The Smallest Religion Makes Headlines!

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Ethical Culture movement is the smallest organized religious body in the world with approximatley 4,000 members.

And here's a nice article in the Record about yesterday's solstice festival:

Winter solstice 'a time of great hope'

By Ashley Kindergan

Christmas and Hanukkah get the lion's share of holiday attention in December.

But for a group of humanists who gathered at the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County on Sunday afternoon to mark the winter solstice, a sense of community and the symbolic turning point of the shortest day of the year were cause enough for celebration. The actual solstice, the shortest day of the year, occurred on Dec. 21, but the celebration was postponed because of inclement weather.

"This is a way a humanist movement like Ethical Culture can plug itself into the celebration of the season," said Joseph Chuman, the center's leader.

The Ethical Culture Society bills itself as a religious movement focused on the welfare of human beings rather than the existence of a deity or transcendental force guiding the universe. Collecting money to build homes for unwed mothers and working for asylum seekers in the Elizabeth Detention Center are among the congregation's principal causes, for example.

More here…

Throwing Teaneck to the Dogs...

Alan's post about the proposed dog park has raised an interesting issue: Should residents subsidize projects in town that affect them disproportionately to the people at large? The answer is NO! Alan, you are very mistaken.

One commentator asked:

"Did the parents of the disabled children have to pay a fee for the new playground to be built? I don't think so..."

Quickly followed by:

Wow. Let's compare the needs of disabled children to the needs of dogs. What a sad commentary on our society!

Unfortunately, this is how comments on blogs tend to devolve, so I'm starting a new thread. The comparison is not between children (disabled or otherwise) and our canine companions. The comparison is between projects that benefit a subset of the residents of Teaneck being financed by everyone through tax dollars.

We've all heard the arguments before: Why should I pay for schools if I don't send my kids there (or if I have no kids)? Why should I pay for the shuttle if I'm not a senior citizen? Why should I pay for road work if I don't have a car?

Be it schools, parks or roads - charging for a la carte items in the budget is a disastrous idea.

What's next? Should every item in the town's budget have a list of the residents that will be charged for it?

Going to the Dogs... and Their Owners

I love dogs. Labrador Retrievers (pictured) are my favorite.

I've never owned one in my life, but I enjoy dogs vicariously, through pets owned by friends and the occasional dog sitting. I appreciate that dogs love to run free and that no Teaneck park allows dogs to do so. There should be a park where dogs can run free, interacting with each other and giving a good sniff to a prospective friend, all while their owners have a chance to sit back, relax and give each other a good sniff.

It exists already. It's located just over the Teaneck border in Overpeck County Park. The existing park has already been paid for by Teaneck residents and taxpayers, and those of Bergen County's 69 other municipalities, a cardinal example of the shared services we should be looking for, particularly in the challenging financial climate that exists today.

Sure, the proposed location at the corner of Sagamore Park is not a bad site. The corner portion of the park at Windsor and Beatrice Street is pretty much unused, and there is ample parking along the side streets. And if there are any incidents or accidents, the folks from the Teaneck Volunteer Ambulance Corps can just walk across the street. But only a fraction of resident dog owners will be in walking distance of the proposed site. For the overwhelming majority who will have to drive over, Overpeck Park is just a few minutes further away.

I would like to see the budget, but I am baffled as to how fencing, trash receptacles and signs add up to $15,000. Though from a Township that spent $120,000 for a website, I guess a graft allowance must be included. Yet, even if that $15,000 were a bargain I'm not sure that this is how we should be spending our money. Even with the availability of funds from the Municipal Open Space Trust Fund, we must remember that the MOST funds are our tax dollars coming straight out of our pocket, and not an infinite pool of funny money whose source cannot be traced right back to our property tax bills.

Where there is no obligation to provide a service and where those using a service can be easily identified, all Teaneck taxpayers should expect that those residents asking for and using the service would pay their fair share of the costs associated with their proposal. Dog owners pay an annual license fee of $10 (for spayed/neutered animals, an additional $3 if not). With 1,700 dogs in Teaneck (according to today's stats from the Health Department), a nominal contribution of $10 per dog -- matching the annual cost of a dog license -- will more than cover the entire cost of the proposed park. If dog owners won't chip in a whopping ten bucks, perhaps pet supply stores could be hit up for contributions.

And this should be a general principle that our Township Council should stand by. While I don't have a dog, I do have children who play soccer. I support the renovation of the soccer fields and the installation of artificial turf in Votee Park, which will improve availability of the fields, address the horrific drainage problems and cut some costs related to the annual care of a grass field that is turned into a mud bath by the end of the soccer season. While the MOST would be an appropriate source for a chunk of the cost, I would expect that the Teaneck Junior Soccer League and the other organizations using the fields would cover a substantial portion of the cost over the life of the turf.

Just as much as everyone else does, including dog owners, I love getting someone else to pay for amenities I want, especially if they can be forced to do so under penalty of law out of their tax bills. My personal choice is for fountains dispensing the finest single malt scotch at all Township parks.

I hope that dog owners will be even more forthcoming in paying for the dog park than they were in signing petitions asking for one. And I sincerely hope that the Township Council will leave the Dog Park proposal as the last item in the budget and approve it only if we have surplus funds to add to the contributions from dog owners. And I would like serious consideration of my single malt scotch fountains idea if the dogs do get their day.

Alan Sohn

Good Tidings to All!

Here's a Christmas film that I directed during the silent film era.

Public Service Anouncement

I received the following e-mail from the township and thought I'd pass it along.

Dear Teaneck Website Registrant - we need your help in spreading the word about Teaneck's Website and the great "alert" feature which allows us to contact registrants about a variety of Township non-emergency matters.

In order to receive the non-emergency alerts (via email) a person must register with us at www.teanecknj.gov.

Registration also provides the Township with an opportunity to contact registrants via email, cell phone and text messages (if any/all of these options are selected) when we send out emergency alerts via the Reverse 9-1-1- telephone system.

Please encourage your Teaneck neighbors and friends to register on the Township's website, www.teanecknj.gov, today!

Any questions? Please contact us at admin@teanecknj.gov.

We paid for this great web site, we might as well get some mileage out if it. If you've already been getting these alerts, have you found them useful?

The East Lawn Highway

On Monday, December 22nd at 8:00p (tonight) in the Council Chambers at Town Hall, the Town Council will be voting on YES or NO to add stop signs on East Lawn Drive. This is considered by many a dangerous street and it is only a matter of time till someone will be hit by a car.

As with many streets in Teaneck, there are no sidewalks and parking is allowed on both sides of the street. It happens to be a very narrow road, and is utilized as a cut through for route 4 to 80/95 that has over 200 cars per hour (as per the last electronic test). The East Lawn "highway", as many refer to it as, is the main thoroughfare for the YIOT, Perry lane shul-goers. With the amount of people, strollers, and fast moving vehicles all converging on one locations, this is an unmidigated disaster waiting to happen.

The question is, after the stop signs are approved, which they need to be, there is a next step which needs to occur. What are your ideas for the problem that exists? IMHO, on the weekends, one side of the street should have a bike lane and no parking on that one side. This prevents the need for 'dreaded' sidewalks, which cost homeowners money and land. I just don't want someone to be hurt because it was politicly expedient to kick the can down the street. Ignoring the problem will not make it go away. Thoughts?

While stop signs are an important and immediate necessity,

Weinberg a Victim of Madoff Scandal

This article is from JTA News Service:

Madoff wipes out state senator from New Jersey

by Jacob Berkman

New Jersey state Sen. Loretta Weinberg lost her entire life savings in the Madoff scheme.

While many of the losses of huge foundations and organizational endowments that have been making headlines over the past week are truly mind boggling, Weinberg was not ultra wealthy at all.

A lifelong civil servant, the veteran Democratic lawmaker was among a handful of Madoff victims to give their stories to The Wall Street Journal this weekend. Weinberg makes about $49,000 as an elected official in Trenton, where she represents the 37th District, which covers a highly Jewish region in the northern part of the state.

She had her savings, about $1.3 million, invested with Stanley Chais, another Madoff victim.

From the Journal story, which is subscription only:

"Irwin had a saying, 'If you made a dollar and a half, you put 75 cents into a savings account and you lived on the other 75 cents,' " says Ms. Weinberg, whose husband had his own business building and designing retail stores. "That's how we lived."

Ms. Weinberg's family had investments with Stanley Chais, a Los Angeles money manager who ran what he called "the arbitrage partnerships," and Loretta and her husband also opened up accounts. "It's where my family had their money," she says. "We'd get reports every quarter."

Year in and year out Mr. Chais delivered steady returns of 10% to 14% annually. "We had a family joke that every night we should all say a little prayer for Stanley Chais."

She had never heard of Bernard Madoff -- until last week, when she learned that Mr. Chais had invested her money in Mr. Madoff's entities. Mr. Chais didn't return calls for comment.

Just in time for the recession......taxes are going up!

Former Teaneck cop awarded $4.1M in harassment suit

A jury in Bergen County awarded a former Teaneck police officer $4.1 million today after finding he had been retaliated against for testifying on behalf of female officer who won a similar suit in 2000.

The panel awarded John Shouldis, 44, of Teaneck, $1.1 million for economic loss, $1.5 million for emotional distress and pain and suffering, as well as $1.5 million in punitive damages, said his attorney, Neil Mullin.

Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, the Teaneck Police department has socked the taxpayers with ANOTHER multi-million dollar verdict.

Teaneck set to outsource collection of recyclables

Teaneck set to outsource collection of recyclables

Thursday, December 18, 2008

BY JOSEPH AX

STAFF WRITER

TEANECK — The township appears poised to privatize its curbside pickup of recyclables, garden debris and autumn leaves, starting early next year.

A majority of the Township Council has expressed support for hiring Get a Can, a Paterson-based company that was the lone respondent to a request for bids. The service will cost $890,000 for a year.

The company's proposed schedule would quadruple the frequency of recycling pickup, a move that officials hope will eventually permit the town to reduce or eliminate the recycling depot that takes up more than 3 acres at the public works garage.

That, in turn, would allow for a badly needed expansion of the public works facility — a project that has been on the town's wish list for decades.

Mayor Kevie Feit said he expects that outsourcing pickups will save the town money in the long run by reducing equipment maintenance and purchase costs, salaries and pension payments. However, he said the savings might not be realized right away.

The town currently has seven vacant public works positions and expects an eighth by the end of the month due to retirement.

The hiring of Get a Can would likely mean that those positions would be eliminated through attrition. A ninth position would likely be eliminated through attrition in the future, as well.

"That's not the only reason we did it," Feit said of the potential cost savings. "It's better service, plus the ability to open up 3 1/2 acres for public works."

The amount of snow could ultimately determine whether the service saves money or costs money in any given year, since the workers who were used for collection also helped with snow removal during large storms.

Currently, residents in each of four quadrants put out newspapers, cans, bottles and containers on one Friday per month. Garden debris and leaves are picked up once a week between Monday and Thursday.

Under the new plan, Get a Can would pick up everything at once, officials said. Residents would alternate each week between recyclable paper and containers.

For example, residents in one quadrant currently have their garden debris picked up every Monday during the summer and their recyclables picked up on one Friday each month.

Under the proposed schedule, they would have their garden debris and recyclable paper picked up on the first and third Monday of each month and garden debris and recyclable containers picked up on the second and fourth Monday.

Get a Can would also include mixed paper and cardboard in addition to newspapers, which is the only paper product currently picked up by the town.

Deputy Mayor Lizette Parker was the lone council member to speak out against the plan, although another opponent, Monica Honis, was not present at Tuesday's meeting, when the proposal was discussed.

"It's a philosophical perspective," Parker said. "The idea of privatizing a service that the municipal government provides — there's no accountability." She also said that the company could increase its price significantly in future years. 

Councilwoman Barbara Toffler offered tepid support, saying Wednesday that she had reservations about the plan but was happy that pickups would increase while costs could go down. Councilmen Elie Katz, Adam Gussen and Mohammed Hameeduddin all support the plan.

The plan will not affect trash pickup, which is done by private contractors in agreements with individual residents.

Feit said the town may someday explore whether to outsource townwide garbage collection to one company, as well.

Suburbanite Round-Up

I'm not going to touch this with a ten foot festivus pole.

So let's talk about this week's Suburbanite:

Town Misses Deadline to Prioritize Grant. Question: Which three council members failed to respond to the State prioritization request resulting in the loss of a $600,000 Green Acres grant?

Resident Urges ADA Compliant Tunnel. The cost to make that smelly tunnel ADA-compliant would be astronomical. A more cost-effective solution would be for the town to pay the cab fare to transport disabled kids living in West Englewood whose parents don't have a car to the inclusive playground.

In News of the Way Cool:

Board of Education thanks the Rosensteins. The Rosenstein's are way cool.

Herbert Fischer to teach FDU classrooms. Fellow THS alumna Herb Fischer is way cool.

Scouts helps the hungry. Troop 1117 is way cool.

Musical duo to sing and play on the autoharp. Robbie Wedeen and Drew Smith as well.

Teaneck Community Chorus is ready to sing. Ditto for the them.

Hameeduddin weds Poshni. And them too.

Scarey Biceps Open Thread

"Sooner", please.

For those who want to avoid hot button issues like trees, the NJ Civil Union Review Commission just released it's final report on the Consequences of New Jersey's Civil Union Law.

According to the report, there is "overwhelming evidence" the civil union law not only fails to provide the same protections as marriage, it also has created economic, medical and emotional hardships for gay couples.  The commission concluded that denying same-sex couples the right to marry is as unjust as government imposing racial segregation laws.

In response, Governor Corzine, said that New Jersey's civil unions law "hasn't done enough to narrow the gap" and same-sex marriage should be established in New Jersey "sooner rather than later."

The Joyce Kilmer Memorial Tree Thread

In honor of Joyce Kilmer's birthday (December 6th), here's an opportunity to talk about trees.

I know that emotions run high on this issue so let's try to keep it civil.

Big Plans Afoot?

Trolling around the internet, on a site for The Dietz Partnership architectural firm, is this rendering of a building designed for American Legion Drive, or the district I affectionately refer to as TriBeCLa (Triangle Below Cedar Lane).

The plan, which is described on the website as a 10-story building appears to be an 8-story building with ground floor retail (implausibly including Crate and Barrel), two floors of parking above and five floors of residential.

It's a very bulky structure compressed onto a narrow lot, presumably in front of the Stop and Shop.

I have no idea who commissioned this plan, but it's not likely to get financed or built in the current economic climate. 

It's interesting to see how one developer thinks about the potential for this site.

Constructive criticism anyone?

This Old Town

While I don't always agree with David Brooks, I often find him to be an interesting read.  Today's column has some suggestions about how the Obama administration ought to use infrastructure spending for economic stimulus.   

Brooks' article, while setting an unnesessarily scolding tone and anticipating that the Obama administration will somehow screw it up, has kernals of important ideas for how we can use a major infrastructure investment program to build (or in the case of Teaneck rebuild) places that bring our communities together.  

He speaks of many communities built by profit-oriented developers without any sense civic responsibility, that don't provide walkable streets, parks, places to shop and meet and facilities that give everybody a sense of shared community.  

Here in Teaneck, we have the community infrastructure in place that many exurban and newer suburban communities lack.  A good chunk of Teaneck's community infrastructure were built for economic stimulus by the Roosevelt administration during the great Depression including Teaneck High School stadium, Lowell School, some of the town's playgrounds, walkway and grading improvements to Votee Park and the murals in the Library reference room.  

We are also fortunate to have several walkable business districts, tree-lined streets, most with sidewalks, plenty of parks, an excellent community center and we have many facilities that can be used for important arts and civic purposes.  

What we need in Teaneck is a program that helps to repair and replace the elements of our community infrastructure that are crumbling from age and over use.   

Here's an excerpt from Brooks' article

This Old House

The 1980s and 1990s made up the era of the great dispersal. Forty-three million people moved every year, and basically they moved outward — from inner-ring suburbs to far-flung exurbs on the metro fringe. For example, the population of metropolitan Pittsburgh declined by 8 percent in those years, but the developed land area of the Pittsburgh area sprawled outward by 43 percent.

If you asked people in that age of go-go suburbia what they wanted in their new housing developments, they often said they wanted a golf course. But the culture has changed. If you ask people today what they want, they’re more likely to say coffee shops, hiking trails and community centers.

People overshot the mark. They moved to the exurbs because they wanted space and order. But once there, they found that they were missing community and social bonds. So in the past years there has been a new trend. Meeting places are popping up across the suburban landscape.

There are restaurant and entertainment zones, mixed-use streetscape malls, suburban theater districts, farmers’ markets and concert halls. In addition, downtown areas in places like Charlotte and Dallas are reviving as many people move back into the city in search of human contact. Joel Kotkin, the author of “The New Geography,” calls this clustering phenomenon the New Localism. 

Barack Obama has said that he would start an infrastructure project that will dwarf Dwight Eisenhower’s highway program. If, indeed, we are going to have a once-in-a-half-century infrastructure investment, it would be great if the program would build on today’s emerging patterns. It would be great if Obama’s spending, instead of just dissolving into the maw of construction, would actually encourage the clustering and leave a legacy that would be visible and beloved 50 years from now.

Read the rest here.

Police Department Thread

This is a continuation of a conversation started by readers in the last thread about the police department. 

I will pose some questions for discussion to get the ball rolling:

• Is a 100+ person police force too large for a town with a population of about 39,000?
  
• What are the benefits and downsides of aggressive ticketing policies for moving and parking violations? I see two key benefits: public compliance with safety laws and more revenue for the town. Unless the speeding and parking laws are being enforced in a capricious or discriminatory manner, I don't see a downside.
  
• What would be the benefits and risks of having a smaller and therefore cheaper police force?
  

Happy commenting.

If this doesn't offend someone, I've failed in my duties as a blogger

Proposition 8: The Musical!

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

File Under: Shameless Self Promotion...

Here's a great opportunity for penny pinchers to pick up affordable holiday gifts: This Sunday, December 7th from 9:30 to 4:30 come to the Temple Emeth Bazaar and gift Boutique for bargains galore on jewelry, toys, books, housewares, attic treasures, new and gently used clothing, fabric and more.

As an extra benefit starting at about 11 AM, entertainment will be provided by Cumberland Gap, a band in which I play squeezebox. We'll be on the stage amid piles of shmatas and chazarai.

How bad are we actually feeling this recession?

There are plenty of houses for sale on nearly every block of town, but if you're anything like me, I'm sure you were shocked to find out that we've been in a recession for a year.

has a run story about things employers are doing to cut back and save money next year. Among them are:

• Higher health costs
• Layoffs
• Hiring, Salary and Pension freezes
• Cuts to 401(k) matches

Obviously those cuts are going to affect plenty of us, which got me wondering - Are you doing anything different than you did last year? Are you planning on making cuts in shopping habits or dipping into the savings?

File Under: Questionable Products from China

This is from the highly reliable snopes.com:

Chinese-Made Hair Ties Fabricated from Recycled Condoms!

Here's the photo evidence:

This Holiday Season Give the Gift of Chamber Music

This is just a heads up for chamber music fans about a great opportunity to see world class chamber ensembles right here in Teaneck for a very reasonable price.  

For 51 years, The Art Center Chamber Music Concert Series has been presenting reknowned chamber ensembles in Teaneck at Benjamin Franklin Middle School to a devoted group of subscribers at the very reasonable cost of $60 for the four concerts.  

Recent performances have included the Emerson Quartet, Concertante, the Parker Quarter, the Ying Quartet and the American String Quartet with solo performances by Richard Stoltzman on the clarinet.  

Lately, this series is struggling to attract a younger audience.  Please consider purchasing a subscription for you or a loved one.  Subscriptions make delightful holiday gifts.

When you think about how much it costs to see these same performers at venues in City, with the added cost of higher ticket prices, tolls, parking and higher meal prices plus the headache of traffic, this is a screaming deal for an unforgettable musical experience.  

One more added benefit: Teaneck school students can attend the concerts for free.

Without the Benefit of 20/20 Hindsight

Here's a wonderful flashback to an op-ed piece by Brian Wesbury in the Wall Street Journal from January 28, 2008. The piece is remarkable in how it is simultaneously completely off the mark and remarkably prescient. I am reprinting the whole thing here because it's jam-packed with interesting tid-bits from beginning to end:

The Economy is Fine (Really)

It is hard to imagine any time in history when such rampant pessimism about the economy has existed with so little evidence of serious trouble.

True, retail sales fell 0.4% in December and fourth-quarter real GDP probably grew at only a 1.5% annual rate. It is also true that in the past six months manufacturing production has been flat, new orders for durable goods have fallen at a 0.8% annual rate, and unemployment blipped up to 5%. Soft data for sure, but nowhere near the end of the world.

It is most likely that this recent weakness is a payback for previous strength. Real GDP surged at a 4.9% annual rate in the third quarter, while retail sales jumped 1.1% in November. A one-month drop in retail sales is not unusual. In each of the past five years, retail sales have reported at least three negative months. These declines are part of the normal volatility of the data, caused by wild swings in oil prices, seasonal adjustments, or weather. Over-reacting is a mistake.

A year ago, most economic data looked much worse than they do today. Industrial production fell 1.1% during the six months ending February 2007, while new orders for durable goods fell 3.9% at an annual rate during the six months ending in November 2006. Real GDP grew just 0.6% in the first quarter of 2007 and retail sales fell in January and again in April. But the economy came back and roared in the middle of the year -- real GDP expanded 4.4% at an annual rate between April and September.

With housing so weak, the recent softness in production and durable goods orders is understandable. But housing is now a small share of GDP (4.5%). And it has fallen so much already that it is highly unlikely to drive the economy into recession all by itself. Exports are 12% of the economy, and are growing at a 13.6% rate. The boom in exports is overwhelming the loss from housing.

Personal income is up 6.1% during the year ending in November, while small-business income accelerated in October and November, during the height of the credit crisis. In fact, after subtracting income taxes, rent, mortgages, car leases and loans, debt service on credit cards and property taxes, incomes rose 3.9% faster than inflation in the year through September. Commercial paper issuance is rising again, as are mortgage applications.

Some large companies outside of finance and home building are reporting lower profits, but the over-reaction to very spotty negative news is astounding. For example, Intel's earnings disappointed, creating a great deal of fear about technology. Lost in the pessimism is the fact that 20 out of 24 S&P 500 technology companies that have reported earnings so far have beaten Wall Street estimates.

Models based on recent monetary and tax policy suggest real GDP will grow at a 3% to 3.5% rate in 2008, while the probability of recession this year is 10%. This was true before recent rate cuts and stimulus packages. Now that the Fed has cut interest rates by 175 basis points, the odds of a huge surge in growth later in 2008 have grown. The biggest threat to the economy is still inflation, not recession.

Yet many believe that a recession has already begun because credit markets have seized up. This pessimistic view argues that losses from the subprime arena are the tip of the iceberg. An economic downturn, combined with a weakened financial system, will result in a perfect storm for the multi-trillion dollar derivatives market. It is feared that cascading problems with inter-connected counterparty risk, swaps and excessive leverage will cause the entire "house of cards," otherwise known as the U.S. financial system, to collapse. At a minimum, they fear credit will contract, causing a major economic slowdown.

For many, this catastrophic outlook brings back memories of the Great Depression, when bank failures begot more bank failures, money was scarce, credit was impossible to obtain, and economic problems spread like wildfire.

This outlook is both perplexing and worrisome. Perplexing, because it is hard to see how a campfire of a problem can spread to burn down the entire forest. What Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently estimated as a $100 billion loss on subprime loans would represent only 0.1% of the $100 trillion in combined assets of all U.S. households and U.S. non-farm, non-financial corporations. Even if losses ballooned to $300 billion, it would represent less than 0.3% of total U.S. assets.

Beneath every dollar of counterparty risk, and every swap, derivative, or leveraged loan, is a real economic asset. The only way credit troubles could spread to take down the entire system is if the economy completely fell apart. And that only happens when government policy goes wildly off track.

In the Great Depression, the Federal Reserve allowed the money supply to collapse by 25%, which caused a dangerous deflation. In turn, this deflation caused massive bank failures. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, Herbert Hoover's tax hike passed in 1932, and then FDR's alphabet soup of new agencies, regulations and anticapitalist government activity provided the coup de grace. No wonder thousands of banks failed and unemployment ballooned to 20%.

But in the U.S. today, the Federal Reserve is extremely accommodative. Not only is the federal funds rate well below the trend in nominal GDP growth, but real interest rates are low and getting lower. In addition, gold prices have almost quadrupled during the past six years, while the consumer price index rose more than 4% last year.

These monetary conditions are not conducive to a collapse of credit markets and financial institutions. Any financial institution that goes under does so because of its own mistakes, not because money was too tight. Trade protectionism has not become a reality, and while tax hikes have been proposed, Congress has been unable to push one through.

Which brings up an interesting thought: If the U.S. financial system is really as fragile as many people say, why should we go to such lengths to save it? If a $100 billion, or even $300 billion, loss in the subprime loan world can cause the entire system to collapse, maybe we should be working hard to build a better system that is stronger and more reliable.

Pumping massive amounts of liquidity into the economy and pumping up government spending by giving money away through rebates may create more problems than it helps to solve. Kicking the can down the road is not a positive policy.

The irony is almost too much to take. Yesterday everyone was worried about excessive consumer spending, a lack of saving, exploding debt levels, and federal budget deficits. Today, our government is doing just about everything in its power to help consumers borrow more at low rates, while it is running up the budget deficit to get people to spend more. This is the tyranny of the urgent in an election year and it's the development that investors should really worry about. It reads just like the 1970s.

The good news is that the U.S. financial system is not as fragile as many pundits suggest. Nor is the economy showing anything other than normal signs of stress. Assuming a 1.5% annualized growth rate in the fourth quarter, real GDP will have grown by 2.8% in the year ending in December 2007 and 3.2% in the second half during the height of the so-called credit crunch. Initial unemployment claims, a very consistent canary in the coal mine for recessions, are nowhere near a level of concern.

Because all debt rests on a foundation of real economic activity, and the real economy is still resilient, the current red alert about a crashing house of cards looks like another false alarm. Warren Buffett, Wilbur Ross and Bank of America are buying, and there is still $1.1 trillion in corporate cash on the books. The bench of potential buyers on the sidelines is deep and strong. Dow 15,000 looks much more likely than Dow 10,000. Keep the faith and stay invested. It's a wonderful buying opportunity.

(Hat Tip to Jewish Atheist)

Music Video of the Day

Here's a excellent use of technology to create a moving rendition "Stand by Me."   It's from the documentary, "Playing For Change: Peace Through Music."  As the song progresses, musicians from around the world join in.

First. Meme. Ever.

This is the first meme I've ever posted here in Teaneck Progress

Meme from Jono:

• Grab the nearest book.
  
• Open it to page 56.
  
• Find the fifth sentence.
  
• Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
• Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST

So here's my sentence:

"The cost of directly providing  a service ranged from 37 percent (street tree maintenance) to 96 percent (street repaving) more than the cost of contracting it out."

It's from "You Don't Always Get What You Pay For: The Economics of Privatization" by Elliot D. Sclar.

If you want to play along at home, post your sentence in the comments section.  And/or use this as a thread to talk about whatever you want.