Sorry buyers…

From Bloomberg:

Buyers Are Flocking to NYC’s Suburbs. Too Bad There Aren’t Many Homes to Sell.

In the midst of the worst US housing slump in a decade, a wave of finance and tech layoffs and drumbeats of a potential recession, open houses in affluent New York suburbs are packed. 

Offers come in fast — sometimes for hundreds of thousands over asking. 

A typical scene played out on a cloudy Sunday last month in Scarsdale, a suburb about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Manhattan known for its bucolic setting and high-rated schools. At the tail end of an open house, a dozen people were still wandering in and around a 1926 Tudor-style house listed for about $1.93 million.

An older couple took video on their iPhone for their offspring too busy to attend, while a younger man walked around with his infant in a chest carrier. The house was in need of some touch-ups. Somebody whispered that the hardwood floors were scratched, another said that the refrigerator looked warped, and a pair of kitchen cabinet doors was missing. It hardly mattered. 

With few other homes on the market, the 3,400-square-foot (316-square-meter) house attracted almost 100 groups of visitors, and netted six bids. It went under contract five days after the open house for $2.28 million.

“Demand is very high in all price ranges,” said Laura Miller, the listing agent with Houlihan Lawrence. “There are tons of buyers and not enough inventory.”

In New York, the economy remains strong despite layoffs at employers such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Three-day hybrid work policies, becoming standard in some industries, mean greater demand for homes with more space, but within a commutable distance.

Many sellers may be waiting until March to put homes on the market but the for-sale signs aren’t coming out yet. New listings in January so far have dropped 5% in the US, according to Realtor.com. The New York area has seen even deeper slides, with new inventory down more than 40% in Manhattan and Brooklyn, the most in the country, and more than 20% in Westchester and Bergen counties. 

“We are begging people to sell right now,” said Arlene Gonnella, an agent at Weichert Realtors in Short Hills, one of New Jersey’s most expensive areas. “We are trying to tempt them with buyers who are ready, willing and able to pay up.”

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

103 Responses to Sorry buyers…

  1. dentss dunnigan says:

    First

  2. dentss dinnigan says:

    2

  3. dentss dunnigan says:

    3

  4. Juice Box says:

    Chi – Re: Sally Boys Pizza. Next pizza chain??? I walked by it the other day. Sal Basile Cooking Channel chef, he owns a few pizza shops in NYC Artichoke Basille’s Pizza..So he definitely had the money to do that renovation. This new one has a whole second floor of seating too. I wonder if he bought the building…

    Get this they are going to serve breakfast and be open every day and late night for the bar crowd too, and also more like a NYC one they are going to serve burgers, hot dogs and cheesesteaks.

    Location location? That corner is ok I guess, perhaps allot of the Hospital folks will walk over for lunch? The other small pizza shops nearby are probably really pissed, especially the one on the other corner, directly across from the Hospital the New Corner Italian restaurant.

  5. Juice Box says:

    Lol -Gov. Sarah Sanders STOU rebuttal made exactly Zero references to the Orange Clown who is running for president again.

    The only thing I thought she made a point with was that “It’s time for a new generation of Republican leadership”. But I will add she did mention sleepy Joe is too old too so it is time for new leadership in both parties. That is something I can agree on, both parties of old fogies needs to go to sunny acres to play shuffleboard.

  6. Fast Eddie says:

    Offers come in fast — sometimes for hundreds of thousands over asking.

    The New York area has seen even deeper slides, with new inventory down more than 40% in Manhattan and Brooklyn, the most in the country, and more than 20% in Westchester and Bergen counties.

    “We are begging people to sell right now,” said Arlene Gonnella, an agent at Weichert Realtors in Short Hills, one of New Jersey’s most expensive areas. “We are trying to tempt them with buyers who are ready, willing and able to pay up.”

    lolololol. Oh the humanity. As I’ve stated, a nuclear blast and cockroach infestation have no bearing on price in the NYC suburbs. Interest rates? Double them… it doesn’t matter.

  7. Juice Box says:

    Lol – Must of been a stressful week at Google. That chubhan Nadalla is after our search business again. They broke the glass and opened up a project called “Code Red”.

    CNBC Yesterday Nadalla interview he is giddy..

    https://www.cnbc.com/video/2023/02/07/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-the-most-profitable-large-software-business-is-search.html

    Alibaba BTW says it is now in the Chat Bot game.

  8. Bystander says:

    “That’s why I propose we quadruple the tax on corporate stock buybacks and encourage long-term investments. They’ll still make considerable profit.”

    Thanks Joe

  9. Trick says:

    New cx-90 is a looker, turbo inline 6 or phev rear wheel bias, if I were in the market for a 3 row suv it would be at the top of my list. Hopefully they come out with a 2 row ie cx-70.

  10. leftwing says:

    Didn’t see Joe but heard him. Sounded good. Typical tripe for the Left, seemed more like a candidate speech and probably the first throw down that he will in fact announce. Little of what he said would be enacted even by the middle of the Dems…forget a billionaire’s ATM, they folded on carried interest lol.

    Didn’t see or hear Huckabee.

  11. leftwing says:

    Closed half my low cost, high payout GOOG put spreads, stock down 6 or so now.

    Saw a VW Atlas, loaded. Nice looking truck. Is that an Audi platform?

  12. Juice Box says:

    Powell said the rent is Too Damn High yesterday.

    “Rents increased between 20% and 40% in 14 New Jersey’s counties since the start of the pandemic, new data published by Zillow shows.

    The typical rent paid by a New Jersey tenant increased by at least 30% in Atlantic, Ocean, Camden, Hunterdon and Gloucester counties between February 2020 and December 2022, an analysis of the data shows. (See how your county fared in the chart below.)

    Atlantic County topped the list at a 40% rent spike from $1,264 to $1,766, though it remains one of the few counties with typical rents below $2,000.”

    https://www.nj.com/data/2023/02/rent-prices-skyrocketed-20-40-in-14-nj-counties-since-start-of-pandemic.html

  13. BRT says:

    Artichoke’s slice was tasty but so heavy. I’d rather them just make a spinach artichoke dip.

  14. Fast Eddie says:

    I see that O’Biden claims he created 12 million jobs. CNN just reported that 9.3 million jobs were lost due to the pandemic, so the number is a ‘little’ skewed. I was wondering when someone was going to highlight it. If you give me a 90 meter head start on Usain Bolt, I’m pretty sure I’ll beat him in the 100 meter dash. They also admitted the job recovery started under Trump.

  15. Juice Box says:

    So CVS announced a $10 Billion dollar take over of a AARP approved Oak Street Health clinics for the elderly. Are they going to make doctors wait on retail customers and man the drive thru for prescriptions too?

  16. Phoenix says:

    So CVS announced a $10 Billion dollar take over of a AARP approved Oak Street Health clinics for the elderly. Are they going to make doctors wait on retail customers and man the drive thru for prescriptions too?

    Never underestimate what things a corporation can and will do. At their core they are psychopaths.

  17. Juice Box says:

    Phoenix – Yes psychopaths or maybe not. Their OAK model seems to software driven Value-based healthcare, the providers etc get’s paid if the elderly patient does not die soon. They are wheeling in AARP members for apparently FREE to their clinics in company owned vans. It does not seem like they make money as they have had many losing quarters but they have one thing CVS wants which is a model that has proven to be scalable. If you look at the map of their clinics it’s all inner city or very poor rural. They claim a lower numbers of patient per provider, but reality is these patients may need to see a doctor more because they need to have at least one comorbidity to be accepted to the care management program. It even looks like the care planning and scheduling is taken out of the doctor’s hands, software decides etc. They are calling it non-hierarchical collaboration.

    We should see an announcement of a new CVS concept a remodel of their existing store footprint and remove much of the retail and put in waiting rooms, exam rooms and a room to draw blood etc. Fun times getting old…

  18. BRT says:

    I’ve said this time and time again. When your parents approach their mid 70s, they start to lose their rationality very very quickly. This is the point at which you start making decisions for them like they are a child. You take away their drivers license. In Washington, we put them in charge and keep them in charge until they pass away. It’s absolutely insane.

    Nobody in here would get into a car driven by Joe, Nancy, Mitch. Why would you let them run the show?

  19. Phoenix says:

    Our President, our past President, and our Congress all wrapped in one:

    https://youtu.be/YvT_gqs5ETk?t=3

  20. Boomer Remover says:

    21:34 – iz truf

  21. Ex says:

    11:39 Just transactional. Possibly filled with “psychopaths” but that is debatable.
    In corporate life, you are only as good as your utility, your work agreement, and/or contacts within the organization. Not for the meek of heart or will. I miss some of the hurly burly, but truly love what I do in the schools. Also like the hours. _wink_

  22. leftwing says:

    “I see that O’Biden claims he created 12 million jobs. CNN just reported that 9.3 million jobs were lost due to the pandemic, so the number is a ‘little’ skewed.”

    I made my GSP car acceleration analogy yesterday…if you look at a 2019/2023 stack jobs are up 2m, which is the usual annual gain (link below). On that basis one could argue (as the Fed and most economists do) that there is a serious employment deficit…

    More importantly, the Repubs need to AVOID this fight…people are employed and feeling good about the job market…why would you pick a fight especially by diving into the deep weeds on a topic where people are happy?

    Hit Senile and Cackles where they are weak and where the average swing State voter will nod in agreement with you. Don’t jump into data where they are comfortable, agree, and their eyes will just glaze over…

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/269959/employment-in-the-united-states/

  23. leftwing says:

    “…software driven Value-based healthcare, the providers [get] paid if the elderly patient does not die soon…”

    Uhm, call this method what you want – humanitarian, whatever – but it is not value based…a majority of health care expenditures are late in life…you want a value based model let grandma and grandpa – and especially great-grams and -gramps – expire naturally…that could very well yield an actual YoY decrease in national health care expenditure…

  24. Phoenix says:

    On this topic, watch about 10 minutes of this movie, ” I care a lot.” on Netflix.

    You know they are out there. Lurking….

    The reviews aren’t great as the truth hurts.

  25. No One says:

    left,
    VW, Audi, Porsche all share a couple of SUV platforms. Same company. Different factory locations, but share many components and big picture engineering. Even the engines have similar starting points, they just add more turbos and tuning as the price and brand goes up.

  26. Juice Box says:

    Left – value is to cut hospitalizations where those massive expenses lie. They claim they reduce hospitalization of their membership by 50%. In theory the model works but then again their customer base seems to be people who never go to the doctor.

    Anyway the AI-powered pathology is coming for all of us, the robot will decide if you have cancer or not. Make sure your monthly subscription is paid up or your next sample of skin, blood, stool, flesh etc won’t be processed until you do.

  27. No One says:

    Eddie,
    Trump repeatedly claimed he was a better president than Washington and Lincoln.
    Now jealous Trump is claiming that DeSantis “groomed” high schoolers 25 years ago because he found a photo of him posing with high school students he was teaching. Next he’ll claim that DeSantis’ grandfather collaborated with Ted Cruz’ dad to kill JFK? Will you new renounce this vain, vicious, moron? If so, your critique of slow Joe would have more standing.

    Compared to Trump’s fantasies about himself, Biden giving himself all the credit for the job number rebound seems like not such a big deal. Virtually every president claims credit for such stuff, it’s always misleading, but that’s just how it goes. If job numbers were down, you’d probably give Joe all the blame.

  28. joyce says:

    In theory, it very well could. But I think given the consolidations and sometimes anti-competitive behavior, if not outright [what should be] fraud, the industry will just make up that lost revenue elsewhere. Similar to after a bank gets its wrist slapped for rearranging when deposits clear and expenses hit to scam some overdraft fees, they will just pivot to another scam or scam-like “offering”.

    leftwing says:
    February 8, 2023 at 1:56 pm

    …that could very well yield an actual YoY decrease in national health care expenditure…

  29. Juice Box says:

    Google barfed today. Perhaps don”t name your AI after an old English term Bard.

    How about Google Alpha? Much cooler and works with the name of the company.

  30. leftwing says:

    Trump has to go. As I’ve mentioned here before if he won’t do it voluntarily – take the high road, play ‘kingmaker’ [ugh, swallow rising vomit] – then they need to use the leverage they have.

    Worse thing would be having this ass clown split the ticket….

  31. The Great Pumpkin says:

    In the area of downtown Chicago called the Loop, where office buildings abound, the level of activity and noise during business hours has slowly increased over the past year. However, it hasn’t yet reached prepandemic levels, and I don’t know when, or if, it will again.

    Lockdowns following the outbreak of Covid-19 sent workers home and shifted much of the work away from physical offices. The transition back hasn’t been smooth or swift, with many workplaces offering employees the option to work a hybrid schedule.

    If organizations really want workers to come back, they should be prepared to change focus and innovate when it comes to physical space. In many cases, this is already happening.

    Larry Gadea, founder and chief executive of Envoy Inc., which aims to modernize how businesses manage visitors, said that as employees return to work, companies are zeroing in on team productivity as opposed to individual performance as the main purpose for physical workplaces. “In the past, companies didn’t care how work was accomplished. Now, they are realizing that the relationships people build along the way with co-workers and leaders are critical to getting work done right and in a smart way,” he said.

    When delving into the topic of “the office of the future,” a theme that repeatedly emerges in surveys and studies is collaboration.

    Amy Williams, the head of people operations at Mission Lane LLC, said that in 2021 the fintech company began allowing its employees to work from home or from its San Francisco or Richmond, Va., offices whenever and however often they liked.

    Mission Lane extended the benefit to call-center employees, who at other businesses are generally required to work onsite. “As a result, we’re seeing much lower levels of turnover compared to the rest of the industry, with no negative impact on our customer service KPIs [key performance indicators],” Ms. Williams said.

    Although physical office space looks different than it did four years ago, there is a good reason companies are investing in it.

    “We’re finally waking from this ‘work from home’ fantasy where we’re 200% more productive. We’re realizing that remote work also means we’ve lost the ability to react quickly and solve complex problems,” Mr. Gadea said.

    Trent Henry, global vice chair of talent at consulting firm EY, said, “Postpandemic, we are emphasizing the importance of developing and leveraging a ‘network of places,’ including office, home, client sites and other third-party spaces (such as coworking) that support productivity, convenience and functionality for our people.”

    As part of its EY@Work program, the 350,000-people company is exploring new designs that feature a greater proportion of collaborative, accessible and inclusive workspaces that can support teams and different workstyles, with fewer enclosed and individual work points. The office spaces offer employees the freedom to select which work setting they want to use—regardless of level—based on the work being performed that day.

    EY also conducts periodic surveys to understand employees’ ideal work location patterns. “We know that a one-size-fits-all approach isn’t appropriate…and we want to identify the benefits and challenges of working in a hybrid world so we can guide and enable better work experiences,” Mr. Henry said.

    Data analytics is a useful tool for companies in this endeavor, Mr. Gadea said. Employers want to track who is in the office and predict how many desks, rooms and parking spaces they will require and how much food they might need.

    For their part, employees want to know who else is coming in that day, where they can set up shop, and whether there is a specific conference or meeting room available. Ideally, employees can interact with a map of their workplace directly from their phones.

    Despite worries about expensive commutes and a perceived lack of flexibility, many believe the future of the physical office is bright—because people are, after all, social beings who fundamentally enjoy being together. WSJ

  32. Phoenix says:

    If America puts up 2 buffoons like they did the last time I will actually vote this time and pull the lever for Trump.

    Just for the eff of it.

  33. The Great Pumpkin says:

    A thriving workplace is one where the arrangement of physical space is aligned with the organization’s culture and purpose, according to O.C. Tanner Institute researchers.

    Effective physical office design offers concrete benefits, the researchers found. For example, when the office provides space that fosters company culture, it increases engagement by 52% and inclusion by 32%, according to the group’s latest research study, the 2023 Global Culture Report. When the space enables effective training and career development, it increases engagement by 42% and inclusion by 32%. And when the space facilitates social connection, it increases engagement by 42%.

    When organizations provide opportunities for employees to get to know each other, they experience growth of 3.5 times in inclusion scores, 2.5 times in engagement scores and two times in retention.

    To optimize employees’ experience and elevate workplace culture, O.C. Tanner found that the physical office needs to be about choice, flexibility and community.

    When organizations establish a strong community for their hybrid workers, they experience a 28% decrease in burnout and a 33% increase in estimated tenure. A strong sense of community, meanwhile, increases feelings of belonging a dramatic 5,021% among hybrid employees.

    “While physical office space may not be essential to performing the technical job functions for some workers, it does provide a space for community that seems needed and wanted,” said O.C. Tanner’s chief marketing and people officer, Mindi Cox.

    Ms. Cox said it would be a mistake to assume we are fully through the evolution and debate over this issue. Perhaps, the hardest part of the physical workplace debate is that there is no right answer. Rather, it depends on your why: your unique business needs, your people and the type of culture that enables business success.

    https://www.octanner.com/global-culture-report/2023/workplace-community.html?mod=djemWKPLC

  34. The Great Pumpkin says:

    3b and others gave me hell…village idiot strikes again.

  35. Bystander says:

    Sounds like Vornado is behind times and lost if not cutting up their NYC properties into bite size workplaces to accommodate workers 2 days a week. I have Citi capitulating to me when I told them no to 3 days a week. They said 2 is fine and want to interview me. Probably will try to make it even more flexible if get to offer stage.

  36. Hold my beer says:

    Juice

    I suspect cvs will require oak patients to get their prescriptions filled at cvs.

  37. Ex says:

    It looks like it was not Marjorie “ape face” Taylor Geek’s night with the brain cell,

    What an embarrassment.

  38. Libturd says:

    “Worse thing would be having this ass clown split the ticket….”

    My prediction from way back when. Trump has no loyalty to anyone but himself. There are a lot of Gary’s out there. Trump’s going to take them with him if he goes independent.

  39. 3b says:

    Feds Williams says rates will need to be restrictive for a “few” years.

  40. 3b says:

    Bystander: They are behind the times. The fact remains that hybrid is here to stay and will continue to grow, as much as some people howl, even one’s it ostensibly has no impact on. Our offices have been redesigned, and they are beautiful, with all the bells and whistles. The fact remains nothing compares to the flexibility of hybrid/ fully remote. It’s a huge quality of life issue, especially for working patents with young children.

  41. Fast Eddie says:

    Trump has no chance of getting the nod so why even discuss it? And honestly, I don’t want him there. There will be a dozen Republicans vying for the nomination. In two years, a lot can happen. Way too early to speculate.

  42. 3b says:

    Feds Kashkari says , Fed needs to keep raining rates. The price of Stouffers frozen lasagne is too damn high!!

  43. grim says:

    Speaking of CVS’s entry into healthcare.

    Curious – My UHC plan will not allow me to get any maintenance prescriptions at CVS any longer – it’s not an approved pharmacy, out-of-network. So, no 3rd fill, even if we’d been using that pharmacy forever.

    Pushing us online, optum or magellan or whichever. They will allow Walgreens to fill if you complain enough about not wanting online rx, but CVS is entirely a no-go. Once you’ve been denied, they won’t even fill a paper script if there has been a gap.

    How is that even legal?

  44. grim says:

    Oh and to boot, they made my wife go through the prior auth process again on a medicine she was previously getting filled at CVS, under an approved prior auth.

    UHC is the devil I think.

  45. Ex says:

    4:13 it’s a circus sideshow.

  46. 1987 condo says:

    CVS owns Aetna.

  47. Bystander says:

    Anyone going to vote for the NJ fat man in 2024?

  48. Libturd says:

    I might. If it’s between Trump and DeSantas.

  49. Juice Box says:

    Not new Grim. The days of owning a small pharmacy are definitely over. Insurance has bounced us around Walgreen’s to CVS, and online pharmacy over the years. CVS Caremark is it now for both instore or online, it is the only choice now.

    I don’t mind them however they are incredibly busy. I picked up my son’s prescription last week. I had a rare moment to speak to the pharmacist as there always seems to be a long line for covid/flu shots, scripts etc and the pharmacy is almost always a mess as they seem to be doing massive business and always seem shorthanded. Pharmacist told me the bastards at CVS cut the hours for all of the Pharmacy Technicians. I gather they want them all part time with no benefits. Pharmacist told me they were working there regularly late every night filling scripts and doing inventory, and cleaning up etc. I gather they are salary management with no overtime. The days of owning a small pharmacy no way no how anymore the fix is in.

  50. Bystander says:

    Affirm is laying off nearly 20% of staff. BNPL bubble bursting. Let’s be clear, Affirm had a deal with Amazon to offer payment service yset still failed. My manager and I were discussing why we both remain at IB after another sh*tty comp day yesterday. This is exactly why – nearly all my interviews in 2021 and 2022 were with crypto or BNPL startups. People were stupid if they jumped from stable job to these garbage start-ups. Many, many did..my LI is littered them, along with Salesforce solution engineering/cloud sales.

  51. 3b says:

    Disney laying off 7,000 in a corporate restructuring.

  52. 3b says:

    Juice: I know a couple of CVS pharmacies in Bergen Co., that close from 12 to 1 or 1 to 2 for lunch hour every day.

  53. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Let me help for those that need it…dream the f on about your fantasy. Wake up and smell reality.

    “We’re finally waking from this ‘work from home’ fantasy where we’re 200% more productive. We’re realizing that remote work also means we’ve lost the ability to react quickly and solve complex problems,” Mr. Gadea said.

    3b says:
    February 8, 2023 at 4:10 pm
    Bystander: They are behind the times. The fact remains that hybrid is here to stay and will continue to grow, as much as some people howl, even one’s it ostensibly has no impact on. Our offices have been redesigned, and they are beautiful, with all the bells and whistles. The fact remains nothing compares to the flexibility of hybrid/ fully remote. It’s a huge quality of life issue, especially for working patents with young children.

  54. The Great Pumpkin says:

    It was never ever sustainable long-term. But I know nothing…got it.

  55. Bystander says:

    Aldi’s sells Hazelnut Creamer @ $2.49
    SR sells Nestle Creamer at $4.50
    Aldi’s sells 6pk English Muffins for $1.99
    SR sells 6pk Thomas English Muffin at $3.49
    Aldi’s sells 32 oz seltzer bottle for .78
    SR sells 32 oz Polar seltzer bottle for $1.40

    This list could go on..and on. F ** SR, are people this stupid? They are the smiling BS face of outrageous corp greed.

  56. Juice Box says:

    3B – The lunch closing is new was put in last year. Everyone has to clock out too to eat lunch for 1/2 hour, techs cannot be left alone for even a minute.

  57. 1987 condo says:

    You can get Bowl and Basket Seltzer at SR for .60 for 33 ounces. On sale, usually it is .75

  58. X says:

    Juice,

    Old news but U R aware Summit Health now owned by Walgreens who bought it from Warburg Pincus.

    https://www.privateequitywire.co.uk/2022/11/08/318254/warburg-pincus-exits-summit-health-citymd-89bn-sale-villagemd

  59. 3b says:

    Juice: I thought it might be that they could not hire enough pharmacists. The CVS s I mentioned it’s a full hour that they close.

  60. Fast Eddie says:

    4:42

    Your side is an infection… a disease… an indisposed, cankerous, defective group of knaves who pummel anyone with an independent, self-governing sense of sovereignty. Your side loathes success if it’s the result of ones efforts. Individual achievement removes the ability for the left to control and they hate anyone who questions their fucked up motives.

  61. The Great Pumpkin says:

    People were talking earlier about corporations being ruthless. So why in the world would they want worker flexibility at the expense of future production?

    I would never want to own a business with workers complaining to me about flexibility. Business is run for profit, not to make workers happy by letting them stay home doing god knows what for top dollar. That might last..

    Bystander says:
    February 8, 2023 at 3:42 pm
    Sounds like Vornado is behind times and lost if not cutting up their NYC properties into bite size workplaces to accommodate workers 2 days a week. I have Citi capitulating to me when I told them no to 3 days a week. They said 2 is fine and want to interview me. Probably will try to make it even more flexible if get to offer stage.

  62. Fast Eddie says:

    Disney laying off 7,000 in a corporate restructuring.

    Good. Maybe Disney will go back to being Disney again instead of toying with some progressive vomit they call art and entertainment.

  63. The Great Pumpkin says:

    You want a business with workers making their schedule?

    You want a business where you can’t immediately get feedback on any question you have as a manager/boss? You want to wait for an email response because you know the worker is not picking up the phone.

    You guys really need to wake up…

  64. Juice Box says:

    By the way they can all fill the script, any pharmacy but the insurance just won’t pay. Doc send script and bang not on the approved list..I have seen more than one irate customer giving the poor pharmacy tech hell over it when they either pay cash or walk.

    My son in on a ADD med, the first one was pills and he did not react well actually throwing up etc. We switched to a time release liquid. Not covered!! Stuff is expensive $5 a milligram and I was paying out of pocket with a coupon LOL!! With the Aetna merger it now is partially covered I am paying like $80 now. Have to call Doc every month too to get a new script, they don’t want me cooking it into some form of nootropic called NZT-48.

  65. Juice Box says:

    re: Disney layoffs. Woke? How about broke?

    When it cost like $200-$300 per person per day to visit those parks it was only a matter of time. How many times can you do Disney anyway? Visitors have not recovered to the pre-pandemic numbers nowhere near.

  66. Ex says:

    Gary ur mom gives BJs at the senior center for pocket money .

  67. Juice Box says:

    3b – re: hour. I assume it is the pharmacists discretion there are news articles about the 1/2 hours close from a year ago. CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Kroger, and Rite Aid are the majority of the retail pharmacy business these days add in the additional Insurance and heath care mergers and one day we just may get wheeled into one of these “retail” places for all healthcare needs and if you don’t make it well funeral services are in your care plan so you shoot straight out the back into the soylent green furnace.

  68. 3b says:

    Juice: That is a big change closing for lunch. All about the money!

  69. 3b says:

    Juice: We have been to Disney twice, and it was pricey back then too. I think it is incredibly overrated, but I know people that have been there a dozen or more times! I don’t get it, but to each his or her own. My Wife and I much preferred Hershey Park.

  70. Libturd says:

    If you live in my neck of the woods Serket Pharmacy on Church Street has been an absolute gem. The owner, Muhammed is the friendliest, smartest man you will ever meat. His assistants are all cheerful and extremely knowledgeable and just plain smart. For vaccines or prescriptions, I wouldn’t go anywhere else. Best of all, you can call them and speak to them. How novel.

    I think Grove Pharmacy a huge local mainstay, is pretty close to bankruptcy. They are already, no returns.

  71. Libturd says:

    3b,

    Hershey definitely has better rides and must be 1/3rd the price. But do they have giant turkey legs?

  72. 3b says:

    Lib: The no Turkey legs is one of the attractions of Hershey! And, I agree the rides are better , and it’s cheaper, and just a nice atmosphere.

  73. Phoenix says:

    Hershey definitely has better rides and must be 1/3rd the price. But do they have giant turkey legs?

    No but Hillary does.

  74. Juice Box says:

    40% off tickets now too at Hershey if you buy them pre-season @ $49.99. Pretty Pretty good dea.

  75. AMA WackedThePooch says:

    About CVS, Walgreens, United, etc.

    The ones that got suckered big are the physicians. The AMA in its panic about socialized medicine was the biggest promoter of Diagnostic driven coding. This was the big chunks of bacon that brought in the wolf in sheep’s clothing aka Wall Street and PE that the AMA did not spot because they were looking for the evil government wolf.

    In the 90’s Big Health Insurance tried to control physicians but could not do it. So what they did they came back and bought practices with big upfront payouts and great guaranteed several years contracts with the physicians. As soon the time was up, they got rid of them and hire cheap desperate new ones. Just look up Hackensack and it’s many lawsuits with physicians. Right now 50% of its doctors are Indians.

    Many are Indians because you start Medical school out of high school over there. At 21 you are an md and if your family ships you here and pay your upkeep and you spend your time studying for the Step 1 & 2. If you are lucky. By 23 you will be a first year resume drawing salary and benefits. Compared to US graduate that at 23 is likely in first year of med school.

    Coding is what matters. All of the merging is about making sure you can upcode in morbidity and quantity as much as possible, make you look sick as possible. This is what Medicare Part C aka Advantage is all about. The goal of big insurance is to get rid of traditional Medicare with Medicare Advantage where the government pays them based on how sick the patient is.

    Finally, one of the biggest stressors right now in healthcare is the Electronic Medical Records. Is not about records but about the ability of the charge master or chief billers to set parameters where a diagnostic code triggers a set of treatments and leads to other recommendations about new set of codes and treatments, again puffing up the billing.

    I want you all to look at control of diagnostic billing code as the backdoor key to the ATM machine.

  76. SmallGovConservative says:

    Bystander says:
    February 8, 2023 at 9:31 am
    “That’s why I propose we quadruple the tax on corporate stock buybacks…” “Thanks Joe”

    Absolutely astounding to me that any sane, able-bodied man would cheer a proposed tax increase, as though the problem with our govt is that it doesn’t have enough revenue. And it’s standard operating procedure for Dems; rely on the stupidity of the typical Dem voter to believe that this tax increase is good because it targets someone/thing that is ‘bad’. Do you think a Dem voter would ever ask the question, ‘If you want to encourage “long-term investments”, why not make it less expensive for companies to do that, rather than making it more expensive for them to do something else?’. One thing about SlowJoe, as dumb and incompetent as he is, he knows his constituency as well as any politician ever has.

  77. Phoenix says:

    So why in the world would they want worker flexibility at the expense of future production?

    Flexible. Yeah, like bend over flexible as we stick something round the corner past your sigmoid.

    They have been pushing this tripe in my industry for years- that’s what staff wants, not raises, flexibility.
    No princess, they need and want money, just like everyone else. No one wants to be flexible, be on call all day Saturday just waiting around like a lovesick girlfriend to be called in because someone had too much to drink and fell down the stairs.
    Pay for staff to be there 24 hours just like firemen. Give us the same kind of pension as well.

  78. Phoenix says:

    Absolutely astounding to me that any sane, able-bodied man would cheer a proposed tax increase, as though the problem with our govt is that it doesn’t have enough revenue.

    It doesn’t have enough revenue. The deficit keeps rising, and we have bills from billions we spent in the middle east for “weapons of mass destruction” and now Ukraine. Let’s not forget the fact that getting rid of Saddam created ISIS, so more money to be spent there.

  79. Phoenix says:

    Boomer and the greatest generations love deficits.

    It’s like them charging up a credit card and croaking without having to pay it back.

  80. The Great Pumpkin says:

    WSJ editorial opinion piece:

    Pres­i­dent Biden in his Tues­day State of the Union ad­dress made only a veiled ref­er­ence to the Chi­nese spy bal­loon that ap­peared over Mon­tana last week, and then only to boast about how he’s stand­ing up to Bei­jing. If he means it, he can take a cue from the Cuban mis­sile cri­sis and ed­u­cate the world about Chi­na’s global spy cam­paign.

    Bei­jing is com­plain­ing about the U.S. de­ci­sion to shoot down the bal­loon, though it isn’t co­op­er­at­ing with U.S. at­tempts to en­gage on the is­sue. De­fense Sec­re­tary Lloyd Austin’s coun­ter­part in China won’t take Mr. Austin’s call. This isn’t the be­hav­ior of a great power that wants bet­ter re­la­tions. All the more so given that Chi­na’s ex­pla­na­tion that this was a merely a weather bal­loon that took a wrong turn at the Aleut­ian Is­lands has im­ploded un­der scru­tiny and more dis­clo­sures.

    The Pen­tagon said Wednes­day that the bal­loon is part of a global fleet China has been op­er­at­ing for sev­eral years. Such Red Zep­pelins have been spot­ted over “at least five con­ti­nents,” in­clud­ing coun­tries in Eu­rope, South­east Asia and South Amer­ica.

    The De­fense De­part­ment says it’s con­fi­dent this lat­est bal­loon was launched to get a close-up peek at Amer­i­ca’s “strate­gic sites,” per­haps in­clud­ing in­ter­con­ti­nen­tal bal­lis­tic-mis­sile bases in Mon­tana. U.S. of­fi­cials say at least four other bal­loons have sur­faced over U.S. soil in re­cent years—though, shock­ingly, we only de­tected them af­ter the fact. Civil­ian Trump of­fi­cials were never in­formed.

    The Biden Ad­min­is­tra­tion has said that one rea­son it didn’t shoot down the ob­ject ear­lier—say, as it crossed Alas­ka’s wide open spa­ces—was so U.S. in­tel­li­gence could learn more about the bal­loon’s op­er­a­tion. Press re­ports say U.S. mil­i­tary as­sets ac­com­pa­nied the bal­loon on its fi­nal float. Amer­i­cans are rightly ab­sorbed with the episode, and it’s a teach­ing mo­ment about Chi­nese am­bi­tions and U.S. vul­ner­a­bil­ity.

    A U.S. gen­eral said ear­lier this week that the blimp had a pay­load the size of a re­gional jet­liner. Was it ca­pa­ble of car­ry­ing elec­tro­mag­netic weapons, or blow­ing up on com­mand?

    The Ad­min­is­tra­tion is also now leak­ing to the press that the bal­loon could loi­ter on sites longer than satel­lites on low-earth or­bit, af­ter in­sist­ing for days the bal­loon pre­sented no ad­van­tage over Chi­na’s other in­tel­li­gence meth­ods. Was it pick­ing up sig­nals that satel­lites can’t? Was it send­ing real-time data back to its over­lords in Bei­jing?

    An in­struc­tive if less threat­en­ing prece­dent here is the 1962 Cuban mis­sile cri­sis, when Amer­i­can U-2 spy planes cap­tured pho­tos of an enor­mous So­viet nu­clear mis­sile buildup 90 miles from Flor­ida. The Kennedy Ad­min­is­tra­tion brain trust de­bated whether to in­form the pub­lic or keep it quiet. The White House de­cided to show the world the threat, and the U.S. pre­sented pho­to­graphic proof of the mis­siles at a con­fronta­tion with the So­vi­ets at the U.N. It helped to sway global opin­ion.

    Navy divers are now sal­vaging de­bris from the bal­loon, and the U.S. ought to put it on dis­play for the world to see, com­plete with ex­perts ex­plain­ing what it re­veals about what China was up to. Put it all on stage, not merely in a Pen­tagon base­ment.

    The Ad­min­is­tra­tion may fear a pub­lic air­ing of the spy bal­loon fleet could in­flame Bei­jing and pre­clude a calmer re­la­tion­ship. But the op­po­site may be true. The real worry should be that the in­ci­dent blows over with­out con­se­quences and Chi­na’s war hawks con­clude that such provo­ca­tions are man­age­able risks.

    The Biden crowd is no doubt eager to move on from the balloon affair, but the stakes are larger than their own embarrassment. Let’s show the world the truth about how China thinks it can act with impunity.    

  81. Bystander says:

    “dream the f on about your fantasy.”

    Da plane, 3b, da plane!

  82. Phoenix says:

    Americans love their booze, some much more than others:

    ABC producer Dax Tejera choked due to ‘acute alcohol intoxication’ and fatally collapsed on NYC sidewalk after he and wife left their two little kids alone in hotel room and went for dinner at Bobby Van’s steakhouse

  83. Bystander says:

    87,

    Not here in CT. B&B seltzer is now .80 regular price and on sale (maybe once every 6 weeks), 5 for $3 and must buy 5. Again, why go to SR if you have wait for sales when I can get better price at TJs or Aldis everyday?

  84. Phoenix says:

    He should have checked his policy to see if he was covered under the Qualified Immunity clause.

    ‘I haven’t been able to talk to anyone’: Frail rancher, 73, charged with murdering Mexican migrant on his own land is shown in court begging to speak to his wife – as he’s forced to spend at least two more weeks in jail

  85. 3b says:

    Bystander: Good one!! I hope the Citi opportunity works out for you.

  86. Phoenix says:

    I believe this:

    Did Biden give the order to destroy Putin’s Nord Stream pipeline? Bombshell report claims Navy frogmen carried out mission to kill Russia’s gas stranglehold on Europe in audacious raid overseen by president

  87. Bystander says:

    Phoenix,

    “aged two years old and five months old”

    Are you f-ing kidding me? Beyond sickening. Kids lose father and now have a mother that they know abandoned them without care. Sad.

  88. Bystander says:

    3b,

    We’ll see. It is hard to get excited about Citi, though I know lots of talented people that went there recently. It would have to be world changing money to do that commute. Bottom end salary is not, top end..maybe. More to keep my interview skills up. January was 100% dead.

  89. 3b says:

    Bystander: Understand. Good luck either way. It does not hurt to interview. Oh, and I don’t want to hear any crap about the commute! People want to be together!

  90. No One says:

    Imagine how many Europeans are already blaming the US for their hugely increased utility bills.

  91. No One says:

    Wow, these are some dumb ladies. Also their singing, dancing, and lyrics suck. Probably perform at elementary schools.
    https://twitter.com/saintsundere/status/1623105384696389633?t=6ZrSQSkJUSbapNpy509TZg&s=19

  92. 3b says:

    Bloomberg article on used car prices trending up again. That complicates inflation efforts by the Fed.

  93. Phoenix says:

    Marketing, constantly marketing.

    It’s what a college education teaches you.

    The dopes listen to Mike Rowe and think dirty jobs are going to move them forward in real life.

    Keep claiming you are a victim, then profit.

    By the time you realize what is happening, you will have lost the race.

  94. Phoenix says:

    You don’t think American capitalists would give their European “friends” discounted CNG when there is an opportunity to use leverage for maximum profit would you?

    That would be anti-American.

    It won’t be long before they realize the chick they had in bed is better than the one they replaced her with.

  95. Phoenix says:

    Bystander,

    Agreed. Totally preventable.

    I see this kind of stuff on a daily basis.

    Was planning to retire to the happiest place on Earth, Disney World, take tickets, and enjoy the sun.

    Like everything else in America now, it’s not happy there either.

  96. 3b says:

    Might have to take a long weekend to Hershey, it’s been a while.

  97. 3b says:

    Phoenix: No pension for you, only the public sector gets those, and we pay for them.

  98. Ex says:

    Disney, for some reason, has always had a terrible work culture.

  99. Phoenix says:

    All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.

    Connecticut socialite, 54, walks free from jail after serving less than HALF of her one-year sentence for secretly filming nude children at her $10M waterfront home
    Hadley Palmer, 54, has entered a transitional supervision program and was granted early release from prison
    She was sentenced in November to one year in prison and 20 years probation
    Palmer pleaded guilty to three counts of voyeurism and risk of injury to a minor for filming three minors unclothed at her $10million mansion

  100. Phoenix says:

    Pony up, taxpayers. It always starts with a lie : Moravek tells his colleagues he’s found a black handgun between two cars.

    “That’s the one I saw him with,” he says.

    Umm, no you didn’t. Cause if you did his DNA and prints would be on it, DNA doesn’t lie now does it? But maybe you do.

    “Drop the gun!” a Paterson police officer shouted several times as he chased a fleeing man down a city street before dawn this past June.

    Suddenly, two shots rang out and unarmed 28-year-old Khalif Cooper fell face down in the street.

    Officer Jerry Moravek, who fired the shots, handcuffed Cooper, who is heard on police bodycam video telling him, “I don’t got no gun.”

    “The victim was never ever told to stop running,”

    Seconds later, Moravek tells his colleagues he’s found a black handgun between two cars.

    “That’s the one I saw him with,” he says.

    Platkin said Monday that the weapon wasn’t “in the victim’s possession or within his reach.”

    It also didn’t match his DNA or fingerprints, the attorney general said.

    In the end, Cooper was never charged with a crime.

  101. Boomer Remover says:

    “Disney, for some reason, has always had a terrible work culture.”

    I can attest to this. I find myself on the Disney lot in Burbank from time to time. One time, a Disney employee showed up to a meeting with a newspaper which she lazily flipped through in the back.

    Projects that should take weeks have taken months to complete.

  102. Boomer Remover says:

    OTOH, while they seem to skimp on employees, they do have the pockets to pay well to paper over their mistakes. I’ve gotten some no-negotiation offers that exceeded what I hoped to achieve.

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