Time to clean house? Vote all incumbents out.

From the APP:

Where does New Jersey’s job market rank?

Just when you thought it was safe to come out.

New Jersey’s job market, which showed signs of life early this year, slumped in June, leaving the Garden State 36th in job growth nationwide, according to statistics released during the past week.

“I have a feeling this is that pattern of three steps forward, one step back,” said James W. Hughes, an economist and dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. “It’s not a smooth, even pattern of job growth.”

New Jersey’s rocky path to recovery has grabbed national attention thanks to Gov. Chris Christie’s presidential bid. But there are stronger forces at work.

Perhaps the biggest? New Jersey’s suburban landscape – with isolated corporate campuses, sprawling housing developments, and long, gas-guzzling commutes – was a strength in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but it has fallen out of favor in the new economy, Hughes said.

The giant millennial generation, now in its 20s and 30s, is quickly replacing the baby boom generation in the workplace. It is technically savvy. It prizes teamwork. It doesn’t mind mass transit. It can work any time of the day. And employers are following them, Hughes said.

The shift has prompted New Jersey business groups and entrepreneurs to call on the state to adapt – whether to fix the crumbling transportation network or finds ways employers can partner with high schools and colleges to convince talented students to stay in New Jersey.

“The paradigm shift is, let’s forget about the blame game,” Tom Bracken, president of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, said during a recent interview. “Let’s forget about having 15 hearings on the (depleted) transportation trust fund; what else do you need to know? Let’s talk about hearings and meetings where we have solutions and identify the real problems that we need to address, and find ways to start working on those problems.”

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

169 Responses to Time to clean house? Vote all incumbents out.

  1. Libturd in the City says:

    For the record, when we brought our Glen Ridge home, we came in below 2x our income, but only put 10% down. Been doing a lot of reading on Costa Rica lately. We could probably retire tomorrow if we wanted to. The problem is those darn kids. Just 15 more years. Just 15 more years.

  2. NJCoast says:

    Libturd…The problem is those darn kids. Just 15 more years. Just 15 more years.

    Hahahahaha. Mine are 31 and 33. I used to think I’d be done with them when they were 21, boy was I wrong. In full wedding mode with the 33yr old Bridezilla.

  3. Libturd in the City says:

    Juice…on Fios.

    We went through the same thing recently. I bet you have one of the older ONT units. These units fry with every firmware upgrade. I got a super knowledgeable and generous tech the 2nd time my ONT fried in two months and he gave me the newer ONT (it’s much shorter in height) and I asked nicely and he gave me the newer router too which improved my bandwith by about 9Mbps on the download and doubled my upload speed. It’s not the Quantam router (I pay for 25/25), but it’s about 6 years newer than my original router. One of these days I’m going to configure my own router to work with FIOS, but I just don’t have the time these days to screw around.

  4. anon (the good one) says:

    NYT mag

    “In a new meme on Twitter, white men have been posting photographs of themselves lying facedown on the ground, with the hashtag ­#takeusdown, in mock apology for their white privilege. ‘‘I’m waiting for the Semi Truck of Social Injustice to end my privilege,’’ one man wrote beneath a photograph of himself belly-­flopped on what looked like very hot tarmac.

    The men appeared to be mimicking the poses of activists at ‘‘die-­ins’’ organized to bring attention to the police killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. In doing so, they seemed to equate the notion of being ‘‘accused’’ of white privilege with being shot dead in the street.

    It’s a comparison that would have been outrageous if it weren’t so ill-­conceived. If the concept of privilege was designed to enjoin people to look and listen beyond their own experience, by lying facedown on the ground, these men ensure that they see and hear nothing.”

  5. Libturd in the City says:

    Coast. I’m the youngest of 7. I think my sophomore year of college, my parents downsized to Jackson NJ and began wintering in FL. Not until three years ago did they move full time to FL, but that’s because my mother wanted to be near her grandchildren. Now unfortunately, we got no one to watch “The D” (the nickname for our younger son) so doing things without the kids never happens. I swear, the day the D moves out is the day I start renting in Costa Rica until we find the climate that suits us.

  6. Libturd in the City says:

    Anon. I’ve wiped my butt after a runny #2 with better journalism than that piece you chose to post. Though, seeing that the Times likes to parrot Twitter much like you do, I’m not surprised the very least that you would find this author’s translation meaningful. Often, I’ve felt that Blumpkin was the king of the simpletons here. Sadly, you just usurped him.

  7. anon (the good one) says:

    “It makes sense that we’re fixated on the word ‘‘privilege’’ now: There has never been more ample or graphic evidence of its material and psychological benefits. Studies show that having a ‘‘black’’ name halves your chances of getting a job interview, and that experiencing racism has been linked to developing post-­traumatic stress disorder, depression and breast cancer.

    A small University of Virginia study showed that by the age of 10, white children don’t believe that black children feel the same amount of pain as they do, the first stage of dehumanization.”

  8. Anon E. Moose says:

    We went from New Mike City under Nanny Bloomberg, now New Francisco under Comrade DiBlasio, on the express route to East Detroit.

    Example: How to survive in NYC with no secure job and no secure shelter — Live in a VAN! Uber by day, AirBNB by night. Bathing facilities not included… If they ran a food truck out of the back of the van, it would be the most emblematic vehicle yet for the teens decade of NYC.

    http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2015/07/21/new_yorks_hottest_new_hotel_is_a_parked_van_in_queens.php

  9. Anon E. Moose says:

    Tool [8];

    You’re shocked that kids are miniature sociopathic egotists? You must be a hipster “childless by choice” and use the word “breeder” often. That is normal for their age; the idea is to train these characteristics out of children so they can join society before they become… well, before the become you.

  10. yome says:

    he era of capitalism is rapidly going down, a victim of its own success, sabotaged by greed and a loss of a moral code. In 1776 Adam Smith’s capitalism became America’s core economic principle. We enshrined his ideal of capitalism in our constitutional freedoms. We prospered. America became the greatest economic superpower in world history
    But along the way, America forgot Smith’s original foundation was in morals, values, doing what’s right for the common good

  11. nwnj says:

    The whole “white privilege” meme is pure genius should be good for setting the disenfranchised back for another couple of generations, which I suppose is one of the goals of rev Al and his cohort. That guarantees him a clientele for as long as he’s around.

  12. yome says:

    Re:Kids
    My son got a promotion with MS and was told he will be working some days till 3am. They gave him $10k relocation bonus and want him to move closer to the City. He is guaranteed $50K bonus a year for a 2 year contract. I want him to live at home and save his Salary increase and bonus but he needs to move. His apartment will be $2,500. Comes out to $30k a year after tax. Before tax,I figured $40,500. Where is the increase? He is working harder just to pay rent to someone.
    My daughter wants to come with him. Driving 45 min to work at Loreal.Her share will be $900 a month.
    What is wrong with this kids? I am offering them a place to stay for free. All they need to do is save their money for their future.

  13. Libturd in the City says:

    Yome…exactly.

    Here’s my solution to unfettered greed. And believe me when I say this, I don’t believe that raising the tax rates on the wealthy is a solution, since they always can weasel out of it through shelters and tax strategies that the rest of us can’t afford and the increase then ends up falling on what remain of the middle class.

    I would start by limiting executive pay (say anyone who earns over 499K per year) to that of a multiple of the average salary of the companies entire workforce. Perhaps make the cap 100X. I would also raise the tax rate on investment income (such as dividends and cap gains) at one’s marginal rate. And investment income would be used to determine your marginal rate. So labor and investment income would be handled the same way.

    To handle the lack of efficiency in government, I would hire a sh1tload of auditors that would be paid on commission based on the savings (waste) they can identify. Pay them .01% of the savings with a cap of say $250,000 per year.

    Healthcare/smealthcare. Single payer with death squads. We’ll handle our seniors much like I handle my pets. The limit for care goes down each year as one gets older. With my dog, I use the $1,500 price tag to determine if he lives or dies. Each year, I reduce the amount I’m willing to pay to extend his life by $100. Our dog is approaching 11 years. Anything over $400 and he’s off to puppy heaven. Them’s the breaks and I remind him to take care of himself almost daily.

    Vote for me!

  14. anon (the good one) says:

    @washingtonpost:
    We ran into Sen. Lindsey Graham at the movies last night. His phone was still ringing.

  15. Libturd in the City says:

    I see NJTransit is fukced again for the 3rd time in 5 commutes this week. Gator tells me that the conductor on her NY train, now destined for Hoboken, told the NY passengers on her train to get off at Broad and wait for a NY train. According to Clever commute, there are still no NY trains on the midtown direct. Gotta love the government.

  16. anon (the good one) says:

    @nytimes:

    A dash-cam video shows that a state trooper threatened Sandra Bland with a Taser, saying
    “I will light you up.”

  17. Ragnar says:

    Yes, all disparities are due to luck, prejudice, and sociological forces out of any individual’s control. So say the losers of the world. Anyone who actually cared about human achievement and happiness would be trying to tear down the culture and habits that are disfunction and breed failure in these allegedly oppressed communities. Is it rich white men who tell women to breed illigetimate kids, take drugs, ignore education?

  18. homeboken says:

    Lib – From your comment 1 article post:

    “Taxes and homeowner’s insurance. Depending on the survey, the national average is somewhere between $2,000 and $3,000 for annual property taxes and roughly $1,000 for annual homeowner’s insurance premiums. Together that’s roughly $300 a month”

    Multiply that tax number by 5-7x and you have NJ. Nothing to see here, being 4 standard deviations away from the national mean is not big deal because we are so close to NYC. It’s different here, ask Pumpkin to explain it.

  19. Libturd in the City says:

    I feel no guilt whatsoever about being born white. This whole white privilege thing is the 2015 equivalent of the social cronut.

  20. Libturd in the City says:

    Homeboken. I’ve said it 100x over here. Go to the public worker salary databases that exist in any state. Pick any random town and any random position, be it police, fireman or teacher and you will find that we over pay at a scale of 2 to 3 times. Sure, it costs more to live here. But certainly not THAT much more. Then factor in the True Blue benefits and you wonder why our taxes are this much out of control. It’s not a knock on the public workers here. They are the smartest monkeys among us for going where the going is good. But if you want to fix things before all that is left in NJ are the ultra wealthy and the inner city derelicts, then this is where the change must come from.

  21. Comrade Nom Deplume, Thankfully Not Greek says:

    anon, I’m more than happy to help unburden you of your privilege.

  22. Comrade Nom Deplume, Thankfully Not Greek says:

    Boy, anon is really bringing the stupid today. Musta dropped an extra shot in his coffee before his Starbucks shift ended.

  23. Libturd in the City says:

    Either that or he got his shoes shined this morning.

  24. Comrade Nom Deplume, Thankfully Not Greek says:

    Euro-dollar at 1:1.09. Getting close to parity. Question for me now is whether to buy some euros or hold off and see if euro goes lower. Same with shiny–waiting to see what Grim does and wondering if we go to $900

  25. Comrade Nom Deplume, Thankfully Not Greek says:

    [24] libturd

    Didn’t know you could shine Birkenstocks

  26. Banco Popular Trust Preferred Shares says:

    repost
    Banco Popular Trust Preferred Shares says:
    July 21, 2015 at 11:55 pm
    a new toy for clot…… The Clotdrone…..
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_kfUVZdTkU

  27. leftwing says:

    Anon on fire this morning.

    Although you and former paper of record turned unabashed political tool left some wording out of post 5:

    “If the concept of privilege was designed to enjoin people to look and listen beyond their own experience [to agenda laden, liberal control freaks like ourselves], by lying facedown on the ground, these men ensure that they see and hear nothing [much to our dismay, as all we have is the cacophony of our large microphone bereft of any meaningful message other than our own hypocritical self interest].”

    Regarding 8, did you really need a study to learn that someone named KerShawn JaBam Shabazz Yousouf III is going to have his resume moved from the ‘interview’ to ‘pass’ pile when there are 200 resumes competing for the same 5 jobs?

    “Studies show that having a ‘‘black’’ name halves your chances of getting a job interview”

  28. Ben says:

    “It makes sense that we’re fixated on the word ‘‘privilege’’ now: There has never been more ample or graphic evidence of its material and psychological benefits. Studies show that having a ‘‘black’’ name halves your chances of getting a job interview, and that experiencing racism has been linked to developing post-­traumatic stress disorder, depression and breast cancer.

    A small University of Virginia study showed that by the age of 10, white children don’t believe that black children feel the same amount of pain as they do, the first stage of dehumanization.”

    Anon, you are full of crap. I went to graduate school with about 4 different black people. The Pharma companies jobs waiting for them before anyone else on the basis of their skin color alone. And yes, their names were exactly as you described.

  29. Libturd in the City says:

    Ben, if that’s true, I’m changing my name to Liptessa X.

  30. Ben says:

    A dash-cam video shows that a state trooper threatened Sandra Bland with a Taser, saying
    “I will light you up.”

    It also showed him trying to simply give her a warning before she started mouthing off and disobeying lawful orders. Whenever a cop gave me a warning, I would respond “thank you officer, I really appreciate that”. Instead, she starts going off on him.

    And it’s not his fault she committed suicide in her cell a few days later. She obviously had mental issues.

  31. Libturd in the City says:

    Apple is down 6%. Alert the millennials.

  32. Ottoman says:

    The fact that blacks are 8 times more likely to serve prison time for drugs than whites when usage is virtually the same between the two is just one documented, and easily understood, example of white privilege. But thanks to everyone for proving yet again that conservative views correlate to prejudice and low IQ.

    We could discuss how black families were legally restricted from buying in suburban towns during the mid 20th century when most people were making a significant portion of their wealth through home ownership. And that restriction, and its underlying racism, fueled more desire for whites to move into the most restrictive towns thereby upping the home values and the capital they have to invest, but you’re all obviously incapable of thought beyond your own biased experiences.

    Of course the lower capital gains rate isn’t an example of the privilege of the investor class. Nor is the tax exemption on the sale of a home. Or the massive deductions allowed on business expenses. It’s all an equal playing field, right? Dummies.

  33. Libturd in the City says:

    It certainly is not an equal playing field Otto. But I think you should blame the blue team, much more than the red team for your list of exploitations. And for what it’s worth, there is plenty of opportunity for those who choose to take advantage of them. And finally, don’t blame me. I had nothing to do with it.

  34. joyce says:

    Ben
    28

    “mouthing off” is not a crime, and 99% of what comes out of cop’s mouths are not lawful orders (no matter what they claim or are taught to believe).

    All that said, I didn’t know who Sandra Bland was until I just googled this morning

  35. joyce says:

    33
    Ottoman

    I confused … is it white privilege or investor privilege or old man privilege? or something else

  36. homeboken says:

    “Libturd in the City says:
    July 22, 2015 at 9:48 am
    It certainly is not an equal playing field Otto.”

    I agree that history did not set up the playing field to be level today. However, again agree with Lib, I was not alive to set up the game this way and I will accept no blame in its creation. Furthermore, just like anyone else, I am going to defend my ability to make my way in the world with everything I have. So accusing me of “white privelege” or expecting me to lay down to compensate for the injustices caused by those before me (without my knowledge, consent or even presence) will cause me to get defensive.

    The idea of blaming anyone is futile and will result in zero progress. If you want to engage me in a discussion of how we can attempt to restore the playing field to a equal level, I encourage that. It will take work, compromise and time but it can be achieved. But expecting the straight, white males of America to simply hand over their “privilege” in exchange for zero consideration will not happen.

    Summation – I recognize that the “playing field” is not equal but I, personally, take zero responsibility for how it got that way. If you want to fix it together, insulting me is not the way to start the conversation.

  37. leftwing says:

    Nom, I’d stay out of the way of shiny. See no catalyst there. Euros are interesting, thinking about it myself. Straight up currency play or are you looking for investing in Euro based securities? If the former I have a neat little play for you. Currency desk in the Grand Bazaar, Istanbul, literally exchanges physical at less than 0.5% cost all in off the institutional cross rate. Depending on the amount changed the savings on spread and commissions will pay for your airfare and give you a week on the ground for free. No need to advise you, but it would require some border paperwork…

    Yome, re: kids, I’m not from the metro area and when I first moved here believe it or not I was incredibly jealous of some of my peers who lived at home. They stayed for about two years, and banked some serious coin. They were of course jealous of me being in the city but even then I would have traded places. Two years goes by in an eyeblink. If you can convince your guy to stick it out for that short period, he can move to the city thereafter and have $60k cash free and clear in the bank. No amount of late night partying can equal that, especially when you don’t have the disposable to even go out. Plus, my buds got the best of both worlds as most of the time the crashed at my place anyway. Tell him to wait two years, make a good friend with an apartment in the city now, and step up in his third year when hopefully total comp is even higher. Good luck.

  38. Ragnar says:

    If I knew I was 8 times more likely to go to jail, I’d be smart enough to not break that law. But I hear being smart and educated might brand one as “acting white” so we wouldn’t want that.

  39. Ben says:

    Lib,

    I was once given a fellowship because the people giving it out thought I was hispanic. They flipped a sh*t when I didn’t check it off on the annual report.

  40. leftwing says:

    I’m sending my youngest’s DNA in for racial screening. Think I’m kidding? Totally serious. With central/eastern Euro roots not expecting much but who knows who was bumping whom. May win the genetic college lottery if great-great-gram put out.

    I’m really not kidding.

  41. Libturd in the City says:

    Nice Ben.

  42. D-FENS says:

    New “White Privilege Tax” for all White People Supported by Minorities

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYwY85K1MB0

  43. D-FENS says:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8IFTa2ulA4

    Nothin’ new.

    Banco Popular Trust Preferred Shares says:
    July 22, 2015 at 9:22 am
    repost
    Banco Popular Trust Preferred Shares says:
    July 21, 2015 at 11:55 pm
    a new toy for clot…… The Clotdrone…..

  44. JJ says:

    Best way for free college is to do what the rich Orthdox and Indians do. Arranged Marriage.

    Once married a student is listed as Independant automatically for financial aid purposes.

    So your child has an income of zero. The marriage is really taken place after college. But legally get paper signed now and you are good to go.

  45. JJ says:

    Dependency Status for Student Financial Aid

    Marriage plays into financial aid eligibility because it changes both your dependency status and your finances. For the purposes of the FAFSA you remain a dependent of your parents until your 24th birthday, even if you don’t live with them or they don’t claim you as a dependent on their tax return. As a dependent, both your financial information and that of your parents’ must be figured into the formula that determines your financial need.

    Getting married gives you immediate independent status, even if you’re younger than 24. As a young married couple, your financial aid would probably increase without having mom and dad’s income and assets included on your FAFSA. Therefore, if you and your spouse are not as financially well-off as the student’s parents, getting married before you turn 24 could maximize your student aid eligibility. However, if the parents don’t earn much and have several dependents or other children who are also in college, you might benefit by keeping your dependency status and waiting to tie the knot until after graduation.

  46. joyce says:

    http://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-highway/
    Hackers Remotely Kill a Jeep on the Highway—With Me in It

  47. leftwing says:

    “The idea of blaming anyone is futile and will result in zero progress. If you want to engage me in a discussion of how we can attempt to restore the playing field to a equal level, I encourage that. ”

    That I feel the need to preface any discussion with a disclaimer may be the best answer to the above, quite frankly. In any case, for the record, I am among the most color blind individuals of my demographic. I pass every screening question posed by the left – how many Afro-Am friends do you have – and more. Many. Two families I count among our best friends (and their demographics are very different than mine). Also roommates, in and out of college. My children, the same. So disclaimers made, here goes the discussion:

    Multiple waves of highly differentiated peoples have become part of this nation and prospered. Many, most, facing the discriminations and hatreds mentioned – housing, employment, brutality. Many with other additional hindrances – no knowledge of this country, no fluency in its language, no family support system, relocation across an ocean in middle age with no prospects on the other side. Why is it that one group stands out?

    Generally speaking – and emphasizing the generally – the difference to me is that most other minority groups approached the existing culture here as something desirable and did their best to assimilate themselves and become part of it as quickly as possible. On the other hand, the current conundrum has a minority group (or at least its most vocal leaders) actively disparaging the existing culture and distancing themselves from it while trying to be ‘accepted’.

    For the most part those two actions are mutually exclusive.

    If 20 people are invited to a dinner party and one guest shows up dressed obnoxiously, with no favor in hand, proceeds to trash everyone else at the party, and tells the host how horrible his house is and how its mere existence is an affront to the neighborhood chances are that guest will not be invited back. Regardless of color.

    The reason DeShawn JaBam’s resume goes in the ‘no’ pile for me isn’t because his name is ‘black’. It is because his naming represents a family environment that proactively chose a high profile differentiation. Basically, a bit of a middle finger to the ‘system’. In a corporate world I am not looking for outliers, nor even am I interested in trying to discern whether a given trait represents an outlier or not. With 40 applicants for each opening I want a person who with the highest probability can assimilate seamlessly and quickly. Regardless of color.

    For the same reason I would also move into the ‘no’ pile an applicant that arrives with a Mike Tyson face tattoo. It shows a level of non-conformity that indicates a risk that need not be taken given the easier alternatives. Regardless of color.

    So, bottom line for me, the problem is that [the leaders of] the minority group are looking for the tangible and economic fruits of assimilation while simultaneously disparaging the society. You can’t have it both ways. A decision needs to be made whether you want to be ‘inside’ or ‘outside’. Outside means outside. And if inside is chosen it will mean giving up some of your distinctiveness to become assimilated and accepted. Just like every other group has. Regardless of color.

    It is worth noting that numerous members of this minority who have assimilated have done extremely well. It is also worth noting that many of them, including one residing at 1600 Penn, upon attaining that success through assimilation have been castigated by their own as ‘sell outs’. Which way do you want it? Unreasonable to expect both.

    Flame away………

  48. HEHEHE says:

    White privilege is a myth. Class privilege is a reality. If you have money and the right connections you can make nearly any personal/family problem disappear in this country.

  49. anon (the good one) says:

    is your offspring that much of an idiot that your existing privilege is not enough?

    leftwing says:
    July 22, 2015 at 10:11 am
    I’m sending my youngest’s DNA in for racial screening. Think I’m kidding? Totally serious. With central/eastern Euro roots not expecting much but who knows who was bumping whom. May win the genetic college lottery if great-great-gram put out.

    I’m really not kidding.

  50. NJGator says:

    Today’s NJT Math: Two trains leave Bloomfield Station bound for Hoboken. The 8:27 diverted MIDTown Direct (diverted before it’s arrival at Bloomfield) and the 8:37 Hoboken train. The 8:37 train departs Bloomfield 5 minutes late. Which train arrived at Hoboken Terminal first? Please use Common Core math to solve.

    If you guessed the 8:37 by over 30 minutes, you are correct.

  51. leftwing says:

    “is your offspring that much of an idiot that your existing privilege is not enough?”

    Not sure about the young one’s intellect yet but all indications are that he will follow in his brother’s footsteps which are 4.5 GPA, 99 percentile on the ACT, and ‘5s’ on his APs.

    So the answer to your question is that despite those objective measures your ilk has so skewed the system that the privilege goes the other way now. Hence I’m hoping for some early 19th century sub-Saharan nooky in a Budapest back alley.

  52. Libturd in the City says:

    Otto will choose to ignore all that. He’ll simply point out the statistical disadvantages of being black. All of the opportunities afforded black folks will be ignored. So will the success stories of many as they don’t fit the narrative. I’ve given the example of Bebo too many times. Bebo is no different than Beyonce. As a hiring manager, with all things equal, I always try to hire a minority member over whitey. I know that the minority member has most likely had to overcome greater obstacles than whitey to get to where they were. I want someone working with me who understands that reward comes from rigor. At least it does in the departments that I supervise. With that said, this guilt thing really needs to stop. As does the Democrat’s pandering for votes. Don’t think for a moment that the Obamaphone and the current administration’s willingness to ignore the obvious abuses in the program is nothing more than a thank you for your continued support. That, is racism. And I’ve seen uneducated black families been taking advantage of time and time again. Many times by supposed leaders in their own communities.

    I share an office in Union with a brother of another color who works there twice per week. He always has WBLS on to which I am generally tolerant of even though they continue to play the same songs that were popular back when I was in college, so I’m sick of that format just a bit. But I’ve noticed that the marketing (commercials) on that channel are overwhelmingly advertising shady practices. From payday loans, bad real estate investments and for-profit credit counseling, to shallow cosmetic surgery promos and too-good-to-be-true new car pitches. It’s really sad to hear these commercials over and over again. And in many of the cases, these are black owned businesses. I’m not sure really where I am going with this, but education is still the key to success. And I think the government has done a lot to offer the greatest opportunity to those who are willing to take advantage of them. I witnessed it in Jersey City with free preK/head start. Then in college as I was in the dorms during the summer months when EOF and Upward Bound students were there.

    So, in many respects, I agree with Leftwing and question what the progressive community is trying to do by making their white members feel guilty about slavery and the like. I too agree that assimilation would help, but I don’t think it’s and end all be all to the problem. IMO, the cycle of dependency on handouts is what must be broken.

  53. Ben says:

    I’m sending my youngest’s DNA in for racial screening. Think I’m kidding? Totally serious. With central/eastern Euro roots not expecting much but who knows who was bumping whom. May win the genetic college lottery if great-great-gram put out.

    I’m really not kidding.

    You might as well just tell your youngest to check off hispanic. No one checks. I don’t even think it is legal to.

  54. NJGator says:

    Joyce – Meanwhile in the Seidle case it turns out that Philip Seidle was suspended from his job last year related to their custody dispute and there were more than a dozen domestic related reports on file with the Neptune Township Police Department in the past 11 years. An officer involved in a domestic violence event is supposed to have their service firearm taken and it can only be returned after approval of the County Prosecutor’s office. I believe that the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office is handling the investigation of how the police responded. I am sure they are going to do a bang up unbiased job of investigating themselves.

    http://www.nj.com/monmouth/index.ssf/2015/07/neptune_cop_accused_of_killing_ex-wife_had_been_su.html

  55. Essex says:

    Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…..WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans bought homes in June at the fastest rate in over eight years, pushing prices to record highs as buyer demand has eclipsed the availability of houses on the market.

    The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that sales of existing homes climbed 3.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.49 million, the highest rate since February 2007. Sales have jumped 9.6 percent over the past 12 months, while the number of listings has risen just 0.4 percent.

    Median home prices climbed 6.5 percent over the past 12 months to $236,400, the highest level reported by the Realtors not adjusted for inflation.

    Home-buying has recently surged as more buyers are flooding into the real estate market. Robust hiring over the past 21 months and an economic recovery now in its sixth year have enabled more Americans to set aside money for a down payment. But the rising demand has failed to draw more sellers into the market, causing tight inventories and escalating prices that could cap sales growth.

    “The recent pace can’t be sustained, but it points clearly to upside potential,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

    A mere five months’ supply of homes was on the market in June, compared to 5.5 months a year ago and an average of six months in a healthy market.

    Some markets are barely adding any listings. The condominium market in Massachusetts contains just 1.8 months’ supply, according to a Federal Reserve report this month. The majority of real estate agents in the Atlanta Fed region – which ranges from Alabama to Florida- said that inventories were flat or falling over the past year.

    Some of the recent sales burst appears to come from the prospect of low mortgage rates beginning to rise as the Federal Reserve considers raising a key interest rate from its near-zero level later this year. That possibility is prompting buyers to finalize sales before higher rates make borrowing costs prohibitively expensive, noted Daren Blomquist, a vice president at RealtyTrac, a housing analytics firm.

    The premiums that the Federal Housing Administration charges to insure mortgages are also lower this year, further fueling buying activity, Blomquist said.

    It’s also possible that homebuyers are checking the market for listings more aggressively, making it possible for them to act fast with offers despite the lack of new inventory.

  56. Anon E. Moose says:

    Grim,

    Here’s an idea to get your money out of those aging barrels when you’re done with them.

    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/originalgrain/the-barrel-handcrafted-watch-made-w-whiskey-barrel

  57. Ben says:

    “mouthing off” is not a crime, and 99% of what comes out of cop’s mouths are not lawful orders (no matter what they claim or are taught to believe).

    All that said, I didn’t know who Sandra Bland was until I just googled this morning

    Mouthing off. Certainly not. Failure to obey a lawful order is. And when a cop asks you to step out of the car, you are required by law to do so, if not you may be placed under arrest. The officer was going to explain to her that he was only going to give her a warning and instead she started tugging away. At that point, she deserved to be arrested. Furthermore, the officer had nothing do to with her suicide in jail.

    There’s bad cops out there and god knows I’ve run into my fair share when I lived in shady areas. You guys always go after the wrong cops.

  58. Anon E. Moose says:

    Tool [17];

    And your solution is, predictably, “MORE GOVERNMENT!

  59. anon (the good one) says:

    Undergraduate / Graduate / U.S. Census

    Asian/Pacific Islander 17% / 11% / 5%

    Black/Non-Hispanic 6% / 4% / 12%

    Hispanics of any race 9% / 5% / 16%

    White/non-Hispanic 46% / 43% / 64%

    Mixed Race/Other 10% / 8% / 9%

    International students 11% /27% / N/A

    Student body

    In the last six years, Harvard’s student population ranged between 19,000 and 21,000, across all programs.[113] Harvard enrolled 6,655 students in undergraduate programs, 3,738 students in graduate programs, and 10,722 students in professional programs.[110] The undergraduate population is 51% female, the graduate population is 48% female, and the professional population is 49% female.[110]

  60. leftwing says:

    “Failure to obey a lawful order is. And when a cop asks you to step out of the car, you are required by law to do so”

    Not really sure about that if the underlying infraction was failure to signal and there is not probable cause for something else (eg, DWI, to administer a field test).

    Back in my younger days I had a very similar experience, pulled over for a total BS inconsequential infraction by a super-trooper on a power trip. Very similar dialogue. Cop, you seem irritated. Me, you have got to be kidding. Kept me waiting a good twenty minutes to write up the ticket. Gave it to me with a sh1t eating grin on his face and hung around at my window looking in at me. I grinned right back and ripped in half as he was standing there looking in the window. He went ballistic – don’t you dare do that. I said nothing and did four more rips. Pulled out, cuffed, brought in.

    When all the dust settled cop was sanctioned. His order to me was not lawful. I can definitively say, NY at least, you have an unabated right to rip up your ticket.

  61. leftwing says:

    61, anon.

    bingo, my youngest was born overseas.

    mixed race international is absolutely the winning ticket.

    here’s hoping grandma was a $lut.

  62. D-FENS says:

    Harvard is racist.

  63. jcer says:

    14. Lib I like your plans except the capital gains increases which I think because the wealthy are mobile it isn’t the smartest thing to do. Also from a a pure standpoint of fairness and making sense passive capital gains do not require the same level infrastructure as income. Also the unintended consequence is that the wealthy would be far more likely to leave the capital invested and it would reduce their consumption which isn’t really what we want. What we need to do is reform corporate taxes so there isn’t a disincentive to hire US workers because bring back foreign profits to pay US based workers is a real negative consequence of our global tax nightmare.

    I agree with you on the privilege thing, I mean really no one in my linage was a slave owner. Heck my ancestors were actively discriminated against….so any success is the direct result of the efforts of my ancestors and myself…not privilege. Show up to the interview looking professional, that means professional name, clothes, and manner of speech and you have a chance at getting the job nobody wants to hire a potential problem. 50 years ago it was different but today things have gotten much better and African Americans if they attempt to succeed, will.

  64. anon (the good one) says:

    yes, hopefully grandma was just like mom.

    leftwing says:
    July 22, 2015 at 11:55 am
    61, anon.

    bingo, my youngest was born overseas.

    mixed race international is absolutely the winning ticket.

    here’s hoping grandma was a $lut.

  65. Libturd in the City says:

    Howard University

    African American
    93%
    Asian
    1%
    Hispanic
    0%
    International
    3%
    Native American
    2%
    White
    1%

    What’s your point?

  66. leftwing says:

    hahaha. reduced to your lowest common denominator now, eh anon?

    mama jokes?

    roflmao

  67. Libturd in the City says:

    “yes, hopefully grandma was just like mom.”

    Anon does earn points for it being his most creative post to date.

  68. JJ says:

    I actually got pulled over on Sunday for rolling through a stop sign. Honestly, my wife was chewing my ear off, had three kids in the car and tons of beach stuff and did not see it till I was upon it.

    I was extremely nice and polite to officer. I did not admit guilt, I had the insurance card, license and registration. I said yes sir, no sir etc. Did not get out of car kept hands on wheel except when handing him something and kids stayed quiet even when he looked in car.

    He let me off with a warning. Now if I had a radio blaring rap music, a dented up car, three thugs in the car and was cussing and yelling at officer I would have got a ticket. Nothing to do with being black or white. I was pulled over in a mixed neighborhood

    Ripping up a ticket is dumb, as I cant plead innocent then. I look like an idiot to the judge and the cop in court has it out for me.

  69. JJ says:

    82% of the folks attending Howard University thought they were applying to Harvard as most can’t spell anyhow.

    Libturd in the City says:
    July 22, 2015 at 12:14 pm
    Howard University

    African American
    93%
    Asian
    1%
    Hispanic
    0%
    International
    3%
    Native American
    2%
    White
    1%

    What’s your point?

  70. joyce says:

    Ben,
    Why are you reaching and assuming so much?

  71. NJGator says:

    Lib 67 – Where are you counting Rachel Dolezal in those figures?

  72. joyce says:

    LW,
    Pretty sure the black robes have ruled that a cop can DEMAND you out of your car for any reason if he/she feels their safety is in danger… because as we all know they’re taught to be paranoid and constantly in fear of their lives.

    Oh, and you can also be charged with resisting arrest even if at the time you weren’t being arrested.

  73. Libturd in the City says:

    Gates. There was a 0% figure in there for unsure.

  74. leftwing says:

    “Ripping up a ticket is dumb, as I cant plead innocent then. I look like an idiot to the judge and the cop in court has it out for me”

    yeah, as i remind my kids they can listen to me and learn from my mistakes or be stupid and learn from first hand experience.

    when i was younger i often defaulted to the latter. combined with a very strong libertarian and counter culture in the geography in which i grew up and a fascination with the 60s and their protest movements means i have some very, uhm, interesting stories from my youth.

  75. joyce says:

    56
    NJGator,
    For any semblance of justice to be served in this case, it would require at least a dozen government officials thrown in jail. Want to take the over or under on that bet?

  76. Not Libturded says:

    This one applies to Ragnar.

    President Lincoln once said. A sheep is grateful, that the sheepherder protects it from the wolf. But the wolf think that the sheepherder is anti-liberty and against his freedom.

  77. leftwing says:

    “Oh, and you can also be charged with resisting arrest even if at the time you weren’t being arrested”

    Never understood that one. Experience there too. Hoboken, early 90s. Good and Plenty. Brawl breaks out. Did not know the bar was owned by a cop. Ton of cars pull up, if you were there you were brought in. Hoboken cops get everyone at the station and start playing with them. Up, down, turn, wisecrack, wall, search, repeat. About the third time through the process my buddy is starting to boil over. I try to lighten the situation by telling him, I thought, “don’t worry, they don’t know what they are doing they’re all jacked up on coke”. (Cops in the station house had recently been busted for dealing). Was not aware a cop was also within earshot. Everyone else gets tossed out, I stay.

    Long story short had the hell abused out of me in the stationhouse, was driven to the Hudson County jail by the backroads where the two cops parked the car and beat the daylights out of me while cuffed in the back seat, and then got knocked around a little at Hudson County where they matter of factly told me they were surprised to see me because they expected me to end up in the river.

    Charge for all that ended up being resisting arrest. Judge threw it out, provided I stipulated that they cops has cause to arrest me to begin with. Go figure.

    Oh, and in a case of ultimate karma one of the fat @ssed Hoboken sadists-in-uniform took his own life about a decade later. Was a closet tranny before it was cool and got caught in the act.

  78. ccb223 says:

    Yome – I would support your kid’s desire to move to the city for a few reasons.

    1) You don’t turn down a promotion, could derail his career at MS or at list impede his potential upside there.

    2) The higher salary (although in real dollars he may be saving less) is very helpful as he progresses in his career (whether at MS or elsewhere). It sets a floor. If he goes looking for another job that’s the starting point for negotiations, so in the long run it will allow him to make significantly more money.

    3) You should applaud the independence. He doesn’t want to live at home and burden you, wants to start making his own way. I am sure living at home (which has a terrible stigma after a certain age) has taken a toll on his social life and general self-advancement as a young adult. Many latent negative effects of living at home, starting with the difficulty in finding a spouse/partner that will take you seriously.

    4)

  79. leftwing says:

    Actually, thinking about it that was mid-80s in Hoboken. I was still in the training program right out of college. My buddies had to scramble to make bail (exact change only please) and got me out just in time to more or less go straight into the office which was at a classroom at 55 Water. Had probably about 30 or so people in our analyst program. The Canucks always came in looking like hell after all night benders because they were going back to Canada and guaranteed of their job regardless of how they did in the program. I looked orders of magnitude worse than they did.

  80. Libturd in the City says:

    CB,

    Was thinking the same exact thing. Didn’t have the time to respond. Independence is the key value earned here. Definitely more valuable than wealth.

  81. Libturd in the City says:

    And Nom,

    Forget shiny. It’s the worst investment ever. Even Forex trading is crazy difficult. Take the 13% the markets been giving and be very happy.

  82. Juice Box says:

    Can anyone recommend a home remodeling contractor for Westfield?

  83. Comrade Nom Deplume, Device-Hopping Today says:

    [80] small caliber

    Wow, something out of .223’s mouth that I agree with. Gotta check the weather forecast for Hell.

    What’s next? Pumpkin making coherent statements? anon being, well, anything other than his usual self?

  84. Comrade Nom Deplume, Device-Hopping Today says:

    [84] Juice,

    Schloss. Never used them but their reputation is impeccable. Amish builder. Good luck getting on his schedule book.

  85. HEHEHE says:

    Cops are our heroes

  86. Comrade Nom Deplume, Device-Hopping Today says:

    [42] leftwing,

    I would not do that. You can simply self-report. Further, if you have records supporting it, those are sufficient and you don’t run the risk of DNA proving otherwise.

    As for me, my kids are going to be listed as Native American from now on. Somewhere in my wife’s genealogy, some dutch sailor boinked a squaw and that’s all you need.

    Wonder how many people go on Ancestry.com to try to find evidence of background that isn’t white so they can check the box?

  87. Juice Box says:

    Thx Nom.

    I hope you meants Schoss not Schloss.

    Seems like they do some nice work.

    http://schossconstruction.com/

  88. leftwing says:

    Self reporting if the heritage is not self evident has to be a risk.

    Actually, as an attorney, kick this one around.

    I self report my kid as “whatever, non-white” because I am firmly convinced but have no empirical proof that he is such.

    My blonde haired, blue eyed, SPF 100 kid shows up freshman year and all hell breaks loose.

    Is there a fraud in there? If there is, don’t there need to be damages? Wouldn’t the existence of some sort of explicit race preference also need to be acknowledged (can’t defraud an entity that does not exist)? Who is the harmed party? How are damages quantified?

    Could you actually get to a point where the exact terms of these race preferences are acknowledged and the value of them quantified to establish damages?

    Or if the institution is not willing to both disclose specifically the terms of the preferences, value them, and produce a harmed party they would not be able to prosecute fraud?

    All waivers and indemnifications apply as to internet discussions of legal matters…

  89. Juice Box says:

    In 2000 the U.S. Census began allowing people to choose more than one box to descibe their race, signifiying that there no way of giving an accurate answer. Check them all if you like.

  90. Not Libturded says:

    Leftwing, about “My blonde haired, blue eyed, SPF 100 kid shows up freshman year and all hell breaks loose”.

    Not really. I have met many blue eyed, light skinned blacks, got to remember – the man really liked the nubian butts.

    In fact, one of my college instructors created a lot of confusion for me. Talked like a Malcolm X relative. Looked like a finnish GQ male model. I kept saying to myself ” But dude, you are white”

  91. leftwing says:

    Sounds like the guy was two decades ahead of my question posed in 91.

  92. 1987 condo says:

    Greetings from Chicago, land of the 10% sales tax.
    We certainly have some diverse life experiences represented on this blog.

  93. ccb223 says:

    Love that all the people cursing the Obama phone hand outs have no qualms blindly “checking the box” as a minority.

  94. jcer says:

    96 let the record show I’d never check the minority box on a form and I also have no issue with the obamaphone as long as they don’t give away data service(Which I view as a luxury), every adult needs a phone.

  95. leftwing says:

    “In 2000 the U.S. Census began allowing people to choose more than one box to descibe their race, signifiying that there no way of giving an accurate answer. Check them all if you like.”

    Combine this with the ‘self identifying’ raised by Jenner, et. al. and you are likely correct. Anyone is every race.

    Don’t forget I have a standing offer for any of our resident attorneys looking to make a name in the Appellate Courts. I will self identify as female in the Lifetime lockers, showers, and sauna. You donate time pro-bono. I cover all hard, out-of-pocket costs including bail.

  96. Juice Box says:

    re # 96 – self-identify is the game these days. Just ask Caitlyn.

  97. Juice Box says:

    or Elizabeth Warren.

  98. nwnj says:

    Speaking of blamer phones, looks like they’re being put to good use.

    “According to the report, Jason Hubbard made his way into the Spotswood home on May 7 when the Ellenel Boulevard resident was taking out the garbage.

    Hubbard made his way into a spare bedroom where he got under the bed and began charging his four cell phones, police said.

    The intruder remained under the bed for three days until the homeowner heard a noise in the room, spotted Hubbard and called police just before 9 p.m. on May 10, according to the report.”

    http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2015/07/burglar_lived_under_familys_spare_bed_for_three_days_police_say.html#incart_river

  99. The Great Pumpkin says:

    The new reality, but I’m an idiot for thinking conservatives are insane for ignoring income inequality. Wait till your son or daughter experiences being taken for a fool by some executive type. And please tell them working hard gets them somewhere in this new economy brought about by reagenomics.

    “My recent experience – I have been “groomed” for almost a year to take on an additional work load that would almost double my current work load, and was promised “more money” for doing it. So I worked really hard to get in a position to do that. My more money? A $2500 annual raise. That’s $45 a week – gross – to double my work load. I feel like a fool.”

  100. The Great Pumpkin says:

    102- and tell them to stop complaining…be happy you have a job in which someone takes total advantage of your labor.

    Some people on this blog really piss me off. Talk down to me like I’m the idiot. Yet they embrace this bs economy that has been hijacked by the 1%.

  101. Ben says:

    Why are you reaching and assuming so much?

    I’m not. It was obvious the woman was about 2 seconds from being let go with a warning that he was having her sign. It’s her own fault she ended up in cuffs. And it’s her own fault she committed suicide as well.

  102. The Great Pumpkin says:

    103- best part, these conservative fools will blame big govt or regulation for these economic problems. I ask you, who controls govt? Who has paid to corrupt it? The govt and its policies are nothing more than a reflection of the wants and needs of the 1%. Hard to start a business because of rules and regulations? Well guess who told govt to put up those rules and regulations…..yes, big business to protect their business interests from competition.

    I’m really sick of conservatives and the bs they spew from their mouths. If I hear another regular Joe parade for tax breaks on the rich, I may lose it. Yes, let’s rally around giving tax breaks to the rich as the answer to our problems.

  103. D-FENS says:

    Who says they ignore it?

    And BTW, if you’re angry…you are misdirecting it.

    Don’t let your white guilt cloud your judgement.

    The Great Pumpkin says:
    July 22, 2015 at 2:57 pm
    The new reality, but I’m an idiot for thinking conservatives are insane for ignoring income inequality. Wait till your son or daughter experiences being taken for a fool by some executive type. And please tell them working hard gets them somewhere in this new economy brought about by reagenomics.

  104. D-FENS says:

    A flat tax…..

    Equality….

    The Great Pumpkin says:
    July 22, 2015 at 3:13 pm
    103- best part, these conservative fools will blame big govt or regulation for these economic problems. I ask you, who controls govt? Who has paid to corrupt it? The govt and its policies are nothing more than a reflection of the wants and needs of the 1%. Hard to start a business because of rules and regulations? Well guess who told govt to put up those rules and regulations…..yes, big business to protect their business interests from competition.

    I’m really sick of conservatives and the bs they spew from their mouths. If I hear another regular Joe parade for tax breaks on the rich, I may lose it. Yes, let’s rally around giving tax breaks to the rich as the answer to our problems

  105. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I do. Anytime I bring up income inequality around a conservative, they get very defensive and start yelling “keep your hands off my money you social!ist”. Meanwhile, I probably have more money than them. Wtf does income inequality have to do with commun!ism or social!sm?

    D-FENS says:
    July 22, 2015 at 3:15 pm
    Who says they ignore it?

  106. joyce says:

    Ben,
    You don’t have to keep bringing up her suicide. Not even the troll did that this morning.

  107. Juice Box says:

    re # 102- Obviously not management material. I would suggest telling that person the goal at work is to do less and earn more not do more and earn less.

  108. TD&H says:

    Ben,

    Seemed like the traffic stop going OK up to the point where he asked her to put out her cigarette and she refused. Probably a lot easier for her to just put it out and get the stop over with but not sure her refusing to put it out warranted that she be told to get out of the car or allowed him to legally make the request (I have no knowledge of the law pertaining to this).

    Does the law state that if the officer asks you to get out of the car you must comply and if so, is the officer required to provide a reason for the request?

  109. JJ says:

    I once made a black girl white by injection

  110. Pete says:

    “As for me, my kids are going to be listed as Native American from now on. Somewhere in my wife’s genealogy, some dutch sailor boinked a squaw and that’s all you need”

    I don’t believe you actually are going to do this and I would highly recommend you don’t if you are actually thinking of. If college admissions boards got hint of, and they very may will, that you are trying to game the system, which you are, they will rescind any acceptances.

  111. joyce says:

    Ex-sheriff’s deputy indicted after child severely burned in raid
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/22/us-usa-toddler-georgia-idUSKCN0PW21Y20150722?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

    not nearly enough

  112. leftwing says:

    Punkin

    From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

    Agree or disagree?

  113. leftwing says:

    “If college admissions boards got hint of, and they very may will, that you are trying to game the system, which you are, they will rescind any acceptances.”

    On what basis?

    If a good faith belief it is not a lie or misrepresentation.

    Are college boards going to become the arbiters of which 18 year olds are Native/Black/etc. and which are not? Find that very hard to believe.

    Especially with the backdrop of recent high profile self declared gender and race instances?

    Are they going to require DNA tests and establish certain minimum bloodline ratios? Wow, that would harken back to a bad era they don’t want to be associated with.

    Maybe they could diligence to see if the applicant has ‘lived the lifestyle’. Good luck there. Can’t imagine they want to act as ethnic police and, quite frankly, if someone were to diligence me on compliance with my stated and baptised faith I would today flunk miserably.

    Bottom line they are effectively running a preference system. they are doing so very comfortably as no one yet has had the ba11s to get right up in their grill with a bona fide claim to make them respond to that challenge.

  114. 1987 condo says:

    Can’t you just “self identify” as Native American?

  115. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Disagree. Believe in the idea of incentives. I just understand human nature. You must have checks and balances in place to protect man from his deadly sins.

    Can’t have a needs based system, because people will get greedy and game the system. They will take beyond their needs and lose motivation to better themselves.

    This is exactly why I have a problem with income inequality. People are getting greedy from gaming the system. They are taking beyond their needs, causing the majority of the people to lose motivation. Working hard and not being rightfully compensated means the system is broken and balance must be brought back to the equation.

    Bottom line, extreme income inequality is just as bad, if not, worse than commun!sm.

    leftwing says:
    July 22, 2015 at 3:57 pm
    Punkin

    From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

    Agree or disagree?

  116. leftwing says:

    Self identification probably puts a higher threshold out there as to behavior. Like Dolezal, active involvement in some aspect related to the claim would presumably be expected.

    That’s why I lean toward the DNA lottery. No disputing bloodline, and bloodline as a criterion doesn’t require involvement in the culture.

  117. Comrade Nom Deplume, Device-Hopping Today says:

    [113] pete,

    Already started, and I think that I can absolutely do this. In fact, better to start now so that there is a record. I may go back and amend every record that they will let me amend, including birth records.

    And it may be worth a trip on Ancestry.com to find proof.

  118. Pete says:

    “Bottom line they are effectively running a preference system. they are doing so very comfortably as no one yet has had the ba11s to get right up in their grill with a bona fide claim to make them respond to that challenge”

    Isn’t there an affirmative action case before the Supreme Court right now?

  119. Essex says:

    Ben — It’s just bad policing brother. There’s no good reason for it.
    Nuff Said.

  120. Pete says:

    Can’t you just “self identify” as Native American?

    Yes, you can, but the admissions board may also ask for tribal ID proof or something along those lines. And they certainly would inquire about it if there was an in person admission. What Nom is doing is in no way worth the effort in my eyes considering the downside risk.

  121. Pete says:

    #120, Don’t you complain about helicopter parenting?

  122. Comrade Nom Deplume, Device-Hopping Today says:

    [123] Pete,

    Not all tribes have such systems. I’ve been looking into it.

  123. Comrade Nom Deplume, Device-Hopping Today says:

    [124] pete

    “#120, Don’t you complain about helicopter parenting?”

    Yes. I don’t see the equivalence.

  124. Grim says:

    Sorry but do they ask Caitlin to turn her head and cough after she checks off female?

    I’m a 79 year old Iranian woman, to try to prove I’m not is a hate crime.

  125. Libturd at home says:

    Can we refer to Caitlyn as Bruce Transjenner from now on?

  126. homeboken says:

    I happen to love Nom’s idea and I think it has much more to do with point out the hypocrisy on the theory level as opposed to scoring free tuition.

    Someone will be the poster child for this at some point – And they will have a very good case in my mind. A 6’3 blonde-haired blue-eyed straight white male checks off that he identifies as African-american and has a college admission stripped because of it.

    On the side of the coin – a 60+ former gold-medal olympian identifies as a woman and receives a nationally recognized and televised courage award. I am pretty sure that in our demands for equality and equal recognition under the law, we shouldn’t be openly discriminating. Especially if the college in questions is a state school.,

  127. homeboken says:

    To complete the above – You can’t have your liberal utopia cherry picked. Don’t be surprised when those that disagree with you use your own “advancements in equality” against you.

  128. jcer says:

    I’m not sold on income inequality, I prefer to call it globalization. We are experiencing wage pressure due to globalization, that is the issue the Pumpkin is talking about. An office worker making 100k a year being forced to work twice as many hours at the threat of being outsourced in not income inequality, on the global scale, heck even on the American scale, that person is well paid. The poor will always be poor, it’s just that the living standard for most folks who have to work for a living is falling and that is the issue.

  129. jcer says:

    Unless they create Nazi style rules to determine ethnicity it is really self identified. If am 1/32nd half black chances are you wouldn’t know it and it would be very hard to disprove. …if you see my point.

  130. joyce says:

    131
    jcer
    I agree in theory. Though, if for example, this country is going to say no to child labor, no to industrial environmental abuse, and a whole host of other conditions… we cannot freely trade with other countries that are 180 degrees different. And I know it’s very complicated due to the nature of how multinational corporations are setup these days. There are no easy solutions.

  131. grim says:

    Hospitals don’t pay property taxes? How does that work?

  132. leftwing says:

    “Isn’t there an affirmative action case before the Supreme Court right now?”

    Yes. SCOTUS has had cases going back at least to the 70s guy at UCLA law school.

    I’m not proposing attacking the law. Stipulate that affirmative action in college admissions (or whatever you want to call it) is legitimate.

    My plan of attack is slightly different. It is to use that existing law to put the universities in such an uncomfortable position with respect to my specific child they will not take on the fight.

    Key Points
    1. Have a ‘legitimate’ claim to a protected class. Doesn’t matter how – my three twists of DNA, Nom’s Ancestry.com registry, or self identification while practicing the culture.

    2. Get admitted, check off that class box, make sure the rest of your application is absolutely straightforward and truthful.

    3. If challenged (“hey, you’re not [fill in the blank]”) and they try to expel you, litigate. First, they need a cause of action. If your application were truthful they may not even have one. If they do the only avenue of attack for them is to actually litigate what it means to be [fill in the blank]. They can’t claim it is about anything other than ethnicity because, by virtue of having been admitted, the only difference pre-admittance and post-admittance is their questioning of your ethnicity.

    No university in its right mind would take that battle. As pointed out above the case would be setting the standard for Naz1 style ethnicity rulings. Or, without irony, going back a couple centuries ago in American history where people will argue over color depending on 1/8, 1/16, or 1/32 bloodline. This time not to avoid being labelled of color, but to obtain it. Does a university really want to be arguing in court that 1/32 is of color but 1/64 is not? Or better a 1/64 that identifies is of color, but a 1/8 that does not identify is not?

    Instead of the “one drop rule” from American history, could you imagine the “Stanford African American rule”? They would never let that happen.

    The university won’t be happy with you, but there is nothing they can do that wouldn’t tarnish them worse. They let that sleeping dog lie. You’re out in four years and ideally that class follows your child to his employment interviews.

  133. leftwing says:

    “Ok, done with Christie…”

    Christie had to act up. The role of antagonist and the ‘straight talking’ vote was to belong to him. Trump has totally usurped that crowd. He needs to try to reclaim that podium for when Trump inevitably flames out.

  134. Ben says:

    Does the law state that if the officer asks you to get out of the car you must comply and if so, is the officer required to provide a reason for the request?

    I do believe so and I don’t think they need to provide a reason. I’m no lawyer though and I haven’t read the law. I’ll agree the putting out the cigarette request was dumb. That doesn’t change the fact that the woman was begging for trouble when she could have been on her way in about 20 seconds.

  135. Ben says:

    Let me tell you what I tell my students when they complain about affirmative action. Mind you, I have had access to the top students in the state the past four years.

    I literally tell them.

    “you shouldn’t be complaining about what’s fair and unfair. Life isn’t fair. You should be happy that they were fortunate enough to win the DNA lottery and you were were born with much more intelligence and natural ability than pretty much everyone. You’re the winner because you’ll never need a handout. The worst thing you can ever do in life is feel sorry for yourself. Go out and get what you deserve and if you get snubbed, stay focused. You’ll get what you deserve”

    Mind you, I do have access to the very best students in the state/country.

  136. Grim says:

    139 – dude is all over the map, but clearly trying to move away from center.

    Poor strategy, the hard core will not vote for him.

  137. Grim says:

    Or rather nominate him.

  138. leftwing says:

    141 Ben

    Or as the lucky sperm club member in the Titanic says as he stuffs both the diamond and the cash in his pocket as the ship is sinking, “I make my own luck”.

    So what ethnicity is my 6’0 blue eyed, freckled face soon-to-be freshman going to be?

  139. leftwing says:

    141 Ben

    Or as the lucky sp3rm club member says in the Titanic as he stuffs both the diamond and the cash in his pocket as the ship is sinking, “I make my own luck”.

    So what protected ethnicity is my 6’0 blue eyed freckled face soon-to-be HS freshman going to be? Suggestions?

  140. Juice Box says:

    Hopi?

  141. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Jcer, this is what I’m talking about.

    “You don’t get it. We know talent and ambition are not evenly distributed. We know there are always great people out there creating great value for society who are justly rewarded. Those people, thank god, were there before and after 1979. Think Steve Jobs.

    What this graph shows is that with the “Reagan Revolution” another subset of society learned to get wealthy not by creating value, but by gaming the system. KKR, Enron, AIG, Wall Street, the Cayman Islands, etc. haven’t really given the world much, have they? Except maybe lobbyists, and with those they tilted the playing field with

    1 – deregulation
    2 – limited liability
    3 – a massive increase in leverage, all of which allowed them to
    4 – segregate risk and reward, keep all the rewards, and leave the 99% with all the losses
    5 – create tax havens
    6 – lower taxes for financial system and the rich
    7 – cut or cripple modest programs meant to allow the 99% to realize some of their human potential

    If you can return a punt for 99 yards and a TD, you get and deserve glory and we all cheer. If you pay off the refs, take roids, hog the ball, step out of bounds, clip people, and neglect to thank your blockers, we boo and you deserve penalties. Get it now?”

  142. The Great Pumpkin says:

    No doubt globalization has played a part in income inequality, but that can’t be the single driver. Why? How do account for the various differences in income inequality in developed economies. Why is the USA at the extreme end of income inequality when compared to places like Japan or Denmark?

    “2:11
    And that’s what I’m going to show you. I’m not using any hypothetical data. I’m taking data from the U.N. — it’s the same as the World Bank has — on the scale of income differences in these rich developed market democracies. The measure we’ve used, because it’s easy to understand and you can download it, is how much richer the top 20 percent than the bottom 20 percent in each country. And you see in the more equal countries on the left — Japan, Finland, Norway, Sweden — the top 20 percent are about three and a half, four times as rich as the bottom 20 percent. But on the more unequal end — U.K., Portugal, USA, Singapore — the differences are twice as big. On that measure, we are twice as unequal as some of the other successful market democracies”

    “8:12
    This is social mobility. It’s actually a measure of mobility based on income. Basically, it’s asking: do rich fathers have rich sons and poor fathers have poor sons, or is there no relationship between the two? And at the more unequal end, fathers’ income is much more important — in the U.K., USA. And in Scandinavian countries, fathers’ income is much less important. There’s more social mobility. And as we like to say — and I know there are a lot of Americans in the audience here — if Americans want to live the American dream, they should go to Denmark.”

    http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson/transcript?language=en

  143. Alex Bevan says:

    144

    Jewish.

  144. The Great Pumpkin says:

    146- cont.

    Rags, please read this and understand this.

    “To continue the pile on, I’d like to add that studies of entrepreneurship show that it is most highly correlated with existing assets, as the pie shifts towards the 1% the other 99% become both less able and less willing to become entrepreneurs. I am highly sceptical that moral exhortation can fill the gap left by the additional risk that someone who has to risk everything for collateral for a loan to start a business has relative to someone that can secure it against just their house relative to someone that can finance the loan without risking house or other assets necessary for living etc. The more income becomes concentrated the less able others are to become entrepreneurs.

    I’d also note that 2% vastly understates the number of people that try to start small businesses. Many of them are self-employed, and while they indirectly create jobs, such as by a freelance writer indirectly employing editors etc., or by creating jobs just for family, as in many small restaurants, they would not show up in the statistics of people who start a business that employs a non-family member. There is no particular reason to believe that restricted number is the result of not enough people trying rather than it being the number of people needed to create the churn in new businesses we need, more entrants might simply lead to more failures rather than an expansion beyond the US. Especially considering that the US has one of the highest rates of new firm start ups in the developed world.

    It is also highly unclear that merit has much to do with which firms succeed. It is just as plausible that a significant proportion of them succeed by things like connections, lucky choice of locations, lucky hires of employees more skilled than their resume would indicate,* a larger starting cash cushion to get through the bad times than rivals, and dozens of other factors that can influence the success of a still vulnerable small business that has nothing to do with the individual skill of the entrepreneur opening it.

    *As an entirely separate point, entrepreneurial skills are a particular skill set, it is non-obvious that this skill set should be more highly rewarded than other skill sets. A brilliant programmer, novelist, or scientist may create far more of the value of a new business than the entrepreneur that starts up the firm that markets their brilliance, but under current legal conditions it is not unlikely that the entrepreneur, rather than the skilled employee will see most of the gain, even if the entrepreneur is rather mediocre. It is also not unlikely that a skilled programmer, scientist, or author may be a terrible businessperson, merit applies to particular skill sets not to individuals who are all around superior (in my experience, such individuals simply don’t exist, certain people are good at certain things, usually many things, but only some people are blessed enough that their individual skills synergize in an economically meaningful fashion).”

    http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/10/income-inequality-america?page=1#sort-comments

  145. Alex Bevan says:

    Or Kardashian.

  146. The Great Pumpkin says:

    149- rags if you don’t read the whole thing, please at least read these two.

    “It is also highly unclear that merit has much to do with which firms succeed. It is just as plausible that a significant proportion of them succeed by things like connections, lucky choice of locations, lucky hires of employees more skilled than their resume would indicate,* a larger starting cash cushion to get through the bad times than rivals, and dozens of other factors that can influence the success of a still vulnerable small business that has nothing to do with the individual skill of the entrepreneur opening it.

    *As an entirely separate point, entrepreneurial skills are a particular skill set, it is non-obvious that this skill set should be more highly rewarded than other skill sets. A brilliant programmer, novelist, or scientist may create far more of the value of a new business than the entrepreneur that starts up the firm that markets their brilliance, but under current legal conditions it is not unlikely that the entrepreneur, rather than the skilled employee will see most of the gain, even if the entrepreneur is rather mediocre. It is also not unlikely that a skilled programmer, scientist, or author may be a terrible businessperson, merit applies to particular skill sets not to individuals who are all around superior (in my experience, such individuals simply don’t exist, certain people are good at certain things, usually many things, but only some people are blessed enough that their individual skills synergize in an economically meaningful fashion).””

  147. Ben says:

    I would say Paraguayan. I’m pretty sure no one knows where it is on a map or what the people even look like.

  148. Alex Bevan says:

    152

    Like ugly Columbians right?

    Sorry I’m drunk and stuck in Ruby Tuesdays in Fishkill NY.

  149. Libturd at home says:

    Ruby Tuesdays in Fishkill NY.

    Not sure which of the two are worse. Probably Fishkill.

  150. Alex Bevan says:

    154

    Poor planning on my part. Should have had a good dinner somewhere else on the expense account then drank in the Ruby Tuesdays in the hotel parking lot. Rookie move.

    There are actually a few decent small restaurants in the Fishkill and Wappingers falls areas.

  151. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Bingo!! What a gem! This is what I try to explain to you about income inequality. This guy does a much better job of explaining it.

    “The divide is being mis-portrayed as between people with a number of false narratives – people who pay taxes and people who do not, people who are lazy and people who are not, people who are entrepreneurs and people who are not.

    And that is entirely missing the root cause.

    Let us start with the basics.

    Any commercial endeavor requires two things – capital and labor (in various ratios). People who bring one or the other (or both) are rewarded for bringing them to the table. This is the basis of all commerce and capitalistic societies. On that there is no controversy. By itself, it is neither inherently good or bad.

    The problem appears when one or the other is rewarded disproportionately to the other. If labor is rewarded too much relative to capital, capital starves and growth and innovation is stunted. If capital is rewarded too much over labor, then labor starves and capital concentrates.

    The root cause of the problem is that much of the last few decades has valued capital disproportionately more than labor, so much so that the only way (bar a few exceptions and accidents) to get ahead is to bring in capital while labor stagnated (in wages, the reward for labor).

    This was caused by a number of factors including Govt policy that favored capital over labor, economics as a discipline that failed to model labor, monetary policy that flooded the markets with capital and the resulting asset inflation that made labor look like a bad investment, globalization that dropped the barriers to movement of capital but national boundaries that made movement of labor difficult if not impossible, etc.

    What the last few decades show is that focusing on capital alone is not a self-correcting mechanism (at least within the time period of a generation). It tends to disturb the equilibrium towards concentration of capital and highly rewards those that are tied to capital. This is evident even in non-financial companies where sales people that are closer to flow of money are much highly compensated than people who create/design/produce the goods for which money flows in. For much of the boom periods, asset inflation produced most of the wealth than labor productivity. So much so that people dropped out of labor pools to play asset inflation (via home and equity investing). Problem is asset-inflation is not a sustainable form of wealth creation.

    Modeling capital for its valuation is easy, modeling labor for its valuation is difficult. Most business schools and economics departments took the easy way out and postulated the invisible hands of the market as the way to value labor. What this chart shows is the failure of that premise.

    Rather than the artificial narratives mentioned above, the disparity is between people who bring capital or manage capital and those that that bring labor to any commerce than constitutes the economy. An economy cannot depend on rewarding capital and its management alone and it has a side-effect of concentrating capital within a few.

    It is that imbalance that needs to be corrected. This has nothing to do with social!sm, commun!sm or any such nonsense or equating labor with unions, etc. Labor and Capital are two essential ingredients that need to find an equilibrium in rewards.””

    http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/10/income-inequality-america?page=1#sort-comments

  152. joyce says:

    Ragnar,
    Apparently all you have to do to make a point is precede your Mises links with this:

    “Please read and understand this”

  153. The Great Pumpkin says:

    156- all about a balance between labor profit/capital profit. Right now, labor is getting trashed. Need to bring the balance back or suffer the consequences.

  154. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I’m putting out good discussion material. Too bad you can’t appreciate it for what it is.

    joyce says:
    July 22, 2015 at 8:39 pm
    Ragnar,
    Apparently all you have to do to make a point is precede your Mises links with this:

    “Please read and understand this”

  155. joyce says:

    Sorry, I’m a deep thinker.

  156. The Great Pumpkin says:

    That you are. It takes a very deep thinker to be quick on your feet with sarcastic responses. True characteristic of a very deep thinker.

    joyce says:
    July 22, 2015 at 8:52 pm
    Sorry, I’m a deep thinker.

  157. Libturd at home says:

    Oy vey.

  158. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Interesting.

    “Another comment on the flaw of the idea of the “99%.” The top 1% consist today of people who make over $506,000 a year. Economist Paul Krugman said from the beginning that the Occupy movement was setting the bar too low and should have called themselves the “99.9%” since, according to the Congressional Budget Office, between 1979 and 2005, income distribution among the middle 60% of the country rose by 21%, while income distribution to the top 0.1% rose by 400%.

    When I was doing some consulting work with Citigroup in 2005, an internal memo was passed around to the top “private client” or “wealth management” analysts (the people who specialized in investing for the richest of the rich. A couple of years later, it was leaked to the media. It was about the creation of what Citigroup named the “Plutonomy.” A couple quotes:

    “The World is dividing into two blocs – the Plutonomy and the rest. The U.S., UK, and Canada are the key Plutonomies – economies powered by the wealthy. Continental Europe (ex-Italy) and Japan are in the egalitarian bloc.”

    They defined a plutonomy as a society “where economic growth is powered by and largely consumed by the wealthy few.”

    “There are rich consumers, few in number, but disproportionate in the gigantic slice of income and consumption they take. There are the rest, the “non-rich”, the multitudinous many, but only accounting for surprisingly small bites of the national pie.”

    Citigroup’s advice – invest in companies that make luxury products and prohibitively expensive “toys” that only the ultra-rich can afford. They called these kinds of portfolios “plutonomy baskets.” Since the rest of the country has basically “pocket change” in their analysis, they can be ignored (along with all of the traditional investment metrics about the average of this and the mean of that) because this small elite is where almost all of the money is. They call it “Riding the Gravy Train.”

    They pointed to the last times the U.S. was a plutonomy – the Gilded Age of the Robber Barons in the late 19th century and the decade of the Roaring Twenties, leading up to the market crash and the Great Depression.

    Their conclusion? “We project that the plutonomies (the U.S., UK, and Canada) will likely see even more income inequality, disproportionately feeding off a further rise in the profit share in their economies, capitalist-friendly governments, more technology-driven productivity, and globalization.”

    And, the rest of the 99.9% – as far as Wall Street is concerned, we might as well not exist (except for the old adage that being rich is so much more satisfying when you are surrounded by truly poor people).”

  159. The Great Pumpkin says:

    163- they were dead on with their advice. Since 2005, if you focused on starting a business or investing in a business based on “luxury products”, you prob have done well.

    Take real estate for example, if you have focused on the top tier of real estate, chances are you have “killed it” in the past 10 years.

  160. jcer says:

    163, the top .01% is the problem. The top 1% tend to be the most important people in society, your successful doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers, generally the people you go to when you need something important done. Those people deserve success, pay massive taxes and earn what they get. But that is the point of the narrative is to deflect, for the proletariat to attack the bourgeois, when the real enemy is the capitalist robber baron who does cheat to get what they have. I hope to join the 1% at some point in the future but I’ll never be even a .1% and my income will only be in the 1% at the very peak of my career for a few years after which it will fall off. The big problem is the policies meant to contain the .01% do nothing of the sort and basically exist to keep the lower level 1%ers down, there is a lot of churn in the 1% at the lower level and this is all by design.

    I do blame globalization more than anything else, I know that my American employees need to support their quality of life and demand to be paid accordingly but they can be replaced by people in India for a very paltry sum that even in India does not buy an equivalent quality of life, the extreme poverty in that country means that a marginally living wage can pay for a professional person. So between automation killing jobs and people willing to work for peanuts in other countries, and the threat of H1B workers who will be slaves for pennies because they have no choice. Essentially we are being forced to compete with the desperate for our wages and it has had the effect of freezing or shrinking salaries. With technology employees are asking to put in far longer day and have more responsibilities than anyone could reasonable have asked in the 1960’s. Meanwhile oligarchs have used free money to inflate/manipulate certain assets that are necessities making healthy profits off people who are feeling wage pressure.

    Free market yes but there need to be protections and incentives for American labor. Mind you I don’t care about the lowest common denominator, the burger flippers and laborers but rather the historic American middle class. I don’t mind competing with the first world but when we are forced to compete with people who live on a few dollars a day it is a real concern.

  161. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Is Gary really moving to Brig-on-Hacky?

  162. I regard something genuinely interesting about your blog so I saved to fav.

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