From HousingWire:
Black Knight: Home prices approach pre-crisis peak
Home prices are approaching their pre-crisis peak, according to a new report from Black Knight Financial Services (BKFS).
Black Knight’s latest Home Price Index report, based on May 2015 residential real estate transactions, showed that the U.S. HPI is now just 6.5% off the June 2006 peak of $268,000, and up over 25% from the market’s bottom.
The Black Knight HPI combines the company’s extensive property and loan-level databases to produce a repeat sales analysis of home prices as of their transaction dates every month for each of more than 18,500 U.S. ZIP codes.
The Black Knight HPI represents the price of non-distressed sales by taking into account price discounts for REO and short sales.
According to Black Knight’s report, the HPI now rests at $251,000, up 1.1% over the previous month and up 5.1% over the previous year.
New York led gains among the states, seeing a 1.8% in month-over-month appreciation.
…
Of the nation’s 40 largest metros, 12 hit new peaks:Austin, TX up 1.0% to $279,000
Boston, MA $up 1.5% to 402,000
Columbus, OH up 0.7% to $184,000
Dallas, TX up 1.0% to $211,000
Denver, CO up 1.5% to $318,000
Houston, TX up 0.9% to $215,000
Nashville, TN up 1.2% to $216,000
Pittsburgh, PA up 1.4% to $187,000
Portland, OR up 1.4% to $311,000
San Antonio, TX up 0.8% to $190,000
San Francisco, CA up 1.5% to $713,000
San Jose, CA up 1.1% to $854,000
…
The top 10 movers on the state level were:New York: 1.8%
Vermont: 1.6%
New Jersey: 1.6%
Connecticut: 1.6%
New Hampshire: 1.6%
Rhode Island: 1.6%
Pennsylvania: 1.5%
Massachusetts: 1.5%
Oregon: 1.4%
Colorado: 1.4%
Frist! Good Morning Chinese stock players.
It all works. Until it doesn’t.
“The dangerous aspect of this “crisis” is the pressure being brought to bear on public workers by the governor and his minions to agree to a new deal that would essentially destroy their retirement security while the governor is relieved of the responsibility for living up to the last deal.
The NJ Supreme Court has said that the pensions MUST be paid. The pensions themselves are non-forfeitable, which means if the pension funds run dry taxes will either go up to pay out current pensions or the pensions will be paid directly out of the general fund. The court gave Christie a break on paying the full contribution, but the court also stated that the pension MUST be paid. That means that a funding mechanism has to be found.
Christie created and compounded the “crisis” in order to get political mileage out of it. He is now going to flog this beast all the way into 2016. Nothing will be accomplished. It is up to the legislature to wrestle this away from the governor and make the required payments.
The pension jealousy extant in many of the anti-labor comments is disturbing, but understandable. Despite the bonanza enjoyed by the very rich, very little has trickled down over the last 35 years. For the private sector, retirement security has all but disappeared. However, those who gloat over the attacks on public workers remember this: if a republican ascends to the presidency your Social Security, Medicare and the last vestiges of any sort of safety net in your old age will be on the chopping block. Today they are coming for public employee pensions, tomorrow they are coming for your Social Security and Medicare. Ayn Rand, the Laffer Curve, trickle down economics and the chants of “lib” and “commie” will be as cold a comfort to you as the dog food you will be living on and the annotated copy of “Atlas Shrugged” you have for philosophical guidance.
This entire issue is not a zero sum game. Everybody loses if the public employees have their pensions stolen from them and their retirement security destroyed.”
http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/07/a_dangerous_partisan_stalemate_on_pension_reform_e.html#incart_story_package
Twin Peaks.
MSM thought of the day, compliments of CBS This Morning:
I am always amazed by the liberal theology of disregarding the cost of something “even if it saves just one life”. The theory is used as often in the regulatory sense (eg, gun control) as in a pure economic sense. The logical implication is that one cannot put a cost on a human life.
To the contrary, compliments of the left again, apparently one actually can put a price on a human life.
The amount is less than $14,560.
The left has its panties all twisted up over Praluent, a new class of highly effective biomedical cholesterol drug by Sanofi. It is particularly effective in reducing LDL that statins cannot. Elevated LDL is clinically a straight arrow to CV disease and a heart attack.
Seems the left feels $14,560 is monopolistic predatory pricing. Given the efficacy of the drug the logical implication is that amount is too much to “save even one life”. Seems by not wanting to pay that de minimis amount liberals have valued “one life” at some amount less than $14,560. At least when the amount to save one life goes to a corporation.
The hypocrisy of liberals…they find it acceptable to impose any cost to “save a life” when the cost and cause are yours. Make it their cause – big pharma – and all of a sudden they become top flight cost accountants.
Too bad they are so dour as to not have an ironic sense of humor. If you are going to blatantly be hypocritical and political at least be able to laugh at yourself.
3. Ahhh, punkin, another day in NNJ paradise….”The NJ Supreme Court has said that the pensions MUST be paid. The pensions themselves are non-forfeitable, which means if the pension funds run dry taxes will either go up to pay out current pensions or the pensions will be paid directly out of the general fund”
Someone did research and math a while back here showing a number of firemen/cops have retired by 45 and the State – us – will pay them an additional $4.5m over the rest of their lives given their expectancy to do nothing.
All that while they continue to work elsewhere *and* while we pay someone to replace them in the job they were doing, while still paying them. That’s not double dipping, it’s triple dipping. THAT is disgusting, not abrogating the pension terms.
Just because something is written into law does not make it right. US history is rife with higher profile issues ensconced in law and subsequently revoked.
I propose a 70% income tax on all self loathing overpaid financial analysts named Michael in order to fund pensions.
Leftwing, before you go all ideological.
What is the price in 1st world countries with universal health like UK, EU, Japan, Canada, Australia,etc.?
What is the price in the third world like China, India?
Then we can talk about where the price gouging and profit padding is occurring and whether liberals are against it.
Do you know why the prices are lower in some other countries?
Healtcare is a Human Right
#1
Looks like a market top, everyone should have sold their entire portfolios when the resident sideline sitter finally found a house. That was a good indicator in hindsight.
Everyone has an opinion these days, who is right?
Student loan debt is not hurting America’s housing market
…….there is a slight (0.8%) decrease in probability for someone with student loans to own a home versus someone who has no loans at all. But the researchers weren’t able to find any evidence that someone with more student loans is statistically less likely to own a home than someone with a smaller burden.
http://fortune.com/2015/07/27/student-loan-debt-housing/
Not Joyce.
Topic change. If you want to debate the merits of those healthcare systems relative to the US we can.
Right now, why can I not get these multiple images of ‘Bammer out of my head with such a serious look wagging his finger saying “even if it just saves one more life”? Here’s your chance big guy. $14,560 per life.
Now, what your point is really saying by using words as ‘gouging’ and ‘padding’ is that there exists somebody, somewhere, somehow who knows better than everyone else and has the exact right price for these drugs. Of course that is the left’s view, and also the left’s view that they are ones with this perfect knowledge.
So in addition to noting the liberal hypocrisy in my original post add its twin, the liberal arrogance of (yet again) believing that they know better than everyone else and can tell everyone else what to do.
Move along, nothing to see here. There shouldn’t be an issue with this when they do in public so you can see. After all, you do have the option to drive.
New Jersey Transit Board Goes 12 Years Without Dissent as Trains Crawl
Records of public meetings show not a single “no” vote on more than 800 resolutions seeking approval for such expenditures as $583 million for tunnel construction, $347 million for new buses and multilevel rail cars — and four fare increases.
New Jersey Transit, the nation’s third-largest transportation agency, has come under increasing scrutiny after malfunctioning signals and power lines last week caused train commuters four days of delays as long as 90 minutes. On Sunday, the agency said it was preparing for still more delays and arranged alternate routes for Manhattan-bound commuters.
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-07-27/n-j-transit-board-goes-12-years-without-dissent-as-trains-crawl
@pzbrookriley:
Fossil fuel subsidies add up to over $5 trillion – more than all government spending on health care @TheEconomist –
https://ari.aynrand.org/issues/government-and-business/health-care/Health-Care-is-Not-a-Right
NJ is Detroit on the Hudson.
Sell the Parkway and Turnpike. That is good for a one shot revenue right? Over 10 years ago a Merrill Lynch analyst said they were worth 22.5 Billion. That should have doubled by now.
The Don Trump comedy tour is probably one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time. I hope he continues to tour well into 2016. Love his simple and straight forward commentary.
Donald Trump just showed why his campaign may be doomed
Trump called in to CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday morning to speak with host Jake Tapper.
Trump has staked much of his campaign on his promise to solve what many of his supporters see as a major immigration crisis. As anyone serious about the issue of illegal immigration recognizes, at least 11 million workers are residing in the US illegally right now, and rounding them up for deportation is not a viable option….asked Trump to expand on his policy beyond building a wall on the border. The host may have been hoping for a considered reply revealing Trump’s detailed thinking on immigration…..
We’re going to get the bad ones out,” Trump vowed. “We have some really bad dudes who are here in this country and we’re getting them out. We’re sending them back where they came from.”
http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-just-showed-why-his-campaign-is-doomed-2015-7
Only morons like a professional “climate and energy campaigner” would equate falsified subsidies with actual government spending.
Those “subsidies” are vastly overestimated, by people who have an interest in not understanding accounting. Businesses are entitled to charge depreciation and costs against revenues to determine taxable income. Yet the environmentalists treat every tax-deductible expense as if it were a special subsidy. The biggest whopper is claiming that not double-taxing limited partnerships at the LP level is somehow a subsidy. As if limited partners didn’t have to pay taxes on their partnership income?
A lot of the remaining “subsidies” are deductibility timing issues, that the government has fiddled with for most people and businesses, and are fairly small.
Tried to sell my China stocks yesterday but trade did not go through as I winged the wong number
I’m in support of a one time lump sum payment to make the pensions whole. So for the next three years, there will be no government services in NJ. There will be no police, no teachers, no fire protection, no services whatsover. No jails, no colleges, no libraries. No courts, no toll collectors (but you still have to pay the tolls), no infrastructure repair. There will be no social services too, for three years. Let’s do it.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-pension-funds-sue-jersey-131453394.html
Oh it’s gonna be ugly come the end of the decade when NJ’s economy implodes under the costs for these bloated pensions and benefits.
I’m taking the day off to care for my sick kid. I’m going to run some numbers for pumpkin to show him the light on these pensions and benefits so he can stop drinking the kool aid.
Wow I never realized you were a women
Libturd in Union says:
July 27, 2015 at 10:23 am
I’m taking the day off to care for my sick kid. I’m going to run some numbers for pumpkin to show him the light on these pensions and benefits so he can stop drinking the kool aid.
LOL can’t wait for that.
Nom……help……no replies.
6 Ragnar
Healthcare is not a right. Unless you are a senior citizen on Medicare. I guess that makes senior citizens a bunch of liberals
Clarification, can’t wait to see the train wreck of Lib running numbers to try to logically make that argument with punkin.
I can wait for him to go all duct tape and Laura Ashley
Ragnar, Ayn Rand “might” be right. But what both of you miss, is that the “unlucky one” that are not worthy of a “Right” are going to go “John Q” on you and cap your Ayn Rand believing behind.
Leftwing, a corporation is a racket, just like the mob. It’s going to get away with as much as it can get away with legally plus then some bit of illegality. To believe otherwise is naive, stupid or both.
Both of you miss that the fight is Corporate State vs. State Corporatism. Everything else is just garbage.
Leftwing,
They are willing to protect lives at any cost, as long as it’s an anti-profit cost.
Every very hot and very cold day, fossil fuels save hundreds, thousands of lives. But because someone profits from that, the lefties don’t even nod their heads in recognition. But if the power or fuel goes out for a day, they will scream their heads off that something must be done to further punish the companies that provide this life-saving service, typically blaming profit-making. They should try living in countries where the government runs power and fuel.
Watch as the State of NJ shifts pension obligations onto the counties and municipalities. You’ll see. Each jurisdiction will be sent a bill, and it will be up to the municipalities to pay the piper.
You’ll see, quote me, save this post.
It will play out in the form of a “Special Assessment” on property holders, and it will apply to everyone, including age restricted housing, non-profits, religious organizations, state/federal operating within a municipality, properties previously provided with PILOTs. It will likely be a multi-year special assessment based on property value, taken as part of your municipal, county, and school taxes.
Mark my words.
“Not Joyce” appears to be one of the “unlucky one” that are too dumb to write or think in coherent sentences. Have you also forgotten your own name?
And this approach is absolutely genius because it shifts the political fallout away from the governor and state legislature (who are inept and unable to do anything effective), and shifts the burden on to municipalities whose funding options will be significantly limited. The only mechanism by which to fund this will be a mix of asset sales (very small) and the special assessments collected as part of property taxes.
Even more insidious would be to conduct this as a single special assessment with a multi-year payment plan, which would essentially hold all property owners captive for the funding (you can’t sell and leave, or amount outstanding is payable on exit). Would likely be retroactive as well.
This approach would be significantly easier to execute than raising income or sales taxes.
grim,
You think? The tidal wave of revenue raising will come in the next administration, which I’m guessing will be quite leftist. In that case, wouldn’t they first attempt to raise money via an even steeper progressive state income tax?
Property tax isn’t very progressive unless they bring back the tax breaks for the poor and old.
I think NJ should work on privatizing its transport infrastructure as a way to raise money, incentivize investment, and cut government costs. No way in hell a private operator shuts down a bridge just for giggles. And a private operator can calculate current investment costs vs long term revenue generation potential. With cheap gps devices, tollroad operators could easily track and charge everyone’s use.
That would be real innovation for NJ.
Grim, by the way, this where the “Camden” model fits in.
The Camden model where they replaced the expensive/ineffective Camden City Police with a new/cheaper (less benefits, less salary/less than 49% of the previous cops were hired back/ start as non-union) Camden County Police to patrol Camden and expand its role eventually into all of Camden county.
The model is supported by the powers that be, and it has built in turn over, which is a great thing to keep cops loyal to the rules/law and not to become a rogue Edison like police department.
Ragnar, did you spent sometime in Duck,NC doing some Meth or just going back to your Florida swamp trailer way of thinking.
re # 31- True billions and billions in matching contributions were skipped by the municipalities since the Whitman administration, the money the towns saved was partially used to hire more people, exacerbating the pension shortfall. NJ’s collective unfunded pension and heath-care liabilities nearly matches NY and Cali, states that are much much larger.
Time to start selling stuff, I say. Parkway, Turnpike, Newark Airport, Casino licences and whatever else isn’t saddled with too much long term debt, Governor’s mansion, Meadowlands, stadiums and aquarium etc.
No need to go broke just sell it all off, we don’t need the government jobs that go with it either.
Grim # 36 in MOD
I don’t think income tax increases are out of the picture, certainly income taxes are going to need to go higher to fund the run rate, but that doesn’t address funding the shortfall.
I don’t think asset sales are going to be politically viable at the large scale, I would imagine it would take more than 10 years to shift the parkway and turnpike to private hands.
However, I do think counties can dispose of real property easier, especially to developers, who in turn will drive higher tax rolls.
Gas tax increase is a given, I’m not sure why the hell it hasn’t gone up yet.
Consumption tax on clothing should be on the radar as well, but I’m sure this will create significant backlash. Not only from those calling it regressive, but also from the retail operators who will lose the tax advantage from cross-border shoppers. Maybe we see something similar to NYC – 3.5% tax on articles of clothing or footwear in excess of $50.
I’d say 50% increase in the gas tax and a 3.5% tax on clothing.
On the positive side, shifting the burden to the municipalities to resolve will result in significant pain, which should help temper go-forward spending.
re # 40 – re: “significant pain” Pain that won’t be shared, Newark, Paterson, Camden etc, cannot get blood from a stone.
http://patrick.net/housing/Ten+Reasons+It%27s+A+Terrible+Time+To+Buy+An+Expensive+House
http://www.zillow.com/blog/luckiest-home-buyers-in-america-179935/
JJ’s article is BS. At least 5 of the arguments are fallacious. Just one counter-example: Rents for 2BR apts in Boston area are $2000-2500. Almost like Manhattan. Townhouses, older homes in the area with comparable square footage sell in the high 3s to mid 4s. Take a mortgage at 20%, even 10% down. Include the fact that taxes are half of NJs (around $4k annual). Subtract the interest and property tax deductions off your income tax return and compare your real mortgage numbers against renting. See who wins.
Ask me how I know.
Pension Shortfall:
1. Increase lower end Income tax back to pre Whitman reduction (Current tax rate is less than 2% for incomes under $100,000)
2. Increase sales tax to NYC rate of 8.125%?
3. Add 25 cent gallon tax on gas dedicated to pension
4. Agree, possible inclusion of percentage of pension funding into Town tax rates.
Don’t think it will be line item, just part of town expenses
5. Bond the difference
If there’s a gas tax increase that’s money is going to the broke transportation fund.
I don’t understand why people are up in arms about funds being given to those people. What’s good for Boeing is good for America. The surrounding area around Millville is reaping ancillary benefits.
The 8 Biggest Corporate Welfare Recipients in America
http://www.cheatsheet.com/business/high-on-the-hog-the-top-8-corporate-welfare-recipients.html/?a=viewall
46. Cut across the board. Equal cuts for current retirees and current workers. No cutoff date/grandfathered after a certain time, etc.
Same with Medicare, Social Security, etc. Lop 10% or so off of current recipients, do the same with future amounts. EVERYONE
should share the pain equally.
I agree with Christie, reform first and then talk about boosting contributions.
First step is to eliminate the scammers from the system. Base all of the benefits on the total contributions and not just the highest 3 years.
How about we just eliminate defined benefit programs going forward? Seeing how there is little difference between a NJ pension and a Ponzi scheme and all.
Ahhh, just another day in paradise.
Don’t disagree with you grim on special assessments. Given my town’s firemen are volunteers do I get a break? Government (council) also?
The fact that a bunch of dads who get together more frequently to swill beer than actually fight fires have more than adequately protected our town for at least the last decade shows what a scam these pensions are. Ditto the mom with the FT job who with other parents like her have steered our town well.
I would imagine the municipal and county bills would be based on actual per-person pension costs, not some sort of proportional share. Would be very hard to fight the number if it’s based on actuals.
Pathmark = New Jersey
51. Grim,
You mean “grandfather” in the ones from the past?
How about we just eliminate defined benefit programs going forward?
44
xolepa
There it is! We haven’t had a nice ‘ask me how I know’ from you in a while. I missed those ;-)
Re: zillow article
So Palo Alto is more than twice the bubble period now? Did their prices even fall during the years in between?
51.
How about we just eliminate defined benefit programs going forward? Seeing how there is little difference between a Social Security, Medicare and a Ponzi scheme and all.
47–Disgusting. They need to hijack the govt for 13.18 billion dollars?? Fuc!ing criminal, yet we are worried about those damn worker’s pensions. Messed up world we live in. All you have to know is that n!ke is on this list of welfare recipients. Now let’s see rags and leftwing defend these criminals and attack poor people.
I wish my home was worth twice the bubble price of a few years ago. My sanity would certainly improve under such circumstances.
You don’t get it. Go ahead and take away their pensions, you will still being paying for these people to survive through welfare programs. Go ahead and eliminate the pensions, you won’t be alive long enough to deal with the mess that it will cause.
leftwing says:
July 27, 2015 at 12:20 pm
Ahhh, just another day in paradise.
Don’t disagree with you grim on special assessments. Given my town’s firemen are volunteers do I get a break? Government (council) also?
The fact that a bunch of dads who get together more frequently to swill beer than actually fight fires have more than adequately protected our town for at least the last decade shows what a scam these pensions are. Ditto the mom with the FT job who with other parents like her have steered our town well.
Sanity?? You mean you would be okay with your taxes doubling because your house doubled in value? You people want it all.
A Home Buyer says:
July 27, 2015 at 12:40 pm
I wish my home was worth twice the bubble price of a few years ago. My sanity would certainly improve under such circumstances.
62- Exactly what happen in nj. Our taxes went through the roof during the bubble. They had no problem with the taxes when their house is going up, but as soon as the bubble pops, you start crying about the taxes.
Troll,
I am moving. At a minimum, I will not be owning in North Jersey. If all goes well, leaving New Jersey within 2 years.
I apologize if valuing my personnel freedoms and quality of life for my family doesn’t agree with your NYC-centric view of the world. I believe their to be more to education then a Blue Ribbon, more to entertainment then spending an absurd amount of money on “fine” eatings and Broadway plays, more to communicating then having awesome internet speeds and smart phones, and more to living then working all day and having a Nanny watch the children.
So yes. Please have my home appreciate by a factor of 2 for when I sell.
PS: Please stop making assumptions. Please stop responding to your own posts. Please stop posting article after article after article without anything other then “See, I’m Right, I’m Special!”. Please try to provide facts rather then opinion when you do post, or at least research the history of things you post before declaring them.
In fact, just please stop posting and follow through on your prior commitment to go away. To be honest, I’ve stopped reading your general rants, but as this one was directed to me I figured it at least warranted the courtesy of a response.
Could not help it, everything everyone has been talking about here for the last week+.
http://www.latimes.com/local/great-reads/la-me-c1-calexico-20150727-story.html#page=1
Great Read In Calexico, former LAPD official finds a police department in turmoil
By Joel Rubin contact the reporter
Sitting hard up against a towering rusted fence that separates the United States from Mexico, this city is for most a dreary gantlet of fast-food restaurants and gas stations on the way to one of California’s two official border crossings.
Calexico wasn’t a place that Mike Bostic had ever visited. In fact, the former high-ranking Los Angeles police official thought it was in Mexico until he got a call from its new city manager in September.
The call led to a secret meeting in a San Diego hotel room. There, the city manager, Richard Warne, told Bostic that a group of veteran cops was running the department like a fiefdom, taking home big overtime checks while very little police work was getting done.
A sign on Highway 111 at the Calexico crossing into Mexico warns against weapons and ammo. Some say the border city’s Police Department has long been run like a fiefdom.
But after three decades in the Los Angeles Police Department, Bostic had been out of policing for years, trading his badge for the tailored suits of the corporate world. The healthy paychecks, along with a six-figure pension check each year from the LAPD, had left him, he said, “with more money than I could ever spend.”
Sure, Bostic, 63, liked the idea of being a chief — he had been unceremoniously pushed aside at the end of his LAPD career and later made an unsuccessful bid to be chief of a quiet Orange County city.
But putting a police uniform back on had stopped being part of his plan long ago — never mind for a hard-on-its-luck border town of 40,000 where residents and elected officials say years of political infighting has created a revolving door for public servants, and where faith in the Police Department has dwindled.
And yet Bostic is a man driven by his strong faith in two things: Christianity and himself. He couldn’t shake Warne’s offer.
One afternoon in October, while Bostic waited in his car outside, Warne summoned the city’s chief into his office and promptly fired him. He then fetched Bostic, walked him into the town’s one police station and introduced him to a stunned group of officers.
That first day, Bostic asked a sergeant for a rundown of all the criminal and internal investigations the department had open. It was a short conversation. The sergeant told him there were no investigations, he said.
It was, Bostic said, a department that essentially had ceased to function. Dispatch records showed each of the about two dozen officers on the force had responded, on average, to only five radio calls for help in a month. Many officers, Bostic said, were months behind on writing crime reports.
We need someone from the outside to come in and clean this place up. – Eddie Guzman, Calexico resident
Even the fact that Calexico’s crime rate appeared to be half that of a nearby city was not cause for encouragement. To Bostic, it was proof many residents had simply given up looking to the police for help and reporting crimes — a sentiment he said he heard repeatedly at town hall-style meetings.
“The community has been afraid even to call for too long,” said Eddie Guzman, 61, a mortgage broker who has lived in Calexico for more than 50 years. “I’m hoping that things will change under him. We need someone from the outside to come in and clean this place up.”
Guzman, like several other residents and city officials, chalked up the trouble in the Police Department — as well as the city government — to “the compadre system,” a set of unwritten but deeply ingrained rules that they say form the underpinnings for civic life in Calexico. Under the compadre system, they say, favors are traded like currency and personal relationships often trump the rule of law.
“The city has a long history of favoritism, cronyism and corruption among city officials,” Warne charged, noting he is the 26th city manager to be hired in the last 35 years. “The hiring of friends, relatives and mistresses has been a common practice — people who were clearly unqualified for their jobs. Goods and services are purchased based on personal connections without any consideration of quality.”
Three police officers whom Bostic fired, leaders in the union representing the city’s cops, object to his portrayal of a badly broken department. Instead, they argue, Bostic and Warne are part of a campaign by some City Council members to dismantle the union, which is a force in local politics and has battled reform-minded officials.
They acknowledge there were serious productivity issues in the department and few investigations done but blame it on inadequate staffing.
Get the essential California headlines delivered free >>
“Bostic is a scam artist. He’s led everybody to believe all these terrible things are going on,” one of the fired officers, Luis Casillas, said in an interview. “You have him and a city manager who say they need these outrageous salaries to clean up all this corruption … but really they see us as a political threat.”
Since arriving in Calexico, Bostic has unabashedly presented himself as a savior, promising residents he will rid their Police Department of “the cancer living within it” — a refrain during his first months on the job.
“These people are so desperate for help,” he said. “The LAPD has given me a unique set of skills and training that you can’t get many places…. I know exactly what to do to fix this place.”
Bostic hasn’t shied away from such grand statements, touting the major role he played in reforming the LAPD. Although he did have a hand in trying to push through changes that followed some of the LAPD’s worst episodes, the reality of his time there is more modest.
In the wake of the videotaped beating by officers of Rodney King, then-Chief Daryl Gates assigned Bostic to review the department’s use-of-force and training procedures. In his role, Bostic was critical of some problems he identified but wasn’t in a position to make significant changes himself.
Bostic testified as the government’s use-of-force expert during the state trial against the officers. Defense attorneys picked him apart on cross-examination, however, forcing him to admit he had formed his opinion of the beating after only a few viewings of the tape. After acquitting the officers, jurors said that they did not find Bostic credible.
He climbed the ranks to become an assistant chief, at times running the department when the chief was away. But after Bostic clashed with William Bratton, who was hired as chief in 2002, Bratton demoted him and exiled him from his inner circle.
Soon after he took over in Calexico, Bostic said he contacted the FBI, relaying concerns he had about some of his officers. Then, on a morning in late October, dozens of agents descended on the police station, seizing computer hard drives and documents.
FBI officials acknowledged the ongoing investigation but declined to comment on its scope or focus. Bostic, for his part, has refused to elaborate on the probe. But it seems to have struck a sensitive chord with him. Twice after the raid, Bostic choked back tears when answering reporters’ questions about the investigation.
“There could be nothing more embarrassing than to have your department under that kind of scrutiny…. It was literally the most disappointing day in all my years of policing,” he said at one news conference after composing himself.
I know exactly what to do to fix this place. – Mike Bostic, former LAPD official
The problems, Bostic said, stemmed from half a dozen or so officers, who also held sway in the police officers union. Bostic said they effectively ran the department, threatening other officers with misconduct investigations if they got out of line and running the department’s $450,000 annual budget for overtime to nearly $1.5 million.
“They believed they were untouchable. They still believe it, even since I’ve arrived. They’ve been protected for so long.”
Until earlier this year, Luis Casillas, German Duran and Frank Uriarte were department veterans and union leaders. Bostic fired the three men along with a few others.
Citing privacy laws, Bostic has declined to say why he booted them, but they said they had been wrongly accused of taking inflated overtime payments, among other allegations of misconduct.
Casillas said the overtime allegations were baseless, chalking up the confusion to honest mistakes. “Everyone worked the hours they worked,” he said. “We got fired for typos and technicalities in how the paperwork was filled out.”
In response to Bostic’s extortion claims, Casillas said: “No, never. None of us ever did that to any other officers. We never threatened anyone.”
Calexico
The former cops and like-minded members of the City Council have railed against the $19,000-a-month pay Bostic is receiving on his month-to-month contract — the equivalent of a $225,000 $228,000 annual salary. (By comparison, when LAPD Chief Charlie Beck was reappointed to a second term last summer, his salary was $325,000 — for a force of nearly 10,000 officers.)
In a lawsuit filed this month in federal court, officers fired by Bostic accused him of being “a rogue police chief” driven by greed who framed the former cops.
Dramatic allegations aside, such a sizable salary for the chief of a small department in a poor city has raised eyebrows even among some supporters. Bostic insists he’s not in Calexico for the money, but he doesn’t apologize for the pay.
“You get what you pay for. He will cost more than previous chiefs, but it’s an investment that in the long run will be worth it,” Councilman John Moreno said. “Some people have been critical of this outsider coming here to help us. It’s not about being an insider or outsider. It’s about being qualified.”
So far, Bostic said, there hasn’t been much time to implement fixes because his time has been consumed by internal investigations into possible misconduct by officers.
When council members opposed to Bostic and Warne thwarted efforts to give the men the multiyear contracts they’ve demanded, the council received a stern letter from an organization that provides Calexico the insurance policy every city needs to protect itself against lawsuits and other liabilities. The group made clear it considered the men two bright spots in an otherwise dysfunctional city government and threatened to pull Calexico’s insurance coverage.
With the city facing collapse, one of the recalcitrant council members relented, agreeing last month to award Warne a contract. The vote cleared the way for Warne to negotiate a long-term deal with Bostic, who has said he needs two or three years to carry out his plans for remaking the department.
But in the hostile, tumultuous world of small-town politics in Calexico, there’s no telling whether Bostic will get the time he says he needs. Armando Real, the council member who reluctantly approved Warne’s deal, said he is determined to find a way to send Bostic packing.
It is, Moreno said with a resigned shake of his head, just business as usual in Calexico.
“Mike Bostic is here to fix our Police Department. I believe in him,” Moreno said. “It’ll take some time; he’s going to need to step on some toes. But it can be done, as long as we let him stay around long enough.”
This is an old article from 2013 so this is stale data. Who knew there were so many billion dollar deals done
———–
In some states, the number of tax incentives is so large that the lost money can mean higher taxes on other businesses. Illinois, which has passed seven tax incentive packages worth more than $75 million since 1985 and dozens more worth less than that, is contemplating raising corporate taxes to make up for the lost revenue.
Critics of tax incentives say the money overwhelmingly benefits shareholders, at times at the expense of the state itself. In Washington’s case, lower costs for Boeing means the company can offer lower rates for the 777 and other aircraft it sells to its primary customers, foreign airliners.
“The biggest beneficiaries of this are Boeing shareholders, most of whom don’t reside in Washington State,” LeRoy said. “This is a shift of burden from foreign airlines to Washington taxpayers who either get higher tax rates, maybe they’ll have to raise their sales tax, or they get lousier public service.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/11/12/washington-just-awarded-the-largest-state-tax-subsidy-in-u-s-history/
Joyce,
When I state that phrase, I mean it. However, not many care to argue with experience.
You guys are like little babies. Anytime someone (like me) points out the bs hypocrisy that comes out of your mouths, you get offended and start attacking the character and not the argument. You all want low taxes and at the same time, a good quality of life. You also want business to have low taxes at the same time. Good luck. That’s a joke to think it can be this way. I’m the idiot, but you guys want a good quality of life with low taxes….talk about a utopia. Who the hell is going to pay for the quality of life if your taxes are 1,000 a year? You want your home to double, but your taxes to stay the same, too bad it doesn’t work like that. You guys are loony toons with your wants and needs.
Good luck moving, hope the grass is greener on the other side. I’m happy, one less person bitching about taxes in this state. You don’t like it, leave. Stop driving the costs up on all of us if you think it’s a terrible place to be. Only thing you are doing by staying is driving up the costs of everything for the rest of the people that want to be in jersey. Have something bad to say about our state, get the f out!! We don’t need you.
A Home Buyer says:
July 27, 2015 at 1:05 pm
Troll,
I am moving. At a minimum, I will not be owning in North Jersey. If all goes well, leaving New Jersey within 2 years.
I apologize if valuing my personnel freedoms and quality of life for my family doesn’t agree with your NYC-centric view of the world. I believe their to be more to education then a Blue Ribbon, more to entertainment then spending an absurd amount of money on “fine” eatings and Broadway plays, more to communicating then having awesome internet speeds and smart phones, and more to living then working all day and having a Nanny watch the children.
So yes. Please have my home appreciate by a factor of 2 for when I sell.
PS: Please stop making assumptions. Please stop responding to your own posts. Please stop posting article after article after article without anything other then “See, I’m Right, I’m Special!”. Please try to provide facts rather then opinion when you do post, or at least research the history of things you post before declaring them.
In fact, just please stop posting and follow through on your prior commitment to go away. To be honest, I’ve stopped reading your general rants, but as this one was directed to me I figured it at least warranted the courtesy of a response.
Disregarding the source, this was an interesting article about Addiction vs Government Policy.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-real-cause-of-addicti_b_6506936.html
59,
Virtually all of the Boeing subsidy is Washington State tax breaks (a non-NPVd sum of forecasted tax benefits going all the way out to 2040) to keep the company there for decades to come.
You’re allegedly a financial analyst, what would you estimate the present value of that nominal stream of tax breaks to be? And what do you think of the journalistic practice of reporting estimates of future tax deductions as a lump sum subsidy today?
That would be like you calling yourself a multi-millionaire today, by summing up how much income you expect to earn during the next 25 years.
70- So it’s not a tax break, they just call it that? It’s actually to our benefit that we give the tax breaks to businesses blackmailing the taxpayer to get them? Oh no, give them a tax break or they will leave.
Let them leave, but play hardball. Tell them they can no longer sell their products in the American market. Why do we get blackmailed by businesses in the name of jobs when it is our market, not theirs. We are the market, the tax payer. Too bad politicians are bought out by these crooks. Can I ask the state to lower my taxes or I will leave? Why do the big boys get to do it?
I was only joking. We all have our favorite expressions and mannerisms that manifest themselves online as well as in person. First hand experience / primary documents are always the very best evidence… that said, those can be anecdotal at times and not accurate for use as, or to disprove, generalizations.
Hey Idiot,
Should we pay income taxes on unrealized gains?
Local Business Report (JJ Edition):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ0qpPTH1ow
Lmao—–I wish they would just pay 30% on their realized gains.
Stop acting like these tax breaks are not tax breaks. I hate that move. If it’s not a tax break, why did these corporations pay to lobby for them? Give me a break with bs.
joyce says:
July 27, 2015 at 2:19 pm
Hey Idiot,
Should we pay income taxes on unrealized gains?
This is an old article from 2013 so this is stale data. Who knew there were so many billion dollar deals done
———–
In some states, the number of tax incentives is so large that the lost money can mean higher taxes on other businesses. Illinois, which has passed seven tax incentive packages worth more than $75 million since 1985 and dozens more worth less than that, is contemplating raising corporate taxes to make up for the lost revenue.
Critics of tax incentives say the money overwhelmingly benefits shareholders, at times at the expense of the state itself. In Washington’s case, lower costs for Boeing means the company can offer lower rates for the 777 and other aircraft it sells to its primary customers, foreign airliners.
“The biggest beneficiaries of this are Boeing shareholders, most of whom don’t reside in Washington State,” LeRoy said. “This is a shift of burden from foreign airlines to Washington taxpayers who either get higher tax rates, maybe they’ll have to raise their sales tax, or they get lousier public service.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/11/12/washington-just-awarded-the-largest-state-tax-subsidy-in-u-s-history/
Ragnar says:
July 27, 2015 at 2:05 pm
59,
Virtually all of the Boeing subsidy is Washington State tax breaks (a non-NPVd sum of forecasted tax benefits going all the way out to 2040) to keep the company there for decades to come.
You’re allegedly a financial analyst, what would you estimate the present value of that nominal stream of tax breaks to be? And what do you think of the journalistic practice of reporting estimates of future tax deductions as a lump sum subsidy today?
That would be like you calling yourself a multi-millionaire today, by summing up how much income you expect to earn during the next 25 years.
76- lucky Washington tax payers, picking up the slack so Boeing can sell cheap planes to foreign companies. Gotta love Washington state taxpayers subsidizing the cost to foreign companies and also supporting the profit earned to shareholders.
77- But hey, a few lucky Washington citizens will make out with jobs from Boeing. You guys complain about nj state govt workers, how is this situation any different?
78- other Washington tax payers are paying more in taxes so some people can have jobs at Boeing. No different than a state worker. Why are you not bitching about this?
I’m referring to paying more in property taxes because somebody’s else house sold for a higher amount.
The Great Pumpkin says:
July 27, 2015 at 2:27 pm
Lmao—–I wish they would just pay 30% on their realized gains.
Stop acting like these tax breaks are not tax breaks. I hate that move. If it’s not a tax break, why did these corporations pay to lobby for them? Give me a break with bs.
joyce says:
July 27, 2015 at 2:19 pm
Hey Idiot,
Should we pay income taxes on unrealized gains?
68 – Troll,
Indeed I am. Thankfully I have Papa Pumpkin to correct me.
I made a joke. You changed the tone with your response and then rambled onward from there using that post to justify your views of the entire board.
I then explained my situation (mentioning nothing about taxes), and then asked that you post concise and fact checked information with your own interpretation and stop making assumptions, albeit in a snide tone. Why? Because I dislike you.
And then we have your latest response. A long winded nonsensical rant extrapolating a tongue in cheek joke of a infrequent poster to cover everyone as “cry babies”. About taxes of all things, which I did not mention in my reasons for leaving NJ.
I have no issue with telling me to GTFO if I do not like Jersey. Glad you have pride… but seriously stop stretching comments that have nothing to do with your opinions and pick a fight with someone who actually posted what your arguing.
Idiot
77 the subsidies and tax breaks are so companies don’t flee to low cost, low tax states. Places like Washington and NJ need to do this to keep the economic development. A high percentage of 0 is 0, but a small percentage of a large number is significant. I suspect the goal is to retain businesses at risk of leaving and to attract new economic activity. This is to make up for the issue that the state is noncompetitive due to poor governance. If you have no incentives and high costs or taxes you’ll wind up like Detroit, keep that in mind, capital is mobile.
“I believe their to be more to education then a Blue Ribbon”
–there, not their
Of course Ayn a Rand married for the protections of US citizenship and held out her hand for social security.
84 –
Thank you. I did miss that. Anything else I missed?
Ottoman,
How many times does this have to come up? Will it be hypocritical if I collect Social Security while opposing the program even though I was forced to participate?
Footstool,
My employers and I have paid in $228,000 to Social Security over the past 23 years.
I’d love to repeal SS, but failing that, I intend to get back some of that money someday.
How about you?
“…not Joyce…” Kicking a few sacred cows. Ragnar pwned
Cool graphic:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-how-much-land-prices-have-changed-and-how-much-they-havent-2015-07-15?dist=countdown
“In 1975, you could have snatched a piece of the South for under $15,000, on average. Forty years later, that chunk of land is worth, well, $15,000.”
“The trend is, of course, higher prices. California, for instance, was under $15,000 in 1975 before reaching almost $600,000 in 2006”
If the benefits promised were overinflated in return for votes and endorsements, then why are we considering ways to pay for these oversized benefits? Make the benefit levels equal to what is commonplace in the private sector. My company is extremely average. I’m close with HR and they spend an extraordinary amount of time making sure the benefits echo what is common in the marketplace.
Let’s figure the average active state worker makes $75K. They contribute 1.5% of salary to pay for their healthcare which costs the state $1800 per month. Their payment amount is being phased in, so for the first four years, the employee pays an average of $274 per month for family coverage and it’s a PPO, not an HMO. But wait. It gets better. Drug coverage is $3/$10/$15. Copay $10. I just picked out a random plan. They have like 15 choices all with different advantages, but none with copays or a prescription drug benefit quite as expensive as mine which is pretty average.
Here is mine. Healthcare – Standard plan – yes…there’s a network for it’s an HMO – Family coverage $546/month – $25 copays too. And you can bet that the plan costs my employer a lot less than $21,600 to cover me. And we have quite a few less employees in my company than the state of NJ.
Of course I’m in mod and just getting started.
I can’t tell when someone is being sarcastic or joking when it’s an electronic response. I’m sorry for sniping back, I thought you were attacking me, like the majority of the people on this board. You try and get attacked everyday and then assume a post is just joking with you.
I have lived in jersey my whole life. I have a lot of pride in jersey. Can’t stand all the bashing jersey receives. If so many other states are so good to live in, why is this the most densely populated state? If it’s so terrible and everyone wants to leave, why are there so many people here?
Detroit was dealing with a falling population for decades. Not everyone wanted to live there, they were leaving in droves. They lost 50% of their population. So why does everybody make snarky comments, comparing jersey to Detroit? It makes no sense. Did we lose 50% of our population? So why the comparison?
A Home Buyer says:
July 27, 2015 at 2:42 pm
68 – Troll,
Indeed I am. Thankfully I have Papa Pumpkin to correct me.
I made a joke. You changed the tone with your response and then rambled onward from there using that post to justify your views of the entire board.
I then explained my situation (mentioning nothing about taxes), and then asked that you post concise and fact checked information with your own interpretation and stop making assumptions, albeit in a snide tone. Why? Because I dislike you.
And then we have your latest response. A long winded nonsensical rant extrapolating a tongue in cheek joke of a infrequent poster to cover everyone as “cry babies”. About taxes of all things, which I did not mention in my reasons for leaving NJ.
I have no issue with telling me to GTFO if I do not like Jersey. Glad you have pride… but seriously stop stretching comments that have nothing to do with your opinions and pick a fight with someone who actually posted what your arguing.
Nonsensical rant? If you say so. I’m not the one bitching about high taxes and living in one of the richest states in America. Don’t live here, and you won’t pay high taxes. Nonsensical?
“And then we have your latest response. A long winded nonsensical rant extrapolating a tongue in cheek joke of a infrequent poster to cover everyone as “cry babies”. About taxes of all things, which I did not mention in my reasons for leaving NJ.”
69 – HomeB – That article is actually a transcript from a TED talk, given by the same author. If you have a spare 20 mins it is worth watching, I enjoyed it.
Amen. But then question why your taxes are higher and the home prices are so much higher. Don’t live on valuable land if you do not want to deal with high taxes and pay a high cost per sq ft. Go live on the worthless land in the south and Midwest. Tap yourself on the back for paying 200,000 for a home and having low taxes. Then rip on the jersey homeowners for paying so much in taxes and price per sq ft. Then realize, your land is worth sh!t, and will only go up if a bunch of people start moving to that area. You will lose money in your cheap house with cheap taxes. Also, income wise, you will never make what you can make in a place like the nyc metro area. Enjoy the cheap house and cheap taxes.
1987 Condo says:
July 27, 2015 at 4:02 pm
Cool graphic:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-how-much-land-prices-have-changed-and-how-much-they-havent-2015-07-15?dist=countdown
“In 1975, you could have snatched a piece of the South for under $15,000, on average. Forty years later, that chunk of land is worth, well, $15,000.”
“The trend is, of course, higher prices. California, for instance, was under $15,000 in 1975 before reaching almost $600,000 in 2006″
I don’t get the justification for the high taxes? NJ is rich? What the hell does that even mean? By what standard? We overpay and overbenefit our workers, that is why our taxes are high. It’s that simple. Really.
To the war on drugs,
Thank you for flushing money down the toilet and creating legions of addicts. Amazing idea! Keep up the good work!
“The results of all this are now in. An independent study by the British Journal of Criminology found that since total decriminalization, addiction has fallen, and injecting drug use is down by 50 percent. I’ll repeat that: injecting drug use is down by 50 percent. Decriminalization has been such a manifest success that very few people in Portugal want to go back to the old system. The main campaigner against the decriminalization back in 2000 was Joao Figueira, the country’s top drug cop. He offered all the dire warnings that we would expect from the Daily Mail or Fox News. But when we sat together in Lisbon, he told me that everything he predicted had not come to pass — and he now hopes the whole world will follow Portugal’s example.”
RE Investor 101 = Pumpkin Seed = Pat
Yes, because it is rich, it must subsidize other states through federal tax contributions. That’s how these other places have lower taxes. Also, property taxes are tied to the value of a home. Don’t want high taxes, do not live in a valuable home. It’s as easy as that.
Libturd at home says:
July 27, 2015 at 4:46 pm
I don’t get the justification for the high taxes? NJ is rich? What the hell does that even mean? By what standard? We overpay and overbenefit our workers, that is why our taxes are high. It’s that simple. Really.
People living in a valuable house and complaining about taxes, is no different than some billionaire complaining about paying millions in taxes. Don’t want to pay millions in taxes, then let someone else make the money that is willing to pay and help out their communities. Not everyone can be rich, so it is your damn duty, moral obligation to take care of the community if you hit it big. That community can turn on you in a second, and leave you with nothing. You are only rich, because people allow you to be rich.
Turn your back on paying taxes. Turn your back on your communities. Turn your back on your country. Turn your back on good job creation. Turn your back on everyone in the name of greed and you will be left with nothing. Chaos will come and take it all.
The wealthy and corporations used to take care of America. That’s why people looked up to the rich/corporations with admiration. People loved corporations and what they stood for. The 80’s changed everything with the rise of the Gordon Gekko mentality. I got mine and leave your filthy fingers off of all my riches. I earned it and I’ll do whatever I want with it.
Every action has a consequence. Be careful how you play the hand you were dealt.
Troll,
Where did I mention a problem with taxes.
You never bitched about nj taxes before?
A Home Buyer says:
July 27, 2015 at 5:19 pm
Troll,
Where did I mention a problem with taxes.
Pimpkin,
I like the way you make “the community” sound like a rabid dog. I’m glad you didn’t write the constitution, otherwise rather than individual rights, you would have written about unlimited obligations to serve the collective, as interpreted by your feelings.
But back to an earlier topic. If you want that promotion before you hit 50, you should learn how to do an NPV calculation. Do you know how to use excel, or do you leave that to the Gordon Gekkos of the world?
I’m guessing you work for some government entity as an overpaid bookkeeper by day i.e. financial analyst, collect rent from unwed moms at grannies place at night. Speaking of serving the community, how about the government slap more rent controls to help make life more affordable for the children?
You are welcome, Great Pumpkin!
But the money isn’t wasted! I make Mexican drug lords rich, and they are very generous in “giving back” to their communities. I also make it really easy for American policemen to enjoy confiscated drugs and share them with their kids and mistresses.
In Badiraguato, the municipality that encompasses villages where some of Mexico’s most infamous drug lords were born, residents hope Guzman will revive the economy.
They say the Sinaloa drug cartel boss employed farmers, sent food to nursing homes and gave toys to children at Christmas before his February 2014 capture.
“People are happy because he helps a lot,” said Gerardo Avila, 22, eating a watermelon under scorching heat in front of his small clothing shop near Badiraguato’s town hall.
“He gives money. He creates jobs. He helps more than presidents,” Avila said. What kind of jobs? “Working on the hills, cutting trees.”
Erica, a 40-year-old with a candy cart in front of the church, said people believe Guzman has been good to the community.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-in-bastion-mexico-kingpin-seen-as-benevolent-bandit-2015-7#ixzz3h88kIDRI
Troll,
Really? So you are assuming I’ve complained about taxes sometime in my lifetime and that’s my secret reason for leaving, and your ultimate justification for those rants?
How about you find where I posted that. While your at, let me know when you find the posts where I talk about moving and the associated drop in income that would also occur out-pacing the savings expected from reduced taxes. Financially it doesn’t make sense to move, and I don’t suffer delusions about it. But there is more to life then numbers.
You truly are a special person.
Rags. Should there be a limit on individual rights? Which rights should have limits?
103-
I don’t work for the govt!
I can’t support govt, I have to think private is always better? I see the waste in the private sector. I work there. I see it all around me. I do the numbers for god’s sake.
Also, don’t tell me that the private field doesn’t have nepotism either. See the same crap. 100% of the good jobs in my company are given to people in the know. The crappy entry level jobs are filled by people who don’t know anyone. They have the skill, but not the connections. The good jobs are always given to someone that is friends with someone.
Private or public is not the issue, it’s the people running the show. Why you fail to understand this, I don’t know. You think the private industry is some magnificent all mighty efficient God. Maybe a few companies, but most are a mess.
I’m rooting for a Bernie and trump election. We need change. We need to break this cycle of crony capitalism.
Listen, I’m sorry about the tax comment. I assumed and I’m wrong. I don’t know, I snapped before, and took out my aggression on you because you were attacking me. I usually ignore the people bashing me on here, but sometimes it gets to me. I lost control and I’m sorry.
A Home Buyer says:
July 27, 2015 at 5:42 pm
Troll,
Really? So you are assuming I’ve complained about taxes sometime in my lifetime and that’s my secret reason for leaving, and your ultimate justification for those rants?
How about you find where I posted that. While your at, let me know when you find the posts where I talk about moving and the associated drop in income that would also occur out-pacing the savings expected from reduced taxes. Financially it doesn’t make sense to move, and I don’t suffer delusions about it. But there is more to life then numbers.
You truly are a special person.
Wasn’t addressed to me, but I’ll take a swing:
There is no.
“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’, because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.”
Thomas Jefferson
phoenix says:
July 27, 2015 at 5:45 pm
Rags. Should there be a limit on individual rights? Which rights should have limits?
anon (10)
The ability to hunt people like you as though you were a wild pig is a human right.
“Healtcare is a Human Right”
My new NJRER fast self-update:
1. Scroll quickly, assess how many useless Punkin/anon upchucks there are.
2. Note first point at which Joyce calls Punkin/anon idiot.
3. Scroll a little further.
4. Enter fray.
Great Pumkpin, although I am quite tired from a long day at work, I want to tell you that I do enjoy your comments. Regardless of who is right or who is wrong, this board needs to hear your viewpoints. IMHO. Also, I agree about the NJ bashing, but it bothers me so much more when I hear it from those who don’t even live in our state. I raise the same question, if is sucks here so much, why stay at all?
“I raise the same question, if is sucks here so much, why stay at all?”
I ask myself that question frequently.
Okay, here are some of my reasons for staying in the Garden State.
1) I live in Central n.j. and I enjoy being in a suburban/rural setting.
2) I like having 4 seasons
3) I have at least 14 theaters within one hour of me to see plays, music, and dance productions and there is actually MORE than I could ever have time to see.
4) My spouse and I have good paying jobs, so we are able to pay our property taxes. But, we live in a 35 year old house, nothing extravagant.
5) It’s nice to know I can get to NYC and Philly, but I don’t have to actually live there.
6) Parks, walking trails, water sports. all things I enjoy and am able to do here.
7) Many friends and family, still within short driving distance .
8) Endless choices of restaurants, even though we don’t dine out very often
8) Fruit and vegetable stands. Yes, believe it or not, you can’t find them in that many states!
Ok, I am done.
112, sold my house , bought a house in Midtown Raleigh closing date 8/27!!! I am so happy to leave NJ. I loved my time again in Raleigh. I especially loved midtown. The house I bought I went conservative its MLS 2014194. 4413 Omni Place . Its a good start. I don’t want to get in over my head. It needs a bit of work, not a lot but I loved the neighborhood. Then when I get to know the inner belt and other areas better and am an older bag I can upgrade if I like it. So Im happy. Right now I live in a dump in hillbillyville. I now call my area Lake Foreclosure.
Why not play hardball by electing someone like Bernie to end this nonsense. Let them send their businesses to low cost areas of the country. If all the businesses do this, where will they get workers? Importing lots of workers will just increase the cost of the area. Go ahead and drive up the cost of living in some crummy location. Nothing like competing for a crummy location. So let them all try to play this game.
jcer says:
July 27, 2015 at 2:59 pm
77 the subsidies and tax breaks are so companies don’t flee to low cost, low tax states. Places like Washington and NJ need to do this to keep the economic development. A high percentage of 0 is 0, but a small percentage of a large number is significant. I suspect the goal is to retain businesses at risk of leaving and to attract new economic activity. This is to make up for the issue that the state is noncompetitive due to poor governance. If you have no incentives and high costs or taxes you’ll wind up like Detroit, keep that in mind, capital is mobile.
Thank you. I appreciate your understanding as opposed to bashing. Only try to bring good debates to the table.
HouseWhineWine says:
July 27, 2015 at 6:47 pm
Great Pumkpin, although I am quite tired from a long day at work, I want to tell you that I do enjoy your comments. Regardless of who is right or who is wrong, this board needs to hear your viewpoints. IMHO. Also, I agree about the NJ bashing, but it bothers me so much more when I hear it from those who don’t even live in our state. I raise the same question, if is sucks here so much, why stay at all?
116- Btw, totally agree about the people from other states bashing nj. So annoying. Some are uneducated fools and have no idea how wealthy and beautful a lot of areas of jersey are. What kind of conviences and opportunities living here brings. There are also the jealous type that can’t afford to live in nj, but wish that they could. So they make themselves feel better by bashing jersey.
Amen. It really is a great place to live. You can do anything you want. Southern Cali with their ability to surf and ski and loads of stuff to do, would also be a good place to live. Of course it costs more than jersey to live there. Any good location is going to cost you.
HouseWhineWine says:
July 27, 2015 at 7:08 pm
Okay, here are some of my reasons for staying in the Garden State.
1) I live in Central n.j. and I enjoy being in a suburban/rural setting.
2) I like having 4 seasons
3) I have at least 14 theaters within one hour of me to see plays, music, and dance productions and there is actually MORE than I could ever have time to see.
4) My spouse and I have good paying jobs, so we are able to pay our property taxes. But, we live in a 35 year old house, nothing extravagant.
5) It’s nice to know I can get to NYC and Philly, but I don’t have to actually live there.
6) Parks, walking trails, water sports. all things I enjoy and am able to do here.
7) Many friends and family, still within short driving distance .
8) Endless choices of restaurants, even though we don’t dine out very often
8) Fruit and vegetable stands. Yes, believe it or not, you can’t find them in that many states!
Ok, I am done.
Sorry left wing. Was in NYC last night and drove to Boston today. Remembered how much I despise the Cross Bronx Expy.
LOL. When I skip over all the Pumking’s posts, it only takes me about 10 minutes to read everything relevant, even on 100+ post days. Someday we should have a Pumpking day when we all include pumkingisms in every post like
“It’s like I’ve been telling you all along”,
“and I’m the idiot?”,
“like I’ve told you many times before”,
“Go ahead and and then will happen. You’ll see I was right.”, etc.
He’s dropped some of his old standards, though. Haven’t heard much about how wage inflation will make us all rich in a long time.
Should have been “Go ahead and do that and then this other worse thing will happen. You’ll see.” (bad use of angle brackets caused words to drop).
Overseen by presidential appointees. . . . I thought this stuff only happened in junta governments? Oh, wait . . .
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/27/us/disabled-work-program-investigation/index.html
[118] pumpkin
Change Garden to Keystone and Central NJ to ChesCo and it would still be accurate. Admittedly, it’s a longer ride to NYC, but then I get a flyover country discount.
“Okay, here are some of my reasons for staying in the Garden State.
1) I live in Central n.j. and I enjoy being in a suburban/rural setting.
2) I like having 4 seasons
3) I have at least 14 theaters within one hour of me to see plays, music, and dance productions and there is actually MORE than I could ever have time to see.
4) My spouse and I have good paying jobs, so we are able to pay our property taxes. But, we live in a 35 year old house, nothing extravagant.
5) It’s nice to know I can get to NYC and Philly, but I don’t have to actually live there.
6) Parks, walking trails, water sports. all things I enjoy and am able to do here.
7) Many friends and family, still within short driving distance .
8) Endless choices of restaurants, even though we don’t dine out very often
8) Fruit and vegetable stands. Yes, believe it or not, you can’t find them in that many states!
Ok, I am done.
HouseWhineWine,
You are probably much happier in life then I am. At least being able to enjoy where you live is a step up from me and a worthy achievement in life. :)
But while a majority of the moral issues I have with the state don’t impact me directly, from a philosophical point of view I will never be satisfied here nor accept that this is as good as it gets. I cannot believe that people need such a heavy hand of Government to live a satisfying / safe life or require such a high degree of consumerism to find happiness.
It is my opinion, based on observation and talking with people I have met across the state, that NJ does have real structural, financial, corruption, and equality issues. Either things will continue sideways which is most probable, or they will implode… I do not see a path where this ends quietly or in a better light. I am not saying we will enter the dark ages, but the bill will come due eventually for the society being created today, and it will be painful. No one has the will to fix what needs to be fixed.
Perhaps one day I will look back and question my decision to relocate if New Jersey does pick itself out of the gutter. As it stands my extend family is struggling, my friends scattering, and the future of this state uncertain but more and more laws and restrictions put into place. I personally have no real reason to stay, except for the money which will be sorely missed.
I wish you the best though.
(But please don’t encourage the Troll. Counter points are certainly welcome, but do you honestly believe his method of displaying the countering information does anything except put-off people who don’t already share his views?)
Get it right, I said wage inflation will come by 2017/2018. It will lead to the start of the boom part of the real estate cycle. Anything you buy right now, will be worth significantly more in 2025. I stated this back in 2012/13 when no one believed wage inflation was possible. We are starting to see the groundwork for the wage inflation to come about. I stand by this prediction…..the great pumpkin is still coming. See who laughs last.
The Original NJ ExPat says:
July 27, 2015 at 9:51 pm
LOL. When I skip over all the Pumking’s posts, it only takes me about 10 minutes to read everything relevant, even on 100+ post days. Someday we should have a Pumpking day when we all include pumkingisms in every post like
“It’s like I’ve been telling you all along”,
“and I’m the idiot?”,
“like I’ve told you many times before”,
“Go ahead and and then will happen. You’ll see I was right.”, etc.
He’s dropped some of his old standards, though. Haven’t heard much about how wage inflation will make us all rich in a long time.
Still think inflation will be strong due to the need to crush the govt debts.
You don’t get rich off wage inflation. You get rich off of moves anticipating the wage inflation and its affect on real estate prices and on inflation in general. Bring on those 15 dollar min wage jobs. All it does it set the floor higher monetarily, but not in value, making it much easier for our state and fed govts to handle the debts you are so worried about.
“So, which matters more? If you care about living standards, you want to keep your eye on real, inflation-adjusted wage growth, since that’s what determines a family’s spending power. And on that front, this year has been a fairly happy story. If you happen to be a central banker, or CNBC-loving markets junkie, and you mostly care about whether inflation is coming in the near future, then you’re going to be watching nominal wage growth, since that signals where prices might be headed. By that measure, the economy is still looking a little cool.
And what if you just want to know if the job market is getting stronger? Well, it’s hard to say which measure tells us more. The fact that employers are handing out raises, even when inflation is dead in the water, seems like a sign that workers might have a little bit more bargaining power these days. Then again, it’s possible that employers have just become accustomed to handing out cost-of-living increases, even when the cost of living isn’t increasing. Or maybe we’re partially looking at the ripple effects of state minimum wage hikes. There are lots of potential explanations, and I don’t know that any one of them is obviously, or solely, correct.
So things are a bit murky. But within a few months, they should clear up a bit. Chances are gas prices won’t suddenly plunge again, meaning that inflation will probably come back from the dead, at least a bit. If wages rise alongside it, that would be a sign that workers really are in a position to demand raises. If they don’t, it may be a sign that employers, for whatever reason, have just been locked into upping pay by about 2 percent per year. In the meantime, though, workers should enjoy the real extra pay in their pockets.”
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2015/06/05/u_s_wage_growth_adjusted_for_inflation_it_s_not_so_bad.html
A full morning, afternoon and evening of full tilt idiocy.
127 I agree
117 yup Research Triangle Park brings all the morons there. Over 80,000 with PHD’s. Yup its so bad in other States that’s why the inventory in some areas such as Raleigh, is so booming houses go under contract in less than a week. People are all dumb and stupid and NJ is so much better all the moving trucks on I 95 are rolling in here.