Devastating cuts announced in two weeks

[fiberisgoodforyou]

video.wnbc.com/player/?id=217326
N.J. Braces For Budget Cuts, ....Hospitals, homeowners, college students and park patrons worry cuts in services

Save the date, Feb 28th...
Town Hall meeting at the Parck Ave PUBLIC School cafetorium....
Senator Jennifer Beck
Assemblyman Declan J. O'Scanlon
Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande

Freehold Borough School District
280 Park Avenue
Freehold, New Jersey 07728

[fiberisgoodforyou]

politickernj.com/left-marches-part-8-modern-day-plunder-15536

Modern day Plunder
By Steve Lonegan


This year’s toughest political battle in New Jersey may be the biggest gimmick in Wall Streets history. Governor Corzine’s Asset Monetization proposal is said to reach as high as forty billion dollars and may be the largest borrowing plan in the world. It is a gimmick that will leave a legacy of massive government growth and several life times of financial destruction resulting from poor judgment.

The scheme harvests an up front payment for 75 years of toll road revenue. Investors will have their return guaranteed by annual cost of living increases and 50% increases on top of this compounded interest every four years until 2022 when cost of living adjustments will continue for the remainder of the 75 years. Sixteen years from now it will cost a tractor trailer about $150.00 to travel the New Jersey Turnpike. A passenger car will pay $28.00 to travel the length of the Parkway.

Roundtrip from my hometown of Bogota to Atlantic City will cost about $50.00. These prices assume inflation stays reasonable at an average of 3%. High inflation, like what we experienced during the seventies, would increase these numbers drastically. New Jersey tolls will take a larger and larger piece of taxpayer’s income, just like property, income and sales taxes have done. For many commuters, this cost will be significant, even rivaling the cost of property taxes in its increasing piece of the pie.

With the average taxpayer giving up 54% of their income to taxes, this sacrifice will be sorely felt. So what can we expect from being fleeced again? The inevitable result will be even higher taxes as this borrowing plan fuels the largest expansion of government imaginable. An expansion only achievable if financed by a massive money grab. Enter stage left Asset Monetization - and I do mean left.

The scheme will put billions of dollars in the hands of Trenton’s ruling class and we are expected to trust them to handle it responsibly. We have a constitution and a system of checks and balances because the founders of this country knew government cannot be trusted.

The entire Asset Monetization scheme relies on one critical ingredient - trusting government, which is counter to American common sense. Governor Corzine claims approximately $16 billion will be to pay off existing debt. He calls borrowing from one place to pay off another reducing debt. The Wall Street wiz fails to explain that much of the debt to be paid off will be replaced with debt at a higher interest rate and a longer term.

Here comes that common sense thing again: since when is borrowing money at higher rates and longer terms to pay off lower interest loans good business? Answer: When Trenton wants ghastly sums of our money for more government programs.

The Governor says part of the remaining money will go to road improvements. He fails to explain what happens to the existing transportation Trust Fund (TTF) and the $8 billion recently borrowed for road improvements. Or what is the current gas tax revenue to be used for?

The scheme will provide this administration with billions of new debt dollars to fund a growth of government that will be every left wing liberal entitlement state radical’s greatest dream. During his State of the State address last year the Governor stated “If we want Universal Health Insurance, Universal Pre-K and to pay off land owners in the Highlands for lost property value, we need to “asset monetize” our toll roads”

These are just a sample of the new government programs that will be fertilized by this cash machine. When the machine runs out of debt dollars, the high cost of operating these programs will remain. The taxpayers of New Jersey will be forced to pick up the cost or trust government to cut spending, something they have failed to do to date.

By 2022, that 54% of income going to taxes could reach 70% or higher.

The stakes are enormous. The taxpayers of New Jersey have everything to lose as further growth of taxation will cripple our once prosperous state. On the other hand, the liberal extremists maneuvering our state have a vision of planned central government that dwarfs anything the United States has seen before.

They think they can manipulate our economy with government subsidies, regulations and mandates, including government funded housing, socialized medicine and state takeover of our local governments. They believe we are not capable of governing ourselves on the local level, but they are capable of governing us and steering the entire state economy all the way from Trenton. T

he Asset Monetization plot will give them the arsenal to achieve their victory over taxpayers, establishing something quite different than what America is made of. Some have called Corzine’s plan bold and courageous. Supporters said the same about Castro’s vision for Cuba.

[richardkelsey]

fiberisgoodforyou said:

politickernj.com/left-marches-part-8-modern-day-plunder-15536

Modern day Plunder
By Steve Lonegan


This year’s toughest political battle in New Jersey may be the biggest gimmick in Wall Streets history. Governor Corzine’s Asset Monetization proposal is said to reach as high as forty billion dollars and may be the largest borrowing plan in the world. It is a gimmick that will leave a legacy of massive government growth and several life times of financial destruction resulting from poor judgment.

The scheme harvests an up front payment for 75 years of toll road revenue. Investors will have their return guaranteed by annual cost of living increases and 50% increases on top of this compounded interest every four years until 2022 when cost of living adjustments will continue for the remainder of the 75 years. Sixteen years from now it will cost a tractor trailer about $150.00 to travel the New Jersey Turnpike. A passenger car will pay $28.00 to travel the length of the Parkway.

Roundtrip from my hometown of Bogota to Atlantic City will cost about $50.00. These prices assume inflation stays reasonable at an average of 3%. High inflation, like what we experienced during the seventies, would increase these numbers drastically. New Jersey tolls will take a larger and larger piece of taxpayer’s income, just like property, income and sales taxes have done. For many commuters, this cost will be significant, even rivaling the cost of property taxes in its increasing piece of the pie.

With the average taxpayer giving up 54% of their income to taxes, this sacrifice will be sorely felt. So what can we expect from being fleeced again? The inevitable result will be even higher taxes as this borrowing plan fuels the largest expansion of government imaginable. An expansion only achievable if financed by a massive money grab. Enter stage left Asset Monetization - and I do mean left.

The scheme will put billions of dollars in the hands of Trenton’s ruling class and we are expected to trust them to handle it responsibly. We have a constitution and a system of checks and balances because the founders of this country knew government cannot be trusted.

The entire Asset Monetization scheme relies on one critical ingredient - trusting government, which is counter to American common sense. Governor Corzine claims approximately $16 billion will be to pay off existing debt. He calls borrowing from one place to pay off another reducing debt. The Wall Street wiz fails to explain that much of the debt to be paid off will be replaced with debt at a higher interest rate and a longer term.

Here comes that common sense thing again: since when is borrowing money at higher rates and longer terms to pay off lower interest loans good business? Answer: When Trenton wants ghastly sums of our money for more government programs.

The Governor says part of the remaining money will go to road improvements. He fails to explain what happens to the existing transportation Trust Fund (TTF) and the $8 billion recently borrowed for road improvements. Or what is the current gas tax revenue to be used for?

The scheme will provide this administration with billions of new debt dollars to fund a growth of government that will be every left wing liberal entitlement state radical’s greatest dream. During his State of the State address last year the Governor stated “If we want Universal Health Insurance, Universal Pre-K and to pay off land owners in the Highlands for lost property value, we need to “asset monetize” our toll roads”

These are just a sample of the new government programs that will be fertilized by this cash machine. When the machine runs out of debt dollars, the high cost of operating these programs will remain. The taxpayers of New Jersey will be forced to pick up the cost or trust government to cut spending, something they have failed to do to date.

By 2022, that 54% of income going to taxes could reach 70% or higher.

The stakes are enormous. The taxpayers of New Jersey have everything to lose as further growth of taxation will cripple our once prosperous state. On the other hand, the liberal extremists maneuvering our state have a vision of planned central government that dwarfs anything the United States has seen before.

They think they can manipulate our economy with government subsidies, regulations and mandates, including government funded housing, socialized medicine and state takeover of our local governments. They believe we are not capable of governing ourselves on the local level, but they are capable of governing us and steering the entire state economy all the way from Trenton. T

he Asset Monetization plot will give them the arsenal to achieve their victory over taxpayers, establishing something quite different than what America is made of. Some have called Corzine’s plan bold and courageous. Supporters said the same about Castro’s vision for Cuba.

I hate to say it -- but there is a reason why 50% of the people in New Jersey want out! They are the 50% that fall between the bottom 25 and top 25. The top 25 don't care, because they can afford whatever socialistic tax increase comes their way. The bottom 25% don't care because, they are riding off the creeping socialism. That middle 50%, those are the people who feel they are closer to the bottom than the top, and dropping. Those are the middle income people who can't afford what the socialists are cooking.

In fact, New Jersey is filled with people who already left jurisdictions like New York City because of the crime, taxes, and problems brought on by creeping socialism. As those people pour in from the north, more and more pour out to the South -- which is why states across the south are populated with former New Jersayans and former New Yorkers.

I will tell you this -- it is profoundly sad. And, watching it from outside, it is even more clear what is happening. You are importing the poor, growing government, and heaping the cost on the producing class. The middle class simply cannot afford it. The state is balkanized town by town as the affluent congregate in fiefdoms to protect themselves and their interests, leaving behind urban decay not just in big cities -- like Jersey City and Newark -- which I visited first hand last week -- but in numerous forsaken municipalities.

Worse yet -- you have political corruption so ingrained, that politicians don't even see the political patronage system as corruption. They still call it local control. If there is one thing for sure, the locals have no control. The state court system has long been a product of the patronage system, and not surprisingly you get the type of ultra-activist court that comes with slipping standards and a thirst for legislative power hidden under a judicial robe.

Your executive is part of the uber-rich, elite liberal class who bought his job from an electorate willing to buy his lies and provide him the respect and title money used to by in the old feudal system. Mr. Corzine is not the best servant that state has to offer -- he has proven that. He is collecting titles and acclaim for his obit -- which as a former Governor will now run prominently when he goes.

The state capital is, as one New Jerseyan told me, a place where no one wants to be after dark. Even passing it on a train ride makes you wonder not what state one is in, but what country? The third-world would be a step up for parts of Trenton, where corruption rapidly, but not in step with the growth of urban blight and decay.

Folks -- I don't pass judgment. People get the government they deserve -- either through inaction, inadequate action, or lack of action. You have what the majority wants. If you do not, then you must make a simple decision -- a decision being made town by town, and state wide. Do I stay and fight, or do I take flight to protect myself and my family.

That is not an easy decision.

I left to pursue a law degree. When I left, I thought I would return. That was until I saw life outside the mess. While I interviewed, and was offered a clerkship in New Jersey, I ultimately decided not to return for some of the reasons I have outlined above. The situation has not gotten better.

I still fight for this town, and the state -- though I have no interest there. I fight for what she was, and what she should be.

In the end, however, it is you folks, on the ground, living there, who must make the stand. The chance at victory is smaller every minute.

[admin]

Rich, it is funny you mention New Yorkers fleeing their failed socialism. When they get here they have not learned their lessons which is why we continue to have Corzine types elected. The sad part of this state is that Corzine will likely get re-elected. I have said it before and will say it again, our state motto should be:

New Jersey- We never learn