Christie's gutsy proposal on jobs

Businessweek reports on our Governor making a seriously hard choice politically:

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie proposed cutting benefits to the state’s more than 400,000 out- of-work residents to blunt a rise in business taxes that may be triggered by a shrinking unemployment trust fund.

Christie, 47, seeks to reduce the maximum weekly payment by $50 as joblessness stands at a 33-year high of 10.1 percent. Businesses may face tax increases averaging 52 percent if lawmakers don’t support the plan, Christie said.

“This falls into the category of things I wish I didn’t have to do,” Christie told reporters today in Trenton. “It’s not what I would prefer to do but it’s what I have to do to be a responsible steward of the finances of this state.”

The Republican governor and lawmakers have said the state fund will need a $1 billion infusion as increased joblessness and past transfers of money to finance other government operations may leave it unable to cover expenses as soon as March. Any gap may trigger increased unemployment levies under the insurance fund guidelines.

The amazing part of this decision is that Christie is weighing the downside benenfit of a $50 dollar difference in benefits against the negative business impact that might cause a local NJ business person to fire someone. I am extremely proud of the Governor because he seems to get that minor things right now are spooking business and driving the economy down. His (almost) minimalist message here is that the state is 'paying attention' and cares whether or not you (the employer) has to pay more or may no longer be able to afford the employees you currently employ.

Well done, Governor.

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New Jersey Democrats' Weaselly Budget Comments

Here are my reactions to the Assembly Democrats' commentary regarding Governor Christie's budget. When I've commented inline, my comments are in italics.

Assembly Budget Chairman Lou Greenwald (D-Camden):

“I thank the acting treasurer for testifying and answering our questions. I had hoped that this would be the start of a renewed bipartisan effort to find alternatives to Gov. Christie’s budget cuts. The governor’s cuts hike property taxes, threaten health care for the middle-class and poor and forsake opportunities for federal funding.

Assemblyman Greenwald, in this statement you have merely (a) pretended that you don't support high taxes, (b) talked about not cutting funding, and (c) made the non-controversial claim that we should try for more federal money where possible. (By the way, "Federal" money is no panacea. It's still paid for by some taxpayer somewhere). Unless you show how you intend to actually make cuts, you're completely unserious about any "alternatives" to Gov. Christie's actual budget cuts.

“We will continue our efforts to slash spending, but we must do it in a sensible way that doesn’t leave us with an even higher property tax burden, more unemployment and a devastated cancer research industry, among other impacts.

Assemblyman Greenwald, in order to continue efforts to slash spending, you first have to actually try to slash spending. And if you want to promote employment and any type of industry, why not try cutting the tax burden on businesses?

“We need to be making educated decisions and taking advantage of all opportunities to obtain federal aid that is rightfully ours and will help reduce the impact on our property taxpayers.

Duh. But what cuts do you recommend?

“Gov. Christie is not doing that here, but the impact on people’s lives is worthy of a greater debate.”

By making us dependent on the New Jersey Nanny State, you and your fellow Democrats have already had a bad impact on people's lives. When someone comes along, after years of devastating Democratic spending, and offers concrete ideas to eliminate a $2 billion budget gap, the "greater debate" that you call for is really just disingenuous partisan obstructionism.

Assembly Budget Vice Chairman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic/Bergen/Essex);

“It is my hope that we can take a step forward and find ways to work cooperatively toward slashing spending but in a way that doesn't devastate our middle class, commuters, college students, seniors and our most vulnerable New Jerseyans. Everyone needs to be involved in serious bipartisan discussions if we're going to right our state's financial ship in the most judicious way possible."

Where was the bipartisanship when Assemblyman Polistina was trying to get you to stop runaway spending two years ago? You just rode over the top of him, spending, spending, spending. And now look -- our middle class, commuters, college students, seniors, and most vulnerable New Jerseyans are devastated because we can't pay our bills. Don't lay this at the feet of Governor Christie. This is your mess.

Assembly Appropriations Chairwoman Nellie Pou (D-Passaic/Bergen):

“These hearings have been invaluable in giving the public the open debate and discussion Gov. Christie’s plan initially lacked. Residents have had the chance to hear the impact Gov. Christie’s cuts will have on their lives, and they now expect us to move forward together to find alternatives that won’t hurt education and health care and boost property taxes.”

Governor Christie laid out his planned cuts in the open. What you mean is that these hearings have given you a propaganda platform to lay out anecdotes about people who are being hurt by cuts, in the hopes that these anecdotes will paper over the destructive Democratic policies of the last three administrations.

You're talking like a pro-heroin advocate who, showing a man suffering the symptoms of withdrawal, claims that we need an alternative to going off of heroin.

And again -- if you want to find "alternatives", name them. Actual cuts, please.

Assemblywoman Joan Quigley (D-Hudson):

“Gov. Christie’s plan to withhold adult education payments is just one of many examples of a short-sighted move. Ensuring quality adult education is available to those who need it not only boosts self-confidence and improves lives, but helps keep our economy in step with ever-expanding global competition. This is among the areas I hope to now see get a second-look.”

You know what else improves self-confidence? Having a job. You know how to get a job? Help businesses provide them by reducing taxes.

You know what else keeps our economy in step with ever-expanding global competition? Having more jobs available. You know how to make more jobs available? Help businesses provide them by reducing taxes.

Do you sense a trend?

Assemblyman Gordon Johnson (D-Bergen):

“Gov. Christie’s cuts send the wrong signal to middle-class New Jerseyans, but at least now we can hopefully work together to find alternatives, with the Legislature’s input valued. Cutting the budget to increase property taxes is certainly not the way to go.”

What, then, was the right signal? Was it the right signal to continually live beyond our means? Was it the right signal to continually increase services on the backs of taxpayers? Was it the right signal to put special-interest groups -- I'm thinking here of labor, in the form of Jon Corzine's fornication-toy Carla Katz, for instance -- ahead of the ordinary, non-unionized middle-class New Jerseyan?

Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester/Cumberland/Salem):

“Now that we’ve heard from the acting treasurer, I’m hopeful that we can work together to solve this budget shortfall in a way that doesn’t disproportionately hit the middle-class and people less fortunate with higher property taxes and more job losses.”

I'm hopeful, too. Name a way to cut two billion dollars from the budget without doing that. Christie has. Now it's your turn. Real cuts, please.

Assemblyman Albert Coutinho (D-Essex):

“We have to work together – Democrats and Republicans, the Legislature and the governor – to protect the middle-class and poor the best we can so we create as little pain as possible. I hope we will especially rethink any illogical plan to leave federal dollars on the table when hospitals in particular are struggling and NJ FamilyCare is also in line for cuts. Gov. Christie’s cuts will have unintended consequences that hurt the state of New Jersey.”

The pain has already been caused; the addiction is fully in place. Withdrawal symptoms will happen. These were caused by Democratic control of this state. You have put us here.

You may not have intended these consequences, but they are the ones you have inflicted on us. How, then, can you snivel about unintended consequences of someone who is at least trying to wean us off of our addiction?

Assemblyman Peter J. Barnes III (D-Middlesex):

“Government must be leaner and more efficient and we must reduce costs, but Gov. Christie’s cuts would hurt middle-class families and jeopardize the education of our children. Now maybe we can cooperatively find alternatives that do otherwise.”

Interesting that in all of these statements I can't find a single way to "find alternatives." Not one.

These Democrats are simpering whining weasels. Their own words convict them. I despise them.

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Malcolm X and the Nanny State

I'm reading Malcolm X: The End of White World Supremacy, four speeches edited and with an introduction by Benjamin Goodman, a.k.a. Imam Benjamin Karim. (As he explains in his introduction, he was initially "Benjamin 2X" when he joined the Nation of Islam. The introduction is worth as much as the speeches.)

There are lots of things that strike me when I read about Malcolm X. I am white, so to some extent I read what he writes as an adversary (by his choosing, not mine), but he's still so very worth reading. The man who looks for accuracy in ancient historical detail will be scandalized, but the student of human nature can find absolute gems. This is a perceptive man, and an honorable man (despite issues that he may have had), in the sense that he was fighting for what he sincerely believes to be The Good.

Here's one example from a news story of April, 1957, in which he addressed police officials after a black man named Hinton Johnson was (according to the story) beaten viciously by white policemen and kept from receiving appropriate medical treatment:

"We do not look for trouble," he told police officials. "In fact we are taught to steer clear of trouble. We do not carry knives or guns. But we are also taught that when one finds something that is worthwhile getting into trouble about, he should be ready to die, then and there, for that particular thing."

Yes, sir. What a perfect articulation of my feelings about power and rebellion. Powerful stuff indeed, and completely in line with the assembly, at that time, of thousands of blacks with complete discipline, eschewing violence, in support of Hinton.

Nice. But what does this have to do with taxes in New Jersey?

I was struck by this passage in his speech called "Black Man's History" (read it or listen to it):

The so-called Negro are childlike people -- you're like children. No matter how old you get, or how bold you get, or how wise you get, or how rich you get, or how educated you get, the white man still calls you what? Boy! Why, you are a child in his eyesight! And you are a child. Anytime you have to let another man set up a factory for you and you can't set up a factory for yourself, you're a child; anytime another man has to open up businesses for you and you don't know how to open up businesses for yourself and your people, you're a child; anytime another man sets up schools and you don't know how to set up your own schools, you're a child. Because a child is someone who sits around and waits for his father to do for him what he should be doing for himself, or what he's too young to do for himself, or what he is too dumb to do for himself. So the white man, knowing that here in America all the Negro has done -- I hate to say it, but it's the truth -- all you and I have done is build churches and let the white man build factories.

You and I build churches and let the white man build schools. You and I build churches and let the white man build up everything for himself. Then after you build the church you have to go and beg the white man for a job, and beg the white man for some education. Am I right or wrong? Do you see what I mean? It's too bad but it's true.

None of what follows should be seen as belittling Malcolm X's legacy or the serious strides that blacks have had to make to reach this point in history. It's more of a practical and tactical application of his strategic and even prophetic statements.

See how he admonishes his people for allowing others -- those who dominate in the culture -- to do things for them? He strikes exactly the right note with me regarding the aptly named nanny state. Corzine told us we should do stem-cell research. He also told us we should create "green jobs". President Obama tells us that we need green jobs, too, and, along with his cronies in the House and Senate, forced us to allocate three-quarters of a trillion dollars to "stimulus spending".

They want to build the factories, metaphorically speaking, and we'll end up begging them for jobs.

Worse: Reid, Pelosi, and Obama want to take over healthcare. It's just funding, of course, but those who fund are also those who build. When everyone does what the Federal Government says, and pays the Federal Government its taxes in order to pay for those gifts that the Federal Government bestows on us, isn't it then the Federal Government that is building the hospitals? Isn't it the Federal Government that is creating new medical treatments? Isn't it the Federal Government that is deciding what treatments we can get, and what treatments we can't?

And aren't we then just children? We're letting them handle healthcare -- along with our food, clothing, and shelter; along with the cars that General Motors will build; along with the salaries that AIG will pay; along with the energy we're allowed to make and consume; along with every other detail of our lives -- because we don't know how to do it ourselves, or we're too weak to, or we're too dumb to.

I could go on, but I think the point is clear. The term "nanny state" could not be more accurate. As we keep abdicating more and more responsibility to the state and federal governments, we are reverting to a childlike state. We are letting the government call us "boy". Even if I believed that the government could run things better than the collective abilities of 300 million Americans could, I would find that repugnant -- and I would hope that all liberty-loving Americans would as well.

I disagree with a lot of what Malcolm X preached, but there's no doubt that he understood people. He knew what made humans tick. He also knew what subservience meant. And he knew enough to fight it.

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Frank Lautenberg has cancer

Yesterday it was reported that Frank Lautenberg the second oldest U.S. Senator has stomach cancer. From a personal standpoint, I wish the Senator well and we should all keep him and his family in our prayers.

That being said, the Senator should step down. As we posted here many times in the past our Senator has not represented the taxpayer of this state. When Lautenberg entered the Senate the first time in 1982, one of his key campaign promises was to improve New Jersey's net federal taxation/spending ratio. At the time, New Jersey only received 72 cents in benefit for each dollar sent to Washington. Now, 28 years later New Jersey receives only 61 cents in benefit for each dollar sent to Washington. By any objective standard, Lautenberg has been a complete failure using his own argument for his candidacy.

Add to that his complete refusal to even campaign during his last re-election effort. They hid away from the press and the voters of the state of New Jersey for fear he would appear out of touch or make a major gaff. He represents the interests of Harry Reid and the most liberal elements of the Senate while ignoring the needs of the citizens of NJ. In this climate, he would clearly not be re-elected if he were to run today.

Isn't it time to restore representative government to New Jersey? Let the Senator retire gracefully and worry about his health. And let someone else worry about New Jersey.

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Christie has Democrats hopping mad!

It was very interesting this week to see the reaction of Governor Chris Christie's executive actions to get the state's fiscal situation under control. In case you missed it and only read the newspapers, here is the action the Governor took this week (from the Office of the Governor, NJ):

Withholding $475 million in local school aid for the balance of the fiscal year, with the amount of individual aid reductions tied to surpluses in the school districts. The withheld aid will not result in any reduction in approved school spending this year.

• A $62.1 million reduction in aid to county and senior public colleges and universities, also tied to existing surpluses.

• A $12.6 million reduction in hospital Charity Care, representing a 4.2 percent reduction.

• Capture of $158 million in unexpended balances from the Board of Public Utilities‐administered Clean Energy Fund.

• Capture of $13.8 million in surplus balance from the Homestead Rebate program.

• Take a balance of $15.9 million in unused grant money remaining due to reduced service
requirements in the Division of Youth and Family Services. Delayed programs and capital projects total more than $115 million. There was no reduction in municipal aid.

Other programs that sounded good in theory but failed in practice are being scrapped and their balances used in the budget solutions. InvestNJ was designed to spur job growth by giving out tens of millions of dollars to businesses at a rate of $3,000 per new hire. However, it experienced only limited success. Consequently, $57.9 million in InvestNJ funds will be used in the budget solutions.

Funding for the Office of the Public Advocate is being discontinued, and its present balance of approximately $600,000 will be used in the budget solutions. Necessary functions of the Public Advocate will be consolidated into other parts of state government.
Where possible, the Administration focused first on programs where there would not be
any negative effect on programs. That analysis resulted in $454 million in savings or areas of over funding. The targeting of waste and abuse resulted in approximately $70 million in savings.

This is just the beginning – a down payment – on the Administration’s plan to go deeper in finding wasteful spending in the new fiscal year.

After years of watching former Governor Corzine tell us he "didn't take this job to be scrooge", it was refreshing to see an adult approach to governing the state. And if you wondered if these changes are serious, all you need to do it watch the reaction from the Democrats who caused this mess:

NJ Democrats take aim at Gov. Christie's cuts to NJ Transit, school funding
The Star-Ledger - NJ.com

Democrats critical of Christie's budget
Philadelphia Inquirer

NJ Gov. Christie's state of fiscal emergency decree brings fury from Democrats
NJ.com (blog)

Apparently Governor Christie is stirring up a bees nest. And he is just getting started. Keep it up Governor.

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Your tax dollars at work: In St Croix

Fox News is reporting that congressional Democrats have approaved the purchase of 50 million dollars worth of parkland....in St Croix.

Two weeks ago, on a near party line vote, a huge Democratic majority in the House agreed to spend $50 million to buy the former cotton plantation on the island of St. Croix.

"This is a beautiful and important natural and cultural resource that is in danger of being lost forever," Virgin Island delegate, Donna Christiansen, told House colleagues in January.

"The site to be designated as the Castle Nugent National Historic Park continues to be heralded as one of the last pristine areas in the region."

The mixture of dry forest and rangeland offers picturesque views of the Caribbean Sea, but good luck getting there. Critics in Congress say the purchase is wasteful and irresponsible, especially with unemployment at 10 percent and the nation in debt.

For this one time...I am speechless.

Read the article here.

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Leaving New Jersey

Yep, that's pretty much it.

I'm not sure whether linking to this image is stealing bandwidth or just giving credit where it's due. Cagle.com doesn't seem to give a unique URL that will allow me just to link to the image.

Click the image to be taken to Rob Tornoe's section of cagle.com.

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When they tell you how great Canadian healthcare is....

Just refer to this (From this in National Post):


Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is to have heart surgery in the United States later this week, a press conference this morning is expected to confirm.

Media reports last night suggested the popular 59-year-old Premier has opted not to remain in his home province or country for the scheduled surgery, opting instead for treatment at a U.S. institution. The exact destination is not known.

If Democrats succeed in destroying healthcare in the United States, where will we go?

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Obama's budget: $1.7 trillion in new spending

Following his theme of avoiding even the consideration of a spending decrease, Barack Obama has proposed a new budget short on spending cuts but long on taxes and debt. From the Heritage Foundation:

Over the 10 years in which both budgets overlap (FY 2010-2019), this year's budget would spend an additional $1.7 trillion and run up an additional $2 trillion in budget deficits (see Table 1).[1] In fact, this year's proposal shows annual budget deficits as much as 49 percent larger than last year's proposal--raising the debt by an additional 6 percent of GDP over the same period. It is a spending spree that will drive up both taxes and deficits.

Growing Debt

In addition, the President's budget would:

•Permanently expand the federal government by nearly 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) over 2007 pre-recession levels;
•Raise taxes onall Americans by more than $2 trillion over the next decade (counting health care reform and cap and trade);
•Raise taxes for 3.2 million small businesses and upper-income taxpayers by an average of $300,000 over the next decade;
•Borrow 42 cents for each dollar spent in 2010;
•Run a $1.6 trillion deficit in 2010--$143 billion higher than the recession-driven 2009 deficit;
•Leave permanent deficits that top $1 trillion in as late as 2020; and
•Double the publicly held national debt to over $18 trillion.[2]

And these are just some of the highlights. I sure hope that the congress has a little more self-preservation instinct than this President. He does not seem to get that his credibility is almost completely shot and his small suggestion for spending freezes (which will only impact a very small part of the budget) and his phony "deficit reduction commission" (non-binding of course) are transparent attempts to once again fool the voting public that spoke so clearly in Massecheusetts.


Keep it up Mister President. You are working hard to make the best deficit reduction plan come true-a one term presidency of Barack Obama.

Read the entire Heritage Foundation summary on the budget here.

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