I wasn't going to do a political blog today, but while driving home, I heard some excerpts of what New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is doing and felt compelled blog about it. I spend so much time bashing politicians, that I thought I should praise one who is actually doing a good job. Christie is the recently elected Republican governor of Democrat-heavy New Jersey. Christie seems to be the kind of Conservative leader I believe our country needs to get back on track.
Governor Christie inherited a budget deficit of $10.9 billion on a budget of $29.3 billion. Rather than crying about the mess he inherited, Christie did 2 things. First, he was open and honest about the mess the state is in, and second, he went about the job of trying to fix the mess. Most importantly, he didn't raise taxes, instead, he vetoed a new tax on millionaires within minutes of it's passing out of the legislature, stating that “At some point people’s ability to pay runs out.” No, Christie looked at cutting government spending and putting responsible measures in place to fix things long term.
This is from Liz Peek on Foxnews.com, writing an opinion piece on Governor Christie, "That is also why he is proposing a 2.5% annual cap on property tax increases and on municipal spending going forward; if legislators want to impose a heftier rise, they will have to get approval from the voters. And, that is also why he is going after public employee unions, and most specifically the teachers’ union. New Jersey is not the only state that has given away its future to pay generous pensions and benefits for its public service employees, but it is one of the first to challenge those contracts. Christie makes clear that it is not teachers who are the focus of his ire; it is their union. He has asked the union to accept a one-year pay freeze – not a cut – and to shoulder 1.5% of the cost of their very generous health benefits. Teachers in New Jersey get full medical, dental and vision care for themselves and their families at no expense. By contrast, as Christie points out, federal employees pay 25% of such costs."
These all seem like common sense decisions to me, and one that every city, county, state and yes even the federal government should consider undertaking. Governor Christie is right, at some point people can't pay any more, and cuts have to be made. There is waste at all levels of government and real leadership is looking for ways to cut that waste and enact long term reforms to ensure history doesn't repeat itself. Governor Christie has chosen a difficult path, but if he is successful, New Jersey will be a great shape for the long run.
This is the kind of leadership sorely needed at the federal level. As I've stated before, our debt situation is unsustainable. We need our leaders to be honest about that. Too many people don't understand how bad it is, because for the last 30 years, politicians have kept us focused on everything but our mounting debt. In my opinion, we are approaching a tipping point, and something will have to be done. Major changes will be needed, and more taxes aren't going to fix what ails us. Cuts are going to have to be made to all areas of the federal government, and these cuts will be difficult. The leader who finally has the guts to do what is necessary will be vilified by his/her opponents, but hopefully that person will have the fortitude to do what is necessary and set our country back on the path that made this the greatest country in the history of the world.
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7 comments:
Speaking of debt, I remember an old history teacher tell me during the Reagan era to not worry about the debt, because we're a sovereign nation and can just declare it paid someday if we have to. So, I wouldn't worry about it.
O’ weak! Go the Full Monty, just cut everything and let people be on their own. No Federal Government, no State borders... no State for that matter. No taxes at all, what you make is what you keep. No laws to regulate anything. True survival of the fittest. Ahhh, the Libertarian utopia! :-)
I would say that people are, in general, informed about the national debt. On 6th Ave in Manhattan there is the National Debt Clock. Of course it was turned off between 2000 and 2002 when the deficit was going down, but that is another story. If you want to see something scary go to http://www.usdebtclock.org. I think CNN or another news organization has a camera on the Debt Clock and shows it in real time during afternoon broadcasts… I know I’ve seen it in the last few days. Yet, you are right… that is a BIG problem and cuts are needed. Where would you start with Federal cuts?
MCD
Did I get under your skin a little bit? It's funny that you reference the debt clock yet you think Obama is doing a good job. Did you also thing W was doing a good job? Because neither of them did when it came to the debt clock. And Nuke is right...same thing during Reagan. We've ignored it for 30+ years or we've been told it's not a problem. Well, it is now.
First solution is to raise social security age to 80.
No, you didn't get under my skin- I live in a world of teenagers- getting under my skin is tough to do. :-)
I assume then that you think Clinton was a good president? He made the debt go down for two straight years (down a total of 9.7%)... until W took over (up 27.1%). Is this all we look for? My point is that I think that Obama is a fine president with things to work on... I never said that he is perfect. Of course in April Obama’s bipartisan commission on lowering the national debt first met… so that is a start. But they need to hurry things up!
I don't agree with SS going to 80- we would have too many greeters at Wal-Mart that way. Here is a small part of my plan.
1. Immediate withdraw for Iraq and Afghanistan. The “War on Terror” is estimated to cost us $6,000.00 per second, or an estimated $20 million per hour. As of February 2010 we had spent $704 Billion between the two. Then cut Nation Defense spending by 3% ($104 billion)
2. Rise SS age from 62 to 65. For 19% SS recipients it is their sole source of income. For 30% it makes up 90% of their retirement income and for 56% it makes up over half their income. We do not need to look at raising the age of SS; we need to look at alternative employment opportunities and continued education for those over 55-65. We need to keep them employable and not make them a negative to businesses due to higher compensation. I would also look at cutting down on SS fraud which is estimated to cost $100 Billion a year.
2a. Reduce Medicare overpayments- estimated to save $17.7 billion per year
2b. Improving care after hospitalizations and reducing readmission rates- estimated to save $2.5 billion per year.
3. Reduce High School Dropouts- Every day almost 7,000 students drop out of High School- that adds up to 1.2 million per year that will not get their diplomas or 30% of the total National High School class. The 30% students that do not get High School diplomas miss out on $329 billion in income over their lifetimes. The estimated cost to the nation of High School dropouts is $3 trillion (http://www.all4ed.org/files/archive/publications/HighCost.pdf)
Here are some crazy ones:
4. Eliminate the US Postal Service- The USPS has been hemorrhaging money for years, it lost $297 million during 1Q alone. It’s looking at losing $238 billion over the next ten years. The USPS costs $237 per citizen to get their mail- kind of silly since all I get is junk mail. I say dump the USPS and let UPS and FedEx fight it out.
5. My craziest idea- legalize marijuana. This would serve a thee fold purpose really and all we have to do is look at prohibition for the source material. First, legalize it and tax the hek out of it- it is estimated to gain $45 to $110 billion per year in tax revenue. Second, legalization would cut down the control the Mexican Mafia has on the boarder and eliminate some drug trafficking and illegal immigration on the Mexican/American boarder. Third, it would cut down the number if inmates in Federal Prisons- it costs the taxpayer $61 per day to house one inmate- that is $11 million per day for the entire prison population and $4 billion per year. I have no idea what this would save- but it would be something. I have an argument aginse this idea too… so I could go either way.
I would really love to see a president do what happened at the end of the movie Dave- sit down and go over every line item and start cutting. Man Dave was a good movie!
Your thoughts?
MCD
Clinton was terrible. It was all Gingrich. :-)
Interesting ideas...I could get on board with that. But the retirement age has to be higher. When people are living until 80+ years old, the gov't can't afford to pay for 15-30 years of retirement.
at least ideas 2, 3 and 4...not sure about 1 and 5.
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