Marriage Equality: Close (Yet So Far Away)

The New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee voted last night to support a bill that would establish same-sex marriage in New Jersey, providing full equality for married gay couples. It was an important measure of progress, for sure, but in a state where a recent Rutgers-Eagleton Poll showed that same-sex marriage enjoys popular support, the 7-6 vote goes to show just how hard, even in the most progressive of states, it is for our courts and legislatures to act social change.

I'll admit, I take pride in making efforts to understand all sides of an issue, the pros and cons, and always try to understand why people might feel differently than I do. This is one issue where I just don't understand the opposition to same-sex marriage. I would understand it (though I wouldn't agree), if the whole of the opposition were in the name of religion, but when so many marriages, including my own, are conducted secularly, it just makes no sense. Further, while people can choose to make marriage a religious function, the fact that judges and elected officials can preside over a marriage is proof (if we needed any) that marriage is not necessarily a religious event.

So, if it's not for religious reasons, then I'm left to believe that people oppose same-sex marriage because they simply don't think gay people should get married and that marriage is an exclusive institution between a man and woman. This is not an acceptable position, and it's not the role of our courts and lawmakers to enact exclusionary laws -- particularly laws that exclude a certain portion of the population from enjoying all of the legal rights involved in a domestic union.

Also, I should have said this first, but opposition to same-sex marriage is just unabashedly wrong. Believing that only certain people should get married is fundamentally at odds with basic, inalienable rights.

SO, thanks to Hank Kalet, a newspaper editor here in New Jersey, here is a list of legislators we're asking everyone to call who are on the fence. Please take action.

• Sen. Diane B. Allen, Republican
• 11 West Broad St., Burlington, NJ 08016 (609) 239-2800


• Sen. Christopher Bateman, Republican
  36 East Main St., Somerville, NJ 08876 (908) 526-3600


• Sen. Jennifer Beck, Republican
  32 Monmouth St., 3rd Floor, Red Bank, NJ 07701 (732) 933-1591


• Sen. John A. Girgenti, Democrat
  507 Lafayette Avenue, Hawthorne, NJ 07506 (973) 427-1229


• Sen. Paul A. Sarlo, Democrat
  207 Hackensack St., 2nd Floor, Wood-Ridge, NJ 07075 (201) 804-8118


• Sen. Jeff Van Drew, Democrat
  21 North Main St., Cape May Court House, NJ 08210 (609) 465-0700
  1124 North High St., Millville, NJ 08332 (856) 765-0891
  1028 East Landis Ave., Vineland, NJ 08360 (856) 696-7109
  Additional Phone, Somers Point, NJ (609) 926-3779
• 
  
• Sen. Jim Whelan, Democrat
• 511 Tilton Rd., Northfield, NJ 08225 (609) 383-1388

Judge Orders New Brunswick To Place Ward Question on Ballot

From Empowernb.com

New Brunswick, NJ – The Honorable Judge James P. Hurley ruled today, that New Brunswick residents will get to vote on a citywide referendum for ward-based City Council elections this November. In his highly anticipated decision, Hurley ordered New Brunswick City Clerk Dan Torrisi to honor the petition of a local grassroots group, Empower Our Neighborhoods. Hurley said that the New Brunswick city government acted improperly when it rejected the group’s petition on October 21, 2008. Both Torrissi and the City Council were defendants in the suit.

This decision is the latest in a chain of litigation which began in July of 2008, when the city government improperly rejected a petition for a vote on wards signed by 1,116 New Brunswick residents. EON brought suit against the city to compel Torrisi to accept the petition, and that litigation was still pending when ballots were printed for the November 2008 general election.

In October 2008, EON circulated a new petition calling for a referendum on wards in November of 2009, which the city again declined, citing an action of the City Council for an alternative ballot question. Judge Hurley rejected that rationale, pointing out that the prior litigation had determined the Council’s ordinance, O-060807, to be illegal. Charter study ordinances, as they are commonly known, are frequently used by incumbent New Jersey municipal governments who favor the status quo to prevent residents’ groups from winning changes to the municipal elections process.

“It’s fairly apparent by now that the city’s objections were politically motivated,” said EON member Martha Guarnieri. “The law requires a public vote on a legitimate petition, no matter what the government thinks of it content. We’re very glad Judge Hurley has affirmed the people’s right to determine their own form of government and look forward to another exciting campaign for change in our City.”

Longtime New Brunswick resident Thomas Peoples felt that the decision was a long time coming. “This is a great victory for New Brunswick.” said Peoples, leader of the Lincoln Gardens Neighborhood Block Association. “We’re finally going to have a government of the people, and that’s accountable to the people.”

The ward question, which would guarantee each ward one representative on the City Council, will appear on the ballot in the general election on November 3, 2009.

Losing the Book

Charles McGrath, in his recent article in the New York Times, points to something that not even the Kindle can overcome:

One of the odder sensations of reading on the Kindle, though, is a sensation of eternal presentness. Your books are all there, perfectly preserved. The device even remembers exactly what page you were on last. On the other hand, as you read along, there are very few cues to how near you are to the beginning, how far from the end. You’re always in the middle."

Personally speaking, I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I finish a book - having never used a Kindle, I wonder if finishing a book is a less exciting affair?

Moreover, we have not begun to address the issue that technology has yet to address: the loss of the physical library. People have devoted rooms in their houses, and rightfully so, to display their book libraries, as well as their music libraries. About a year ago, I gave up buying CDs, opting to purchase only online. It was a hard decision. I love my iPod and I think that device has changed the way I listen to music — it’s made me appreciate music more. But you lose the liner notes, the _physicality_ of owning an album in its product form. You lose the art, and you lose the library.

About a month ago, I came around — opting to buy CDs once again, but only at independently-owned record stores, thus finding a happy medium between the convenience, the sound environmentalism of digital downloads (no packaging, no shipping), and the old-fashioned CD, replete with all the things we love about holding our music in our hands.

I have yet to read a book on a Kindle, but this one seems a bit more unlikely to go mainstream - at least in the short-term.

Gas Dump In Highland Park

So yesterday, I went to the Raceway at 60 Raritan Avenue to dispose of some very old gasoline. After having no idea what to do, the station attendInt brought out a big metal bucket to pour the gas into. When that bucket wasn't enough to hold the roughly five gallons I had, he invited me to pour out the remainder of the gas into a nearby landscaped area -- right into the dirt.

When I told him that I wouldn't do that, he brought out several containers to package the rest of the gas. This was clearly not the proper way to dispose of gas, and I should have gone to a service garage where they routinely do this, but that said, this is unacceptable.

I called the DEP hotline this morning and spoke to a live operator to file a formal complaint.

Just FYI

Big Win For Change Democrats in Middlesex

The Honorable Judge James P. Hurley upheld the rights of 20 candidates to compete for Democratic Committee seats in the upcoming Primary election on June 2nd. The challengers are members of Democrats for Change (DC), a coalition of long-term residents, renters and students from every district in New Brunswick running for 50 committee seats in the upcoming primary.

Charlie Kratovil, a campaign manager for the group, reacted to the ruling saying, “democracy had its day in court and democracy won.” The ruling delivered on Friday May 1st struck down the one year residency requirement which was the basis for Democratic Party Chairman T. K. Shamy's disqualification of the 20 DC members. Curiously only Rutgers Students or those under 30 with some University affiliation were targeted for disqualification.

The ruling is a tremendous victory for the residents of the city, who will see a competitive party election for the first time in decades for at least 50 out of 56 committee seats. Sean Monahan (Ward 5, District 2), one of the candidates Mr. Shamy attempted to disqualify, said, “This is a great day for New Brunswick residents because it allows us to bring all the different neighborhoods and communities together to bring change to our city just as we brought change to our country in this past November's presidential election.“

The argument came down to two NJ elections laws (NJSA 40A and Title 19) and which statute has jurisdiction over local party committee elections. The Hon. Judge Hurley's ruling was in agreement with the reasoning of Democrats for Change, namely that NJSA 40A pertains to elections for governmental offices but does not apply to political party positions. Deciding that Title 19, which makes no mention of a residency duration requirement, applies.

Deputy Attorney General Thu Lam, representing both the Secretary of State of NJ as well as the state Attorney General, weighed in agreeing that no residency duration requirement exists for party positions in the state of New Jersey.

Thomas Peoples, a Democrats for Change candidate in Ward 4, District 5, said, “I am thrilled by this decision. After reading the documents, it was clear to me that the one year requirement does not apply. The main thing now is that we run a strong campaign and get leaders who have a strong connection to their neighborhoods and clear understanding of what residents need.

Patricia Bombelyn, attorney for Democrats for Change, admitted that if the one year requirement was upheld, eight of the DC candidates would be struck down, but even under those circumstances, twelve candidates were wrongly disqualified. She cited the Mercer case from 1972 which upheld the right of persons 18 years or older to register to vote where they are living at college, arguing that the right to vote and the right to run for office cannot be divorced from one another.

The DC campaign was initiated by members of Empower Our Neighborhoods, spanning all walks of life in New Brunswick. What the DC candidates all have in common is the shared experience of working last November to make Obama's Presidency a reality and to bring meaningful change to the nation. Now DC members are looking to change their home city, to make government more accountable, and municipal decisions more democratic.

NJT Alert

Who feels me? The constant delays on the country's most heavily used commuter transit system are disconcerting to say the least. The tracks are owned by Amtrak; federal funding, while slated for huge improvements under President Obama, are still insufficient.

Northeast Corridor service is subject to 20-30 minute delays in both directions due to overhead wire problem near Metuchen Station.

Need I say more?

H1N1 Virus (Swine Flu)

In the name of public health, here are some helpful Web sites you can go to in order to find out unfiltered information on this flu:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Swine Flu - Includes definition, news, recommended preventative actions, ongoing investigations, and more. See also the CDC home page and CDC in Spanish/en Español - "Influenza porcina (gripe porcina)"

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS): Swine Flu - The U.S. Government's national health website

PandemicFlu.gov - News and information on Swine and Bird Influenzas and other forms of the flu virus

The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services

Going Mainstream With the Obama Vegetable Garden

I’m a cynic when it comes to The New York Times and its reporting on culture, trends, dining, and style. Though I’m a fan of what is now seemingly one of the few print newspapers left in the world, normally, by the time it reports on, for example, a breakthrough “underground” album, that album is no longer breakthrough and it’s certainly no longer underground. The inescapable truth of the mainstream media is that it reports on and is viewed by, well, the mainstream—and not the underground.

So when I read in The Times that group of fifth graders from a DC elementary school will help Michelle Obama dig up the soil for a planned 1,100-square-foot vegetable garden, my cynicism goes out the window and all I can think is “How cool is this?” If The Times is reporting on this, perhaps community gardening is becoming mainstream!

It’s sad that that’s still my reaction, particularly since, for years, I’ve reported on, and been involved in local food initiatives. There is still a Gee Whiz quality to the Slow Food movement that is foreign to some, as well as somewhat of an “I-drive-a-hybrid” righteousness, which only turns people on the outside off.

So to see the Obamas, who are, if anything, gifted in their groundedness, doing some good ol’ hippie gardening, maybe more people in the cities and ‘burbiest of ‘burbs with a big backyard will do the same, and it won’t be perceived as weird or “earthy.”

Organic gardening and community gardens are nothing new, but they are anything but mainstream in a world of Costco, Sam’s Club, and in an age when everything is in season—always, because it’s shipped in from who-knows-where. You know the workman’s adage that “it’s five o’ clock somewhere”? Same applies with seasons in the food industry.

Our, at least my, previous generalized notion of the White House and its occupants is so standard, buttoned-up, inside-the-Beltway Box, that thinking of Mrs. Obama, the president, their kids, and a group of nearby public schoolers getting their hands dirty as they plant cilantro, chard, and berries, is just wonderful. There’s really no other way to describe it.

Aside from community gardens that have served as glue for neighborhoods, providing much of the same sense of community as a place of worship does, around the country, countless public school districts are engaging their own community gardening projects, not only to instill a sense of agrarian savvy into youths who would otherwise never be exposed to that, but to also underscore the importance of knowing the source of your food.

There are too many programs to name in one Rooflines post, but what are some projects in your area? Let’s hear about them.

This piece originally ran March 20, 2009 on my blog at Rooflines, the blog of the National Housing Institute.

Just Because His Sleeves Are Rolled Up, It Doesn’t Mean He Means Business

I’m a little late weighing on on this, but this retrial of Jon Stewart v. Tucker Carlson is not sitting well with me.

Countless investors have lost life savings, IRAs, and more “skin” in any game that I’ve ever seen in this economic downturn, and for months, we seemed to accept the fact that while some institutions and individuals were more at fault than others, it was really the fault of many and subsequently everyone’s mess.

That is until last week. That’s when we found Jim Cramer of CNBC’s “Mad Money” to be a less-than-formidable scapegoat, a poster child, if you will, of CNBC’s and the overall business media’s knowledge of “the game” of Wall Street and how they at best, haven’t done their job in properly guiding people through the financial crisis, and, at worst, offered outright misinformation, resulting in massive reductions of personal wealth.

As a journalist, I always welcome heavy media analysis, not only because it gives us the opportunity to better provide useful information, but because it also promotes sustainable communities, inasmuch as an informed public can better make decisions for itself. I am also immediately skeptical when people start blaming the media for things.

But in the case with Jim Cramer, I find I don’t need to engage in that auto-analytic mode. Anyone who has even watched three minutes of Mad Money knows that Cramer, a former hedge fund manager, is a TV personality first. “Useful Information Provider” falls way, way, way down on the list.

CNBC has an average viewership of 300,000 (Bloomberg TV’s average is 10,000, and CNN’s is roughly 700,000), and you can find people tuned in to it in newsrooms and financial advisor offices around the country. People are watching the stock ticker, Market Watch, or even Squawk Box, but when Mad Money (I almost wrote “Mad TV”) comes on, I can’t imagine those 300,000 view Cramer like E.F. Hutton, particularly when he begins throwing around set props, pushing big buttons—things from which little kids might get visual amusement, but sophisticated traders and investors? I might be wrong, but I just don’t see it.

So, when Jim Cramer sat there, with his sleeves rolled up, as is his trademark look, looking like he was ready for a fight, and ate the porridge spoon fed from Jon Stewart, it could be viewed in a number of ways: an admission of guilt, steering watchers to buy stocks of Bear Stearns only days before it went under, an acknowledgment of sub-par financial analysis, a tacit recognition that he was playing “the Game” even when he knew better, or simply as a feeble entertainer unfamiliar with the lashings of a quick-tongued comedian, or, most likely, all of the above.

But none of that matters, I think. Good for Jon Stewart for calling this guy out, but at the end of the day, I think it makes for just another inter-Cable foe; more Premium Package Enmity, like Olbermann v. O’Reilly. While Jon Stewart and the Daily Show provide an invaluable service when it comes to not only entertainment, but also to information dissemination, this battle is another time-waster. Cramer is an entertainer, and frankly, a bizarre target for Stewart. I recall the more useful conflict between Stewart and Tucker Carlson, then of CNN’s Crossfire, when Stewart, using colorful language, criticized the program’s “either/or” delivery of the news. THAT’S the type of programming we need to rally against—the stuff that doesn’t report the news, but takes news, tears it in half, and has it fight itself in a TV studio.

Don’t waste your time blaming the Jim Cramers of the world for the financial crisis, there are much, much, larger fish to fry, both within the media and on Wall Street.

Stewie Sings In The Air Tonight

Good Times WIth U.S. Senate Wi-Fi

At the Dirkson Senate Office, when you try to access their wireless network, you have to agree that you've read the following disclaimer:

United States Senate Wireless Network

You have accessed the United States Senate Wireless Network. If you have the proper credentials then you may proceed with your login process. Warning, by moving forward on this system you agree to the fact that you have no privacy on this system and that you will probably be monitored.

Makes you think twice if you really want to check your e-mail, don't it?

NJ’s COAH: Finding Common (and Vacant) Ground

A version of this post first ran on Rooflines -- the blog of the National Housing Institute -- BΩS

--

As New Jersey’s Council on Affordable Housing, or COAH, continues to defend its plan to use a growth-share model to encourage towns to build working class and affordable housing, we’re reminded of one thing that became clear a long, long time ago.

Full consensus is going to be hard to reach, but common ground is attainable.

Since everyone appears, at least in public, to share the same philosophy that communities should have socioeconomic diversity, there needs to be some common ground between the builders and affordable housing advocates who argue the new rules will allow suburbs to not live up to their intended housing goals, and those towns—about half of the state’s 566 municipalities—who argue they will be burdened—both financially and spatially—in being required to build far too much affordable housing based on current models.

Most of the remaining municipalities are currently participating in the COAH process, with the Council granting credit for approximately 70,000 affordable units, 36,000 of which have been completed, 14,000 of which were rehabilitated, and 10,000 that were transferred through Regional Contribution Agreements—a since-legislatively revoked method of fulfilling a town’s growth-share requirement where a municipality can transfer funds intended for affordable housing to another town.

It’s been 30 years since the original court decision that put the wheels in motion for the state to establish some sort of affordable housing guidelines, and they’ve been remodeled several times since. The most recent, established in 2004, outlines a growth-share model that encourages 4:1 ratio for market rate and affordable units, as well as one affordable unit for every 16 jobs created.

COAH has said repeatedly that it’s model is a guideline and that it would work with individual towns as they submit their 10-year COAH proposals, but the balking continues, the posturing mounts. Tough economic times only adds superficial logic (often outlined in the breathtakingly uninformed reader comments in various New Jersey newspaper Web sites) to the case that towns can’t afford to build and that the state should not be mandating them to do so.

So the latest, where The New Jersey League of Municipalities, a voluntary organization of towns throughout the state, has accused state officials of withholding materials that include a state-wide vacant land assessment, is just another step in forestalling goals that we should all work for: inclusive communities, workforce housing, not being priced out of your town.

COAH, according to an article in The Star-Ledger, responded in kind with a 130-page response to the challenges, that makes the case for the new rules, arguing that the agency had been reasonable in fielding municipal concerns.

Back in July 2008, when the state refined its latest COAH model, I argued that the Department of Community Affairs, the agency that oversees COAH, and its commissioner, Joe Doria, should go on a state-wide tour, selling the plan at public meetings, much like Gov. Jon Corzine did on his pitch to raise tolls on some key state roadways. Not everyone agreed with him, but there was an element of respect for the outreach tour—an element that he would be happy to re-tap this year as he seeks reelection. But beyond that, I thought that the state should take a real look at rethinking affordable housing:

• We need to move away from the property-tax-based funding for social mandates that benefit everyone (yes, even you there, living on the horse farm in bucolic northwest New Jersey). The implementation of an affordable housing policy that works and is reasonable can be funded by more than just property owners.

• The developer’s fee—the aforementioned 2.5 percent fee—and the municipal mandate system of funding affordable housing is ludicrous. This is important because it could very well thwart all economic growth in New Jersey with ratable-generating enterprise moving over to places like Pennsylvania.

Hopefully because they were reading Bowie of Suburbia, the state Legislature last month voted on a moratorium for this developer’s fee that exempts projects through July 2010, calling it an impediment to economic recovery, but housing advocates have rallied against the moratorium, saying that a freeze would pose a missed opportunity to generate revenue. The fee, they said, would help to promote that roadmap to more inclusive communities.

Diane Sterner, executive director of the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey wrote in a February 2009 op-ed in The Trenton Times that:

[W]e are all responsible in some way for creating the homes we need so our state can grow and prosper. Residential developers pay fees to build. When private individuals build or purchase a home, they pay a real estate transfer fee. A portion of this goes into the state’s housing trust fund to finance housing development.

Agreed, but in a time when major institutions, particularly nonprofits like hospitals and universities, are also struggling with dwindling endowments, but looking to simultaneously expand and remain competitive in the country, a developer’s fee is ever-problematic. The housing advocate’s argument for a developer’s fee goes back to the fundamental case that fees are needed to encourage development. Yes, but let’s do it by way of:

• Creating a value-added tax, like a gas tax that would be used strictly for infrastructure. This can be criticized as a regressive tax, but think of the open space tax that New Jersey voters consistently approve.

We need to get on the stick, and we need to do it now. This economic downturn is scaring a lot of people and it’s only a matter of time before voters are fooled by the shell-game mentality that providing affordable housing is a costly burden for our towns.

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Who Will Lead Highland Park?

It's always bittersweet when you have a rising star within your own elected local government. On the one hand, it's good that you've got someone on your side who is motivated to make a name for him or herself, while elevating the profile of your town. If all goes well, that person's best interests are interwoven with the best interests of the community.

But when the town becomes too small for that person's aspirations, they move on.

For a long time, this was the case with Highland Park, NJ Mayor Meryl Frank, who, after more than nine years as mayor of this tiny Middlesex County borough of 14,000 whose identity, in addition to tree-lined streets, diverse housing stock, good public schools, and tight-knit community, is defined by its bedroom community status for large nearby institutions like Johnson & Johnson and Rutgers University.

Mayor Frank last week was sworn in as the United States representative to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. It's not clear how this will affect her mayoral incumbency, but her resignation is likely as she says she will stay on temporarily to ensure a smooth transition to a new administration.

Throughout the 2008 presidential election, Frank, a Democrat, was an ardent supporter of Hillary Clinton, and, subsequently, Barack Obama, and raised a lot of money in the process. Her appointment is the product of higher aspirations, and her legacy in Highland Park will be noted. In 2004, she created the Task Force on Ethics and Good Government, which is instituting wide-ranging rules and guidelines to assure clean government in Highland Park. Working with Borough council, she helped to develop Highland Park 2020, a long-term vision for the Borough, that focuses on creating a community that is economically, environmentally and socially sustainable. The plan highlights affordability, conservation and strong community relations, according to the Highland Park Web site.

Her term has also been marked with the ongoing redevelopment effort of Raritan Avenue, Highland Park's main street corridor.

Now Highland Park faces a change in leadership. The process to replace Frank, who is in the middle of her third term, is controlled by the local Democratic Municipal Committee. They will provide three candidates for Council consideration, and Council will then vote on who will carry out her term. This process should be public -- the local Dems should invite the community to participate in the process, as well as encourage Party outsiders to seek the spot -- those less qualified will be weeded out in the process.

I Love myPod!

Let's Get Serious Here

Here we go again.

To use a catchy Obama phrase during his run for the high office, it seems like these days, it's _always_ silly season in politics, and the news today of Tom Daschle withdrawing his name as Obama's nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services only continues this pattern.

Now we all must suffer through yet another week-long news cycle as the cable networks unearth every partisan hack for commentary, culminating with Sunday morning's All Star lineup of hacks, pundits, gasbags, and blowhards, reveling in Barack Obama's missteps in his first two weeks in office.

What's worse: it's post-Super Bowl, the quietest time of year for sports, so there's _really_ nothing else on. Tune in, everyone! Let's get ready to talk about really non-substantive stuff. It's not like there's anything else going on: more and more people are unemployed these days, so television viewership's got to be way up.

Let me say this first: Secy. Geithner's and Tom Daschle's apparent inability to manage a personal ledger is truly reprehensible and there's really no excuse. While there is an argument to be made for the expeditious installation of a Treasury secretary in Geithner, despite his tax problems, Daschle should have been dismissed the moment he acknowledged his problems in unpaid taxes.

Why? Because we can't get caught up in the forever silly season of politics right now. Even though Tom Daschle is an ardent supporter of President Obama who was tapped to push through his health care policy -- an area where other leaders, Obama said in December, have failed:

"Our leaders offer up detailed health care plans with great fanfare and promise, only to see them fail, derailed by Washington politics and influence peddling."

Well, if this part of the Obama agenda is not derailed, it's certainly delayed -- and things are supposed to be urgent.

Here's a very incomplete list of what we need to be doing:

* Passing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and working out fundamental differences in how to stimulate an economy in continued decline

* Working to improve the housing crisis

* Closing the military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay

* Withdrawing troops from Iraq and dealing, finally, with Afghanistan

* Dealing with Israel-Palestinian relations

* Fixing HUD

* Implementing sound urban policy

* Implementing sound transportation policy

And the beat goes on and on and on. This list is about the same length as silly season, which is, apparently, forever. I'm only watching Lehrer and will hold my nose through Sunday: say no to Morning Joe, swim through the Olbermann and Maddow snarky sludge, wade through Will, march past Mitchell, gallop over Gregory, take cover from Cokie, and shy away from Schieffer.

In fact, just keep walking sirs and ma'ams. There's nothing to see here this week.

Shovel Your Walk?

Here's a legal scenario: one of the kids who shoveled my walk (for $3) actually slipped and fell down my stoop steps after her was "hired" as a day laborer. He was fine, thankfully, but if he were hurt on the job, how am I, the property owner and employer, responsible?

Raiding the Family Jewels

It's not like I need to chime on the Bernie Madoff scandall: everyone else has already, and I consider myself lucky that I'm poor enough to not have been hurt by this Ponzi scheme, but I am strangely fascinated with the media coverage of it all.

My day job requires me to read the Wall Street Journal everyday to follow the markets, particularly the housing markets, and this has been big news for Murdoch & Co, for obvious reasons, but I'm most amused by a recent headline from Crain's New York:

Prosecutor: Madoff raided family jewels

Ain't that the truth?

Those Damn Penny Pinchers

The headline just below the fold in today's Wall Street Journal could have just as easily been a clip from The Onion:

Hard-Hit Families Finally Start Saving, Aggravating Nation's Economic Woes

The lede is features an Idaho couple that has recently reduced their credit card debt, opened a savings account, and cut back on taking their children out for dinner. They've even created something of a co-op with other families in purchasing bulk goods at what is presumably a nearby big box store.

For the economy, it's death by thrift.

But this same thriftiness, embraced by families across the U.S., is also a major reason the downturn may not soon end. Americans, fresh off a deacadeslong buying spress, are finally saving more, and spending less--just as the economy needs their dollars most.

Americans are not known for their frugality, at least not the last few generations following those who came of age in the Depression Era. I can tell stories of my grandfather, a Russian immigrant, who monitored the amount of toilet paper his children used and made them walk on the outer rim of the carpet so as not to wear out the main part. Serious stuff.

And while we're not going to see a return to that type of behavior any time soon, and while the no-money-downers will still suck in willing consumers who just don't have the longview to keep from spending beyond their means, the Idaho couple, the Capps, will likely represent a shift in American families. After all, with gas prices at their lowest point in years after hitting peak in Summer 2008, the auto companies are signalling their worst sales in decades, with Toyota showing a sales decline for the first time in its 70-year history.

Maybe, just maybe, Americans are getting the point, and this type of long-term, pragmatic spending will result in a lasting, sustainable economy -- one that is not based on debt.