The pandemic housing market has been especially tough for homebuyers looking at the lower end of the price spectrum, so many are looking at alternative financing through land contracts, which can be particularly predatory. While it can be a potential path toward...
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In the News
Inflation Is Causing Real Pain. But Raising Interest Rates Will Make It Worse
Today American policymakers face a stark choice. Either, they can fight inflation by continuing to hike interest rates to generate unemployment and bring down aggregate demand. Or, they can employ a surgical approach that reins in the price increases that...
Commentary: Donate an organ, save a life
Every nine minutes, though, another person is added to the waiting list. While 169 million people in the United States were registered as donors as of 2021, not everyone who registers is able to donate. In fact, only three in 1,000 people die in a way that allows...
Quitting is literally paying off for most workers, study finds
Paychecks didn’t keep up with inflation for a majority of workers who stuck with the same employer. And with employers still saying they’re desperate to hire and can’t find qualified candidates, Carl Van Horn at Rutgers University’s workforce development center...
N.J. ranks 19th worst for pedestrian deaths, study says
Infrastructure design needs representation from community residents, said Equitable Cities, LLC CEO and Founder Charles Brown, a Rutgers Bloustein School of Public Policy alumni. “We need better processes with full participation by minority groups. We need...
N.J. oversight could have kept university from financial peril
Bloustein Policy Fellow, and former chair of the Board of Governors of Rutgers University, Linda Stamato argues that the elimination of the state Department of Higher Education and the state Board of Higher Education has led to the current mismanagement of New Jersey...
Gavin Rozzi Revolutionizes OPRA Requests in NJ with Website
Bloustein Adjunct Professor and RUCI Lab Research Computing Specialist Gavin Rozzi Revolutionizes OPRA Requests in New Jersey with a Website called OPRA Machine. “I tried to get basic records — copies of checks and financial records — for investigative pieces. But...
Ocean county no longer among the oldest in NJ
New affordable housing in Ocean county is attracting a younger crowd. More retirees are electing to stay in their homes rather than move to the 55+ communities that drove up the median age in the southern part of the state. Dean Emeritus James W. Hughes discusses the...
How strong is the US economy? Depends on which party you ask
The jobless rate is at a record low of 3.6%, but consumer prices are up 9.1% as of June 2022. Are we officially in a recession? That depends on who you ask. “It suggests, overall, the economy is weakening, it’s certainly losing steam, where there are storm clouds not...
NJ Government Records has Nearly Two-year backlog
Bloustein Professor and Local Govt. Research Center Assistant Director Marc Pfeiffer weighs in on the nearly two year backlog at https://nj.gov/grc/. “The law was written with an appreciation for the technology at the time, for the procedures at the time,” Pfeiffer...