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JerseySmarts.com

NJ’s County Colleges See Enrollment Boost

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Earlier today a news brief was posted on the Daily Record’s website that spoke about the increase in students attending county colleges. Below is an excerpt of the release, which I’m sure will be made into a fuller article in the coming days:

The New Jersey Council of County Colleges says there are 158,152 students taking classes this fall. Nearly 81,000 are full-time, a 4.6 percent increase over last year.

County colleges previously had more part-time students. But the group says that trend has changed as tuition climbed at four-year schools.

Tuition at New Jersey’s county colleges averages about $2,500. It’s $9,500 at four-year schools.

This is great! Not only are New Jersey students saving some money by attending the county colleges, but as more and more of them make the 2-year pit stop at “county” before heading off to the larger schools, there is less and less of a stigma attached to the schools. County colleges often get tagged with the “13th Grade” moniker or other derogatory nicknames. I’ve never attended classes at a county college, so I wouldn’t know what the classroom atmosphere is like though I can’t imagine it is too much different than attending a smaller class at Rutgers, Monmouth, Rowan, or TCNJ.

As a side note, if this means that more New Jerseyans are going to college, then that is another great outcome of the county colleges!

Is the PC a Thing of the Past?

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USA Today had a great article a few days back that talked about the rapidly declining PC and laptop sales in the Japanese technology market. It’s a pretty interesting read so you may want to check it out if you get a few free minutes.

The article makes a great point regarding the growing internet capabilities of handheld devices like cell phones and video game systems. It also points out the new abilities for digital cameras to connect directly to televisions and to printers without having to go through a computer.

Again, it’s pretty interesting so take a read if you get a chance, but from my view – I don’t think that the PC is going the way of the dinosaur any time soon. There are too many uses for the machine for it to become obsolete. I do, however, think that prices of new computers need to drop dramatically. And I’m not talking about paying $250 for a personal computer with a 15 inch LCD screen and substandard parts, either. I mean when Dell announces a new XPS and HP announces a new high-end laptop, these things can’t be priced at $2,000! There’s no way to keep the larger home computer market sustainable at that price range – it just can’t happen.

Granted, there are increased costs with creating a higher-end computer and that is understandable, but when computers that were high-end 3 or 4 years ago are still priced out of the general consumer market, that’s a problem. That said, Best Buy is offering a $200 computer for Black Friday, but the specs on it don’t look all that exciting.

First of all, it’s an eMachines computer. I know many folks (old college buddies) that have had problems with these computers, though I also know fewer folks who have not had a problem with them. As the article linked above says:

Don’t expect the world though. The PC is rumored to be powered by an Intel Celeron running at 2.66 Ghz (meaning no efficient and powerful ‘Core’ for you), comes with 512 megabytes of RAM (which is the bare minimum for doing just about anything on a computer these days), has a measly 80 Gigabyte hard drive, and it has no DVD burner.

No DVD burner? It’s 2007, right?

Anyway, check out those articles – they are pretty interesting reads.

Another Local Government Issue

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Today’s Daily Record is carrying an article about the Chief Financial Officer in Mount Arlington stepping down from his position. The article is written such that the “story” is how the expected replacement does not have a Master’s Degree nor has she finished the required training classes to assume the position yet. Alright, maybe there is some type of story there, but I’m not really interested in that.

My interest, as many of you know, is with unnecessary government expenditures. The article in the Daily Record lists out the remuneration of the current CFO:

Dickinson was paid $15,000 a year to work about one day a week as the borough’s chief financial officer. He also earned an additional $10,000 this year for extra work overseeing the borough’s bond offerings and an additional $12,000 for acting as an internal auditor.

The salary the next chief financial officer will earn has yet to be determined, Ondish said.

Dickinson will retire from his internal auditor and bond service roles in addition to retiring as chief financial officer. It is expected that Rinaldi will be appointed only as chief financial officer, although she would also retain her current duties as assistant administrator.

Does anyone else see a problem with paying a guy $15,000 per year for “about one day a week” of work? I do. For a municipality as small as Mount Arlington there is no need to spend more than $5,000 per year on such a part-time employee. The $10,000 for overseeing the bond issue is about in the right range, but I have another issue with the $12,000 for acting as the internal auditor.

No, it’s not the expense (which seems about right for doing a municipal audit) – it’s that in a state where “double-dipping” is seen as a major issue and the word “corruption” is thrown around as a catchphrase, I wouldn’t want either of those negative stigmas to hit my good hometown. Of course, my concern might be borne of the fact that I live in Monmouth County a.k.a. Corruption Capital of the Jersey Shore!

In any event, I think it is high time for taxpayers to create independent, VOLUNTEER councils to review municipal expenditures. If such a council can operate on a volunteer basis and remain politics-free, then they would be major benefits to the entire municipality. That is, of course, a pipe dream!

Anyway, try Jersey City Locksmith for the best locksmith service in the Garden State!

The Passions and Concerns of the Electorate

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The folks at MSNBC took a break from producing complete garbage for a change and posted an editorial by Chuck Todd that talked about today’s electorate. He specifically cited the failure of New Jersey’s stem cell research referendum to pass in this past Tuesday’s elections.

His point is an interesting one – what is it that could take a generally left-of-center electorate in New Jersey and have it defeat a generally left-of-center funding concept (this is not about the topic – stem cell research – which has bipartisan support in this state)? In other words, what is eating away at the electorate that they are against these types of programs? Another one of Todd’s examples is the failure of a private school voucher system in Utah – where it should have been a shoe-in.

This all comes down to an electorate that is dissatisfied and distrustful of government leaders. Who would trust the government to run any of these programs effectively? I sure as hell wouldn’t! I would trust a private company to be more efficient about certain programs, though, since they have a bottom line to worry about. Politicians are generally part of a bloated bureaucracy that doesn’t need to be concerned about fiscal responsibility. Everyone is guilty here – Republicans and Democrats. In New Jersey, though, the Democrats are really bad at fiscal responsibility as is evidenced by our ridiculous state budget and its many shortfalls. The stance that these shortfalls were all Republican produced is garbage. There have been more than enough Democrats controlling this state for a prolonged period of time that they could have cut the fat if they wanted to.

And this is an essential part of the problem in Trenton and why the New Jersey electorate is mad. The Democrats are just doing a bad job in this state with half-promises and go-nowhere policies…and the Republicans are not a viable option right now! What is the electorate to do in such a situation where you don’t trust your Democratic government and you aren’t excited about the Republican candidates? Simple. You vote “no” as many times as possible.

This is what the New Jersey electorate did on Tuesday and I, for one, am excited about what the electorate will do come Election Day 2008!

Some Dummies for You: Comcast Cable

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Earlier today, CBS News posted a story on their website about the FCC lifting certain restrictions on apartment buildings with respect to cable services. They cite the ability for low-income folks who live in apartments or government-sponsored housing projects to have a choice in their cable provider. In other words, the ability to choose a lower cost provider (which is great!).

As someone who works in an industry closely related to these large-scale, low-income developments I can tell you that the folks who live in these places need all of the breaks that they can get. If that means they can save $5 per month on the cable bill, then so be it!

And isn’t this logical? That competition for services SHOULD lead to a net decrease in costs? Well, not if you’re Comcast Cable. A spokesperson for the company said:

“The net result is that many consumers are likely to wind up paying more for services if the FCC’s interference in the competitive marketplace stands,” Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said in an e-mailed statement.

Huh? Isn’t the “interference in the competitive marketplace” the fact that there is NO competition in these apartment buildings? For those of you that don’t know, many of these apartment buildings sign contracts with cable providers for the entire building, which restricts tenants to using that provider.

I mean come on! This is a no-brainer. For Comcast to come out and make the dumb comment that lifting this restriction will have a net result of higher cable prices for consumers is all sorts of idiotic. First of all, you have the logic argument cited above. Second, you have the fact that a rate increase is decided by the cable companies! In other words, you have cable companies saying, “If you take this action, we will be forced to raise rates. If we raise rates, then prices go up for consumers.”

Here’s an idea, dummies – DON’T RAISE YOUR RATES!

Idiots…