From CNBC:
Mixed signals for spring housing season
The spring housing market is still about a month away, but industry experts are already arguing its outcome. New reports offer very different views on both headwinds and tail winds. Overall economic conditions, everything from job growth to cheap gas, could help home sales. But still high home prices, tight credit conditions and low supply all stand in the way.
“The housing recovery is barely on first base,” said David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Prospects for a home run in 2015 aren’t good.”
Blitzer made those comments in a monthly report on home prices from S&P/Case-Shiller, which showed home price gains had eased in November 2014 (a three-month running average ending in November). The strongest gains were limited to California, Florida, the Pacific Northwest, Denver, and Dallas, while the rest of the country is lagging the national average.
A more current report, however, gauging January sales and prices, was more optimistic. Real estate brokerage Redfin says home prices are 7.6 percent higher in January from a year ago (at least according to sales in the first three weeks of the month). It also says home tour demand among its listing hit an all-time record last week, with the number of customers requesting tours up 62 percent from a year ago.
…
The numbers may be juiced by better news in the mortgage market. Not only are interest rates near record lows, but the FHA, the government insurer of home loans, lowered its annual premiums Monday by half a percentage point, which it estimates saves the average borrower about $900 a year.
…
“If prices go up too far too fast, buyers will step back and wait for them to drop again,” said Richardson. A steep jump in prices in 2013 caused sales to fall backward in 2014, according to the National Association of Realtors, which recently reported full-year 2014 sales 3 percent below 2013.
Good Morning New Jersey
Punkin’, you should read Adam Smith more. Then, throw out the idea that Amerika actually practices a pure form of capitalism. The gubmint will not (because it cannot) act in the interest of all.
The gubmint is a wholly-owned subsidiary of bad banks, giant corporations and the filthy rich. Pleases give me a call when JPM, GS, XOM, Koch or Soros says they want to do something for you or me. Because I want a head start on getting out of the country.
““You can’t blame the child, no matter what the circumstances. A two-year-old can’t take care of themselves,” he said.
In 2013, 44% of children under the age 18 lived in low-income families – those with an income below $47,000 a year for a family of four. That’s equivalent to 31.8 million US children, according to a report from the National Center for Children in poverty at Columbia University.
The center also found that about 22% of children live in poor families, with income below $24,000 a year.”
@moorehn: How many US kids live on food stamps?
16 million.
takers!
@WSJ:
Roughly 16 million U.S. children – about 1 in 5 – received food stamps last year.
What about the Children?
I think that’s a great description of our govt. Really puts it in perspective.
Liquor Luge says:
January 29, 2015 at 6:57 am
Punkin’, you should read Adam Smith more. Then, throw out the idea that Amerika actually practices a pure form of capitalism. The gubmint will not (because it cannot) act in the interest of all.
The gubmint is a wholly-owned subsidiary of bad banks, giant corporations and the filthy rich. Pleases give me a call when JPM, GS, XOM, Koch or Soros says they want to do something for you or me. Because I want a head start on getting out of the country.
I heard a Zillow analyst quote a figure, but I have no context for it. Relative to the question of whether we are observing normal market conditions in US RE, he noted many positive trends, but then he said that negative equity on mortgages is 17%….usually the level is 0% ….he said it was stark difference ….although I am not sure what that measures and what he meant…..
Leading indicator :-)
http://qz.com/334269/what-starbucks-has-done-to-american-home-values/
@pdacosta: Rate of U.S. children living with married parents getting food stamps has doubled since 2007
If you are poor with no education and ambition stop making kids.
@pdacosta: Median earnings for full-time U.S. workers aged 18 to 34 have fallen nearly 10% since 2000, adjusting for inflation.
“Median wealth has basically not changed between 2010 and 2013, a sign the middle class has been left out of the recovery, New York University economics professor Edward Wolff points out. Median earnings for full-time U.S. workers aged 18 to 34 have fallen nearly 10% since 2000, after adjusting for inflation, hindering young adults’ prospects.
So it’s not a surprise that America’s children are suffering, too. The rate of children living with married parents getting food stamps has doubled since 2007. Overall food-stamp use, despite plateauing, remains elevated, historically speaking.
The latest Census data come from the 2014 Current Population Survey’s Annual Social and Economic Supplement, which has tracked families for over 60 years.
• 15% of America’s 73.7 million children under 18 have a stay-at-home mother (24% of married families with children under 15 have one). For comparison, just 0.6% of overall children have a stay-at-home father.”
or aabout 0.05% of the 330 milion people in this country math is your friend Anon. What are the percentages for places llike cuba, venzuala or much of Europe
Dropping out of high school or having a kid before graduating is pretty much a guarantee that the parent(s) and child will be in poverty.
Why is this ever a surprise? Why would a high school drop out expect anything other than a lifetime of poverty?
But, but…….. Children!
Meanwhile, in a school in Patterson….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj3Czhb6II0&feature=youtu.be
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-29/hamptons-home-prices-hit-seven-year-high-in-luxury-surge
Paterson freshman charged with assault after classroom attack on teacher
JANUARY 23, 2015, 4:52 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2015, 1:53 PM
BY JOE MALINCONICO
PATERSON PRESS
Print
A ninth-grader at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson was arrested Friday and charged with assaulting a teacher in a classroom.
The attack, captured on video, shows the teen slamming the 62-year-old educator to the floor in front of other students in an effort to get his cellphone back.
Related: Police report: Paterson Kennedy student bit school security officer in the stomach
City school officials confirmed that criminal charges have been filed against the student, who has been suspended from school.
Someone in the classroom recorded the assault, which officials say took place at about 1 pm on Tuesday, and the video has been posted on YouTube.
The 23-second video shows the 16-year-old with his arms wrapped around the teacher, knocking him into an empty desk. The student then wrestles the teacher across the front of the classroom before slamming him to the floor. The teen then reaches down and wrests something from the teacher before breaking away when someone in the classroom yelled: “Security.”
The district filed a complaint against the student earlier this week, a spokeswoman said, and Paterson police said they arrested him at his home on Friday.
“We took a statement from the teacher today,” said Capt. Heriberto Rodriguez. “After that, we went out and found the juvenile and arrested him.” The teenager was charged with third-degree aggravated assault, the captain said.
David Cozart, principal of operations at JFK, said the incident happened during a physics class.
He said the teacher apparently confiscated the phone — which belonged to the assailant — from another student. The principal said students are allowed to use cellphones in class for academic purposes, but staff may take the devices and return them at the end of the day if students use them for other reasons.
District officials have not revealed the name of the teacher or student. Peter Tirri, president of the Paterson Education Association, the teachers union, said the teacher has worked in the district since 2003.
“Let me say that this is a very upsetting incident and certainly one that we take seriously as the safety of our students and staff is our top priority,” said Terry Corallo, district spokeswoman.
She said the student while on suspension will receive home instruction and a disciplinary hearing will determine “an appropriate, educational placement” for the rest of the school year.
“I’m disappointed I didn’t see any other kids in the classroom help [the teacher] out,” Tirri said about the events depicted in the short video. “Maybe they were afraid. I don’t know.”
“What strikes me is that the teacher never even defended himself,” said Lee McNulty, a retired JFK teacher who has been vocal recently with criticism about violence and disorder in the high school. “That just shows how much teachers are afraid of losing their job.”
“It’s troubling that in our society today students think that inside a school they can put their hands on each other and teachers as well,” said Jonathan Hodges, a veteran school board member. “I went online trying to find this video and I found numerous videos of teachers being attacked by their students.”
In press interviews last year, McNulty called JFK a chaotic place where fights were common.
But city education officials said they have improved conditions at JFK in the past few years.
“This district has worked extremely hard to provide a safe and caring environment for our students and our staff, and we have succeeded in this area,” Corallo said in a written statement. “The superintendent feels very confident in Mr. Cozart’s leadership and knows that Mr. Cozart will continue to work aggressively to ensure that the JFK building is a safe place for teachers to teach and for students to learn.”
Email: editor@patersonpress.com
I’m surprised Anon is so hung up on impoverished children. These are his saviors future voting base. And they will do everything in their power to keep it that way. Bread & Circuses. Baa.
http://www.northjersey.com/towns/paterson/paterson-freshman-charged-with-assault-after-classroom-attack-on-teacher-1.1239201
Paterson freshman charged with assault after classroom attack on teacher
JANUARY 23, 2015, 4:52 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2015, 1:53 PM
BY JOE MALINCONICO
PATERSON PRESS
Print
A ninth-grader at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson was arrested Friday and charged with assaulting a teacher in a classroom.
The attack, captured on video, shows the teen slamming the 62-year-old educator to the floor in front of other students in an effort to get his cellphone back.
Related: Police report: Paterson Kennedy student bit school security officer in the stomach
City school officials confirmed that criminal charges have been filed against the student, who has been suspended from school.
Someone in the classroom recorded the assault, which officials say took place at about 1 pm on Tuesday, and the video has been posted on YouTube.
In the surburbs on NYC in middle class towns if you strip out high end homes last year home prices rose only 1.1%.
considering the last 1-4 hears folks locking in on a 30 year 4.1% mortgage thought it was a good deal but when they realize they are borrowing at 4.1% to invest in something rising 1.1% is not a good thing.
Also in tristate area middle class surburb homes are 14% below peak. So lets say you bought a POS 500K cape borrowed at 6% back in Spring 2006 peak on a nothing down loan and still own home. Well your home lost 70k in value and you made around 270K in mortgage payments. Not to mention property taxes. Now add in if it is a flood zone with rising insurance rates.
18 – And you have another person that has chosen a lifetime of poverty and will further contribute to growing income inequality.
Or are you going to argue that the teacher should have checked his privilege?
Thought this was standard business practice….
—————
CFPB, Md. AG reach settlement with Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase
ANNAPOLIS (Legal Newsline) – Wells Fargo Bank and JPMorgan Chase Bank reached a settlement with Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh on Thursday over allegations that they participated in a kickback scheme with Genuine Title, LLC.
The banks allegedly referred clients to the now-defunct Maryland title company from 2009 to 2013 in exchange for direct-mail marketing services and leads for its loan officers.
“Homeowners were steered toward this title company, not because they were the best or most affordable, but because they were providing kickbacks to loan officers who referred customers to them,” Frosh said. “This type of quid pro quo is illegal, and it’s unfair to other businesses that play by the rules.”
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/cfpb-ag-reach-settlement-with-banks/article/feed/2175544
3, anon it is because only the poor, ignorant, and religious extremists are have children in any real numbers. Most of the successful people aren’t having so many children 1 or 2 typically and only after they are somewhat established. It doesn’t help that our government actively rewards such behavior. Those on public assistance should be given birth control, you mess up you are on your own, no children while your on welfare it is irresponsible. If you don’t want impoverished children, parent who cannot pay for themselves should not be reproducing.
What’s the saying, they are not making any more land or something like that. Just imagine if you were fortunate enough to purchase a vacant lot/parking lot in the city years ago and waited for this payday.
————————
Crown Heights Gas Station Sells for $32.5 Million, Eight-Story Building Planned
A Crown Heights gas station and car wash at Bedford Avenue and Eastern Parkway has just sold for the jaw-dropping price of $32,500,000, and is already being dismantled to make way for an eight-story apartment building. Developer Adam America was the buyer of the 24,000-square-foot property at 1525 Bedford Avenue, as The Real Deal was the first to report. The new development will have 133 units spread across 91,337 square feet of residential space, and 20 percent of the apartments will be affordable, according to new building applications filed yesterday. Issac and Stern are the architects of record.
http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2015/01/crown-heights-gas-station-sells-for-32-5-million-eight-story-building-planned/?ic_source=ic-featured-frontpage-top
There is no arguing that.
grim says:
January 29, 2015 at 9:03 am
Dropping out of high school or having a kid before graduating is pretty much a guarantee that the parent(s) and child will be in poverty.
Why is this ever a surprise? Why would a high school drop out expect anything other than a lifetime of poverty
PF,
Most people attribute the fall of the Roman Empire to Barbarian Attacks from the outside as well as a drying up of the availability of slave labor. Third on the list is over taxation and corruption of the senators. So we’ve got two of the three and Anon would argue that working for minimum wage is akin to slavery, so call it 3 of 3. Thank god our army is still fully funded. Once you start cutting military benefits, you are screwed.
JJ – According to the November Case Shiller, mid tier homes in NY metro did the best:
($285293 – $455152) – Up 2.83% YOY
Or at least better than the 1.1% you cite.
If you are poor and miserable, why would you want to bring multiple children into that lifestyle. I know that it is wrong to say, but it should be a crime to have multiple children when you are living in poverty. How the hell are you going to take care of the kids? You are not, and the teacher will end up taking the blame and responsibility for your malnourished child’s failed attempt at survival.
jcer says:
January 29, 2015 at 9:30 am
3, anon it is because only the poor, ignorant, and religious extremists are have children in any real numbers. Most of the successful people aren’t having so many children 1 or 2 typically and only after they are somewhat established. It doesn’t help that our government actively rewards such behavior. Those on public assistance should be given birth control, you mess up you are on your own, no children while your on welfare it is irresponsible. If you don’t want impoverished children, parent who cannot pay for themselves should not be reproducing.
The title says it all. Has anyone used the Airbnb service before? I am taking the family down to Orlando and saw a 4 bedroom house with a pool for $120 which is a great price. The only thing that sort of skeeves me out is not knowing the cleaning habits of the owner.
————————–
“The Dumbest Person in Your Building Is Passing Out Keys to Your Front Door!”
The war over Airbnb gets personal
http://nymag.com/news/features/airbnb-in-new-york-debate-2014-9/
The 1.1% comes from layering homes purchased by folks with “middle class” incomes in middle class towns. That stat from case shiller includes rich folk and rich towns. A realtor issued something that dug into the numbers today.
Think Levitown capes purchased by Bus Drivers.
JJ – According to the November Case Shiller, mid tier homes in NY metro did the best:
($285293 – $455152) – Up 2.83% YOY
Or at least better than the 1.1% you cite.
lol… So true, if they start cutting military benefits it’s time to run for the hills, it’s def the canary in the coal mine.
Libturd in the City says:
January 29, 2015 at 9:40 am
PF,
Most people attribute the fall of the Roman Empire to Barbarian Attacks from the outside as well as a drying up of the availability of slave labor. Third on the list is over taxation and corruption of the senators. So we’ve got two of the three and Anon would argue that working for minimum wage is akin to slavery, so call it 3 of 3. Thank god our army is still fully funded. Once you start cutting military benefits, you are screwed.
[27] Pumpkin
If you are poor and miserable, why would you want to bring multiple children into that lifestyle.
They are poor because they are ignorant of consequences when they thought it was a good decision to drop out of HS. And its further complicated when your parent and neighbors (silently) support that thought process by not encouaging it. Then you get multiple generations living that lifestyle.
Because they’re all convinced they will be the next Jay Z. Drop out of high school, sell some drugs, get shot at, then become a zillioniare rapper.
grim says:
January 29, 2015 at 9:03 am
Dropping out of high school or having a kid before graduating is pretty much a guarantee that the parent(s) and child will be in poverty.
Why is this ever a surprise? Why would a high school drop out expect anything other than a lifetime of poverty
Re 28. Great article on Airbnb. Look also on VRBO and Homealone for listings.
AiRBnB is a little weird the owner is supposed to be home at the time the guests come but never are.
This may surprise you but hosts can write their own reviews.
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/01/28/want-a-healthy-middle-class-bring-back-the-long-term-career/
Also, regarding yesterdays comments on the demise of the Rx industry in the Garden State, apparently Pfizers generics business is sucking wind and Novartis is looking to further trim costs.
I’ve used VRBO without any issue twice for LBI rentals.
If the school security officer was a cop (meaning more severe charges/penalties), will he still be treated as a juvenile?
Toxic Crayons says:
January 29, 2015 at 9:24 am
http://www.northjersey.com/towns/paterson/paterson-freshman-charged-with-assault-after-classroom-attack-on-teacher-1.1239201
Paterson freshman charged with assault after classroom attack on teacher
JANUARY 23, 2015, 4:52 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2015, 1:53 PM
BY JOE MALINCONICO
PATERSON PRESS
Print
A ninth-grader at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson was arrested Friday and charged with assaulting a teacher in a classroom.
The attack, captured on video, shows the teen slamming the 62-year-old educator to the floor in front of other students in an effort to get his cellphone back.
Related: Police report: Paterson Kennedy student bit school security officer in the stomach
“If the school security officer was a cop (meaning more severe charges/penalties), will he still be treated as a juvenile?”
Hands up. Don’t shoot.
My current employer will probably being laying off more as the latest merger goes down. Estimates are April, I’m already trying to be ahead of it but running out of fox holes to jump in. Career change or move may be in the near future. Starting an ancillary business in support of pharma is another option but don’t think I have the seemingly bottomless pit of energy grim has.
Great point!
joyce says:
January 29, 2015 at 10:44 am
If the school security officer was a cop (meaning more severe charges/penalties), will he still be treated as a juvenile?
You mean some of the reviews I read online are bogus? Unfathomable
JJ says:
January 29, 2015 at 9:57 am
This may surprise you but hosts can write their own reviews.
This quote says it all. I’m ready to revolt, these bastards need to go. Yea, young people love taking it in the a$$. What a jerk-off.
“Corporate America usually celebrates these changes. In an extensive sponsored- content piece in the New Republic, Credit Suisse claimed that millennials don’t want a traditional career path. Instead, a bank executive insisted, young people prefer a “winding, unpredictable progression of jobs in a variety of separate fields.””
Nomad says:
January 29, 2015 at 10:39 am
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/01/28/want-a-healthy-middle-class-bring-back-the-long-term-career/
Also, regarding yesterdays comments on the demise of the Rx industry in the Garden State, apparently Pfizers generics business is sucking wind and Novartis is looking to further trim costs.
41- lol….this is seriously sickening. Why doesn’t the banker take on that kind of career path if he thinks everyone wants this. I want to punch him in the face.
“Flexibility and mobility are preferred over stability. Young people desire their work life to bring “a steady stream of new challenges.” The bank cited a study indicating that more than 90 percent of millennials in “America’s lower occupational ranks expect to leave their jobs within three years.””
41- Amen!!! Great share. This article is on point.
“On the business side, getting rid of long-term careers may squelch innovation and productivity. Using high tech as an example, Lazonick describes the importance of cumulative and collective learning within an organization, which hinges on having experienced employees who are secure in long-term careers.
He emphasizes that skills are not just based on education — they also come from what you learn on the job, a point that seems to have been lost in corporate America, where employers increasingly throw responsibility for skill development to public-sector education facilities. Workers are expected to toil in unpaid or low-paid internships to acquire “skills” that often have little relation to what they would actually do on the job.”
41- Interesting!
“Some claim the answer is more education and more skills. This theory, however, has been widely debunked, especially in the wake of the Great Recession, which pummeled the well-educated and the highly trained.”
41- Why is this so difficult for most americans to understand? If we keep beating up the workers, aka the middle class, there will be no economy to talk of. There will be no blame for what went wrong because there will be nothing left except chaos.
“Reforming corporate governance by banning stock buybacks, limiting stratospheric chief executive pay and putting workers on corporate boards (the norm in Germany) could help companies focus on long-term prosperity instead of short-term profits.
Strong labor unions would also allow employees to improve their contracts through collective bargaining. Regulating businesses that prey on workers with such practices as unpredictable scheduling and avoiding the rules by improperly classifying them as part time could help restore stability and security.
A prosperous economy and a healthy middle class are not short-term propositions. They require long-term thinking and investment, and stable, high-quality careers that bring value to employers, workers — and society as a whole.
A dine-and-dash job market in which more people tumble down the economic ladder is a recipe for disaster — not just for the middle class, but the entire economy.”
Comment from that article. I agree.
“A great article, I’m a little surprised to see it in Reuters, because it is a stinging indictment of America’s business class and corporate employers, who, according to this article, should be charged with treason.
They have destroyed the economic well being of the USA with their greed and treason. The Constitution say we are to “support the general welfare”, yet these traitors have gamed the system, bought the Congress and stabbed the American people in the back… that’s treason.”
Here’s the problem..Europe pursued the union and stronger protection for workers…and their economies appear worse off than ours….
Big drop in Jobless claims, 15 year low.
Winning?
If you book VRBO, airbnb plan to bring your own cleaning supplies. If the owner isn’t willing to pay for a broker, do you think they’re going to pay a cleaning service?
A recent flurry of four-figure staff reductions by American Express Co. (AXP), eBay Inc. (EBAY), Coca-Cola Co. (KO) and other Big Business stalwarts might seem at odds with the broader picture of a cash-rich Corporate America enjoying record profits and buoyant stock prices.
Sell? Sell to whom?
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/as-dow-30-firms-do-more-with-less–their-financial-bounty-goes-to-investors-161616134.html
Hey pumpkin and how does the congress do it. through taxation and regulation. Tell me again how being heavy handed in both is good for businesses?
Today’s Privileged News: Most people go to the range and not talk to anyone. Or take a few tips from an old timer. Why not invite a former Navy Seal and arguable the greatest sniper to give you shooting instructions. It’s good to know people who know people. Personally, I’m also looking for the nut that’s there as well.
———
Billionaire Daniel Loeb helped former Navy SEAL marksman Chris Kyle make a movie of his life but passed on a chance to invest in “American Sniper” and missed out on the profit flowing from the top U.S. film so far this year.
Loeb was introduced to Kyle by J. Kyle Bass, a hedge-fund manager who has known the New York-based financier for two decades. Bass sits on the board of Feherty’s Troops First Foundation, a nonprofit group based in Laurel, Maryland, that helps wounded veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kyle lived at Bass’s home for several months and taught marksmanship at his ranch. Bass, who runs Dallas-based Hayman Capital Management LP, didn’t return calls seeking comment.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-27/dan-loeb-helped-get-american-sniper-made-missed-out-on-profit
Unemployment is low but what is the participation rate? And what types of jobs are being secured? I think we already know the answer.
I’ve booked many times using VRBO. Most of them used a cleaning service, but expected you not to leave garbage laying all around or clutter everywhere. You DO have to treat a VRBO rental better than a hotel room or landlords don’t return your security deposit.
Every single place had some sort of cleaning arrangement. Some provided linens, others had bare mattresses with covers and you brought your own sheets. Sometimes the owner met me as I was leaving and went in with his family and cleaned before the next renter. Still others hired cleaning services and had handymen for hire in the area should the need for a repair arrive. Yes, some were cleaner than others, but everyplace had some sort of cleaning arrangement.
These were all NJ shore rentals…some in Seaside Park, some in Wildwood or Wildwood Crest.
nwnj says:
January 29, 2015 at 11:46 am
If you book VRBO, airbnb plan to bring your own cleaning supplies. If the owner isn’t willing to pay for a broker, do you think they’re going to pay a cleaning service?
The teacher should have checked his privilege.
grim says:
January 29, 2015 at 9:28 am
18 – And you have another person that has chosen a lifetime of poverty and will further contribute to growing income inequality.
Or are you going to argue that the teacher should have checked his privilege?
Absolutely great article.
Proctor and Gamble also having lay-offs in NJ and facing more as projects get completed.
The huge lay-offs frequently make absolutely no sense – all the company wisdom and knowledge just thrown out and lost forever. How can short term contract workers or workers in some other country (who may not even speak English fluently) ever match the original workers?
And the remaining workers (say in pharma) are demoralized, depressed, and fearful feeling that any moment they too will be thrown out. There is no more sense of pride or loyalty to a company – to doing your best and anticipating a reward or promotion.
I am seeing amazing amounts of depression and anger among those laid off in their 50s or early 60s (generally well-educated men) who after months of seriously searching for more work finally realize that at best they may get some short term contract work. I am seeing some older men around 60 (even with graduate degrees) doing manual labor jobs to try to earn some money.
Their children are watching and learning from this – the message is that companies will screw you, don’t expect anything good from a company. Nothing will save you -not even education or training.
Nomad says:
January 29, 2015 at 10:39 am
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/01/28/want-a-healthy-middle-class-bring-back-the-long-term-career/
Also, regarding yesterdays comments on the demise of the Rx industry in the Garden State, apparently Pfizers generics business is sucking wind and Novartis is looking to further trim costs.
Did you notice that he was 16 years old and a freshman? So, he was left back a year or two?
chicagofinance says:
January 29, 2015 at 12:03 pm
The teacher should have checked his privilege.
grim says:
January 29, 2015 at 9:28 am
18 – And you have another person that has chosen a lifetime of poverty and will further contribute to growing income inequality.
Or are you going to argue that the teacher should have checked his privilege?
My just posted comments are about finance and pharma jobs/industry in the NJ/NY area.
In the last few years when my husband and I go to a party or other gathering I notice that self-employed men (50s and 60s) are doing OK, while those that work or worked for companies discuss lay-offs and contract work and how most of them were laid off – some multiple times.
Which is why I am so pessimistic about NJ right now.
VRBO type place can be ok, but you need to be careful, often they have the cleaning services et al. The bigger issue is sometimes they are renting by owner because the rental agents won’t rent the unit, the interior of the condo you rent by owner can look like absolute hell, or have a smell, or have broken appliances, I have had both good and bad experiences. It tends to either be better than a property rented through an agent or worse it is never an average experience…look carefully and ask the pertinent questions.
Sima,
Not that I am justifying the corporate strategy espoused in that article around the deployment of labor, but it does emphasize the need for individuals to increase their savings.
Many would consider Workforce mobility a positive quality. Qualified workers can go where the jobs are.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_mobility
The Great Pumpkin says:
January 29, 2015 at 11:17 am
41- lol….this is seriously sickening. Why doesn’t the banker take on that kind of career path if he thinks everyone wants this. I want to punch him in the face.
“Flexibility and mobility are preferred over stability. Young people desire their work life to bring “a steady stream of new challenges.” The bank cited a study indicating that more than 90 percent of millennials in “America’s lower occupational ranks expect to leave their jobs within three years.””
By the way Michael, I work for a large multinational (albeit as a staff employee), and I see people that transfer in and out of my location from around the country and the world. They take their jobs seriously but the majority seem very happy.
The Economics Of Labor Mobility
By Brent Radcliffe
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/09/labor-mobility.asp
Debunking the debunking.
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cbc.asp
Labor force participation rates are lower, as educational attainment increases.
The Great Pumpkin says:
January 29, 2015 at 11:23 am
41- Interesting!
“Some claim the answer is more education and more skills. This theory, however, has been widely debunked, especially in the wake of the Great Recession, which pummeled the well-educated and the highly trained.”
Are you trolling me? You can’t be serious.
Toxic Crayons says:
January 29, 2015 at 12:19 pm
Many would consider Workforce mobility a positive quality. Qualified workers can go where the jobs are.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_mobility
Michael, this touches on the crux of this blog (imho), buying a home and locking into a 30 year mortgage is a decision not to be taken lightly. There should be careful consideration before “putting down roots”.
Sometimes I wish I could have mobility. Heck, if I could find a good job in Vegas, I’d be there tomorrow. It’s a cheapo paradise out there.
How do you raise a family? This is a bunch of bs. So the wife works in Cali and the husband works in texas? If this is surviving, screw it, I want nothing to do with it. I’m not running around trying to chase jobs because my employer keeps moving trying to reduce the cost of labor by practicing wage arbitrage.
Toxic Crayons says:
January 29, 2015 at 12:22 pm
By the way Michael, I work for a large multinational (albeit as a staff employee), and I see people that transfer in and out of my location from around the country and the world. They take their jobs seriously but the majority seem very happy.
Hello!? Do you realize how fast savings go in NJ when one is laid-off?
Property taxes alone, even on the smallest houses, are incredibly high. And then there is the mortgage, water/sewer, PSE&G, etc. No frills cost-of-living is high in NJ.
Money earned through short term contract work (which is typically less than what an employee earns) does not have a person rolling in cash.
When people are laid off YEARS before 65 and cannot find full-time employment after that, results typically in a big loss of $ that cannot be made up. How will those people ever save for retirement if they are experiencing financial hardship now?
The problem with laid off pharma workers who now want contract work in NJ is that there AREN’T ENOUGH JOBS for them. Recruiters say that they are absolutely overwhelmed with resumes (from laid off NJ/PA/NY pharma workers) for even the most low-paying cruddy short term contract work.
It is easy for someone to spout “save more” when they are sitting pretty in a nice job. Very patronizing.
Libturd in the City says:
January 29, 2015 at 12:15 pm
Not that I am justifying the corporate strategy espoused in that article around the deployment of labor, but it does emphasize the need for individuals to increase their savings.
What’s bs, is moving jobs to low cost areas where nobody wants to live. After forcing everyone to move to this place, the cost goes up, and the corporation skips town for another place nobody wants to live. Looking to rip off the next group of suckers they get to relocate to that area. It’s total bs. No concern at all for humanity. No problem at all ruining people’s lives after they sucked the profit out of the individual. How do you see nothing wrong with this? This is the world you want to live in? I rather go be a hunter and gatherer than deal with a society where everyone is a loser except a few. Who wants to always worry about their job? It shouldn’t be like that. If you are doing a good job and creating profit for your company, they should not be allowed to lay you off for no reason.
Toxic Crayons says:
January 29, 2015 at 12:31 pm
Michael, this touches on the crux of this blog (imho), buying a home and locking into a 30 year mortgage is a decision not to be taken lightly. There should be careful consideration before “putting down roots”.
Hah! What – do you think a contract employee will ever tell you that they hate everything about their situation? They put on a happy face and work like crazy because they know that at any moment, without any notice, they can be shown the door – for whatever reason. And they never ever give their opinion about things they see around them, even if they know things are being done incorrectly or inefficiently because that is enough to get them shown the door (as in shooting the messenger, or being made a scapegoat).
Don’t be stupid.
Toxic Crayons says:
January 29, 2015 at 12:22 pm
By the way Michael, I work for a large multinational (albeit as a staff employee), and I see people that transfer in and out of my location from around the country and the world. They take their jobs seriously but the majority seem very happy.
Labor force mobility does not necessarily mean geographical mobility. It also means the ability of a worker to move between careers.
The Great Pumpkin says:
January 29, 2015 at 12:35 pm
How do you raise a family? This is a bunch of bs. So the wife works in Cali and the husband works in texas? If this is surviving, screw it, I want nothing to do with it. I’m not running around trying to chase jobs because my employer keeps moving trying to reduce the cost of labor by practicing wage arbitrage.
73 – Contract work sucks. Contractors are frequently treated like krap. The biggest joke is the “temp to perm” description I see in job descriptions. My own employer has put that note in there knowing full well it was a short term gig.
[52] pain
“Tell me again how being heavy handed in both is good for businesses?”
It is good for business. Mine.
You did not debunk this. Try again.
“One potential explanation for the extremely weak US jobs recovery is “skills mismatch,” whereby workers do not have the skills for the jobs that are available. There is a sizeable literature on whether a skills mismatch is a driver of today’s weak jobs recovery, and the strong consensus is that the weak labor market recovery is not due to skills mismatch (or any other structural factors). Instead, it is due to weakness in aggregate demand. For example, a 2012 paper by Edward Lazear (chief economist for George W. Bush) and James Spletzer states:
“An analysis of labor market data suggests that there are no structural changes that can explain movements in unemployment rates over recent years. Neither industrial nor demographic shifts nor a mismatch of skills with job vacancies is behind the increased rates of unemployment. … The patterns observed are consistent with unemployment being caused by cyclic phenomena that are more pronounced during the current recession than in prior recessions.” (Lazear et al, 2012)
Despite the clear consensus among researchers that the unambiguous problem is a shortfall of aggregate demand, there is a strong public narrative that today’s jobs recovery is weak because workers don’t have the right skills. Why? One reason may be psychological – it’s easier to blame workers for lack of skills rather than face the fact that millions cannot find work no matter what they do because the jobs simply are not there. That in turn makes it easy for stories and anecdotes about employers who cannot find workers with the skills they need to circulate unscrutinized.
Another reason is political, since the cause of high unemployment is vitally important for policy. If high unemployment is due to workers not having the right skills, then the correct policy prescription is to focus on education and training, and macroeconomic policy to boost aggregate demand will not reduce unemployment. Policymakers and commentators who are against fiscal stimulus have a strong incentive to accept and propagate the myth that today’s high unemployment is because workers lack the right skills.”
http://www.epi.org/publication/shortage-skilled-workers/
Toxic Crayons says:
January 29, 2015 at 12:29 pm
Debunking the debunking.
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cbc.asp
Labor force participation rates are lower, as educational attainment increases.
The Great Pumpkin says:
January 29, 2015 at 11:23 am
41- Interesting!
“Some claim the answer is more education and more skills. This theory, however, has been widely debunked, especially in the wake of the Great Recession, which pummeled the well-educated and the highly trained.”
grim–76 in mod
Wake up. We are all immigrants or descendants of immigrants in this country.
We or our ancestors all came from somewhere else in search of work and opportunity. This is a natural economic force.
The Great Pumpkin says:
January 29, 2015 at 12:31 pm
Are you trolling me? You can’t be serious.
Toxic Crayons says:
January 29, 2015 at 12:19 pm
Many would consider Workforce mobility a positive quality. Qualified workers can go where the jobs are.
The evidence to support post #76 that is in mod.
“The evidence
The key insight unpinning the evidence presented here is that if today’s high unemployment were a problem of mismatches or a skills shortage, we would expect to find some types of workers or sectors or occupations of meaningful size now facing tight labor markets relative to before the recession started. The “signature” of skills mismatch is shortages relative to 2007 in some consequentially-sized groups of workers.
Figure 1 shows the unemployment rate by education, both in 2007 and over the last year (the 12-month period from August 2012-July 2013). It shows that workers with higher levels of education currently face – as they always do — substantially lower unemployment rates than other workers. However, they too have seen large percentage increases in unemployment. Workers with a college degree or more still have unemployment rates that are more than one-and-a-half times as high as they were before the recession began. In other words, demand for workers at all levels of education is significantly weaker now than it was before the recession started. There is no evidence of workers at any level of education facing tight labor markets relative to 2007.
Figure 2 shows the unemployment rate by detailed occupation in 2007 and 2012. As is always the case, some occupations in 2012 have higher unemployment rates than others. However, the unemployment rate in 2012 in all occupations is higher than it was before the recession. In every occupational category demand for workers is lower than it was five years ago. The signature of a skills mismatch – workers in some occupations experiencing tight labor markets relative to 2007 – is plainly missing.
Another valuable source for diagnosing the cause of the current sustained high unemployment is the data on job openings. Figure 3 shows the number of unemployed workers and the number of job openings by industry. Again, if high elevated unemployment were due to skills shortages or mismatches, we would expect to find some sectors where there are more unemployed workers than job openings, and some sectors where there are more job openings than unemployed workers. However, unemployed workers dramatically outnumber job openings in all sectors. There are between 1.4 and 10.5 times as many unemployed workers as job openings in every industry. Even in the industry (Finance and Insurance) with the most favorable ratio of unemployed workers to job openings, there are still 40 percent more unemployed workers than job openings. In no industry does the number of job openings even come close to the number of people looking for work.
Furthermore, a job opening when the labor market is weak often does not mean the same thing as a job opening when the labor market is strong. There is a wide range of “recruitment intensity” with which a company can deal with a job opening. For example, if a company is trying hard to fill an opening, it may increase the compensation package and/or scale back the required qualifications. Conversely, if it is not trying very hard, it may hike up the required qualifications and/or offer a meager compensation package. Perhaps unsurprisingly, research shows that recruitment intensity is cyclical: it tends to be stronger when the labor market is strong, and weaker when the labor market is weak (Davis, et al, 2012). This means that when a job opening goes unfilled when the labor market is weak, as it is today, companies may very well be holding out for an overly qualified candidate at a very cheap price.”
Honestly in my position I just need a laptop and an airport so I am not hurting for opportunities that exist outside of brick and mortar. what you are seeing is a shift in how work is done and the models that made corporations successfull are changing. Especially in pharma. Sure people are a resource but when you can get the same results for backroom functions and R&D at cheaper costs overseas with significant reduction in outlays, you as a decision maker would be insane not to look into it. At the end of a day you run a business whose purpose is to make money if you don’t make any you’ll be the one looking for a job.
Sima anyone who thought a company would be loyal to them after the last 20 years is either a fool, delusional, or both.
I’m pretty successful in pharma and my current job has been my longest at 3.5 years. I have changed careers, increased responsibilities or took on new challenges to keep ahead of layoff waves. Eventually that strategy will stop working but my goal is increase salary, bonuses, increase equity awards. Have pharma pay off my mortgage then go do something else.
Moving every 1-3 years to find a job has nothing to do with my ancestors that immigrated here. They came for opportunity. They worked hard and they could get ahead. Does moving around for a job get you anywhere today except stressed out and stuck living in a place that no one wants to live in while you figure out where the company is moving next?
Toxic Crayons says:
January 29, 2015 at 12:55 pm
Wake up. We are all immigrants or descendants of immigrants in this country.
We or our ancestors all came from somewhere else in search of work and opportunity. This is a natural economic force.
People still work out of offices?
Nom no one should fault you for taking advantage of an opportunity. your smart enough if there was advantages elsewhere or the climate in your current line of work shifted you probably would still be succesful doing something else. hell if the FDA was killed tomorrow I’m out of work :) I don’t necessarily see that as a bad thing. I’ll find something else to do.
That’s not true.
1987 Condo says:
January 29, 2015 at 11:40 am
Here’s the problem..Europe pursued the union and stronger protection for workers…and their economies appear worse off than ours….
Grim sadly in pharma yes
Everything your parents or historical reference books have taught you needs to be re-examined. Conventional wisdom needs to be updated based on new data.
People in the Rust Belt could drop out of HS (common mantra) and get a decent paying job. Today those jobs are getting automated by robots and/or moving to Mississippi/Alabama.
You could work on the street in Ops and not have a college degree and get a decent paying job. Today you can outsource that job to a person with an MBA in another country.
As soon as you got married, you had to purchase a home.
Ahhhh you get the point.
Painhrtz: And how old are you?
My guess is not in 50s or 60s when potential employers assume that any 50s or 60s person is too old for anything. What they typically say is “We want someone who will grow with the company.”
So one can run a company or country in their 60s or 70s, but apparently not do ordinary jobs. (And yes, most people who had good-paying jobs are current with training, experience, adaptability, etc.)
And we are saying that NO, the results are not the same when you outsource the company. When too many who have company knowledge are laid off and it is outsourced to some other country on the other side of the world – the level of work is not the same. The most simple tasks take days instead of minutes due to misunderstandings of all sorts and lack of knowledge. There is inefficiency. Data centers are a case in point. The sense from people in the USA frequently is that there is chaos, poorer productivity, etc. The saying comes to mind: “Penny wise and pound foolish.”
Painhrtz – aww f*ck it says:
January 29, 2015 at 12:58 pm
Honestly in my position I just need a laptop and an airport so I am not hurting for opportunities that exist outside of brick and mortar. what you are seeing is a shift in how work is done and the models that made corporations successfull are changing. Especially in pharma. Sure people are a resource but when you can get the same results for backroom functions and R&D at cheaper costs overseas with significant reduction in outlays, you as a decision maker would be insane not to look into it. At the end of a day you run a business whose purpose is to make money if you don’t make any you’ll be the one looking for a job.
Sima anyone who thought a company would be loyal to them after the last 20 years is either a fool, delusional, or both.
I’m pretty successful in pharma and my current job has been my longest at 3.5 years. I have changed careers, increased responsibilities or took on new challenges to keep ahead of layoff waves. Eventually that strategy will stop working but my goal is increase salary, bonuses, increase equity awards. Have pharma pay off my mortgage then go do something else.
It used to be if you were loyal to the company, relocation as a rite of passage was not a personal risk. You knew if you played nice in the sandbox and did good work, you and your family would be taken care of. While the hassle of relocation did not go away, there was a future of stability and increasing income. Now, you relocate yourself and family and you could end up on the street in under a year.
On the other hand, I have seen situations where employees with long tenure had big salaries and small productivity. That is not right either but before the new economy, every company had a few of these types on their payroll.
On the subject of corporate greed, globalization / outsourcing hit hard but, what about 15 or so years ago when we as consumers had the option of buying the American made toaster for $29.99 and the Chinese made toaster for $22.95. For those of you who have parents from the greatest generation, they were wired to support their country and products made here. Of course, this statement opens up another conversation as to how unions have impacted corporations, labor costs and ultimately, the middle class. Honda seems to have been able to keep their workers more than satisfied in Ohio to the point where multiple union organizing efforts have not succeeded. At the same time, they pay competitive wages and just announced another $340mm investment for their next generation engine plant in the Buckeye state.
And the housing bubble that crushed us, sure the big banks, loan securitization folks and the ratings agencies all had a hand in this but – did not consumers use mortgage debt to buy homes they could not truly afford and use of HELOCS to acquire iCrap and European cars (leased of course) that were beyond their means?
At this point, I am not even sure how we get out of this mess or if it is even possible. Big money into political campaigns on all sides ties a lot of hands.
A lot of things got us where we are now. Our situation is beyond complex and even more precarious.
Would not be surprised to see clots vision come to pass by the end of ’16.
Pain – not sure what type of IT you do but for side work, IPSEN seems to be growing albeit not terribly stable from a FTE perspective.
check your privilege….
Toxic Crayons says:
January 29, 2015 at 12:31 pm
Michael, this touches on the crux of this blog (imho), buying a home and locking into a 30 year mortgage is a decision not to be taken lightly. There should be careful consideration before “putting down roots”.
87- Sima,
That’s how bad the current business leaders are. They are obsessed with short term growth. What company or economy was successful based on a short-term outlook? They lack the critical thinking skills needed to build a successful long-term company and economy. They are not capable of seeing that far into the future, so they base their model on a reactionary basis that is focused on the short-term. Cut all the labor costs to boost short-term growth, but never mind that the peasants will no longer be able to afford to buy anything anymore due to the cuts. Absolutely brilliant. Bravo!!
Personally I think we can solve everyone’s problem by sending more money to schools in Patterson. Invest in education. It’s for the children!
I just read the funnies thing. People paying good money to voluntarily get locked in a room for 60 minutes and try to escape. Company called “Exit Strategy”. Probably an ex-wall streeter. Only in Montclair, I guess.
[92] moose,
It’s good practice for our dystopian future. I can see all those bankers signing up. They don’t want to be a b1tch for some 250 lb biker named “Mayhem” so best to learn some escape skills
Coming to a regulated practice near you!
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-29/health-why-group-medical-visits-are-catching-on
I can easily see JJ at one of these, dropping trou . . .
Pumpkin,
France sounds perfect for you and your desired lifestyle. I will gladly buy you a one way ticket, if you promise to permanently shift your attentions to the equivalent discussion boards in France.
Au revoir!
#84…that is my perspective, how is it not so? For the most part they have higher UE rates and as time goes on their economies have less and less chance to support the current social contracts….
All of the below was penned by the same author who relentlessly predicts wage inflation:
The Great Pumpkin says:
January 29, 2015 at 12:44 pm
What’s bs, is moving jobs to low cost areas where nobody wants to live. After forcing everyone to move to this place, the cost goes up, and the corporation skips town for another place nobody wants to live. Looking to rip off the next group of suckers they get to relocate to that area. It’s total bs. No concern at all for humanity. No problem at all ruining people’s lives after they sucked the profit out of the individual. How do you see nothing wrong with this? This is the world you want to live in? I rather go be a hunter and gatherer than deal with a society where everyone is a loser except a few. Who wants to always worry about their job? It shouldn’t be like that. If you are doing a good job and creating profit for your company, they should not be allowed to lay you off for no reason.
Rumor is 100k IBM layoffs coming.
Juice Box,
That number being so high, I had to search around. Is this the article?
http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/26/technology/ibm-layoffs/
If so, the source said the announcement was coming yesterday.
I hate IBM equipment. We nixed them for staffing solutions 5 years ago too. Everything with them is proprietary.
re #99 – 10%, 115% or 26% who really knows. Read the comments. It’s all about the bottom line.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertcringely/2015/01/26/anatomy-of-a-layoff-how-ibm-is-likely-to-spin-this-weeks-force-reduction/
re: #100- Everything with them is proprietary. Lol..
How about Oracle or Microsoft some lovely open source they have there.
really hope they don’t layoff 115% ha!
Invite IBM in and you’ll experience pain, they purposely design and build things so that you are wholly dependent on them. Just look at DB2, when it throws an error you get no less than 2 numbers and no other information there is a whole red book on reading their error codes, they also obfuscate their JDBC drivers so you are getting errors from a.class in the stack trace. Would it have been so hard for them to de-reference the errors and give some kind of human readable errors. But it is IBM, they want to make sure any problem you have requires and IBM expert. Over priced garbage, there is a good reason they are losing market share, too expensive, too proprietary, and they have too much margin, welcome to commoditization, who needs mainframes and pSeries boxes anyway, loads of cheap Intel boxes get the job done just fine and cheap for 99.9% of uses.
Juice Oracle and MSFT database products look like open source compared to DB2.
Rags [95];
I think you meant “adieu“.
Meanwhile in Poland your Mortgage payment has doubled because of the strength of the Swiss franc.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/29/business/international/polish-homeowners-feel-the-weight-of-a-heftier-swiss-franc.html?_r=0
Japanese housewives, it turns out, are everywhere.
yup
Jan 21 (Reuters) – Some 38 percent of all home loans in Croatia are denominated in Swiss francs, the central bank said on Wednesday, underscoring the challenge to the Balkan country from a surge in the value of the franc.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/21/swiss-snb-mortgages-croatia-idUSA5N0OT01720150121
I have to say that whom ever allowed the marketing of foreign currency denomination loans to regular consumer sin those countries should be in a lot of trouble. When are banking regulators going to learn the average consumer isn’t going to fully understand the risk of currency fluctuations, will be convinced by slick sales people it will not be a problem and only understand one thing….how much lower the payment is. Loans with currency risks like this should really only be permitted for the wealthiest of borrowers who can conceivably cover the currency fluctuations. No business would take a risk like this, why do they let the consumer do it. Now we have a bunch of Poles, Austrians, and Croats who are suffering under very high payments that they probably cannot afford, the bankers deserve what the Hungarians did which is force a conversion at a favorable rate and effectively ban foreign currency mortgages.
re # 109- Atlantic wrote about it today.
“Roughly 90 percent of all Swiss-franc debt in Poland was loaned to households.”
“Altogether about 566,000 Polish households, 150,000 Romanian households, and 60,000 Croatian households bought Swiss-franc mortgages. Most astonishing of all was the Hungarian case: half of all households in Hungary contracted foreign-currency debt, almost always in the form of Swiss francs.”
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/worlds-next-mortgage-crisis-175900582.html;_ylt=A0LEV7tXn8pU0U4AKE0nnIlQ
This comment says it all. It’s from an article asking people that worked in Europe and the U.S. and this is what they had to say….shocker!
“Ten years in UK, twelve in US. No contest. Working in the US is a nightmare; just when you think it can’t get any worse….it does. The corporate culture in America is the ultimate in looking out for one’s self. Consideration for others is interpreted as a sign of weakness. The greed, the hypocrisy, the culture of fear are all so pervasive.
We are living in an era where “imperialism” has been updated by American corporations under the more politically acceptable term “globalization”. Tax avoidance, union avoidance, benefit stripping, shareholder greed…how much is enough? We made $60BN last year, but sorry, there’s no money for your 401K, or your Christmas party, or even half decent equipment. You know the score.
When I talk to American co-workers about the European notion of “work-life balance” I invariably hear the riposte include “communists”, “lazy”, “thieves” and my personal favourite “that’s why their economy is f****d up”. Yeah, that’s why. And this one is the MODEL of efficiency, harmony and happiness. Get me out of here….”
http://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2013/feb/20/france-us-worker-rights-titan-international#comment-21465728
Ragnar says:
January 29, 2015 at 2:15 pm
Pumpkin,
France sounds perfect for you and your desired lifestyle. I will gladly buy you a one way ticket, if you promise to permanently shift your attentions to the equivalent discussion boards in France.
Au revoir!
111- * This comment says it all. It’s from an article asking people that worked in Europe and the U.S. for their opinion of both locations and this is what they had to say….shocker!
“Using data by the U.S. BLS, the average productivity per American worker has increased 400% since 1950. One way to look at that is that it should only take one-quarter the work hours, or 11 hours per week, to afford the same standard of living as a worker in 1950 (or our standard of living should be 4 times higher). Is that the case? Obviously not. Someone is profiting, it’s just not the average American worker.”
http://20somethingfinance.com/american-hours-worked-productivity-vacation/
http://www.alternet.org/economy/why-germany-has-it-so-much-better-us
1987 Condo says:
January 29, 2015 at 2:17 pm
#84…that is my perspective, how is it not so? For the most part they have higher UE rates and as time goes on their economies have less and less chance to support the current social contracts….
Arbitrator Rules Veteran Newark Firefighter Was Denied A Transfer Because He Was WHITE http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2015/01/rulig_newark_director_kept_veteran_firefighter_out.html?ath=e48193b1505a73e67f7874531301093d
115 – Whiner
Most western european countries are outsourcing work to eastern europe and north africa reguarly.
114-
“McNally:What’s the status of the crisis in Europe right now? The EU includes not only virtuous, productive economies like Germany, but also others not nearly so.
Geoghegan:Those less virtuous economies were the so-called “new Europe” that Donald Rumsfeld was touting. People in the countries that are in trouble now economically were the ones willing to go to Iraq — and there is a connection. These are the countries that were much more inclined to go the American route, going into debt heavily, using housing speculation as the engine of the economy, and opening their economies big time to global bank debt and finance.
Goldman Sachs poured tons of money into Greece, and other New York, London and German banks poured money into Spain. None of the bubbles occurred in Germany and in the “old Europe” that Donald Rumsfeld wrote off. Part of Europe is in trouble to the extent — and only to the extent — that it’s involved in the American model. Those countries most resistant to the American model are doing fine.
By the way, why was Goldman Sachs willing to lend money to weak economies like Greece? Because Greece was in the EU. Because Spain was in the EU. These countries would never have gotten all this money from US banks. And what is so important about the EU? At the end of the day the Germans with their trade surplus are able to pay — and in fact that’s what has happened.”
100. Really a misconception about IBM gear.
AIX is an open system–
http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/software/aix/standards/
AIX® is a UNIX® operating system that is based on open standards. These standards provide clients with the interoperability and freedom to choose the right solution for their environment. As part of this standards support, IBM provides tools and integrated function that support open standards managed by the Open Group, the IEEE, the ISO/IEC and other standard organizations.
AIX Version 7.1 is designed to comply with the new Single UNIX Specification V4.
The AIX operating system has a long history of open standards compliance. Most recently AIX 6 V6.1.2 with SP1 obtained the UNIX 03 Brand in April 2009. AIX V5.3 which obtained the UNIX 03 Brand in September 2006 continues to maintain it’s conformance to the Single UNIX Specification, Version 3. Prior releases of AIX that were UNIX conformant include AIX 5.1 that was branded UNIX 98, UNIX 98 Server and UNIX 98 WorkStation compliant. AIX 5.2 dated 8-2004 or later was also branded UNIX03 compliant. IBM helped develop the new UNIX standard: The Single UNIX Specification, Version 4.
AIX compliance with open standards includes security standards. The AIX operating system has a long history of complying with security standards
114-
” McNally:By the way, Greece represents only 2% of the EU’s total GDP, whereas California represents 14% of the US. Yet when California reached out to the federal government for similar help, it didn’t get it.
Geoghegan:You see a story in theNew York Timesevery six weeks — ever since I graduated from college in 1971 — about how Europe is going to collapse. They come out like clockwork.”
This might be what you call proprietary….
http://www.serverwatch.com/server-trends/ibm-as400-turns-25-will-it-last-another-25-yrs.html
114-
“McNally:Why do we work so hard? You say one of the reasons is because we don’t have unions or job security. People are afraid that if they don’t work weekends and overtime, if they don’t skip their kid’s soccer game, they’ll get laid off.
Geoghegan:Nobody knows who’s going to be laid off next. It’s all arbitrary, Chainsaw Al could knock down your cubicle door at any time. So everyone has an incentive to stay five minutes longer than everyone else, and that creates anarchy. According to labor economists Richard Freeman at Harvard and Linda Bell at Haverford, in the US there’s nobody to tell you to go home.
McNally:Given the fact that we work more, are we more productive?
Geoghegan:If you consider productivity as output per hour, working longer probably decreases it. My friend Isabelle came to the US to attend grad school at Northwestern, and was upset when she discovered there were no holidays here. In the middle of the year, I found her very stressed, and I figured out what was happening: she was working American hours with German efficiency. When you look at the fact that Germans rank at the top of the world in terms of export sales — on a par with the Chinese who work till they drop — you realize they must be doing something that makes them more efficient.
Leisure time also has material value. The fact that Americans work longer and longer hours increases GDP per capita, but it doesn’t necessarily raise our standard of living.”
Too bad that teacher in Paterson wasn’t packing. Would’ve loved to have seen him cap that punk.
115 Up Yours
114- If you don’t read my posts, at least read this.
“McNally:Let’s make a quick comparison of GDP. The problem with GDP is that it has only an addition side, it doesn’t have a subtraction side. So an auto accident increases GDP; crime increases GDP.
Geoghegan:Waste and fraud and gambling; Katrina increases GDP; urban sprawl especially increases GDP. Hours stuck in traffic increase GDP.
McNally:Plus the fact that we’ve monetized so many things that we used to do for ourselves or for our families
Geoghegan:You’re shelling out $50,000 in tuition for NYU law school and your counterpart in Europe is getting it for free. How pathetic for the poor European adding nothing to GDP. In America we’re increasing GDP, but dragging down people’s standard of living.
It’s a very perverse system of accounting. You say it’s all addition and no subtraction, but it’s not even all addition. Nothing increases your well-being or your material standard of living as much as leisure time. Among the untouchables in India, of course, that’s absolutely not the case; leisure is a nightmare, unemployment is a nightmare. But for many, a loss of leisure is a loss of material value.
For example, leisure to go to a free concert at Millennium Park in Chicago. It’s a glorious experience. People in Europe are gaga about it, because it’s the one thing in America that seems to them the most European — wonderful orchestras, pop bands, jazz bands, playing right in the middle of the city; gorgeous lawns; people picnicking, etc. — and it’s all free. It’s so un-American, there’s no money going out the door. It makes a mark on your life but you can’t turn it into a sum of dollars, so it doesn’t mean anything — even though of course it means everything.”
#25 Lib
I attribute the fall of Rome to that bstard Cicero. At least he was one of the first against the wall when the revolution came!
Well if it all goes to sh1t, I’m going home. At least I’ll have good food.
http://www.nytimes.com/video/travel/100000003446983/36-hours-in-belfast.html
We outsource to cheap places too. How come our quality of life sucks so bad compared to Europe. 30 paid days guaranteed off every year!!! Shorter hours!!!! Free healthcare!!! Free education!!!
They are the smart ones. They are enjoying this one life we have to live. Mean while Americans are working longer and harder than ever and going nowhere. Just getting in more slave debt to our banking elite. What is the point?….esp when you have one life to live.
grim says:
January 29, 2015 at 4:42 pm
Most western european countries are outsourcing work to eastern europe and north africa reguarly.
Can we outsource blog trolls?
114- Rags, if unions are so bad and don’t work, how the hell are the germans kicking our a$$ in manufactoring? Please, explain.
“McNally:You say the three building blocks of German social democracy are the works councils, the election of boards of directors by workers as well as by hedge fund managers, and the regional wage setting institutions.
Geoghegan:First: work councils. The analogy I used in the book is fictitious: Imagine you elect a works council from among the employees at the Barnes & Noble bookstore where you work. They don’t bargain for wages, that’s done by the unions; but they have all sorts of rights that relate to working time, who gets laid off, even whether the store is going to close or not. They can go in and look at the books. The management has to enter into agreements. The works council can’t dictate, but they have enormous influence over what working hours will be, who’s going to work when and how.
Co-determined boards are mandated at German companies with 2000 employees or more, the global companies that are beating us, although you can have them in other situations. These are maybe more like super boards that don’t do as much day-to-day managing as our boards of directors do. It consists one half of people elected by and from the workers, and one half elected by the shareholders.
The chairman of the board is selected by the shareholders and has a double vote so that, if there’s a tie between the shareholders and the employees, the shareholders win. But it creates a lot of potential influence over how the debate goes.
McNally:But you also say that the shoe is on the other foot when it comes to choosing the CEO, correct?
Geoghegan:If the shareholders are divided on who should be the next CEO, the clerks get to pick the king.
McNally:In contract negotiations over the last 10, 15, 20 years, American workers have been giving back things, agreeing to two tiers, lowering their pension guarantees. I’ve never heard of any of them trading a concession for the right to elect members to the board.
Geoghegan:The UAW had somebody on the board once.
McNally:Management can’t even say it won’t work because Germany’s beating our pants in manufacturing, and the codetermined board is also spreading elsewhere, right?
Geoghegan:The German model has made inroads on the US model in other European countries.
McNally:You quote the German labor minister saying, “Our biggest export now is co-determination”. Now, third: regional or sector wage settling.”
Grim does not even write or post anymore, he has outsourced that work to my team and I in Chennai.
Krakowgalore?
Pumpkin you have Europe all wrong, the German’s have won in Europe…well for one thing they are better organized than their neighbors and are more orderly but really it still comes down to labor. The German labor market is more flexible than their neighbors, yes German workers are slightly more efficient than their Italian, Spanish, and French counterparts but really not by much. The big difference is in Germany they can hire the temp worker which is paid less, has fewer benefits and can be easily let go. Try that in France or Italy, people die in their jobs. The other issue with comparison to Germany is that German products and brands are premium products and the market excepts them as such. A German product trades at a premium where as an American one doesn’t, it remains to be seen if a German product made in Poland sells as well as a German product made in Germany, then German manufacture needs to be worried. You have the same situation in Italy, Fiat only wants to build Ferraris, Alfas and Maseratis in Italy anymore, the rest they want to build in Poland. Why you might ask, the answer is quite simple Poland and the Czech republic have some of the most productive workers in the world who make the lowest wages. Germany has relaxed labor laws compared to it’s neighbors who were not soviet bloc countries. Also things are different go into a German household, how much of their stuff is made in Germany? Try the same in an Italian household? Americans buy what ever is cheapest and all american brands have shipped the jobs overseas and haven’t necessary reduced the price of the product to match. The solution is bringing back the factories, unions have little to do with it, look at how successful the Japanese have been making cars in the USA. As a nation we have the capacity and the resources to compete with anyone in the world, the issue is we are playing in a rigged game. Between currency manipulation and the fact that China and India are over populated, how can we compete.
Grim you are supposed to claim your name is “Bob” and should ask me about the weather and then tell how the weather is in “Houston, Tx” in a very thick unintelligible Indian accent. You will should be handle all posting from now on sir.
#114…you pick germany? How about Spain, Portugal, Greece, etc…and the rest? Not sure all their entitlements will be fully funded. You have 3 generations in Spain living together off of the grandparents pension…
On Yesterdays topic of the future.
All summed up in one Pic
http://sploid.gizmodo.com/the-future-of-humanity-in-one-photo-1682418510
Great post.
The thing is, if Germany can do it, why can’t we? Why do we have to outsource everything? No economy can function on outsourcing everything. Plus, like you stated, we have the most efficient work force in the world combined with massive amounts of natural resources, why are the majority struggling? Also, a high percentage of their workforce is unionized, but they are killing it. In the U.S., it is pounded into our heads that unions are terrible and the cause for failing businesses. IMHO, it seems in the U.S. that unions took the blame for failing business models and terrible business strategies. If UNIONS WORK IN GERMANY, WHY NOT HERE? General Moters, for example, blames unions on its demise. Total bs!! The people at the top guiding the company became relaxed and put out a bs product that was not worth its’ cost. Funny that unions got blamed for that f up. Your product sucked. That’s what happened. Not the damn cost of the worker. Apple charges so much for its product, but people flock to it because it’s a good product. It’s a shame how unions took the hit for the ceo’s inability to put out a good product. Now the ceo’s ruined our country with their fallacy that Americans get paid too much, we can’t compete…blah blah, so now they shipped all of the jobs in the name of competition. Now we really can’t compete as a nation because we have a huge trade deficit following our corporate idiots advice. The only shortcoming was the ceo’s ability to put out a competitive prduct. Total bs!!
Europeans work together. The American model is every man for himself, which is completely idiotic when you factor in that there are more people than jobs (also factor in having to compete with China and India). How can you win with this approach? You can’t. You have to work together as workers to increase wages, not lower them.
jcer says:
January 29, 2015 at 5:50 pm
Pumpkin you have Europe all wrong, the German’s have won in Europe…well for one thing they are better organized than their neighbors and are more orderly but really it still comes down to labor. The German labor market is more flexible than their neighbors, yes German workers are slightly more efficient than their Italian, Spanish, and French counterparts but really not by much. The big difference is in Germany they can hire the temp worker which is paid less, has fewer benefits and can be easily let go. Try that in France or Italy, people die in their jobs. The other issue with comparison to Germany is that German products and brands are premium products and the market excepts them as such. A German product trades at a premium where as an American one doesn’t, it remains to be seen if a German product made in Poland sells as well as a German product made in Germany, then German manufacture needs to be worried. You have the same situation in Italy, Fiat only wants to build Ferraris, Alfas and Maseratis in Italy anymore, the rest they want to build in Poland. Why you might ask, the answer is quite simple Poland and the Czech republic have some of the most productive workers in the world who make the lowest wages. Germany has relaxed labor laws compared to it’s neighbors who were not soviet bloc countries. Also things are different go into a German household, how much of their stuff is made in Germany? Try the same in an Italian household? Americans buy what ever is cheapest and all american brands have shipped the jobs overseas and haven’t necessary reduced the price of the product to match. The solution is bringing back the factories, unions have little to do with it, look at how successful the Japanese have been making cars in the USA. As a nation we have the capacity and the resources to compete with anyone in the world, the issue is we are playing in a rigged game. Between currency manipulation and the fact that China and India are over populated, how can we compete.
On the subject of public assistance, Welfare, The Government Tit…why isn’t the government offering a monthly cash payment to women receiving assistance for receiving monthly birth control injections. The program would be elective. Each month when women went to renew their benefits they would receive an additional cash payment for having a birth control injection or sign a release opting out and receive their normal benefits only.
138- Im sorry, I think my post is absolutely true. The American workers took a major hit for the ceo’s inability to put out a competitive product. They blamed unions and workers for their short comings. Cost is not the only factor when it comes to competition in business. So blaming labor costs is an easy scape goat. Competition is not only based on cost, it’s based on quality and need also. I know I don’t shop for the cheapest product. I loathe the cheap products. Firm believer in you get what you pay for. I shop for the best value, not the cheapest product.
Rags, your glorious ceo’s inability to put out a good value product based on his controlling factors is the problem. If you have high labor costs, be inventive and come up with a way to create a product with these costs. That’s what a ceo would tell the worker, figure it out or you are fired!!! No excuses!! I’m sure you will come up with excuses for your beloved CEOs shortcomings.
Because they’re future democrats.
30 year realtor says:
January 29, 2015 at 7:21 pm
On the subject of public assistance, Welfare, The Government Tit…why isn’t the government offering a monthly cash payment to women receiving assistance for receiving monthly birth control injections. The program would be elective. Each month when women went to renew their benefits they would receive an additional cash payment for having a birth control injection or sign a release opting out and receive their normal benefits only.
Geoghegan:Those less virtuous economies were the so-called “new Europe” that Donald Rumsfeld was touting. People in the countries that are in trouble now economically were the ones willing to go to Iraq — and there is a connection. These are the countries that were much more inclined to go the American route, going into debt heavily, using housing speculation as the engine of the economy, and opening their economies big time to global bank debt and finance.
Goldman Sachs poured tons of money into Greece, and other New York, London and German banks poured money into Spain. None of the bubbles occurred in Germany and in the “old Europe” that Donald Rumsfeld wrote off. Part of Europe is in trouble to the extent — and only to the extent — that it’s involved in the American model. Those countries most resistant to the American model are doing fine.
By the way, why was Goldman Sachs willing to lend money to weak economies like Greece? Because Greece was in the EU. Because Spain was in the EU. These countries would never have gotten all this money from US banks. And what is so important about the EU? At the end of the day the Germans with their trade surplus are able to pay — and in fact that’s what has happened.”
1987 condo says:
January 29, 2015 at 6:21 pm
#114…you pick germany? How about Spain, Portugal, Greece, etc…and the rest? Not sure all their entitlements will be fully funded. You have 3 generations in Spain living together off of the grandparents pension…
Grim working hard on paying his Swissie-denominated Polish mortgage with zloty that are now less valuable than Monopoly money.
Toxic (141)-
It’s all fun and games until someone shouts “eugenics”.
Those are some of the worst economies in Europe. They have been going down since the 1600’s. Why would I use them as an example? Other parts of Europe are doing much better. Believe it or not, Poland is doing very well and will be one of the powerhouses in the European Union. The northern countries of Eastern Europe are coming on strong. They will not be looked down upon by others for much longer.
Why do you think Europeans stopped immigrating here? Put it this way. My wife’s cousin lives in Germany and just had a baby. She gets one year paid maternity leave. America is a joke when it comes to the treatment of workers. Why in the world would a European want to immigrate to the Americas to work all day, go nowhere, and get zero appreciation for their hard work?
1987 condo says:
January 29, 2015 at 6:21 pm
#114…you pick germany? How about Spain, Portugal, Greece, etc…and the rest? Not sure all their entitlements will be fully funded. You have 3 generations in Spain living together off of the grandparents pension…
Germans are proud of the labor reforms they made about 10 yrs ago under Schroeder which freed up labor rules relative to countries like France. They are irritated that instead of following suit with their own reforms, other European countries just started borrowing more to paper over their declining competitiveness. In addition, for some unknown reason, German education is willing to educate people of middling intelligence how to do useful trades, something many other countries see as demeaning or unfair.
re # 139 – Not the first time that idea has come up. Pretty much any government program like that was squashed by the libs and the ACLU with lawsuits in early 90s. Norplant for example.
Original article
http://articles.philly.com/1992-02-23/news/26040547_1_welfare-benefits-welfare-mothers-welfare-reform-legislation
Welfare reform in the 90s under Clinton and it wasn’t even considered.
http://www.slate.com/articles/briefing/articles/1996/08/the_norplant_option.html
For the tech workers here. Read up.
http://www.endicottalliance.org/jobcutsreports.php
149- Wow, talk about up close and personal. Great share. Nothing like hearing it from the horse’s mouth. Great primary source for this issue. Have to admit, this is so sad. Really feel for these people. Something is def wrong here. I think everyone feels this way.
Hey, would did I state in an earlier post. Ceo sucks at their job and the worker takes the hit for it. Move along, nothing to see here folks.
“Comment 01/29/15: Its sad to see what IBM has become. When I started at IBM in 1982 this was the last company in the world I thought would end up this way. I quit IBM last year. I loved my job as a programmer, but could no longer tolerant the new culture of “work very hard if you want to keep your job”. That is not a productive environment for highly skilled, talented people.
Unless you are at the end of your career, please do not plan to live your life at IBM. You only live this life once, and do not live a life of constant worry at IBM. Other companies really do appreciate their employees.
Virginia Rometty makes John Akers look like a genius. Worst CEO in the history of IBM. During one of the greatest bull markets of all time, IBM is worst performing company in the DOW two years in a row. Very sad. -Anonymous-“
re # 150 – Plumpkin wait until the next recession it is around the corner. We are due.
. L’apertura dell’arco era piccola, ma Cirillo ha visto che poteva passare attraverso di essa. Tutto l’e oltre l’arco sono stati gli alberi sbiaditi e calpestato l’erba di Regents Park, dove i bambini laceri giocavano Anello-o-Roses. Ma attraverso l’apertura di esso brillava un tripudio di blu e giallo e rosso. Cyril tirò un lungo respiro e si irrigidì le gambe in modo che gli altri non devono vedere che le sue ginocchia tremavano e quasi bussare insieme. Qui va! disse, e,yacht armani,