N.J. bill would let lottery winners maintain privacy up to a year
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 25, 2012, 11:21 PM
BY MICHAEL LINHORST
STATE HO– USE BUREAU
THE RECORD
New Jersey Lottery winners expect instant riches. But along with their money comes the attention, sometimes unwanted, of newfound friends and companies that say they want to help manage all that cash.
Each year, for-profit companies make an average of 70 records requests to the New Jersey Lottery, seeking the names and contact information for lottery winners, according to a review of the document requests by The Record. The lottery is obliged to hand over the information, which is a public record.
The companies say some people find the lump-sum payments or financial advice they offer helpful.
But now, against the backdrop of a record-breaking $425 million Powerball jackpot this week, one assemblyman has raised the question: Should these winners be shielded from the public?
MVC extends deadline for motorists affected by Sandy
TRENTON — Motorists affected by Superstorm Sandy will get a break from the state.
The New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission announced that residents whose driver’s license, registration or vehicle inspection was up for renewal last month have been given a 30-day extension.
“Rather than having these customers make a special trip to FEMA’s centers just for a motor vehicle issue, our entire staff is ready to assist at any one of our 39 agencies statewide,” said Raymond P. Martinez, commission chairman and chief administrator. “We’ve implemented temporary service measures in our agencies to help those with special circumstances caused by Sandy.”
Under the administrative order, anyone who is the holder of a valid New Jersey driver’s license or permit that was due to expire between Oct. 29 and Oct. 31 and was not renewed can continue to exercise his or her driving privileges until Nov. 30. Renewals of vehicle registrations and inspections due that same time period are also extended until Nov. 30.
(Todd McHale; The Philadelphia Inquirer) https://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/burlington_county_times_news/motor-vehicle-commission-extends-deadlines-for-motorists-affected-by-sandy/article_41e88497-4c3e-50d6-9350-f7e85fda3261.html
Former Center for the Chicago Blackhawks Jeremy Roenick at Bookends Tuesday
Jeremy Roenick, Tuesday, November 27th @ 7:00pm
Former Center for the Chicago Blackhawks & NBC NHL Analyst, Jeremey Roenick will sign his new book: J.R. Books available November 1st, We Take Phone Orders if you can’t make the event.
Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change.Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings.
Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.
While we try to insure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed. We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.
Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726
Obama faces huge challenge in setting up health insurance exchanges
By Elise Viebeck – 11/25/12 02:45 PM ET
The Obama administration faces major logistical and financial challenges in creating health insurance exchanges for states that have declined to set up their own systems.
The exchanges were designed as the centerpiece of President Obama’s signature law, and are intended to make buying health insurance comparable to booking a flight or finding a compatible partner on Match.com.
Sixteen states — most of them governed by Republicans — have said they will not set up their own systems, forcing the federal government to come up with one instead.
Another five states said they want a federal-state partnership, while four others are considering partnerships.
It’s a situation no one anticipated when the Affordable Care Act was written. The law assumed states would create and operate their own exchanges, and set aside billions in grants for that purpose.
Students at the Cooperative Nursery School collect food for Sandy relief
November 25,2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Students at the Cooperative Nursery School of Ridgewood give donations to Ridgewood Social Services so that they may help families in need for this Thanksgiving holiday.
The preschool has also been collecting food and clothing donations to give to those who lost their homes from Super Storm Sandy. Local families and groups have been bringing the collected items directly to those in need at our “Jersey Shores”.
PRAVDA.RU : Obama has been re-elected for a 2nd term by an illiterate society
Obama’s Soviet Mistake
19.11.2012
By Xavier Lerma
Putin in 2009 outlined his strategy for economic success. Alas, poor Obama did the opposite but nevertheless was re-elected. Bye, bye Miss American Pie. The Communists have won in America with Obama but failed miserably in Russia with Zyuganov who only received 17% of the vote. Vladimir Putin was re-elected as President keeping the NWO order out of Russia while America continues to repeat the Soviet mistake.
After Obama was elected in his first term as president the then Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January of 2009. Ignored by the West as usual, Putin gave insightful and helpful advice to help the world economy and saying the world should avoid the Soviet mistake.
Recently, Obama has been re-elected for a 2nd term by an illiterate society and he is ready to continue his lies of less taxes while he raises them. He gives speeches of peace and love in the world while he promotes wars as he did in Egypt, Libya and Syria. He plans his next war is with Iran as he fires or demotes his generals who get in the way.
Morgan Stanley’s Doom Scenario: Major Recession in 2013
Published: Tuesday, 20 Nov 2012 | 6:46 AM ET Text Size
By: Deepanshu Bagchee
Managing Digital Editor, CNBC International
The global economy is likely to be stuck in the “twilight zone” of sluggish growth in 2013, Morgan Stanley has warned, but if policymakers fail to act, it could get a lot worse.
The bank’s economics team forecasts a full-blown recession next year, under a pessimistic scenario, with global gross domestic product (GDP) likely to plunge 2 percent.
“More than ever, the economic outlook hinges upon the actions taken or not taken by governments and central banks,” Morgan Stanley said in a report.
Under the bank’s more gloomy scenario, the U.S. would go over the “fiscal cliff” leading to a contraction in U.S. GDP for the first three quarters of 2013. In Europe, the bank’s pessimistic scenario assumes a failure of the European Central Bank (ECB) in cutting rates and a delay of its bond-buying program.
Post your favorite picture of your pet or pets to our page, the top 12 photos with the most “likes” will win! Please read our rules, regulations & instructions in our notes section for more details on what our winners will receive! Start posting pictures as the contest begins NOW. Good luck everyone! We can’t wait to see all those adorable pets.
We’ve already had some great photos posted! Keep them coming! The deadline is 12/14/12. First Prize includes a $250 Gift Certificate to Ridgewood Veterinary Hospital!
Ridgewood Veterinary Hospital’s Second Annual Favorite Pets 2013 Calendar Photo Contest
by Ridgewood Veterinary Hospital on Monday, November 12, 2012 at 3:56pm ·
Rules, Regulations and Instructions :
a. You must be 18 or older to participate
b. The contest is in no way supported, sponsored by or affiliated with Facebook.
c. You must be able to submit a regular sized digital (Jpeg) to RVH upon winning. A horizontal photo is preferred, but not necessary.
d. By participating in the contest you are allowing us to use and distribute the image of your pet on any of our online sites and related marketing of Ridgewood Veterinary Hospital. Therefore, you must have complete and exclusive rights to the original photograph and be the pet owner. If the entry photo also has a picture of a person or group of people, you must be that person, or the parent and/or guardian of that person.
e. By participating in the contest you understand that by posting photographs on Facebook (or any other internet website) your photographs may be available for public viewing and/or use. Ridgewood Veterinary Hospital is in no way responsible for any distribution of your photograph beyond our normal marketing by any other individuals or companies.
f. In order for your photo to be considered, please post on our wall with the title of your entry photo and attach a photo. Then click, share.
g. If you win the contest you may be contacted via email so please email us at: [email protected] upon uploading your pet’s picture. Please include the entry photo’s title in the subject box and include in the message your full name, pet’s name, email and contact phone number.
h. Your contact information will not be used for anything other than to contact you to inform you if you win this contest.
i. You may only upload 1 picture of each pet, however, you may enter as many pets as you wish. You may also submit a group photo of your pets for consideration as well as individual pictures.
j. Contest ends on December 14, 2012. Winners will be notified by December 31, 2012.
k. Winner will be determined by whichever picture receives the most “likes” on Facebook by December 14, 2012 at 5:00 p.m.
l. There will be 12 winners in total. The first prize winner will win: A $250 Gift Certificate to Ridgewood Veterinary Hospital, as well as their photo featured on the cover of the calendar and a select month of the year. The second prize winner will win: A $100 Gift Certificate to Ridgewood Veterinary Hospital, Winners 1-11 will be featured as the photograph of a select month of the year.
m. Any questions, concerns etc. should be directed to Ridgewood Veterinary Hospital. [email protected]
To learn more about our hospital as well as past and future events, please visit our website:
WWW.RIDGEWOODVET.COM
Why Is The Latino Poverty Rate So High?
Rachel Sheffield
November 24, 2012 at 10:00 am
It has been reported recently that the poverty rate among Latinos has reached 28 percent.
The number, based on a new poverty measure by the Obama Administration, should be interpreted with caution, as explained here and here. However, the overall point that more American Latino families, and Americans in general, are struggling to achieve self-sufficiency is troubling.
What’s not mentioned in news reports, however, is the greatest driver of child poverty in the U.S. today: unwed childbearing. Among Latinos, unmarried parent families are roughly three times as likely to be poor as married families. Tragically, over half of Latino children born today are born outside of marriage. The rate has increased from less than 40 percent in the 1990s to more than half—nearly 53 percent—today.
These facts are rarely mentioned, and few attempts made to address the matter. Instead, big government proponents clamor that the antidote to poverty is greater government welfare spending. Unfortunately, these programs do not help people overcome poverty. Today, the U.S. spends roughly five times the amount necessary to pull every poor person out of poverty, and welfare is the fastest-growing part of government spending, exceeding even the cost of defense spending. However, poverty rates have not declined.
The Millionaires Who Pay the Highest Tax Rate
Published: Friday, 23 Nov 2012 | 11:05 AM ET Text Size
By: Robert Frank
CNBC Reporter & Editor
Warren Buffett and Mitt Romney have managed to create one of the enduring myths of our tax debate: that the rich pay a lower rate than the rest of America.
This may be individually true. Buffett pays a lower rate than his secretary and Romney pays a lower rate than most of us who make our living from salaries.
But nationally, the tax code is still broadly progressive. The more your make, the more taxes you pay as a percentage of your income.
According to new data from the IRS, people who make $1 million or more had an average tax rate of 20.4 percent in 2010. Tax filers who earned $30,000 to $50,000 paid an average rate of 4.8 percent, while those who made between $50,000 and $100,000 paid 7.7 percent. Those making under $30,000 had a negative effective rate, meaning they paid no federal income taxes after deductions and credits.
Put another way, millionaires pay a rate that’s more than four times that of the middle class.
Examiner Editorial: If top 5% paid 40% of taxes, what is their ‘fair’ share?
November 22, 2012 | 8:00 pm
Riding a wave of confidence after his re-election victory, President Obama is eager to collect scalps from the class war he appears to have won. Americans, Obama said in his postelection news conference earlier this month, “want to make sure that middle-class folks aren’t bearing the entire burden and sacrifice when it comes to some of these big challenges. They expect that folks at the top are doing their fair share as well.” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., echoed this point in a fundraising pitch sent out on Monday: “Voters sent a clear message to Republicans in the election: we must stand up for the middle class and ensure the wealthy pay their fair share.”
Although Obama and his fellow Democrats repeatedly call on wealthier Americans to pay their “fair share,” they never specify what percentage of the nation’s tax burden the wealthy would have to bear. As matters stand, the top 1 percent of American households paid 39 percent of income taxes in 2009, according to the most recent data compiled by the Congressional Budget Office, and the top 5 percent of taxpayers paid 64 percent.
But income taxes, taken in isolation, do not tell the whole story, because lower-income Americans do pay payroll taxes. But even taking into account all forms of taxation, the top 1 percent still paid 22 percent of federal taxes while earning just 13.4 percent of household income. The top 5 percent paid 40 percent of all federal taxes, despite earning only 26 percent of all income. No matter how you slice the numbers, it’s hard to understand why anyone would think the wealthy aren’t already shouldering a burden commensurate with their blessings.
The Fiscal Cliff: A Primer
November 13, 2012
By TF Staff
Special Report No. 204: The Fiscal Cliff: A Primer
Introduction
On December 31, 2012, a large swath of the federal income tax code is scheduled to expire, an event which has come to be known as the “fiscal cliff.” Among the expiring provisions are the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts enacted under President Bush, a compromise on the estate tax, a “patch” in the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) reducing its impact, the temporary 2 percent payroll tax holiday, increased business expensing, and the “extenders” package of miscellaneous tax deductions. On January 1, 2013, five taxes enacted as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)—popularly referred to as Obamacare—also take effect, along with sequester spending reductions of $109 billion due to the failure of the “supercommittee” to reach consensus on budget reductions. Taken together this “fiscal cliff,” or “Taxmageddon,” could potentially reduce economic output by hundreds of billions of dollars.[1]
Congress and the President will have little time to rest after the New Year: in late February, the U.S. government will hit the debt ceiling, exhausting its ability to borrow to finance ongoing spending without an increase by Congress. Finally, the federal government’s continuing resolution appropriating spending expires on March 27, 2013.
The fiscal cliff is the culmination of a decade of “temporary” tax and budget bills that have postponed resolution of key policy differences. Should the tax code be used to heavily promote income distribution or aim instead to raise revenue in the least distortive manner possible? How large should federal spending be? Should PPACA be modified or repealed? Should there be a federal estate tax and if so, at what level? Should the payroll tax be reduced and if so, how should we fund Social Security and Medicare? What should Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid look like as the population ages?
North Jersey merchants see meager traffic gains on Small Business Saturday
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 24, 2012, 11:19 PM
BY STEPHANIE AKIN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
It’s been billed as a way for locally owned stores to cash in on the post-Thanksgiving retail rush, but Small Business Saturday — observed by hundreds of local businesses on Saturday — has yet to truly catch on in North Jersey, several shoppers and business owners said.
Owners of downtown stores throughout the region praised the idea, which started as an American Express marketing campaign in 2010 and has since been embraced by politicians and trade groups throughout the country. But several participating store owners said this year’s foot traffic was about the same, or even slower, than any other Saturday.
Marissa Rizkalla, co-owner of The Couture Baby in Ridgewood, was one of the merchants who took advantage of some of the free publicity.
“I’d do it again next year because it doesn’t hurt,” said Rizkalla, whose shop opened on Ridgewood’s main shopping drag two months ago. “But a lot of people didn’t know about it or didn’t understand how it worked.”
The event, held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, is meant to remind shoppers of the advantages of buying locally after the chain stores’ Black Friday fever has passed. American Express card holders who enroll early get $25 back on a purchase of $25 or more at participating stores. The credit-card company also provides free advertising and marketing materials for participating businesses, and many stores and downtown business districts plan their own sales, in-store giveaways and holiday events — in Paterson, for example, shoppers were entertained by roving jugglers and Dickens carolers.
Ridgewood Police Chief John Ward have a Safe Holiday
From the Chiefs Desk
With the holiday season upon us, most people are preoccupied with the details of holiday planning and shopping. Unfortunately, the safety precautions we normally take can be forgotten as the excitement of the season causes us to let our guard down. I want this to be a safe holiday season for all, so I would like to remind you to follow these simple tips while you enjoy the season.
Leaving the house for a bit? Be sure to lock your doors and windows! Don’t leave the drapes open with your presents in plain view. Christmas presents displayed around your tree can be a pretty sight, but can also be quite tempting to burglars. It’s better to scatter the gifts around the house, in closets or cupboards, where they can’t be so easily seen. Out of town for the holidays? If you are leaving town for the holidays, make sure your home appears occupied. Leave inside and outside lights on timers and have your neighbors pick up newspapers, mail, and take flyers off your door. Ask neighbors to park in your driveway. Put a timer on a talk radio station for several hours a day. Contact our department and have you home placed on our confidential vacant house list. Going shopping? During this time, many of us will be busy shopping and running errands. We must not forget that criminals will also be out and about looking for easy targets to make a big score. Here is some Holiday Crime Prevention Tips While Shopping: • Stay alert to your surroundings and the people around you particularly when walking through parking lots. • Shop with a friend, there is safety in numbers. • Avoid carrying large amounts of cash. • Pay for purchases with a check, credit or debit card. • If possible, carry only your driver’s license, personal checks, or necessary credit or debit cards. • If you must carry a purse, do not wrap the straps around your arms or shoulders. Carry a clutch purse tightly under your arm or wear a fanny pack. • Do not carry a wallet in a back pocket. It should be placed in a front pocket of your pants for safety. • Be alert that crooks look for the “high dollar” shopping bags with your purchases. When possible, slip bags/purchases in a plain nondescript bag. • Watch purchases while eating in mall food courts; bags can easily be switched or taken. • Educate your children about what to do if they are lost as well as “Stranger Danger”. • Don’t overburden yourself with too many packages. Use store’s package pick-up. • Have your car keys ready in hand before leaving the store. • If you do return to your vehicle to unload purchases, place them in the trunk of the vehicle. • Try not to shop until the store closes. Remember, fewer people are present at this time. ‘Tis the season to be jolly, but it is also the season to be wary of burglars, thieves, pickpockets, and other holiday grinches. Nothing can ruin the holiday spirit faster than becoming the victim of a crime. But remember, just by using a little planning and some good common sense, most holiday crimes can be avoided. Finally come visit the Village’s Central Business and shopping district, offering safe and convenient access to a wide variety of retail shops and eateries.
Mortgage rates drop to record lows
By Adolfo Flores
November 21, 2012, 1:12 p.m.
Fixed mortgage rates fell to record lows for the second week in a row, a welcome sign for a recovering housing market, economists said.
The average rate on a 30-year loan was 3.31%, the lowest since 1971, according to figures released Wednesday by mortgage giant Freddie Mac. That’s down from 3.34% last week.
The average on 15-year loans was 2.63%, down from last week’s 2.65%, also setting a record. A year ago it averaged 3.30%.
