Month: May 2011

>Gov blasts “Do Nothing ” Democrats at town hall

Claims inaction raises your taxes 

Gov. Chris Christie called legislative Democrats pickpockets in a display of confrontational rhetoric Tuesday that was not without contortions. (Roh, Gannett)

https://www.app.com/article/20110511/NJNEWS/305110010/Gov-blasts-Democrats-at-town-hall

> Oxford Style Debate titled,  “HEALTHCARE AND YOU” at BCC

” A ONCE A YEAR EVENT “

The AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY and THE WEST BERGEN COUNTY TEA PARTY COALITION

present an Oxford Style Debate titled,  “HEALTHCARE AND YOU”

( Assisted by The Hudson Valley Debate Union )

The six person debating panel will consist of ” NATIONAL and LOCAL EXPERTS “
on Obamacare, BOTH FOR and AGAINST

Among the FEATURED SPEAKERS is Dr. Robert Moffitt, of the Heritage Foundation,
author of the new book ” Why Obamacare is Wrong For America”

MORE names to follow……..

Time and Place:
“Bergan Community College” 400 Paramus Road ,Paramus, NJ 07652

Time: June 2, 2011
Doors open at 6 PM
Debate from 7-9 PM
Q&A to follow

For any additional information email:TOVEYONE@msn.com

BRING YOUR FRIENDS!

>Many of my readers have asked me to look into Jon Corzines days at Goldman and this is what I found:

Corzine Goldman ,the Man,the Myth and the Goldman Sachs Years

In 1975, Jon Corzine moved to New Jersey, having taken a job as a securities trader at Goldman Sachs in New York. By 1980 he became a partner at Goldman. Jon Corzine rose rapidly through the ranks, to become chairman and CEO in 1994.

As CEO, Jon Corzine has been credited with engineering the transformation of Goldman Sachs from a private partnership to a public company. Smoothing out the volatility of Goldman’s earnings and producing a “kinder and gentler” company . Corzine had worked for nearly two years to transform the legendary partnership into a public company. Fighting significant resistance from many of the skeptical partners. Finally he succeeded in secret ballot,
However, Corzine was not universally popular as CEO, and was forced out in 1999

With the IPO approved Corzine took his family on a vacation. While he was away, three members of Goldman’s five-member executive committee, led by, Hank Paulson (the man he appointed ), staged a palace coup, stripping him of his CEO title and his power. The initial public offering (IPO) of Goldman went forward with out a hitch ,the stock created a huge windfall for the partners, including Corzine and made him a very wealthy man.

Mounting evidence has come to light that during Corzine’s reign the firm may have manipulated the market and inflated stock prices through a controversial practice know as “laddering”,which was investigated by the SEC .Mr. Corzine is also considered by many the “architect” of ENRON. And the Center of the ENRON scandal and the Wall Street practices that led to the NASDAQ meltdown at the beginning of this decade

The two big issues that occurred on Corzines watch were the perceived facilitation of the ENRON debacle and the IPO bubble machine using a hybrid of “pump and dump” called“laddering” .

ENRON

In 1993, Goldman Sachs “invented” a security called MIPS that offered ENRON Corp. and other companies an irresistible combination. It was designed in such a way that it could be called debt or equity, as needed. It resembled a loan, so that interest payments could be deducted from taxable income. For shareholders and rating agencies, who look askance at over leveraged companies, it resembled equity.

Officials at the Clinton Treasury Department, were skeptical of the so-called Monthly Income Preferred Shares, or MIPS. To them the MIPS looked like a charade ,a way for companies to hide the size of their debt while cutting their federal tax bill. CEO Corzine lobbied the treasury and eventually, the regulators acquiesced and Goldman and MIPS were off to the races. It has been alleged that Corzine’s used his lobbying activities, during that time , “benefitted him personally as an executive at Goldman Sachs.” It is claimed that Hybrid preferred shares helped mask the huge debt burden carried by companies like ENRON.

Goldman creates a new type of “Pump and Dump” called laddering.

According to Nicholas Maier, who was syndicate manager of the Wall Street firm Cramer & Co. from 1996 to 1998, Goldman Sachs routinely forced him to buy stocks at inflated prices if he wanted to purchase shares of an initial public offering (IPO). “Goldman, from what I witnessed, they were the worst perpetrator,” Maier said. “They totally fueled the [market] bubble. And it’s specifically that kind of behavior that has caused the market crash.

Maier told the SEC that Goldman Sachs would offer him shares of a new company’s IPO at the initial, low price of $20 per share only if he agreed to purchase “aftermarket” shares of the same company at $100 each. In turn, he would unload the shares of the higher-priced stock on small investors. Maier said. “Goldman created the convincing appearance of a winner, and the trick worked so well that many speculators were seduced into participating in this gold rush. The general public had no idea that these stocks were actually brought into the world at unnaturally high levels through illegal manipulation.”

In August 2000, the SEC issued a warning against aftermarket sales, also known as “laddering.” While Jon Corzine said ,“I’ve never even heard the term ‘laddering’ before”.Maier said it happened on Corzine’s watch. “For Corzine not to know of a common practice being utilized to generate and manipulate stock prices would be surprising,” Mr. Maier said. “He was obviously there during this time.

Trading profits are just too good

For some time Goldman Sachs has been accused by Wall Street insiders of employing sophisticated high speed computer programs to siphon of illegitimate profits from the New York Stock Exchange under the radar of regulators. Recently a former Goldman computer programer was arrested for allegedly stealing software codes used in the firms electronic trading operations .Federal prosecutors claim the codes were used to”manipulate the market in unfair ways”.

Government Sachs

Goldman has also been accused by many of taking advantage of so many X Goldman employees working in high level government positions. These allegations can also be traced back to the Corzine days ,more recently however the focus has been on alleged favoritism during the Wall Street and banking bailout as well as the TARP funding. Its hard to imagine with so many high profile former executives that Goldman hasn’t received preferential treatment and information exchanges.

This is not to claim that Jon Corzine was directly involved or that there is some vast Goldman conspiracy at work but the fact of the matter is that he was there in there in the thick of it and that if you know anything about Wall Street you know that investment banks are one organization were the people at the top are directly involved in the most intimate details of day to day operations of their firms.

James Foytlin
Monday, October 05, 2009
https://onesmallvoice.blogspot.com/2009/10/jon-corzine-goldman-sachs-years.html

>A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.
Albert Einstein

Read more: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/albert_einstein.html#ixzz1LfAWSVb7

>Readers very supportive of Mayor Killion 


I feel that Ridgewood is lucky having Killion as Mayor. He’s turned out much better tahn anyone had the right to expect. The fact that he was a member of the Police Department and knows what goes on in the Village is a plus. Don’t blame him for the pension that other Councils negotiated.

Keith is a keeper in my opinion. He makes a decision and moves on.
Equivocating is not an option.

Let’s see an honest, forth right Mayor. Perhaps Ridgewood just isn’t used to this??
He doesn’t need a re-election campaign, he already has everyones vote.

Good for the Mayor; he is the best one we have had in a long time. Not two faced; saying one thing in public and another in private. With the Court decision to re-open Pascack Valley under Hackensack Hosp; why do we need such an expansion of Valley? Their reasoning is false

>Valley to take over blood donor site
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
BY MARY JO LAYTON
THE RECORD
STAFF WRITER

The Valley Hospital is in the process of acquiring the Community Blood Services building in Paramus, where it plans to provide treatment and cardiac rehab as well as conduct research, hospital officials confirmed.

The hospital is seeking a zoning variance to operate a medical facility at the Linwood Avenue property and a hearing is scheduled before the Board of Adjustment in Paramus on Thursday, Paramus officials said.

Community Blood Services, which has been at the site for more than 40 years, is consolidating its operations in Bergen County. It will maintain a donation site at the Paramus location for several months, officials said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/121548124_Valley_to_take_over_blood_donor_site.html

>Growing tensions over charter schools

How much should local school districts have a say about the presence of charter schools in their midst? (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)

https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/11/0509/2355/

>Sears reportedly considering relocating to New Jersey, other states

Sears is reportedly considering several states, including New Jersey, to relocate its headquarters from Hoffman Estates, Ill., where it moved to cut costs in 1992 when it left the Sears Tower in downtown Chicago. (Portlock, The Star-Ledger)

https://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2011/05/sears_reportedly_considering_r.html

>Ocean Spray cites tax for move

Sen. Diane Allen said Monday a market-based emissions cap was to blame for Ocean Spray’s decision to leave Burlington County after 68 years. (Roh, Gannett)

https://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20110510/NEWS01/105100349/Ocean-Spray-cites-tax-move

>Education chief seeks changes to teachers’ certification

The state’s acting education commissioner, Christopher Cerf, told a Senate panel Monday he wants to revamp teacher certification so the process is based more on student learning. (Method, Gannett)

https://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20110510/NEWS02/105100346/Education-chief-seeks-changes-teachers-certification

>

Star Wars Event!!*
Tuesday, May 10th @ 4:30pm

Come Celebrate Star Wars style with author Jason Fry, Illustrator, Chris Reiff, the costumed characters of the 501st Legion, and members of the R2 Builders Club, who will be bringing life-size droids! Giveaways, photo ops, and a chance to win a Star Wars Mimobot flash drive, Universe SW t-shirt and other great prizes will abound!

211 East Ridgewood Ave. Ridgewood, NJ 07450 Tel: (201)445-0726 www.book-ends.com

>Double-dippers boost salaries
74 paid more than gov; fewer multiple job-holders in 2010
5:16 PM, May. 8, 2011

Hundreds of so-called “double-dippers” — employees with two or more public jobs — received sizable raises last year even as governments at all levels scaled back operations and reduced staff.

The good news for New Jersey’s taxpayers is that the number of double-dippers declined by about one-third from 2009 through 2010, according to an Asbury Park Press review of government pension and payroll data.

The top raise went to a lawyer and human resources director who holds two school jobs in northern New Jersey. Her public income rose by $160,787 in one year for a total of $275,404 — $100,000 more than what the governor is paid, according to public records. Other raises given to multiple job-holders ranged from less than $1,000 to $62,000.

https://www.app.com/article/20110508/NJNEWS10/305080036/Double-dippers-boost-salaries?odyssey=nav|head