The Bottom Line… The VERY Bottom

THE CORZINE ECONOMY
With Fiscal Policy That “Reads Like A ‘What Not To Do’ For Policymakers,” Corzine Is Architect Of New Jersey’s Economic Doldrums
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CORZINE HAS BEEN A DISASTER FOR NJ ECONOMY

Since Jon Corzine Took Office, Unemployment In New Jersey Has Climbed Nearly 80 Percent. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics Website, data.bls.gov, Accessed: 6/1/09)

Since Jon Corzine Took Office, New Jersey Has Lost Over 60,000 Jobs. (Bureau Of Labor Statistics Website, data.bls.gov, Accessed: 6/1/09)

In October 2008, Gov. Corzine Received An “F” From The CATO Institute’s “Fiscal Policy Report Card On America’s Governors.” (Chris Edwards, “Fiscal Policy Report Card On America’s Governors,” CATO Institute, 10/20/08)

“It’s Hard To Imagine New Jersey Could Do Much Worse.” (The Tax Foundation Website, www.taxfoundation.org, Accessed: 6/1/09)

“Fiscal Policy In The Garden State Reads Like A ‘What Not To Do’ For Policymakers And Stakeholders.” (The Tax Foundation Website, www.taxfoundation.org, Accessed: 6/1/09)

The Tax Foundation Ranked New Jersey As The “Least Business-Friendly State” In The Nation. (The Tax Foundation Website, www.taxfoundation.org, Accessed: 6/1/09)

For The Second Year In A Row, New Jersey Was Ranked Last In The Nation In State Business Tax Climate. (Josh Barro, “2009 State Business Tax Climate Index,” The Tax Foundation, 10/08)

In 2008, New Jersey Had The Highest State-Local Tax Burden in U.S. (The Tax Foundation Website, www.taxfoundation.org, Accessed: 6/1/09)

New Jersey Was Ranked 46th In The Nation In Economic Outlook By The American Legislative Exchange Council. (Arthur B. Laffer, Stephen Moore & Jonathan Williams, “Rich States, Poor States,” American Legislative Exchange Council, 2009)

Get Out and Vote!!

Polls close this evening at 8 pm. Don’t get shut out!

Don’t Kid Yourself

The NJ Supreme Court decision regarding the Abbott decision will have little effect on the inequitable distribution of school aid in New Jersey.

According to the figures posted on the NJ Department of Education website, children in suburban counties like Somerset, Morris and Hunterdon are still discriminated against under the new Corzine formula.

Per capita student funding:

Somerset County = $2,238
Morris County = $2,085
Hunterdon County = $2,161

Essex County = $10,434
Hudson County = $11,764
Camden County = $8,446

Chris Christie Visits Charter Day

Charter Day was another huge success (kudos to Bernards Twp. Parks & Recreation Department, Police, Community Service and all the fabulous volunteers!). It was capped off by a visit from leading Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie, pictured here with Township Committee candidate, Carolyn Gaziano.

A No Brainer

Presented without comment.

Updating some research from Richard Vedder of Ohio University, we found that from 1998 to 2007, more than 1,100 people every day including Sundays and holidays moved from the nine highest income-tax states such as California, New Jersey, New York and Ohio and relocated mostly to the nine tax-haven states with no income tax, including Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire and Texas. We also found that over these same years the no-income tax states created 89% more jobs and had 32% faster personal income growth than their high-tax counterparts.

Did the greater prosperity in low-tax states happen by chance? Is it coincidence that the two highest tax-rate states in the nation, California and New York, have the biggest fiscal holes to repair? No. Dozens of academic studies — old and new — have found clear and irrefutable statistical evidence that high state and local taxes repel jobs and businesses.

Cooking the Books

Faced with huge budget shortfalls despite a multi-billion dollar bailout from the Dems in DC, Governor Corzine is still reacting — not by cutting spending — but by bookkeeping trickery and shaving cash reserves.

He’s taking another $450 million from the “rainy day” reserve fund, cheating school districts by deferring required payments by a month and, yes, stealing more money from the state pension fund, already severely under-funded.

More “cuts” will be announced next week.

Charter Day Is This Saturday

Downtown Basking Ridge will be hosting the annual Charter Day street fair this Saturday from 11am – 5pm, with evening musical entertainment until 11pm.

The RMC will have its usual booth. Come meet your local, county and state candidates!

Pigs In Space!!

And a trough here in New Jersey.

The mission of E3CO, a small, non-profit group that received $130,000 in annual state funding to teach kids about growing food in space, was abruptly aborted today, following revelations that much of the money was earmarked for the salary of a woman who is dead.

“We’re going to take this one and send it to the moon, where it belongs,” declared Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex), who promised that E3CO’s funding was being pulled. “It’s over. It’s buried. It’s dead. Should never have existed.”

Unfortunately, the Democrat-led legislature kept funding the program for years even after Rutgers put a freeze on allocating the money. The only reason Codey is acting now is because the Star-Ledger broke the story on its front page.

It’s Not A “Loan”, It’s A Line of Credit

The state of New Jersey is constitutionally forbidden to borrow money to meet its annual budget.

So what gives?

The state is seeking a $2 billion line of credit to make sure it has enough money to maintain key programs later this year.

Well, the state is also constitutionally forbidden from ending the year with a deficit, which means that all the leftover cash that normally gets pushed forward to the next fiscal year to operate on until tax revenues flow in will be used up.

Most states would be pushing the panic button at this point and instituting large scale cuts in spending. Corzine is still pushing mandatory universal health care and pre-school education.

Democrat economics is the ultimate ponzi scheme. You have to keep spending in order to keep your political base from rebelling. As your policies alienate a greater and greater percentage of the electorate, you depend more and more on that base. Eventually, the facade collapses and everyone is left standing around wondering what happened.

Need Emergency Services? Don’t Ask Corzine For Help

Word comes from the League of Municipalities that our esteemed governor proposes diverting (AKA “taking”) all but 9% of the reserve funding for EMT training and putting it back into the general budget.

Of the $4,400,000 in the fund, only $400,000 will remain. According to the NJLoM:

A $400,000 balance in the EMT Training Fund is inadequate to meet the annual training needs of the Volunteer EMTs of this State and will result in severe cut-backs of state-paid EMT training for New Jersey’s EMS Volunteer Community.

The EMT Training Fund is not supported through the use of any tax money, but rather is supported by a $0.50 surcharge on each fine, penalty and forfeiture imposed and collected by the State of New Jersey for motor vehicle or traffic violations.