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State of New Jersey or state of confusion!
(by Luigi Luciano - January 24, 2008)
Can the State of New Jersey ever be taken seriously? From corrupt politicians to an out-of-the-closet Governor - even just the title of The Garden State is enough to make you laugh.
I keep asking myself why do I stay in this State? I know the answer but in a few years that will no longer be a problem and I can finally get out of New Jersey and hopefully somewhere that will offer a better quality of life.
New Jersey has long been known for high property taxes. Year after year people complain that they are paying too much and getting too little. I am sure this is said everywhere no matter how low the taxes are, but in New Jersey it happens to be true. We pay the most of any other state and we get the least.
What does New Jersey really have to offer? Basically I like the state. I like to food, and the people are OK as well. But when you get down to it what do New Jerseyans really get for having the highest property taxes in the nation, the highest State income tax and soon to be the highest road tolls in the nation.
When I was growing up I loved this State; the Jersey Shore, the Jersey girls, the Taylor Ham sandwiches; sausage and peppers on the boardwalk and the best Italian bread in the nation. Life was good. Then I got married and bough my first home. Taxes were only about $4,000 per year for a nice small home. Then I moved as the family grew and got a bigger home and the taxes grew to over $7,000. I moved again to Northwest NJ and a larger home again and the taxes are now over $20,000 per year. I keep looking at that bill which is due again February 1 and wonder when will I get out of this state. The funny part is that I put out the same two cans of garbage per week and actually have fewer kids in school than the guy down the street who pays less than half in taxes. Why?
Schools in New Jersey are a mess. The funding system is a mess. This ridiculous Abbott District funding is a joke. School districts that the state deemed to have money get less funding than the areas that do not have as much money. So we end up paying for the poor districts and then have to pay more for our own schools or our children will do without.
The funny part of this all they give more money to the lower schools districts to supposedly give them a better education but is it really working? They get new schools built for free while people in my town have to pay out of our own pockets to improve our schools.
I understand what the Governor is trying to do when he says he wants to reduce the debt. What I don’t like is how he is going about it. The most amazing part of it is that almost 42% of New Jerseyans approve of the plan! Can even the Democrats be that naive?
Look at the plan.
Corzine wants to create a quasi-public corporation to take control of the state's three toll roads for 75 years. So he found a way to sell them without saying he is selling them.
To pay for that right, the agency will sell up to $38 billion in bonds to create a stable long-range plan that would finance transportation improvements and pay down about half of the state's $32 billion in budget-backed debt.
The people who own this so called non-profit company are (from what I read) insiders.
Just because a company is non-profit doesn’t mean that they board members will not profit nicely. Also who setup this so-called non-profit company? Is it made up of people that are owed favors?
The whole thing stinks and people are buying into it. Corzine says that this will drive down the debt while allowing funding for new road projects. Will these new projects be given to the over priced union paid contracts? Or will they be given to the best bids?
Nothing will change except the fact that we leased out our road for 75 years and will pay a ton more in tolls while solving nothing.
The Governor says we need to reduce debt and it can’t be done just by cutting waste from the budget. I say let’s at least start with the waste and see what we can do. How about cutting the salaries of the useless State Senate and Assembly. They are doing nothing to help anyone in this state. In fact families are being forced out, businesses are being forced out and now more jobs will be lost and more people will move because they won’t be able to pay the tolls to get to work.
It is crazy and I have no idea why people from this state keep voting in the same old politicians time after time. I really believe that the majority of people are just plain stupid. Let’s keep voting people that are up on charges into office; lets keep the same people in who have been ineffective for years but promise change every election and never deliver.
When will the people of New Jersey learn that we cannot keep voting in the same people that do nothing at all for us?
New Jersey can be a great state once again but we need to clean house of our politicians and start over. The only way the politicians will get scared into doing the right thing is if some of the old cronies are voted out of office.
Will New Jersey Learn?
I guess we will find out at the next election.
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