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OT: Property tax relief coming for those over 65

"With less pressure to have kids, economists say, more people feel they need to be in the ideal financial, emotional and social position to begin a family."

Can't disagree with this. We waited any extra 5-7 years before becoming parents to make sure we were financially and emotionally ready. The article makes a lot of sense.
 
As a WSJ subscriber, I'm sharing this story -- it's timely and important. Pundits assume that economics are the reason, but that's only one. Rather, young people no longer see becoming parents as an essential goal. https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/relat...r4lh7vw8bbi&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

It seems pretty jarring to us to put your kid on the school bus in the morning and not know if she or he will return because a nutjob was able to buy a weapon of war and massacre them. Outside of a small handful of warzones, the US in the only country where that is a thing.
 
I don’t think he and others on the board think it’s an advantage.
He can speak for himself, but I notice he refers to "citizens" -- by definition, people whose residence here is legal and who care enough about this country to go through the process of becoming citizens. An awful lot of Americans would fail the required civics test.
 
It seems pretty jarring to us to put your kid on the school bus in the morning and not know if she or he will return because a nutjob was able to buy a weapon of war and massacre them. Outside of a small handful of warzones, the US in the only country where that is a thing.
Weapon of war?

What weapon of war can people legally purchase in the US? Unless you broaden the definition to weapons no modern military uses in combat, except in special circumstances, then when people talk about weapons of war, they're talking about fully automatic weapons. And fully automatic weapons are illegal to buy or sell everywhere in the US.

If you want to count special circumstances, then knives, cars, rocks and sticks, a variety of ordinary chemicals that can be used to produce explosives or deadly gases, and pretty much anything else people use to kill each other are all weapons of war.

Also, every state in the US has laws on their books that prohibit a "nutjob" from purchasing a weapon of any kind, even many knives. And all gun stores are required to use federal background checks. There are loopholes but they can be closed. And too many states' laws optimistically count on self-policing to prevent nutjobs from legally purchasing weapons. That too can be addressed.

If you want to talk about solutions to a problem, and everybody everywhere agrees that school kids getting killed is a problem, then you first have to accurately define the problem. And it helps a lot to resist the urge to use inaccurate hyperbole which always results in nothing more than counter-hyperbole.
 
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I think what he means by a "weapon of war" is something that has no other purpose (hopefully) than to kill many quickly.
If someone is hunting deer or squirrels or bear with a rapid fire-rifle I think they're doing it wrong.
 
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I think what he means by a "weapon of war" is something that has no other purpose (hopefully) than to kill many quickly.
If someone is hunting deer or squirrels or bear with a rapid fire-rifle I think they're doing it wrong.
Point is, you already cannot buy or sell military weapons (aka weapons of war) in the US. It's currently illegal to buy or sell "rapid-fire" (aka fully automatic) rifles in every state in the US.

And a semiautomatic rifle can't fire any faster than a semiautomatic handgun can. The only difference between the rifle and handgun is range and accuracy. And range and accuracy aren't significant factors in the vast majority school shootings.

There are plenty of realistically achievable things we can do to reduce gun violence in this country. But it starts with real education about the subject matter and a reduction in hyperbole and statistical irrelevancies. Until we get that, we cannot make any progress.

If I were "in charge", I'm pretty sure I could implement new regulations resulting in massive reductions in gun violence in this country while allowing all law abiding gun owners to continue owning all the same guns that are legal today. We need to change the conversation from "banning" to measures that can actually work.
 
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Yes, I understand that. But as things stand now, there are many folks who collect Social Security benefits who never contributed a nickel. For instance, dependent (children) benefits if a parent passes away.
I said in another post. The dead parent might have paid SS for 20 years but isn't going to collect a penny. The total the dependent children get, might or might not be more than the parent would have received (# of kids, ages, disabilities). From experience, mine were 11 and 13 when their Mom died. They received $900/month ea. The double whammy is when they turn 18 and enter college. The $900 stop but the expenses triple. I depleted (over $100,000) my savings and my son enlisted before his senior year to get the GI Bill tuition reimbursement .
 
I know personally 10 people who passed away before age 65 all worked over 30+ 40 + years. No children under 18 , only a spouse, so get it while you can ..
 
I said in another post. The dead parent might have paid SS for 20 years but isn't going to collect a penny. The total the dependent children get, might or might not be more than the parent would have received (# of kids, ages, disabilities). From experience, mine were 11 and 13 when their Mom died. They received $900/month ea. The double whammy is when they turn 18 and enter college. The $900 stop but the expenses triple. I depleted (over $100,000) my savings and my son enlisted before his senior year to get the GI Bill tuition reimbursement .
It used to be that widows' benefits continued until the children turned 22 if the children were in college. I know that from personal experience. I don't know when that ended.
 
My wife and her 3 sisters lost their mother at a very young age. The 4 of them had Social Security benefits through their early 20’s.
 
Weapon of war?

What weapon of war can people legally purchase in the US? Unless you broaden the definition to weapons no modern military uses in combat, except in special circumstances, then when people talk about weapons of war, they're talking about fully automatic weapons. And fully automatic weapons are illegal to buy or sell everywhere in the US.

If you want to count special circumstances, then knives, cars, rocks and sticks, a variety of ordinary chemicals that can be used to produce explosives or deadly gases, and pretty much anything else people use to kill each other are all weapons of war.

Also, every state in the US has laws on their books that prohibit a "nutjob" from purchasing a weapon of any kind, even many knives. And all gun stores are required to use federal background checks. There are loopholes but they can be closed. And too many states' laws optimistically count on self-policing to prevent nutjobs from legally purchasing weapons. That too can be addressed.

If you want to talk about solutions to a problem, and everybody everywhere agrees that school kids getting killed is a problem, then you first have to accurately define the problem. And it helps a lot to resist the urge to use inaccurate hyperbole which always results in nothing more than counter-hyperbole.

It seems like there's one weapon that is common to most mass shootings and now an assassination attempt. Whatever laws we have, seems safe to say they're not working.

Sure there's other things that can be weapons, but seems like all those things are very much available here and elsewhere and not used to any great extent. On the other hand, we are the only country where school shootings are a repeat occurrence. And we're not the only country with mental health problems, single parent homes, addiction, depression, etc...it's gotta be something else...

As far as I'm concerned, it's good for the planet that people have less kids. But the people whining about immigrants are the same ones wondering why people born here are less interested in kids. They have their answer.
 
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It seems like there's one weapon that is common to most mass shootings and now an assassination attempt. Whatever laws we have, seems safe to say they're not working.

Sure there's other things that can be weapons, but seems like all those things are very much available here and elsewhere and not used to any great extent. On the other hand, we are the only country where school shootings are a repeat occurrence. And we're not the only country with mental health problems, single parent homes, addiction, depression, etc...it's gotta be something else...

As far as I'm concerned, it's good for the planet that people have less kids. But the people whining about immigrants are the same ones wondering why people born here are less interested in kids. They have their answer.
So true.
IMO the big problem for future generations is that the ones who are having lots and lots of kids are the religious extremists of all types.
"The future's so bright I gotta wear shades."
 
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It seems like there's one weapon that is common to most mass shootings and now an assassination attempt. Whatever laws we have, seems safe to say they're not working.

Sure there's other things that can be weapons, but seems like all those things are very much available here and elsewhere and not used to any great extent. On the other hand, we are the only country where school shootings are a repeat occurrence. And we're not the only country with mental health problems, single parent homes, addiction, depression, etc...it's gotta be something else...

As far as I'm concerned, it's good for the planet that people have less kids. But the people whining about immigrants are the same ones wondering why people born here are less interested in kids. They have their answer.
Only whine about illegal immigrants
I think that is fair
 
Only whine about illegal immigrants
I think that is fair

Do they? Because it seems like they have proposals to reduce legal immigration.

Oh...and whine about the undocumented while hiring them, of course.

Oh...and pass no laws while in total control to do anything about "illegal immigration" at all. But this time it will be different!!! LMAO
 
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One of the most famous illegal immigrant has quite a few children out of wedlock.


In fact, when they did fund us, they realized that we were illegal immigrants,” Kimball says in the video.

Well, I mean...” Elon says.

“Yes, we were,” Kimbal replies.

“I’d say it was a gray area,” Elon insists as the crowd laughs.

“We were illegal immigrants...” Kimbal says, continuing his story about how they were sleeping in an office when raising money from venture capitalists.

 
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The Governor and legislative leadership have reached agreement on a program to be called "Stay New Jersey." Those over 65 with incomes of $500,000 or less will receive an annual payment from the state of half their property taxes up to a limit of $6500 per year. I mention this because property taxes often come up in discussions on this board of why posters are planning to leave NJ upon retirement.https://nj.gov/governor/news/news/562023/approved/20230621a.shtml

Edit: the limit is $6500, not $6200 as I originally wrote.
I just got my senior freeze check. Is there another check for the anchor program and is this stay NJ another program?
 
It seems like there's one weapon that is common to most mass shootings and now an assassination attempt. Whatever laws we have, seems safe to say they're not working.

Sure there's other things that can be weapons, but seems like all those things are very much available here and elsewhere and not used to any great extent. On the other hand, we are the only country where school shootings are a repeat occurrence. And we're not the only country with mental health problems, single parent homes, addiction, depression, etc...it's gotta be something else...

As far as I'm concerned, it's good for the planet that people have less kids. But the people whining about immigrants are the same ones wondering why people born here are less interested in kids. They have their answer.
As I keep pointing out, West Virginia has the fewest mass shootings of any state. And it’s tied for having the most permissive gun laws. You can bring a gun into the state and carry it without any permit. No mag restrictions. Far fewer types of semiautomatic guns or gun accessories banned, etc.

Meanwhile, CA has the toughest, most restrictive gun laws of any state. And it has, by far, the most mass shootings, by far.

Which says that whatever is causing so many mass shooting events, it’s probably not access to guns. I mean, if there was some way to magically eliminate every single gun in the nation instantly, mass shootings would cease, but mass killings will pretty obviously still occur using some other method, of which there are many. And it’s not remotely possible to eliminate every single gun in the US, or come even close.

Gun laws absolutely work for ordinary gun violence. Especially the waiting period built into the federal background checks required in every state. But most gun-specific gun laws are kind of useless for mass shootings, including school shootings. And there are new laws that can be implemented that can improve things.

But like I keep pointing out, the discussion always centers around bans that don’t fix mass shootings and can’t be implemented anyway. Which is why you wind with nothing improving. NYS implemented two new laws after its most recent event: they banned body armor (idiotic), and raised the age for purchasing certain guns. Ridiculous.
 
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As I keep pointing out, West Virginia has the fewest mass shootings of any state. And it’s tied for having the most permissive gun laws. You can bring a gun into the state and carry it without any permit. No mag restrictions. Far fewer types of semiautomatic guns or gun accessories banned, etc.

Meanwhile, CA has the toughest, most restrictive gun laws of any state. And it has, by far, the most mass shootings, by far.

Which says that whatever is causing so many mass shooting events, it’s probably not access to guns. I mean, if there was some way to magically eliminate every single gun in the nation instantly, mass shootings would cease, but mass killings will pretty obviously still occur using some other method, of which there are many. And it’s not remotely possible to eliminate every single gun in the US, or come even close.

Gun laws absolutely work for ordinary gun violence. Especially the waiting period built into the federal background checks required in every state. But most gun-specific gun laws are kind of useless for mass shootings, including school shootings. And there are new laws that can be implemented that can improve things.

But like I keep pointing out, the discussion always centers around bans that don’t fix mass shootings and can’t be implemented anyway. Which is why you wind with nothing improving. NYS implemented two new laws after its most recent event: they banned body armor (idiotic), and raised the age for purchasing certain guns. Ridiculous.
Didn't you say we can't compare the US and the UK because they're too different.

But WV and CA are somehow analogous?
 
Do they? Because it seems like they have proposals to reduce legal immigration.

Oh...and whine about the undocumented while hiring them, of course.

Oh...and pass no laws while in total control to do anything about "illegal immigration" at all. But this time it will be different!!! LMAO
Haven’t seen proposals to limit legal immigration
I’m not hiring illegals, thank you, and I ran a business
Trumps “remain in Mexico” policy, which kept illegals on the Mexican side, was the most effective policy
Of course Biden undid that day one, for no good reason
Now we have millions of illegals being allowed in to stay
Nice work by Biden, right?
 

I hear illegal immigrants are a benefit to the economy and I hear they are a negative to the economy. I don’t know who’s right. I do believe there should be restrictions on the immigration to keep the numbers down and less government assistance. I don’t remember much government assistance to illegals in the past years other than private assistance.
 
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Didn't you say we can't compare the US and the UK because they're too different.

But WV and CA are somehow analogous?
I'm pretty sure I never said WV and CA are "analogous". What I said about the two states isn't an attempt to establish an analogy.

The mass shootings stats for the two states illustrate that there's a problem in attempting to correlate gun laws and outcomes when it comes to mass shootings here in the US. There's clearly something else, something other than gun laws, at work. Population, perhaps. But that can't fully explain it either.

We're not going to get CA to adopt WV culture, although we sure ought to work harder on understanding what's leading to the lack of correlation w/respect to mass shootings. And we're sure as shit not going to get CA or WV to adopt UK culture. So bringing up the UK does nothing but distract us from talking about solutions that have some hope of being adopted by US states (and not rejected by the SCOTUS).

I have zero desire to debate ideologies - it's a total waste of time, a purely academic discussion, and IMO, a boring one at that.

I do like talking about actual solutions that have some hope of implementation. And, over the years, I've pointed out like a dozen different thing that can help to protect kids in schools and have some hope of being implemented and not rejected by SCOTUS.
 
As I keep pointing out, West Virginia has the fewest mass shootings of any state. And it’s tied for having the most permissive gun laws. You can bring a gun into the state and carry it without any permit. No mag restrictions. Far fewer types of semiautomatic guns or gun accessories banned, etc.

Meanwhile, CA has the toughest, most restrictive gun laws of any state. And it has, by far, the most mass shootings, by far.

Which says that whatever is causing so many mass shooting events, it’s probably not access to guns. I mean, if there was some way to magically eliminate every single gun in the nation instantly, mass shootings would cease, but mass killings will pretty obviously still occur using some other method, of which there are many. And it’s not remotely possible to eliminate every single gun in the US, or come even close.

Gun laws absolutely work for ordinary gun violence. Especially the waiting period built into the federal background checks required in every state. But most gun-specific gun laws are kind of useless for mass shootings, including school shootings. And there are new laws that can be implemented that can improve things.

But like I keep pointing out, the discussion always centers around bans that don’t fix mass shootings and can’t be implemented anyway. Which is why you wind with nothing improving. NYS implemented two new laws after its most recent event: they banned body armor (idiotic), and raised the age for purchasing certain guns. Ridiculous.

On a population basis, NJ is bottom 3 for gun violence and 1 or 2 in most strict laws...of course on a raw basis WV is low...it's one of the least populous states. It's like saying NB has less murders than NYC...

You can use your argument on an international basis too....Canada has less shootings...of course it has less people...also has less on a per capita basis...like...well...any developed country on the planet.
 
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Haven’t seen proposals to limit legal immigration
I’m not hiring illegals, thank you, and I ran a business
Trumps “remain in Mexico” policy, which kept illegals on the Mexican side, was the most effective policy
Of course Biden undid that day one, for no good reason
Now we have millions of illegals being allowed in to stay
Nice work by Biden, right?

Here you go.


I didn't say what you do. Here's what a felon did.


President Biden didn't uphold the illegal Remain in Mexico plan, yes. I appreciate your point that Dems and not the felon party uphold the rule of law.

 
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Here you go.


I didn't say what you do. Here's what a felon did.


President Biden didn't uphold the illegal Remain in Mexico plan, yes. I appreciate your point that Dems and not the felon party uphold the rule of law.


Here you go.


I didn't say what you do. Here's what a felon did.


President Biden didn't uphold the illegal Remain in Mexico plan, yes. I appreciate your point that Dems and not the felon party uphold the rule of law.

will research the first two items, thanks, but number 3 is bullsquat

biden ended remain in mexico, stopped deportations, the moment he came in the door... observe the date

yes, the matter eventually went to the supreme court, which made their decision

the fact is, if Biden did nothing, the remain in Mexico would be in effect, these illegals are staying in the states rather than being put back

 
Here you go.


I didn't say what you do. Here's what a felon did.


President Biden didn't uphold the illegal Remain in Mexico plan, yes. I appreciate your point that Dems and not the felon party uphold the rule of law.

as
as to the legal immigration issue, read the article
the proposal is to limit the group immigration applications to immediate family
so, maybe all the aunts, uncles, second cousins don't come in, in bulk

and in some situations, they would waive the restriction, grandparents, etc

this is proposed to address the applications better, and keep a control on it

I would think you would agree that applicants should not include your second cousin, etc

but of course the blaring headline makes it sound like it is something it is not
 
Haven’t seen proposals to limit legal immigration
I’m not hiring illegals, thank you, and I ran a business
Trumps “remain in Mexico” policy, which kept illegals on the Mexican side, was the most effective policy
Of course Biden undid that day one, for no good reason
Now we have millions of illegals being allowed in to stay
Nice work by Biden, right?
That is true. Never saw ANYONE bitch about the Legal immigrant ONLY those coming across our borders without being properly invited by their application. 4 years ago they called those opposed to illegal entry as … what else ? Give you a hint starts with an R and it ain’t for Rutgers. The despicable actions yesterday in DC were a disgrace. They shit on all of us by doing what they did yesterday . Sorry but that is a real threat to our Republic and the democracy we preach. People need to have some pride in what that symbol represents…Remembering people who actually would have kicked the crap out of the whiney rodents in front of Union Station. We may regret sooner than later allowing this type of “ PEACEFUL” protest to exist.
 
On a population basis, NJ is bottom 3 for gun violence and 1 or 2 in most strict laws...of course on a raw basis WV is low...it's one of the least populous states. It's like saying NB has less murders than NYC...

You can use your argument on an international basis too....Canada has less shootings...of course it has less people...also has less on a per capita basis...like...well...any developed country on the planet.
We were talking about mass shootings, which are not the same as ordinary gun violence. And I've already said that gun laws work to prevent or limit ordinary gun violence.

You really have to separate the two because they don't correlate the same at all. The causes of ordinary gun violence and the causes of mass shootings seem entirely unrelated. If we want to solve mass shootings, especially school shootings, and I'm pretty sure we have universal agreement about wanting to do that, then we need to focus harder on the correct causes right?

Solutions that help prevent jilted lovers or gang-bangers from shooting one another seem to have no impact on people who spend long periods of time hatching a plan to kill a bunch of strangers, often for no particular reason at all. Instead of the instant rage which often dissipates with time (which is common to many violent crimes), mass murderers seem to develop rage that grows and grows and never recedes at all. And removing one method of killing won't stop them, it'll just lead to different and possibly even worse methods (e.g. bombs).

As for population, we already have different populations and different gun laws here in the US. Why would we waste time looking at Canada? Again, introducing other nations is unproductive and always winds up being ideological. It's a wishful thinking argument which is a waste of time because not everybody has the same wish.
 
will research the first two items, thanks, but number 3 is bullsquat

biden ended remain in mexico, stopped deportations, the moment he came in the door... observe the date

yes, the matter eventually went to the supreme court, which made their decision

the fact is, if Biden did nothing, the remain in Mexico would be in effect, these illegals are staying in the states rather than being put back


Is that why the amount of people crossing now is lower than Jan 21?
 
Actually I don't think there was a final ruling on remain in Mexico. A '22 Supreme court decision said Biden has the right to terminate it, but remanded the rest back to the district court regarding whether it was constitutional. Probably dropped as moot.

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/0...ant-protection-protocols-remain-mexico-biden/

Meaning....that is illegal. When it's not appealed, the lower court ruling stands.

I guess to be fair, Ken Paxton and the gang were kind of busy with their own criminal trials and prosecuting women who needed an abortion to not become infertile?
 
as to the legal immigration issue, read the article
the proposal is to limit the group immigration applications to immediate family
so, maybe all the aunts, uncles, second cousins don't come in, in bulk

and in some situations, they would waive the restriction, grandparents, etc

this is proposed to address the applications better, and keep a control on it

I would think you would agree that applicants should not include your second cousin, etc

but of course the blaring headline makes it sound like it is something it is not

You said they're OK with legal. Proposals to limit indicates the opposite. Either you're for legal immigration or not. Where are the GOP proposals to make legal immigration easier in any way, shape or form?
 
We were talking about mass shootings, which are not the same as ordinary gun violence. And I've already said that gun laws work to prevent or limit ordinary gun violence.

You really have to separate the two because they don't correlate the same at all. The causes of ordinary gun violence and the causes of mass shootings seem entirely unrelated. If we want to solve mass shootings, especially school shootings, and I'm pretty sure we have universal agreement about wanting to do that, then we need to focus harder on the correct causes right?

Solutions that help prevent jilted lovers or gang-bangers from shooting one another seem to have no impact on people who spend long periods of time hatching a plan to kill a bunch of strangers, often for no particular reason at all. Instead of the instant rage which often dissipates with time (which is common to many violent crimes), mass murderers seem to develop rage that grows and grows and never recedes at all. And removing one method of killing won't stop them, it'll just lead to different and possibly even worse methods (e.g. bombs).

As for population, we already have different populations and different gun laws here in the US. Why would we waste time looking at Canada? Again, introducing other nations is unproductive and always winds up being ideological. It's a wishful thinking argument which is a waste of time because not everybody has the same wish.

OK...mass shootings, single shootings....I believe you live in NJ too. Why do you think our level of gun violence here is among the lowest?
 
We have a wonderful Biden record of ,what 11 million or so crossings
Chew on that

I agree. Immigration and refugees are wonderful and helped contribute to the soaring economy.

It's no wonder he won in a landslide and his VP has taken the lead in many polls against the felon and couch banger.
 
You said they're OK with legal. Proposals to limit indicates the opposite. Either you're for legal immigration or not. Where are the GOP proposals to make legal immigration easier in any way, shape or form?
Pay attention
The republicans are in favor of controlled legal immigration
And it doesn't have to make it easier, that would be dumb, you want it safe

You control it for the safety of our country, and to keep it organized
You shouldn't want uncontrolled legal immigration, don't hide behind the idea that the Republicans are trying to stop the legal ones, they want it
 
I agree. Immigration and refugees are wonderful and helped contribute to the soaring economy.

It's no wonder he won in a landslide and his VP has taken the lead in many polls against the felon and couch banger.
Illegals flooding our border and crossing
That's ok ?
 
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