[T]he governor — by once again protecting tax breaks for 16,000 millionaires and using line-item vetoes on the Democratic budget — dramatically reduced potential school aid to suburban and rural school districts throughout New Jersey….

Taxpayers and schools throughout the state, no matter their locale, deserve fair and adequate funding. That’s why the responsible budget plan we Democrats submitted was based on the simple concept of treating everyone fairly, whether living in a city or a suburb….

That’s why I sponsored legislation to increase the income tax rate on 16,000 millionaires and also, by the way, to provide a much-needed tax break to senior citizen retirement income.

This was a reasonable request. Under the bill, each additional $100,000 earned above $1 million would cost that taxpayer an additional $1,780. And this isn’t to vilify millionaires. Such success is what America can be all about, and we celebrate it. In fact, millionaires are more than willing to be a part of the solution, yet the governor again vetoed the concept.

The result: The governor cut $492 million for suburban and rural school districts.

Fewer than half of Americans pay net taxes as it is. How much more money do you want to force out of people at the top of the food chain before it’s considered “fair and adequate funding”? Is it fair to take 50% of their money? 75%? 90%?

No problem, McKeon says, because “millionaires are more than willing to be part of the solution.”

So, does the Governor’s veto prevent them from giving money to the schools? Because if it doesn’t, McKeon can spend his considerable oratorical powers (which I saw on display when he was pulling down two taxpayer-funded paychecks, as mayor of West Orange and Assemblyman) to raise funds from the willing millionaires. I’m sure some of the 16,000 would be willing to give some money to the cause.

That’s not sufficient for McKeon or his party cohort, though. They want to make sure that everyone coughs up money, whether they agree with him or not. He will not vilify millionaires, but he’s sure willing to force them to pay for the causes he likes.

$492,000,000 / 16,000 = a $30,750 average tax increase per millionaire. This would be on top of whatever additional taxes President Obama tries to force through. This is money that could be driven to the private sector through investments, purchases, and other job-creating activities. How about letting them spend it instead?

McKeon thinks Governor Christie is wrong to let the millionaires keep their money. I say that if his ideas are so great, he should be able to convince the millionaires to give it up voluntarily.

Over the past three years, the Democrats have increased government spending by a jaw-dropping 88%, taking out increases for defense, homeland security, and veterans’ affairs. While the Democrats have drastically increased discretionary spending, the country has almost 10% unemployment, the budget deficit is $1.3 trillion and the nation’s debt is now $13.4 trillion.

Despite all of their profligate spending the past three years, they cannot seem to develop and interest in just 61 billion dollars in spending.  To put it in perspective, the Federal budget in 2010 was a little over 3.4 trillion dollars.  As a percentage of that budget, the Republicans are looking for a SYMBOLIC cut of 1.7%.  And that is just too much for the Democrats to bear.

Imagine their response when we have to really start cutting.  Pathetic.

receiving death threats since yesterday over their vote to reign in public sector unions.   

Here is the text of one threatening email in its entirety:

Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your familes
will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks. Please explain
to them that this is because if we get rid of you and your families then it
will save the rights of 300,000 people and also be able to close the deficit
that you have created. I hope you have a good time in hell. Read below for
more information on possible scenarios in which you will die.

WE want to make this perfectly clear. Because of your actions today and in
the past couple of weeks I and the group of people that are working with me
have decided that we’ve had enough. We feel that you and the people that
support the dictator have to die. We have tried many other ways of dealing
with your corruption but you have taken things too far and we will not stand
for it any longer. So, this is how it’s going to happen: I as well as many
others know where you and your family live, it’s a matter of public records.
We have all planned to assult you by arriving at your house and putting a
nice little bullet in your head. However, we decided that we wouldn’t leave
it there. We also have decided that this may not be enough to send the
message to you since you are so “high” on Koch and have decided that you are
now going to single handedly make this a dictatorship instead of a
demorcratic process. So we have also built several bombs that we have placed
in various locations around the areas in which we know that you frequent.
This includes, your house, your car, the state capitol, and well I won’t
tell you all of them because that’s just no fun. Since we know that you are
not smart enough to figure out why this is happening to you we have decided
to make it perfectly clear to you. If you and your goonies feel that it’s
necessary to strip the rights of 300,000 people and ruin their lives, making
them unable to feed, clothe, and provide the necessities to their families
and themselves then We Will “get rid of” (in which I mean kill) you. Please
understand that this does not include the heroic Rep. Senator that risked
everything to go aganist what you and your goonies wanted him to do. We feel
that it’s worth our lives to do this, because we would be saving the lives
of 300,000 people. Please make your peace with God as soon as possible and
say goodbye to your loved ones we will not wait any longer. YOU WILL DIE!!!!

I find it amazing that for two years now, tea party activists have been accused of threatening violence

and racism with no evidence.  They were called “teabaggers” in reference to a homosexual act because

many enlightened liberals including the President of the United States thought it was cool.    Their motives

were questioned and their integrity questioned.  And yet, all the violent acts are always on the other side.

I cannot wait to see this story his the evening news.  Anyone want the over/under on whether

this story makes the New York Times or MSNBC?

Read the entire story here.

Ten Myths About the Bush Tax Cuts-and the Facts

Myth #1: Tax revenues remain low.
Fact: Tax revenues are above the historical average, even after the tax cuts.

Myth #2: The Bush tax cuts substantially reduced 2006 revenues and expanded the budget deficit.
Fact: Nearly all of the 2006 budget deficit resulted from additional spending above the baseline.

Myth #3: Supply-side economics assumes that all tax cuts immediately pay for themselves.
Fact: It assumes replenishment of some but not necessarily all lost revenues.

Myth #4: Capital gains tax cuts do not pay for themselves.
Fact: Capital gains tax revenues doubled following the 2003 tax cut.

Myth #5: The Bush tax cuts are to blame for the projected long-term budget deficits.
Fact: Projections show that entitlement costs will dwarf the projected large revenue increases.

Myth #6: Raising tax rates is the best way to raise revenue.
Fact: Tax revenues correlate with economic growth, not tax rates.

Myth #7: Reversing the upper-income tax cuts would raise substantial revenues.
Fact: The low-income tax cuts reduced revenues the most.

Myth #8: Tax cuts help the economy by “putting money in people’s pockets.”
Fact: Pro-growth tax cuts support incentives for productive behavior.

Myth #9: The Bush tax cuts have not helped the economy.
Fact: The economy responded strongly to the 2003 tax cuts.

Myth #10: The Bush tax cuts were tilted toward the rich.
Fact: The rich are now shouldering even more of the income tax burden.

You can follow the detail behind this research by Heritage by following this link.  Myth 10 has always been my favorite

as it has been at the heart of the class warfare argument-’stick it to the rich guy by repealing the cuts’.  And this charge from Heritage

based on the CBO tells it all.

Dear New Jersey Democrats, you aren’t Hugo Chavez and N.J. isn’t Venezuela

Regarding your demands in the state legislature that the state government make like a Hugo Chavez and go after the wealthy for more income tax revenue:

Regarding your vow to veto the Democrats’ legislation to grab more money from the wealthy: Stick to your guns, big guy!

From January through September, New Jersey collected $20.34 billion in taxes — a loss of one of every seven dollars collected in the same period in 2008.

The decline in New Jersey mirrored the experience of state governments nationwide in 2009, according to the census bureau’s report. Collectively, the states absorbed a 13 percent drop in tax collections.

This news should not be filed in the “breaking news” category for most normal people in the State of New Jersey. One of the more interesting parts of the article was a photo of Jon Corzine with the following caption:

New Jersey is on pace to end the year with the first drop in state tax collections since 2002. Gov. Jon Corzine, seen here in a November photo, has tried to address revenue shortfalls by using federal stimulus money, deferring pension obligations and raiding surplus accounts and dedicated funds to offset the losses.

It is in this caption that the Star Ledger really captures the problem both with Jon Corzine and Trenton’s approach to serious issues. Notice that the “solution” per Democrats in our state was:

1. Use Stimulus money (thereby not stimulating)
2. Deferring pension obligations
3. Raiding any department left that is fiscally responsible by taking their surplus money

Notice that NOWHERE does it mention two simple words. Cut. Spending.

Five years ago, our state ran just fine with a 20 billion dollar budget. We could have paid for the entire budget by September even in this terrible economic situation if the budget was 20 billion dollars. That is the real issue impacting New Jersey citizens. And until our politicians GET IT, we will continue to have issues.

Read the Star Ledger article here.

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) — New Jersey, the third-most indebted U.S. state, will sell more than $200 million in bonds today to finance voter-approved capital projects a week after Governor- elect Christopher Christie said he opposed borrowing more money.

The state will issue $209.1 million of bonds, including $205 million of tax-exempt securities, the largest such competitively bid offering in the market today, according to Bloomberg data. Christie, a Republican who defeated Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine last month, said he opposed new bond sales after the state last week detailed $2.7 billion in borrowing it plans for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends in June.

It appears that the last acts of the Corzine administration will be apply the maximum amount of long term financial damage to the citizens of New Jersey before they leave office.

The Labor Department said Friday that jobless rate rose to 10.2 percent, the highest since April 1983, from 9.8 percent in September. The economy shed a net total of 190,000 jobs in October, less than the downwardly revised 219,000 lost in September, but more than economists expected.

Economists say the unemployment rate could climb as high as 10.5 percent next year because employers remain reluctant to hire.

And what is the President and Congress doing about it? They are trying to ram down our throats a 1.8 trillion dollar healthcare bill that won’t reduce costs, won’t improve your care and still won’t insure everyone. And it won’t get you a job. But one thing it will do…raise your taxes.

And if you want to understand who is driving this bus, all you need to do it look at the White House Visitor’s log to see who spends the most time there – Andy Stern of the SIEU(from workerfreedom.org via Americans for Tax Reform).

The White House released an incomplete list of visitors who met with President Obama and top White House officials. Predictably, Andy Stern, President of the Service Employees International Union, stopped by the White House more than any other visitor. The Wall Street Journal Reports:

“Andrew Stern visited the White House 22 times between Inauguration Day and July 31, meeting with President Barack Obama seven times and leading all visitors recorded during that period.”

You don’t know who the SIEU is? They are the union that show up in purple shirts (IE the Liberal Astroturf) at every protest to outshout the regular people.

Are you getting it yet?

Despite concerted government-led and lender-supported efforts to prevent foreclosures, the number of filings hit a record high in the third quarter, according to a report issued Thursday.

During that time, 937,840 homes received a foreclosure letter — whether a default notice, auction notice or bank repossession, the RealtyTrac report said. That means one in every 136 U.S. homes were in foreclosure, which is a 5% increase from the second quarter and a 23% jump over the third quarter of 2008.

This was the start of the financial crisis. So, the government shores up the banks so that Goldman Sachs can distribute record bonuses by trading on taxpayer money. The politicians get busy on:

- Cap and Trade
- Stimulus for their union friends
- Healthcare reform that won’t save money and won’t reform healthcare

And the foreclosures keep piling up…