I agree 100% with the study. I have worked in manufacturing for the last 20 years. A 50 + year old company I worked for is on the brink of collapse. The one after that saw orders drop over 40% from 2010 to 2011. The one I am presently working for saw the largest account orders drop from $500,000 in 2010 to $65,000 in 2012. While the cost of living keeps going up my property value continues to plummet. So really my only asset, my home is worth less than what I owe. I find it really hard to see where the "recovery" is. I see in my line of work things are still on the downward trend. Where is the "recovery"?

Hey, everyone who lost their homes can pitch a tent in the Foodtown parking lot or the new Trader's Cove park.
After all, our leaders spent 20 million dollars of YOUR money to purchase them and they belong to us.

I mean no disrespect to author of the article for altering focus, but i thought it related to mention the planned destruction of 40 acres of wooded area by the Church of Visitation to construct two huge cemeteries, a mausoleum, and beautiful parking lot, an empty field (to replace all of the "wildlife refuge" i guess...) and a Faith Formation Center.

The relevance here is that the hundreds of bordering households are going to witness their property value further plummet. As the article and commenter above relay, many of us owe more on our homes than they are worth as a result of the continued hemorrhaging housing market.

To think that Brick Twp. would potentially permit this plan to advance beyond the application stage with awareness (as many of us have been calling the planning board) of the direct negative effects upon residents when we are all struggling to stay above water is absurd.

For anyone interested in voicing concern, please consider contacting the planning board and attending the yet-to-be-scheduled town meeting.

Thank you for your time.

"The group also suggested increasing the availability of so-called "microloans," small loans provided to struggling borrowers with little credit history or collateral"

Isn't that partially how this country got into the trouble it's in? People taking out loans that they can't afford? Borrowing more of what you can't pay back is not a solution and any group that proposes that as a solution should be ignored.

4 years ago alot of people voted for CHANGE.Well they got it.But the rest of us that did not vote for this CHANGE also got screwed.Please remember this when you vote in November.Lets do what we can to get this country back in the right direction.

You wanted hope and change you got it. Does anyone believe that the Democrats represent whites anymore.

Daniel: please make sure the major and town counsel get this article. We (the tax payers) want them to reduce spending…….. not buying/building marinas, wind mills, solar fields, Foodtown Shopping Centers, etc…….. The expansion of government equals an increased tax burden on its residents

Seriously, whites? Who even talks like that? They represent all Democrats: white, black and everyone else.

That is how this happened. Whites were so concerned about making things good for everyone else and look how good things are for whites now. Who is looking out for you, what special interest group are whites in.

You cannot believe I use the word whites yet everyday we see Black Community, etc. Stop using any special interest group moniker of you object to it.

Oh boy. Try 99.9% of corporate lobbying. Spending millions of dollars to have policies and policy makers bend to their will. Doesn't get much more Special Interest than that. News flash... They just opt not to share their spoils with you.

This illusion of racial conflict within the same socio-economic class has been around since the pre-Revolutionary War to distract us from the power mongers grabbing everything for themselves.

We are all people you ignorant slob...
Whites? Seriously? This is why we get called bricktucky.
My vote is not based on skin color. It's based on who has more to offer. And with womens rights tipping the scale heavily. I seek to secure my daughters rights. The economy is f-ed no matter who is in office. Every empire falls... it's our turn... we have fallen behind in everything compared to other countries.
jaded by hate the lot of you...

All I know is I work over time all the time and still can't make ends meet. I'm totally over worked and under paid. I miss out on tons of things with my children cause I have no choice. I only wish to make enough to pay my $1600 rent and utilities, car insurance, gas, lunch money, now school supplies and so on.every month without having to say " sorry honey maybe next time I can get it for you". I'm very open with my children, they know we struggle, they know 1st hand how hard it is out here. I just pray things get easier and that our government considers the fact that most of us are a few steps away from being homeless.

There seems to be a misunderstanding out there in what I call Corporate and Political La La Land. They don't seem to understand that those of us in the middle class are tapped out, finished, done! It seems the companies keep nickel and diming us, the politicians seem to think we can make money appear to pay new taxes or the tax that's hidden as a fee out of thin air . We can't, we are strapped so what can we do? The American public has forgotten how much power they have and instead have become sheep not realizing the clout they have in both the commercial and political world, you just have to wield it! I myself became tired of Comcast and Verizon increasing rates . So I put up an antenna, and I receive a great picture and sound and I'm happy. I kept Comcast only for Internet, when I find a cheaper provider, I'm gone from that too. I got rid of my Verizon landline, kept my cell service with a different company and again I'm very happy with that arraignment. I was very hesitant getting rid of my landline, what I found out is, I don't miss it at all and I should have done that years ago. I stopped having the Asbury Park Press delivered, I don't miss that at all, I get all my news on the Internet. Bottom line is, I'm saving almost $250.00+ a month going back to basics. Next getting rid of the politicians that lied to raise our taxes, got rid of half of them the other half and Acropolis Novermber 2013. Back to basics people, it's cheaper!

Bricktucky = House rich and Cash poor......just the way both gang of thiefs likes it !!

House rich? It always amazes me that people in other states have 3x's the square footage compared to my little ranch. Paid half of what we are paying and 1/4 of what we pay in taxes.
Seriously over 4 grande a year in taxes for less then 1000 square footage. Yup house rich...

Things are unfortunately going to get much worse. What's happening in the periphery of Europe will extend to the core of Europe. Then it will jump to Japan, UK, and finally the US

There will be no political solution to all of this. Only collapse. It's too far gone.

Our politicians have p_ssed away the privilege of world reserve currency status and we will soon feel the real effects of decades of credit based wealth.

""There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved."

Ludwig Von Mises

Each party looks for someone to get "that" vote. The Republicans wanted Rubio to get the Hispanic vote. Obama will get the Black vote. Who will work to get the vote of the white middle class is my question. Answer is nobody because as long as you refuse to look at yourselves as a voting block or special interest group you are nothing. You are a divided amount of people with no voice.

It never ceases to amaze me. Just once maybe we could stay on topic. This article is not about black, white, orange or purple. It is not about Republicans or Democrats.

The article is about the tax payers getting tax right out of their homes, here in Brick so the Mayor can have a yacht club, and a political buddy gets to build a solar field on your dime, it is about the games, the lies and the threats the Mayor has used to tax you out of your homes.

Seriously, get your heads out of your butts, knock it off with the racial comments, and the political attacks, and DO something instead of acting like a bunch of children.

I agree with many in this thread. I just would like to know whats the answer. How do I get out of my house that nobody wants to buy and flee elsewhere? Im tired of it also. I work between 55-60hrs a week travel an hour to and fro, my wife works and we have a baby on the way. We would be living like kings in another state if we could find jobs paying the same or close. New Jersey is not for the middle class any more. In short time all that will be left is millionaires and welfare receiptants. Sad huh?

This goes beyond township politics. I am a single mother of 3 that makes what would be a very nice wage in any other states, but in NJ is not enough to get by. I commute 60+ miles one way to work. I have 1 child in college, and twins that are seniors. I can't afford in state college tuition for 3 kids, never mind out of state, while kids in other states can attend 4 yr. colleges at a reasonable cost. My oldest is attending community college and will transfer to a 4 yr. school next yr. There is no savings, no planning for retirement. We don't live extravegantly- no dinners out, take out 2 or 3 times a month. My kids all work and pay for their gas, spend money, and clothes. It is so difficult to live here, yet I love all NJ has to offer.

The system is collapsing. It is just a matter of time. Not long either. Every town, county, state and the feds are broke. They are all in debt beyond the taxpayers ability to pay off the bonds.

Way too many people started living way beyond their respective incomes 10 to 15 yrs ago. 2 expensive cars in the driveway, more than i vacation a year, and using the equity in their home like a credit card. Now it's payback time and most folks cannot pay back what they borrowed. If your income drops, it's time to "downsize" your lifestyle. Some folks do, and many others don't. They will keep their $200 a month cable package on right up to the day their house is sold at a sheriff's sale. Some people cannot let certain things go and are determined to live a certain way whether they can pay their hardcore bills ( mortgage, taxes and utilities) or not. Oh and when junior turns 17 he winds up with a newer car than mom or dad are driving. 5 cable tv setups in one house, cell phones galore even for an 8 yr. old. People are living way over their heads and really have to get back to basics to survive !!!!!

Basic cable tv was around $6.95 a month when it first came out in Herbertsville. In the early 70's I think.

There will always be wants vs needs. I do not miond paying cable bill, but now it is over 100.00 and everything has commecials on it anyway. What am I paying for then, These networks should pay Comcast to carry them or no one would see their programs and they could not generate advertising revenue.

Who is representing us to make certain we have jobs, and good paying ones. Answer is no one because you, the middle class is not organized.