You buyin’ this?

From the Star Ledger:

Murphy’s state bank would help working families, boost local economy

New Jersey has an investment problem.

The Garden State’s numerous credit downgrades, budget shortfalls, crumbling infrastructure, chronic underfunding of critical programs and priorities are well known. The source of these issues isn’t a lack of capital or wealth. New Jersey is among the nation’s wealthiest states with a growing millionaire population.

Many argue that Jersey’s credit woes stem from former Gov. Chris Christie’s continuation of ill-advised tax cuts that weakened state coffers, along with an underfunded pension system dating back to the Gov. Christie Whitman years. This irresponsible fiscal policy reinforced backwards, yet persistent notions that hedge funds and enormous corporations should be appeased before tax dollars are invested in small businesses, public services, and working families. New Jersey deposits taxpayer funds directly into Wall Street and foreign banks, coupling tax giveaways with misdirected investments and high fees.

Consider for a moment: whether you believe that our taxes should be lower or higher, your tax money, which is intended specifically to provide public services, ideally aimed at helping residents and maintaining public infrastructure, is filtered through Wall Street bankers and instead used as bonuses for financiers.

As a result, the state of New Jersey paid more than $1 billion in fees and $3 billion in interest to Wall Street for debt services in 2016. Payment of debt costs have been prioritized over meeting the public purpose for which they were borrowed. This system isn’t just immoral – it’s inefficient and irresponsible, a final blow in a line of schemes that Wall Street uses to steal our wages and our tax dollars, and it’s contributed to the stagnation of investment.

Murphy’s budget begins to address this, reinstating tax fairness and investing state dollars in priorities like education and transportation, but intractable structural issues remain.

A publicly owned bank which makes affordable loans to small businesses, directly finances public infrastructure, invests in green energy and efficiency programs, and refinances student loans, would put tax dollars to work properly: supporting New Jersey’s economy from the bottom up.

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

262 Responses to You buyin’ this?

  1. Californicator says:

    Phirst

  2. No One says:

    Hillarious lead article. Written by a pumpkin like mentality.
    The Star Ledger author should interview for the People’s Daily in China.

  3. D-FENS says:

    You can propose anything these days so long as you say “it helps working families” after it.

  4. D-FENS says:

    NJ politicians put NJ in financial peril so, let them run a bank! After all it helps working families. You want to help the poor helpless working families don’t you?

  5. D-FENS says:

    Think about the children.

  6. Hold my beer says:

    Seems legit.

  7. Californicator says:

    Trump running the White House like an ATM.

    Only in his case ATM stands for Ass to Mouth.

  8. Californicator says:

    A nationwide shortage of teachers threatens quality education, according to the education establishment and its advocates in the media. But as with the population bomb, Y2K, and the devils of Loudon, the reality of the supposed crisis is quite different from its representation. A look at the data puts the situation into perspective.
    The shortage claim has been around for some time. The National Education Association warned in 1921 that there was “an appalling lack of trained teachers throughout the country.” At the time, we had a student-to-teacher ratio of 33 to 1; we have more than halved the ratio in less than 100 years. The late Cato Institute scholar Andrew Coulson gave us a more up-to-date perspective in 2015, explaining that since 1970 “the number of teachers has grown six times faster than the number of students. Enrollment grew about 8 percent from 1970 to 2010, but the teaching workforce grew 50 percent.”
    A new report from the U.S. Department of Education states that our teaching force is still growing proportionate to the student population. In fact, we now have over 3.8 million public school teachers in the U.S., an increase of 13 percent in the last four years. During that same time period, student enrollment rose just 2 percent. Mike Antonucci, director of the Education Intelligence Agency, adds that, between 2008 and 2016, student enrollment was flat but the teaching force expanded from 3.4 million to more than 3.8 million, a rise of 12.4 percent. University of Pennsylvania education professor Richard Ingersoll avers that not only is there no shortage of teachers, there is actually a glut. Ingersoll, who has long studied teacher-staffing trends, says the growth in the teaching force, which goes well beyond student growth, is financially a “ticking time bomb.” He adds that the “main budget item in any school district is teacher’s salaries. This just can’t be sustainable.”
    And it’s not only the teaching force that’s ballooning: the number of other school personnel has been expanding at an alarming pace as well. Researcher and economics professor Benjamin Scafidi found that, between 1950 and 2015, the number of teachers increased about 2.5 times as fast as the uptick in students. But even more outrageous is the fact that other education employees—administrators, aides, counselors, social workers— rose more than seven times the increase in students. Despite all this new staff, student academic achievement has stagnated—or even declined—over the past several decades.
    The myth that America suffers a scarcity of teachers is promulgated by the teachers’ unions and their supporters in the education establishment. On the California Teachers Association website, we read that “California will need an additional 100,000 teachers over the next decade.” But this statistic simply means that CTA expects about a 2.8 percent yearly attrition rate, and will need to hire 10,000 teachers per annum over a ten-year period to maintain current staffing levels—more of an actuarial projection than an alarming call for action. (The union adds that California must hire even more teachers to “reduce class size so teachers can devote more time to each student.” The claim that small class size benefits all students—another union promulgated myth—means more teachers, which translates to more dues money for the union.) In reality, California is following the national trend in overstaffing. According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, California had 332,640 teachers in 2010. By 2015, there were 352,000. But the student population has been virtually flat, moving from 6.22 million in 2010 to 6.23 million in 2016.

  9. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    I had two students transfer from California. They said they had class sizes of 40. Whatever school they went to was most certainly understaffed.

  10. Very Stable Genius says:

    @nytimes

    Members of a special team at the Education Department that had been investigating widespread abuses by for-profit colleges have been marginalized, reassigned or instructed to focus on other matters, according to current and former employees

  11. Very Stable Genius says:

    @nytimes

    The unwinding of the team has effectively killed investigations into possibly fraudulent activities at several large for-profit colleges where top hires of
    Betsy DeVos,
    the education secretary,
    had previously worked

  12. Californicator says:

    7:47 betcha they had plenty of admins.

  13. D-FENS says:

    Sounds like more targeted harassment of conservatives.

  14. Very Stable Genius says:

    @tripgabriel

    DeVry, a for-profit college that paid $100 million for defrauding students in 2016, was under further investigation by Dept of Ed pre-Trump.

    Betsy DeVos ended that & put a former DeVry dean in charge of looking into for-profits.

  15. dentss dunnigan says:

    Is this another example of what Jersey makes Low taxed states take …Dave Tepper moves out of high tax New Jersey to No income tax Florida and two years later he buys the Carolina Panthers for two billion ? …..

  16. chicagofinance says:

    WTF is this? Christie is crap, but this comment in bullsh!t…
    Many argue that Jersey’s credit woes stem from former Gov. Chris Christie’s continuation of ill-advised tax cuts that weakened state coffers, along with an underfunded pension system dating back to the Gov. Christie Whitman years. This irresponsible fiscal policy reinforced backwards, yet persistent notions that hedge funds and enormous corporations should be appeased before tax dollars are invested in small businesses, public services, and working families. New Jersey deposits taxpayer funds directly into Wall Street and foreign banks, coupling tax giveaways with misdirected investments and high fees.

  17. leftwing says:

    Chi, I was going to respond to that article but there is so much so wrong it is pointless and would take waaayyy too much time.

    Someone should post a link on site with a serious financial audience as an example of what passes for analysis in NJ is parody in the real world. Would love to see those comments, need a good laugh today.

    Does our resident sleuth have any interest in digging up this author’s background? Would be interested in seeing that.

  18. leftwing says:

    Have a couple links coming, may be paywall, not sure, but touch on some things often spoken about here. Not taking a position, and I’m sure everyone can find data to support their own view.

    Here’s one, first time I’ve heard the term ‘half-back’ in this context.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/forget-florida-more-northern-retirees-head-to-appalachia-1526388500

  19. Yo! says:

    The authors are labor union stooges. The point of the State Bank of New Jersey is to direct money to projects favored by labor unions. I expect the bank to finance mini-Xanadus, the fail. Murphy knows this and is setting up the bank to fund projects through his re-election campaign, win a second term, and let his successor work out the busted loans.

  20. leftwing says:

    This is really interesting. Played with it a little last night, want to look at it more closely today. Especially methodology.

    Anyway, originally the viewpoint was frustrating but is now the most interesting aspect to me…captures all schools all areas, not just elites. You can search by city, school, state.

    Couple items that jump out….the provinciality (real word?) of many schools, including some I would believe have a larger national draw…BC places 40% of its grads in Boston and really doesn’t have as big a national footprint as I would expect…

    Also, take a look at Boston or NY…really underscores the regionality (word?) of smaller and state schools….Hofstra, Fordham, Seton Hall, Fairleigh Dickinson, St John’s all dropping 2/3 or better of alum in NY. Interesting point in the context of college selection, which for my kids have started with big picture questions of how/where do you want to live rather than what do want to be/what do you want to major in…..

    https://www.wsj.com/graphics/where-graduates-move-after-college/?mod=article_inline

  21. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Guess they drove up the costs in “cheap low tax” Florida. Now the locusts will drive up the costs in another low cost location.

    leftwing says:
    May 16, 2018 at 9:32 am
    Have a couple links coming, may be paywall, not sure, but touch on some things often spoken about here. Not taking a position, and I’m sure everyone can find data to support their own view.

    Here’s one, first time I’ve heard the term ‘half-back’ in this context.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/forget-florida-more-northern-retirees-head-to-appalachia-1526388500

  22. leftwing says:

    I have seven beautiful 5lb+ salmon filets coming out of cure this morning to get ready for a nice cold smoke later today. Get those set up, refresh the Imperial IPA and wood stores, and we’re all set. Mmmmmmmm.

    I’m off soon. Maybe catch up later.

  23. Juice Box says:

    Folks Fractional-reserve banking in the hands of the politicians…..Just think of the comedy….

  24. The Great Pumpkin says:

    These locusts go to an area, force the local and state govt to take out loans to increase the quality of living, and then leave to another location when the cost comes due. Dirtbags!

  25. Hold my beer says:

    maybe the bank can finance a new tunnel to nyc and the debt could be serviced by a yak on the commuters and train station parking lots.

    Or he can build more $150 million sand storage buildings

  26. Hold my beer says:

    Pumps

    I like how the guy bought a pickup truck to fit in. Yeah that will work.

  27. The Great Pumpkin says:

    🤣🤣🤣 Can’t make this stuff up!

  28. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    HMB…Salt! Not sand.

    Lead article was seriously flawed the moment I read this sentence. Obvious partisan crapola. If accurate, would have read from Florio to Christie. Florio first changed the actuary to a stupid high number to avoid payment. Everyone else including our current stooge in Trenton performed some kind of trickery to avoid full payment. I still find it incredible how much of this is blamed on Christie when the majority of the damage was done long before he took office. He made more payments than any of hid predecessors. Of course, the amount owed had ballooned much like his waistline by then.

    “Many argue that Jersey’s credit woes stem from former Gov. Chris Christie’s continuation of ill-advised tax cuts that weakened state coffers, along with an underfunded pension system dating back to the Gov. Christie Whitman years.”

  29. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    Elect a Wall Street criminal and expect Wall Street financial alchemy to solve your problems. I only hope his state bank performs better than Lehman and Bear.

  30. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    The morons who wrote the lead article said nothing about the “state bank”. This is the entirety of their reference to the headline:

    A public bank could make sweeping investments in energy efficiency and building upgrades to optimize public facilities like schools, creating more than three times the jobs that similar investments in fossil fuel projects create.

  31. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    A nationwide shortage of teachersfathers married to mothers threatens quality education

  32. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    That’s the story across all education institutions these days. Professors don’t even chair departments anymore, admins do. You could cut 80% of the staffing of any college and never lay off an actual teacher.

    7:47 betcha they had plenty of admins.

  33. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    The state is Montclair in a nutshell. Wall Street keeps extending out debt further and further for Montclair/NJ. Credit scores improve as amount owed this year is now lower than before. Of course fifteen years from now, you’ll be paying for 2018 and 2019 and so on. Wall Street loves it. They get their fees both for the new debt issuances as well as way more interest than originally expected. The town loves it. They get to pay for today, tomorrow. The problem is, tomorrow comes sooner and sooner until you can no longer pay for today from tomorrow. Then you go begging with your tail between your knees to the federal trough. I should be leaving NJ right about that time. Murphy’s policies so far will accelerate this timeline. Had it not been for the Trump rally, we would have gotten their next year. Now I must extend out a year or two.

  34. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    In NJ, our classrooms are filled with aides dying to become teachers, but no positions are available for them. A teacher shortage is one giant crock of sh1t lie.

  35. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    TNX is at 3.10.

  36. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    She’s a legitimate journalist…NOT!

    Does our resident sleuth have any interest in digging up this author’s background? Would be interested in seeing that.

    http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/16/03/08/profile-family-s-own-story-motivates-her-to-help-the-working-poor-in-nj/

  37. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Here’s the other partisan hack:

    https://njwec.org/about/staff/dan-fatton/

  38. D-FENS says:

    “Blue Wave?”

    Lots of primary elections yesterday. Moderate Democrats mostly lost in favor of “extreme left wing” liberal progressives.

    Hard Left Democratic progressives will face Republicans in the general elections in November.

    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/moderates-go-down-in-key-house-dem-primaries-as-national-dems-fret

  39. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Just like there are legions of individuals who want to be CEO’s, how many are actually qualified? There is shortage of good teachers because our society gives no respect to the teaching profession on top of the crappy pay for the multitude of skills needed to perform the job. So think of what you are attracting? Yes, plenty of losers.

    Let’s be honest, it’s almost impossible to have a shortage at any profession with the amount of people not working. Any job can be replaced. The problem is, the lack of quality workers. A bunch of crap is in place for most occupations. In every workplace I have been in, you had a few workers doing the work for the losers who take up space. I see it happen over and over, where a few carry the ship.

    Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary’s Cankle fluid. says:
    May 16, 2018 at 11:16 am
    In NJ, our classrooms are filled with aides dying to become teachers, but no positions are available for them. A teacher shortage is one giant crock of sh1t lie.

  40. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    It’s a much smaller group, mostly sociopaths, than you think.

    Just like there are legions of individuals who want to be CEO’s

  41. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Some would say that if you are not a sociopath, you are not qualified to be a CEO, of a public company, anyway.

  42. chicagofinance says:

    Listen up you little sh!tbag……. get this through your obtuse personality.

    The ad hominem (your original posited concept from years ago), is referring to David Harsanyi, not me. You are the stink bug of this board……..

    Fabius Maximus says:
    May 14, 2018 at 9:47 pm
    Chi.

    Saying that there is a lot of dumb post is not AH. Asking if you had done Due Diligence on a commentator again is not AH.

    “Why don’t you shut up you drunk, diminutive, river-dancing, neo-nazi, Mick.” that is AH.

    I only bring it up, not that I care what you call me, but I thought you only used that level of vitriol when talking about your current clients or prospective clients?

    And just to be clear, that is not AH, that is just reconciling current posts with your previous posts.

  43. chicagofinance says:

    Why is it that FlabMax is the only person I know that wishes all of the Superfund sites in New Jersey were actually mass graves of executed Jews?

  44. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    Teacher shortage = fake news.

  45. D-FENS says:

    @_p4z_
    When you’re a dead Palestinian martyr but your nose keeps itching

    https://twitter.com/_p4z_/status/996648794149326848

  46. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    FlabMax isn’t antisemitic. His party’s position CURRENTLY is. Just another divisive position in the age where both parties are not allowed to agree on anything, even if the position is an intelligent one. I’ve hated the progressive anti-Israel position. Not that I’m a big fan of religious states. But after WWII, the need was certainly there. Shame the Palestinians keep latching on to corrupt buffoons for leadership. Israel offered them the farm countless times. Now it’s simply too late. As is the case with NJ.

  47. Fabius Maximus says:

    Wow Chi, you got issues. I don’t know where the Anti-Semitic projections come from, but you should get some professional help for that.

  48. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    There is only a teacher shortage in 1 subject, Physics. In all others, we can fill those positions. Social Studies positions get 500 applications. No shortage there. That being said, most people use that as an argument to perpetually keep the positions rotating and at minimum salary. This ensures that you will lower the quality of the profession long term.

  49. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    The other mythical shortage is the so called shortage of Scientists and Engineers.

  50. Californicator says:

    fter being tangled up in a messy divorce the last two years, Frances Bean Cobain and ex-husband Isaiah Silva have finally reached a property settlement agreement, according to TMZ. Per the terms of the agreement, Silva is now entitled to Kurt Cobain’s famous MTV Unplugged guitar, which had been passed through the hands of various family members.

    The rightful owner of the guitar had long been a point of contention throughout the former couple’s divorce proceedings. Silva claimed Frances gave the 1959 Martin D-18E to him as a present. For her part, Frances denied ever relinquishing the instrument to him.

    In addition to its monetary value — it’s estimated to be worth millions of dollars — the guitar is said to be only one of 300 made at the time and supposedly the last one the Nirvana frontman played before his passing. It was also meant to stay within the family.

    “It’s not his to take,” Frances’ mother, Courtney Love, previously told TMZ when asked about Silva’s claims to the instrument. She then went on to call the guitar a “treasured heirloom” and said Frances “never planned” on giving it away for good.

    TMZ says that Frances “wants to move on” from the divorce, even if that means giving up the guitar and all the sentimentality attached to it. Frances — herself an aspiring musician with at least one impressive original track under her belt — isn’t walking away from the divorce completely empty handed, though, as she gets to keep the house she and Silva bought together.

  51. Fabius Maximus says:

    But back to the point.
    How is calling David Harsanyi as Right Winger be considederd AH? Is he not a Right Winger? If I call Bernie a Left Winger, is that AH?

    C a guy who writes a book called “Obama’s Four Horsemen: The Disasters Unleashed by Obama’s Reelection”, be considered an objective commentator on O’s legacy. He wrote a right wing hatchet article and I called it what it is.

  52. Fabius Maximus says:

    Thanks Stu.
    I would say that Israel has stop voting a government so far right. The current administration has no desire or current need to find a solution.

  53. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    I knew nothing of sting bugs until a several years ago. With a little bit of research I found that they hit NJ after we left in ’97, apparently in just the nick of time. No stink bugs in MA….yet.

    Background: The brown marmorated stink bug was accidentally introduced into the United States from China or Japan. It is believed to have hitched a ride as a stowaway in packing crates or on various types of machinery. The first documented specimen was collected in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in September, 1998

    You are the stink bug of this board……..

  54. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grbSQ6O6kbs

    @_p4z_
    When you’re a dead Palestinian martyr but your nose keeps itching

    https://twitter.com/_p4z_/status/996648794149326848

  55. joyce says:

    You do seem to find anti-semitism everywhere.

    chicagofinance says:
    May 16, 2018 at 12:14 pm
    Why is it that FlabMax is the only person I know that wishes all of the Superfund sites in New Jersey were actually mass graves of executed Jews?

  56. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    “You do seem to find anti-semitism everywhere.”

    Much like BLM organizers find racism everywhere.

  57. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    And Democrats find income inequality everywhere…except in their own party.

  58. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    10 year German bonds (Bunds), current yield: 0.611%
    10 year Italian Government bonds, current yield: 2.125%

    Man, those Euros must be a ton better than greenbacks!

  59. joyce says:

    I hope we’re not going back to two wrongs make a right.

    Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary’s Cankle fluid. says:
    May 16, 2018 at 1:42 pm
    “You do seem to find anti-semitism everywhere.”

    Much like BLM organizers find racism everywhere.

  60. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    Montclair headline of the day:

    Principal James Earle notified parents in an email that there was allegedly a sexual assault in the all-gender restroom at the high school.

  61. Fast Eddie says:

    An all-gender restroom. Can’t we just divide the country in half and let the liberals live in their own idea of utopia? I have lost a lot of respective for the republicans over the years but the left is beyond politics and have arrived at the door of mental illness. My father’s generation would have kicked the living p1ss out of these p.ussies.

  62. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    Can we just call an all-gender bathroom by it’s proper name?

    “The glory hole room.”

  63. Fast Eddie says:

    LOL!

  64. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    I think Democrats need to bring their own safe space port-a-potty with them everywhere they go. I’m not saying they all have small dicks, but I think a lot of them do.

  65. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    Here’s the safe space port-a-potty prototype.

    https://bit.ly/2IroWje

  66. Fast Eddie says:

    Inferior, identity-challenged, apprehensive, fearful, tense, neurotic, dejected and forlorn would be an accurate depiction of a radical mind.

  67. Fast Eddie says:

    Lib,

    Is that a c0ck cage for liberal cucks?

  68. Hold my beer says:

    An all gender restroom for teens. What could possibly go wrong.

  69. Californicator says:

    3:34 everyone is pleased with the peace you have found through conformity.

  70. Hold my beer says:

    Fast Eddie and Lib,

    I read an article on yahoo today about a snowflake’s 4 day hike to Machu pichu in Peru. Didn’t bring adequate sun protection, no first aid kit, no toilet paper, didn’t bring a water bladder or water purification tablets, inadequate clothing. She wound up getting sunburn, parasites, dehydrated, and cold. Who would think water in South America would be unsafe and it would be cold 13,000 feet above sea level. She also failed to give herself a few days before the hike to get used to being so high above sea level. And from her picture I guarantee she considers herself woke or a progressive.

    One of the commenters said she could have taken a train there in 4 hours and would have had an extra 3 days to explore Peru.

    When I take my kid fishing in a town park we bring thermoses, snacks, a first aid kid, hats, sunglasses, bandanas, sunscreen, and we only go for a few hours and we can usually see the car from where we are fishing. What clown goes on. A 4 day hike in the mountains of Peru without spending a few minutes researching what to bring. Did she think she was walking around Central Park or something?

  71. l-u-r-k-e-r says:

    There are more claims of anti-Semitism than instances of it.

  72. Alex says:

    Re: Sexual assault in a Monclair High School gender neutral bathroom.

    A tragic event that shouldn’t have happened, made possible by liberals taking away women’s expectation of privacy in women’s bathrooms.

    You Dems have placed trangender (men) rights above women’s rights, thereby waging war against women. Such a shame.

  73. Californicator says:

    4:10 what kind of dumb shit publications do you read…?

  74. Californicator says:

    Boy’s Life?

  75. Hold my beer says:

    Cal. It’s called yahoo. Was on the home page this morning. She sounds like a total moron. It was an awful story and poorly written. So bad I had to read it. Like hate watching Bright on Netflix

  76. chicagofinance says:

    Fabius Maximus says:
    May 16, 2018 at 1:03 pm
    But back to the point.
    How is calling David Harsanyi as Right Winger be considederd AH? Is he not a Right Winger? If I call Bernie a Left Winger, is that AH?

    ad ho·mi·nem
    (of an argument or reaction) directed against a person rather than the position they are maintaining.

  77. chicagofinance says:

    Read the following…… is there any refutation or discussion of Harsanyi’s points?

    Fabius Maximus says:
    May 13, 2018 at 7:08 pm
    Wow, whole lot of dumb in this thread. Where to start.
    Chi, see your failing to do your Due Diligence again.

    “David Harsanyi is a senior editor at The Federalist”
    So a Right winger who writes for a publication that defended Roy Moore dating Teenage Girls, writes a hatchet piece on O’s legacy? Where’s the news in this?

  78. chicagofinance says:

    OK I agree….. the only AH is that you are an Ass Hole

  79. chicagofinance says:

    Read my preface…..

    chicagofinance says:
    May 12, 2018 at 9:54 am
    Here is an opinion piece, but it really states a lot of facts from my view……. I wish more people would just pay attention to things in the context of what really happened, and not just garbage Tweeting in 2018….

    The dismantling of Obama’s legacy proves our government still works
    By David Harsanyi

  80. Californicator says:

    7:54 I can dig it. Everyone wants to be “off grid” until they are …. then shit gets real , real quick — though I must say, with smaller olar generators coming into their own, the whole idea of getting away just seems so much the easier. Take your conveniences with you. As far as So. America goes, no F’ing Way.

    Thanks .

  81. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “Additionally, he believes that in the long term, governments will have to compete for us and “these artificial borders” are going to go away and dissolve over time.
    “People will be able to move from one country to another based on which one is providing the best service at the lowest cost. Very similar to the way you choose a home or a cell phone, the same thing should happen in government and it will.”
    While he understands the idea may seem outlandish to most people, he firmly believes it will happen.”

    Billionaire Tim Draper says the government will be forced to become ‘virtual’ soon – Fox News
    https://apple.news/AgWFiLNPUTmScBLOYha2uOw

  82. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Long, but worth it.

    The Birth of the New American Aristocracy – The Atlantic
    https://apple.news/AikbDgxMtR1mVeWNk38dDwQ

  83. Hold my beer says:

    Pumps

    That pickup line only worked for JJ

    “Long but worth it”

  84. Fabius Maximus says:

    Chi, opinions are not facts. and second I don’t think the article needs refutation. But I’ll indulge you. Lets take a paragraph from this and have a look.

    “One federal court found the ObamaCare subsidy unconstitutional, and the case was working its way toward the Supreme Court. But then again, no administration in memory was stopped more often by courts, often by unanimous Supreme Court decisions. Whether it was ignoring the Senate in making appointments or claiming to rewrite employment law, Obama tried to function without constitutional restraints.”

    Well that sounds terrible, but lets break this down.

    “One federal court found the ObamaCare subsidy unconstitutional”
    I’m sure there was a case that was ruled that way. There were a lot of filing related to OCare and at least one made it all the way to the SC. So yeah, we have a fact! What happened to the case?

    “the case was working its way toward the Supreme Court.”
    Yeah again, the system is working as it should. How did they rule?

    “But then again, no administration in memory was stopped more often by courts”
    Wait, before you side track off onto something else, what happened to the case you just mentioned? Did it get to the SC? What happened with it? What was the ruling?
    Oh and on that side track, can I have some stats to back that assertion? How many times was this administration stopped? How did that compare to previous administrations?

    “often by unanimous Supreme Court decisions.” Are we still stuck on this side track? Did the original case we were talking about make its way to the SC and got struck down? Was it struck down unanimously? I need to know? You have me on pins and needles in anticipation.

    “Whether it was ignoring the Senate in making appointments or claiming to rewrite employment law”
    Hold on a minute, you side tracked off into the whole SC thing, what has Senate appointments and Employment Law have to do with an OCare Case? Can we finish that first?

    “Obama tried to function without constitutional restraints”
    I thought you said cases where being referred all the way to the SC. Isn’t that how this whole Constitution thing is supposed to work. Did it work here? Was O’s overreach restrained by judicial oversight? I wait with baited breath. #NOT

    Right wing hack doing a Hatchet Job on O’s Legacy.
    #NotAH

  85. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Democrats: YOU DESERVE TO BE IMPEACHED BECAUSE YOU FU.CKED A WOMAN WITH BIG TITS!

    Republicans: Cool.

  86. Fast Eddie says:

    Oblammy has a legacy?

  87. Very Stable Genius says:

    @nytimes

    Breaking News:

    Rex Tillerson issued a thinly veiled rebuke of President Trump, saying the U.S. is threatened by a “growing crisis in ethics and integrity”

  88. Very Stable Genius says:

    @jaketapper

    Rex Tillerson to graduating cadets at VMI:

    “If our leaders seek to conceal the truth, or we as people become accepting of alternative realities that are no long grounded in facts, then we as American citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom.”

  89. Californicator says:

    7:31 his legacy, He was elected to two terms, guided the Country from the brink of financial crisis, and left office with no discernible scandals….or evidence of corruption.

  90. Fast Eddie says:

    ….guided the Country from the brink of financial crisis

    LMAO!!!

  91. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    Call the wambulance!

    The officer needs to be awarded a medal for his professionalism.

  92. 3b says:

    Front page article in The NY Times this morning dramatic drop in U.S. fertility rates across all races. Increase in women in their 40s having children. Goes on to talk about building careers and many women now being the primary bread winners.

  93. Yo! says:

    http://www.nj.com/data/2018/05/these_15_nj_real_estate_markets_are_sizzling_hot_right_now_spring_edition.html#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured

    Jersey City, Weehawken go 1-2 in state home price appreciation table. A lot of wealth being created there. Proximity to Manhattan, not schools, is what matters today.

  94. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    Here’s a Dem who actually gets how to campaign and will probably go very far in politics. She is the anti-divisive candidate. Wish there were more like her.

    https://bit.ly/2rVzcFl

  95. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    Juice. In my opinion, these videos are more entertaining than anything Hollywood could ever produce.

    Why are we all so intrigued by them? Perhaps, because the pendulum has swung way too far to the left. Progressive leaders want us to believe that white privilege, historical statues, illegal immigration, gender issues and that racism is systemic among the ranks of ALL police. Yet, these are not major issues that affect a very large number of people. These are issues that matter mainly to wonky political fanatics that follow politics like sport and need something to rally around since the real issues (income gap, lobbies, campaign finance reform, corporatocracy) that are killing this country are embraced by both parties. This country really is sad right now.

  96. NJDepartment says:

    PUMP

    Look at this post.. Classic example of the fact that the RE bubble is gonna go bust…

    https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=249651&p=3931840#p3931457

  97. D-FENS says:

    I’m actually quite hopeful.

    “This country really is sad right now.”

  98. D-FENS says:

    Why do Democrats protect and defend MS13 Gang members who murder innocent people? Democrats sound awful.

    Fabius Maximus says:
    May 17, 2018 at 7:16 am
    Funny and Appropriate
    https://twitter.com/Marmel/status/996856988825874432

  99. nwnj says:

    3B- What further evidence of a diseased society do you need than one that can’t reproduce at a replacement rate? Greed, materialism are rampant. Feminism has damaged the society beyond calculation. It’s pathetic.

  100. nwnj says:

    Ms13 is a potential voter block for Democrats. Once they get felons and illegals on the rolls they are in business.

    Mass graves, assasinating journalists, dissolving bodies in acid, street warfare all brought to you the the Democrats and their open border platform.

  101. chicagofinance says:

    This woman was full of crap — and she didn’t mind sharing it in front of horrified diners.

    A Canadian woman was so incensed that a Tim Hortons employee denied her access to a restroom that she popped a squat, pooped on the floor and flung her dung at him.

    The unhinged woman was captured on video Monday yelling at the hapless staffer in Langley as she grabs a couple of tissues and proceeds to pull down her pants.

    She backs up against a divider between the counter and seating area before relieving herself – then disgustingly scooping up her feces and flinging it at the stunned employee, who was on the phone.

    But she was not quite done.

    Before fleeing, she wipes her behind and throws the soiled tissue at the counter.

    Officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police collared the crazed crapper in the parking lot a short time later, The Abbotsford News reported.

    Prosecutors are considering whether to charge the woman.

    A spokesman for the coffee chain told The Province that we are deeply concerned by this video as the safety of our team members and guests is always a top priority for us.”

    The spokesman added that “in limited cases across the country, Restaurants have a restricted access policy for restroom to enure the well-being of our guests.”

    He said the employee used his discretion and denied access to the woman “based on past behavior.”

    “As matters escalated, the Team Member contacted local authorities for assistance,” the statement added.

  102. D-FENS says:

    MS-13 = Good
    NRA = Terrorists

  103. 3b says:

    Nw I don’t know about feminism but high housing and property taxes no pensions and expensive medical coverage no wage increases and the fact that it now takes two incomes to live a decent middle class life oh and student loans have all contributed to people delaying marrying and postponing children and then only maybe having one because of the expense of day care have all led to this situation. I blame the boomers and generation x crowd. And I am a tail end boomer!

  104. Phoenix says:

    What is happening to the middle aged American female? These videos are disturbing.

  105. chicagofinance says:

    “I don’t think it’s hurting the buyer demand at all,” she said. “My buyers say they better get busy and buy before the interest rates go up any further.”

    Buy now or be priced out forever….

  106. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    Didn’t we see this 11 years ago?

  107. 3b says:

    Chgo I like the comment about being priced out of the market. Yep heard they too back in the mid 80s. “ A whole generation will be completely priced out of the housing market forever “. Let’s get to 5 and 6 percent mortgage rates. That will be interesting!

  108. 3b says:

    Lib it’s different this time. Everybody knows that?

  109. 3b says:

    Another front page NY Times article outlining Murphy s hard push to the left and the costs involved. Apparently moderate democrats are becoming concerned.

  110. Fast Eddie says:

    Apparently moderate democrats are becoming concerned.

    Moderate democrats died during the Oblammy administration. In fact, the democrat party is now known as the Angry Radical party.

  111. D-FENS says:

    Fcuk you

    3b says:
    May 17, 2018 at 11:27 am
    Nw I don’t know about feminism but high housing and property taxes no pensions and expensive medical coverage no wage increases and the fact that it now takes two incomes to live a decent middle class life oh and student loans have all contributed to people delaying marrying and postponing children and then only maybe having one because of the expense of day care have all led to this situation. I blame the boomers and generation x crowd. And I am a tail end boomer!

  112. nwnj says:

    3b- the poor girl on dc has the belief that she will obtain meaning in life by becoming a real est@te t0ur guide. Where would that notion have come from?

  113. chicagofinance says:

    MOUNTAINSIDE – Oh, where to begin describing this 46-page lawsuit against two Mountainside cops? A detective sergeant placing his testicles on co-workers’ food. And throwing poop-smeared toilet tissue at them. And defecating in someone’s boots. And taunting with a d!ldo dubbed “Big Blue” he liked to wave in cops’ faces, as he chased them around. And then there is the police lieutenant, accused of using his flashlight to ram in the anuses of male officers at police HQ – ramming so hard, apparently, that it was tough for one police officer to sit down, court papers say. There are many, many other charges too, like stealing a cop car from neighboring Berkeley Heights, walking around naked in the restroom, grabbing others’ gen!tals, using the “n word,” etc, etc. Both cops – who earn six-figure salaries – have been suspended as authorities try to discern fact v. fiction. Grab a cup of coffee, put your feet up and read the allegations here.

    https://uploads.thealternativepress.com/documents/5afcb676a947cae9f6044315/Mside_PD_Superior_Court_Complaint.pdf

  114. The Great Pumpkin says:

    You read that article from the Atlantic that I posted yesterday?

    Dual income is the main driver of income inequality in this country. If you can understand that, then you will understand its impact on all the things you talk about. Society has changed from the America of 1930-1980. Rise of women has had a tremendous impact on all aspects of society.

    3b says:
    May 17, 2018 at 11:27 am
    Nw I don’t know about feminism but high housing and property taxes no pensions and expensive medical coverage no wage increases and the fact that it now takes two incomes to live a decent middle class life oh and student loans have all contributed to people delaying marrying and postponing children and then only maybe having one because of the expense of day care have all led to this situation. I blame the boomers and generation x crowd. And I am a tail end boomer!

  115. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Income inequality is growing because of this

    “According to the Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, 60 years ago just 20 percent of children born to parents with a high-school education or less lived in a single-parent household; now that figure is nearly 70 percent. Among college-educated households, by contrast, the single-parent rate remains less than 10 percent. Since the 1970s, the divorce rate has declined significantly among college-educated couples, while it has risen dramatically among couples with only a high-school education—even as marriage itself has become less common. The rate of single parenting is in turn the single most significant predictor of social immobility across counties, according to a study led by the Stanford economist Raj Chetty.”

    And this

    “We are the people of good family, good health, good schools, good neighborhoods, and good jobs. We may want to call ourselves the “5Gs” rather than the 9.9 percent. We are so far from the not-so-good people on all of these dimensions, we are beginning to resemble a new species. And, just as in Grandmother’s day, the process of speciation begins with a love story—or, if you prefer, sexual selection.
    The polite term for the process is assortative mating. The phrase is sometimes used to suggest that this is another of the wonders of the internet age, where popcorn at last meets butter and Yankees fan finds Yankees fan. In fact, the frenzy of assortative mating today results from a truth that would have been generally acknowledged by the heroines of any Jane Austen novel: Rising inequality decreases the number of suitably wealthy mates even as it increases the reward for finding one and the penalty for failing to do so. According to one study, the last time marriage partners sorted themselves by educational status as much as they do now was in the 1920s.
    For most of us, the process is happily invisible. You meet someone under a tree on an exclusive campus or during orientation at a high-powered professional firm, and before you know it, you’re twice as rich. But sometimes—Grandmother understood this well—extra measures are called for. That’s where our new technology puts bumbling society detectives to shame. Ivy Leaguers looking to mate with their equals can apply to join a dating service called the League. It’s selective, naturally: Only 20 to 30 percent of New York applicants get in. It’s sometimes called “Tinder for the elites.””

  116. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “The fact of the matter is that we have silently and collectively opted for inequality, and this is what inequality does. It turns marriage into a luxury good, and a stable family life into a privilege that the moneyed elite can pass along to their children. How do we think that’s going to work out?”

  117. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Here is the article.

    Jcer,

    Read this. It reflects on our debate from a couple weeks ago about what is rich. This author refers to the top 9.9% as the new aristocracy, who claim they are middle class when they are far from it. Talks about how the 9.9% are blowing past the rest of the population, but fail to realize how good they have it because they only look up towards the 1%.

    The Birth of the New American Aristocracy – The Atlantic
    https://apple.news/AikbDgxMtR1mVeWNk38dDwQ

  118. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Jcer,

    We are a part of the 9.9%, whether we acknowledge it or not.

  119. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Last night I saw a clip of Trump that I knew would be framed differently today, and I just saw it on CNBC. He was talking about MS-13 gang members from El Salvador and said something like, “these aren’t even people, they’re animals”. Sure enough, it’s on the air today without any context, framing it as if he’s talking about any garden variety illegal alien.

    BTW, 1/3 of all people born in El Salvador already live in the US, many as unaccompanied illegal minors who are part of MS-13 and funnel money back to the leaders from their home country. MS-13 has a motto, Rape, Control, Kill

  120. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Animals, MS-13, that reminds me of something. There aren’t a lot of activists protesting rape culture in the wild. I wonder why that is? I remember watching four privileged white ducks swimming around a pond next to a Dairy Queen in Vernon, NJ about 3 decades ago. Lots of swimming and quacking, regular duck stuff. Then I realized that there was something going on. Three of the ducks finally latched onto the female, and held her down while the fourth duck literally screwed her. Ducks have the longest, screw-shaped, pen1ises in the natural world, as I disturbedly found out just a few weeks ago.

  121. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    BTW, I found out about the screw-shaped pen1ises on the internet. I was not assaulted.

  122. 3b says:

    Defens well wow! That was uncalled for.i certainly don’t see anything objectionable to what I said. Ironic in all the battles I have had with pumps I never once told him fcuk you.

  123. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    After the duck incident, the 4 male ducks swam away, snickering and boasting, I think.

  124. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    I have maybe a pancake in a spray can type investment. I just took a flyer on Hi-Crush Partners, HCLP. They make sand for fracking. I’ve done really well with my energy flyers this week, OAS, SPN.

  125. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    BTW, chi will hate this, I have nearly 7 figures in MSCC, coming close to buyout. Even easier money than I made on a couple Utility buyouts 2 years ago (when I actually did have 7 figures in play).

  126. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    This could be any of a dozen Wall Street offices I used to consult at during the 1990’s

    MOUNTAINSIDE – Oh, where to begin describing this 46-page lawsuit against two Mountainside cops? A detective sergeant placing his testicles on co-workers’ food. And throwing poop-smeared toilet tissue at them. And defecating in someone’s boots. And taunting with a d!ldo dubbed “Big Blue” he liked to wave in cops’ faces, as he chased them around. And then there is the police lieutenant, accused of using his flashlight to ram in the anuses of male officers at police HQ – ramming so hard, apparently, that it was tough for one police officer to sit down, court papers say. There are many, many other charges too, like stealing a cop car from neighboring Berkeley Heights, walking around naked in the restroom, grabbing others’ gen!tals, using the “n word,” etc, etc. Both cops – who earn six-figure salaries

  127. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Hell, I used to pick up this small Asian girl under my arm, while I carried a sh!tload of green bar computer listings under my other arm during the 1980’s. I used to call her my pocket buddy. It was a different time. I guess Mountainside didn’t keep up with the changing times.

  128. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Good stuff! Love when a high risk moves pays off!

    The Original NJ ExPat says:
    May 17, 2018 at 1:03 pm
    I have maybe a pancake in a spray can type investment. I just took a flyer on Hi-Crush Partners, HCLP. They make sand for fracking. I’ve done really well with my energy flyers this week, OAS, SPN.

  129. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    OTOH, We didn’t do gay stuff in the aerospace sector…as far as I know.

  130. Juice Box says:

    Sue Adler is going to have a tough sell with what is going on in Maplewood and South Orange schools.

    I perused the comments on the local boards, this place makes Montclair like a look like the minor leagues. Now this school board member who exerted “privilege” when pulled over for speeding and now these lawsuits and extravagant spending programs. This isn’t an Abbott district who is paying for this?

    Taxes will be going up that is for sure.

    http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2018/05/south_orange_maplewood_127_million_school_improvem.html

  131. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    After a couple years I had some legitimate JJ-like power in my office, circa 1987 (I started in 1984). I once got written up for some bad acts. By then I had a co-ed team that was envied by all, and they converted a big conference room into office space for just my team. We used to go hog wild in there. We took three hour lunches and came back to work drunk, it didn’t matter. We were hitting deadlines and producing positive outcomes. This was all Reagan Star Wars money, and we were delivering, so nobody cared. One day it came to a head. We were playing handball in out office and it devolved into a wrestling match between 4 white guys and two cute Asian girls. Girls were of course a rarity in engineering firms and I “owned” two of them.

    I was written up, with a memo #, for an An Excessively Noisy Non-Work-Related Party-Like Session. Knowing the lay of the land, I requested my own memo # to respond. Because we worked in the vast space of military acronyms, I acronymized the event as ENNWRPLS (Excessively Noisy Non-Work-Related Party-Like Session). It was a hilarious, and official, memo.

    I ended up being a folk hero there. I would go to parties years later and meet people I’ve never worked with and hear them say, “Oh, Oh, OH, OH! YOU’RE THAT GUY I HEARD ABOUT!!”

  132. leftwing says:

    “What is happening to the middle aged American female? These videos are disturbing.”

    They’re all crazy. It’s a latent disease. Some just take longer to present than others.

  133. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    I forgot the punchline. After the ENNWRPLS event I felt a little guilty. I asked my friend Phil, who had a cubicle right outside our office if we made so much noise that we were distracting engineers like him. He did this classic, side of the mouth whisper response, ExPat, the word out here isn’t about the noise you make. The talk is, “Why don’t we have Asian girls to wrestle with?”

  134. leftwing says:

    Funniest thing on that Canada Poo video is she takes the time to waddle over to the napkins and wipe.

    Because, you know, when you’re defecating in public and flinging your feces like some lower food chain primate hygiene is, like, so important. Need a clean bunghole.

  135. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    I’ve been hating Windows 10 for about a day and half. I use CMD+TAB (not alt tab) all, the fricking time. Had a Windows 10 update or two over the last couple days and suddenly it is 5 seconds between CMD+TAB and the revamped look. I’m fine with the look, I just hate the delay. Rebooted and all is fine again.

  136. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    How to be a Suburban Superstar Husband/Father for a day:

    Get out of bed an hour before anyone else and go out and buy a baker’s dozen of fresh baked bagels.

  137. chicagofinance says:

    OUT OF MY LEAGUE –The median sales price of single family homes for sale today in San Jose, CA is $984,000 (source: Zillow).

  138. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “You see, when educated people with excellent credentials band together to advance their collective interest, it’s all part of serving the public good by ensuring a high quality of service, establishing fair working conditions, and giving merit its due. That’s why we do it through “associations,” and with the assistance of fellow professionals wearing white shoes. When working-class people do it—through unions—it’s a violation of the sacred principles of the free market. It’s thuggish and anti-modern. Imagine if workers hired consultants and “compensation committees,” consisting of their peers at other companies, to recommend how much they should be paid. The result would be—well, we know what it would be, because that’s what CEOs do.”

  139. Trick says:

    Terrible school bus accident on 80, Paramus 5th graders going to Waterloo village.
    These dump trucks drive like lunatics on 80

    https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/School-Bus-Accident-New-Jersey-482928261.html

  140. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    The best Trump quote ever, (on trade)

    “Now you have the best guy ever, me..”

  141. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Sorry, I read that opening and then I stop reading

    You see, when educated people with excellent credentials

  142. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “My grandparents never lost faith in the limitless possibilities of a life free from government. But in their last years, as the reserves passed down from the Colonel ran low, they became pretty diligent about collecting their Social Security and Medicare benefits.
    There is a page in the book of American political thought—Grandfather knew it by heart—that says we must choose between government and freedom. But if you read it twice, you’ll see that what it really offers is a choice between government you can see and government you can’t. Aristocrats always prefer the invisible kind of government. It leaves them free to exercise their privileges. We in the 9.9 percent have mastered the art of getting the government to work for us even while complaining loudly that it’s working for those other people.
    Consider, for starters, the greatly exaggerated reports of our tax burdens. On guest panels this past holiday season, apologists for the latest round of upwardly aimed tax cuts offered versions of Mitt Romney’s claim that the 47 percent of Americans who pay no federal income tax in a typical year have “no skin in the game.” Baloney. Sure, the federal individual-income tax, which raised $1.6 trillion last year, remains progressive. But the $1.2 trillion raised by the payroll tax hits all workers—but not investors, such as Romney—and it hits those making lower incomes at a higher rate, thanks to a cap on the amount of income subject to the tax. Then there’s the $2.3 trillion raised by state and local governments, much of it collected through regressive sales and property taxes. The poorest quintile of Americans pays more than twice the rate of state taxes as the top 1 percent does, and about half again what the top 10 percent pays.
    Our false protests about paying all the taxes, however, sound like songs of innocence compared with our mastery of the art of having the taxes returned to us. The income-tax system that so offended my grandfather has had the unintended effect of creating a highly discreet category of government expenditures. They’re called “tax breaks,” but it’s better to think of them as handouts that spare the government the inconvenience of collecting the money in the first place. In theory, tax expenditures can be used to support any number of worthy social purposes, and a few of them, such as the earned income-tax credit, do actually go to those with a lower income. But more commonly, because their value is usually a function of the amount of money individuals have in the first place, and those individuals’ marginal tax rates, the benefits flow uphill.
    Let us count our blessings: Every year, the federal government doles out tax expenditures through deductions for retirement savings (worth $137 billion in 2013); employer-sponsored health plans ($250 billion); mortgage-interest payments ($70 billion); and, sweetest of all, income from watching the value of your home, stock portfolio, and private-equity partnerships grow ($161 billion). In total, federal tax expenditures exceeded $900 billion in 2013. That’s more than the cost of Medicare, more than the cost of Medicaid, more than the cost of all other federal safety-net programs put together. And—such is the beauty of the system—51 percent of those handouts went to the top quintile of earners, and 39 percent to the top decile.
    The best thing about this program of reverse taxation, as far as the 9.9 percent are concerned, is that the bottom 90 percent haven’t got a clue. The working classes get riled up when they see someone at the grocery store flipping out their food stamps to buy a T-bone. They have no idea that a nice family on the other side of town is walking away with $100,000 for flipping their house.”

  143. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Expat,

    Do read this last post. The participants of this blog are more than guilty of this including myself.

  144. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “From my Brookline home, it’s a pleasant, 10-minute walk to get a haircut. Along the way, you pass immense elm trees and brochure-ready homes beaming in their reclaimed Victorian glory. Apart from a landscaper or two, you are unlikely to spot a human being in this wilderness of oversize closets, wood-paneled living rooms, and Sub-Zero refrigerators. If you do run into a neighbor, you might have a conversation like this: “Our kitchen remodel went way over budget. We had to fight just to get the tile guy to show up!” “I know! We ate Thai takeout for a month because the gas guy’s car kept breaking down!” You arrive at the Supercuts fresh from your stroll, but the nice lady who cuts your hair is looking stressed. You’ll discover that she commutes an hour through jammed highways to work. The gas guy does, too, and the tile guy comes in from another state. None of them can afford to live around here. The rent is too damn high.
    From 1980 to 2016, home values in Boston multiplied 7.6 times. When you take account of inflation, they generated a return of 157 percent to their owners. San Francisco returned 162 percent in real terms over the same period; New York, 115 percent; and Los Angeles, 114 percent. If you happen to live in a neighborhood like mine, you are surrounded by people who consider themselves to be real-estate geniuses. (That’s one reason we can afford to make so many mistakes in the home-renovation department.) If you live in St. Louis (3 percent) or Detroit (minus 16 percent), on the other hand, you weren’t so smart. In 1980, a house in St. Louis would trade for a decent studio apartment in Manhattan. Today that house will buy an 80-square-foot bathroom in the Big Apple.
    The returns on (the right kind of) real estate have been so extraordinary that, according to some economists, real estate alone may account for essentially all of the increase in wealth concentration over the past half century. It’s not surprising that the values are up in the major cities: These are the gold mines of our new economy. Yet there is a paradox. The rent is so high that people—notably people in the middle class—are leaving town rather than working the mines. From 2000 to 2009, the San Francisco Bay Area had some of the highest salaries in the nation, and yet it lost 350,000 residents to lower-paying regions. Across the United States, the journalist and economist Ryan Avent writes in The Gated City, “the best opportunities are found in one place, and for some reason most Americans are opting to live in another.” According to estimates from the economists Enrico Moretti and Chang-Tai Hsieh, the migration away from the productive centers of New York, San Francisco, and San Jose alone lopped 9.7 percent off total U.S. growth from 1964 to 2009.”

  145. Fast Eddie says:

    Trick,

    Those accident pictures sadden me. To think any parent needs to deal with this type of thing is so sad.

  146. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Cali,

    For you, from that article.

    “According to a widely used school-ranking service, out of more than 5,000 public elementary schools in California, the top 11 are located in Palo Alto. They’re free and open to the public. All you have to do is move into a town where the median home value is $3,211,100. Scarsdale, New York, looks like a steal in comparison: The public high schools in that area funnel dozens of graduates to Ivy League colleges every year, and yet the median home value is a mere $1,403,600.”

  147. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Sorry, I only read posts of yours that are this size. I’ve already bagged my limit of disappointment in any of your 4 line plus posts. I don’t know if it’s your grammar or lack of education that turns me off. Even if you are cutting and pasting I know implicitly that your intellect is a factor, so I’m out.

    Expat,

    Do read this last post. The participants of this blog are more than guilty of this including myself.

  148. leftwing says:

    how many boards did you put that out to? I came in for half of what i wanted, figured see where it goes, and since your post it’s straight up.

  149. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Mr. grammar,

    What’s another word for elitist a$$hole?

    That article is pretty damn amazing at breaking down American society, and you go drop a huge turd on it? If you were really as educated as you state you are, why would you not discuss such a good article? Are you really an intellectual? I don’t really think so based on your disregard for such a well written article. I guess conspiracy theories about the Clintons are more your style of intellectual substance to feed your brain.

  150. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I know you don’t want to hear this, but it’s not a “bubble” in the classic sense. Read that article and focus on the part of real estate. I posted an excerpt in my post at 2:31pm.

    If you understand the gist of it, you will understand what I mean that it’s not a bubble in the classic sense. Unless the rich become poor, those are not bubble prices, it’s a reflection of our economic system and society. Sf is extremely expensive because it’s supoorted by the rich grabbing all the real estate that is in commutable distance to their money making machine. Simple as that. This isn’t speculation or easy loans driving up the price, it’s literally rich people competing hard for real estate in a specific location. The numbers don’t make sense to people like you because you simply don’t comprehend the amount of money these people have to compete over real estate.

    Will it crash if all the economic engines leave that area? Quite possibly. That’s why I look at capitalism as one big Ponzi scheme. Everything is driven by trying to get someone to pay more than you paid for that product, till they don’t, and it crashes. Boom and bust into infinite.

    So yes, everything really is just a bubble that will grow and then eventually bust. When will this sf market bust? Who knows, might not even be in our lifetime, but it will one day bust just like everything else in this economic system.

    NJDepartment says:
    May 17, 2018 at 10:06 am
    PUMP

    Look at this post.. Classic example of the fact that the RE bubble is gonna go bust…

    https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=249651&p=3931840#p3931457

  151. jcer says:

    pumps, proudly part of the 9.9%, without us the world stops. Buildings don’t get built, goods don’t get made, disease doesn’t get treated, your computer doesn’t work…..the vast majority of modern life is dependent on what I call the professional class(I extend this to prosperous small business owners as well).

    My grandad had a business, went from poor to rich to bankrupt before he died when my dad was a teenager. My dad started with nothing and worked hard to get us the privilege your article speaks of, in the process he created jobs and economic benefits for the people he employed, where is the problem? I agree things are not good but it isn’t the 9.9% it is the .01% who have decimated employment in the name of the almighty dollar. Don’t besmirch me I fought to keep my employees domestically but their jobs were shipped to india, most people in our class don’t want the people on the lower rung decimated we have no choice in the matter. Taking away hard earned money from people who as indicated in the article are making 250k and barely keeping above water isn’t right, that person is probably working 80hrs a week and being asked to deliver more consistently, the government keeps jacking up their property taxes and giving them less and less. Redistribution isn’t the answer, I’m frankly not sure what is but what the dems are doing isn’t working.

  152. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Hearing horrible stuff about this rt 80 crash. My heart goes out to these people involved.

  153. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Here’s how far I read

    Mr. grammar,

    What’s another word for elitist a$$hole?

    That article is pretty

  154. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    No it doesn’t. I read this whole post, btw.

    Hearing horrible stuff about this rt 80 crash. My heart goes out to these people involved.

  155. 3b says:

    Jcer well said.

  156. LurksMcGee says:

    “I don’t know if it’s your grammar or lack of education that turns me off. Even if you are cutting and pasting I know implicitly that your intellect is a factor, so I’m out.”

    Sometimes I check this site to read insults like these. Very funny.

  157. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Jcer,

    No doubt, but I don’t think the article is bashing the 9.9%. I think the author is simply pointing out the issues with the system and how it has become gamed overtime, majority speaking.

    Your response sums up one of the author’s main points. You don’t even realize that you are in a rich class and you don’t realize how your class has gamed the system.

    I’m in the 9.9% also. So don’t think this is some attack on the 9.9%. I would just be attacking myself. It’s just making sense and understanding our society on a deeper level.

  158. The Great Pumpkin says:

    What’s wrong with you? These are kids! Not something to joke around with. My friend that works in the ER at St. Joe’s said 5 kids were brought there….1 doa, and 1 just passed.

    The Original NJ ExPat says:
    May 17, 2018 at 4:45 pm
    No it doesn’t. I read this whole post, btw.

    Hearing horrible stuff about this rt 80 crash. My heart goes out to these people involved.

  159. 3b says:

    Pumps 4:50 you are contradicting yourself.

  160. The Great Pumpkin says:

    How? I really don’t think the author’s intentions were to attack the 9.9%. Maybe I’m reading it wrong.

    3b says:
    May 17, 2018 at 5:37 pm
    Pumps 4:50 you are contradicting yourself

  161. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Article has a similar theme to that other one i posted about.

    How Baby Boomers Broke America – TIME
    https://apple.news/ALKaqlZniRkWfuTH6u2EO0A

  162. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “The story of how all this came to be is like a movie in which everything seems clear only if it is played back from the start in slow motion. Beginning about 50 years ago, each scene unfolded slowly, usually without any sign of its ultimate impact. The story of America’s tailspin is not about villains, though there are some. It is not about a conspiracy to bring the country down, nor did it spring from one single source.

    But there is a theme that threads through and ties together all the strands: many of the most talented, driven Americans used what makes America great–the First Amendment, due process, financial and legal ingenuity, free markets and free trade, meritocracy, even democracy itself–to chase the American Dream. And they won it, for themselves. Then, in a way unprecedented in history, they were able to consolidate their winnings, outsmart and co-opt the forces that might have reined them in, and pull up the ladder so more could not share in their success or challenge their primacy.

    By continuing to get better at what they do, by knocking away the guardrails limiting their winnings, aggressively engineering changes in the political landscape, and by dint of the often unanticipated consequences of their innovations, they created a nation of moats that protected them from accountability and from the damage their triumphs caused in the larger community. Most of the time, our elected and appointed representatives were no match for these overachievers. As a result of their savvy, their drive and their resources (and a certain degree of privilege, as these strivers may have come from humble circumstances but are mostly white men), America all but abandoned its most ambitious and proudest ideal: the never perfect, always debated and perpetually sought after balance between the energizing inequality of achievement in a competitive economy and the community-binding equality promised by democracy. In a battle that began a half-century ago, the achievers won.

    The result is a new, divided America. On one side are the protected few – the winners – who don’t need government for much and even have a stake in sabotaging the government’s responsibility to all of its citizens. For them, the new, broken America works fine, at least in the short term. An understaffed IRS is a plus for people most likely to be the target of audits. Underfunded customer service at the Social Security Administration is irrelevant to those not living week to week, waiting for their checks. Except for the most civic-minded among them, corporate executives are not likely to worry that their government doesn’t produce a comprehensive budget. They don’t worry about the straitjacket their government faces in recruiting and rewarding talent or in training or dismissing the untalented because of a broken civil-service system. Civil service is another great American reform that in the last 50 years has become a great American moat, protecting incompetent or corrupt workers, like those who supervised the Veterans Affairs hospitals where patient waiting lists were found to have been falsified.”

  163. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “The protected need few of these common goods. They don’t have to worry about underperforming public schools, dilapidated mass-transit systems or jammed Social Security hotlines. They have accountants and lawyers who can negotiate their employment contracts or deal with consumer disputes, assuming they want to bother. They see labor or consumer-protection laws, and fair tax codes, as threats to their winnings–which they have spent the last 50 years consolidating by eroding these common goods and the government that would provide them.

    That, rather than a split between Democrats and Republicans, is the real polarization that has broken America since the 1960s. It’s the protected vs. the unprotected, the common good vs. maximizing and protecting the elite winners’ winnings.“

  164. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “It may be understandable for those on the losing side of this triumph of the achievers to condemn the winners as gluttons. That explanation, however, is too simple. Many of the protected class are people who have lived the kind of lives that all Americans celebrate. They worked hard. They innovated. They tried things that others wouldn’t attempt. They believed, often correctly, that they were writing new chapters in the long story of American progress.

    When they created ways to package mortgages into securities that could be resold to investors, for example, it was initially celebrated as a way to get more money into the mortgage pool, thereby making more mortgages available to the middle class. But by 2007 it had become far too much of a good thing. As the financial engineers continued to push the envelope with ever-riskier versions of the original invention, they crashed the economy.

    Thus, the breakdown came when their intelligence, daring, creativity and resources enabled them to push aside any effort to rein them in. They did what comes naturally – they kept winning. And they did it with the protection of an alluring, defensible narrative that shielded them from pushback, at least initially. They won not with the brazen corruption of the robber barons of old, but by drawing on the core values that have always defined American greatness.

    They didn’t do it cynically, at least not at first. They simply got really, really good at taking advantage of what the American system gave them and doing the kinds of things that America treasures in the name of the values that America treasures.”

  165. jcer says:

    pumps it’s in the tone of the article….

    “The meritocratic class has mastered the old trick of consolidating wealth and passing privilege along at the expense of other people’s children.”

    this tells me all I need to know. We do the work for the .01% because our alternative is to become downtrodden. If we really want to get right to the point we need to talk solutions. The problem has been the systemic destruction of quality jobs….the other issue that progressives don’t want to hear about is the role government financing needs drive the low interest rate climate and how you can trace the suffering of the lower class to cost of living which is being driven by easy money and the consolidation of housing into the hands of investors.

    Progressives are way too easy to predict, we are so lucky and we should pay more taxes in the form of redistribution to avoid a total collapse of the system(that is the premise of the article veiled or otherwise). I’d rather fix the problem than try to pretend it doesn’t exist by layering all of this garbage on top…subsidies don’t work.

  166. jcer says:

    In the US the suffering of the working class is mostly driven by housing and healthcare. People spend an unsustainable amount of money on housing and it is the worst in progressive areas….correct me if you will, progressive policies create misery for the working classes not prosperity.

  167. jcer says:

    They read Trumps win incorrectly in the article. It is also offensive how they basically indicate that the Trump voters are stupid for voting against their own interests. I see it differently, working people want that opportunity, they want to EARN it. The view is that Trump’s favorable economic polices could bring back some jobs and they’d have their chance to make it, they tried Obama, it didn’t work. Those working class people have some pride it is an admirable trait.

  168. Californicator says:

    2:40 yeah, but no thanks on the Move back. Too many tangible intangibles…,

  169. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Jcer,

    Again, I think you are taking the message of the articles the wrong way. As for solutions, the “Time” article presents this. Change is happening as we speak.

    “It seems like a grim story. Except that the story isn’t over. During the past two years, as I have discovered the people and forces behind the 50-year U.S. tailspin, I have also discovered that in every arena the meritocrats commandeered there are now equally talented, equally driven achievers who have grown so disgusted by what they see that they are pushing back.

    From Baruch College in Manhattan to the University of California, Irvine, more colleges are working to break down the barriers of the newly entrenched meritocracy. Elite Eastern institutions such as Amherst, Vassar and Princeton are using aggressive outreach campaigns to attract applicants who might otherwise be unaware of the schools’ generous financial-aid packages.

    Entrepreneurs like Jukay Hsu, a Harvard-educated Iraq War veteran who runs a nonprofit called C4Q out of a converted zipper factory in Queens, are making eye-opening progress with training programs aimed at lifting those displaced by automation or trade back into middle-class software-engineering jobs. “Some of the smartest, hardest-working people I’ve ever met were soldiers who didn’t graduate from college,” says Hsu. (Disclosure: I am an uncompensated board member of C4Q.)

    Even Washington is poised to benefit from the new wave of achievers. Issue One, a nonprofit ensconced in an office on lobbyists’ row on K Street, is fighting for campaign-finance reforms and pushing legislation that would limit the influence of lobbyists by reining in their checkbooks. The group is supported by a growing band of disillusioned politicians from both parties. Better Markets, a well-funded lobbying organization that squares off against the usual lobbyists and is filled with people whose meritocracy credentials match those of their adversaries, is going after continuing abuses and lack of accountability on Wall Street. Two other organizations, the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Partnership for Public Service, are preparing blueprints for civil-service reform, tax reform, better budgeting and contracting, and infrastructure investment–all of which can attract bipartisan support if and when our elected officials finally get pushed to act.”

    “Stier and the others believe that the country will overrun the lobbyists and cross over the moats when enough Americans see that we need leaders who are prepared and intelligent, who can channel our frustration rather than exploit it, and who can unite the middle class and the poor rather than divide them. They are certain that when the country’s breakdown touches enough people directly and causes enough damage, the officeholders who depend on those people for their jobs will be forced to act.

    The new achievers are doing what they do not because they are gluttons for frustration, but because they believe that America can be put back on the right course. They are laying the groundwork for the feeling of disgust to be channeled into a restoration.”

  170. Californicator says:

    Some of the jobs aren’t coming back to Trump country because they never were coming back. Trump B.S’ed his way into office. He’s been appeasing Israel which should irritate the die hard supremacists who voted Trump. No Trump just sold America a bill of goods, am I rooting for him to fail? No way. But I really don’t see how he can succeed.

  171. LurksMcGee says:

    Jcer,

    Perfect analysis.

  172. Juice Box says:

    Cali – Hillary had 84 different campaign slogans, Trump had one. You would think that the left would have finally gotten it by now. Trump didn’t win, what happened is Hillary lost and it is because the left did not have a better candidate, and I am doubtful they will have a better one in 2020.

  173. Californicator says:

    I’m not That eaten up by it. I watch stocks in a given sector and I watch the skies for nukes. The Democratic Party? Not my problem. California is as “ Progressive” as I can take. I like the civil liberties here. Much much better than anywhere else I have been. The East can keep the Shrill Brooklyn-based trans gender women’s studies majors.

  174. Californicator says:
  175. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I guess it’s like the “laurel” and “Yanny” viral thing going around. Certain people are only going to see it a certain way. Jcer and the likes can’t seem to let go of the idea that the rich are being attacked by the govt and the poor. How you can see it this way is beyond me.

    Do poor even vote? They have given up because they know the govt is bought and paid for by the rich. Doesn’t matter what they do, they are being screwed, so they have given up hope. If this wasn’t the case, they would vote and democrats would win every race.

    There are legions of lobbyists in Washington. Who are they fighting for? The poor and middle class? No, they are there for the rich, and they are so damn effective at their job that the rich continue to employ them as a tool for bending the rules in their favor.

    Is this not the case? Am I being some evil progressive for pointing this out? We now have rich taxpayers and corporations blackmailing city and states for tax breaks or they will leave. Isn’t that a sign that they have hijacked society for themselves? Our state is broke, but we have 7 billion to give Amazon? Wtf? Our state is broke, but Christie found enough money to say to Donald trump, you don’t have to pay nj the 30 million you owe. Talk about winning the lottery, wish the state of nj gave me 30 million, or better yet, 7 billion.

    This can’t continue! It’s not economically feasible to run society on the backs of the poor or middle class. It’s just not sustainable as our nation’s current infrastructure is evidence of that.

    LurksMcGee says:
    May 17, 2018 at 8:08 pm
    Jcer,

    Perfect analysis

  176. Juice Box says:

    Cali – “and I watch the skies for nukes”

    This ain’t the early 1980’s. The largest in production would barely wake you up.

    Plug in LA and pick any current weapon that can fit on a MIRV from any country.

    https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/

  177. LurksMcGee says:

    I actually did enjoy reading that article you posted Pumpkin. However, if you look at society as a ship (which the author used as a nice analogy), we’re not moving on the backs of the poor and middle class.

    We’re essentially pacifying them to prevent anarchy and total disruption to the ship. Purpose, discipline and good choices aren’t in large supply for this group. The upper echelon of society has increasingly improved the living standards of the people that aren’t contributing as much and you think they’re getting a bad deal? They’re the 13th man on a championship NBA team that barely makes people better in practice. They should be happy to get a ring. Instead, they’re playing victim and acting like they’re should get starter minutes without the production.

  178. LurksMcGee says:

    Separate note,

    Just had a baby boy last week. Looking for tips on raising a boy after having a girl 2 years ago? Any anecdotal stuff?

  179. chicagofinance says:

    FlabMax is such an anti-semite, he even hates Jiu Jitsu……

  180. chicagofinance says:

    Congrats……. as soon as he develops some coordination, you will know right away whether he is right-handed or left-handed when his diaper is off……

    LurksMcGee says:
    May 17, 2018 at 9:37 pm
    Separate note,

    Just had a baby boy last week. Looking for tips on raising a boy after having a girl 2 years ago? Any anecdotal stuff?

  181. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Lurks,

    Have a question to get a better understanding of where you are coming from… At the current minimum wage level, who is benefiting? The worker who spends 8 hrs of their day working, yet still can’t survive on it, or the owner of the business employing them? No right or wrong answer, but your answer will say a lot about your thought process.

  182. chicagofinance says:

    Also, cover the fire hose during diaper changes…… exposure to room temperature air cases the bladder to release….

  183. LurksMcGee says:

    ChiFi,

    Yeah learned the hard way on Day 4. Now I cover quickly during the changing. The daughter is adjusting well to having a baby brother but thinks he gets the concept of hi-fives.

    Pumpkin,

    The employer obviously. However, you have to crawl before you can walk. Barely surviving should be a stepping stone. Adding the concept of “barely surviving” puts someone at victim level. You can’t feed wildlife in the park and expect them to hunt on their own.

  184. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Back in the day, the minimum wage provided a means to survive and even save. Today it provides neither, so without govt support through welfare programs, this job would not exist. Who would do it if you can’t survive on it?

    So my position is it benefits the business owner. The business gets artificially low labor based on the govt subsidizing the cost through welfare.

    No right or wrong answer, but there is a morally correct answer. Why does Walmart get to employ wages that are only accepted because the worker expects welfare handouts to cover the rest of the costs?

    This is just one of many ways in which the system has been gamed.

  185. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Walmart founders and shareholders prob cry about the welfare program in public eye, but deep down they have to realize they are a main cause of its expansion. They are sucking that t!t hard!

  186. Juice Box says:

    Lurks – first off congrats, you will notice the difference at 6 months when he pees on you intentionally for giggles ofcourse…

  187. Fabius Maximus says:

    So what do we have today in Trumpland. True Greatness! Donnie working hard for the Farmland Faithful.

    China buys record amount of Russian soybeans after canceling US orders over Trump threats
    http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/388178-china-buys-record-amount-of-russian-soybeans-amid-halt-on-us-imports

  188. Fabius Maximus says:

    I’ll just leave this one here for comment!

    https://twitter.com/existentialfish/status/997062505276018688

  189. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Like your Dad’s arrest, conviction, and deportation record?

    Beginning about 50 years ago, each scene unfolded slowly

  190. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    LOL!!!!!!!!!!

    Pumps – You don’t sense any irony whatsoever in what you wrote?

    Please remind us of the where and whens of your education, please?

    What a short bus moron you are.

    The Great Pumpkin says:
    May 17, 2018 at 3:50 pm
    Mr. grammar,

    What’s another word for elitist a$$hole?

    That article is pretty damn amazing at breaking down American society, and you go drop a huge turd on it? If you were really as educated as you state you are

  191. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    chi – Middle of the night, just laughing out loud by myself.

    FlabMax is such an anti-semite, he even hates Jiu Jitsu……

  192. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    One year from now I think the entire Obama administration will go down in history as the administration that _____________- rigged the US government.

  193. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Word you should have learned in your youth, but you will hear a lot in the future:

    predicate

  194. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Thought of the day – DOJ has some big hammer held over Jeff Sessions head, making him a eunuch.

  195. jcer says:

    Pumps go to a country with a higher wage scale, the striking thing is the employers operate for fewer hours in a day/week and they also tend to operate leaner(fewer employees, greater employee responsibility, etc). Part of it is that companies like walmart employ a greater number of people at poor salaries. It is also important to remember the situation just is the way it has always been, people are poor, the problem today is not at that level it is the negative progress of the middle class.

    There are far fewer quality jobs than in past decades but once you look at any period outside of the 20th century the poor have never had it better.

    Again you need to make the distinction between the rich and the 9.9% as the author points out. The 9.9% lives well but my point they also pay the bill(taxes, fees, etc), they do not have lobbyists, and if you think they are in the driver seat with regards to wages you are delusional. Most of the 9.9% is under tremendous wage pressure, from overseas competition to automation and other trends productivity is way up, and the job market is smaller. In todays market skill and talent is key and that is what employers will pay for, not many people can do what these people do, it is lucrative for the employer and attracting the top talent makes the business owner the most money. For all of their comparisons do they compare hours worked and dollars earned for the business owner(they give examples of doctors, lawyers, dentists, finance, and tech) . I suspect you’d find the productivity per worker is higher in the US than in the rest of the first world, more hours worked, more money made for their employers and thus higher compensation.

    Again I can go back to my employees who were part of that 9.9%, after we laid them off they have had a very hard time finding work. They were good people, good workers, but while doing everything right and having “privilege”(white, upper middle class, college educated) they were not top tier talent so they were written off by prospective employers. I gave them glowing recommendations to any prospective employer they applied to but at the end of the day the work they were good at doing was stuff everyone was offshoring at a fifth the US cost(not well but that’s a different story). It took a big effort on their part to learn new skills and even still they had to take a pay cut.

    Pumps as for tax incentives, eliminate confiscatory taxation and the need for the incentives disappear. As long as jurisdictions that are low/no tax exist states will need to offer incentives to attract business. This is yet another “Progressive” scam, you see it as companies stealing tax money, I see a government bent on increasing taxes on industry that is too vested to move. This then has the side effect of making the taxing jurisdiction very unappealing for new business thus requiring the incentives you malign. So the issue was the very concept of instituting noncompetitive taxes NOT the incentives themselves.

    I have more than a few friends who literally came from nothing(blue collar parents), went to state schools using borrowed money(Rutgers, SUNY, Michigan State, Ohio State, etc) and are now in the 9.9% and I’m talking about people younger than me(people in early to mid 30’s). People who have the intelligence, drive , and values can still join the club despite where they start.

  196. Very Stable Genius says:

    @jonfavs

    The FBI was right to investigate the Trump campaign, and we know that because multiple senior Trump campaign officials have been indicted by a grand jury, and some have already plead guilty!

    Madness. Absolute madness.

  197. Very Stable Genius says:

    @splinter_news

    Donald Trump doesn’t know the difference between HPV and HIV and got
    h orny on main for Bill Gates’ daughter,
    according to Bill Gates

  198. The Great Pumpkin says:

    The Era of Low Mortgage Rates Is Over – The Wall Street Journal
    https://apple.news/AFlp146fmQXW8FYFYX5l9vg

  199. Cankle Juice Box says:

    Corrected for truth post

    Cali – Hillary had 84 different campaign slogans, Trump had one. You would think that the left would have finally gotten it by now. Trump didn’t win, what happened is Hillary lost and it is because (Clinton crookery killed off the future bench any possible competition to ensure she won) the left did not have a better candidate, and I am doubtful (pending how soon the corporate democrats=aka Rockefeller Republicans are dispatched) they will have a better one in 2020.

  200. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Move along, nothing to see here. Same old story of some rich family trying to use their position to rob the taxpayer. If you need a tax break to get a business deal done, the deal should not exist. Go back to the drawing board and come up with a profitable business plan that doesn’t require sucking on the govt t!t in order to be profitable.

    http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2018/05/here_is_the_tax_break_package_kushner_firm_wants_f.html#incart_river_mobile_index

  201. The Great Pumpkin says:

    The rich are the only people with the capital for these projects, yet they blackmail govts to actually complete the project. Wtf? So they lower the risk on the backs of the taxpayer and keep all the profits for themselves. Selfish pricks. Take a real risk on your investment like everyone else, stop using the taxpayer to lower your risk and increase your profit.

  202. nwnj says:

    Yeah right anon. So it was ok to plant a spy in the campaign, wire tap, entrap low level operatives, file for warrants using fabricated documents, leak wiretap contents, etc. just to crater a political candidate. All illegal. I know Brennan doesn’t believe in the constitution but that can’t possibly be your defense. This is the biggest political scandal of last 50 years and bama owns it.

    Just who is the DNC player in the conspiracy? That rotten festering POS was hand in hand in the plan. It wouldn’t have gotten off the ground without the fake dossier.

  203. Libturd questioning the gender of Hillary's Cankle fluid. says:

    “Take a real risk on your investment like everyone else, stop using the taxpayer to lower your risk and increase your profit.”

    Elon Musk?

    You are like one giant walking contradiction Pumps.

  204. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    Elon Musk?

    You are like one giant walking contradiction Pumps.

    Reminds me of the various anti-gun posters on my facebook feed who instantly wanted an Elon Musk flamethrower a few months ago.

  205. Californicator says:

    Trump impresses Bill Gates by referring to himself as Trump.

    3rd person = mental illness

  206. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I support Musk, because he pushed an industry to not be content with their product. These guys would have never pushed the evolution of technology in cars if it was not for Musk. They were happy to continue milking their old stale technology till musk provided competition and incentive for them to step up their game. That tax investment was worth every penny.

    Why do developers on low risk real estate investments in jersey city need the govt support to get the project done? I thought the private sector wanted govt hands out of their business, yet here they are claiming they can’t get the business deal completed without govt help. Hypocrites!

  207. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Lib,

    Conservatives are walking contradictions too, they hate Musk and blast him for using tax subsidies, yet their party is supported by business leaders who have become experts at using govt subsidies. If you are going to bust musk’s balls, how bout we start with the oil and gas industry to start. After that, we can start cleaning up all those companies sucking the govt t!t through the pentagon budget. You know the ones that always complete projects over budget, or worse, take all the money and fail to create the product they were hired to create.

  208. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Why all the hate for a guy willing to risk it all?

    “From what I’ve read, it seems to come from the belief that’s he’s riding on subsidies.

    Tesla was almost entirely self funded be Elon for its first few years until he started getting preorders his first car, the Roadster.

    Tesla is so successful at how it sells that crony capitalist states pass laws to block Tesla from selling in the because it interrupts the normal car selling practices.

    Tesla has received smaller subsidies that the other 3 big car companies did.

    Tesla has paid back it’s government loans

    Tesla/Solar City just announced new solar panel roofing that lasts longer than standard roofing, and according to Elon is less expensive to install, even before energy production.

    Space X was started by self funding from Elon, it took literally all of his money to do so. Only after his first successful flight did he start getting government contracts.

    Space X has broken numerous records on price on everything from costs, to on board computers, to relaunch times.

    Elon is a perfect example of private industry moving significantly faster and less expensive than government agencies. As far as I can tell, Musk’s businesses should be a shining example of free market competition creating better, cheaper alternatives for the consumer.

    Why all the hate?”

    https://www.reddit.com/r/askaconservative/comments/5glufd/why_do_conservatives_tend_to_dislike_elon_musk_so/

  209. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “One of CftR’s regular themes is that incentives promoting solar power are wasteful. “The solar industry has been a pet-industry of the Obama Administration and those who claim to care about the environment. Washington has given Solar companies millions in federal tax credits and subsidies that are costing taxpayers millions, despite posting losses year after year. When Solyndra, Ener1, and others get government tax breaks, the American people need to know. The US government needs to stop meddling in industries and create an atmosphere that allows to prosper without pledging taxpayer support.”

    The group fails to mention an article in the New York Times from earlier this year that alleges fossil fuel companies get $4 billion a year in subsidies from the federal government. Nor does it include a reference to the finding of the International Monetary Fund earlier this year that fossil fuel interests receive more than $5 trillion in direct and indirect subsidies from governments around the world each year. When it comes to ferreting out wasteful government spending, people tend to overlook benefits that flow to activities they approve of — or are paid to promote.”

    https://www.teslarati.com/elon-wants-know-behind-fake-news-attacks/

  210. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    Tesla was almost entirely self funded be Elon for its first few years until he started getting preorders his first car, the Roadster.

    Every startup in the history of the world starts off privately funded.

    Tesla is so successful at how it sells that crony capitalist states pass laws to block Tesla from selling in the because it interrupts the normal car selling practices.

    That is not proof of success.

    Tesla has received smaller subsidies that the other 3 big car companies did.

    Two wrongs don’t make a right. And the other car companies are capable of functioning on their own without support. And you know what, while we are at it, pull their subsidies as well.

    Tesla has paid back it’s government loans

    Tesla is on a perpetual cash burn and borrowing binge.

    Tesla/Solar City just announced new solar panel roofing that lasts longer than standard roofing, and according to Elon is less expensive to install, even before energy production.

    I don’t believe that given that my neighbor got a quote from them.

    Space X was started by self funding from Elon, it took literally all of his money to do so. Only after his first successful flight did he start getting government contracts.

    Great, Space X is not Tesla.

    Long story short, I’ll give him credit when he starts making a product that sells for more than it costs to produce. Until then, this is one big sham of business model.

  211. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    Conservatives are walking contradictions too, they hate Musk and blast him for using tax subsidies, yet their party is supported by business leaders who have become experts at using govt subsidies. If you are going to bust musk’s balls, how bout we start with the oil and gas industry to start. After that, we can start cleaning up all those companies sucking the govt t!t through the pentagon budget. You know the ones that always complete projects over budget, or worse, take all the money and fail to create the product they were hired to create.

    Most real capitalists are against subsidies. And, I don’t think we’ve ever seen posters on here brag about Exxon Mobile. You are trying to superimpose an argument on us that doesn’t exist. We should be removing all subsidies. Where your argument falls apart is that you are vehemently against subsidies to those companies, but 100% for a company like Tesla being subsidized because you are a fanboy and his rhetoric aligns with your political views.

  212. Fabius Maximus says:

    BRT

    “this is one big sham of business model” If its a sham then let the bond holders and shareholders work that out for themselves. That how the system is supposed to work. The loans are paid back and they are off the handouts. Let the market handle the cash burn and borrowing.

  213. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Hell, Brennan favors communism over capitalism.

    Brennan doesn’t believe in the constitution

    https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/03/28/john-brennan-entered-cia-1980-though-voted-communist-1976.html

  214. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Pumps internal calendar must be off. He’s bloviating like it’s Saturday morning already.

  215. Fabius Maximus says:

    nwnj

    The dossier is not fake. More and more of it gets confirmed every day. What was the last piece? Donnie changing his story that, well actually he did stay overnight in a hotel during the Miss Moscow Pageant.

    And how dare the FBI do its job and generate 27 incitements, 5 pleas and one in jail already. And its only getting started.

  216. Fabius Maximus says:

    Stu

    Trump had more than one slogan. I recall Obama had a few as well.

  217. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    And where do we go to see those confirmations? Or are all the confirmations on a thumb drive way up Rachel Maddow’s cunt?

    The dossier is not fake. More and more of it gets confirmed every day.

  218. Libturd says:

    “Why all the hate?”

    Exactly what BRT said. Elon Musk is no Richard Branson. He is a habitual liar. He has made so many false promises that even Patrick Ewing is astonished. At this point, Tesla is little more than a Prius in a nicer body. Where are all of the battery exchange stations? Where are the sales? Where are the profits. The man is sucking the government teet harder than any businessperson I have ever witnessed and all he does is put it in his bank. And the progressives keep shining his shoes like he’s brilliant. The energy needed to produce his cars and batteries are not doing the planet any favors. He has zero philanthropy. Just empty promise after empty promise.

    As to being more efficient than the government? I would just respond by saying, a millipede with one working leg could do the same.

  219. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Democrats are such morons. They can’t even fix an election right.

  220. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    “Lock Her Up” isn’t a slogan, it is a joyous, spontaneous exultation.

    Trump had more than one slogan. I recall Obama had a few as well.

  221. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    The irony of McCain’s curtain-closing contretemps with the president is that it is clearly Trump himself who has inherited McCain’s mantle as the leading Republican maverick in Washington.

    https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/05/18/john-mccains-last-fight-218404

  222. Libturd says:

    I never mentioned any slogans. And I could care less about number of slogans, how many people attended inaugurations, who vacations more and how much someones security detail costs. These are talking points for wonks who have no clue what it costs to build a nuclear submarine. You could add up all the dollars Trump wastes on a military parade and it wouldn’t equal the cost of 1 thousandth of the cost of a modern battleship, of which we currently have 60 of in service. Yet, all day long, we are bombarded with these so called news stories that are little more than a waste of our time.
    HRC’s d1ck is bigger than Trump’s. Okay?

  223. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Wasn’t Obama’s slogan something like “Once you go black…

  224. Libturd says:

    “Lock her up!” was brilliantly uncouth. With that said, it is way, way, way more affective than, “I’m with her!”

  225. Libturd says:

    Trump’s slogan should have been, “You can’t build a house on a crooked foundation.” But, he’s not that smart.

  226. Libturd says:

    That schoolbus was trying to make a uturn on route 80. Anyone wanna guess the gender and ethnicity of the driver?

  227. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Lib,

    You just hate Musk. I don’t care if Tesla fails, it forced the entire car industry to change and adjust. Picture that, a startup forced a powerful and entrenched group of businesses to step up their game and start investing in research of better tech. Sad, how you just blow it off. Yes, that’s no big deal….sure.

  228. Libturd says:

    How did the industry change? Tell me.

  229. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Guess why? They probably privatized their bus system and put in some minimum wage worker. All about saving money, till this happens. There is no free lunch in life.

    Libturd says:
    May 18, 2018 at 12:34 pm
    That schoolbus was trying to make a uturn on route 80. Anyone wanna guess the gender and ethnicity of the driver?

  230. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Are you serious? Volvo is going all electric, and you pose this question?

    Libturd says:
    May 18, 2018 at 12:39 pm
    How did the industry change? Tell me.

  231. nwnj says:

    Bill gates is such an egomaniac he makes trump look humble in comparison. No doubt trump must have hurt him in some way for him to be taking shots like that. Trump will punch back I suspect.

  232. Libturd says:

    Here’s the truth. Progressives love driving Hybrids and battery powered cars to deal with their guilt which is being shoved down their throats by academia. The sad truth is, every subsidy spent on battery powered cars would be much better spent on clean fracking which is very possible. Instead, our stupid government will just go on building coal, gas and oil burning power plants so you can charge your make believe world saving car and feel a little less guilty. Here’s a clue from ME to YOU. The only smart thing that Musk has realized is that people’s automobiles are an extension of their wardrobe. There is a reason every electric car has that dumb dumb look. It has to say, “Look at me! I’m overpaying dramatically to save the world!” When in reality, they are destroying more than those driving intelligent designed ICE cars. But try and get subsidies from the government to pay for a more efficient fuel burner.

  233. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    Guess why? They probably privatized their bus system and put in some minimum wage worker. All about saving money, till this happens. There is no free lunch in life.

    I’m pretty sure the Bus driver’s wage had nothing to do with the lack of survival skills necessary to know that you don’t pull a U-turn on Rt. 80 in any vehicle, let a lone a bus full of kids.

  234. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    BRT

    “this is one big sham of business model” If its a sham then let the bond holders and shareholders work that out for themselves. That how the system is supposed to work. The loans are paid back and they are off the handouts. Let the market handle the cash burn and borrowing.

    Well 1. that requires you to remove the subsidies, 2. I agree. Which is why I want to buy put options on them.

  235. Libturd says:

    Maybe you ought to read something besides your left wing trash. Volvo is an extremely upscale car manufacturer and this is a smart marketing move by them. Read, twerp.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/danroth/2017/07/05/volvo-electrifies-or-dies/#90996e460c44

  236. Fabius Maximus says:

    I drive a Hybrid, but not out of guilt. Best car I have ever owned. After 12 years I got a bad cell in the battery. I could have fixed it myself for $100. But I can’t spare the time. Refurbished units vary in price from $400 for a pack straight out of a wreck $700 for a refurb with a used cells, on up to $2k for used chassis but brand new cells. Then you have new battery from the dealer for $4K.

    I plan to get another 10 years out of this car. I’ll have to rebuild the ICE to get there.

  237. Libturd says:

    It’s a Prius right? Toyota really screwed up on the planned obsolescence on them. Probably, due to plain lack of experience. I wouldn’t fault anyone for driving one actually, due to the reliability. Though a hybrid Highlander or similar? Or even one of those 75K Teslas? Come on now.

    I haven’t read up on it in a while. Have they figured out how to produce batteries cleanly and recycle them fully yet? Or is it still a gross polluting industry?

  238. Libturd says:

    Looks like best solution is plug in hybrids or electric cars with NG powered power plants. I still think best bang for the buck would come from cleanly fracked NG. Too bad the Dems mad fracking into just another divisive issue.

  239. Fabius Maximus says:

    Rudy, the gift that just keeps giving.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=AOb5FmZmD-k

  240. Fabius Maximus says:

    Stu,

    Is “clean fracking” the same thing as “clean coal”. I been reading these pieces over the years from nickel mining, Lithium mining and they are all the same. Even this piece. Its bad because most people charge them at night and that’s when only the coal plants are running. That is an issue with the generators not the cars. The plants will be running anyway and the generators are always looking to dump electricity at night because they have such low demand. Electric cars are actually a benefit to them as there is at least some consumption that is not getting wasted.

  241. Fabius Maximus says:

    One of the most depressing sentences I have read.

    “It was the nation’s deadliest school shooting since the February attack in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people”

    Just another kid with an AR-15

  242. Angry! says:

    Really, lets not wait to make a point, right?

    Latest info:
    https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Shots-fired-at-Santa-Fe-High-School-12925050.php

    He said the shooter, who police identified as 17-year-old Dimitrios Pagourtzis, used a shotgun and a .38 caliber revolver, and that he did not legally possess them.

    “I have no information at this time whether the father knows the weapons were taken,” the governor said.

    Abbott said earlier reports that the shooter used an AR-15 style rifle were wrong.

  243. Angry! says:

    A 6 shot 38 special revolver of military grade mass destruction. And the full automatic assault shotgun.

    Illegally possessed.

  244. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    I just read that that dope bus driver entered route 80 West from 206 South. If you look at the aerial photography you can see that the idiot tried to go perpendicularly across Route 80 from the exit ramp to get that illegal turnaround. The freaking turnaround off the fast lane is in the same spot as the end of the 206 South ramp entering the slow lane. The jerkoff realized he was getting back on the highway and probably crossed all of the lanes at 6 mph.

  245. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    It looks to me like the dump truck came to a stop right on the turnaround and the school bus got catapulted about 40 feet beyond.

  246. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    I think you are making up a lot of words and inserting them where you think they make sense, but they don’t.

    A 6 shot 38 special revolver of military grade mass destruction. And the full automatic assault shotgun.

  247. Very Stable Genius says:

    @Emma4Change

    Santa Fe High, you didn’t deserve this.
    You deserve peace all your lives, not just after a tombstone saying that is put over you. You deserve more than Thoughts and Prayers, and after supporting us by walking out we will be there to support you by raising up your voices.

  248. Very Stable Genius says:

    @GovMurphy

    .@FirstLadyNJ and I are heartbroken by today’s school shooting in Santa Fe.

    Thoughts and prayers are not enough. What happened today is not an anomaly.
    This is now tragically common – and it can be stopped.

    The federal government must take action now to end this epidemic.

  249. Bystander says:

    Another week into job hunt, another week of empty results. I talked to former co-worker (now consulting since 2013) and he said most jobs are $600 day W2 now with limited benefits. That equates to $100k full time job, maybe. Days of $900 rate per day are over because of outsourcing, near sourcing and H1B. He said NYC is becoming a barbell. Only hires are exec front office or cheap college grads are mininal support roles. This area will become toast soon if Trump does not stop the bleeding. Of course, Orange idiot is focused on Amazon revenge and not ending H1B as promised. Here is more of the future. 17.5 from TN paves the way.

    Per Bloomberg

    “New York’s hold on finance and investing jobs keeps slipping.

    AllianceBernstein Holding LP is moving its corporate headquarters and about 1,050 jobs from the city known for Broadway shows to one more famous for country music. The company will begin moving workers to Nashville in 2018, and eventually plans to relocate finance, legal, and sales and marketing teams, among other functions, according to a filing Wednesday.”

  250. joyce says:

    Sarcasm.

    The Original NJ ExPat says:
    May 18, 2018 at 4:59 pm
    I think you are making up a lot of words and inserting them where you think they make sense, but they don’t.

  251. Libturd says:

    Fab.

    Clean coal is a joke. No one in their right (or left) mind believes that story. Fracking has two major issues. Water pollution and earthquakes (perhaps sinkholes too). The water pollution is caused by not filtering the oils out of the water they use to blast the shale under high pressure. Companies have already demonstrated the feasibility of not just filtering and reusing the water, but you can burn the sponges for additional fuel helping to defray the cost. The cost for such systems are low. But the energy companies own our government, so regulations for their use will never happen. Dems might have been able to gain some momentum supporting clean fracking, but too many of their friends are robbing them blind with pie in the sky renewable energy lies, like Elon, for example. There are so many areas in which a politician can do real good work, but this divisive government does not allow it.

  252. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Bystander,

    Not everyone can make it in the big Apple. These firms leaving are a sign of weakness. Looking for the short term profits. Will lose every time investing like that. Prestige means something. Nashville and Manhattan..,,two different worlds. If your firm is moving there, good luck in the long term….the real players like to play in the big league!

  253. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Lib, Musk is a complete game changer. You are a smart dude, don’t let ideology blind you on this one. This guy is on another level.

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