One reason why we are leaving New Jersey

You might get burnt from a wheelgun, but with a pistol I think your all set. I've done it.

samhill wrote:Heck my neighbor ain`t allowed to sell milk, but when I go over there to pay back the money I owe him & happen to have my empty jug with me he`s allowed to be neighborly & give me some fresh milk. I know since it happens quite often.

we have a farm near me in stockertown that sells raw milk,and there is nothing better! however you might put on a few lbs if you have to much! LOL
MARK

That's one of my biggest concerns for wherever I end up after I pass on, they won't have REAL milk or REAL butter--now that'll piss me off.

• Moderator's Insert: The post below was the last in a series that drifted too far from the thread they were posted in. If you'll like to pick up on the preceding action, follow this link All reasonable participation is appreciated.
  Thank you

Peaburner, I understand what you mean on the commute time. I think it all depends on how much you are payed at your current job and how much you will have to spend on commuting combined with how much time you spend in the usual bumper to bumper traffic. It is different for everybody. Obviously if you drive a gas guzzling SUV, you could get yourself a 4-cyl and save on gas, so that should not be part of the equation. And if you already have an hour and a half commute anyway because of the traffic, why not have an hour and a half commute doing 65mph heading west? At least your not sitting there. This is one of the biggest part of the equations. On my local news, they give a Poconos to NYC morning weather commute forcast because we do in fact have a lot of people commuting to NYC and NJ to work. This has been a trend in the area for a while which means people have in fact weighed the options you spoke about, and felt it was better to live in PA and work there. If it didn't make sense, people wouldn't be doing it.
My brother-in-law's property taxes are 3 times what I pay, and his wife had to get a job just to cover it. That's an extra $350 a month just to stay in his house! I mean if your talking wear and tear and gas $, you just recouped it right there. Or, move to PA, get a new car free. Now, like I said, I live too far away to work in NYC or NJ, but the property taxes in the Poconos are not too far off from me. So now the only factor left is the time, which will vary in your specific situation. Obviously if you can walk to work and make $150G's that person will be harder to convince, I guess. Or someone like you that has been in your job for three decades. Since your close to retirement, your kinda stuck. Other than that, IDK what your specific situation is. I wouldn't mind shelling out that kind of $ on taxes if I felt like I was getting something for it. Like maybe an ocean front, or a LOT of land or something. But you don't get that unless you want to pay even more.

If everything I said so far didn't have some truth to it, then why are you getting so offended?

"[quote="Dann757"]The only reason I stay in NJ"
In Danns own words.

Didn't realize this was in the "Jersey" section. I just saw it in the "new posts" and wanted to comment. Also didn't realize that there was a thread specifically for Jersey bashing. I'll move over to that one so I can continue my onslaught! LOL!

Look fella's, no hard feelings here. I just like to bust chops, especially when I can back it up with truth.

Moderator Deleted: double post.

• ... your comments are always appreciated. We just have to post them on the correct topic.

Truth? More like rationalizations. They are choices and associated costs to having made them. I'm glad we all have the choice.

I'm never sure I'd agree with what compromises the PA to NJ commuters have made nor am I the one to judge that they made their choice correctly. Personally I don't want to waste my lifetime sitting in a vehicle trying to get somewhere. I agree with you on that. I don't care if the car is a Mercedes or a KIA, new or a beater, or if gas is $2 or $6. If that was the case, I'd move. Many have made that wise decision.

I'm not offended. I never felt trapped, just confident in the choices I've made. I follow your logic. I've conclude your logic is partially flawed.

IMHO: Life is not infinite. Kids grow up fast. Lifestyle choices have an immeasurable intrinsic value. There is no Rewind button.
Play hard.

I like to write. I fly off the handle sometimes. I appreciate this forum very much. I just felt like defending my territory when somebody was bashing it. If you don't live here anymore, if you got out; and still need to bash it, then it's your peace of mind at stake. If I react to it, then it's my mistake.

It's like the old cliche, a guy's old lady calls the cops on him, when the cops arrest the guy the lady jumps on the cops back and says leave my old man alone

Infantile narcissism is illustrated by a toddler that hits his head on the coffee table; then hits the coffee table and says, "Bad coffee table!!"

I guess somebody hit their head on New Jersey.

Peaburner, I'm glad you moved this to the right spot because I guess it was falling a little off target. Seems like that thread was started so that NJ'ers can stroke themselves about how great they think they and the state are. I just felt compelled to level it out a bit, you know, bring it back to reality. Being a former NJ'er myself, who better than I can do that? Likewise, I'm glad you followed to me to this post to subject yourselves to some more abuse! So lets continue, shall we? :junmp:

I understand your logic about the lifestyle choices, peaburner, and that is exactly why I moved here. The whole "keeping up with the Jones'" is rampent in NJ. Everyone is trying to show that they have $ that they really don't have. I have first-hand knowlege of this. I've been in a few of those "mansions" in Morristown and Sparta and they were empty inside. They tied up all their income on the mortgage that there is nothing left for the furniture, just so they could have one of the biggest houses on the curb and make their neighbors go "oooo". It's so fake, it's not even funny. Now, since you two (Peaburner and Dann) burn coal (I assume, being on this site) I think it's safe to say that is not you, so congrats. Most people in NJ have this retarted notion that coal is for poor people. They would never get caught letting their neighbors see them get a load of coal delivered because, ooo, that might imply that they think the price of oil is too high. They are perfectly happy shelling out 5 or 6 grand a year to heat their homes, even though PA is right next door, and coal heats 10 times better. The only true rich people are the ones that figured out how to be fiscally conservative. The ones that you see throwing their $ out the door like that, are not rich. Being right next door to NJ, you would think that every damn house in Morristown and Sparta would be burning coal.
Here is another great example of this: Have you ever noticed how whenever you see a Mercedes, it's almost always not more than a couple years old? You know why that is? Because they are a lease. They can't REALLY afford to own an $80K vehicle, but they won't be caught dead in a Honda. So they lease. And leasing happens to be THE most expensive way to drive a vehicle. That's why car companies love it! Pay out the amount you would pay for a brand new Honda, but instead sit in a Mercedes to whoo your neighbors, and you never really owned a thing! Turn it in in a few years, and do it all over again! The car companies collect all that $, and then when you turn it in, they get to sell it outright for about the cost of a new Honda (or better) again after you have put some miles, dents and dings in it, and the car companies get payed twice for one car. It's a win win for them, and the only idiot that looses is the one that took the lease.
Mercedes I hear is a great, dependable car. Should last 10 to 15 years easily.
I never could align myself with this irrational thinking. I wanted a better life than that, and that is why I moved here. And since being here, that contrast has only become more evident. You wouldn't be able to see it as well as I can because you are immersed in it on a regular day to day basis. It's really funny. I can't speak on behalf of everyone, but one of you mentioned how PA and NY'ers hate NJ'ers. I believe this is why. I have come across people in MA that called NJ the Armpit of America because of the pollution. Seems to me that the only ones that think highly of NJ are NJers!

I don't know any families with the Jones surname that live in my area anymore. I once did, they moved out of state They were some of the nicest people you ever could want to meet. Their son remained here in NJ to farm and he still doing it.

Funny you should mention about the high end car rentals. I was just last week thinking the same thing. No joke.

It is easy speak in stereo types. They're easy for everyone to spot but not necessarily the norm. They can't really be disputed and if you could, why bother. There were a lot of people across the USA that got caught up in the real estate flipping scheme. We're all paying for that play in more ways than one.

MA is the armpit of America due to the politicians in Boston ....

I always called MA the ANUS of America. All the crap from all over the world ends up here.


Stoker, I see alot of the same thing you described up here. Empty mansions, but 2 brand new European cars/SUV's out in front of the 4 car garage that's jam-packed with kids stuff. Same mentality - everyone needs to impress their neighbors. Some of my friends even got caught up in that rat race. NO THANKS!

Everyone wonders why the divorce rate is so high up here. Is it any wonder? They finance a wedding similar to British royalty, buy the massive house with the massive mortgage ( and massive heating bill !) , buy 2 of the most expensive luxury cars on the planet & never put them in the garage .......... when the bills start pouring in, that's when the fighting starts. Then the fairytale comes crashing down. Soon the female starts thinking she could have done better with that other guy from college, & starts "working late". Happens every time, like clockwork. MA marriages are like Hollywood marriages. 6 months is a record!

Looking at all the mansions on the former cul-de-sac that I grew up on ... all I can think of is HAVE FUN HEATING THAT MONSTROSITY!!

What a society. The Founders would be appalled ....

Smitty, I know all about MA. I'm all over that state throughout the week for the last five years. I swear I know my way around Mass better than I do PA, and I live here! MA is NJ's sister. It really reminds me a lot of NJ. Same bullshit up (or should I say over) there too. I should start a Mass bashing thread too. First thing I would start off with that is how everyone there seems to have such a hard-on for NY, and how freaking crazy people are about the Red Sux (yes, the "u" was intentional) and the Patriots, (which by the way, just got stuffed by the worst football team in NY). But since this is a thread about NJ, that's all I'll get into that. Maybe Mass will be my next victim after I've had my fill with NJ.
PeePeeburner, I know a lot of people got caught up in that mess, NJ is not the only state full of fakes. I did a search online like a year ago, I can't remember what site I was on, maybe Zillow, but I compared the house values and their change around Sussex to where I live, and all those houses were dropping like a rock. Branchville was hit the hardest. They lost something like 25% since the crash. My house climbed 4% since I bought it 2 years ago, and it was one of the few places I could find that actually WAS climbing. There's a reason for that: to put it plainly, Jersey sucks! Who want's to buy an overpriced house with overpriced taxes in the middle of nowhere (assuming Sussex and Warren counties) with nothing around and nothing to do?

I just got back from that hell hole this weekend because my uncle got remarried. I was white-knuckling the steering wheel the whole time because the speed limits are set way too low for the road conditions, and I'm always afraid that there is going to be a cop hanging from a branch with a radar gun somewhere. I saw a trooper on 206 hiding in the median in the dark tagging people. I was thinking, god I hope there isn't a drunk driver coming up the road and has a head-on with him. I was like, really? For a speeding ticket? Didn't we defeat the Nazi's, or did they just move to NJ?

Fast forward to Sunday. We took the kids to Roba's Tree Farm in Dalton, PA for hay rides and apple cider. Speed limits on the roads were 55, and it felt like they should have been. I wasn't looking over my shoulder for a PA state trooper, or town cop for that matter, and it was a nice, stress-free ride, and I didn't feel like there was a camera on me or something. All the while I'm watching the water tanker trucks non-stop doing their rounds from the gas rigs. It was a great feeling. You couldn't PAY ME to live in Jersey again.