Obama’s Dismal Record on Jobs, Captured in a Single Chart and Explained with Common Sense
January 16, 2013 12:53PM
ByDaniel J. Mitchell
Economists may not agree on much, but we all agree that economic output is a function of capital and labor. Ask a Keynesian, a Marxist, an Austrian, a monetarist, or any economist, and they’ll all agree that living standards are determined by the quality and quantity of these two factors of production.
So it should be very worrisome that there has been a big drop in the share of the population that is employed. Here’s a chart produced from Bureau of Labor Statistics data, showing labor force participation during the 21st Century.
House GOP: No budget no Pay for Congress
By Russell Berman – 01/18/13 12:47 PM ET
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — House Republican leaders on Friday announced a plan to condition a three-month increase in the debt limit on the Senate committing to pass a budget by the April 15 statutory deadline.
“Before there is any long-term debt limit increase, a budget should be passed that cuts spending,” Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) told the Republican conference in remarks to close the party’s three-day retreat in Williamsburg. “The Democratic-controlled Senate has failed to pass a budget for four years. That is a shameful run that needs to end, this year.”
The House will also seek to prevent members of Congress from being paid if the two chambers do not pass a budget resolution.
“We are going to pursue strategies that will obligate the Senate to finally join the House in confronting the government’s spending problem,” Boehner said. “The principle is simple: no budget, no pay.”
Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said the House would vote next week on a three-month extension of borrowing authority.
“If the Senate or House fails to pass a budget in that time, members of Congress will not be paid by the American people for failing to do their job. No budget, no pay,” Cantor said.
West New York proposes US flag ban
January 18, 2013
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood Nj, the Hudson County town of West New York is considering a widespread sign regulation that would include banning American flags from being flown.West New York sits next to Union City with is US Senator Bob Menendez’s home town.
The West New York Board of Commissioners have a draft ordinance for “General Sign Regulations”. Among the prohibited signs under the proposal would be “Flags, banners and pennants.”
The proposed ordinance was first read at a West New York Council meeting on Wednesday with the final vote on the proposal to be held on Feb. 20 at a 7 p.m..Proponents say the ordinance would also ban signs affixed to the exterior of a window or glass, neon signs framing windows, and window and door signs that exceed 15% of the glass area.
West Side Presbyterian Church hosts photography exhibit
Friday, January 18, 2013
BY EILEEN LA FORGIA
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
“I view sports photography as a sport in itself because you have to anticipate what is going to happen – stay focused on the event and you have to be aware of everything that is going on around the field or court,” said Robin Gottesman.
Her exhibit at the West Side Presbyterian Church Gallery, “For the love of sport, a labor of love,” consists of 40 sports photographs she has taken during the last few years; they were chosen to display the many facets of sport. The subjects photographed are of all ages. Only one is a professional athlete – the winner of an Ironman competition. Many of the athletes are from local schools.
Editors Note: As shocking as the shootings in Sandy Hook were the reality is that most gun violence in the US is directed against black victims, mostly in urban areas and mostly gang-related. I don’t see any Vigils held in Ridgewood for tougher gun laws, when black children get killed and of course no uproar in the main stream media . Its also a stark reminder of how bigoted most of media is particularly in New Jersey were both the Star Ledger and the Bergen Record remain mum on the subject .
Larry Elder radio show talk host
The face of gun violence is not Sandy Hook. It is Chicago
January 17,2013
Larry Elder
In 2012, President Barack Obama’s adopted hometown had 506 murders, including more than 60 children. Philadelphia, a city that local television newscasters frequently call ‘Killadelphia,” saw 331 killed last year. In Detroit, 386 people were murdered.
Since 1966, there have been 90 school shootings in the U.S., with 231 fatalities. Yes, Sandy Hook shocked us. But the odds of a child being killed at a school shooting are longer than the odds of being struck by lightning.
Of the 11,000 to 12,000 gun murders each year, more than half involve both black killers and black victims, mostly in urban areas and mostly gang-related. The No. 1 cause of preventable death for young black men is not auto accidents or accidental drowning, but homicide.
“Tiger Team” tells Ridgewood to make tough choices
Friday, January 18, 2013
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
The Record
RIDGEWOOD — The village has to take severe and immediate action if it is serious about quelling budgetary spending, a report by the volunteer finance committee has recommended.
The report — to be used by the council as it enters budget season — was released this week and is the result of nine months of research and analysis by more than a dozen residents, assembled over the summer at the request of Mayor Paul Aronsohn.
Consisting of lawyers, accountants, financiers and local business owners, the group — nicknamed the Tiger Team — was given 90 days to, in Aronsohn’s words, “fix the village budget and reform village government.”
The team was asked to find ways to cut costs, increase revenues and enhance the central business district. The group was also given the task of identifying “structural fixes to the budget” that would not deplete service levels to taxpayers.
The team discovered in its round-table discussions that municipal taxes had risen by 410 percent since the early 1980s. Property tax rates, the report shows, have risen “by a compound rate of more than 5.6 percent a year since 2001.”
“It became obvious that Ridgewood faces dire financial challenges,” states the report, adding that “material change is required in many areas of village management, operation and culture” in order to stop the bleeding.
Tiger Team : Readers say Village fiscal irresponsibility has reigned supreme
The Tiger Team has put in “black and white” what we all know has been going on in the Village since the Village Hall fiasco , a reign of fiscal irresponsibility dating back to Mayor Jane Reilly .
The one thing they didn’t seem to touch on was the over spending with village capital projects ,the $ 9 million waste with the Village hall or the $400,000 toilet in vets field to name a few.
But don’t you dare touch the holy grail ( the bd of ed ) in federal politics social security has always been the 3rd rail of any political career. In local politics education is the same thing. Beating up on cops, and garbage men, or street workers, never really stirs up too much controversy, but start picking on the school system and all hell breaks loose.
The Village is taking a serious looks at its financial situation and all we get from the school board (BOE) is Michele Lenhard spearheading a drive to jack up the superintendents salary !
The school budget is important. But, taxpayers pay for 100% of the property taxes. So, everything needs to be examined. This group (The Tiger team) was only asked to look at the municipal budget. Perhaps the outcome from their recommendations will lead to similar efforts with the BOE. We can only hope…
RENDERING COURTESY OF MARCHETTO HIGGINS STIEVE ARCHITECTS
Same old Story : Proposed Ridgewood development would have minimal impact…sure
Sounds like we have heard this all before , and of course no kids and no traffic…sure
Whats the point of Planning Boards hearing
Thursday January 17, 2013, 4:03 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
The impact that a 37,000-square-foot, four-story mixed use development at Franklin Avenue and Chestnut Street will have on Central Business District (CBD) traffic and already crowded Ridgewood schools is minimal, according to experts hired by project developer Dinallo Construction.
Testimony for the proposed Ridgewood Station development began this week, as planners and traffic engineers stated their case for the 114-unit luxury apartment building. The complex, which would be located at the former Ken Smith Motors site and in the shadow of the NJ Transit commuter railway, also features more than 7,000 square feet for retail and 166 parking spaces.
Branding the project as a transit-oriented development (TOD), Hoboken-based planner Paul Phillips suggested that the target demographic, working professionals and young couples, and the growing shift toward single-bedroom dwellings will limit traffic and keep the number of new students to a “couple of handfuls.”
“I don’t believe it will overwhelm the area,” Phillips said during Tuesday’s Planning Board meeting.
While the State ,County and Federal Government continue to operate in denial over finances the Ridgewood “Tiger Team” takes a hard look
Tiger Team: Additional Sobering Facts about Village Finances
January 18,2013
1) According to Village management, the Village has a current liability of approximately $7MM of accumulated leave (e.g. sick days). But the Village has only reserved $436,641 for this liability, representing more than a $6.5 million shortfall.
2) Ridgewood employees receive 15 sick days per year (considerably more than the average U.S. employee). Unused days may be accumulated at current pay levels until retirement, at which time retirees may elect to take half the accumulated days off with pay (up to 3-6 months, depending on department) or receive an equivalent lump sum payment at the much higher pre-retirement compensation level. The allowed sick days are in addition to generous vacation days.
3) The Village’s medical benefits cover children of employees/retirees into their late 20s or beyond.
4) The number of public retirees in NJ receiving over $100,000 in pension payments increased 28% in 2011, including 6 retirees from Ridgewood Village departments receiving over $634,000 per year (an average of over $105,000 each), excluding health benefits, according to New Jersey Watchdog.org.
5) According to an October 26, 2012 Wall Street Journal article, “the median full-time U.S. worker received 2.6 weeks (13 days) of vacation last year.” The starting vacation benefit for Ridgewood employees is 12-13 days, depending on department, which can grow up to a maximum of 31 days (over 6 weeks), excluding compensatory time off, sick days, and other forms of paid leave.
6) Qualified retirees are eligible for pension (65% of compensation prior to retirement) and medical benefits (at no cost) for life. Upon death, the pension and benefits accrue to the retirees spouse for his or her life.
7) In 2010, Ridgewood ranked 3rd highest in Bergen County in employees making more than $100,000 with 70 employees. This represents 24.4% of the Village workforce compared to our neighboring communities of Glen Rock at 12.6%, Midland Park at 2%, Ho-Ho-Kus at 1.6% and Westwood at 2.6%. Ridgewood is a dramatic outlier in this respect.
8) Ridgewood is only one of four municipalities in Bergen County with a full-time Fire Department and 67% of Firefighters (28/42) have base salaries over $100,000 (2011). The median for Ridgewood was $118,290.
9) 80% of Ridgewood Police (33/41) have base salaries over $100,000 (2011). The median for Ridgewood was $128,239.
10) In 2009, there were 68 Police Chiefs, 76 School Superintendents and 70 Borough Clerks in Bergen County. The total payroll for these three positions ALONE in Bergen County totaled over $30 million.
Planned ‘overlay zone’ in Ridgewood draws questions
Thursday January 17, 2013, 3:27 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
Understanding the need for an “overlay zone” in Ridgewood’s Central Business District has been a struggle at all levels.
Developers are pushing for it. Many Ridgewood residents oppose it. The Planning Board is weighing all sides.
In general, an overlay zone is a zoning district that sits on top of an existing zone. The newly formed overlay zone retains the standards of the previously approved zone while creating new or additional building criteria.
According to the American Planning Association, municipalities use overlay zones to protect community features, including historic sites and wetlands. Developers use the zoning technique to build projects such as mixed-use developments and transit villages.
In Ridgewood, the Planning Board is responsible for drafting an amendment to the master plan that creates the new zone. A public hearing and vote on the amendment is held at the Planning Board level, according to board attorney Gail Price, before it is moved in the form of an ordinance to the Village Council.
New Jersey has largest jobs gain since December 1999
January 17, 2013
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Private employers in New Jersey added 30,900 jobs in December, the largest single monthly gain since the current system of employment tracking began in 1990, the state Labor Department reported Thursday. The Labor Department said that figure represents the largest over-the-year private sector increase in jobs since December 1999 to December 2000, when more than 64,000 jobs were added.
Job gains were reported in all of the state’s nine major private industry sectorsincluding a jump of 6,000 jobs in transportation and utilities.While Public employment (state jobs) dipped by 700 for the month, still leaving New Jersey with a jump in overall employment topping 30,000.
The Christie administration swas quick to point out the new figures show the trend in job creation and economic growth that remains positive though the state but still has a long way to go.
According to the Christie administration , “With revisions to November’s job numbers, we know that New Jersey lost more than 10,000 jobs as a result of Hurricane Sandy, not to mention the widespread devastation it wrecked on our people, infrastructure and economy. December’s report begins to tell a different tale — one that confirms the resilience of New Jerseyans and the speed with which we have begun to emerge from the storm,”
New Jersey’s jobless rate still remains stubbornly high at a whooping 9.6 %. nearly 2 percentage points higher than the national rate of 7.8 percent for December.
The state had previously reported an identical jobless rate for November. But November’s number was adjusted upward to 9.7 percent.
Even better news was that labor participation rate in New Jersey continued to rise in December, up to 66.2 percent,according to the Labor Department , several points higher than the national rate.
Those figures affect the jobless rate, because the government only counts as unemployed those actively searching for work.
A preliminary analysis shows that from December 2011 to December 2012, employment grew by 48,000 jobs, with the private sector accounting for for an overwhelming majority of the new jobs created in the state with more than 46,000.
The CEO of Whole Foods compared President Obama’s health care law to “fascism” in a radio interview on Wednesday, a turnabout from earlier comments in which he compared the signature reforms to socialism.
“Technically speaking, it’s more like fascism,” John Mackey told NPR’s Morning Edition. “Socialism is where the government owns the means of production. In fascism, the government doesn’t own the means of production, but they do control it — and that’s what’s happening with our health care programs and these reforms.”
The Wall Street Journal in 2009 ran a piece by Mr. Mackey that was critical of Mr. Obama’s law, which passed in March 2010 and is marching toward full implementation in the coming years. The article led with a quote from Margaret Thatcher, who said, “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”
Biggest growth story is outside the US
By Russ Koesterich
With bad news priced in to risk assets, havens look expensive
The market had hoped for a “Grand Bargain”. Instead, it got a small, ultimately insufficient fiscal deal. The best to be said of the agreement hammered out on New Year’s eve is that it beat the alternative. While investors still cheered, nobody should mistake this for an economic, fiscal, or financial positive. Ideally Washington would have crafted a deal coupling long-term tax and entitlement reform with short-term stimulus. Instead, we got the opposite. The US now faces significant fiscal drag on an already sluggish recovery.
The drag might have been justified had the agreement actually addressed the long-term fiscal outlook. But it failed to tackle the US tax code’s dysfunction or the sustainability of major entitlement programmes. In abdicating any effort to stabilise the national debt, Washington now risks an eventual loss of international confidence in the US. Short term, it is not even clear that this deal does much to address the deficit. With significant fiscal drag still embedded in the deal, the economy is unlikely to grow as fast as current budget estimates assume. If growth disappoints, as it almost surely will, revenue will be below expectations and deficits above.
Investors face the same challenge of the past several years: how to generate positive real return in a zero-rate world. While the next episode of Washington’s fiscal soap opera – lack of clarity over the debt ceiling – will expose investors even further, they should fight the temptation to abandon stocks and other risky assets. Policy chaos has been the norm throughout the past three years. Despite the lack of progress, equities and other risky assets have climbed the proverbial wall of worry; those willing to take on risk have done well. The reason: while the world is far from perfect, much of the bad news is already reflected in equity prices. Ironically, it is “haven” assets that appear most expensive.
Rather than abandoning risky assets altogether, investors should tap market segments most geared to faster global growth and less exposed to US consumption. Practically, this suggests lowering exposure to small and mid-caps and favoring large and mega-cap companies, which benefit the most when global growth accelerates and are the least sensitive to a slower domestic economy.
File Photo by Boyd Loving Village Hall looks to avoid going further underwater
Ridgewood Council concerns postpone vote on merit pay
Thursday January 17, 2013, 2:03 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
An attempt to control wages earned by village management and non-unionized employees drew a series of financial and administrative concerns, prompting the Village Council to postpone its vote on two ordinances that would have approved a zero percent salary increase but allow incentive-based raises.
Council members identified their specific concerns with the two ordinances, while general uncertainty over salary structure and processes loomed over Wednesday night’s discussion. Also hanging over the heads of council members were fiscal revelations unveiled in a 44-page report recently filed by Ridgewood’s Tiger Team, a volunteer financial committee.
The ordinances essentially created a salary freeze for those village employees, but the same workers had the potential to earn as much as a 1.9 percent increase following performance-based evaluations. The merit raise, which is based on various evaluations and ultimately determined by the village manager, fundamentally creates a new base salary.
Ridgewood’s manager is excluded from the merit raise schedule; the position’s salary is determined and voted on annually by the Village Council.
Councilman Tom Riche, who was a staunch supporter of incentive raises when the village first rolled out the idea several years ago, objected to the omission of the village manager from performance-based raises. Riche also voted against the original introduction of the two ordinances last month.
NOTICE: Planning Board Public Work Session – January 23, 2013
PLANNING BOARD
AMENDMENT TO MEETING SCHEDULE – draft ordinance regarding development standards for multifamily housing
Work Session & Public Meeting: Wednesday, January 23, 2013
In accordance with the provisions of the “Open Public Meetings Act,” please be advised that the Planning Board has scheduled a special public meeting and work session for WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013, in the VILLAGE HALL COURT ROOM, 4th Floor, 131 NORTH MAPLE AVENUE, RIDGEWOOD, NJ beginning at 7:30 p.m.
The Board may take official action during this Work and Public Meeting at which time the Board will:
Hear testimony regarding application requesting amendment to the Land Use Element/Housing Element of the Master Plan from 257 Ridgewood Avenue, LLC, 253-257 E. Ridgewood Ave., Block 3703, Lots 4, 6, 8.01.
Have discussion regarding a draft ordinance regarding development standards for multifamily housing in CBD area.
All meetings of the Ridgewood Planning Board (i.e., official public meetings, work session meetings, pre-meeting assemblies and special meetings) are public meetings which are always open to members of the general public.
