The Left Marches on Part 8: Modern day Plunder

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.

Steve Lonegan is the Executive Director of Americans for Prosperity - New Jersey. Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFP Foundation) are committed to educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process. He is a prolific writer, having been published in newspapers and blogs. He just published a book, Putting Taxpayers First: A Blueprint for Victory in the Garden State, that discusses the impact of the Trenton government on the well being of the taxpayers of the state. He offers solid and workable solutions. Learn more at lonegan.com.