June 29, 2010 0

Legislature passes reduced budget! Christie to sign.

By Dennis in Uncategorized

From the Philadelphia Business Journal:

New Jersey lawmakers passed a $28.4 billion fiscal year 2011 state budget early Tuesday that slashes municipal and school aid and suspends property tax rebates for this year.

The budget is scheduled to be signed by Gov. Chris Christie Tuesday afternoon, just hours before the state’s midnight June 30 constitutional deadline to have a budget in place.

Christie praised the budget, a 9 percent reduction from the current year, for closing an $11 billion budget gap without raising taxes. But New Jersey’s Democratic-controlled legislature was critical of the many cuts, which include an $820 million reduction in school aid, a $407 million reduction in municipal aid and the elimination of $848 million in direct property tax relief.

While this budget probably doesn’t go far enough to reduce the out of control spending in the State of New Jersey, it  is a major step in the right direction.  In a climate where no one really got all that they wanted, for the first time in a long time, legislators in Trenton actually did their job.  Instead of sitting around thinking of ways to spend other people’s money, they went through the bloated budget and changed the trajectory of spending for the first time.  And they should be applauded Democrat and Republican alike.

At least some of them…

“This is a budget that spares no one but the wealthy and does nothing to cure New Jersey’s addiction to property taxes,” Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Louis D. Greenwald, D-Camden, said, adding that relief would be eliminated in 2010 for:

• 468,000 senior homeowners who received $1,295 each in property tax relief;

• 36,000 senior homeowners who received $763 in 2009;

• 278,000 working class homeowners who received $892 in 2009;

• 230,000 working class homeowners who received $670 in 2009; and

• 108,000 senior tenants who received about $700.

The budget also reduces funding for High-Tech Business Tax Credits and eliminates the state’s Film Production Tax Credit.

In a moment of sanity in Trenton, Mr Greenwald (D-Camden) reminds us all that gross fiscal irresponsibility is just a blink of an eye away at any moment waiting in the wings.  For the Assembly Budget committee chairman is angry that someone taped his cookie jar closed.  You see Mr Chairman, the cuts you refer to are not cuts at all.  They represent the elimination of several of your favorite wealth re-distribution policies.  And if you and those that think like you would get on board with the Governor’s property tax cap ballot initiative, we would take another major step forward in curing New Jersey’s fiscal mess.

The wealthy are not the problem in this state.  Frankly, they pay most of the bills for your fiscal fecklessness already.  YOU are the problem Chairman Greenwald.  And one of the best ways you could personally help the state of New Jersey is to step down.  Immediately.  And let the adults take over.

 
Read more: Christie set to sign N.J. budget that’s 9% lower than last year – Philadelphia Business Journal

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June 11, 2010 0

Looking for your local Tea Party Group?

By Dennis in Uncategorized

We get a lot of requests from folks looking for their local Tea Party.  During the initial run up a year ago, we used to post the events around New Jersey of which we were aware.  However, this can be very time consuming and really requires an environment conducive to that kind of community outreach.

The best way that we know of to connect to your local Tea Party or 912 group or to find out about local events, is the web site www.teapartypatriots.org.

You can then click on the SEARCH tab and view the results by State and select New Jersey.  It will show you the events and groups in our state.

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June 9, 2010 0

NJ Primary day: Nothing new

By Dennis in Election day, Elections

Tuesday was primary day in New Jersey and for those looking for any seismic shift in the political winds, you won’t really find anything to analyse.  The media wants to paint the story as the Tea Party against incumbents:

Incumbents sweep New Jersey Congressional  Primaries (NY Times)

N.J. congressional incumbents win primary elections despite tea party-backed challenges (Star Ledger)

GOP incumbents in New Jersey Beat Back Tea-Party Challenges (Wall Street Journal)

The real question here is why is the impact of the Tea Parties so much stronger away from New Jersey?  I suspect it has more to do with the feelings of the voter’s belief in other places that they can actually effect change.  And since primary day in New Jersey is really all about parties and the games has always been wired there, most people just didn’t pay attention. 

I read a blog comment earlier that the reason NJ was unaffected by the “tea party” surge experienced by other states is that our citizens are so much more educated unlike their “stupid redneck uneducated brethren in the south”.  Not sure how this jibe with California and Nevada but let’s go with it.

If New Jersey voters are so smart, why do they routinely accept corrupt machine politicians as status quo and almost NEVER hold them accountable.  If they are so smart, why do they accept that government employee unions literally control Trenton, from candidate funding in the assembly and senate to their local school board.  And why would a really smart person fall for one of the dumbest talking points of all time: Tax the rich guy because he has too much and he can pay for the state’s problems instead of me (This same ‘smart’ person of course has seen their property taxes go up 100 percent in the past 5 years and their gross state tax burden increase by at least a third since Bush was elected).

That’s not smart.  That’s stupid.  And when this  same person bemoans the lack of real choice in November here while spirited competition is running red hot in California, Nevada, Florida, South Carolina and many other states, remind them how smart they were on a day in June.

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June 4, 2010 0

Trentonian: NJ isn’t Venezuela!

By Dennis in Chris Christie, Democrats, Governor Christie, New Jersey Democrats, New Jersey Taxes, New Jersey spending

This editorial in today’s Trentonian was so good I had to share it in its entirety.  The link is here.

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:

1. Did you know that New Jersey’s wealthy already shell out a big portion of that tax? The richest 1 percent fork over something like 35 percent of the total collected. The state Treasury Department keeps data on this, in case you’re interested.

2. Ever hear of a concept known as “private property”? We suggest you look it up. After you do so, proceed to point No. 3.

3. Nothing in the state or federal constitutions, nothing in state or federal statutory law and nothing in historical tradition authorizes you to grab other people’s money. This includes even people who, in your opinion, have more money than you think they need or deserve.

4. The economy largely runs on private wealth. Affluent people, by and large, don’t stuff their money in a tin can and bury in the backyard. They typically invest some of it and spend some of it. In either case, it’s useful economic activity. It helps create or sustain jobs. Snide, sophomoric comments about “trickle-down economics” don’t change this reality.

5. Remember those things, “jobs”? You may find this an amazing revelation, but jobs are a crucial issue other than just in the bureaucracies of the public sector.

6. New Jersey’s grabby rates of taxation on the upper brackets already have driven billions of dollars of wealth out of the state. There have been studies on this. You might check them out, if you can take a break from your busy schedule of dreaming up new tax-collection schemes.

6. Try to keep in mind as you strive to put together a state budget that there are stakeholders in the process other than just NJEA, CWA, AFSCME, SEI, etc.

7. Also try to keep in mind that even though you do possess, as the legislative branch of government, authority to enact tax measures, you aren’t Hugo Chavez and New Jersey isn’t Venezuela. (Not yet, anyway.)

8. And remember this: As the results of the last gubernatorial election demonstrated, the voters are onto your scam of attending to the wishes of public-sector unions in the hope of collecting a later kickback in the form of cash and in-kind campaign contributions.

Memo to guv

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

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May 25, 2010 0

Flyers to the Stanley Cup!

By Dennis in philadelphia flyers

As many of you know, I cover Central and South Jersey new for our blog while Jake concentrates predominantly in North Jersey.  And South Jersey is very much Flyers country.  I have been busy and have not had a chance to comment on the Flyers unbelievable run to the Stanley Cup. 

From their last game of the season needing a win by shootout against the Rangers to their 0-3 series turnaround against the Boston Bruins, this team has been one mass of pure heart and guts.  As a fan who watches them every night I am in town and tries to get to some games each year, it has been a great run from a team that doesn’t seem to accept adversity as an excuse.

Congratulations to the Flyers for closing our the Montreal Canadians and making their first Stanley Cup appearance since 1997!  And good luck against the Blackhawks!

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May 22, 2010 0

Teacher’s Union still doesn’t get it.

By Dennis in Christopher Christie, Demcrat, Democrat hypocrisy, New Jersey Taxes, New Jersey spending, Uncategorized

The Philadelphia Enquirer reported this evening on the “30,000″ or “35,000″ protesters who descended on the state capital today.  It was all over the “millionaire’s tax” that the Governor vetoed this week after a partisan vote in the Democratic controlled legislature.

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May 13, 2010 1

Why We Should Fear The Status Quo

By jdfreivald in Uncategorized

Someone on our local West Orange email list commented on her fear that the status quo would continue with the election of Parisi, McCartney, and Cirilo to the town council. Someone else replied:

I would like to know what is meant by the statement “If the Status Quo continues.” Is it a certain group and other feel left out. Or is it just something to stir the pot again since their candidate lost?

Speaking for myself, it’s definitely more than that. This isn’t like losing a football game or a high school debate.

My complaint is against the status quo: Spending only ratchets up. Sometimes way up.

One person recently defended the council by noting that they held about half of their budgets to zero over the past decade. That’s the defense: sometimes zero percent. But other times, the increase was 15%.

Flat or up, never down, averaging 7% per year.

That’s the status quo.

—–

The same person said:

No matter what is said here, the arithmetic is wnat it is. Even if huge cuts to program are implemented, these cuts translate to pennies a day to taxpayers.

This mentality is precisely why the ratchet works. I actually blogged on this topic here in 2007.

At the time, Joe DiVincenzo pleaded with Essex county residents, “Our penny has done so much. If you like what we have done in the last 4 1/2 years, please support us. We need that extra half a penny.” That’s a direct quote.

“Our penny” refers to the one cent per $100 of assessed property value that went to Essex County Parks. “That extra half-penny” refers to his request to raise it to one-and-a-half cents.

Do you see how it works? When DiVincenzo wanted to raise his parks budget by 50%, he asked for just “an extra half-penny”. It’s easy to add costs because they’re so small. They’re almost cute.

At the same time, this mentality makes it almost impossible to cut programs. Even massive, horrific cuts give us only “pennies a day”, so they can’t be worth it.

That’s the ratchet.

That’s the status quo.

—–

Similarly, in describing the recently defeated BOE budget, the poster said:

[I]t is an austere budget in context of existing programs, contracts and fixed costs.

Businesses and households don’t think of budgets without cuts as “austere budgets”.

Governments are bound by strictures that businesses and households are not. I recognize that. Yet if spending only ratchets up, we will increase our costs far faster than we can support them.

That’s what it means when “an austere budget” is the .3% budget hike that you alternate with the 15% budget hikes.

That’s the status quo.

—–

The poster noted that the BOE budget “Took 80 lay-offs to stay at near zero.”

But where did the 80 staff come from? Did we, at some point, say, “It’s only pennies a day per taxpayer to fund the following programs”?

Eventually those pennies add up. Then, when times are bad, we have to “cut back.”

But we’ve just proved that even in the worst economy in decades, we won’t actually cut back. We’ll only make it so we’re not increasing (much).

I understand why. Cutbacks hurt. And even when we struggle to limit the cuts to 80 people, we find that our increased spending during good times has caused pain among our employees — and our taxpayers, of course — during bad times.

That’s the status quo.

—–

I am not looking for “something to stir the pot again since [my] candidate lost”. I would love to see Parisi, McCartney, and Cirilo work with the rest of the council to establish real changes. I wish them the best in their roles, both new and continuing. If I can help in any way, I will.

But we have reason to fear the status quo.

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May 11, 2010 1

The Status Quo Reigns in West Orange

By jdfreivald in Election day, Elections, west orange

95% of the districts are in, totaling 16,203 votes in the Council race. Here are the tallies.

Rodolfo D. RODRIGUEZ 1,861 11.49%
Jill TEKEL 1,100 6.79%
Jerry GUARINO 3,125 19.29%
Victor CIRILO 3,308 20.42%
Joe KRAKOVIAK 2,810 17.34%
Susan McCARTNEY 3,987 24.61%

That’s McCartney 679 votes ahead of her partner, Vic Cirilo, who is 183 votes ahead of the Jerry Guarino and 498 votes ahead of Joe Krakoviak.

If the remaining 5% of the districts are about the same in number, they constitute about 852 votes — 426 people casting two votes each. It seems very, very unlikely that McCartney would receive fewer votes than Cirilo; it’s impossible for Jerry Guarino would receive more than 426 votes, and he needs 679. Hence Susan McCartney will receive the most votes in the Council race.

For Guarino to get ahead of Cirilo, he’d need to get 21% more of the vote than Cirilo: not 21%, but 21% more, so that if Cirilo got 10%, Guarino would need 31%. For Krakoviak, the number is 58%, which is impossible. Barring a miracle, Cirilo will get the second seat in the Council race.

—–

In the mayoral race, it’s much closer, but not close enough. Schmidt has 49.1% of the vote, or 4590. Parisi has 50.8%, or 4750. That’s a difference of only 160 votes out of 9349.

Again, doing the math, the 5% of districts not yet reported may have about 492 votes in them. To catch up, Schmidt needs to overcome that 160-vote lead, which would require him to get 326 votes and Parisi to get 166 votes, or 66% and 33% of the vote, respectively. Though possible, that seems unlikely. I’m calling Parisi the winner.

I could be wrong if there’s a greater population density (i.e., more than 852 Council votes, more than 492 mayoral votes) left in those districts. I could also be wrong if there’s an unusual demographic in those districts (e.g., a higher density of orthodox Jews, who are more likely to vote for Schmidt). But unless something’s wacky, we’re stuck with the status quo.

If Schmidt couldn’t win this year, he will never win. Conservatives need a different candidate.

Cirilo was elected, at least in part, by riding on McCartney’s and Parisi’s coattails. They used the same basic collateral, and they had people at the polling booths touting all three candidates. Conservatives need to be less independent, and create a slate. That would have been pretty lousy this year, because Schmidt isn’t a good candidate; however, in the future that kind of synergy will be very important.

I’m more pissed off than I want to admit.

May 11, 2010 1

Senator Menendez’s foolish MLB antics

By Dennis in illegal immigration, menendez

The Hudson County Reporter today highlighted the following news for our Senator:

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), in a letter sent on Monday to the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), encouraged the association to boycott next year’s All-Star Game in Phoenix to protest the recently passed Arizona law to crack down on illegal immigrants.

Menendez, the former Union City mayor and the only Hispanic serving in the U.S. Senate, stated in the letter that “Latinos represent 27 percent of all MLB players and 28 percent of MLB players are foreign born,” and “these players come to the United States legally and should not be subjected to the humiliation and harassment that SB1070 would inflict.”

My first reaction to Senator Menendez letter is one of priorities.  While the state he represents is a mess and the federal government is rapidly following the same path, he is worrying about an Arizona law that mimics a federal law that the federal government refuses to enforce.   And while he may align himself with his friends from La Raza and their friends in various communist protest organizations, the state of New Jersey has nothing to do with this fight.    The MLB players he is worrying about are no different (albeit much higher paid) that the large number of Indian programmers that work in the technology industry that seem to have no fear whatsoever about this bill.  Baseball players and anyone else who are here legally have nothing to fear from this bill.  And Menendez must be having severe mental difficulties(or think that we have them) to even suggest the argument.

And what apppears to be a mistake in the article is quite telling(emphasis is mine):

Menendez, 56, born in New York City and living in New Jersey most of his life, is the son of Cuban immigrants who came to the U.S. in 1953. He currently represents New Jersey’s 13th District, which includes most of Hudson County, with Hispanics making up about 47 percent of the district’s population.

Actually, Senator Menendez does not just represent his local Hispanic population.  He represents the people of New Jersey.  And some day soon he should start doing it.

Read the article here.

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May 5, 2010 1

Have You Noticed? They Use Grecian Formula 2010

By jdfreivald in Uncategorized

So, I haven’t been paying close attention the the EU bailout of the Greek government, but I have noticed the headlines as displayed in our elevator in New York City.

Yesterday: The EU agrees to bail out Greece with 110 billion euros — that didn’t come from Greece.

Today: Three killed in violent protests over Greek austerity measures.

This exemplifies why government should never, ever bail people out. This exemplifies why Christie should make the deepest cuts possible.

Because no matter how small the cuts are, no matter how much money we give people to save them from themselves, it will never be enough.

Stop subsidizing. Let weak businesses fail.

Stop bailing others out. Let bankrupt governments and businesses fold.

Leftists only understand Survival of the Fittest when it pits them against God. They never understand it when it shows them how governments should behave. (C.f. Islamic terrorism, Israel, automobile bailouts, TARP.)

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