A Light At The End Of The Tunnel

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As Greece erupts and America (and the IMF) send money, America moves in the direction of bigger government, more spending and higher tax burdens.  There is, however, a light at the end of the tunnel.  A. B. Stoddard posted an article at The Hill on Wesdnesday showing how Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey, is doing the things that will put his financially disastrous state budget back in the black.

Needless to say, the actions necessary to move the state from a deficit of $10.7 billion of a $29.3 billion budget to a balanced budget are not universally popular in the state.  The first thing Governor Christie did when he took office was declare a state of emergency.  He then signed an executive order froze spending and then proceeded to cut $13 billion in spending. 

The Teacher's Unions are screaming that they are being mistreated--the have had to accept a salary freeze for a year and will now pay 1.5 percent of their healthcare insurance. 

According to the article:

"New Jersey, which has the highest unemployment in the region and highest taxes in the country, lost 121,000 jobs in the private sector in 2009 while adding 11,300 new education jobs. During the last eight years, K-12 enrollment rose just 3 percent while education jobs increased more than 16 percent. According to the Newark Star-Ledger, during the recession that has cost many residents their homes and jobs and scaled back hours and pay for the employed, teachers' salaries rose by nearly 5 percent, double the rate of inflation."

Property taxes rose 70 percent in the last ten years, and 1 percent of the taxpayers are paying 40 percent of the income tax in the state.  Needless to say, people who are high-earners, who own large houses, and who own businesses are fleeing the state.

Governor Christie has stated that he does not care about re-elected.  It will be interesting to see when the time comes whether or not the people of New Jersey appreciate or understand what he is doing to save the state from itself.

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This page contains a single entry by Granny G published on May 14, 2010 12:44 PM.

Is Anything In Government Logical???? was the previous entry in this blog.

Actions Have Consequences is the next entry in this blog.

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