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The Jaffe Briefing - August 9, 2017

**The Jaffe Briefing Will Be On Vacation Beginning Monday, Returning After Labor Day**

OUR TAKE ON THE NEWS IN NEW JERSEY

STATEWIDE - If you listen to the President, America is doing just awesome. We've got low unemployment and a super-hot stock market. Jobs and Money. Money and Jobs. What else could you possibly want? But NJ Spotlight is throwing some water on the big party, noting the pace of personal-income growth in recent years tells a different story. In New Jersey, personal incomes have grown by only a little more than 1 percent annually since the Great Recession began in late 2007. So, perhaps all those booming financial markets are a lovely perk for the wealthy and those jobs, jobs, jobs aren't paying what they should or could.


BEDMINSTER - President Donald Trump used New Jersey as the backdrop yesterday to talk about the horrors of opioid addiction. But, boy, it was odd that the President decided to make it a big topic at a time when his pal, Gov. Chris Christie, is away in Italy. As anyone with a television is well aware, the governor has been all over the airwaves over the past few months, talking about his pet project, opioid addiction. Why the President decided to focus on the issue, in New Jersey, without the governor around, is perplexing. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price grabbed the national spotlight instead, broadcasting live from Somerset County, in the heart of Christie-Land. You can bet the governor was somewhere, spilling espresso all over his pasta.

PATERSON - The Paterson Press continues to torture city officials with its hard-nosed, unforgiving journalism. It is now asking questions about 22,000 hours of overtime in 2016, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. City officials could not find any authorization forms for 17,747 hours of OT paid to 80 public works employees. And, on another 4,400 hours of payments, auditors could not find any approval signatures. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, as auditors only scoured payroll documents for 10 percent of the city workforce that received overtime in the fiscal year. Fraud? Abuse? Gross incompetence? Whatever the case, someone of some official capacity needs to respond to this question: Are Paterson taxpayers an ATM?
 
OCEAN CITY - Some older lifeguards are scoring six-figure recoveries by suing the boss. Most recently, a jury awarded Paul McCracken a total of $127,988 for age discrimination, after he was canned by Ocean City at 52 years of age in 2011. NJ 101.5 reports that Ocean City has also paid out $575,000 to settle lawsuits by three other older lifeguards. Who knew lifeguarding could actually be a career with a golden parachute?

IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS

 

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – A little red flag appeared at a local bank branch, when a guy tried to deposit a $1 million bill. Cops were called to the Northwest Bank branch last week to ask a couple of questions, such as, “Hey, pal, do you happen to have any more of those nifty $1 million bills?”  The 33-year-old customer emptied his pockets, including a baggie of meth. Cops quickly made an arrest for the drug possession, before likely explaining to the suspect that the U.S. Treasury Department has never, ever produced a $1 million bill.

 

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

It was this day in 2010 that JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater become a folk hero, dramatically quitting his job by grabbing a couple of beers, sliding down the plane’s emergency-escape chute at JFK Airport and heading home to Queens. Slater says he just didn’t want to deal any longer with rude passengers.

 

 

WORD OF THE DAY

 

Chthonic – [THAH-nik] - adjective

Definition: of or relating to the underworld: infernal

Example: North Korea seems to be this chthonic, ambiguous force. It doesn’t seem to tire or stop; we need to better understand this enemy.

 

 

 

WEATHER IN A WORD

 

Beauty

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