Author: James

Retail Workweek Hits 3-Year Low In ObamaCare Shift
By Jed Graham, Investor’s Business Daily
Posted 02/01/2013 07:05 PM ET

The fly in the ointment of January’s jobs report was the apparent shift to part-time work ahead of a key ObamaCare deadline.

Although retail payrolls grew by 32,600, total hours worked in the industry dipped, Labor Department data out Friday showed.

The explanation? Rank-and-file retail workers logged the shortest workweek since early 2010: just 30.1 hours, on average, vs. 30.4 in December.

Remarkably, aggregate hours worked in the retail sector fell below their January 2012 level, even though industry payrolls are up 200,000 over that period.

A similar trend showed up in leisure and hospitality: January payrolls rose by 23,000 even as aggregate hours dipped 0.3%.

Meanwhile, the ranks of part-time workers due to business conditions or because they can’t find full-time work, trending lower in the past few years, rose by 212,000 to 7.8 million.

While the data are volatile and the shift to shorter workweeks in January was less than dramatic, this may be the start of something big. All signs suggest that businesses are starting to adjust their employment policies in response to ObamaCare. It’s possible that much of this shift may occur in the next few months.

Read More At IBD: https://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-perspective/020113-642941-retail-leisure-jobs-hours-down-obamacare-looms.htm#ixzz2JjewQlb6

Labor Unions Finally Read Obamacare Fine Print, Realize Costs Set To Spike, “Turn Sour” On Obamacare
Tyler Durden’s
01/31/2013 10:32 -0500

It is a well-known fact that nobody in Congress ever reads, or even skims, any law, and especially not the fine print, it passes until long after it has been enacted into law. It appears the same is just as true for the biggest pillar of support for the Obama administration: America’s labor unions, whose liberal vote every election is instrumental to preserving the outflow side of America’s welfare state. As it turns out, it was the same labor unions who enthusiastically supported the primary accomplishment of the Obama administration in the past 4 years, Obamacare, only to realize, long after it has become reality that, surprise, their healthcare plan costs are about to go up. And, as the WSJ colorfully summarizes, they are now “turning sour.”

From WSJ:

Union leaders say many of the law’s requirements will drive up the costs for their health-care plans and make unionized workers less competitive. Among other things, the law eliminates the caps on medical benefits and prescription drugs used as cost-containment measures in many health-care plans. It also allows children to stay on their parents’ plans until they turn 26.

So what are the Unions’ demands to offset what they only now realize will push their overall costs higher? What else: Moar!

To offset that, the nation’s largest labor groups want their lower-paid members to be able to get federal insurance subsidies while remaining on their plans. In the law, these subsidies were designed only for low-income workers without employer coverage as a way to help them buy private insurance.

Top officers at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the AFL-CIO and other large labor groups plan to keep pressing the Obama administration to expand the federal subsidies to these jointly run plans, warning that unionized employers may otherwise drop coverage.

But, but, they can’t – that’s the whole point, or didn’t they read that part too? Doesn’t matter – to them it is now unfair, nay “unacceptable”:

“We are going back to the administration to say that this is not acceptable,” said Ken Hall, general secretary-treasurer for the Teamsters, which has 1.6 million members and dependents in health-care plans. Other unions involved in the push include the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and Unite Here, which represents service and other workers.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-31/labor-unions-finally-read-obamacare-fine-print-realize-costs-set-spike-turn-sour-oba

Just 157K New Payrolls Added In January, But HUGE Upward Revisions To December And November
Joe Weisenthal    | Feb. 1, 2013, 7:55 AM

The jobs report is out for January, and on the headline it’s a slight miss.

157K new jobs is below the consensus estimates of 165K.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9%.

But the report had a lot of good news as well. Last month was revised higher, from 155K to 196K.

And November was revised even higher, from 161K to 247K!

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/the-january-jobs-report-2013-2#ixzz2JeuHetHI

John Phillip Osborne master painter and senior instructor will give an oil painting demonstration at RAI

John Phillip Osborne master painter and senior instructor will give an oil painting demonstration on Sunday, February 3, 2013 at 2:00 pm.

And enjoy the Juried Art Exhibit as you are making your way through  our galleries,  which will be on display through February 11.

At the Ridgewood Art Institute 12 East Glen Avenue  Ridgewood, NJ  07463
201-652-961 www.ridgewoodartinstitute.org

Menendez swearing in Mayor Paul Aronsohn Photo by Boyd Loving

Chris Christie Would Choose Menendez’s Replacement
If the New Jersey senator is unable to finish his term.
1:59 PM, Jan 31, 2013 • By DANIEL HALPER

If Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey either steps down or is removed from office, Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, will get the chance to choose his replacement.

“If a vacancy shall happen in the representation of this State in the United States senate, it shall be filled at the general election next succeeding the happening thereof, unless such vacancy shall happen within 70 days next preceding such election, in which case it shall be filled by election at the second succeeding general election, unless the governor of this State shall deem it advisable to call a special election therefor, which he is authorized hereby to do,” New Jersey law reads. “The governor of this State may make a temporary appointment of a senator of the United States from this State whenever a vacancy shall occur by reason of any cause other than the expiration of the term; and such appointee shall serve as such senator until a special election or general election shall have been held pursuant to law and the Board of State Canvassers can deliver to his successor a certificate of election.”

https://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/chris-christie-would-choose-menendez-s-replacement_699075.html

Geraldo Rivera ‘truly contemplating’ run for Senate. Could he win?
By Peter Grier, Staff Writer / January 31, 2013

Veteran broadcast journalist Geraldo Rivera says he’s considering a run for a US Senate seat from New Jersey in 2014.

Broadcast journalist Geraldo Rivera said on his radio program Thursday that he’s been in touch ‘with some people in the Republican Party in New Jersey’ about a run in 2014. But it won’t be easy.

“I mention this only briefly … fasten your seatbelt,” he said Thursday on his mid-day radio program. “I am and have been in touch with some people in the Republican Party in New Jersey. I am truly contemplating running for Senate against Frank Lautenberg or Cory Booker in New Jersey.”

Seatbelt fastened! We must say that Geraldo on the stump in the Garden State would be a journalist’s dream. Can you imagine the campaign appearances? The bombast, the flags, the moustache! (True story: after the Beyoncé lip-synching scandal broke, Mr. Rivera tweeted “Shocking-Sad what can we believe in, what’s next … my mustache exposed as a prosthetic?”)

https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2013/0131/Geraldo-Rivera-truly-contemplating-run-for-Senate.-Could-he-win

Ridgewood explores three options for 2013 budget
Thursday January 31, 2013, 4:09 PM
BY  DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News

The Ridgewood Council will explore at least three different options and consider the recent findings of a volunteer finance committee as it begins discussions on the 2013 municipal budget.

Village Manager Ken Gabbert presented preliminary figures to the governing body Wednesday night to illustrate separate spending plans: one that represents a 1.1 percent budget increase over last year, another showing a zero percent budget increase, and a third that would potentially deliver a zero percent tax increase.

“We started the [2013] budget process with the departments back in October. What’s been done differently is that we went back for an extra round with the departments in accordance to the council’s direction,” the village manager reported. In December, council members instructed Gabbert and his staff to construct a number of budget options for presentation in January.

The 2012 village budget totaled more than $45.2 million, while the average Ridgewood homeowner shelled out approximately $3,900 for each municipal tax bill last year. A proposed total budget amount for this year was not used at this week’s council work session, as several influencing factors are still unknown.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/189257631_Ridgewood_explores_three_options_for_2013_budget.html