Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
Davis-Bacon is costing us big time! Forget minimum wage. The US Congress is slipping in language to every bill of late that requires inflated wages for the projects taxpayers fund.
The Wall Street Journal yesterday explained what’s been going on.
What do the farm bill, the cap-and-trade global warming bill, the clean water bill, the housing bailout bill, and the school construction bill all have in common? Not much, except that in each one and countless others the Democratic majority in Congress has inserted “prevailing-wage” requirements that amount to a super-minimum wage.
We’re speaking of Davis-Bacon, the 1931 law that originally applied to road building and other federal construction projects and set a floor on wages in part to price black and Mexican workers out of the work. Today, its main impact is to require de facto union wages. Many reputable studies have estimated that Davis-Bacon inflates federal construction costs by anywhere from 5% to 39%. A Heritage Foundation analysis of wage data reports that in many cities the mandated Davis-Bacon wage is twice as high as the market wage.
I am all for paying fair wages and the government should not be paying folks under the table. Yet, it should be bidding out the work and accepting the lowest cost for the spec, just like all government agencies do. Taxpayers should not pay escalated wages.
Congress should not be dictating wages, it should be negotiating fair wages on behalf of its stockholders constituents.
Posted in Politics | 1 Comment »
Saturday, June 7th, 2008
The AP is running an article that it is difficult to find a bookstore in Newark, NJ. That got me thinking . . . with the closing of the Booksmith at the mall, I do not believe Vineland, New Jersey’s largest city in area, has a bookstore. Please tell me I m wrong.
Neighboring Millville only has one, a primarily used bookstore at that (since sold and re-named). Gert buys her books at BJs. Yeah, slim pickings there. I use the public libraries. I am at a loss for actual stores that sell books in the area.
Don’t most folks purchase books online these days?
Posted in New Jersey | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
Great Adventure is a Six Flags amusement park in Jackson, NJ. I recall the first time I went there. I was about 10 and my friend David and I went up. Yum Yum Palace (an ice cream joint) captured my attention much like the chocolate river in Willy Wonka and the artificial turf at Veterans Stadium the first time I walked in it.
Over the years I have visited this park many times. A few of my buddies and I were so good at pitching dimes, we would win the giant stuffed animals. I have vivid memories of when the Free Fall ride was brand-spanking new sitting on a bench babysitting four or five of these massive creatures while the others took their turn on the ride. Folks stopped and took photographs of me with all these stuffed animals. Getting them home was difficult as they did not fit well in the Cream Machine. 
It had been some time since I visited, but Gert and I went about seven years ago. It was dreadful. While Yum Yum Palace was still there, it is just an overpriced ripoff. I suspect it had always been. On our way in there was a sign listing a few rides that were inoperable that day. During the day, several others went down. The Batman coaster went down with us in line . . . twice! Free Fall went down when we were two away.
The park was packed and it looked like instead of the families I recall from my youth, it was a bunch of gangbangers. It was not an enjoyable experience.
Tonight as I reviewed the news from the day, I stumbled across this little article. It seems that Great Adventure has decreased admission this year 16%. Wow! I am impressed. In a day and age when everything is skyrocketing (it seems), it is refreshing to see a business scale back. The reason given is that with gasoline prices escalating, this is their way of making the trip more affordable. I am sure it is. Whatever the reason, a 16% decrease is significant and one that I applaud.
I suspect Great Adventure will reap benefits from this move. The eCache household will not participate. The little ones are too small to appreciate that park right now. Perhaps by the time they are old enough, management will address the clientele.
Posted in New Jersey | No Comments »
Friday, May 16th, 2008
A few years ago my mother turned me onto Thomas Sowell. What a well-reasoned man. His thoughtful discourse is a force of conservatism. I enjoy reading his words. It took until today for me to disagree with him.
Anyone who doesn’t like chain stores is free not to shop there. But that is wholly different from saying that they have a right to stop other people from exercising their own freedom of choice. That’s not too “complex” to understand.
The above was the ending to his treatise. Yes, downtown America is against Walmart.
Sowell does a good job of highlighting the importance of the big box stores. Chains permit those stores to sell goods at a lower price. Of course, that is good for the customer. Therefore, big box stores are good for us.
Sowell contends this is good for towns, despite whether or not people want these stores. Some towns construct laws against chain stores. Sowell argues that towns are doing themselves (and their citizens) a disservice by doing this:
Fortunately, enough sanity eventually prevailed that Fair Trade Laws were repealed. But the emotional needs that such laws met were still there, and today they find an outlet in hostility to Wal-Mart and other “big box” stores– especially in San Francisco and other bastions of the liberal left.
People have every right to indulge their emotions at their own expense. Unfortunately, through politics, those emotions are expressed in laws and administrative decisions by people who pay no price at all for indulging either their own emotions or the emotions of the people who vote for them.
But this is where Sowell runs afoul. Those laws can be good for the community.
I grew up in historic Victorian Cape May, NJ. There were no chains in this tiny seaside resort. I believe there were laws preventing chains from establishing business there. It was after I moved away that the town finally acquiesced to two Wawa convenience stores. But you’ll never find Walmart, McDonald’s, or other national chains there. And that is beneficial to Cape May. The town attracts its visitors by selling Victorian architecture, wholesome family activities, and quaint businesses (antiques, bed and breakfasts, etc.). Collectively, all businesses and citizens benefit by not having big box stores on the island.
Dismissing small towns from constructing its business climate the way it sees fit, Sowell undermines business plans for communities that work. Does this equate to Walmart being big, bad, and evil? Absolutely not. But certainly we can agree that Walmart does not have to have a place in every town. It isn’t that complex, is it?
Posted in New Jersey, Politics | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
New Jersey plays a prominent role in the lives of most students in the United States. Educational Testing Service (ETS) is a Princeton-based testing company. They’re the ones responsible for the SAT.
That isn’t the only test it creates, however. The battery of tests New Jersey administers is also created by ETS. I just administered the NJ ASK (assessment of skill and knowledge). This test is administered to all New Jersey students grades 3-8. High School students take the HSPA (high school proficiency assessment). This too is an ETS test.
Today I received an e-mail that included a memorandum from Jay Doolan, Ed.D., Assistant Commissioner Division of Educational Standards and Programs. Doolan shared the news that ETS is out as New Jersey’s standardized testing program for elementary school:
The assessments for grades 3 and 4 will be administered starting in spring 2009 under a contract awarded last year to Measurement Incorporated of Durham, North Carolina.
New Jersey is in a dire financial crunch. Taxes continue to rise. Businesses lament the poor environment government has in place. Many businesses are leaving the state. Governor Corzine’s close friends in New York are awarded a state contract.
Now we find out our standardized test is being outsourced to North Carolina! The premiere testing service is a New Jersey business. Yet the state sends this multi-million dollar contract out of state. Is it any wonder that taxes rise each year?
Posted in Education, New Jersey | 2 Comments »
