the day
I’m am not being condescending, just inquisitive. Really trying to understand the situation. So basically, you think the fed/govt is trying to control money velocity by other means than wages? They would rather create demand by lowering food and energy costs, as opposed to direct wage inflation? Could this be an easier way of doing battle with inflation/deflation? Meaning, it’s much easier to control the monetary system by adjusting prices as opposed to wages?
I know this is a complicated subject and that there are numerous ways of looking at and addressing the problem.
Bystander says:
October 27, 2014 at 12:45 pm
I started my post college work life in 1995 in tech and startups. A good wage was 30k. By 1999, 50k was easy for even d*psh*ts. By 2001 after tech crash, you could not find a job and I was offered 30k by Sony in NYC. Luckily, I held out and made 57k. It look a long time to find that one. Fast forward to 2005 with housing bubble and 100k is easy for any schmo. Now, and for past 10 years, 100k to 125k is where most FT jobs fall even 10+ years experience. To answer your question, bubbles drive wage inflation..not good hearts of our fine American corps. With no new bubble, the govt prints money and creates regulation to stimulate status quo but not wage inflation. They also cuts prices on basics like energy/oil to create more dollars for consumers. You think the stagnant economy is not reason for oil drops. Illuminati know growth is f-ed and trying to do anything to keep us from flatlining. Wage arbitrage is name of game, not your belief in American exceptionalism
JJ,
Have you not also not claimed that you had no money when you bought your home in 1999? You apparently blew it all in 90s due to partying, booze and broads..and the rest you just wasted..;>)
I like what you are saying. Keep it coming. Interesting points. I would like to add that gas is not the same as before. They keep supplementing it with corn. People need to consider this in the gas debate.
1987 Condo says:
October 27, 2014 at 1:14 pm
Gasoline prices? Well below 2008 highs…$2.69 by me today.
I paid $1.31 in 1981 at Exxon, Route 1 South between Newark and Elizabeth. So prices have “doubled” in 33 years, if we are Cherry Picking dates.
Well the Ethanol debacle has not helped and was also keeping prices higher as well…
I wouldn’t use the week before an election as the barometer for energy prices. Of course they are running glutted the market to drive down prices temporarily, it’s the oldest trick in the book. Gas will be up over $3 again in a few weeks.
[47]
That area of Hawthorne, “on the hill” as they said in the article, is adjacent to Wyckoff and resembles Wyckoff more than the rest of Hawthorne.
#83, glad the Saudis and Russia are all onboard with our elections, and that whole North Dakota thing and Texas, good planning to coordinate around Nov 4. All those energy stocks accepting a drop in their stock price, and PSEG planning those 8 years of natural gas cuts..all for this election…
I got lucky to get into a broker dealer mgt training program in 86 that had a fast track but the company got killed in Crash of 87, I kept my job but a different dead end position at new company Pretty much hiring picked up in last 1996 and I left the job I intended to stay in three years eight years later in 1997.
When I got married in 1998 I had 7k in the bank. My wife was like WTF y0u are working 15 years. I was like hey look at least I am not in debt.When I bought my house in 2000 we had like 5k left in bank between us. And prayed nothing broke on that hunk of junk and I was driving a rolling piece of junk to train station. I really should have saved pre marriage.
I stayed in dead end job way too long as there were no jobs, but also I lived in city and got home from work at 5:15 and left for work at 8:15 I had tons of free time. Mind you I had an extremely stressful long hour job in 1986 to 1988 and it sucked. I was happy to spend age 25 to 34 basically relaxing and going out and the lousy 100K max I could have made extra would not replace those years of fun. Weird fun like me and Stuttering John from Howard Stern doing a smack down insult throwdown at four am outside 7/11 which I won. Not saying much though Stuttering John not that funny. My friend once said do you make up all your stories at best something cool happens once a year. I go how often do you go out he goes maybe 1-2 times a month. I said I go out around 300 nights year for last 10 years or 3,000 nights and you go out 200 nights over same stretch.
Todays kids I think saddle themselves with too much debt. I have a guy 32 with a mortgage and a car loan. Debt makes you dig out of hole. At 32 being broke is a different story when you have no debt and a paid off car and a big 401k.
Bystander says:
October 27, 2014 at 1:45 pm
JJ,
Have you not also not claimed that you had no money when you bought your home in 1999? You apparently blew it all in 90s due to partying, booze and broads..and the rest you just wasted..;>)
#85
That’s a whole lot to untangle, but it’s undeniable that oil is a political weapon:
From 1991 to 2012, national gasoline prices fell by an average of 3.27 percent each year between the July 4th weekend (when demand tends to peak) and the first week of November. During presidential election years, prices fell by more than twice as much, 7.6 percent. Factoring in congressional election years (every even-numbered year), the average price decline is 5.35 percent. The smallest effect happens during odd-numbered years, when no candidates are running for the House of Representatives or Senate, though five states do hold gubernatorial elections. In those years, prices declined by only 0.6 percent.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-06/the-oddities-of-election-year-gasoline-prices
Inflation growth was the worst with Bazooka Bubble Gum. When I was a kid, you could get it for 1 cent from the bottom shelf of the candy aisle at 7-Eleven. About the time I was 10, it went up to 3 cents. Then 5 cents a few years later and last I remember, it was a little bit bigger, but was 20 cents. Now I read that it is discontinued. Let that be a lesson to those in support of raising the minimum wage!
Mrs. Kotter<Vigoda
Ok – Since when did it become trendy to take photographs in public using a tablet? Why on earth would you even want to carry around a giant tablet to use as a camera? For years we clamored for smaller cameras, and now kids are lugging around the equivalent of an 1800s 8×10 view camera to take photos. God, worse, is I know somewhere there is a hipster in Brooklyn that is right now, I mean RIGHT NOW, sewing black velvet light hoods for iPads, so that you can better compose your image without the distracting back lighting. Perhaps even a reclaimed wood tripod to go with it.
Too late, here they are in Prospect Park just this last weekend taking photographs of the foliage.
http://static.photo.net/attachments/bboard/00M/00MKhs-38123184.jpg
For you hipster grasshoppers:
http://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Hipster
Condo [75];
Gasoline prices? Well below 2008 highs…$2.69 by me today.
Circa 2000 I could fill up may Saturn for <$0.99/gal (< $10 total). That's a hair under 12% annual inflation.
grim,
Maybe the ipad is the best camera they have.
I really hate it when my photo gets ruined by some jackass in front of me holding their Ipad up in the air, attempting to take a photo it undoubtedly cannot take, (too dark, needs a fast shutter speed) and often isn’t allowed to take (e.g. photos are allowed, but not videos).
Happens all the time at my kid’s dance competitions. People making a nuisance of themselves while shooting a blurry mess. Possibly more annoying than the people who don’t know how to turn off their camera flash and don’t even realize that it cannot possibly help their telephoto shot, also doomed to fail.
Looks like another day chock full of utter morons posting comments here.
The average age of a minimum wage worker in the US is 34. And funny thing, when poor people are given free money through government programs it turns out they invest it in education and training and daycare so they can work more and get better jobs not cigarettes and liquor. Of course even if they did buy cigs and booze, that would mean more manufacturing work for those industries. See that’s what creates jobs, Ragnar–demand. Not corporations. Be honest, how many of you need help tying your own shoelaces?
Libturd,
Bazooka gum is such a disappointing confection. The comics suck, the gum tastes like Pepto-Bismol, and is generally not very soft and chewy.
Is this what you’re giving to trick or treaters?
13. Who in their right mind tries to sell a house two years after moving in?
The average age of a minimum wage worker in the US is 34.
Why not post the distribution, unless of course you know we aren’t talking about a standard distribution.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/11/21/246599184/who-earns-the-minimum-wage-heres-the-answer-in-3-graphs
Graph 2, I chose to cite from NPR because this will be harder for you to dismiss based on source, and partially because I hope you will take at least a 3 second look at it.
Clearly, minimum wage workers are disproportionately younger than the entire workforce, and skews significantly toward the younger worker.
And from the unbiased Pew, 50.4% of minimum wage workers are between 16 and 24.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/08/who-makes-minimum-wage/
This would commonly be referred to as “the majority”, and would be used the following way in a sentence.
“The majority of minimum wage workers are between 16 and 24.”
Pew also uses the same terminology that I did in my previously post to describe this group of the population, “disproportionately”. Should I define that one as well to help you?
Redux [50];
One more thing about lobbying: Convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff owned the high-end restaurant called “Signatures” in the Penn Quarter section DC; he entertained his clients and targets there often.
This led me to wonder how much he was spending on wine and dine when he concluded that it was cheaper to own the restaurant than to ‘rent’ it.
Grim,
For the most part, Younger workers don’t vote and don’t consume benefits. Therefore, it behooves TPTB to prefer older workers for jobs. Since conditioning benefits on gov make work is out, the better alternative is to “convince” them to take low wage jobs by making them more attractive. The assumption is that employers will prefer older workers over kids, thus taking them into the workforce.
The min wage debate is largely moot anyway. Most entry level jobs pay over that and the attendant distortions that will accompany national legislation won’t be felt very much here except in the ways I’ve outlined.
Hey Otto, no love for my disapproval of Ballmer? That one transaction costs you more actual tax revenue than the mythic 20 billion “lost” to inversions ( which won’t be collected anyway but why interrupt a good internet meme?)
I am never ever buying a condo again. I honestly think idiots buy them and then appoint the least idotic folks to be on board.
Then again some high tax towns in NJ are like condos. You pay the idiots who run the town 24k a year and you have no clue what they spend it on.
Look I’m all for supporting anti-poverty programs that have some chance of actually accomplishing their intended goal. Programs targeting the minimum wage will, at best, only keep folks earning the minimum wage. At worst, they result in putting someone who has a job out of work, a significantly more difficult position to recover from.
And funny thing, when poor people are given free money through government programs it turns out they invest it in education and training and daycare so they can work more and get better jobs not cigarettes and liquor.
LMAO!!! Sure.
JJ almost has it, here is my edit:
Todays kids I think saddle themselves with too much debt. I have a guy 32 with a mortgage and a car loan. Debt makes you
dig out of hole.comfortable with debt.Google this site with “cash mentality”. If you grew up through HS and college absolutely needing cash and avoiding debt it left a favorable impression on you that served you well.
Confirmed. I used to drive 60 miles each way from Nutley, NJ to Hauppauge LI. I had to fill my gas tank every …single…day. I could make it to work and back and to work again, but I couldn’t make it back without filling up with expensive NY gasoline, so I had to fill up every single day in NJ. Sometimes in the morning, sometimes at night, but I filled up every single day. After a while I figured out that I only needed 15 or 16 gallons, not 21.
Circa 2000 I could fill up may Saturn for <$0.99/gal (< $10 total). That's a hair under 12% annual inflation.
Uhhh…People with good finances and good prospects? Also parties divorcing.
13. Who in their right mind tries to sell a house two years after moving in?
[98] Thanks grim. I didn’t have the energy.
Why not post the distribution, unless of course you know we aren’t talking about a standard distribution.
[103] jj- re: condo boards – We have two single guys as our board, 2nd year running. No one even runs or attends meetings anymore, at least not a quorum. It’s not that they are the smartest, but they are smart enough (One is a gay BU proffesor and the other a BU finance guy) and apparently honest (I installed one of them). They have the time to work their asses off for free, so I let them. I view them as slave labor. Prior we had an old guard. Old people who are retired with no mortgages are exactly who you don’t want on your board. They sit home all day looking out the window and just want to use the reserves to improve the gardens and pavers they see out the window. It’s like their own personal trust fund. Buy whatever you want and only pay 1/50th of the price and you don’t have a mortgage and your days are numbered so who cares how much I spend? You want guys who with big mortgages who hardly spend any time at home. They want to preserve value because they have almost no equity, but they can’t go crazy on assessments and excess spending because that will come out of their limited pockets too.
I honestly think idiots buy them and then appoint the least idotic folks to be on board.
[103] LOL – Add another zero JJ. The town manager in Glen Rock makes something like $250K per year, last I checked which was several years ago. The mayorship is a part-time gig, something like $40K. On balance, the high city manager salary is probably what keeps the town in check. I think the city dump has three guys. One guy makes $120k(no show), another makes $80K(no work), another makes $40K(does everything).
You pay the idiots who run the town 24k a year and you have no clue what they spend it on.
Its just so beautiful and fair. I miss it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8XOZJkozfI#t=397
The problem with any volunteer board is that no one wants to be on them and the ones that do will fight over everything. I saw our old board argue over a new table for the lobby for 18 months. The HOA I moved to were not much better.
JJ the one man Economic Recovery.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-27/one-percenters-drop-six-figures-at-long-island-mall.html
rags (32)-
It all works. Until it doesn’t.
“I imagine Hillary had in mind the Krugmanesque idea that “job creation” is something that government does by inflating “aggregate demand” in its magical way.”
turdblossom (34)-
I actually believe if there were a way you could finance your taxes, you would do it.
“You guys also always talk about taxes. Do you realize how cheap rates are right now. How many hundreds of thousands are low rates taking off the housing prices right now? Housing is not expensive right now, whether you realize it or not. Unless you are paying in cash, these houses are cheap right now if you have to borrow. You guys are wrong. Sorry.”
phoenix (52)-
Make sure you’re not on my shit list before advocating stuff like this.
“Make Clot president, give him executive powers, and all of our problems will be solved.”
My method of dealing with personal grudges and potential enemies would be straight out of the Stalin playbook. Not very nice, but deadly effective.
otto (95)-
You mean signing on for things like heavily-financed degrees from U of Phoenix and DeVry? “Education and training” like this almost demands you have cigarettes and booze just to get you through the stultifying online coursework. Unless, that is, you just drop out…like almost 3/4 of the dopes who get snookered by these scams.
And, if you’re gonna claim they’re all going to legit community colleges, please come back with some facts to back it up. BTW, don’t look now, but any good community college is overcrowded and tuitions are creeping higher.
“The average age of a minimum wage worker in the US is 34. And funny thing, when poor people are given free money through government programs it turns out they invest it in education and training and daycare so they can work more and get better jobs not cigarettes and liquor.”
rags (96)-
No way. Stu goes in for the classic razor blade-in-apple gambit. Keeps the little bastards away the following year.
“Libturd, Bazooka gum is such a disappointing confection. The comics suck, the gum tastes like Pepto-Bismol, and is generally not very soft and chewy. Is this what you’re giving to trick or treaters?”
jj (103)-
Close, except idiots buy them and appoint crooks to the board.
“I am never ever buying a condo again. I honestly think idiots buy them and then appoint the least idotic folks to be on board.”
Nice post. I was checking continuously this blog
and I’m impressed! Extremely helpful information specially the last part
:) I care for such information much. I was looking for this particular information for a very long time.
Thank you and best of luck.
Feel free to visit my web site Clayton