The Jaffe Briefing - July 20, 2021
TRENTON – We’ve officially reached full nerd status, as stories about the state’s bond rating are downright titillating. Why? Because bond ratings rise about the silly political posturing and patronizing that’s a steady diet in New Jersey. Wall Street analysts cut through the clutter, and for years have ripped into the Garden State for our exorbitant taxes and living costs, as well as our rampant, blind borrowing. But Bloomberg now reports things have drastically changed. New Jersey is no longer at the bottom of the barrel among the $3.8 trillion bond market for government debt. Now New Jersey is one of only seven states with an improving economy over the last 3 1/2 years, measured by employment, personal income, home prices, tax receipts, mortgage delinquencies and other stuff. Amazed to write this next sentence: Investors have made New Jersey the most lucrative holding among the five largest municipal borrowers with a total return (income plus appreciation) of 21.7% since the beginning of 2018. New Jersey, for the moment, is crushing it. Yeah, we can’t believe it either.
SHAMONG – Pass the bong in Shamong? That’s the word from Deputy Mayor Michael Di Croce, who is proclaiming his plans to make Shamong “the pot capital of New Jersey.” Meanwhile, the flame doesn’t rise that high in other New Jersey towns, The New York Times reports, as dozens of municipalities don’t want anything to do with cannabis for the moment. Politicians have many reasons for sidestepping the issue, pointing to concerns of stoners getting behind the wheel in search of the closest 7-Eleven. There’s also questions about even more teen access to weed, if that could be possible, and all those incomplete state regulations for this budding industry. You may recall that voters overwhelmingly supported legal weed at the polls, permitting statewide use. It would have been a very different response if the ballot question was worded this way: “Would you allow pot sales in your hometown?”
BEACH HAVEN – For months, the police have been warning that some shortsighted state laws will make them helpless in dealing with teens and pot smoking, as these new, tight restrictions greatly limit what officers can do. And now – wouldn’t you know it – people in shore towns are complaining about the hordes of teens who seem out of control, smoking, drinking and, quite honestly, having the summer of their young lives. Meanwhile, the cops aren’t allowed to detain them or search them – even with wafting odors of marijuana. The problem all stems from the Juvenile Justice Reform Act, signed in December. Today, if a police officer wants to charge a minor, he or she needs to meet certain criteria and get the official blessing of the prosecutor’s office. Translation: Have at it, kids.
BRIEFING BREATHER
The coast of France has had phones in the shape of "Garfield" washing ashore since the 1980s.
STATEWIDE – Let’s spend some time stating obvious facts. It is humid in New Jersey, the first-place Mets will ultimately choke and – the latest unquestionable statement – the COVID vaccine works. Yet state officials still believe they have to educate the masses about the life-saving vaccine, which is 99.9% effective against contracting the virus. Let’s end the rumors and misinformation. No, you will not grow toenails on your forehead if you take the Pfizer shot, and no, Moderna, won’t cause a grotesque, Igor-like limp. But what these vaccines will do is save your life and the lives of all who matter to you. It is downright selfish and moronic for anyone in this state to ignore the science. Tell your friends, neighbors and anyone else burrowed in a cave.
IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS
COLBY, Wis. – It’s not easy being the big cheese in Wisconsin; there’s just too much competition. But some state lawmakers believe the state absolutely needs an official cheese, recognizing the fact that 3.4 billion pounds of it are produced in Wisconsin in just a year. And, the state already has the dairy cow as the official animal and milk is the official beverage. But what would be the right cheese to secure such lofty recognition? Provolone and cheddar and swiss are as “gouda” choices as any (sorry for that). But state officials believe Colby has the clear edge, created in Colby, WI in 1885. And so Colby as the official state cheese? If the governor says so.
MIAMI - Turns out that doomsayers who predicted the ship has sailed on the cruise industry – and that people had had enough of second-rate Broadway revues, tacky casinos and eat-till-you-rip-your-Speedo seafood buffets went a little, pardon the pun, overboard. The ultra-elegant Regent Seven Seas Cruise sold out within 2 1/2 hours when ticket sales launched last week, USA Today reports. The price to set sail on this 132-night mega-cruise? It ranged for $73,499 per person up to $199,999 per person for a master suite. That’s a lot of clams for an industry that was literally run aground for the past 15 months by the COVID-19 pandemic. But as the cruise line’s CEO puts it, “For our guests, the 2024 World Cruise represents so much more than just a cruise vacation - it’s a return to a normality.” That “normality” includes, of course, a 133-day open bar.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
It was this day in 1988 that Michael Dukakis was proclaimed the future of the Democratic party, selected the presidential nominee.
WORD OF THE DAY
Capricious – [kuh-PRISH-us] – adjective
Definition: impulsive, unpredictable
Example: Do you enjoy reading novels about the capricious world of unethical companies and their greedy overlords?
WIT OF THE DAY
“Truth is hard, propaganda is cheap.”
-DaShanne Stokes
BIDEN BLURB
“Look folks, we know who built this country and we know who is going to rebuild it. It's you. Instead of vilifying you, we should be thanking you. We owe you.”
-Joe Biden
WEATHER IN A WORD
Fair