Garden State Patriot

I’m no economist – and I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night – but I think I’m still smart enough to know that schools don’t create jobs. Ergo I found this little tidbit regarding the so-called stimulus that Corzine and his other Dem Governor brethren are seeking to be quite interesting:

Gov. Deval Patrick and four Democratic governors called on the president-elect to include $250 billion to support schools pre-K through college in the $1 trillion economic stimulus package.

“We think it’s critical to have a safety net investment for education,” said Patrick. “Schools are the one transformative investment that lifts people out of poverty and long-term reliance on the safety net. States have made tremendous progress in raising standards and in education reform and none of us wants to lose ground during this recession.”

In a conference call with reporters Patrick, Ted Strickland of Ohio, Jon Corzine of New Jersey, Wisconsin’s James Doyle and David A. Paterson of New York, the governors outlined three major categories for the infusion of cash: infrastructure for shovel-ready projects, money for essential services such as Medicaid, welfare and food stamps and school funding – pre-K through college.

So, Corzine, et al, claim they want $1 trillion buckeroos to help their state’s economies during recession but they want to take a full 1/4 of that – $250 billion – and allot it to pre-K through college education?

Certainly enabling our young people to obtain a quality education is a worthy goal – and the merits of spending that much on education are a debate for another day – but it is hardly a stimulus for the economy to buy new desks for little Johnny and little Jane. Moreover, money shouldn’t be a factor in “raising standards” or “education reform.”

Let’s take this again for what it is: a group of Governors unwilling to make the really hard choices for their state’s budgets, after having spent far too much, and now simply waiting for a handout from Obama when he takes office.

The Governor just announced today that he is planning to cut $2.1 billion from the state’s budget. The budget gap appears to be growing by the second as what was thought to be a $1.2 billion shortfall is now $900 million larger. Next year’s budget gap is anticipated to be a mind-boggling $5 billion and one now has to wonder if that, too, will only be worse.

The Governor is promising details this afternoon – perhaps a direct reaction to being sued by GOP lawmakers – but we are dubious. After all, the Governor keeps pushing for $1 trillion ’stimulus’ to help bail him and other Governors out of their budget messes and wants to put off his budget speech until mid-March. (Note: Notice how all these Governors with their hands out to Obama are Democrats in blue states: Wisconsin, Ohio and Massachusetts being the others.)

As pointed out at In The Lobby:

So now the governor says he wants to delay the budget speech until March 10, so he can take advantage of whatever belated Christmas gifts Barack Obama plans to give him.

But here’s what’s more interesting: State Treasurer David Rousseau told the Star-Ledger in the same article that “the move is also needed because treasury officials are running four to six weeks behind schedule trying to plug a $1.2 billion hole in the current budget.”

Here’s our question: Hasn’t Gov. Corzine been assuring us all along that he has this under control? That his Cabinet identified $400 million in savings in the fall, and another $400 million since? And wasn’t there some $600 million surplus as well?

But if the governor hasn’t figured out how to plug the $1.2 billion deficit that he already has, then what business does he have spending more money from the state budget, even if it’s for a stimulus package?

How can we spend money we don’t have?  Aren’t we already in the red?

Isn’t this what got us in trouble in the first place?

And if the administration is having this much trouble with $1.2 billion, how in the world will they handle the $5 billion deficit that’s expected in next year’s budget?

Better start stocking up on Coke and Pepsi because apparently Governor Corzine is getting ready to follow in the footsteps of New York’s Governor Paterson. According to a story in the Bergen Record regarding New Jersey’s expected $5 Billion budget shortfall the Governor…

…would not rule out tax increases in the vein of those proposed in New York State last week on about 140 goods and services, including music and video downloads, and soft drinks.

Paterson’s budget is an utter disgrace for the people of New York. In fact, here are some other details from Paterson’s mind-boggling proposals:

• Eliminate the sales tax exemption for clothing and footwear priced under $110 and replaces it with two, one-week exemption periods for clothing and footwear priced under $500. Localities will have an option to join the state in offering this exemption.
• Impose a sales tax on entertainment-related consumer spending, including but not limited to, movie theaters and sporting events.
• Impose a sales tax on transportation-related consumer spending, including but not limited to, taxis, limousines and buses.
• Repeal the current state sales tax cap of eight cents per gallon on motor fuel and diesel motor fuel.
• Impose sales tax on television and radio services provided by cable, satellite or other similar means.
  Increase the tax on wine from 18.9 cents per gallon to 51 cents per gallon, and the beer tax from 11 cents per gallon to 24 cents per gallon.
• Impose an additional 18 percent rate of sales and compensating use taxes on fruit drinks that contain less than 70 percent of natural fruit juice and non-dietetic soft drinks, sodas and beverages.

Of course, the Gov continues to toss out the ‘everything’s on the table’ line, but I think we all can see where this is headed. New Jerseyans, who already taxed to their limit, are just going to be asked to pony up more. Let’s just hope if this happens, New Jersey voters will tack it on to their already long list of grievances against this failed Governor come next November.