http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU9iCANi02o

Oh yeah, that’s him clearly refusing to ever salute the flag.

(The flag’s behind him, you know that?)

Good to see you back in reactionary mode. Your list is fabulous. Cutting defense spending? Obviously he’s an anti-war commie.

I had the same taste in my mouth after reading her diatribe.

In some ways I agree, in others, not so much.

What America is lacking most of all is cooperation. This flagrant greed, this ‘us vs them’ mentality, more than anything, will be our downfall.

In the 90s, big businesses started attacking employee bases with offshoring, the cutting of benefits, and a ratio of management to employee salary that was historically astronomical (and has only gotten worse since). On the flip side, it decided that gouging customers and maximizing profits to the detriment of all else was a sound long-term business strategy.

America in its heydey wasn’t like this. There is nothing wrong with making profit – it was when it was decided that ‘all else be damned, we must all squeeze every last dime from one another’ that things started to unravel.

There are far too many people who believe that because this nation has been great for so long that it is our due and we always will be. I am sure the Danes and French felt the same way in different eras. We achieved and maintained greatness by behaving greatly — maintaining a strong economy, which provided the resources to maintain a strong military.

Aside from military adventures, we have largely stopped acting in great ways. Bush was a putz who spoke of sacrafice but knew nothing of it. When our family sits down to Thanksgiving (like at weddings, anniversaries, births, Christmas, yadda, yadda) the pale of the combat loss of one dear will hang over the event — spoken or unspoken the absence of one killed in combat ALWAYS remains even 40-odd years later.

East Brunswick finance officer explains pension system/problem

The man who knows all that’s fiscally wrong with New Jersey is L. Mason Neely, an authority on the state’s public pension system/problem.

He’s the guy I turn to when I’m looking for answers,” said Jon Moran, the senior legislative analyst for the League of Municipalities.

Neely has been the finance officer for East Brunswick for 34 years. In that time, he has seen the increase in public services, and salaries and benefits for public employees, as well as the pension system/problem that he says has “grown exponentially.”

Neely works in a small office in the East Brunswick Municipal Complex. The wall next to his desk is papered with family photos on one side, sticky notes on the other. There is a clear line of demarcation on the wall, separating his personal and professional life. One outer office is filled with manila folders, with everything in its place. Neely knows what and where everything is.

His explanation of the pension system/problem is also systematic and pedestrian. He walks you through it like a tour guide, telling more than you want to know, especially if you’re a New Jersey taxpayer. Because according to Neely, the pension system/problem is flat-out bankrupting the state and its municipalities. And it will only get worse.

The only solution?

A tax revolt,” he says. “I’m serious.”

There is no doubt about Neely’s seriousness. He wears a handlebar mustache, waxed to sharp points. He’s straight up in posture and direct in his delivery of data. And the numbers he offers with chart after chart are very serious. As in terminal.

First, the scariest number.

There are about 406,000 state and municipal employees in New Jersey, including local police, firemen and teachers. In the last governor’s race, about 2.1 million people voted. So any candidate who seriously attacks public employee pay, benefits and pensions could find themselves in a 20 percent hole — and that doesn’t include family members of government employees.

That is the political reality. No candidate can run an “us” (the taxpayer) versus “them” (public employees)” campaign because there are just too many of them.

Worse, because of their numbers, there have been layers and layers of favorable legislation over the years, like too much sweet icing on the cake.

“The problem is underneath the gold dome down there (Trenton),” Neely said. “The state mandates many of the things that are hurting the towns.”

Neely cites the case of local police. They can retire, with pension, after 20 years. After 25 years, they receive 65 percent pay. So an officer who joins a force at 25, and retires at 50 while making $100,000 a year, will draw $65,000 for the rest of his life. Or more.

“It’s one thing to give them 65 percent of their pay,” Neely said. “But factored into this, though state mandates, is 65 percent of their holiday pay, 65 percent of their sick pay, and 65 percent of their uniform pay. Why are we paying for retired people’s holidays? Or for uniforms, when they don’t wear uniforms anymore?”

The second scariest number is what is called the “unfunded accrued liability” of the pension system. This is money owed by the state to the Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS), the Teachers Pensions and Annuity Fund (TPAF) and Public Employees Retirement System (PERS). The number? $26.4 billion. Billion, with a b.

“The state went seven years without paying in anything, and it’s been 12 years since they’ve made all annual payments,” Neely said. “This is like not making your mortgage payments. The interest is compounding.”

The “pension payment holiday,” as it was called, began under the Christie Whitman administration and continued through the Jim McGreevey years.

“These were budget gimmicks, and the line was, ‘We’ll make it up with investments,” Neely said. “Well, guess what? We didn’t make it up with investments. So how does it get paid? With higher property taxes.”

Add to that exploding cost of lifetime health benefits, and the coming cost of death benefits, and suddenly that $24 billion could easily grow by 50 percent.

The municipal complex where Neely works is only a few years old. There are reading benches under shade trees, and a spray fountain in the pond behind the municipal building. The library has a Barnes & Noble style cafe, although the space is leased. There is a standalone senior center. This is government residents can afford, Neely says.

The government we can’t afford comes down to taxpayers essentially paying for every public employee three times. Once, while they are working. Twice, while they are retired. And a third time for the “unfunded accrued liability.”

And the great irony, of course, is that many retirees go to Florida, or Delaware, or some other state to spend their golden years and state pension money. You know, some other state where property taxes aren’t so high.

http://blog.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/2009/10/east_brunswick_finance_officer.html

If you believe I hold the last administration in anything other than utter contempt, you really were not paying attention the past several years. Because of my concerns over the dangerousness of the Bush/Cheney cabal, I took actions that placed me in professional harm; I doubt that many people on this board have had White House officials making calls trying to rip their legs out from under them.

I have always held “my guys” to the same standards as “the other guys,” that way I get to be outraged when outrage is due, and, right now, outrage is due. Obama’s administration has us so deep in the hole it might be easier to keep digging rather than to try to climb out.

well, tomorrow is our favorite BFF Friday.

consolidate the financial institutions down to a few, and give those few unlimited bailouts.

SAS

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/princeton_university_announces.html

go vote and get Corzine the heck out of office.

SAS

Absolutely agree. I have to admit, the whole “hope and change” mantra sucked me in.

Yes, strident enough. :)

Wish there were more of you. Wish the people who are angry/incensed now were back then. I was with you then and am with you now. It just puts me on the defensive when idealogues take advantage of a situation to score political points for their ‘team’ (looking at Nom here).

Is that not strident enough for you, meter?