Author: James

Is Obamacare The Final Nail In The Coffin Of The Middle Class?
by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse blog,

If there were any shreds of hope left that the stunning decline of the middle class could be turned around, Obamacare has absolutely destroyed them.  Over the past decade or so, the middle class in the United States has been absolutely eviscerated.  The number of working age Americans without a job has increased by 27 million since the year 2000, median household income in the U.S. has fallen for five years in a row, and the poverty numbers in this country are spiraling out of control.  And now here comes Obamacare.  As you will see below, Obamacare is causing millions of Americans to lose their current health insurance policies, it is causing health insurance premiums to explode to absolutely ridiculous levels, and it is systematically killing jobs even though the employer mandate has been delayed for a while.

All of this is creating a tremendous amount of stress for millions of middle class families that are already stretched extremely thin financially.  According to CNN, a survey that was conducted earlier this year found that 76 percent of all Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.  Most of those families simply cannot afford to pay much higher health insurance premiums for new policies that also come with much larger deductibles and significantly increased out-of-pocket costs.  Millions of those families will ultimately end up choosing to do without health insurance altogether, and that will create a whole host of new problems.  This is a disaster that is so enormous that it is really hard to put into words.  If the U.S. health care system was a separate country, it would be the 6th largest economy on the entire globe all by itself.  And now Obamacare is going to bring the entire U.S. health care system to its knees.

Obamacare: Since October 1st, The Number Of Americans With Health Insurance Has Fallen By Nearly 4 Million

Last week, Barack Obama decided to allow Americans to keep their current health insurance plans for one more year.

Isn’t that generous of him?  Especially considering the fact that he promised us over and over that if we liked our current health insurance policies that we would be able to keep them permanently.

The funny thing is that Obama is not actually changing the law.  So if your health insurance company allows you to stay on your current health insurance plan that does not meet the requirements of Obamacare, it is technically breaking the law.

And if you continue to stay on that current health insurance plan that does not meet the requirements of Obamacare, you are technically breaking the law.

It is just that Obama has promised not to enforce what the law says for one year.

For a president to just blatantly disregard the rule of law is a very dangerous precedent.  Do we really want the president to have the power to decide what laws are going to be enforced and what laws are not going to be enforced?

That sounds dangerously close to a dictatorship to me.

And in any event, there are many Americans that are not going to be able to keep their current policies no matter what Obama says.  For example, just two hours after Obama announced his plan last week, the state of Washington announced that they would not be allowing insurance companies to extend their old health insurance plans if they don’t comply with Obamacare under any circumstances…

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-18/guest-post-obamacare-final-nail-coffin-middle-class

The Gettysburg Address at 150

In November 1863, President Abraham Lincoln was invited to deliver remarks, which later became known as the Gettysburg Address, at the official dedication ceremony for the National Cemetery of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, on the site of one of the bloodiest and most decisive battles of the Civil War. Though he was not the featured orator that day, Lincoln’s 273-word address would be remembered as one of the most important speeches in American history. In it, he invoked the principles of human equality contained in the Declaration of Independence and connected the sacrifices of the Civil War with the desire for “a new birth of freedom,” as well as the all-important preservation of the Union created in 1776 and its ideal of self-government.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Ridgewood’s Memoire now open
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
The Record

Mémoire
16-18 Chestnut St., Ridgewood; 201-857-8899, diningatmemoire.com

* Who is behind this new restaurant? The owner, Thomas Finnelli, grew up in Park Ridge and worked in various restaurants as a dishwasher, cook, waiter and manager, but eventually left for a college degree in business. Eighteen years later, about to become a partner in an accounting firm, he realized he needed to return to his real passion and thus attended the French Culinary Institute. He launched a catering and personal chef business, TAF Catering & Personal Chef Services LLC; started a restaurant management, investment and consulting business, TAF Restaurant & Hospitality Group LLC; and eventually started looking for a brick-and-mortar restaurant. It took him approximately six years to find the perfect Ridgewood location for Mémoire. The executive chef is Giacomo Mistretta, formerly executive chef of Mack’s American Bar & Grill in Pompton Lakes, Napa Valley Grille in Paramus and Esty Street in Park Ridge.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/food_dining/232453101_Ridgewood_s_Memoire_now_open.html#sthash.Or2DoKXh.dpuf

Freeholder DeNicola Issues Statement on Her Victory in Bergen County
By Thom | November 18th, 2013 – 9:28pm

Bergen County Freeholder Maura DeNicola issued the following statement following the certification of her victory in the Bergen County Freeholder Election

I want to thank all my supporters and members of my re-election team who  made my victory possible. I want to thank Gov. Christie for his hard work on my behalf and of the entire county party, I want to thank Kathleen Donovan for her support. I look forward to continuing to serve the people of Bergen County as an independent and reasonable voice for policies and initiatives that have true, lasting value to county residents.

My victory is bitter-sweet since it appears that one of my runningmates did not win re-election. The results of this  election demonstrate a need for the county Republican organization to do some soul searching and to conduct  an  assessment of how the organization runs countywide campaigns in the future —  especially as we head into the all important county executive race next year.

Clearly, there is a need to grow the Republican Party, invite more people to take part in the political process and for greater unity of purpose. I look forward to working with my fellow Republicans to create a more vibrant county party that serves the interests of the taxpayer

Read more at https://www.politickernj.com/69699/freeholder-denicola-issues-statement-her-victory-bergen-county#ixzz2l626i8xN

file photo by Boyd Loving

State fines Ridgewood for water discharge from Graydon Pool
Monday November 18, 2013, 1:39 PM
BY  DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News

Ridgewood has netted a lofty fine for a maintenance practice that has been performed at Graydon Pool for several years, but before they pay, village officials are seeking further explanation for the $25,000 penalty handed to them by the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Mayor Paul Aronsohn is pushing for the state’s clarification of the penalty, asking why, after years of receiving perceived permission, the practice of pumping water from the sandy-bottomed municipal pool into the adjacent Ho-Ho-Kus Brook is now an unacceptable exercise.

According to municipal engineer Chris Rutishauser, the village “has been slapped with an administrative consent order” by the DEP, which said Ridgewood has been inappropriately discharging muddy water into the brook. A state inspector cited the village for incidents observed prior to the 2012 swimming season, specifically on May 1 and again on May 10

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/232374311_State_fines_Ridgewood_for_water_discharge_from_Graydon_Pool.html#sthash.3aLczXQq.dpuf

Urbanization: CAN RIDGEWOOD, OVER THE NEXT 5, 10, 15 YEARS HANDLE THIS?

December 3rd planning board meeting at BF

NEW ZONING CHANGES IN RIDGEWOOD
13 LOTS IN TOWN FALL INTO THIS NEW ZONE
IF EACH LOT IS A MINIMUM 1 ACRE
AND NEW DENSITY ALLOWS 47 APARTMENTS PER ACRE
THEN NEW RIDGEWOOD WILL HAVE OVER 600 APARTMENTS
IF EACH LOT IS A MINIMUM 1 and 1 /2 ACRES, THEN 900 PLUS APARTMENTS.

THIS IS VERY SIMPLE, CAN RIDGEWOOD, OVER THE NEXT 5, 10, 15 YEARS HANDLE THIS? HAVE WE PROPERLY SAT DOWN AND DONE OUR LONG TERM PLANNING?

QUESTIONS TO ASK OUR PLANNING BOARD….
HOW WILL THIS AFFECT OUR:
TAXES
PARKING
TRAFFIC
SCHOOLS
SAFETY
EMERGENCY RESPONSE SERVICES
POLICE, FIREMEN
UTILITIES
OPEN SPACE
ENVIRONMENT

So far no one has given testimony on what will happen to our town when we have 13 developed lots. No one.

COME TO DECEMBER 3RD PLANNING BOARD MEETING AND ASK YOUR QUESTIONS OR JUST LISTEN IN. BF AUDITORIUM, 7:30PM. IF WE DO NOT ASK THESE QUESTIONS, NOBODY WILL.

EXAMPLES OF GOOD QUESTIONS TO ASK.

WILL OVERALL PROPERTY ASSESSMENTS GO UP AS A RESULT OF THIS AND WILL PEOPLE LIVING ON A FIXED INCOME BE FORCED TO MOVE OUT OF TOWN?

WHERE WILL ALL THE EXTRA CARS PARK IN OUR TOWN WHEN THESE NEW RESIDENTS HAVE GUESTS OR SERVICES VISITING THEM? IS OUR TOWN ACQUIRING AND BUILDING NEW PARKING LOTS FOR THE REST OF US?

Village of Ridgewood among top zip codes in income, education in the US Washing Post report says

Finding Super Zips: The Washington Post analyzed census data to find Zip codes where people rank highest on a combination of income and education. They are Super Zips.

The ranks, ranging from 0 to 99, represent the average of each Zip’s percentile rankings for median household income and for the share of adults with college degrees. Super Zips rank 95 or higher. This approach is adapted from one used by author Charles Murray.

The map at top shows the nation’s 650 Super Zips. Among them, the typical household income is $120,272, and 68 percent of adults hold college degrees. That compares with $53,962 and 27 percent for the remaining 23,925 Zips shown. Only Zips with at least 500 adults are displayed.

Ridgewood, New Jersey Zip Code 07450 Number 99

$154,275  Median household income

75%  College graduates

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/local/2013/11/09/washington-a-world-apart/?wprss=rss_Copy%20of%20local-arlington-social

More than 50 apply for village manager’s position in Ridgewood
Monday November 18, 2013, 12:12 PM
BY  DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News

Members of Ridgewood’s governing body will begin interviewing candidates this month in an effort to fill the village’s top administrative post, with the first of four special meetings scheduled for Monday, Nov. 25.

Ridgewood has been operating without a full-time village manager since Aug. 31, when the Village Council terminated Ken Gabbert from that position. Village Clerk Heather Mailander has been serving as the acting village manager since Sept. 1.

The village manager acts as Ridgewood’s chief executive and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the municipality. Duties of note include overseeing the village’s $45 million municipal budget and approving various personnel hiring and promotion decisions.

More than 50 individuals submitted résumés for consideration, and the council is still determining which of the applicants will be interviewed.

“All council members have reviewed each and every résumé, and all council members are working together to determine which candidates are interviewed. It’s a completely collaborative process,” Mayor Paul Aronsohn said.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/232362361_More_than_50_apply_for_village_manager_s_position_in_Ridgewood.html#sthash.8SxwamLx.dpuf