From AllWork:
UK WORKERS WANT TO RETURN TO OFFICES OUTSIDE OF THE CITY
A new survey from Clockwise has found that the majority of Gen Z workers may prefer to work in an office.
This revelation comes as the UK government weighs whether to grant workers the right to work from home permanently. This proposal would prevent employers from forcing staff to return to the office unless it is essential.
However, the survey finds that 30% of respondents miss the socialization of the workplace, while some are having trouble separating their professional and personal lives.
Additionally, 71% stated that the sense of community in an office makes for a more productive workforce.
Although many Gen Z and Millennial workers expressed wanting to return to the office, the survey noted that this does not make their return to cities a necessity. In fact, two-third of Gen Z professionals said they are staying in the suburbs after relocating out of urban areas during the pandemic.
This highlights the importance of companies incorporating regional and suburban hubs so employees who have moved have an office to come into, without a long commute.
In fact, 73% of respondents said they would prefer a local satellite office to prevent lengthy commutes.
Foist
But what about the carbon footprint of office suburbs? Will there be sufficient bike lanes and charging ports for everyone’s electric cars?
Lol…so now NJ is optimum for the generation after the millennials?
At least the future is safe from a dystopian fate of never leaving your house and only talking to other human beings through a screen.
“Additionally, 71% stated that the sense of community in an office makes for a more productive workforce.”
Chi,
Another one in here with a Hunter Hard on. The funny part is a famous father, addiction issues and semi talented artist. Maybe he can s0ber up and run for president like GWB.
The difference with Trumps kids, is that he was not and is not working as part of the administration. Kushner’s loans from the Gvmt and the Saudis at best are a massive conflict of interest. At least there is a good chance Nepotism Barbie gets indicted this week.
https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1407755749413900288
And when the Gen Z people have kids, then they are going to want to WFH. WFH is here to stay , and thats a good thing.
They are a product of American society. It’s not funny. At all. Was this post meant to be in humor?
Ez says:
June 26, 2021 at 10:03 pm
Meet the neighbors / flyover Country :
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMdPbw6T8/
WFH will convert to WFI, WFC, WFP,
Pick the country with the last letter you like the best or is the cheapest.
Cause fellow Americans will sell each other out to the lowest bidder every single time.
Don’t complain about your societies ills when it is you causing it Boomer.
Fabius Maximus says:
June 27, 2021 at 9:28 am
“Another one in here with a Hunter Hard on…”
Gotta give Flab credit for his consistency and dedication to the Dem cause. In the land of dopey Dem apologists, Flab stands above all others in his willingness to embarrass himself to defend jerks like the Bidens and DeBlasio.
Fact is, Hunter B represents the single most obvious and egregious example of real-time political corruption in modern history. His laptop lays out for anyone that cares (and apparently no one in federal law enforcement or corporate media/journalism does) multiple examples of corruption — from his own violation of federal gun laws to his clear inference that Joe (aka ‘the bug guy’) is on the take. And his newfound artistic talent and half-million dollar ‘artwork’ sales to un-named buyers, would be a laughably bad attempt at influence-peddling at just about any other time in modern American history.
But to borrow an appropriate saying Flab, ‘you go girl’ — the Dems rely on knuckleheads like you!
single most obvious and egregious example of real-time political corruption in modern history.
There is lots of competition in this arena. Dems and Repubs.
It’s all dirty.
State Sen. Michael Testa, R-Cumberland, said that with more than $500 million for lawmakers’ pet projects, the spending plan represents “an orgy of pork and unnecessary spending and leaves our taxpayers to mop up the floor while being asked to pay for it.”
“Don’t listen to his bullshit,” state Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Bergen, chairman of the Senate’s budget committee, told reporters as Testa spoke.
“There’s no such thing as pork in a budget,” Sarlo said later. “These are spending items. I don’t believe there is any wasteful spending because all of the spending is for an intended purpose.”
Critics also pointed to the lightening quick-speed at the end of the budget process as the final bill was approved by legislative committees only 11 minutes after it was introduced Tuesday. Republicans and progressives argued taxpayers and even lawmakers had little time to figure out what was in the revised spending plan.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nj.com/politics/2021/06/nj-dems-just-passed-election-year-state-budget-flush-with-cash-but-its-not-buying-happiness.html%3foutputType=amp
Tough to argue with that logic
10:02 meant to be however you interpret it numbnuts.
Ouch. Breaking records out there and it’s humid air.
“The forecast tomorrow for Seattle is 115F/46C! We don’t have AC! I’m going to spend the day hiding in my unfinished basement.”
For the longest time, I’ve been writing about the importance of Stealth Wealth and how Americans are actually much wealthier than we think.
Although it seems like everybody is flaunting their fabulous lifestyles thanks to the growth of social media, the real world is much more modest.
Further, due to a massive generational wealth transfer, I think children of the Boomers will be just fine.
Yet, because negative news sells better than positive news, the media likes to focus on doom, which ultimately creates unnecessary anxiety.
Living The Good Life
I’ve gotten to know many neighbors over the years. At least seven of them live for free because their parents bought them their homes or let them live rent-free. Not bad since the median home price in San Francisco is about $1.7 million today.
My previous neighbor’s son has been living at home for 6.5 years after spending six years getting his college degree.
Now, their second son, who is 28, has moved in as well. Luckily for the two sons, their parents only come to visit on the weekends because they have another home 30 minutes away.
With more disposable income, the sons have bought a couple of motorbikes and sports cars. They’re enjoying life and not working too hard. And as far as I can tell, they don’t care and neither do their parents.
These sons used to cause me worry as a new dad. They were a daily reminder to teach my kids about work ethic, independence, and appreciating the value of money. I didn’t want my kids still living with us at age 30+!
Alas, maybe being unmotivated to build your own independence is the inevitable byproduct of creating an unnecessary amount of capital. Therefore, all of us Financial Samurai parents need to be careful.
Check out the post, The Bank Of Mom & Dad Strategy To Buying A Home & Having A Family. Some of the comments are quite insightful.
On the flip side, perhaps it’s wise to have our adult children depend on us forever so they will take care of us in our old age!
Solid Finances For Millennials
The latest Survey of Consumer Finances shows today’s 26-to-39-year-olds are better off than the previous generation at the same age.
Here’s a chart that Bloomberg put together comparing 1989 and 2019, inflation-adjusted in 2020 dollars.
Image
The only negative is the current generation has more student debt. However, with interest rates so low, debt forgiveness, and a student loan payment moratorium, having on average ~$17,000 in student debt isn’t so bad.
After all, getting a college education is an investment in one’s future. With a $100,000 median household income for college graduates in America, $17,000 in student debt is quite manageable.
Below is a chart that shows the median household income by educational attainment.
From the people I’ve met, the stories readers have shared, and the data from the Fed, it sure seems like Gen Xers and Millennials are doing fine.
The headlines about a massive generational wealth transfer are real. I’ve been witnessing it for years. I’ll share just a few examples that I’ve observed in my own neighborhood.
When I bought my previous home 10 years ago my 68 year old neighbor stopped by to say “hello.” He was the godfather of the block, having bought his building back in the early 70s. He gave me the inside scoop on all the neighbors. One neighbor stood out in particular.
He said the house across the street was purchased a year before mine by a family who wanted a place for their son to live while attending UC Hastings School Of Law. The purchase price? $1.45 million for a 2,100 square foot three bedroom, three bathroom house.
The son would host at least one fraternity-like party every year, but other than that, the house was pretty tame. The son continued to live in the house after law school and now it looks like they might sell.
For 10 years, the son not only lived for free, but he probably made rental income as well thanks to his two roommates. His $120,000+ law school tuition was also probably full paid for by Bank of Mom and Dad. He also drove a $60,000 Audi S4. If the house ever sells, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets to keep the $1 million+ in profits.
https://www.financialsamurai.com/a-massive-generational-wealth-transfer-is-why-everything-will-be-ok/
Any Poles, Danes, Or Canadians Reading?
If you read my detailed analysis of Credit Suisse’s Global Wealth Report, you’ll notice a section on the countries with the estimated fastest-growing number of millionaires by 2025.
The top six include: Poland (+98%), China (+92.7%), India (+81.8%), Denmark (+82.4%), Canada (+77.2%), (Brazil +74.4%), and France (+70.1%).
China, India, and Brazil on the list are understandable, given their much faster forecasted GDP growth rates. However, Poland, Denmark, Canada, and France are harder to understand. They are also all service-heavy economies.
https://www.financialsamurai.com/number-of-millionaires-in-the-world-and-by-country/
Ah I’m ready to retire. How’s about scenic Budd Lake.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8-Outlook-Ave-Budd-Lake-NJ-07828/39465223_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
Ah here’s a nice one – can I handle $6k a year in taxes?
(04/08/05) MOUNT OLIVE ? The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will be funneling nearly $400,000 to help clean up Budd Lake in Mount Olive.
The DEP?s decision has made many residents near the lake very happy. According to those living in the area, the lake is vital to their community for fishing, swimming and boating. The lake?s most important function, however, is to help provide drinking water to the region. The South Branch of the Raritan River, which feeds into a reservoir, begins at Budd Lake.
Mount Olive Mayor Richard De La Roche says the township can use the funding to find out how pollutants are getting into the body of water. According to De La Roche, the research will be cheaper than trying to clean the entire lake.
What antidepressants come with that house?
I picked up a chaise today from FB marketplace.
This was the house:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4430-Fairway-Ct-Thousand-Oaks-CA-91362/16489428_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
fFONBXIoUbakWQZH
“UBS plans to allow up to two-thirds of its staff to mix working from home and the office on a permanent basis, betting the approach will give the Swiss lender an edge over Wall Street banks in recruiting.”
US Banks forcing workers back to office while foreign banks offering permanent work from home. Going to be interesting. My guess is that US banks will offer WFH 4 days a week for most folks and pay significantly more for roles where they require office presence.
quinine for lupus https://pharmaceptica.com/
Bystander,
Understand this is only a short term trend because of the pandemic. In a few years, no one will want to be WFH. It will mean you are not that important, lower pay, and most will get sick of monotonous lifestyle. For business owners, it will be hard to compete with your workforce barely in the office. American companies know this well (like you point out), but too bad foreign companies don’t get it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these companies taking on these crazy schedules end up going bankrupt from the chaos they are bringing into their ability to manage and execute.
I can’t say it enough. Anyone that is really for WFH does not care about the competitiveness or future of the company, they only care about themselves. For some it leads to more work(which is why they hate it with a passion), but for the cheerleaders, they are straight up working less. That’s why they love it.
Some people are now taking on 2 or 3 jobs on the WFH platform. How long before the companies realize we are paying these people a day’s worth of work for 3 hours of work? Going to be really sad when companies realize this and act it.
It’s like when a plumber completes a job in an hour, and charges you for multiple hours…people like LIB flip out. Well guess what owners are going to do when they catch wind of a lot of workers not really working a full day on the WFH platform?
Digging into the JOLTS quits data – very interesting stuff.
Voluntary quits (no including retirements) – at a 20 year high – nearly 4 million in April.
Big correlation between quits and consumer confidence – +0.80 – so clearly workers (quitters) are very confident.
Bystander: No surprise, and some of the American banks will be doing the same, and JPM and MS will follow suit. Anyone who thinks otherwise is clueless. And this belief that if you work in an office vs home , you can somehow keep your job from being outsourced to another country is a myth. Those that actually work in corporate America understand that.
Yup, they are going to squeeze the worker. Ahh, you are saving two hrs on commute, how do we turn those hours into more work on a salaried employee. Just wait. Oh, let’s lay-off 25% of the workforce and give it to the remaining 75% with no extra pay. This is the reality of WFH if it sticks.
You have to remember…we were in a pandemic. Companies did not push their employees WFH. They were just happy the job was able to be completed during a pandemic. So this was the honeymoon period. Wait till their greedy hands start taking advantage of the WFH platform to their benefit and not the workers…
Already slowly changing their tune. It’s just common sense.
“Yes, use greater flexibility, but to do your job well, to get the best out of yourself and for the team, we need to be together.”
“Mr Bardrick, Citi’s country officer for the UK, said after restrictions were eased, the “vast majority” of staff would work from the office three days a week and have two days a week elsewhere.
However, Mr Bardrick told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We strongly believe that our business works best from being together.
“We think that we are better together. We think we succeed for our clients and for our organisation together.
“So what we are saying is that, yes, use greater flexibility, but to do your job well, to develop as an employee, to get the best out of yourself and for the team, we need to be together.””
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57594694
Rich people problems:
Rich overpaid teachers vs rich second homeowners:
Perfectly fine for part-time homeowners(who all pay school taxes elsewhere, too) to be robbed blind by shore towns.
—NOT to educate the locals’ children —which clearly they are not doing, given the residents’ children’s HORRIBLE academic records—but rather to employ at exorbitant salaries, a bunch of townies who are unemployable anywhere else.
We worked hard and saved our money to be able to afford a beach home. You think it’s OUR responsibility to pay for the education of your dimwitted progeny.
Clearly the apples don’t fall far from the tree in Brigantine.
Only a woman could write something this nasty.
“but rather to employ at exorbitant salaries, a bunch of townies who are unemployable anywhere else.”
“OUR responsibility to pay for the education of your dimwitted progeny.”
From the QUITS report. These aren’t all office workers.
“Interestingly, quits increased in a number of industries with the largest increases seen in retail trade, professional business services and transportation, warehousing and utilities. Quits mostly increased in the Southern, Midwestern and Western regions”
It’s like when a plumber completes a job in an hour, and charges you for multiple hours…people like LIB flip out.
That’s why you charge for the job, not by the hour. Just like they have book time in an auto repair shop. Guys who do it faster get paid more cause they can move on to the next one.
People are always going to “flip out” if you are too fast, too slow, too this, too that.
Eff em.
Juice,
The only way to increase pay on the low end is to bounce from job to job.
Waiting 20 years for that 0.15c increase in pay due to cheap azz employers is not the way to do it.
I’m seeing it in my industry now. Employers wanted educated. They wanted more certifications. Well, those things make your employees more valuable to the competition. With no pension like pumpy, and not being a “hero” anymore, and being young and not tied down, just take your name with 300 letters to the next place and get the raise you would have had to wait 20 years for.
Rinse and repeat.
Phoenix – town of 9,000 with full time Cops and Fire etc. Yes they taxpayers take it on the chin..
https://brigantinenow.com/2021-brigantine-city-employee-salaries/
Boomer created the two-tier wage system.
Boomer likes it that way. It works out well for boomer.
Boomer likes grandfathering. It’s fun and profitable for boomer.
Boomer loves Medicare, you can have as unhealthy a lifestyle and not pay a premium increase unlike those with private plans. Smoke, drink, eat ribs, eat smoked ribs until you weigh 30 stone. No problem. Then get Romney in, who only wanted boomer to have such a caring healthcare plan, but make the youth pay for boomer.
“Understand this”..you are a clueless d&pshit. Most jobs in banks are not think-tank consortiums. Most staff are process driven/operatational/task masters. Technology work is being done by India so there is no benefit to being in office. Until Covid, I had 5 members in my office and 90 in Pune. What benefit is there to being in office? It is all Skype/email/JIRA anyway. These jobs are going away/downsized/offshored before COVID. Smaller companies might have issues with WFH but big corps that drive NYC economy have been doing it for years. Traders/client facing needs oversight but vast majority of roles are not this so just stuff it already.
There was once a guy running for board of ed in my previous district. He was a 30 year old wall street guy. He printed out his wall st. resume and handed it out to everyone at a meeting. Guy was living in a 2 million dollar home. Worked 6 places in 9 years. 1.5 years each place before he bounced to the next job. He’s likely never accomplished anything at the workplace (especially since he seems to have the time to run for board of ed), but is well rewarded for his ability to jump the ladder.
Technology work is being done by India
WFI
Why not send the rest of it there? Why deal with a bunch of whiny Americans when you can get foreigners for pennies on the dollar? Outsource everyone.
It’s patriotic, isn’t it, to not employ or help your fellow American. Or would it be patriotic to help your fellow American find work, yet make your pocket a bit lighter, which, isn’t American cause that would be anti-capitalist. More money in your pocket is always good at the expense of someone else, even if they are your neighbor American veteran.
It’s almost time to wave the flag as we outsource the work.
Phoenix – re” “I’m seeing it in my industry now.” “Employers wanted educated. They wanted more certifications. Well, those things make your employees more valuable to the competition. ”
Tech is just as bad these days. Job specialization and certifications I see in the requirements are off the charts, and pay is mediocre like Bystander says. I know that management has none of the skills and certifications they are looking for either. None have walked the walk, it takes years to develop some of these skills and companies don’t want to train or pay for people that have the skills and certifications.
I am working on two new certifications now just to keep my head above the water, and distance myself from the herd. One of the certifications has less than 40,000 worldwide, yet every company asks for it and don’t want to pay. LoL!..
“I know that management has none of the skills and certifications they are looking for either. None have walked the walk, ”
Boomers.
Juice,
A strange game.
The only winning move is not to play.
Phoenix,
You are the man. You truly do a fabulous job pointing out the hypocrisy we live in.
Phoenix: Boomers also like unpaid internships, if they have a bit of kindness they might offer a metro card, but otherwise higher interns don’t pay them.
Boomers hate the youth.
Just admit it already. Especially the women in my industry. And the most angry ones are the women who were only there hoping to land a big sucker fish so they could stay at home and never work again.
Instead, after being pumped and dumped by Mc Dreamy, and still toiling all weekend and summer, the last thing they want to see is a young one all tight, toned, cheery and educated getting all of the attention. And man, the young ones really know how to market it. It’s fun to watch, and hard not to make fun of.
Out of curiosity, I looked at a couple of homes listed for sale on Long&Foster, Weichert, Estately… the three I clicked on did not display any Property Tax amount or Tax History.
Juice Box says:
June 28, 2021 at 9:38 am
Phoenix – town of 9,000 with full time Cops and Fire etc. Yes they taxpayers take it on the chin..
https://brigantinenow.com/2021-brigantine-city-employee-salaries/
So WFH will be used as an offshore platform to eliminate American jobs that don’t require much thinking. No sh!t! That’s why you have to be an idiot to sign up for it.
Read your post and understand it, you wrote it. Yet you still go on about how you will continue to embrace WFH because the commute is awful. You know what’s really awful, when your job is easily offshored because you decided to show your company how easily the job can be done remotely.
Bystander says:
June 28, 2021 at 9:42 am
“Understand this”..you are a clueless d&pshit. Most jobs in banks are not think-tank consortiums. Most staff are process driven/operatational/task masters. Technology work is being done by India so there is no benefit to being in office. Until Covid, I had 5 members in my office and 90 in Pune. What benefit is there to being in office? It is all Skype/email/JIRA anyway. These jobs are going away/downsized/offshored before COVID. Smaller companies might have issues with WFH but big corps that drive NYC economy have been doing it for years. Traders/client facing needs oversight but vast majority of roles are not this so just stuff it already.
Head of Boston Fed is worried about housing boom and bust. Says it was not their intent to create a bubble!! Exactly what did they think would happen if all the buying of mortgage backed securities? And we are supposed to be grateful to the Fed according to some point??!!
Stunning , simply stunning!!
3b,
They have a term for that. It’s called gaslighting.
Joyce,
You sell a house by pumping up its attributes, and downplaying the negatives.
It’s not in a realtor’s best interest to disclose negative things like high property taxes to the new buyer, just like it’s not in the best interest of the car dealer to tell you that you just purchased a lemon.
joyce try Zillow. it’s 2.17% of assessed value.
Truly I sympathize for the youth who you claim to teach. You post 12 hours a day, all day then have audacity to call out lazy 3 hour workers in private sector. You are the quintessential NJ moron..thinks they are smart because they got “Fed rich” with property asset bubble. I work with people lighyears smarter than you. If you have knowledge then it comes through on phone or in person. Thinking is not only done in a room. Then again, I am not surprised you struggle with the concept of thinking.
It is amazing that someone thinks if your job can be done from home, then it is in danger of being outsourced, but if you do the same job in the office it won’t be outsourced. Talk about critical reasoning.
Can we get someone to occupy the empty BASF monstrosity in buff lake? Going on 20 years empty. If they can’t get someone in there after covid time to warm up the wrecking ball.
I’m convinced that the only way America will be saved is when hackers dump all of the information they seize from corporations for everyone to see it.
That day just might come.
3B – He has never seen the pitch decks from the major outsourcers. Outsource non-core work is the pitch. What is non-core? Basically anything below C-Suite and sales.
The only reason why there are jobs that could be considered non-core now in the USA is because the outsourcers fail miserably at it and the work is brought back onshore. The few manufacturing jobs that exist today for example, out of the millions outsourced.
BTW – Biden’s plan is to stop some outsourcing funded with government money. His supply-chain initiative strategy announced last week for boosting domestic manufacturing across high-tech industries. Anyone taking government money will be banned from making it overseas to take advantage of the dollar driven global labor arbitrage.
3b,
Please explain how houses are to remain stagnant in pricing under a capitalist model based on supply and demand. That’s what you are angry about, right? So how do we create housing based on a market where prices remain stagnant and all are equal?
I don’t understand how this is a bubble when qualified buyers are competing for housing. Lots of them are cash buyers.
Buying mortgage backed securities is not driving the prices, it’s protecting the overall economic market from deflationary pressures. If mortgage rates rise to 5%, guess what else has to rise….every other Avenue of lending from bonds to corporate loans. Go ahead, let all the rich have access to easy guaranteed high yield options for passive income…it would destroy the economy over night. WE ARE BATTLING DEFLATION, not inflation. You just don’t get it.
Look at how much money the FED dumped in the economy over the last year, and you barely have inflation. Think about that for a second.
Pumpy,
The way you battle deflation is with small arms, since you can’t get your hands on more powerful weapons.
Cause when we go there, there is a term for it.
Keeping it real. You think you have seen riots?
Not even close.
Juice/Phoenix,
I hate to say it but getting certs in IT is basically a zero sum game in US. Not saying you should not do it but India resources have access to exact same certs. Expecting a salary increase is tough one. I would never tell someone to get MBA today..no one gives a sh&t. It made sense when companies reimbursed for ed but that is largely gone.
Fed Official who we are told are God like says boom and bust in real estate, someone else says that same Fed official is wrong, because they know better then the Fed official. The official is right of course and fear and low interest rates created this bubble.
“It made sense when companies reimbursed for ed but that is largely gone.”
Boomers received it themselves, then took it away from the youth so they could profit.
Juice: That individual has not seen anything in corporate America, and yet claims to be an expert across the board, and knows more then those who work in corporate America.
3b
Low interest rates are to a dying economy as epinephrine is to a dying patient.
Don’t dose either right, you have a goner.
Or sometimes its just too late.
https://acls-algorithms.com/acls-drugs/acls-and-epinephrine/
Phoenix: Yep, I got it. A or B 100 percent reimbursement C 50 percent reimbursement. Tax code was changed and then companies eliminate it. It was tough going at night, I have to say, but I did it.
Where is the quote or article. Do you understand that the FED has different opinions. Clearly, the rest of the FED doesn’t agree with him.
You know best, right 3b? I’m not going to say more, because I don’t enjoy putting you down.
3b says:
June 28, 2021 at 10:52 am
Fed Official who we are told are God like says boom and bust in real estate, someone else says that same Fed official is wrong, because they know better then the Fed official. The official is right of course and fear and low interest rates created this bubble.
Juice,
My (retired) father was up this weekend. We sat in a park with kids and discused global supply chain. He worked in marine pump manufacturing for oil and cargo ships. He understands it better than any person I know. He said freight costs are through roof. South America is suffering as can’t export goods. China owns all freight containers. This is not simply temporary COVID supply chain issue but a power play. Russia and China have been asserting themselves for years. It will get uglier
Seems we may not need Covid booster shots.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/28/health/coronavirus-vaccines-immunity.html
Bystander, UBS was already in the process of shedding space, closing floors etc when COVID struck. They were going to a hoteling system and frankly over crowding people, they had a disaster on their hands with COVID. Frankly with their long standing plans a return to office is not possible because they do not have the physical space to safely accommodate all of their people. My employer engaged in the same strategy to reduce costs with very bad consequences we lost employees to a COVID outbreak in our offices very early on, there can be no full return to office we cannot fit the people.
Now onto why we have folks still in the US, first and foremost anything user/client facing typically is going to have a local person. Second the management wants someone locally to answer for the work. Also important is that both technical and business knowledge are typically stronger state side. They need that little bit of expertise/experience you are really only going to get in NYC, London, or other financial centers. These are the US positions left and it is horrible, we aren’t bringing in young folks and training them really at this point, proximity to the business is very valuable and we are losing it in the name of cost savings. There is a definitive shortage of people and we aren’t training their replacements because all of the entry level is happening in Pune and the like.
Efficiency per person is down from a decade ago in bank ops and tech despite incredible advanced in technology, which is telling. Bystander I’m sure you can attest that at your bank they replaced 10 US workers with 1 US and 19 people offshore to do the same job and business volume is down. Corps don’t care because costs are flat or down, 19 people in India cost the same as 4 domestic hires.
Most (dumb) Americans think the Chinese are stupid, have no education, can only copy things, are only useful for assembling Iphones and chicken chow-mein.
They think all the Chinese are capable of is making crap that breaks after one use.
And the Americans that think this the most are the Boomers. Cause the young kids have all been exposed to the Chinese and other ethnic groups, are friends with them, get along with them, and aren’t a bunch of bigoted azz wipes as the proselytizing Karens of America.
Those same Karens that control their husbands with threats of financial extinction.
FHA just changed their rules for the loan approval and tossed the idea that you cannot afford the additional debt out the window. So what if you are a recent graduate and have $200,000 in student debt. Here is a mortgage, you deserve one, especially if you are part of the protected classes
We are going to allow you to lever up even more and more folks…
https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/hud-aims-to-boost-homeownership-for-buyers-with-higher-student-debt-11624008602?cx_testId=3&cx_testVariant=cx_16&cx_artPos=1&mod=WTRN#cxrecs_s
There’s a difference between Chinese people in China, who live in a system not built for innovation and free thinking but entirely built for copying and sipohoning off ideas. They don’t even now what plagiarism is over there. When I was in grad school, we had to take a class on scientific integrity and the Chinese guy literally plagiarizes the presentation given to us by the instructor. The presentation was supposed to be on plagiarism.
Chinese people in the US grow up under a system of ingenuity and are every bit as inventive and creative as any other person in the US. That being said, my best student ever was a girl who was a Chinese immigrant at age 16 from China. She was a scientific genius. She was my assistant after her junior year and had such an intricate knowledge of the English language. I had her reviewing my letters of rec for errors and she would point out rules and other things that nobody would ever learn in the US. I set her up to do Chemistry research under an MIT alum at Rutgers to try to boast her resume to get into MIT. She took every single AP test as a junior, many classes she didn’t even enroll in because of scheduling conflicts, and scored a 5 on each. She outperformed every kid in school and took home 1st place in the state Physics League. The best school she could get into was Michigain. It was a travesty…but she’ll go on and do great things.
Bystander, that’s an interesting thought. I look at individuals seeing this as an opportunity to profiteer. Shortages are well known, the Chinese understand they with extract as much money from the situation as possible, they will make the shortage as bad as possible until it gets so uneconomical items stop being shipped. Other pandemic affected goods did the same, I think we saw similar patterns in lumber and meat where factory closures created a shortage, finished goods spiked in price while raw materials plummeted. My gut is they exaggerated the extent of the issue to expand their margins, it was a calculated attempt by the large corporations who own everything to both increase prices while reducing costs. I.e there was a shortage and they made it worse to cause the price spike and they squeezed the material suppliers who had less ability to handle a period without revenue if you look into what is corporate vs. contracted you’ll see those contracted to supply materials bore the brunt of the economic losses.
Chinese youth in China have been coddled especially the males. I wonder how many would actually want to fight for the Motherland if it came to it.
Also mentioned that returns are basically eaten costs that will go into inflation. It costs more to return than ship goods are worth. Tell me how the dynamic will play out and for how long.
BRT as a Michigan grad, it is one of the best schools in the world. She will not suffer there and will be in her element, when I was there there were some scary smart people. I’m talking 1600 on the SAT without trying, generally not at MIT or the like because they would have to pay for it or were just lazy. Mind you U of M alums created the iPod, fiber optics, modern computational theory, the BSD operating system, among other things. She wasn’t woke enough for MIT, I’m sure there were plenty of others. One doesn’t even need to look at the US, if you look at the PRC vs. Taiwan or Singapore or Hong Kong. The Chinese under democracy are able to accomplish much more. People are generally people and within any group there are people of high intelligence and those people achieve their highest potential in a free society(where they have plenty to eat of course!).
JCer,
You are, as usual, spot on. My boss has been at IB closing in on 20 years. For what reason, I do not know. Who works 16 hour a day/weekends and yet they will not move him to ED. He is overloaded and cheap compared to other towers. They will keep him forever. He told me that he had 20 people in US and forced to get rid of them. They could do complete global app rewrite in a year. We now have a 100 in Pune and can’t do much at all. It is pennywise, pound foolish. Programs are going 2-3 times as long but resources are 4 times cheaper. Execs just want those numbers flat. They could not care about quality or delivery. Chi said something the resonated with me more than anything on this blog. Something like like “the lack of sucess is by design. Maybe there is a financial reason executive board does not want to be successful”. My eyes opened on that one. Goes against every core of my worklife but it is the most rational thing I have concluded.
“Chinese youth in China have been coddled especially the males. I wonder how many would actually want to fight for the Motherland if it came to it.”
All of them. Cause their country demands it.
I my industry the shortage of critical items increases daily along with the workload and amount of clients.
Should be interesting if the two intersect to the point that it becomes like a car dealership where you ain’t gettin’ something cause we don’t have it.
And it’s our industry, not my institution.
Thanks Boomer, for outsourcing everything for profit.
Phoenix/3b,
My dad touched on that too. He pitched alot of business in China over the years and went many times. He said they are amassing all-male army like nothing we have ever seen. He sounded more ominous than anything you would see in news.
Americans.
Head in the sand before WW2.
Didn’t want to believe the planes approaching Pearl Harbor were anything but their own.
Didn’t follow up on “pilots” who were not interested in landing the jets they were learning to fly.
Never once listening to the “little” people like the radar operator, or the flight school owners, cause they are “beneath” them.
Arrogant greedy idiots run this country.
Don’t worry, they have, and will continue, to underestimate their enemies in return for money and profit.
Bystander: Chinese Army looks very impressive at least when they do their marching thing. A million man army is impressive on paper whether many can or will fight remains to be seen. I saw something last week stating that if China invaded Taiwan they would have a lot of trouble conquering and holding it.
Phoenix: China is not back in the old days of Mao and the cultural revolution. I don’t know if that same fervor is there as in 50 plus years ago. Chinese your becoming similar to western youth soft.
It agree, this amusing message
I was in the Poconos this weekend for the Pocono 350. Quite an experience. My first time at a NASCAR event. It was really cool. Very patriotic, which is nice. They open with a prayer, sing the National Anthem, do the military fly over and a few thunderous fireworks and then the pace guy warms them up, enters the pits after three laps and then they accelerate as the green flag is waved! Very loud, very exciting, a real event… vendors, food, rides, the whole works. Classic America at its best!
I understand your point, but let’s be honest here, which I know is impossible for you because of your demonstrated rhetorical obsession.
Directionally and philosophically, there is little difference between scions in the Bush family, Trump family and Biden family. That said, through a combination of uniqueness and also merit, Hunter Biden is literally a Hollywood soap opera script that gets tossed out because the plot lines strain credulity.
The depth of his craven impulses and actions is stunning. Think about the orders of magnitude. W was on cocaine, but he matured out of being a punk in his 30’s. Donald Trump Jr. leaves his wife. But Hunter Biden is a raging (current) crack addict, leaves his wife and children, and hooks up with his dead-brother’s wife, father’s a child with a stripper, attempts to deny paternity, spends a lifetime in graft with no only no skills, but no sobriety. He leaves a laptop at a servicer and forgets about it, so now there is forensic evidence of his pathetic human existence.
Let’s not forget that he is now being back door funded (BY WHOM), but creating art and selling it at (SUSPICIOUSLY) inflated prices.
The above are all documented. Seriously, he is a complete train wreck, and there is no question it is sanctioned by Biden, because he is an invited participant in the public face of this Presidency.
I didn’t have to research anything. This material is all recent. Stunning, and more embarrassing, what next?
Fabius Maximus says:
June 27, 2021 at 9:28 am
Chi,
Another one in here with a Hunter Hard on. The funny part is a famous father, addiction issues and semi talented artist. Maybe he can s0ber up and run for president like GWB.
The difference with Trumps kids, is that he was not and is not working as part of the administration. Kushner’s loans from the Gvmt and the Saudis at best are a massive conflict of interest. At least there is a good chance Nepotism Barbie gets indicted this week.
Did you ever consider that she is not a Chinese operative? Depending on the school and connections to China, I am sure that the CCP instructs mercenary academic institutions who admit and not……. and the schools willingly comply. Too much money on the line. I hate having to be that cynical. Occam’s razor?
BRT says:
June 28, 2021 at 11:24 am
Chinese people in the US grow up under a system of ingenuity and are every bit as inventive and creative as any other person in the US. That being said, my best student ever was a girl who was a Chinese immigrant at age 16 from China. She was a scientific genius. She was my assistant after her junior year and had such an intricate knowledge of the English language. I had her reviewing my letters of rec for errors and she would point out rules and other things that nobody would ever learn in the US. I set her up to do Chemistry research under an MIT alum at Rutgers to try to boast her resume to get into MIT. She took every single AP test as a junior, many classes she didn’t even enroll in because of scheduling conflicts, and scored a 5 on each. She outperformed every kid in school and took home 1st place in the state Physics League. The best school she could get into was Michigain. It was a travesty…but she’ll go on and do great things.
Prayer and government providing benefits to private corporations… classic america indeed!
What pumpkin fails to realize is that widespread WFH is actually the single biggest threat to outsourcing.
To understand why, you need to first understand the cost benefits driven by labor arbitrage. These are primarily the reduction of large fixed costs associated with real estate, and regional labor costs.
Work from Home provides companies access to many of the benefits they would otherwise need to use outsourcing to realize, thus making the ROI of shifting to outsourcing lower than it would have been otherwise. Now, when you consider the transition costs associated to shifting models, the payback period starts to stretch even further.
If WFH will stick, what we’re going to see is actually a reduction in jobs outsourced domestically. Companies can, and will, keep the financial gains associated with this, as opposed to pass them through to someone else.
Keep in mind, in the outsourcing world, gross margins will be anywhere from 20-60% depending on where in the world you are operating (domestic lower margin, offshore higher margin, driven primarily by potential for greater wage arbitrage).
If a company can launch its own work from home program, why exactly would they outsource to someone else who can do it domestically, at a 20% gm uplift in cost?
There is a tremendous investment going on right now with the cloud companies, who are building platforms that enable employers to scale WFH without the costs and overhead that would have existed just 4 or 5 years ago.
How many confederate flags Ed? Wondering how that compliance is going..
Heh, no, never crossed my mind. Any kid that transfers from one school or another is usually screwed by the transcript translations or mistranslations that occur. The guidance department usually makes sure they aren’t top 10. The same way some try to downplay a guy like Ichiro Suzuki’s hit total.
Another kid I taught, I would put him in the top 10. Freshman year in Indonesia, Sophomore year in Switzerland, Junior and Senior year in New Jersey.
Bystander,
It was a low key crowd considering that there were 150,000 in attendance. No pushing, no shoving, rather considerate and just enjoying themselves. A lot of families, just grassroots Americana which I don’t see that often. There were a lot of Trump and American flags flying but no Confeder.ate flags that I saw outright though, they were for sale in various places. None were in your face, you had to hunt and peck to find them but they were there. Overall, it felt like a breath of fresh air to me. And yes, there were families of color there though sparse in number and yes, Bubba Wallace got a warm reception when introduced.
3B an invasion of Taiwan is insane, ROC has been planning for that since the 1950’s. The Chinese strategy would likely involve a siege with missiles and a blockade, Taiwan depends on imports by terrorizing the people and assuring maximum human suffering the PRC would be able to extract the concessions it hopes for. An actual ground force invasion of Taiwan likely costs the PRC more man power and money than they want to spend. If they have to destroy Taiwan to get it, it defeats the purpose.
Grim,
Long game here. Why would you pay an American on the exact same platform more than foreign labor? Companies can now just bypass offshoring companies and go straight to a foreign market on their own. Right?
BRT,
Expat kid or kid of some Indonesian high roller?
Xi Jinpeng’s daughter made it into Harvard. I wonder how the children of top global leaders always seem to get into the most prestigious universities. Their essays probably go beyond repeating “#BlackLivesMatter” 100 times, like our local Princeton-raised Marxist Ivy boy.
https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/05/us/stanford-application-black-lives-matter-trnd/index.html
Jcer: Once they conquer Taiwan, they would have to be able to hold it, which will at least initially require PRC troops.
Bystander, we have been asleep our politicians are either idiots, not paying attention or worse bought off by the Chinese. The PRC has taken a page from Nazi Germany, that is the last time we saw behavior like this, even the Soviets never acted this way. The military build up is so they can push their neighbors around, they intend to take Taiwan, take the disputed territories in their sphere and establish client states subservient to China in places like the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, etc, extending all the way to Africa, they are looking to exert control even into the Mediterranean. They need raw resources, land and markets to sell their goods into. Their existence is dependent on high levels of growth without the world it simply is not possible. The military is intended to prevent any challenges to Chinese policy, if they project strength everyone will roll over and give them what they want. What is incontrovertible at this point is that they spread COVID on purpose regardless of the origins, it is very clear from their actions(it does spread person to person, everyone go on holiday to other countries, lock down the Hebei province internally…the disease was spreading since october!)
Funny I felt same sense of harmony and community at Joe Russo show last week. I especially love when it contains prayer as well- Greatest Story Ever Told, Promised Land, Samson and Delilah, St. Stephen, I Shall Be realeased..hah
3b, they think the capitalists on Taiwan are soft and will act in their individual self interest. Think annexation of Austria not a colony being held by the mother country. They will even use intelligence ops, propaganda, etc to shape opinion and control the populous. Right now the Taiwanese do not want to be part of China they like the autonomy they have but will they trade liberty for safety/security/the ability to maintain their current economic well being? Are they willing to fight? How long do they need to be shelled and blockaded before they lose that will?
Jcer : All valid points. Time will tell, but I think eventually it will come to a head.
Long game here. Why would you pay an American on the exact same platform more than foreign labor? Companies can now just bypass offshoring companies and go straight to a foreign market on their own. Right?
Companies generally take steps towards offshoring, which include outsourcing domestically first, then nearshore, than finally moving to offshore. The more basic the task, the faster you can move offshore. The greater the need for cultural affinity and understanding of the US market, the slower the process.
Shifting away from “captive” work – what we call in-house workers, requires a certain level of maturity that may or may not exist. This includes documentation, formal processes, training programs, maturity around program management, management reporting, etc. The further you go offshore, the more important all of this is, and what you might take for granted here in the US, doesn’t always fly in some remote part of the world. Captive businesses are notorious in the fact that nothing is documented, formalized, or trained. It’s going to be far easier for companies that are operating in this model to shift to their own WFH to gain the benefits.
Tech companies are putting together platforms that enable these kinds of activities in a way that’s far easier to deploy and manage. This is the kind of IP that once once guarded by the outsourcers.
Leveraging WFH in lieu of Domestic Outsourcing might just be good enough for many, providing the kind of flexibility and cost variabilization that’s key.
“What is incontrovertible at this point is that they spread COVID on purpose regardless of the origin”
JCer,
Want to think of the sicker point? What if they did? Is America going to do a damn thing about it? The corps will not do a thing to disrupt their business models. They have no allegiance to US and politicians will cotinue to kiss their rears and suck them off for kickbacks. The rich get the best healthcare, first in line medications and island escapes. It really reminds me of Dr. Strangelove. Who cares if some of the old, middle class and poor die? I got mine.
3b my money is the way to handle China is an economic decoupling, the opposite of how they thought they’d bring China around. Denying China access to the G7 markets, the very group they were deriding last month would destroy their economy and lead to the demise of the PRC. Without rising living standards the people will demand the government go and either it will collapse, civil war will break out or it will reform itself so it is no longer a pariah. The only thing that allows China to exert control over it’s people is the rising living standard, they have a lot of single young men, it’s a demographic nightmare. Take that group, no wife, no job, no money, and a falling standard of living and you are priming the pump for unrest.
That is how China hopes to take Taiwan, they will not invade with ground forces they are too patient for that, they will infiltrate Taiwanese society try to move public opinion and eventually exert pressure over some spat between Taipei and Beijing, economic, a blockade, and maybe shelling and limited missile strikes. They have already infiltrated us, and our media spreading misinformation/spreading falsities, they think we are soft and will not risk angering them if they take a neighboring state like Taiwan. They plan to eventually use their economic position to make us subservient too. They get Taiwan to vote to be an administrative region of the PRC.
Part of the reason Trump was so troubling to them is that he is not reasonable, nor rational, and is an a$$hole. He wouldn’t care if the Chinese made Seattle into glass, nor about casualties or human suffering. Basically Xi was faced with someone who cared as little about his people as he does and that terrified him.
Bystander, we know they did, the sick thing is they have been trying to cover it up for the Chinese because of what will happen if the world demands the Chinese pay for their crimes. Rumor is the defector(Dong something or other) presented the evidence that the Chinese plotted to spread this, if they contained it only China would face the economic consequences but if they set it on the world everyone would pay. The Corps are a big part of this, this is why we aren’t really hearing about Uighurs, human experimentation, organ harvesting, slave labor and other crimes against humanity. We sent the UN into Bosnia for less yet China gets a pass, can’t disrupt the profit train so what it’s done with slave labor we can look the other way.
Apparently the defector story is bunk. The truth remains the way the Chinese government behaved early on during COVID was very suspicious, either they are REALLY INCOMPETENT or malicious, I think the former.
“Someone who cared as little about his people as he does and that terrified him.”
We can disagree on this one. The clown scared no one. We killed 60,000 of our own people in useless war that ended 45 years ago. I think we killed 1.3m Vietnamese. Let another 7K or so die on false Iraq War and Afgansistan. Killed at least 500k people in those countries. I think they know we have no regard for protecting our people. We go hard stupid and hard for any made up reason. No president scares them. It goes beyond that. They have our jobs, our tech, our IP..we gave it away for free. All we have is military might.
Bystander: Our government and corporate America gave it away. Now we spend our time being offended.
Bystander the corporations demand war, it’s part of their business model. If you look at our losses compared to the enemy and it doesn’t look so bad, that 60k was a long time ago. Today would a leader be willing to give up that many troops on something not directly concerning our security? Trump hit them with the tariffs, he didn’t seem to care about the corporate blow back, I think Bernie Sanders likely would have done the same, Trump wanted Xi to submit to american authority and wasn’t going to stop until he did. You can watch the video of the American guy living in China about how he was a hilary voter but was voting for Trump because of his experience with the Chinese. We all get it you hate the orange one, many people do, but you cannot deny he is the first president in I don’t know how many years to stand up to the PRC. They were very happy when he lost.
The biggest cost to China of military conquest of Taiwan is that most of the semi-free world would see China’s fascism in terms of literal blood and violent oppression played out on screens for years.
China would prefer to wait to use Taiwanese businesses with Chinese interests to lobby for a political takeover. This is what they did in Hong Kong.
In general, only a tiny minority of old Taiwanese have any interest in reuniting. Most people would prefer the status quo. Most people under 30 want independence, which already exists de facto. But I hear the Taiwanese population isn’t as well trained with guns as the Swiss are (which helped them stay independent).
The problem is that the Chinese propaganda machine has been brainwashing Chinese people for decades into a nationalist fervor about “taking back” Taiwan, and some weak/vulnerable leader might do it to boost his domestic standing even if it hurts China’s international standing dramatically.
Sorry JCer, keep buying his publicity stunt. He created so&ialism in tunes of billions for farming corps which we are still paying for. He caved when markets started a downturn from rhetoric. You don’t solve issue in one year and big talk. He cared about apperances and re-election, nothing more. There was no teeth behind it. They won’t meet targets. There are no penalties. He scared no one.
Pretty hot out there today folks, heat index is like 103F. I went on a nice long bike ride, got a good soaking from sweating, at least the trees provided some cover. My son came back from camp today with heat exhaustion after having muscle cramps and getting sick around 3:30 PM. Too much excitement and activity for their first day at camp. Going to be hotter tomorrow too. Enjoy the global warming…
Back to real issue, what artwork should I put up in my permanenet home office? I would hate to dependent on NYC real estate for my lifestyle;
Even whispers of returning to an office have been enough to send some professionals searching for an exit—and plenty of bosses are welcoming them to new jobs with the promise of remote work forever.
Insurance giant Allstate recently decided 75% of its workforce needs no office, and another 24% can split time between home and a campus. And tech and software companies from Austin to Atlanta are hiring fully remote workers all over the U.S.
Eddie,
I went to my first rodeo three years ago. I’ve been to Nascar, but not for a long time. Very similar crowds. I now can’t get enough rodeo. And the crowds are the friendliest I’ve ever seen, except when fighting for a parking space outside the event. I had no idea that rodeo was an all day/night event and how much there is to see besides your standard bullriding/horseback stuff. At one point, they outfitted 3 to 5 year old kids in hockey gear and had them riding sheep. Plus lots of horseback tricks and dancing crews and old cars and horse drawn trucks and stuff. Plus the carnival with the great Q. I plan to attend a big event every year. Though the crowd swings Trump, there really are no politics involved.
“Tech companies are putting together platforms that enable these kinds of activities in a way that’s far easier to deploy and manage. This is the kind of IP that once once guarded by the outsourcers.”
Grim, my company just bought a German outfit that does this.
Bystander
This would look nice on zoom calls
https://www.hottopic.com/product/seinfeld-the-kramer-portrait-wood-wall-art/14969513.html?mr:trackingCode=FA0AFE6E-219B-EB11-8123-0050569437F6&mr:referralID=NA&mr:device=c&mr:adType=pa&mr:ad=17154339080&mr:filter=4584688613913329&cm_mmc=CSE-_-MSN-_-PLA-_-DMY-_-every-_-desktop&msclkid=a83787853fe6153c3803e75f798b4a4d&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=PLA%20-%20Everything%20-%20Desktop&utm_term=4584688613913329&utm_content=Everything%20Syndicated%20Partners
Thanks for the response. Makes me feel a little better about WFH not leading to massive hit on American salaries and jobs. The real test is when the fed turns off the spigot to get a recession. That’s later on in this decade, but there are def going to be companies that push to survive the recession by unloading their white collar American workers for cheaper labor. I just don’t see anyway around that long term. Hope our kids can still find good jobs in the future, we will see what tech has up its sleeve in terms of disruptive innovation. Hopefully it saves the coming generations.
grim says:
June 28, 2021 at 2:46 pm
Maybe I should take advantage of this remote work and get another job on top of what I already have. Why not… wonder how many others are thinking the exact same thing.
Bystander says:
June 28, 2021 at 5:24 pm
Back to real issue, what artwork should I put up in my permanenet home office? I would hate to dependent on NYC real estate for my lifestyle;
Even whispers of returning to an office have been enough to send some professionals searching for an exit—and plenty of bosses are welcoming them to new jobs with the promise of remote work forever.
Insurance giant Allstate recently decided 75% of its workforce needs no office, and another 24% can split time between home and a campus. And tech and software companies from Austin to Atlanta are hiring fully remote workers all over the U.S.
I hope the demographic time bomb China has created blows up in their face, proving you can’t control it all like they think they can.
I wonder how many more messes from their obsession with control is hiding beneath the surface.
Libturd,
It was enjoyable and I’ll go again. Everyone was polite, paused to let you walk by, said excuse me and thank you, that whole thing. Even leaving the event, cars waited, let you pass, paused for crowds walking. Of course, the event itself was fun. Pocono is a big wide track so there’s no close jockeying with drivers and no bumping like on the short tracks. It was just speed and strategy for position. That whole thing was very stress free and fun.
And I do know this WFH will not end well. People can’t be trusted. They just can’t. Only a matter of time before the schemers start figuring out ways to hide their work or before they come up with schemes to rob company secrets and sell it. Inevitable.
Best part, everything is going to be cloud. Hackers are watering at their mouth for this to be established and taken advantage of. They already hack govts, only a matter of time they find an opening to hit these corporations.
One example off top of my head. Hacking the company, and giving yourself a job without ever showing up. Meaning you put yourself on their payroll and what not (not easy), but a good programmer will find a way.
Putting yourself on the payroll was impossible with in person, but the more trusting companies become with remote makes this very possible.
Finally,
I was involved in my first near Karen incident this morning.
Tree company comes to remove that tree I spoke about and as crane sets up in my side yard, the 2nd floor tenant comes out screaming hysterically that we can’t remove the dead tree. At first I thought she was a tree hugger, but it turns out that the crazy old landlord couple that owns the place and lives downstairs are now both hospitalized and she had been asked to look after the property in their absence. The only reason I needed their permission was to put one leg of the crane down on their side lawn (weed patch). Now the owner of that home is plumb crazy. They used to threaten to call the cops when my son accidentally kicked a soccer ball on to their property-crazy. All day and night, this old Italian couple would scream at each other at the tops of their lungs. So much so that they had high tenant turnover due to all of the noise they made. Nonetheless, they obviously found the most ideal tenants, for the mouth on this tattooed hipsterette was something else. So much so that the tree company stopped working and I had to drive back over to talk some sense into her, which was not easy. First, she had already called the cops. Second, I told her that if the tree falls and she has stopped the removal of the tree, she would be liable for any damages, loss of life, etc. She then told me I was crazy. I just kept saying that I had no choice, the tree had to come down and the only way it could come down was via crane from this location. She had the smart phone open and recording, she was crying and completely hysterical. I continued to use reason, but she kept playing off this story about how she was in charge of the place since Nina and Rocko were hospitalized and how horrible it was that I would do this to them. Meanwhile, I planned to knock on their door this morning, but they were both hospitalized. Never in a million years would they have let me put a leg of crane on their lawn, heck, they went crazy over a soccer ball. My conversation with the mad lady ended when I told her that I will no longer snowblow her sidewalk for free (which I always do since the town will fine you if you don’t do it quickly since we are on the major walking route to the train station) to which she says I’m crazy and that I never do this, which is a complete lie. I always do it, she just doesn’t realize it since they never get their driveway cleared until they are the last on the block since their landlord is such a d1ck.
So the cop comes and explains to me how we really shouldn’t proceed without the owner’s permission, to which I and now three other homeowners who are witnessing the Karen meltdown, defend me when I explain how they would never give me permission anyhow. I explained how I would be more than happy to pay for any damage and that we even took insurance out against their property to remove this tree. The cop then asks me how I would feel if the shoe was on the other foot and I explained how I would have absolutely no issue with it as long as insurance was involved and permits were pulled (which they were). Well the cop scared off the tree people whose owner was already at another estimating site. They removed the crane and the plywood used to protect the lawns and put the crane back into the road. Then the cop asked if I would be willing to speak with the owners son (who I knew as well, but did not have his contact info). In two minutes, the reasonable son gave us all permission. The crane sets up for round two and lo and behold, a municipal worker comes by.
He claims there was no permit pulled (which I know is not the case), so I call the owner of the tree removal company and she says she’ll be there in 15 minutes with the permit. She did not lie, and not only did she have the permit, it wasn’t necessary to even have one since the tree was an invasive specie (ASH) and was completely dead. None the less, the town would not let the work go on. The reason? The town arborist who approved the permit was out today and the person taking over his responsibilities could not find the permit (since they don’t work with the arborist in the municipal building) and was not aware of the invasive species rule. Finally, the tree removal owner calls the arborist (he happened to have his cell phone number) and we get the whole thing straightened out. And now you all know why I can’t stand public workers, especially those in Montclair, which is primarily why I moved to Glen Ridge, where I couldn’t be happier.
What should have been done by 10:15am took until 2pm, thanks to their assistance.
Whata friggin’ morning. I would pay to get that cell phone video. Instead, I told her if she needs anything else from me to call me and I gave her my number. Love thy enemy. Love thy enemy. It’s not easy, but it works.
“Maybe I should take advantage of this remote work and get another job on top of what I already have.”
Grim pays you to post drivel here?
Geezus Lib. I had 80 ft maple removed last year. My neighbor and I split costs at on both properties. No permits, no drama. It was amazing to watch. They even operated between my kids monstrous wooden swingset, complete with treehouse. Did not damage a thing. I don’t miss NJ at all, particularly the people. Too many crazies that live to be d&cks.
Most people can be trusted, they just can we see it everyday in the private sector.
Rubin and Summers say inflation is here to stay.
Hold,
Between the Indians and the millenials that I work with, there is 0% chance any of them get that. I would rather put a Zappa photo up. Maybe one with pigtails or “We’re Only In It For the Money”..a classic pic. That would surely mess with people. Think I am the T in LGBT. Might get kudos for being brave with pic.
Lib you should have tipped the crane driver to drop the stump on her apt. The inspector aka Arborist was not off he was triple dipping in another town. He gets probably 60k a piece from three or four towns to identify a tree which can be done with a cell phone app.
You can plant a million trees but you need to take one down it’s comedy around here in New Jersey. I pulled several trees no permit….As far as I know even New York does not require a permit to take down a tree only Jersey.
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Ahh, so Summers is off his “stagflation” position?
3b says:
June 28, 2021 at 7:12 pm
Rubin and Summers say inflation is here to stay.
Like ENRON. Good people out there I tell you.
3b says:
June 28, 2021 at 7:10 pm
Most people can be trusted, they just can we see it everyday in the private sector
“Only Jersey.”
Should be the state motto.
“Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest is readying the first bitcoin ( $BTC ) ETF with 21Shares, which serves as the filer and issuer of the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF ( $ARKB )
The bitcoin ETF would list on the Cboe Global Markets (CBOE) and would use the S&P Bitcoin Index as its benchmark.”
Party animals go all out in Washington Square park: Dancing, drinking, and fireworks
https://nypost.com/2021/06/27/dance-parties-drinking-overtake-washington-square-park/
You guys called it. The summer of party.
I’m going to have some fun this September. Kids are going to be off the wall.
Yes Chi,
When you leave your wife for a C0ke head as big as you.
https://twitter.com/joncoopertweets/status/1409632913813999616
Pumps – I lived in the West Village and spent many a night around NYU and the
Park. All celebrations are close to anarchy when you have that many there, way before social media was a thing too. Back then flyers and word of mouth.
Juice,
I lived on MacDougal years ago. Fun times.
Juice, ever come across anything like this? Lmao
“At least five unsanctioned bouts broke out Friday night — complete with gloves, a time keeper and a referee.”
https://nypost.com/2021/06/26/washington-square-park-again-home-to-unlicensed-boxing-bouts/
Look on the bright side, Washington Square weed is far higher quality these days.
Lol how many naive white boys were taken for a ride buying weed in that park…place was a gold mine for “them boyz.”
Grim says:
June 29, 2021 at 7:50 am
Look on the bright side, Washington Square weed is far higher quality these days.
November 2, 2021 : 2021 NJ State General Election Date
November 15, 2021 : Projected end of mortgage foreclosure moratorium
https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2021/06/eviction-moratorium-ending-early-for-some-nj-tenants-under-bill-now-on-murphys-desk.html
Be a LGBTQ2S+ ALLY, get your definitions straight:
https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lgbtqi/resources/definitions
Stud doesn’t mean what it used to.
No One,
You are a real Stud.
No One,
I assume anyone who deems themselves a heterosexual will be classified as mentally ill?
Eddie,
Go see a therapist. You will be classified with something. It’s how they make money getting you back.
Just wait till you have a child with a freak Karen who tries to use them to win a custody battle. They will claim your child has so many problems in order to keep them there @200 per 45 minutes. Then deal with a judge who thinks this “therapist” is actually there to help your child, or is just afraid to rule against one themselves “God forbid” they are wrong.
And Eddie,
Every feminist would be happy with you having that diagnosis. They like “reliable servants.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunuch
It’s unclear whether police issued commands to Hurley or what dispatch information the officer who shot Hurley had received.
The Jefferson County 911 communications center denied a public records request by The Denver Post for audio recordings of 911 calls and dispatch communications related to the Olde Town Arvada shooting, citing the ongoing investigation.
Arvada police officers are not equipped with body cameras. Investigators on Friday released video from a security camera showing the gunman ambush Officer Gordon Beesley, but did not release any video connected to Hurley’s actions or death.
https://www.denverpost.com/2021/06/27/arvada-shooting-guns-self-defense/
WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court on Tuesday removed a hurdle to the construction of a natural-gas pipeline through Pennsylvania and New Jersey, ruling the pipeline developer could invoke the power of the federal government to take state property needed for the project.
No One, a few years back we were handed a flow chart of like 80 different possibilities of gender and sexual orientation and we encouraged to learn it. Read an article about someone that is transgender and now trans racial. Apparently they had 18 surgeries to make themselves look Korean. I woulda thought it was racist to ask the doc to give you slanty eyes.
Joyce,
YouTube this group for interesting videos.
San Joaquin valley transparency.
“He said people carrying guns should only intervene in active shooter situations if they reasonably believe they can do so effectively and safely. Target practice is important, but people also need to complete scenario-based training on movement and tactics,” he said.
“This is a responsibility and it has to be realistic,” he said. “They need to have skills beyond shooting cans down by the river.”
You mean like the officer that shot the real hero? Sounds like he needed more “practice.”
“The dispatch information officers receive will also greatly influence how they handle a situation, he said.”
Like a lying spouse, a hysterical screeching woman, or a lying dog walker in Central Park.
Yeah, we get it.
BRT So one can be race fluid, and that needs to be protected too? Wouldn’t that then fall under racial or cultural appropriation?
With all these different sexual identifiers at the end of the day isn’t it just sex? Who cares?
Lots of actresses in China and Korea have done plastic surgery to make their eyes rounder and their noses more Caucasian looking. And they try to make their skin whiter. Racist?
Well, I don’t know about all of that stuff, but one thing is for sure, your insides look all the same to me, and I have seen plenty of insides.
Just do everyone a favor, mostly yourselves, and keep your visceral fat to a minimum.
Have oatmeal for breakfast today as well, and skip the sausage links.
https://youtu.be/OTzLVIc-O5E?t=13
Ok, here’s some Real Estate news
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https://www.ft.com/content/88b4102f-a6d1-473a-8920-5e98b45661ae
US home price growth accelerated in April at the fastest pace in more than three decades as strong housing demand continued to come up against a shortage of residential properties.
The S&P Case-Shiller national home price index, which covers all nine US census divisions, rose 14.6 per cent year on year in April, data on Tuesday showed. That followed a 13.3 per cent annual jump in March, and was “the highest reading in more than 30 years,” according to the report.
Meanwhile, the 20-city composite, which covers US metropolitan areas including Dallas, Miami, New York and San Francisco, rose 1.6 per cent from the previous month and 14.9 per cent year on year.
That was the largest annual increase since December 2005 and compared with expectations for a 14.5 per cent yearly increase, according to economists surveyed by Refinitiv.
Phoenix, San Diego, and Seattle reported the highest year-over-year gains among the 20 cities in April.
“April’s performance was truly extraordinary,” said Craig Lazzara, managing director and global head of index investment strategy at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
While the boom has been driven partly by pandemic-related demand for suburban homes, he said it may also “represent an acceleration of purchases that would have occurred anyway over the next several years”.
https://www.ft.com/content/88b4102f-a6d1-473a-8920-5e98b45661ae
Real estate news:
US home price growth accelerated in April at the fastest pace in more than three decades as strong housing demand continued to come up against a shortage of residential properties.
The S&P Case-Shiller national home price index, which covers all nine US census divisions, rose 14.6 per cent year on year in April, data on Tuesday showed. That followed a 13.3 per cent annual jump in March, and was “the highest reading in more than 30 years,” according to the report.
https://www.ft.com/content/88b4102f-a6d1-473a-8920-5e98b45661ae
“With all these different sexual identifiers at the end of the day isn’t it just sex? Who cares?”
My vote for post of the day.
More real estate!
Great story below about the nightmare of finding out your condo building is about to collapse, and then needing to spend a decade and many millions to save the building, forcing other condo owners to cough up the money for repairs. Getting crushed in your sleep would be worse though.
I think condo expenses will be going up as I would expect a step up in inspection and repairs ahead from increasingly nervous condo owners associations. Kinda more glad I bought a SFH in Florida this year rather than a condo. I hadn’t even thought of these issues when looking around.
https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/home-and-real-estate/an-unlikely-heroine-steps-in-to-save-crumbling-dolphin-tower
Sex? Where? The greatest answer in TV history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XM5hbS7GlU
Probably not in Montclair. Town extended rent freeze again until Sept. 1st. I wrote all of the town councilors. All of them agreed with me and and said they would not extend it again. We’ll see.
My rent is going up on my upstairs tenant 8.2% the moment the rent freeze is lifted too. This amounts to $182 per month more. Due to the rent freeze timing, I have not raised rent on them for nearly three years (town limited max annual increase to 4.1%). They are terrible tenants too. This is the opium den family. Their idea of wear and tear is mostly tear. And all tears for me. Definitely would prefer new tenants. In three years, I had to replace their clothes washing machine after fixing it twice. I had to repair their dishwasher twice. I had to replace the thermostat on their new oven. Did three sheetrock repairs. Two ceilings repainted due to pealing (they keep unit impossibly hot since they are Israeli). Snaked the shower drain three times. Fixed the toilet three times. Fixed the sink twice. They ruined a set of kitchen cabinets by letting too much water drip on them until the wood expanded too far for it to close. They broke the door on the bathroom vanity. They broke the seal on their front door. Replaced the door on the gazebo. Replaced the screens on the porch and gazebo twice. Their unit looks like a bomb dropped on it. They also had me call the pest company twice for mice, but both times the company said they wouldn’t do anything until they cleaned up their unit. Especially the old food left out in their kitchen. They also knocked off every towel and toilet paper holder come to think of it. Not sure how anyone in their right mind could live this way, but they do. The funny thing is, they are really nice. Just clueless and not careful people. They just bought a new Mercedes, so I’m not worried about the affordability of it. Would rather they leave though.
Tell that to the good Christians who refuse to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple.
No, you can’t be racist against whites.
There’s a lot of wiggle room in this Vanderbilt definition:
“BISEXUAL or BI: A person who experiences sexual, romantic, physical, and/or spiritual attraction to more than one gender, not necessarily at the same time, in the same way, or to the same degree.”
When a company or organization is looking for a diversity hire looking for a Bi, what standard do they enforce? How do they choose between Candidate A, a woman in a polygamous three way MFF marriage currently engaging in sexual activities with both simultaneously at least twice a week, and Candidate B, a man who four years ago felt a moderate spiritual attraction to Donald Trump?
Both qualify as Bi according to the definition. Will there be a standard setting body scoring Bi-ness on a 10 point scale like the olympics? I mean, a seat on a board of directors is a pretty cushy job, who wouldn’t be willing to say they used to be attracted to the same sex to get an advantage there. How do you prove it? Some sort of trust test like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L0YNMhRDA4
On tree’s, yes every municipality seems to have this tree permit non-sense. It seems in many jurisdictions enforcement is very lax. The tree companies will tell you if you ask about permits, I had like 30 trees done without a permit. Granted many fell below the towns size limit for a permit(12in diameter or greater) but at least half of them were larger. Tree company told me I could file for the permit and wait or we could just take a chance to get it done(I had a tree on my roof so I was in a bit of a hurry) because enforcement is very lax and the trees were an imminent risk.
It seems this tree permit business is becoming the standard in a lot of jurisdictions. I question the legality of it, yes if you want to remove a healthy tree that’s one thing but if a tree is deemed an imminent risk(dead or infested trees which could fall) by an arborist it needs to be taken down immediately as a matter of safety. First the municipality has no say in the matter it needs to come down, so the only explanation is so they can get the permit money. The municipality isn’t going to indemnify me for any loss of life or property as a result of leaving that tree up, I should be permitted to remove it asap. It’s more government stupidity and overreach.
Lib: Still does not change my statement. There will always be bigotry, racism , sexism whatever to some degree. What started out as legitimate Gay/ Lesbian rights as in the right to marry and not be discriminated against in employment housing whatever, has turned into a joke now, with seemingly every other day some silly new identifier coming out and we are supposed to take it seriously. At the end of the day it’s still just sex.
11:38 I’m not 100% sure any organized religion’s conservative branch is any different.
Phoenix says:
June 29, 2021 at 11:16 am
“Just do everyone a favor, mostly yourselves, and keep your visceral fat to a minimum.”
I was never quite clear on this…Is visceral fat ‘worse’ than subcutaneous fat? Why?
JCer,
Once you leave NJ, you realize that this state exists for three classes of people. Most states share one of these traits and occasionally, some share two (all in New England). But, “Only Jersey,” exists for all three.
1) Only Jersey, has such a high number of residents living in urban areas. Number one in the country, as a matter of fact. Garden State, my ass. And some of the other states that come close, such as California, have different kinds of cities. You know, one’s which you could be proud to say you live in. Like Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego. In NJ, you will hardly find a proud Pattersonian, Trentonian or Candemnite, Newark and Jersey City? Come on now. What does this translate too? A heck of a lot of poor people stuck in the cycle of government dependance. In NJ, most government services go to support this population.
2) Besides California, only Jersey, pays it’s public workers more. Where do we rank in GDP per capita by state? Number 9. California is Number 5, but a solid 10K higher than NJ. In particular, NJ pays its cops the 3rd highest and it’s higher education teachers the most.
3) Besides Maryland, flush with Federal dollars, only Jersey and Massachusetts (essentially a tie) are richer in average median household income. But fear not, NJ is ranked third to last in the latest economic outlook forecast as the middle class continues to get hammered in NJ.
https://www.nj.com/data/2020/03/the-gap-between-the-rich-and-poor-in-new-jersey-keeps-increasing-data-shows.html
https://www.thecentersquare.com/new_jersey/new-jersey-ranks-3rd-worst-in-new-economic-outlook-analysis/article_493b63be-c4e3-11eb-a89e-bffec95b784f.html#tncms-source=infinity-scroll-summary-sticky-siderail-latest
And I believe we have more police per capita than any other state in the county, as well
as the ridiculousness home rule nonsense.
The only thing more ridiculous than our state is staying here and continuing to enrich the public workers.
I did the math on my proposed move to Clark County, Nevada. The moment I move I save 15K in property taxes. I pay $150 a month in tolls, so that’s another 2K. Sales tax? Half of ours. What do I spend a year? Who the hell knows, but this must be good for another K or 2. State Income Tax? I’m not giving that one away, but figure a minimum of 5K. Shall I go on? What am I up to? $24,000. Oh yeah, I’ll get another 2 bathrooms and 2 bedrooms and another 1,000 square feet for 1/3rd less than I’ll sell my current house for. And it will have a pool and hot tub. So the moment I move, I lock up about 300K on my home and save well over 25K per year in taxes. Oh right, disability in Nevada will pay for Daniel’s private school. That’s good for another 50K or so a year. Shall I go on?
The moral of the story is that you are a moron to stay in NJ if the only thing it gives you is good bagels and pizza. Are the schools better? For what you’ll save, you can pay someone to homeschool your kids.
In other news, check out this call?
https://tinyurl.com/myVEEVcall
Get your Bitcoin here.
My MDC call is currently slightly in the red, but it’s nearing green and I am even more optimistic on it than I was when I made the call. So are the analysts. “earnings estimates have been rising for this company, even despite the sluggish trading lately. In just the past 60 days alone 4 estimates have gone higher, compared to none lower, while the consensus estimate has also moved in the right direction.
Estimates have actually risen so much that the stock now has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) suggesting this relatively unloved stock could be due for a breakout soon. This will be especially true if MDC stock can build momentum from here and find a way to continue higher of off this encouraging trading development.”
3b we also have astoundingly low crime rates in the nicer areas and pretty much every affluent area is within striking distance of the ghetto. Around Newark/Irvington/East Orange you have Millburn, Short Hills, Montclair, Maplewood. Around Elizabeth you have Westfield. Around Patterson is very close to Franklin Lakes, Wayne, and North Haledon. Trenton is close to Princeton and it’s surrounding areas. Camden is close to Haddonfield, Moorestown, and Cherry Hill. Without police basically doing border patrols these suburbs would see a spike of crime. Criminals in the hood know if they target these areas they will be caught and arrested, where as in the hood they largely can act with impunity.
Home rule is basically a hold over, towns broke down based on social stratification. At one time Short Hills/Millburn was part of Springfield. Lots of other towns broke off of larger towns as a result of real estate development. If you look before 1850, the township of Franklin contained what we know today as Ridgewood, Wyckoff, Franklin Lakes, and Oakland. There is enough of an economic difference between these towns that they want to maintain separate governments, schools, police forces, etc.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-28/even-gold-obsessed-indians-are-now-pouring-billions-into-crypto
Jcer,
You nailed it. This state is a great place to raise your family if you have money. People take the safety aspect for granted. They only realize this when they move out of state. The people that move out of state to gated communities live in a bubble in their new state.
JCer says:
June 29, 2021 at 2:45 pm
City folks moved in when the railroads were built(late 1800’s), real estate developers started building neighborhoods. There was a bitter fight over taxes and municipal services, the existing rural residents were used to not paying any property taxes, the idea they would have to pay for services they would not use was not well received. basically as NJ evolved from rural to suburban people stratified, each new development or railroad station became it’s own town.
Jcer: I would agree the police prevent spillover from the bad towns, but there is a limit to that. Take Bergen Co 70 odd towns and 70 odd police departments. Many of those could be consolidated and still be able to patrol for crime. The high crime areas in Bergen are Englewood and Hackensack, and of course Paterson near Northern Bergen Co. Franklin Lakes, Wyckoff, Allendale could be one town. Many other examples as well.
Yea, you won’t find anywhere else like northern NJ. Little town after little town. All with their own rules, security, and education system.
The only thing more ridiculous than our state is staying here and continuing to enrich the public workers.
I always thought I’d retire and live in NJ for the rest of my life. I’m not so sure anymore. It’s beyond absurd to constantly be subjected to financial extortion. 560 different municipalities, one more gluttonous than the next. It’s becoming too much.
Jcer In Bergen Co much of the home rule mania was late 1800s early 1900s.
Invincible lines separate these towns too. Most other areas in the United States, towns aren’t right on top of each other…one block is one town and the next block is another town.
What Jcer spoke about is the wild thing about jersey. One block is full blown ghetto, and the next block over is full blown millionaires. It’s amazing. How each side stays on their side just blows my mind. Invincible line. Like an electric fence for dogs. It’s amazing.
Fast : We exist to take care of our bloated and entitled public workers.
So if you have money, nj is a great place for you. Safety is important and we protect the rich in this state. Even the beaches they try to block the lower classes by blocking parking. The wealthy really have it made in NJ.
So basically every shore community is cancelling their fireworks because the crowd that invaded long branch is planning more celebrations. They keep moving their plans to the next town and they are falling like dominoes.
“So if you have money” to burn. Or are too poor to get out. NJ is perfect for you. Spoken like a true gubmint worker.
I think the pay for these cops in rich north jersey towns is on purpose. They want to make sure their security force is well paid, so said security force doesn’t start setting up house robberies or turning a blind eye. Keep them on a leash with a pension tied to a high paying job. Good, dog.
3b,
I was happily surprised how nice people where in the services and as patrons this last weekend while attending the car race in the Poconos. I’ve been holed up waaayyy too long and forgot that this country and people in general are not all angry muppets. The bottom line is that it felt so good and opened my eyes. I don’t think I can retire in Jersey. Years ago, probably. Not anymore.
Pumpkin Head,
You need to change your handle and try another angle on the satire.
That Long Branch crowd.
Found out from my son that the last two parties he went to, hosted by 10th graders, were booze parties where the parents were home and condoning the activity. It is any wonder the sh1ts getting completely outta control?
My son was handed a Bud Light which he tasted, spit out and told everyone that it’s p1sswater. I always let him TRY whatever I am drinking so he won’t abuse it when the time comes for him to imbibe. He has never had a non-craft beer beer besides Negro Modelo or Guinness.
I’m the first to condone parties, but not when the parents are around. WTF? I can only imagine the liability they are facing.
Fast Eddie,
You should see it in Costa Rica. Talk about nice people. It’s inherent in their culture to be nice. It’s crazy to experience. It completely blew ExPats mind. Especially when we rented an SUV for over a week from Hertz for like $60 which was a crazy price for even down there, but a true Captain Cheapo special. The man at the counter, after offering us two free bottles of water, congratulated me on that deal. It’s like Southern hospitality times 2.
I’ve always felt home rule was one of the few attractive aspects of Jersey.
If you require government, government closer to the people is going to be more responsive and responsibly run.
Schools. Police. Courts. Taxation. I’d much rather deal with people I see frequently and actually know than some maladjusted, undereducated, overly earnest County political hack selling me out for the highest rung of his life ladder, an eventual seat in the State Assembly.
If you and a group of like minded citizen-residents want to live in a certain manner together you have a much better chance at the local level, certainly moreso than at the County or State level.
If something is wrong with your immediate community it’s on you for not being more proactive. Not on the structure of political subdivisions in the State. Get involved.
Bergen county went from being 10 towns to being 74 towns in 30 years time.
We can definitely rationalize some services or even whole towns. Frankly Franklin Lakes, Wyckoff, and Ridgewood should be a single town. Maplewood and South Orange are distinct towns for some inexplicable reason despite having almost identical demographics and a shared school system.
People were the reason these towns split 150 years ago and remain the reason they will not merge.
left, I don’t disagree but things have been taken too far in north jersey, we have micro towns. That’s not the case for towns like Wayne, Livingston or West Orange but so many others are tiny. Many have regional school systems, what is the point if you share a school system you are for all intents and purposes a single town albeit one with a strange division of services.
(1/2) Over the last 10 years, both the city and county of LA have spent in excess of $6.5B on homeless programs, only to see the unhoused population grow from 39K to +80K. It’s time to end the deception and the failed policies that only lead to more death and destruction of our
(2/2) beloved communities. It’s time to regulate public space, not abandon it as we see in Venice, Hollywood, Olvera Street, and elsewhere. City of LA, it’s never too late to start doing things right. The LASD is committed to the safety of ALL communities in Los Angeles County.
https://twitter.com/lacosheriff/status/1409905640403660804?s=21
Lib, at my last district, the parents would compete with each other to see who could host the biggest most irresponsible party on prom day. The one guy who took the cake one year was our basketball coach who was a millionaire coaching on the side. School district never did anything about that one
I stopped volunteering because the kids would arrive with a .4 BAC minimum. At my current school, kids have to blow in the breathalyzer. None of them even bother to try to sneak it in. It’s night and day.
Left: The small towns for all their independence really have very little power , with the exception of police and schools. I used to attend many of the meetings back in the day, and so much of what would be considered local rule is governed by state and or county statues/ regulations. And some of the folks that are part of local government ain’t the sharpest tools in the shed. They can do stupid things like approve a 7/11 on a busy street then more than half way through construction tell them they can’t be open 24 hours as neighbors complained, yet the approval has previously been given. It goes to court and 100k later spent by the town 7/11 wins.
Jcer: There is no reason Ridgewood and Glen Rock should not be one town, and in fact they were until the early 20th century. Rutherford and East Rutherford, Hackensack and So. Hackensack. River Edge and Oradell, Bergenfield, Dumont and New Milford, these towns should be combined and there are many others in Bergen Co as well that should be consolidated.
Grim please unmod.
Fast: My wife and I are having the same discussion, we own a condo that we would spend winters in , but not year round. We love the shore and would consider retiring there , but we ask ourselves why. Across the border in PA is a big difference, even NY is better for retirement in some respects. Family and friends in NY metro area too, so difficult decision. That said, I don’t know why anyone would continue to 15k a year in proper taxes when their kids are done with the schools.
3b it’s police, schools, dpw. They control what services are offered. Counties and States really neutered the independence of municipalities and now the Feds want in so that they can dictate local zoning.
Because housing involving the State and Federal government has been SO sucessful…..
3b NY is worse death tax is pretty low move to tax free state like FL for 183 days of the year, than pick your poison NJ, NY, DE, MD, etc. Lots of shore towns have very little in the way of full time residents so property taxes aren’t quite as bad. You just don’t want NJ as a tax nexus.
Pumps what you are seeing in LA is the failure of progressive policies. LA will never solve it’s homelessness problem by giving benefits all that does is attract the homeless to LA. For example in NJ we have much more generous welfare benefits than PA, there are a good number of poor people who immigrated to NJ for the better benefits. If NJ’s anti poverty measures were not better than our neighbors we’d see migration of the poor out.
Not to sound callous but for the well being of a city the homeless need to be chased out of Central Business Districts, no one wants go spend money in place with aggressive homeless people, it just takes money from local businesses and employers and leads to a decay of cities. Newark under Baraka is a good example of this, they need people to come downtown and spend money but it is not a good place to hang out, usually you’ll find the homeless reliving themselves, someone smoking weed, aggressive pan handlers, etc.
Jcer Would not do Fla more than 2 months. The rest still have to figure out.
Both my Chase and Novo Bank accounts were having problems accepting scanned checks today. We lost power briefly twice and twice circuits blew (brownouts?). Which is the thirld world country? The one down in Central America protesting the acceptance of an IMF loan? Or our country, which can’t even stop quantitative easing or keep the lights on during a couple of hot days?
I have long felt that Brian Stelter is the most ridiculous talking head on tv – more than anyone else, he twists every news story into something absurd, to my sensibilities. His questions, his commentary – just all very bad, in my eyes. And, while I feel like other cable news people have become more unhinged over time, Stelter has been doing it this way for a long time. Glad to see that many others apparently feel this way . . .
below at 3:15 . . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xs2BSGe8Wg
17:50 mark 27:42 mark
Ghetto became rich during the pandemic. Heard from the streets of LA. I’m being played by my tenant, and not a damn thing I can do till they allow me to evict.
https://fb.watch/6rpkmv2DCN/
Delta up to 15.6% of NJ variants detected.
One Ohio company is looking to scoop up $1.5 billion in short-term-rental properties.
The strategy — buying homes to rent on Airbnb at scale — could box people out of homeownership.
Americans are already up against sky-high home prices and Wall Street investors.
https://apple.news/ADSawwhcOSVeGwJp-mZT5Fw
3b, I live in Mercer Co., across the Delaware to Bucks Co. We basically have similar incomes, yet all their roads, homes, buildings, shops, and parks are much nicer. It it weren’t for Chris Christie’s archaic teachers must live in NJ law, I would be living there.
America.
Having trouble making an airplane that flies. Keep outsourcing your engineers for profit and this is what you get. A management culture that knew the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
This is what happens when you let accountants design an airplane.
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/boeing-777x-realistically-will-not-win-certification-approval-before-mid-2023-us-2021-06-27/