Jon Corzine's Assets

Once again only Carla Katz at CWA seems to be paying attention. The other CWA state Presidents always seem to be playing catch-up , that is after they wake up.

The Governor is going to announce a State spending freeze.If the State is not going to spend anymore money then how are they going to fund the State Worker raise that was negotiated last year? The choice is simple either freeze wages and keep staff or layoff staff.

The CWA morons who " helped " Cozine last year with a quickie contract and an agreement to pay for health care costs will now see that he has a very short memory. He pushed them around last year and he will push them around this year.

How will those CWA Presidents sell layoffs or wage freezes to their membership? Corzine knows they are patsies and will once again bully them around.   

Nothing makes my day more than reading the pontifications of the most unethical public figure in New Jersey since Jim McGreevey. I especially like this statement...

" However, for decades, many unions and other progressive organizations have posited that real financial restructuring of the state’s finances should come in the form of a much fairer and more progressive income tax and corporate taxation that make corporations actually pay something near their fair share."

What rock has she been living under? New Jerseyans are THE most taxed people in America. And what's our biggest problems? It surely isn't that we aren't taxed enough. It's that our Governor and his colleagues never challenge the expense and liabilities sides of the equation. They hold that unspoken quid pro quo of excessive benefits for votes as a foregone conclusion and one which taxpayers will wrongly assume is irrevocable. With courage and the will these can be rolled-back to equal the richest benefits in the private sector and still dramatically reduce our deficit.  

The true source of our problem is the unfettered growth in public employment--growing at 3X the rate of population growth; benefit to Katz. Then there's the unfettered growth in total compensation for our public sector employees; benefit to Katz. And, mostly, the $115 BILLION in unfunded post-employment liabilities for pension and medical benefits that far outpace those available in the private sector--even though public sector wages now exceed, on average, those of private sector peers; again, benefit to Katz.

This woman is a disgrace. Her opinions are remarkably ill-informed, trite and "old school"; she represents her "constituency" at the expense of every other taxpayer in this State. She is a big part of the problem, and she offers nothing to the solution.

Why do taxpayers have to fund people in non-essential jobs if we don't have enough money?  Why is it more important to keep, say, a deputy assistant director's assistant in the DEP employed than to try to prevent yet another tax hike or new toll?

Can't the govt. do a review of its management structure, same as any corporation, and figure out how to streamline and cut waste?  I'm not talking about jail guards or other essential staff.

Lots of employees retire from, say, the DOT, at 55 or 60, and then go work for consultants for 10 years, getting paid their pensions and receiving salaries that are funded by DOT projects. Even though they're nominally in the private sector, they get $200K a year in state money, plus health care for the remaining 30 years of their life.  It's almost a form of indentured servitude for the taxpayers to HAVE TO pay for these costs, for the rest of our lives. 

If the govt doesn't streamline, we are all doomed, except Carla.  She's got some spare change.

I find it in poor taste that Carla Katz is even editorializing on this issue and the fact that she used the "Corzine has a big stick" metaphor just made me throw up in my mouth.

--Saint Joe--

New Jersey needs to wake up to the reality that the fiscal problems we are experiencing reside in Washington not Trenton.  New Jersey and the rest of the "Defict States" pay more into Washington then they get back.  Interestingly enough the States that have surpluses are States that get more out of Washington then they put in.   This is largely due to the fact that the federal tax structure does not offer any relief for cost of living.  New Jersey's cost of living is double that of many other States.   Someone living in Mississippi making $50K per year enjoys the same life style as someone making $100k in NJ, yet we are taxed on the $100k income vs. the $50k.  The bottom line is none of our constitutional delegates would have ever signed the document had they been informed they were going to be supporting other States.  New Jersey needs a tax refund from Washington.  Judging from how they throw tens of Billions of dollars around I think its time they put some money back in Jersey.  New Jersey needs to file a federal lawsuit contending that the tax system is unconstituional and seek return of all excess payments made. 

NJwtf wrote..." New Jersey and the rest of the "Defict States" pay more into Washington then they get back.  "

That's because we have a disproportionately high number of high income earners, so that any per capita analysis of "returned dollars" will be unfavorable. Of course, that "deficit" is basically paid for by the high income earners who suffer under the confiscatory tax policies of our federal government. In any case, let's stop the nonsense. State spending is out of control and the biggest driver is the absurd total compensation (including pensions and post-retirement medical) paid public sector employees.

To bad we don't have Robert Bryd representing New Jersey.  He would have gotten us 3 billion dollars from the feds this year and we would not have had to apologize for slavery. 

"The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything."
                --Theodore Roosevelt--

Latest word!

If there are layoffs Katz reveals Cozines's secrets as her CWA union will get hit. Ergo to stay as governor, no layoffs.