Things not so peachy in the Garden State

[boxcar]

Full Text of Gov. Chris Christie's speech on fiscal 'state of emergency'

Here is the excerpt I love best:

For example, the state cannot continue to subsidize New Jersey transit to the extent it does. So I am cutting that subsidy. New Jersey transit will have to improve the efficiency of its operations, revisit its rich union contracts, end the patronage hiring that has typified its past, and may also have to consider service reductions or fare increases. But the system needs to be made more efficient and effective.

The state cannot this year spend another $100 million contributing to a pension system that is desperately in need of reform. I am encouraged by the bi-partisan bills filed in the Senate this week to begin pension and benefit reform. I commend President Sweeney and Senator Kean for leading the way to begin this long overdue set of reforms. I am sure our Assembly colleagues will follow suit with the same kind of bi-partisan effort.

He slams unions that control the public sector -- specifically in his speech the transit union in his state.

And you know what? This is the PERFECT time to come down with a huge hammer on these unions because sizeable (but still reasonable) reductions in pensions would still be received by workers -- perhaps reluctantly, angrily -- whatever. But at the end of the day due to the economic environment in the private sector, where are these overpaid, underworked public employees going to go? To the private sector to find their dream jobs? :lol: :lol:

I wish the new Governor well and do hope he succeeds in his state as this would give impetus and provide encouragement to other governors to follow his path.

Here is the full speech to the State House. It's quite long.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/02/chris_christies_speech_on_budg.html

Boxcar

[NJ Stinks]

Here's a quote from the governor's speech I find interesting:

Some, both inside and outside this chamber, will urge you to retreat to the corner and protect your own piece of turf. Our state is in crisis. Our people are hurting. Now is the time when we all must resist the traditional, selfish call to protect your own turf at the cost of our state. It is time to leave the corner, join the sacrifice, come to the center of the room and be part of the solution. I urge all of us to come to the center of the room voluntarily, to stand up to the special interests, to fix our broken state – together. For those who continue to defend the old ways of selfishly protecting turf, who stay in the corner defending parochial interests, please be on notice – people of good will who want a better, stronger New Jersey will band together to come into those corners and drag you to the center of the room to make our state the place we know it can be.

He could just as easily be talking about national heathcare reform.

[boxcar]

Here's a quote from the governor's speech I find interesting:

Some, both inside and outside this chamber, will urge you to retreat to the corner and protect your own piece of turf. Our state is in crisis. Our people are hurting. Now is the time when we all must resist the traditional, selfish call to protect your own turf at the cost of our state. It is time to leave the corner, join the sacrifice, come to the center of the room and be part of the solution. I urge all of us to come to the center of the room voluntarily, to stand up to the special interests, to fix our broken state – together. For those who continue to defend the old ways of selfishly protecting turf, who stay in the corner defending parochial interests, please be on notice – people of good will who want a better, stronger New Jersey will band together to come into those corners and drag you to the center of the room to make our state the place we know it can be.

He could just as easily be talking about national heathcare reform.

But he wasn't. This is all you have to say about the dismal state of affairs in which your liberal politicians have put your state? You're pathetic.

Boxcar
P.S. Furthermore, the health care system in this country isn't broken, so not a good analogy, as usual (coming out of you). The current free market health care system does not need to be demolished with a wrecking ball, which is what libs ultimately want to do.

[NJ Stinks]

But he wasn't. This is all you have to say about the dismal state of affairs in which your liberal politicians have put your state? You're pathetic.



Thanks, Boxcar.

I could add that I find his shots at NJ Transit weak and weaker. By population density, we are #1. Any reduction in mass transit useage means more clogged roads, more fuel consumed, and more pollution. Which in turn means quality of life drops like a rock here. Cutting mass transit subsidies in NJ is like Florida cutting it's publicly subsidized tourism-marketing agency. :rolleyes:

However, I agree with state workers and teachers contributing toward their healthcare and pensions. It's long overdue.

[ArlJim78]

I'm really impressed with what Christie is doing so far. He's really cracking heads and facing the problems head-on. Make no mistake about it, this same tough approach will have to be used in many of the troubled states if they are to make it. Illinois, NY, Ca. Of course we will have to do it on the federal level as well.

[riskman]

Full Text of Gov. Chris Christie's speech on fiscal 'state of emergency'

Here is the excerpt I love best:

For example, the state cannot continue to subsidize New Jersey transit to the extent it does. So I am cutting that subsidy. New Jersey transit will have to improve the efficiency of its operations, revisit its rich union contracts, end the patronage hiring that has typified its past, and may also have to consider service reductions or fare increases. But the system needs to be made more efficient and effective.

The state cannot this year spend another $100 million contributing to a pension system that is desperately in need of reform. I am encouraged by the bi-partisan bills filed in the Senate this week to begin pension and benefit reform. I commend President Sweeney and Senator Kean for leading the way to begin this long overdue set of reforms. I am sure our Assembly colleagues will follow suit with the same kind of bi-partisan effort.

He slams unions that control the public sector -- specifically in his speech the transit union in his state.

And you know what? This is the PERFECT time to come down with a huge hammer on these unions because sizeable (but still reasonable) reductions in pensions would still be received by workers -- perhaps reluctantly, angrily -- whatever. But at the end of the day due to the economic environment in the private sector, where are these overpaid, underworked public employees going to go? To the private sector to find their dream jobs? :lol: :lol:

I wish the new Governor well and do hope he succeeds in his state as this would give impetus and provide encouragement to other governors to follow his path.

Here is the full speech to the State House. It's quite long.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/02/chris_christies_speech_on_budg.html

Boxcar

The Governor should lead the way. Take a salary and expense cut and reduce the state contribution to his pension plan. Also might consider taking a motorcycle to work if he can get his fat ass in the seat and calling livery service for his daily appointments. Could also tighten the rules for handing slush funds to the state legislators. It is time to end these slush funds and send the money where it is most needed. Start cutting at the top although this might be hazardous to Mr. Christies' health.

I do agree with what the governor said about the NJT. Wish him luck, but then again this is New Joiesy.

[bigmack]

Good for Christie. Not an easy thing to do but it's got to be done.

He puts the ball in the transit court by demanding they become more efficient and Stinky runs with more pollution. :eek:

Meanwhile, on Pluto, riskman brings up Christie's weight shoring up his credibility as that of a putz. Get these simple minded maroons out of the way and let Christie keep cuttin' & slashin'.

[skate]

He could just as easily be talking about national heathcare reform.

Why, Why , why do you and others keep doing this sort?

It's almost like a handicapper who pics the color of the horse and the capper that looks at pace and form and class and you conclude (don't let me put words in your mouth) "THE_SAME".

No point in my trying to add that YES yes yes sir, everyone would like to see health care.:cool:

[skate]

Meanwhile, on Pluto, riskman brings up Christie's weight shoring up his credibility as that of a putz. Get these simple minded maroons out of the way and let Christie keep cuttin' & slashin'.

There you go, good call.

I too am tired of using a horn, from now on just run em over. Too much at stake.

[riskman]

Meanwhile, on Pluto, riskman brings up Christie's weight shoring up his credibility as that of a putz. Get these simple minded maroons out of the way and let Christie keep cuttin' & slashin'.

Meanwhile, on the Left Coast Big Mack now has the ability to read my thoughts about Christie--How do you do that?. If you knew anything about Christie, he would be laughing his ass off at my post. The man has a sense of humor and during many of his interviews prior to being elected made many jokes about his
weight. And yes, this maroon will step aside and let your hero do his cuttin and slashin -- Let the fun begin !

[bigmack]

Meanwhile, on the Left Coast Big Mack now has the ability to read my thoughts about Christie--How do you do that?.
I rolled out my crystal ball and read what you typed. Alakazam.

Also might consider taking a motorcycle to work if he can get his fat ass in the seat and calling livery service for his daily appointments.

Naturally, you have carte blanche to mock his heft because he has done so himself. :rolleyes:

[riskman]

There you go, good call.

I too am tired of using a horn, from now on just run em over. Too much at stake.

Need a good lawyer? Christie I hear was a good prosecutor and could play the other role if required. When the stakes are high, hire the best.

[Robert Goren]

I wish the people of New Jersey luck. I doubt that this slash and cut stuff will work. It hasn't here Nebraska. Our unemployment is the highest it been like for ever. What few jobs we have pay minimum wage. Even the supposed good jobs pay about 80 cent on the dollar. It also hasn't worked in South Carolina. Among the lowest states in taxes and the highest in unemployment. One thing for sure this post will get ignored by the tax and spend cutters on this board. All they want to talk about is a couple of states and avoid even mentioning states like SC that doesn't fit in to their idealized world of low taxes will solve everything.

[bigmack]

I wish the people of New Jersey luck. I doubt that this slash and cut stuff will work.
Will work for what? If you have $100 would you go out and spend $250?

If you don't think spending is the problem, you've missed yet another boat.

[Robert Goren]

Will work for what? If you have $100 would you go out and spend $250?

If you don't think spending is the problem, you've missed yet another boat. If you think cutting spending recklessly like SC, you'll be in a leaky boat without a paddle. It has really work well for them, hasn't it?

[bigmack]

If you think cutting spending recklessly like SC, you'll be in a leaky boat without a paddle. It has really work well for them, hasn't it?
What was reckless was the spending. Desperate times deserve desperate measures. I'm ready to debunk your assumption that budg cuts have made SC lessor of a State.

[Robert Goren]

What was reckless was the spending. Desperate times deserve desperate measures. I'm ready to debunk your assumption that budg cuts have made SC lessor of a State.Why is the unemployment so bad there then? I don't know if made it any lessor, but it sure hasn't made it any better.

[bigmack]

Why is the unemployment so bad there then? I don't know if made it any lessor, but it sure hasn't made it any better.
You're running a household. As mentioned, you have $100/day and you've been spending $250/day. You cut your expenses and your kid is flunking math. Why hasn't your spending cuts helped your kid in math?

In other words, what do spending cuts have to do with a quick turnaround in UE?

[Robert Goren]

You're running a household. As mentioned, you have $100/day and you've been spending $250/day. You cut your expenses and your kid is flunking math. Why hasn't your spending cuts helped your kid in math?

In other words, what do spending cuts have to do with a quick turnaround in UE?Absolutely nothing, which is my point. There are posters who think it is the cure all for everything. It is not. Neither are large tax cuts, just ask Ireland how that work out for them.

[ArlJim78]

I wish the people of New Jersey luck. I doubt that this slash and cut stuff will work.
New Jersey has the highest per capita budget deficit in the nation.
Their constitition mandates that the budget must be balanced.
According to you cutting doesn't work.
So the question to you is, how do you make up the shortfall without cuts?

[bigmack]

Absolutely nothing, which is my point. There are posters who think it is the cure all for everything. It is not. Neither are large tax cuts, just ask Ireland how that work out for them.
So, while this thread addresses spending cuts you've chosen to move off in a tax cuts & unemployment direction even though you admit they have nothing to do with spending cuts. Alrighty then. :rolleyes:

[NJ Stinks]

Instead of blaming NJ Transit, etc. Christie's party should be looking in the mirror. Bigmack claims this budget crisis has nothing to do with tax cuts when, in fact, it has everything to do with tax cuts. Read the NY Times editorial below from 2007 and you might learn something about the origin of NJ's budget problems today.
__________________________________________________ _________

New Jersey
History’s Painful Fallout


Published: April 15, 2007
If anything good comes out of New Jersey’s pension crisis, it will be a newfound awareness among politicians and voters alike of the dangers of overblown promises to cut taxes. Overpromising, together with the willingness of both Democrats and Republicans to use any gimmick conceivable to avoid a tax increase, is what put New Jersey in such deep trouble in the first place.

The essence of the problem, as The Times’s Mary Williams Walsh revealed, is that there is nowhere near enough money in the bank to pay New Jersey’s looming pension obligations. But the origin of the problem is traceable to September 1993, when Christie Whitman, then the Republican candidate for governor, promised to cut most income taxes 30 percent over three years in a last-minute effort to overcome the surprisingly resurgent incumbent, Jim Florio.

Mr. Florio had been lagging in the polls for weeks partly because he had raised taxes, but he had pulled even. At the urging of her advisers, Mrs. Whitman, a moderate by instinct, promised a huge tax cut and pledged to pay for it by making whatever spending cuts were necessary. Mrs. Whitman won, though narrowly, but upon taking office she found it difficult to make up for the lost revenue; big spending cuts were almost impossible since about half the money in New Jersey budgets is legally obligated and cannot be eliminated.

In 1997, facing deficits not only in the state budget but also in the pension fund — a deficit caused by years of missed payments and other fiscal sleights of hand — she and her advisers came up with an ingenious proposal to stave off the problem: borrow more than $2.7 billion against the pension fund and use the money to make up for the revenue gaps. With the economy flourishing, the interest the state would have to pay on the loan would be more than a percentage point below the rosy estimates of what the money could earn through investments. That would be enough to eliminate the need for immediate contributions to the pension fund and help out with the state’s budget.

More at the link below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/opinion/nyregionopinions/njpension.html

[boxcar]

If you think cutting spending recklessly like SC, you'll be in a leaky boat without a paddle. It has really work well for them, hasn't it?

Cutting "recklessly" would be far preferable to the current reckless spending going on in DC and numerous states.

And please define for us what you would consider to be reckless cuts?

You see...here's one of the huge problems states have coming right out of the chute -- public sector unions because public sector employees, generally, are grossly overcompensated in pay and benefits and underworked. And who pays for this? Those of us who work in the private sector. We pick up the public sector's tab because no government is self-sufficient. No government has ever generated any real jobs. No government has ever created wealth. No government has ever created prosperity. The only folks who do these things are those of us who work in the private sector -- those of us who are entrepreneurs. Those of us who are investors, etc. All governments are dependent upon the private sector for money. Therefore, we need to cut off our money to governments. Governments are like a spoiled brats who are never satisfied with what they already have. They always want more...and more....and more. Little kids believe in their hearts that their parents have bottomless pockets, or that they grow money on some tree somewhere. Likewise, governments believe The People's pockets are also bottomless. The People will always find a way to give, give, give, give...so governments believe. At some point someone has to have the courage to shut off the money spigot. And that will never happen with any liberal politician.

I bet you dollars to donuts, Mr. Goren, that you don't manage the finances of your household the way the U.S. government and most state governments manage the nation's and state finances, respectively. Do you, sir? If you don't, why not? If a government spending us into oblivion is such a great way to live, then why aren't you doing it? I bet you that you don't have to make any "reckless cuts" to your household budget because you didn't spend with reckless abandon in the first place! Am I warm here?

Boxcar

[boxcar]

Instead of blaming NJ Transit, etc. Christie's party should be looking in the mirror. Bigmack claims this budget crisis has nothing to do with tax cuts when, in fact, it has everything to do with tax cuts. Read the NY Times editorial below from 2007 and you might learn something about the origin of NJ's budget problems today.
__________________________________________________ _________

New Jersey
History’s Painful Fallout


Published: April 15, 2007
If anything good comes out of New Jersey’s pension crisis, it will be a newfound awareness among politicians and voters alike of the dangers of overblown promises to cut taxes. Overpromising, together with the willingness of both Democrats and Republicans to use any gimmick conceivable to avoid a tax increase, is what put New Jersey in such deep trouble in the first place.

The essence of the problem, as The Times’s Mary Williams Walsh revealed, is that there is nowhere near enough money in the bank to pay New Jersey’s looming pension obligations. But the origin of the problem is traceable to September 1993, when Christie Whitman, then the Republican candidate for governor, promised to cut most income taxes 30 percent over three years in a last-minute effort to overcome the surprisingly resurgent incumbent, Jim Florio.

Mr. Florio had been lagging in the polls for weeks partly because he had raised taxes, but he had pulled even. At the urging of her advisers, Mrs. Whitman, a moderate by instinct, promised a huge tax cut and pledged to pay for it by making whatever spending cuts were necessary. Mrs. Whitman won, though narrowly, but upon taking office she found it difficult to make up for the lost revenue; big spending cuts were almost impossible since about half the money in New Jersey budgets is legally obligated and cannot be eliminated.

In 1997, facing deficits not only in the state budget but also in the pension fund — a deficit caused by years of missed payments and other fiscal sleights of hand — she and her advisers came up with an ingenious proposal to stave off the problem: borrow more than $2.7 billion against the pension fund and use the money to make up for the revenue gaps. With the economy flourishing, the interest the state would have to pay on the loan would be more than a percentage point below the rosy estimates of what the money could earn through investments. That would be enough to eliminate the need for immediate contributions to the pension fund and help out with the state’s budget.

More at the link below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/opinion/nyregionopinions/njpension.html

And I would add that the pension fund was and still is wayover-bloated to begin with. Public sector employees can contribute about 150K or so into the fund over their employment span and be guaranteed in return over 3 MIL in health care benefits and pensions checks beginning at the ripe old age of 49 years old. :rolleyes: That is absurd on the face of it. And all those employed in the private sector are paying for this with their tax money!

Boxcar

[Robert Goren]

The government does generate real jobs. Being a police officer is a real job. So being a fireman. A lot of the military is real jobs. We may disagree on what the government should and should not do, but I find it hard to believe that you say the government has no place in anything and noboby in government has a real job.

[Robert Goren]

So, while this thread addresses spending cuts you've chosen to move off in a tax cuts & unemployment direction even though you admit they have nothing to do with spending cuts. Alrighty then. :rolleyes: I am sorry, but I thought it was about the sorry mess that the state NJ's budget was in and how to fix it. I am sure I could find things in NJ's budget to cut, but I am not sure you and I would agree on them.

[boxcar]

The government does generate real jobs. Being a police officer is a real job. So being a fireman. A lot of the military is real jobs. We may disagree on what the government should and should not do, but I find it hard to believe that you say the government has no place in anything and noboby in government has a real job.

No, they don't. The government doesn't create that job because taxpayers pay the salaries of the police, for example. The only people who actually create jobs are those who have their OWN money to pay their employees. Government has no money, save for that which is collected through taxes from taxpayers. Government is NOT finacially self-sufficient or self-sustaining, nor will it ever be. In these senses, then, government doesn't create anything -- except an awful lot of misery and unnecessary complexity for the people when it gets too big. At this, government excels.

Boxcar

[Robert Goren]

No, they don't. The government doesn't create that job because taxpayers pay the salaries of the police, for example. The only people who actually create jobs are those who have their OWN money to pay their employees. Government has no money, save for that which is collected through taxes from taxpayers. Government is NOT finacially self-sufficient or self-sustaining, nor will it ever be. In these senses, then, government doesn't create anything -- except an awful lot of misery and unnecessary complexity for the people when it gets too big. At this, government excels.

Boxcar I am done debating this idea that the government doesn't create jobs. I think it does. I think what you posted is double talk foolishness.:bang: Have a good day.:)

[ArlJim78]

Robert, it's not government that creates the need for police and fireman. It's communities with homes and property to protect that creates the need for those jobs. Local governments are entrusted and paid to administer to those jobs, but you can't say that it was the government that created those jobs.

Government really doesn't create anything.

[boxcar]

Robert, it's not government that creates the need for police and fireman. It's communities with homes and property to protect that creates the need for those jobs. Local governments are entrusted and paid to administer to those jobs, but you can't say that it was the government that created those jobs.

Government really doesn't create anything.

Well stated: These libs think governments are tooth fairies that wave their little magic wands and produce jobs out of nothing for no rational reason.

Boxcar