When will the real spending cuts in NJ come?

Another day, another demand from Trenton that spending at the local level be frozen or cut? When are we going to hear about salary cuts in Trenton? When are we going to hear about the elimination of patronage jobs? When are we going to hear about the Governor's plans to eliminate the silent tax burden corruption and duplication of administration services causes us?

Right now I am paying the same taxes, but will have reduced, and more expensive, NJ Transit service soon and will see my children's education suffer. And don't even get me started on roads on a morning I hear a bridge over the Garden State Parkway is closed because part of it fell on the road. I don't deny that there is wasteful spending, but right now it seems the burden is on the taxpayer with none being felt by those who actually caused the mess -- our political leaders and their connected friends.

When will the pain be shared with the bureaucrats who don't actually affect day to day living for most of us in the state? At the moment all the changes are leading to a shifting of costs to the average NJ citizen in the form of higher fares and higher property taxes. Soon I'm sure other services will be cut, perhaps to motor vehicles, the state highways or the court system. All cuts affecting the average person but not those who have jobs that could be cut will little affect on services to the common man. When will the real cuts to the state government come Governor?

Bread and circuses in NJ continues

The government, especially the Republicans, have done a wonderful job over the last decade of championing the uneducated and uninterested over the highly qualified. Questioning is bad, following what the conservatives want is good. Al Gore is a boring policy wonk who should not be President because he is too dull and knowledgeable. Sarah Palin is qualified as President because she knows the common person. What a bunch of horse hockey! I don't want my equal to run the country. The world is a dangerous place. I want someone better then me.

The other thing to congratulate NJ government on is the shifting of the public's ire from their own corrupt friends to people who actually do work. Granted the teachers' unions haven't helped themselves by rejecting 4% raises out of hand as too little when professionals, as equally qualified and educated in their own fields as teachers, are happy to get a 2.5% raise in this economy. Still, I want teachers to be adequately compensated. The world and the economy are more knowledge intensive. Our survival as a nation will depend on our children being able to compete and surpass our competitors.

So, going back to my previous point, congratulations to the government for changing the public's ire. Now those friends of friends at all levels can continue to hide their high school graduate children in $75,000 patronage jobs at town halls that would pay, maybe $25,000 on the open market. All those 6 figure patronage jobs in Trenton will also be safe. But woe be the one who actually does something useful and tries to do the same.

Yes NJ is in a bad financial situation as we reap the "rewards" of past choices. Yes change needs to be done. And I generally support the governor for tackling the state's long term financial problems. However, until I hear the governor announce he is cutting state patronage jobs by 20%, which should include getting local party bosses to reduce their patronage levels (which probably won't happen as that would reduce their influence), all I hear from him is that he is shifting tax burdens to the local levels, as towns scramble to cover lost aid, while doing nothing to get rid of the silent state corruption our taxes pay for.

So don't worry high school secretary whose father knows the right person to let you make more money then many more qualified persons in various fields, you're safe. But if you fill our potholes, check out our library books, process my lawsuit against the contractor who took my money and ran or, worst of all, teach our children to be productive citizens -- look out! You're in the crosshairs.