> In an archaic system dating to colonial New Amsterdam, he’s one of 35 mayoral appointees who compete for fees recovering debts. Marshals mostly evict tenants and tow cars, but Barbarovich and a few others have become cogs in a debt-collection machine that has crushed thousands of small businesses. They use their legal authority on behalf of lenders who charge more than some mafia loan sharks once did.
This needs to be fixed. Just e-mailed my City Council member, who is also the body's Speaker.
Irritated on so many levels. He is a public employee. He is abusing New York City's status as a financial hub. He's cramming garbage into our city's stretched judicial system, garbage protecting economic activity occuring pretty much wholly outside our city.
> In June, Biegel faxed an order demanding money to a bank in Elmira, New York, 173 miles northwest of the city. He claimed that a state court had entered a judgment against a plumber named Orion Megivern. That wasn’t the case. The lender had tried to enter a confession of judgment at a clerk’s office in Staten Island, but the clerk there hadn’t yet acted on the application
This is better than many U.S. states, where the highest-earning public employee is a football coach.
But let's also consider that in private industry, a great many people in finance make more money than almost every professor. In almost every major sport, a backup professional athlete makes more money than the U.S. general in charge of security and of every military asset and operation in the entire Mideast. How many professions make more than doctors who save lives daily? Than teachers?
The issue is that the current labor marketplace does not allocate resources to those who provide the most benefit to society.
Largely agree with your second two paragraphs, but even as someone who couldn't care less about football, I think it's hard to make the case that a predatory loan collector provides more benefit to society than a football coach.
I have to disagree. Someone getting paid a lot for unproductive work (football coach) is much better than someone who makes a lot through court-enforced theft (this guy).
I'm not sure what you are asking for: Evidence for the third paragraph? That's in the first two paragraphs. My economic theory of why the labor market works out that way?
Saw your comment before the edit. I think you’d have a difficult time convincing just about anyone that a publicly employed loan shark debt collector adds more value to society than a highly paid football coach.
Ah, that makes sense. Well, I'd argue that the football coach adds zero to society - someone else could do the job and society would be unchanged. A more productive football coach only increases demand for productive football coaches.
Is it to obvious or why is nobody expressing amusement upon the man's apt first name against the backdrop of the barbarism of what he calls his profession?
that's so relative. It is sooooo much more expensive to live up in New York with the cost of living higher than most states and all the taxes you have to pay... Remember that you have fed and state... also if you work in NYC you have to pay a special tax. Top that off if you live in NJ and work in NYC, you're really paying alot in taxes. So your 150K might be down to 80K after all the taxes and commuter fees (like tolls) you have to pay.
Except civic workers should be making middle class wages, especially ones that don't require extensive education. Why should a gilded class of unionized workers get these huge individual wages when the median family income there is still hovering around 55k.
This is a feature, not a bug. Just because wages haven't increased since the 90s and the middle class has collapsed in the US doesn’t mean the hard-won protections of unions should be slashed to match.
Its a fucked up situation. It is not equitable at all. For some reason the ever increasing government functionary class gets more and more of their fellow citizens hard earned wages.
Unions in the private sector provide workers protections from exploitative capitalists who exist for the sake of profit and profit alone. Public agencies exist to better society, if we paid these workers less, than we could hire more, and these sorts of jobs would be available to more people where services could potentially improve.
Why should a gilded class of web developers doing jobs that don't require extensive education get these huge individual wages when the median family income there is still hovering around 55k?
Because there's demand for developers that supply cannot meet, the demand to take on a civic job in NYC is tremendous, yet we constrain supply of these workers by paying very high wages.
These organizations are crippling the cities ability to deliver services, if wages were 2/3s of what they were now, they could hire far more employees and potentially provide better services all around.
Additionally, public sector unions are completely different than private sector ones. Concessions should be made to workers at the expense of capital not workers who make less than them.
You just answered your own question about why cops and firefighters in NYC get paid so well: there's tremendous demand for their services.
And the average cop almost certainly provides more value to society than the average programmer working on yet-another-CRUD-app. If wages were 2/3 of what they were now, even more companies could afford to higher programmers to build them custom CRUD applications to make their basic business processes more efficient and provide better services all around.
No there is tremendous demand to work in those fields, a demand that is not being met because of price fixing. They could lower their wages and hire far more people to provide better services.
There is no wage fixing in the tech industry in a way that results in people getting paid more.
preference != requirement. Some companies prefer to higher from a specific state school, that again causes them to pay more for less talented applicants.
Suppose you have two applications one with your hidden preference and one without. If your preference has say slightly less experience or requires slightly more pay, well they are a slightly better applicant in your mind so that’s ok.
Yes it is, the entire definition of middle class is median income. Just because the quality of life for the people within this income range has gone down does not make them any less middle class than they were before.
>the entire definition of middle class is median income
Nope. Middle class is a class of people, not an income range. They are typically described as people that work in stable salaried employment, with a pension or retirement plan, with the ability to afford a house with their spouse and education for their kids.
Either way, a single person making 60k would put them in the middle class should they have a spouse making the same amount. The real median wage is a little more than half of that.
Not at all. Let's run the numbers. The average cost of a 1 bedroom[1] apartment in the city nets out at $43k for the year, that's an entire spouse's net salary [2]. Average cost of childcare is anywhere from $15k-30k annually[3]. This is just baseline needs for two working parents.
NYC has tons of people who are living in rent regulated housing, but ignoring that, the average price is still shifted upwards by tons of apartments in manhattan that cost far more than the median. So assuming everyone is paying market rates, it's still not difficult to find an apartment that costs less than 2000/month, just look at zillow.
Additionally, childcare costs fall dramatically once your child is 3/4 years old as NYC has universal pre K with later cutoffs than other parts of the country. There would also be additional tax savings if you were married.
Add on the fact that you likely have far lower transportation costs than households in other parts of the country, and it makes more sense. Couples with a child who make 120k a year in NYC would not be precariat like members of the working class, they'd be able to save money and likely buy a home someday.
Just because they might be better off somewhere else in the country, doesn't mean they're not middle class. The middle class still struggles with more limited options around finances, what I will say is that the amount you need to earn to be in the upper class in NYC is far higher than in other cities.
No, wrong. It's not sooooo much expensive to live in NY unless you live in Manhattan along with bankers and media tycoons. In fact, most folks who work in Manhattan still come from outer boroughs and suburbs like LI, Queens and Brooklyn where the cost of living, especially rent, is nowhere as crazy. In fact, until a decade ago, Manhattan wasn't seen as an ideal place to raise families and most middle-class folks lived outside the city.
And you know this cause you have family and friends that live in LI and commute to NYC for work everyday like I do? And just to prove you don't know what you are talking about, below are links to a cost of living calculator
I know so b/c I grew up and lived in NYC since 1990. It's somewhat laughable to hear someone who claims to know so much about the city where the median median income is only $55k making such absurd claims to justify NYPD cops' $150K salary.
I personally don't have any problem with cops making that much money as long as the city is safe and they are not cheating the system. Having worked as a public servant at a less-offending NYC agency, however, the problem I see is that everyone is out to milk the system as much as possible and there seems to be almost little or no control over this (ie, wage inflation among "certain" class of public servants or opportunists).
Thank you, racist cops in NYC along side corrupt subway officials get to make competitive upper middle class wages, while public defenders and social workers get their budgets cut.
For a family with two children. Divide $130k in half and you get a realistic $65k each before taxes. (The calculator has a tax line item.)
Note, too, that this blends Astoria and Flushing. Friend of a friend is a single mom of three living in Jackson Heights on less than $65k. She commutes in by subway + LIRR or subway + ferry, using the time to consume audiobooks.
LI has crazy property tax. Most places in the outer boroughs in nice neighborhoods are still very expensive, and it can be quite the commute. NJ workers have to also pay NYC income tax in addition to NJ income tax.
Having lived in NYC for the first 20+ years of my life, I was sad to have to relocate, but the finances are just so crazy.
Some seem to believe NYC is one of the most progressive places in the country, but may not realize it's also known for most corrupt politicians and public servants.
>Some seem to believe NYC is one of the most progressive places in the country, but may not realize it's also known for most corrupt politicians and public servants.
Boston is terrible but nobody notices because NYC is nearby. NYC is pretty bad but they look good when compared to NJ that's the same but doesn't have the money to cover it up. NJ points at Chicago and say "well at least we can afford to buy the court system so our politicians stay out of jail".
I had a family member in state government. Even in some unremarkable department corruption is everywhere.
There was a Greek philosopher who said something like "more laws = more corruption". He was on to something. Too bad being in favor of big government is a prerequisite for being "progressive" these days.
Well if your platform is "Some Greek guy said something one time that agrees with me, I'm not sure what he said exactly", no wonder not many people are aligning themselves to your cause.
It's not so much who said it as someone said it a long, long time ago. This is the societal equivalent of someone complaining about a bug in the alpha version then the bug winds up getting shipped.
If officers who put their life on the line in the most populated/congested city for 150k are overpaid, then I'd like to talk to some software developers in San Francisco.
Being a police officer is less dangerous than being a house painter, convenience store clerk, taxi driver, or any of a multitude of jobs in which you are not given a stick and a gun and encouraged to use them freely.
Given that nearly half of work-related casualties police officers experience come down to things like heart attacks on the job, I'd be interested in seeing the statistics. Sitting in front of a computer cannot be good for long-term heart health.
Either way, it's more dangerous to be a pizza delivery boy than it is to be a cop.
Except that's not true as it stands right now, because if it were, companies would pay that amount since the private sector relies on markets to make decisions in a way the public sector often doesn't.
Have you ever seen an MTA job fair, thousands of people are fighting for jobs that are considered low skill when you start where they train you on the rest. They should lower wages until that line dies down and to maximize hiring with the same budget.
VCs have distorted the market for programmer salaries to the point that they are artificially 2x-3x what they should be in the absence of VC funding. When that bubble bursts, programming is going to return to its historic means, especially when most businesses start calculating the actual costs and benefits of the software they use/need. Until then, enjoy the party while it lasts.
I have to still disagree here, top tech companies have massive profit margins and could easily pay their employees far more than they do now. It's all about how much you prioritize talent, this said I would expect a deflation of new grad salaries with an increase in senior/principal salaries over the long run as is comparable with other human capital intensive industries like banking and consulting.
No it's not, there are millions of people living in NYC on half of that and they are supporting on average 2.67 people with that much money. Just because you cannot afford lower manhattan market rate real estate doesn't mean that you live in poverty.
I met an underwriter through synagogue who works at the predatory lending office mentioned in this article (Queen Funding LLC). I will have a talk with him about this..
Your friend will nod in agreement, but nothing will change. He went into the firm and is staying on mostly likely knowing what is going on, because the pay is too good.
That’s awesome. Hope it results in some positive action, but I’m not optimistic one person would maje a difference in the face of many getting fat off this.
I think you would be suprised if you looked into how much the history of many “progressive” cities still presents massive disadvatages and flaws that go against their present-day image. Some of the most “progressive” cities also have some of the longest and most troubling histories. They still manage to elect people like Giuliani and put in place policies like this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/09/21/it...
New York city might be more progressive than Fort Worth, TX, but there are still plenty of conservatives even though they might be in the minority.
The more cities I live in, the more I learn that the national stereotypes of “Democrat” and “Republican” are meaningless.
A Democrat mayor of one city might have views and policies that would be seen as fully Republican by people in another city, and vice versa.
National-level politics is more uniform. But when you get to the local level, it’s all simply people picking the team they think will help them win the election.
They cater to their voting blocks with blue meat issues or red meat issues depending on what they think is most popular. That's it. Point blank. It's about staying in power as long as you can until you can leave with a cushy job, most likely lobbying, "consulting" or under another administration where they can rake in revenues via corruption.
I live in Portland Oregon. Anybody from more conservative parts of the country reading through the platforms of the Republican candidates would have sworn they were the Democrat or Progressive candidates. Basically the options were between the Democratic democrat and the Republican democrat ;-)
But when you get to the local level, it’s all simply people picking the team they think will help them win the election.
A very nice observation. I do believe this occurs at the national level as well. One example being conservative Democratic Senators from the South becoming Republicans.
> One example being conservative Democratic Senators from the South becoming Republicans.
No, those were changes to adapt to national political realignment; they switched because the party they had been a member of stopped supporting the things they wanted.
Rick Perry(longest serving Republican governor of Texas) was a Democrat and in charge of Al Gore Presidential campaign in Texas in 1988. In Texas there was a massive exodus from Democrats to Republicans in 80s and 90s. Attributing that to Nixon's Southern Strategy is over simplifying. Reagan re-aligned politics in US.
Generally, the older the city, the more outdated and archaic laws they have on the books. Here are some interesting ones/quotes:
> “They go back to the 1700s,” he explained. “They were designed really to encourage and reinforce church attendance and they originally covered all sorts of behaviors . . . no playing games, no sports, no sex. Back in the day, George Washington almost got arrested for traveling on Sunday.”[1]
> “It’s easy to pass laws regulating people’s behavior,” he said. “It is very difficult to repeal those laws.”[1]
> A license must be purchased before hanging clothes on a clothesline[1]
> it is illegal to walk around on Sunday with an ice cream in your pocket.[2]
> it is illegal to have two or more people gather together in public while each wearing any sort of disguise or mask[2]
> A man cannot go in public wearing non-matching pants and jacket.[2]
> it's illegal to wear your slippers after 10pm[2]
> While riding in an elevator, one must talk to no one, and fold his hands while looking toward the door[2]
Are those laws actually on the books? Searching the laws of New York, I've been unable to actually find any of these supposed laws, and nearly everytime this comes up, the only citation for these laws still existing is other lists of crazy/insane/weird laws, with no one actually giving a specific reference to the law.
Edit: Actually, I did find a reference for one of the saner "weird laws": PEN § 240.35 paragraph 4 does define "Being masked or in any manner disguised by unusual or unnatural attire or facial alteration, loiters, remains or congregates in a public place with other persons so masked or disguised, or knowingly permits or aids persons so masked or disguised to congregate in a public place; except that such conduct is not unlawful when it occurs in connection with a masquerade party or like entertainment if, when such entertainment is held in a city which has promulgated regulations in connection with such affairs, permission is first obtained from the police or other appropriate authorities" as loitering.
With the advent of regulatory law the legal codes are no longer the full story. It’s quite possible they are decisions of a regulatory body which will not show up in statute.
Even if it's supposed to be a regulation (which, given the claim that these are really old laws still on the books, is unlikely), regulations are still public, citable documents that are relatively easy to track down.
Public and online are two different and unrelated things. Regulations that are dozens or hundreds of years old aren't easy to track down. Many large counties and towns here in New York don't have any of their records or regulations online at all. I recently had to go down to my (NY) town's city hall and pay with a paper check (the only accepted form of payment) to get a copy of my original land survey.
Again, note that many of the apocryphal stories about "weird laws still on the books" refer not to small cities, but the kind of large, old cities whose laws are easily accessible via the web.
The umbrella code of NYC is only a fraction of the regulations and codes that are on the books in every borough, town, municipality and numerous agencies in NYC.
> it is illegal to have two or more people gather together in public while each wearing any sort of disguise or mask[2]
Wearing a mask in public (or on private property without written consent) is a felony in Virginia punishable by up to 5 years in jail.
This has allowed for the identification and exposure of many attendees of the Nazi riot on August 11-12, 2017 who may have otherwise concealed their identities.
Anti-mask laws are mostly the result of masked terrorists like the KKK who exploited anonymity to commit their crimes[1].
> Many anti-mask laws date back to the mid-20th century when states and municipalities, passed them to stop the violent activities of the Ku Klux Klan, whose members typically wore hoods of white linen to conceal their identities.
While other states enacted mask laws in response to the KKK, in New York it was an attempt to maintain one of the last feudal systems in the western world.
I wish we had that in Oregon. Portland is plagued by masked Antifa rioters (and other groups) doing illegal acts. I doubt they'd be as bold if they were easily identified. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwTT-RiMSnQ
Most politicians only respond to their constituency’s votes. Whatever moves the dial in their direction. So you get regulation on many relatively small things but those things like this which have little visibility and little interest from fanatical voters gets little attention. Few people care. Just look at NYC infrastructure and look at their positions on issues very far away from them (international, sovereign state concerns, etc.), and you can see where their energy goes.
Social progressivism exists among citizens, and in turn that's what makes a city progressive in the eyes of people. Although with the case of many older systems, legacy corrupt political rackets still exist and aren't going away any time soon, as many of these people hold powers that could cripple the city.
Unpopular opinion, but I really respect this profession and people making the most of their circumstances. My girlfriend had a shitty landlord that withheld her deposit. She won in small claims court. She had no way to get the money after that. I have very little sympathy for people who owe a debt to be collected upon. Especially when they've signed the papers allowing it.
Also good on this guy for increasing his income from 90k a year to 1m.
I take it you missed the first article in the series?
> It’s like an arbitration agreement, except the borrower always loses. Armed with a confession, a lender can, without proof, accuse borrowers of not paying and legally seize their assets before they know what’s happened. Not surprisingly, some lenders have abused this power. In dozens of interviews and court pleadings, borrowers describe lenders who’ve forged documents, lied about how much they were owed, or fabricated defaults out of thin air.
> It said the Duncans had stopped making payments. That wasn’t true. The Duncans’ bank records show that Yellowstone had continued to get its daily $800 even after going to court. The company’s sworn statement also inflated the size of the couple’s debt.
These loans are like a slumlord requiring a "I confess to all future claims of damage to the property, agree to not contest eviction, and will still pay the entire year's rent if evicted" before the lease starts.
The only way to fight corruption, is to mercilessly reduce power of elected officials, or the officials appointed by elected officials. Via the vote.
There is simply no other way.
A hope for a powerful yet fair political elite without a term limit -- is analogous to believing that earth is flat.
These leaches will tell their voters, how they will 'fix things', and how the 'needy will be served', and how the unfair will be made fair, etc.
As long as they get the checkbook, the law enforcement and the media 'covering' for them.
There is little difference between the modern day enabled 'Progressive' politician, and the old day racketeering Mafiosi.
Both wanted to control their 'sphere of influence' by very similar methods. And both want their 'subjects' to be as powerless as possible (in both legal, and self-defense senses)
Both use a form of assassination to scare the opponents (mafia chose physical, and the progressive politicians go for the economic & character assassination first ).
This needs to be fixed. Just e-mailed my City Council member, who is also the body's Speaker.
Irritated on so many levels. He is a public employee. He is abusing New York City's status as a financial hub. He's cramming garbage into our city's stretched judicial system, garbage protecting economic activity occuring pretty much wholly outside our city.
> In June, Biegel faxed an order demanding money to a bank in Elmira, New York, 173 miles northwest of the city. He claimed that a state court had entered a judgment against a plumber named Orion Megivern. That wasn’t the case. The lender had tried to enter a confession of judgment at a clerk’s office in Staten Island, but the clerk there hadn’t yet acted on the application
That's wire fraud!