Ridgewood NJ, President-elect Donald J. Trump today met with more than a dozen of the greatest tech leaders in the country to begin a conversation and partnership in order to spark innovation and create more jobs in the U.S., particularly for working Americans.In addition to the private sector leaders in attendance, the President-elect was joined by Vice President-elect Mike Pence, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Peter Thiel, Reince Priebus, Steve Bannon, Wilbur Ross, Gary Cohn and Stephen Miller. During the meeting the President-elect discussed a wide range of issues impacting both American workers and American companies, including specific innovative solutions that have been blocked by narrow thinking in Washington.
The President-elect expressed an open mind and willingness to listen, which was greatly received by the industry leaders in attendance.
During the Tech Summit, the following topics were discussed:
Creating more jobs for American workers
Climinating barriers preventing American companies from doing business in other countries
America’s competitive trade dynamic and market access with China
Cutting taxes
Repatriation of American profits kept overseas by prohibitive tax rates
Improving our physical and digital infrastructures
Protecting our intellectual property rights
Improving America’s cybersecurity
Updating our government software systems
Technology in schools,
The need for greater vocational education opportunities
Reducing bureaucracy
Introducing greater accountability in the government procurement process.
The leaders in attendance also praised the ingenuity and energy of the American workforce, and President-elect Trump suggested reconvening the tech leaders again in the future, perhaps as frequently as every quarter.
Tech leaders in attendance included:
Jeff Bezos, Amazon
Safra Catz, Oracle
Tim Cook, Apple
Alex Karp, Palantir
Brian Krzanich, Intel
Elon Musk, Tesla
Satya Nadella, Microsoft
Larry Page, Google
Chuck Robbins, Cisco
Ginni Rometty, IBM
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook
Eric Schmidt, Google
PUBLISHED: 19:10 EST, 13 December 2016 | UPDATED: 19:10 EST, 13 December 2016
US technology giant IBM said Tuesday it would hire 25,000 people in the country over the next four years, a day before President-elect Donald Trump meets with tech industry leaders.
About 6,000 of those hirings will occur in 2017, IBM chief executive Ginni Rometty said in an opinion article published in the newspaper USA Today.
IBM, which has undertaken in recent years a restructuring of its activities, will invest $1 billion on employee training and development in the next four years, said the IBM president, chairman and CEO.
Why does it seem that Ridgewood only hires friends and family? The same names always come up in the police, fire ,and BOE lists.
Why is it that you care If they are tested by the state and meet the other qualification of employment they should been give the same chance as anyone else.
First of all this is not true. They don’t ALWAYS hire family members. Second, it is a proud tradition that firefighters and police officers are often the sons and daughters of them. Just like doctors often have kids who go into medicine and people who own their own businesses often have their children join them. I was a teacher and my daughter is a teacher. She grew up observing my career and she aspired to do the same. There is nothing wrong with this and your comments are inflammatory.
Ridgewood NJ, New Jersey ranked dead last in the nation in economic growth last year. The latest Census data shows that while the household median income in 2015 went up by 5.2 percent nationally, the household median income in New Jersey remained flat to stagnant.
The ugly reality is that New Jersey’s median income hasn’t increased or decreased in a statistically significant way since 2011. Before then, it had been in freefall since 2008 thanks to the recession.
In Bergen County Medium Household Income dropped from $89,452 in the 2005-2009 period to $85,806 or down -4.1% in the 2011-2015 period. That still beats the state average of a drop of 5% during the same period statewide and at the Federal level a decline of -4.7% .
While many young people are leaving the state for better job opportunities and lower cost of living environments the state still has the highest percentage of millennials living with their parents.
Ridgewood NJ, One bit of conventional wisdom has it that to achieve success people must take a nose-to-grindstone, burn-the-midnight-oil approach.
Personal happiness is an afterthought – if it’s a thought at all.
But that’s the wrong way to look at things, says Scott MacDonald, a seasoned CEO and author of Saving Investa: How An Ex-Factory Worker Helped Save One of Australia’s Iconic Companies (www.AuthorScottMacDnald.com).
“Hard work absolutely is important, but I’ve met plenty of people who worked hard and never made much money or achieved satisfactory career objectives,” he says. “Working hard is just one part of the equation for success. You also need to be organized, plan, work smart and choose to focus your effort where there’s reward.”
From his decades of experience, MacDonald says he learned numerous lessons that helped him achieve both career success and personal happiness. Here are just five of those lessons:
• Don’t expect anyone to give you anything. In grade school and junior high, MacDonald earned money by doing yard work for neighbors, handling a paper route and washing dishes at his junior high school. As a teenager, he bagged groceries, stocked shelves in a pharmacy and worked in a fiberglass factory. “If you want something, work for it,” MacDonald says. “You will appreciate it more and not be indebted to anyone.” • You make your own luck. Former University of Texas football coach Darrell Royal was fond of saying, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” MacDonald agrees. “Nothing in my life that I can think of has been the result of luck,” he says. • Losers have the best excuses. Winners find ways to succeed despite the many roadblocks and unexpected difficulties they encounter. People who are unsuccessful reach for excuses. “Whenever things go wrong, and things always go wrong at some point, look in the mirror for answers,” MacDonald says. “Successful people focus on what they can do to respond to setbacks and don’t waste time playing a blame game or feeling sorry for themselves.” • Players score points, but teams win games. To be successful, any organization must have a culture of teamwork. Individual stars need to be supportive of the team concept, or those individuals should be moved on. MacDonald once fired a top chief financial officer who was good at his job, but didn’t see the necessity of working with colleagues and was dismissive of others’ ideas. “The entire company performed better after he was gone,” MacDonald says. • Life is too short to deal with “jerks.” No matter how important the project, if someone can’t deal with you professionally and ethically, just pass on the deal and move on. “There will be other deals,” MacDonald says. “I may have lost an occasional deal, but overall my companies enjoyed good success and reputation, which led to other and better opportunities.”
Ultimately, people can moan about how unfair the world is, he says, but all that griping won’t get them anywhere.
“There’s no doubt that the competitive work environment places huge pressures on your time and energy,” MacDonald says. “But the quicker you understand that you’re responsible for your own destiny, the happier you’re going to be.”
About Scott MacDonald
Scott MacDonald, a successful CEO with a history of turning around struggling companies, is the author Saving Investa: How An Ex-Factory Worker Helped Save One of Australia’s Iconic Companies (www.AuthorScottMacDonald.com). MacDonald’s decades of corporate experience include serving as a senior consultant for Morgan Stanley, president of New Plan Excel Realty Trust and CEO of Center America Property Trust.
By Stephen Stirling and Erin Petenko | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on December 08, 2016 at 6:45 AM, updated December 08, 2016 at 9:50 AM
The most remarkable thing about post-recession New Jersey isn’t that the state is struggling, it’s how indiscriminate the pain has been.
A middling farmer in Cumberland County. A poor resident of crime-torn Newark. A member of the state’s highest tax bracket in Somerset County.
All are likely worse off today than they were a decade ago.
New data from the Census, released today, shows wide swaths of the Garden State remain slow to get back on their feet following the Great Recession.
There are exceptions, of course. Urban-adjacent communities like Maplewood, Summit or Westfield have seen growth in most key economic areas, but overall the news is not good.
Census data show median income in the state fell nearly 5 percent from the years leading up to the recession when compared to the five years that followed, outpacing the national decline during that time period.
Housing values too have dropped 20 percent in New Jersey between those time periods, while they fell only 13 percent nationally. However, housing costs have the opposite trend — New Jersey housing costs fell less than the national average, and remain higher than the rest of the nation.
The state has been lagging behind the country in unemployment as well, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While unemployment has dropped from its high in 2009, the state has not quite reached pre-recession levels.
President-elect met with SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son in Trump Tower
By
RYAN KNUTSON
Updated Dec. 6, 2016 3:37 p.m. ET
SoftBank Group Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said Tuesday he would invest $50 billion in the U.S. and create 50,000 new jobs, following a 45-minute private meeting with President-elect Donald Trump.
The Japanese billionaire, whose conglomerate controls Sprint Corp., announced his investment plans in the lobby of Trump Tower, though he didn’t provide details. Mr. Trump took credit for the investment, saying his November victory spurred SoftBank’s decision.
In an interview, Mr. Son said the money will be coming from a $100 billion investment fund he is setting up with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund and other potential partners.
Here’s something that many Americans — including some of the smartest and most educated among us — don’t know: The official unemployment rate, as reported by the U.S. Department of Labor, is extremely misleading.
Right now, we’re hearing much celebrating from the media, the White House and Wall Street about how unemployment is “down” to 5.6%. The cheerleading for this number is deafening. The media loves a comeback story, the White House wants to score political points and Wall Street would like you to stay in the market.
None of them will tell you this: If you, a family member or anyone is unemployed and has subsequently given up on finding a job — if you are so hopelessly out of work that you’ve stopped looking over the past four weeks — the Department of Labor doesn’t count you as unemployed. That’s right. While you are as unemployed as one can possibly be, and tragically may never find work again, you are not counted in the figure we see relentlessly in the news — currently 5.6%. Right now, as many as 30 million Americans are either out of work or severely underemployed. Trust me, the vast majority of them aren’t throwing parties to toast “falling” unemployment.
There’s another reason why the official rate is misleading. Say you’re an out-of-work engineer or healthcare worker or construction worker or retail manager: If you perform a minimum of one hour of work in a week and are paid at least $20 — maybe someone pays you to mow their lawn — you’re not officially counted as unemployed in the much-reported 5.6%. Few Americans know this.
file photo by Boyd Loving
By Erin Petenko | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on November 17, 2016 at 1:16 PM, updated November 17, 2016 at 3:25 PM
More than 200,000 residents left New Jersey last year, new Census data shows.
The state lost 17,000 more people than it gained back, as residents left for other states and overseas, according to the 2015 American Community Survey. The loss could signal potential future issues with its population and economy.
New Jersey residents — 227,000 of them — abandoned the state ranked dead last in income growth last year, and with the highest property taxes.
Most of what the state gained back came from foreign immigration, which netted the state 62,000 new residents last year. Earlier data suggests that many of those immigrants come from Asia, as the region accounted for 45 percent of new foreign migrants in 2014.
Some data has indicated that source of the population is falling as well, since better job growth in other states has led immigrants to choose more welcoming areas.
Births in New Jersey, though declining, are still high enough to replace the loss of migrants. But the coming decades could see an era of shrinking population and the economic problems that come with it.
Poor population growth is closely tied with economic issues. New Jersey relies on an influx of residents to grow its industries and contribute to government services.
Ridgewood NJ, Trump Administration rolls out ambitious policy goals . Some of the features are: “Building That Wall”, End “War On Coal”, Repeal Obamacare, Dismantle Dodd-Frank.
The Trump Administration index:
Making America Secure Again
Defense & National Security
Immigration Reform & Building The Wall
Energy Independence
overhaul in immigration policies, including “Building that Wall” , the Trump transition team will “execute on the following ten-point plan to restore integrity to our immigration system, protect our communities, and put America first” – i) Build a Wall on the Southern Border; ii) End Catch-and-Release; iii) Zero Tolerance for Criminal Aliens; iv) Block Funding for Sanctuary Cities; v) Cancel Unconstitutional Executive Orders & Enforce All Immigration Laws; vi) Suspend the Issuance of Visas to Any Place Where Adequate Screening Cannot Occur; vii) Ensure that Other Countries Take Their People Back When We Order Them Deported; viii) Finally Complete the Biometric Entry-Exit Visa Tracking System; ix) Turn Off the Jobs and Benefits Magnet
promoting a strong, robust military force to defend against the “threat posed to our nation and our allies by radical ideologies that direct and inspire terrorism.” The administration will push for immediate and sustainable actions to counter the threats posed by radical ideologies; will address the “catastrophic threats posed by nuclear weapons and cyber attacks” and will “ensure our strategic nuclear triad is modernized to ensure it continues to be an effective deterrent, and his Administration will review and minimize our nation’s infrastructure vulnerabilities to cyber threats.”
dismantling and replacing of the Dodd-Frank Act financial-sector law with pro-growth policies. This means that banks will be allowed to not only engage in prop trading again, but to invest directly in hedge funds. “The Dodd-Frank economy does not work for working people. Bureaucratic red tape and Washington mandates are not the answer,” says statement on Trump’s official transition website.
changing the tax code: policies since President Obama took office “have been blocked in one way or another” by Democratic opposition, the transition website says in section outlining “tax reform/economic vision.” It adds that “a Trump administration tax plan can be summarized as lower, simpler, fairer, and pro-growth.” as the website summarizes “a Trump Administration tax plan can be summarized as lower, simpler, fairer, and pro-growth.”
addressing the millions of American jobs that have been lost over the last decade “because of trade deals that do not put Americans first.” The administration will “reverse decades of policies that have pushed jobs out of our country” by making it more desirable for companies to stay, create jobs here, pay taxes here, and rebuild the economy. The new Administration will make it more desirable for companies to stay, create jobs here, pay taxes here, and rebuild our economy. Our workers and the communities that support them will thrive again, as more and more companies compete to set up manufacturing in the U.S., to hire our young people and give them hope and a real shot at prosperity again. America will become, once more, a destination for jobs, production and innovation and will once more show economic leadership in the world.
fixing education: Trump will advance policies to support learning-and-earning opportunities at the state and local levels for approximately 70 million school-age students, 20 million post-secondary students, and 150 million working adults, To achieve this, Trump will promote high-quality early childhood, magnet, STEAM or theme-based programs; expansion of choice through charters, vouchers, and teacher-driven learning models; and relief from U.S. Department of Education regulations that inhibit innovation.
restructuring US energy policies including ending the “war on coal”: “make full use” of both renewable and tradition energy sources. “America will unleash an energy revolution that will transform us into a net energy exporter, leading to the creation of millions of new jobs, while protecting the country’s most valuable resources –- our clean air, clean water, and natural habitats,” the website says. “The Trump administration is firmly committed to conserving our wonderful natural resources and beautiful natural habitats.” The transition team also vows to open onshore and offshore leasing for federal land and waters for fossil fuel producers, streamline energy permitting, end “war on coal.” The site also pledges “top-down review of all anti-coal regulations issued by the Obama administration.”
“Repeal Obamacare” – the Trump administration will work with Congress to repeal Affordable Care Act with replacement that “returns the historic role in regulating health insurance to the states,” according to transition plan released Thursday. Replacement would include promotion of Health Savings Accounts and option to buy insurance across states lines. The transition team also says it will act to “protect innocent human life from conception to natural death, including the most defenseless and those Americans with disabilities” and “modernize Medicare, so that it will be ready for the challenges with the coming retirement of the Baby Boom generation – and beyond.”
protect Americans’ constitutional rights: the Trump administration will veto legislation that exceeds Congressional authority, take actions as Chief Executive and Commander-in-Chief that are consistent with his constitutional role, and nominate Judges and Supreme Court Justices who are committed to interpreting the Constitution and laws according to their original public meaning. Trump says “he will defend Americans’ fundamental rights to free speech, religious liberty, keeping and bearing arms, and all other rights guaranteed to them in the Bill of Rights and other constitutional provisions.” He hopes to minimize the role of government including the “Tenth Amendment guarantee that many areas of governance are left to the people and the States, and are not the role of the federal government to fulfill.” (https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-10/trump-reveals-policy-goals-building-wall-end-war-coal-repeal-obamacare-dismantle-dod )
JOB POSTING – MANAGER – PARKS AND GROUNDS POSITION – DECEMBER 19
NOTICE OF MANAGER PARKS AND GROUNDS POSITION
The Ridgewood Department of Parks and Recreation is internally posting the full-time position of Manager Parks and Grounds.
Job duties and responsibilities include supervision of work involved in maintaining and caring for all park properties and village trees. Applicant must have three (3) year’s experience, in grounds/shade tree maintenance (ISA Certification Preferred) and possess a CDL Class B. The Village of Ridgewood is an EOE and Civil Service Community.
Send resume with letter of intent and copies of all valid licenses to: Heather Mailander, Acting Village Manager, Village of Ridgewood, 131 N. Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 or by Email to [email protected]. Please note resumes will be accepted through 5 pm, Monday, December 19, 2016.
We still haven’t seen the economic recovery that we were promised after the financial crisis of 2008 left so many people with no job, no savings, and no hope for the future.
Immediately following the crisis, big government sprung into action and made things worse. It spent more money, created more onerous rules and regulation, and did nothing to fix the broken tax code.
Bailouts and stimulus spending added trillions of dollars to the national debt, Dodd-Frank and ObamaCare created more costly regulations on the American people, and Washington special interests continue to seek out carve-outs and favors in the tax code. The cumulative result of these actions is the slowest and weakest economic recovery we’ve seen in decades.
People are taking jobs that pay far less than they used to make, Millennials live with their parents because they can’t start their careers, and families are worried about their financial future. We cannot continue down this path.
A strong economy can only be built on a strong foundation that grows from the bottom-up. Main Street—not Washington or Wall Street—needs to be empowered to drive this economy. Here’s how I’m working to help:
Cut wasteful spending – With our national debt quickly approaching $20 trillion, it’s clear that Washington has a spending problem. My amendment to the budget that called on the House to find an additional $30 billion in spending cuts was the only one that passed this year.
Limit the rules and regulations coming from Washington – This year alone, over 80,000 pages of new regulations were added to the federal registry, costing each family thousands of dollars in compliance costs. I support the REINS Act that would force a vote in Congress on any regulation that would cost more than $100 million. Additionally, the Financial Services Committee where I serve has introduced the Financial CHOICE Act to make it easier for people to reach their financial goals.
Fix the tax code and special interest carve-outs – The tax code is broken and needs to be fixed. Special interests continue to seek carve outs through their connections in Washington while average Americans suffer the consequences. I support a plan that would simplify the tax code, close loopholes, and keep more money in the pockets of New Jersey families.
Economic recovery doesn’t start in Washington—it starts right here in New Jersey. Given the choice, I’ll choose the hardworking people of this state over any of the bureaucrats in Washington, and I’ll continue to fight to put the people here back in control of their financial future.
Ridgewood NJ, Josh Gottheimer and the rest of the Hillary Clinton Democrats on Column Two continue to support this disastrous Obamacare plan that has sent both premiums and deductibles skyrocketing.
Meanwhile, businesses in New Jersey face continued uncertainty about the future and have responded by reducing full-time workers to 29 hours to avoid the ACA mandate.
The only way to end ObamaCare is with your solid support for Donald Trump and Mike Pence for President and Vice President, and by keeping Scott Garrett in Congress. Who are all strongly in favor of repealing Obamacare .
Ridgewood NJ, In 4 days, millions of Americans will go to the polls to decided everything from local ballot questions to the next President of the United States.
This year has been a busy one for tax policy. Throughout this year’s election, every major presidential candidate put forth a comprehensive tax plan (in some cases more than one), and at the state and local level, a number of tax policy proposals have made it on to ballots, some of which would be momentous if passed.
All of this can be difficult to keep track of and even harder to understand. The Tax Foundation has worked hard over the past year to provide Ridgewood blog readers and the media with the most accurate, timely, and accessible information possible on the tax policies being proposed.
To that end, here are 3 resources that we hope you and other taxpayers will find useful before entering the voting booth next week:
Our guide to the top state and local tax ballot initiatives to watch in 2016
Given the cool reception Airbnb has received in New York State, tech companies might want to consider relocating across the river.
That’s the argument advanced by the New Jersey Tech Council, a 20-year old industry group that will on Tuesday release an open letter to the “New York tech community” urging it to consider the Garden State.
“I would like to formally invite you to start, grow, and build your business in the Garden State,” writes NJ Tech Council president and CEO James Barrood in a letter that cites Mayor Bill de Blasio’s failed effort to temporarily cap Uber’s growth and Airbnb’s troubles in Albany as evidence of a tendency on the part of New York officials to “shield legacy industries from the disruptive forces of technology.”
