Governor's Speech

Trailhead00

Explorer
Mar 9, 2005
375
1
48
Haddonfield, NJ
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/01/corzine_challenges_critics_to.html

Didn't know if anyone had heard it or read it and had any comments. I don't really drive on the turnpike anymore so the toll hike won't kill me but I feel bad for people that do commute on it. I think a toll raise of 50% is a little rediculous! I'm a little taken back by Corzine asking if anyone else knows of a better plan. Seriously, you're the governor, act like one. There is a better plan, there has been better plans for years. This state must be in serious financial trouble. I don't understand how we have such high taxes yet we are always the broke? It just doesn't make sense to me. I know I'm making it simpler than it is.

Maybe I could become a squatter and live in the Pine Barrens somewhere. Anybody want to join?
 

Trailhead00

Explorer
Mar 9, 2005
375
1
48
Haddonfield, NJ
I meant I was kind of offended by the way Corzine asked if anyone else had a better plan. He said something like that a couple times. Saying things like, "I have seen the numbers" and if you have a better plan, show it to me, if not shut up. Serisously, I just taken back a bit by that. Number one I can't see the numbers and number two I'm sure you can cut more out of the budget. He is supposed to be a leader, state your plan and thats that. Don't insult me by saying I know it is the best. We have heard this how many times in the past and how broke is this state? I understand Whitman made some bad deals but this state has been poorly run for years and years. Kean, Florio, Whitman, McGreevy and now Corzine. Now I can see the problem. It's amazing we got this far!

What's sad is that I care and used to care a lot more. I have become so numb to politics and politicians that I just don't have much hope anymore. It doesn't matter who is in office or in power, it's all the same.
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,737
4,925
Pines; Bamber area
I meant I was kind of offended by the way Corzine asked if anyone else had a better plan. He said something like that a couple times. Saying things like, "I have seen the numbers" and if you have a better plan, show it to me, if not shut up. Serisously, I just taken back a bit by that. Number one I can't see the numbers and number two I'm sure you can cut more out of the budget. He is supposed to be a leader, state your plan and thats that. Don't insult me by saying I know it is the best. We have heard this how many times in the past and how broke is this state? I understand Whitman made some bad deals but this state has been poorly run for years and years. Kean, Florio, Whitman, McGreevy and now Corzine. Now I can see the problem. It's amazing we got this far!

What's sad is that I care and used to care a lot more. I have become so numb to politics and politicians that I just don't have much hope anymore. It doesn't matter who is in office or in power, it's all the same.

Have heart Trailhead! At least he is trying to do something. He is being ASSAULTED by those who think they know better. And yet, they don't know better cause they don't have to REALLY deal with it. All they know how to do is criticize. Take a GOOD look at what else he is proposing:

---freezing state spending.
---limiting future spending to revenue growth.
---requiring voter approval for all future borrowing.

The man is serious about fixing the problem. Its easy for those whiners to complain and bleat the mantra they always do..."cut waste". Bull! What does that really mean? Who among us will start laying off people? How will cutting the already sparse services help?
 

MarkBNJ

Piney
Jun 17, 2007
1,875
73
Long Valley, NJ
www.markbetz.net
For me, a trip on the Tpk from exit 4 to exit 18 will cost 27.84!

The problem is that government always assumes that the behavior of the taxed is inelastic. Hey, if we raise tolls 50% we'll get 50% more money! Yeeha!

What they will likely get instead is some percentage increase much less than 50%, and a lot more traffic on 295, 1, 206, 95 in Pennsy, etc. Truckers in particular are very sensitive to this stuff, so expect a lot more heavy haulers on those routes if this passes.
 

andy1015

Explorer
May 4, 2007
234
1
42
What amazes me is i can drive from nj to maine on 95 the whole time, the only tolls i hit are in Nj (not counting bridges). That annoys me, now they want to put not a 10 percent increase but a 50 percent. I dont drive on the roads that much either, but that is going to kill the people that use it evryday. Who it is really going to hurt is the big rigs, they already paying some of the highest gas prices. Their tolls are about 7 times higher then cars also. I know that this isn't on the turnpike, but walt whitman bridge $3 car, $22.50 big rig.
 

Trailhead00

Explorer
Mar 9, 2005
375
1
48
Haddonfield, NJ
Andy I agree with you when talking about the big rigs. Tractor trailers have been getting hit hard with gas and high tolls. Now those tolls will be 50% higher for them. Those trucks are hauling goods for us and what happens is that cost gets passed along to the consumer. Simply put, prices go up on what we buy. Another thing to remember as the tolls get more expensive don't think for a minute that people won't suddenly discover the old back roads. Instead of taking the AC Expressway more drivers might turn to the black horse and white horse pike. Then the people who live along there will complain about increased traffic. Instead of taking the Garden State Parkway drivers may head for good old Route 9. It is a joke that when you drive north on 95 the only toll you hit is in New Jersey. Trying to explain that to people in other parts of the country is difficult. It's a complete joke. Also most of the funding for road improvements comes from the Federal Government so don't let the trolls in Trenton that the toll money fixes the roads. In New Jersey you get hit with everything, high property tax, high sales tax, high car insurance then you get to pay high tolls when you drive on certain roads and the state is still broke! Corzine said there is nothing else he can do, yea right. You better believe if this was Goldman Sachs people would be getting fired or let go to sure up that budget. I don't see anyone losing their jobs. Not that I want them to.
 

omega

Explorer
Trailhead, you do realize don't you, that the Governor's State of the State address is given to the Senators and Assemblypeople seated in the audience in the chambers? thus his 'if you have a better..." comments are aimed at them. we're just allowed to watch.

the state has been a fiscal mess since Tom Kean left office and his admin cooked the books to mess it up for Florio. I covered that campaign and remember Jim Florio's words to me "I see no reason to raise taxes." Of course he didn't, the state had a huge surplus according to the Kean Administration, that is until the day after the election in November. That's when they came out and said there was a huge deficit, and left Florio to clean it up. I'm not defending anyone here, but you gotta realize they "account" in order to serve their masters, which unfortunately do not include the populace of the state, only their special interests. Christie took what was a healthy and flush state employee pension system and stole state workers money, oh sorry, "borrowed" it and then she and her successors didn't make the mandatory contributions until Corzine did last year, so now the pension is struggling and that makes for nice political fodder, and a nice target for politicos, but that was just plain wrong, and who suffers? those who spend their careers in public service, on the front lines hoping they will be able to retire with a decent pension.

As for those who say 'cut the waste,' I'm all for it, but do you think they will cut it from the top where it will make a difference? Nope it will be the front line workers who lose their jobs, and the public will see a cut in state services, long lines at the DMV etc etc...

It's just a mess, plain and simple. I believe it was Thomas Jefferson who said something along the lines of "Politics is not a career, you serve then go home to your farm/business, whatever." We have far too many career politicians who have not only lost touch with the real world, but couldn't give a damn either.
 

Trailhead00

Explorer
Mar 9, 2005
375
1
48
Haddonfield, NJ
Omega you're correct about Corzine giving the speech to the Senators and other assemblypeople. I didn't really look at it that way, especially when it is front page stuff and seems like he is talking to me. Regardless it struck me the wrong way.
I think they should cut more but you are correct again, they will go after the "little people." The people that are the real problem, anyone running this state for the past 25 years, they will be fine. Ultimately the citizens of NJ will suffer, well even more than they do now.
This goes back to what I said before. I just have little faith in our government and I'm sick and tired of the politics. Hopefully it will change for the better. I actually do like NJ but it is getting harder and harder to defend it.
By the way the other great taxes we get in NJ are: an absolutely rediculous gym tax (how the heck do you tax someone for getting in shape?), hotel tax and also a storage facility tax! Only in New Jersey.
 

omega

Explorer
Trailhead, we're on the same page.

I was born and raised in this Garden State, I have seen my home go from a sleepy little town at the jersey shore to a traffic jammed mess replete with the requisite McMansions. I love it here, and will always call it home. I'm more concerned with my four children, and how they will make it as they grow up. They are still young now (oldest is 13). I fear they won't be able to survive here and will scatter to the four winds. And how will my wife and I survive. We've considered leaving now, ripping them up and settling elsewhere, somewhere less crowded and more affordable, but I have a good job, and am about 12 years from retirement, so Pennsy is about the only place that might work (could keep the job) but it is distressing.

other places have their own unique issues, occupancy tax in addition to hotel taxes, a Friend of mine in South Carolina has his automobiles taxed as property (or was that NC, he has move since I have known him) anyway, the grass isn't always greener, though there might be more of it. ;-)
 
Top