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balor123 · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 1204

Slightly related but does anyone else find it weird that unions are legal? Companies can't price fix - that's antitrust - but people can. How does that not violate antitrust? Every individual can be legally described as a sole proprietor so it seems like antitrust applies just as well.

balor123 · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 1204

From the Clayton act: "The labor of a human being is not a commodity or article of commerce". How the world has changed yet the laws have not (except for Glass Steagall of course, which was actually useful).

melonrightcoast · Joined: 22 Feb 2009 Posts: 236 Location: metrowest

john p · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 1820

The society we choose to live in does matter. Most work in jobs where it matters little what town you choose, but it makes it much harder for a community to thrive when they have corrupt politicians like Brian Wallace of South Boston who are pushing casinos. These porky pig sleazebag politicians attract filth and corruption to their communities. It is his duty to attract beneficial things to his community and he's trying to reel in the most corrupt industry of all. You wonder if he even cares about his community because if he did he'd be trying to fight anyone who tried to prey on his community and not open the door to predators.

As far as Unions, I agree, the context which validated their purpose no longer exists and Union bosses are no different than the organizations they organize against. The politics within a Union are crazy and to get a job you need to be in good favor of the Union Boss. Unions used to negotiate on the behalf of their members, but now they try to speak on the behalf of their members on issues that have absolutely nothing to do with Unions. For instance, the head of the Unions in Massachusetts was pushing for casinos and was threatening politicians who didn't support them. Now if I were in a Union I wouldn't be too thrilled if my Union Boss was pushing for casinos because my membership would never give anyone the right to speak on my behalf on casinos. The Unions know that if anyone speaks up they will lose standing within the Union so they abuse their powers by overreaching and speaking on behalf of their membership on matters that they were never authorized to do. This is total abuse of power and they now want to have rules where the Union leadership can monitor the votes of their members. Unions act like bullys that say "What are you going to do about it". Well their time has come where they have hurt not only people outside their membership base, but enough members have smelled enough of the dirty armpit of their leadership that people now are not taking them with much respect.

balor123 · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 1204

It is also hard to dismantle organizations once formed. Unions must have staff and they are looking to protect themselves. Also, at this point they don't lobby for fair working conditions but just good pay and benefits for members independent of market conditions. The problem is there is no check on them, especially when it comes to government employees since governments in this country are basically not allowed to go out of business.

john p · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 1820

I just zillowed a random property in Newton just to see in the "Zestimate and Charts" what the trend was in Newton.

It said that in the past year the prices have gone up 7.7%.

I wonder if this is right?

balor123 · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 1204

Interest rates are steady and it's summer so maybe?

Hard Rain · Guest

From Trulia:

"Average price per square foot for Newton MA was $359, a decrease of 8.2% compared to the same period last year. The median sales price for homes in Newton MA for Jun 09 to Aug 09 was $668,050 based on 150 home sales. Compared to the same period one year ago, the median home sales price decreased 13.1%, or $100,950, and the number of home sales increased 16.3%."

Redfin lists single months, for June ( last available) Newton price per sq foot sold decreased 3.8% from the previous year...

john p · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 1820

Jeez, that's quite a swing: Zillow has it up 7.7 percent and Trulia up 8.2%.

That's what 15.7% different? No wonder it is so hard for appraisers to keep up. My guess is that each pricepoint and each neighborhood has their own orbit of comps. It is Newton you know and there are like 7 or so little villages with mini downtowns....

It is quite a swing...

john p · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 1820

Attached is the link to Newton's MCAS results.

http://www.boston.com/news/special/education/mcas/scores09/results/newton.htm

It is amazing how many schools are in that town. It is also amazing how all these schools merge into two High Schools.

Can anyone explain why the scores were much better at the lower grades and how they lose their rankings as they go to the High Schools?

I wonder if the dynamics and learning environment and management of the learning environment change from the smaller environment to the much larger environment?

balor123 · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 1204

That's why they need that new fancy school Razz

balor123 · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 1204

Or maybe Newton is a starter town? When their kids get older the parents of smart ones take their kids to Wellesley.