S&P Turns Thumb Down On Christie Budgets, Downgrades Bond Rating (via NJSpotlight)
In a sharp blow to New Jersey’s shaky budget structure, Standard & Poor’s yesterday downgraded New Jersey’s bond rating for the second time in Gov. Chris Christie’s tenure, driving up future borrowing costs and dropping New Jersey from a AA…
By Art Gallagher
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Hundreds of middle-aged people looking for work at Brookdale this morning. April 4, 2014
When I was readying to leave the house this morning, my wife asked if I was working on a story. “No, I’m looking for a job,” I replied. Her head snapped up in surprise. In all the years she’s known me I’ve never said those words. I’ve always been the owner, or early in our relationship, an unmanageable top producing salesman.
The truth is I wasn’t sure what I was doing when I headed into the job fair at Brookdale Community College this morning. I met a NJ.com reporter who got the ax yesterday, effective in September, in the overflowing parking lot outside of Collins Arena. “Working a story or looking for a job?” I asked him. “A little of both,” he replied before getting called away to cover a fatal car accident in Howell.
I was doing a little of both too. I’m having more fun building this business, MMM, than I had in building any of the others I’ve built or help build, but the revenue is not coming fast enough. If the big media companies are contracting, there’s no harm in taking a look at what is out there, especially if I can make a story out of it and meet potential advertisers.
“Ha, you’re here looking for advertisers,” a recruiter from Town Square Media said to me when I introduced myself and asked her what an Integrated Sales Person was. She got me, but if Town Square wants to buy MMM, give me a radio show, blog and a fat check, I’ll listen. An Integrated Sales Person sells ad for websites, radio shows and other mediums, I found out. I’m now looking for one of those. The recruiter either wasn’t aggressive or quickly sized me up as not a good fit. Probably both.
The Asbury Park Press’s recruiter was telling visitors to their booth that they weren’t hiring until they finish their across the street move in Neptune. Why were they there? Gannett would have to write a really big check and give me more authority than any corporate nudnik would consider in order to get me to fix that mess.
Posted: April 4th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Art Gallagher, Asbury Park Press, Brookdale Community College, Economy, Education, Monmouth County | Tags: Art Gallagher, Asbury Park Press, Brookdale Community College, Brookdale job fair, Economy, Gannett, Job Market, Neptune Nudniks, Town Square Media | 14 Comments »
NJ budget won’t get much help from state economy, expert warns (via NJ.com)
TRENTON — New Jersey is in for another year of lackluster economic growth, and the new spending plan Gov. Chris Christie is proposing widens the shortfall in the state budget to $526 million by summer 2015, the state Legislature’s top financial…
The problem is, they’ve already gotten special treatment
Tesla Motors, the manufacturer and retailer of electric powered cars, boasts on its website that it is “redefining the way cars are sold.”
They’ve been selling new cars in an unconventional way in New Jersey for one, two or four years, depending on who is telling the truth. They have a problem now, because the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission suddenly adopted what Tesla is calling a “new rule” that is consistent with decades old law allowing only franchised new car dealerships to sell new cars in New Jersey.
Instead of visiting a new car dealership where you test drive a car, haggle with a salesperson, wait for the salesperson to come back from pretending to talk to his/her manager, make a deal, get passed off to the business manager who bumps your interest rate, tries to sell you undercoating, credit insurance and an extended warranty and then wait a while longer to drive home in your new car, you can’t buy a car at Tesla’s two stores in New Jersey.
Tesla’s New Jersey stores are inside the Short Hills Mall in Short Hills and the Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus. You can’t get your new electric car at one of those stores. You can’t even order it at the store. You can only look at a car and talk about it. If you want to buy one, you have to order it online and wait for it to be built in California before you take delivery. If you want to test drive one, you have to an request an appointment online. It might take a day or two for a representative to get back to you with an appointment. Test drives and new car deliveries are done out of the company’s service facility in Springfield.
Posted: March 12th, 2014 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Christie Administration, Economy, Motor Vehicle Commission, MVC, NJ State Legislature | Tags: Assemblyman John Wisniewski, Loretta Weinberg, Motor Vehicle Commission, MVC, New car sales, Tesla, Tesla Motors | 9 Comments »
As N.J. prepares to hike minimum wage, experts still disagree on advantages (via NJ.com)
TRENTON — In two days, more than 250,000 workers making minimum wage in New Jersey will get a raise — but what that means for the state’s future depends on whom you ask. On Wednesday, nearly two months after voters approved it, the state’s minimum…
And scenes like this will be memories:
Posted: October 17th, 2013 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Economy, NJ Constitution | Tags: #P2, Minimum Wage, NJ Constitution | 4 Comments »By Tom Bracken, Laurie Ehlbeck, John Holub and Stefanie Riehl
New Jersey’s voters face an important choice on Nov. 5. We can either make annual job losses a permanent part of our state’s constitution, or we can send the minimum-wage debate back to the state Legislature where it belongs.
For the sake of New Jersey’s economy, we hope our state’s voters will choose the second path and vote no on Public Question No. 2.
Public Question No. 2 may seem well-intentioned at first glance, but its placement of future annual increases in the minimum wage on a constitutional autopilot is the wrong policy at the wrong time.
On a constitutional level, this minimum-wage hike should not be placed in the state’s founding charter. Instead, it’s an issue that deserves good, old-fashioned back-and-forth and political compromise between the Legislature and Governor’s Office. In fact, both the governor and Legislature admit that they already support a minimum-wage hike.
The minimum-wage debate belongs in the Legislature, not the constitution. For this reason, both Republicans and Democrats — including those who otherwise support an increase in the minimum wage — have spoken out against this irresponsible and harmful proposal.
Posted: October 17th, 2013 | Author: admin | Filed under: 2013 Election, Economy, NJ Constitution | Tags: John Holub, Laurie Ehlbeck, Minimum Wage, New Jersey Business and Industry Association, New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, New Jersey Retail Merchants Association, NFIB, Public Question #2, Stefanie Riehl, Tom Bracken | 1 Comment »#1. The craziest f*er at the table ALWAYS wins, if you’re not him, don’t start the negotiating.
#2. Have a f*ing plan. Make sure the plan encompasses more than the previous five minutes and the next five minutes. The plan has to work even if it’s obvious and exposed to your opponent, otherwise it will not work.
#3. NEVER admit defeat. Even when you are defeated. No one likes a loser, and everyone hates a self-professed loser.
#4. Make sure your team knows the plan and knows they will personally be hurt if the strategy is not followed.
#6. When your opponent is self-destructing stay silent.
#7. NEVER doubt your victory, never talk about defeat, even in the face of certain defeat. There is no consultation for those who predict their own defeat.
#8. Communicate immediately, tirelessly and without ceasing to everyone.
#9. Feed the beast (news outlets) with stories of how your opponent is making everyone miserable and is killing women and children. Positive stories don’t move anyone, EVER!
#10. If you’re not the craziest f*er at the table, DON’T START THE NEGOTIATING AND FIND SOMEONE ELSE TO BE THAT PERSON.
Publisher’s note: Wondering the relevance of Dan’s column to current political events? Read this piece, How Reid and Obama disarmed Boehner, and how to solve the problem, by Dan Calabrese at Best of Cain.com
With bi-partisan fanfare, Governor Chris Christie signed the Economic Opportunity Act yesterday afternoon. The new law,which Christie reshaped with his conditional veto, is far-reaching legislation designed to make New Jersey more competitive in economic development and job creation.
Economic incentives for business and development will now be more generous and easier to obtain.
State Senator Joe Kyrillos, a primary sponsor of the bill, celebrated the enactment of the legislation and called for more comprehensive tax reform.
“We got this done to boost New Jersey’s private-sector economy, because many Republicans and Democrats realize that this legislature desperately needs to do more to attract and retain job creators,” said Kyrillos (R-Monmouth). “We came together; we compromised to create more opportunities for New Jersey families. This should be the bridge to comprehensive tax reform that New Jerseyans have been waiting on for far too long.”
“It is encouraging that Democratic prime sponsor Senator Lesniak acknowledged the following during Thursday’s session: ‘We know that New Jersey cannot compete not only with our surrounding states but we can’t compete internationally because of the cost of doing business here we know is high,’” Kyrillos added. “This is a problem that Senate Republicans have tried to permanently address for years. With more Democrats now realizing the issue, the chances that this legislature will finally fix this state’s non-competitive tax structure are much better. When we get this done, residents won’t have fear that our sons and daughters will be forced to flee this costly state to start their families elsewhere, or that they won’t be able to find solid jobs because employers can’t afford to operate here.”
Posted: September 19th, 2013 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 13th Legislative District, Chris Christie, Economy, Joe Kyrillos | Tags: Chris Christie, Economic Opportunity Act, Governor Chris Christie, Joe Kyrillos, NJ Legislature, Tax reform | 1 Comment »
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