From the Record:
Bragging rights lead to fiscal irresponsibility
IT’S A CLASSIC CASE of pension envy. New Jersey governors and legislators wanted to increase the size of teachers’ pensions in 2001. And they did so they could brag to union leaders, teachers and voters disengaged enough not to ask real questions. If only someone had asked: “Did anyone bring protection?”
Six years later, New Jerseyans have a social disease and not a clue how to cure it. A recent New York Times article has thrown new light on an old problem. The Record has been writing about the state’s underfunded pension fund for a very long time. Governor Corzine has been talking about it since Day One.
What’s new this week is whether state officials may have broken any laws in how they reported the value of the pension system and the amount of funding going into it. In 2005, the state reported it had contributed $56 million into the fund. Another 2005 statement put the number at $551 million.
In reality, the figure was zero.
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Property owners are very happy about the possibility of reduced taxes now. It’s no different from being taken out, wined, dined and then waking up the next morning with a strange partner and a compromised code of ethics.New Jersey cannot afford another fiscal one-night stand. New Jersey cannot afford rebates, relief or whatever catchy phrase legislators want to coin. What legislators aren’t coining are new, recurring revenue streams.
The only way to right the pension fund is to tighten fiscal belts. That means no tax breaks, no new initiatives without comparable cuts, and it means complete reform of the school funding formula. In desperate times, draconian measures are needed.
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The state cannot continue to offer benefits it cannot afford. New Jersey taxpayers are not a private mint.
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New Jerseyans need to know how underfunded the pension system is. But the number is meaningless if the reaction is more spending or tax cuts.In 2007, the state has earned its bragging rights: Our debt is bigger than most states. Size matters.
From the APP:
N.J.: Teacher pensions got no cash in ’05
From the Trentonian:
New Jersey pension system could face $175 billion deficit
New Jersey’s public employee pension system could be as much as $175 billion in the hole because of questionable “Enron-type’’ accounting practices, the fund’s former director said yesterday.
Doug Forrester, unsuccessful GOP candidate for New Jersey governor and U.S. senator, reiterated the comment he made in a report in The New York Times saying the pension fund could be in trouble.
“The state has about $31 billion of long-term debt outstanding, most of it in bonds. But Mr. Forrester said he thought that if all the unfunded debts of the state retirement system were correctly measured and added to that, ‘you’d get a number that’s about $175 billion.’
“‘I don’t see how we’re going to get out of this,’” he was quoted saying.
New Jersey has diverted billions of dollars from its public worker pension fund into other purposes over the last 15 years using unorthodox transactions authorized by lawmakers and governors from both political parties, according to the published report.
“It’s a bad situation,” Forrester said yesterday. “It’s really the perfect financial storm.”
There’s no PBGC coming in and bailing out Trenton on this on, either.
Only the people walking around on the street, going to their private jobs, and buying their little pints of milk.
Either the benefits get frozen, or
Taxes get raised.
Unless there’s a special bond issue. Hmmm…bonds for new gambling. All proceeds fund past spending like the state benefits.
That kind of s*cks, doesn’t it? 175 billion more of kids’ futures spent.
Everything goes, turnpike, parkway, lottery. Tolls on 80,78. New jersey sells the state name to China, it now becomes Yuan Jersey. Taxes go to the moon to compensate for the loss of the cash cows.
Amazing,—-is it not ?!– All of this phoney money stuff is done with ‘smoke and mirrors’. And then, every so often, some scum politician gives the greedy retired public employee ex-workers an increase in benefits- The recent increase was given by that bum, self-disgraced governer mcgreedy with full “blessing” of the democrat legislature…republicans, just sitting on the sidelines (eunuchs as they are..) and instead of taking out full (or half-pages,if they can afford them..)newspaper notices to inform us, the NJ public of these shininagans–THEY DO NONETHING, and lose every opportunity to smear these liberal bas**rds !!
Forrester, in my opinion would have made an excellent Governor of our state, but for a variety of reasons, (mostly caused by a badly-run campaign by a very poorly chosen election staff) he was not elected. We ‘got’ corzine instead! …………HE IS NOT A ‘TRUE’ BUSINESSMAN—DID NOT CREATE REAL JOBS—-ONLY ‘SHIFTED’ MONEY AROUND FOR HIMSELF AND HIS WALL STEET PALS !!
Once again (and for Many, MANY years-) New Jersey citizens ‘hoodwinked’
I hate to say this since it will cost us all a lot of $$;….I welcome a complete investigation by the Federal Agencies into all possible criminal actions by past and present state employees; including both appointed and civil service.—-There MUST be higher (FEDERAL) Government officials called in to do COMPLETE accounting investigations of this pension mess !!!——–I dread to think what our property taxes will be like in five years from now—-Would it be an average of $ 15,000-to-$18,000 a year ???—-Would anyone here who is “Still-Looking For an ‘Affordable’ house still be wanting to live in New Jersey with those ridiculous property taxes ??
And equally important, Would NEW JERSEY REAL ESTATE REPORT be still ‘Alive’ OR would pretty-much everyone here be (as one would say..{me}) ” ,,,scattered to the winds, where no one knows who they are, or to where they have gone..”
[ By the way, I did give it a half-hearted try to be an elected official:Was a ‘Third Party’ candidate for NJ State Assembly– Northern Bergen County in the early 1990’s———Didn’t get elected,, ]
I however, do recommend that others here should consider a ‘run’; for the next NJ election for State Senate of Assembly—–The Republicans will have MANY openings for GOOD People such as most here–except for Mr. David, of course…
The future most certainly, does not look too good
–The ‘other’ Bob
Everything goes, turnpike, parkway, lottery. Tolls on 80,78. New jersey sells the state name to China, it now becomes Yuan Jersey. Taxes go to the moon to compensate for the loss of the cash cows.
This could lead to a self-reinforcing downward spiral for the state. Tolls, taxes & fees increase, this chases more businesses & citizens (taxpayers working in the private sector) out of state, which means the tax base shrinks and get spread out over fewer people, which means higher taxes, tolls & fees.
NJ needs major spending cuts, including renegotiating bloated contracts with public sector employees.
JB –My post #5 is being ‘moderated'(?)—Did I get TOO ‘Excited’ or something ???