From HousingWire:
Housing industry rallies around Ben Carson for HUD secretary
Do you remember that controversy about former presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson being nominated as the next secretary for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development? No? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one.
As it turns out, the conflict about his lack of experience or qualifications for the role seem to have gone down the drain as the industry now rallies in its support for Carson’s nomination.
As a reminder, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for HUD secretary not only shocked the industry, but also divided it. Even Nancy Pelosi, minority leader of the House and the current highest ranking Democrat, chimed in on her Twitter account, criticizing the nominee.
However, the division seems to have dissipated as many now begin to stand with Carson. HousingWire Digital Reporter Brena Swanson wrote that Carson’s senate hearing was “all bark and no bite” from the senators.
But the senators aren’t the only ones who seem to now be in favor of Carson. Earlier this week, the Mortgage Bankers Association wrote a letter to the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Development Committee, urging it to confirm Carson as quickly as possible.
The National Association of Realtors also stepped up in its support of Carson by sending a letter to the committee urging it to quickly confirm Carson as HUD secretary.
“Dr. Carson has shown a clear commitment to ensuring all Americans have access to a safe and affordable place they can call home,” NAR President William Brown stated in his letter. “With that in mind, we’re urging members of the U.S. Senate to swiftly confirm him as Secretary of HUD.”
“It’s no small task setting policies that support homeownership and real estate investment, and Dr. Carson is to be commended for taking on the challenge,” Brown stated. “We look forward to working with Dr. Carson in his new capacity on behalf of that important mission.”
One expert, who worked at HUD for over 15 years, even explained that Carson brings unique experience to the position.
“Something I think he’s uniquely qualified to understand is the connection between the environment people live in and their outcomes,” said Marion McFadden, Enterprise Community Partners vice president of public policy.
From Newsworks:
Third of New Jersey households can’t afford basic necessities, study finds
More than a third of New Jersey families could not afford the basic necessities of rent, food, and health care in 2014, according to a new report by the United Way of Northern New Jersey.
The effects of the Great Recession, such as sluggish job growth, coupled with one-time events like Superstorm Sandy contributed to growing financial uncertainty among New Jersey families, the nonprofit said.
The report aimed to calculate the number of New Jersey families that the United Way considers “ALICE,” which stands for “asset limited, income constrained, and employed.”
ALICE households are above the poverty line but nevertheless struggle to afford a basic cost of living, often because wages are too low to meet that minimal standard.
United Way researchers found that 1.2 million New Jersey households were either living below the poverty level or considered ALICE in 2014 — some 37 percent of the state’s households that could not pay for basic necessities.
Lead researcher Stephanie Hoopes said that ALICE households are often made up of people working minimum- or low-wage jobs, whose earnings have not kept pace with inflation.
“Office clerks, cleaners, home health aides, nurses, teaching assistants,” said Hoopes. “These are jobs that we need. And you need to be there in person — they can’t be telecommuted or outsourced.”
United Way determines ALICE households by using a barometer called the Household Survival Budget, which was almost three times the poverty rate.
The nonprofit found that a single adult needs $24,300 per year to survive in New Jersey and that a family of four with two children under age 5 needed at least $64,176.
That cost of living rose by 23 percent since 2007, outpacing the rate of inflation of 14 percent.
Time to raise the taxes some more ……..
My my my someone help this poor woman out….for the love of jj
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/airbnb-guest-pleads-guilty-stealing-valuables-nyc-home-article-1.2947193
straight to the moon, alice
NJ is the coffin corner.
Unrelated, now CVS has it’s own epi pen coming out. Much lower price. Why did it take so long? No proof, could it be the old gas station thing (dealers on the same corner agreeing on price)? Who knows?
Trump says there will be healthcare coverage for everyone. Can it be done? How are we going to afford to pay for it?
Or does he mean covered with 6 feet of dirt?
Phoenix,
I’m getting a weird feeling about Trump. Just like it took a sotuehrn democrat from Texas (LBJ) to pass the civil and voter’s right legislation, and it took Nixon a rabid anti-communist to open up to Mao’s China, it will take a Trump – what ever he happens to be this hour to get Medicare for All.
I think there’s to going to be a Medicare for All national plan. The small business community would love it, and only the insurance industry will hate it – maybe. It depends whether Medicare stays as is or devolves into a cafeteria style set of health insurance oligopolies offering of policies.
D.C. Cops ordered to turn off body cameras during inauguration. WTF?
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Groups-Concerned-About-Use-of-Police-Body-Cameras-During-Inauguration_Washington-DC-410581715.html
Ahh, the good ol’ income inequality problem up close and personal. This is just not a jersey problem, it’s a country problem. Any desirable high density area will witness this first hand. This is what happens when one part of the population drastically leaves the other population in the dust, in terms of income.
Just think how bad it is in sf, any income under 100,000 makes you live like a poor man. So many people with money have pushed the cost of living so high in that area, that a 50,000 yearly earner can’t even survive on their salary.
I mean look at the stats below, these people can’t even muster 24,000 a year individually, or 60,000 for a family of four. Any skilled individual will piss on that, and here lies the problem. What do you do with the low skilled jobs that need to get done, but have been left behind in the income equality department? Can capitalism fix that? Can the free market fix that? I don’t think so….it goes against its own laws of supply and demand, and competition.
“Lead researcher Stephanie Hoopes said that ALICE households are often made up of people working minimum- or low-wage jobs, whose earnings have not kept pace with inflation.
“Office clerks, cleaners, home health aides, nurses, teaching assistants,” said
“These are jobs that we need. And you need to be there in person — they can’t be telecommuted or outsourced.”
United Way determines ALICE households by using a barometer called the Household Survival Budget, which was almost three times the poverty rate.
The nonprofit found that a single adult needs $24,300 per year to survive in New Jersey and that a family of four with two children under age 5 needed at least $64,176.”
Bingo, the scam is alive and real. Our health costs are a result of greed; nothing more, nothing less.
Push the price as far as the market can bear. The faster we get rid of health insurance, the faster this country will become happier by taking away the burden that these health costs are bringing to most people.
If the cost is too expensive to bring the service to the market, it’s the job of the business providing the service to figure out how to lower the cost so that the market can afford it. You can’t sell 1,000 dollar tooth brushes in a real market, so it should not be allowed in the medical market when hospitals and insurance allow this kind of price to be paid for a tooth brush.
“Unrelated, now CVS has it’s own epi pen coming out. Much lower price. Why did it take so long? No proof, could it be the old gas station thing (dealers on the same corner agreeing on price)? Who knows?”
It’s hilarious, people will bitch about how govt is ripping them off, but not say a got damn word about the private medical industry that is really ripping us off. Cry about property taxes, but not their medical costs that they barely even use for most of their life. God knows how much I have paid into health care industry while barely being sick my entire life.
Pumps why do you bring property taxes into every discussion? Income inequality you are out raged! High pharmaceutical costs you are outraged! Gangster bankers you are outraged!! Yet somehow high property taxes are justified.
Pumps, one visit to the hospital and not only all the money you put in, but also the equity you have in your house could vaporize.
Medicare is the only thing that allows older people to keep their houses. Once that is privatized it is over.
High property taxes are avoidable. It’s as simple as that. I’m willingly paying the taxes by continuing to live in this area. I don’t see them as a total ripoff as you do. If someone has three kids go through a good public school, they make out. If the police arrive within 2 mins to my house on an emergency call, my taxes are worth it. They pick up my garbage. They prune the trees if I call. They clear the roads immediately after every snow storm. Take care of my recycling. Take care of my sewage waste. Provide a good education for every single kid in my town. Do a great job with keeping the roads nice even though the huge dump trucks abuse the roads regularly. A bunch of parks that are maintained. Beautiful town pool. Two high schools. Three middle schools. Bunch of elementary schools. A municipal building. Cops that keep my town clean by harassing out of towners. God knows what else I missed, but you think all this is cheap? You think I get nothing for my money. My employer and myself have contribute more money to health insurance than I pay in taxes and I pay high taxes. I get almost nothing for that. So save me the bs.
*my employer and myself contribute more money to health insurance than I contribute to property taxes.
The answer is to have a single payer. One that fights tooth and nail to keep costs down. Have a separate fund setup to invest in research. Medical cost problem solved. Both costs are contained.
Bottom line, you can’t have people profiting off of sickness/disease. Too much can go wrong and it did.
Martin Shkreli gets shit thrown in his face.
There is still good in this world.
that’s a nice mlk day story. hopefully, shkreli will also contract tetanus.
Marine recreation (jj Edition):
http://nypost.com/2017/01/16/sex-doll-floating-in-river-mistaken-for-dead-body/
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