New Jersey: Officially Insolvent?

We get more and more evidence of it every day, but in a blue state run by Democrats, nothing is going to change until we hit absolute rock bottom. So let's enjoy the ride, it's going to be a wild one...

Think you 401(k) sucks right now? Well, you know what sucks worse? Counting on the State of New Jersey to fund your retirement:

New Jersey’s pension fund has lost more than $23 billion this year, dropping to its lowest level since 2003 as a collapsing financial market battered its investments, a new state report shows.
The latest losses — nearly $9 billion in October, and another $3 billion so far this month — mean the fund is now worth $57.8 billion, or less than half the $118 billion in benefits it is due to pay out over time. . . .

While Clark delivered his report to the State Investment Council in Trenton, Gov. Jon Corzine was in Atlantic City promising a convention of local government officials that he would let them postpone about a half-billion in payments they are scheduled to make to the pension funds in April.

Who's gonna pay? You will:

"Property taxpayers will shoulder an even greater tax burden in the three years following the gubernatorial election as municipalities raise taxes to pay for this year's pension obligation," said Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R-Essex).

Final thought:

The state of New Jersey is insolvent. Bankrupt might be a better word.

Well, financially, this is a new thing. Morally bankrupt, well, we've been that way at least since McGreevy....

And while the rest of America believes that Obama will bring forth Hope and Change, here in New Jersey there is nothing but doom, gloom, and abject despair:

New Jersey employers -- most of them with 49 or fewer workers -- are gloomy about the financial condition of their businesses and think the economy will only get worse next year, a survey released yesterday said.

Only 17 percent of business owners surveyed said they expect to expand payrolls in 2009, a hiring outlook even weaker than the 2001 recession. Nearly 20 percent said they expect to shrink payrolls. The number of businesses that expect to hire more workers is at the second-lowest level of the past 28 years. And over the past 25 years, only the 1991 survey has produced a more negative employment outlook.

Hey, who cares - they're businessmen, like that greedy Joe the Plumber guy! It is the poor we must care about, the poor, the poor...of which - due to the miserable business client produced by our local Democrats - we keep seeing more and more of in New Jersey. And they all need free health care!

More than a quarter-million New Jersey children lack health insurance and that number is likely to grow as the economy deteriorates, a report released yesterday predicted.
We're at the brink of a crisis and things are going to get worse," Cecilia Zalkind of the Association for Children of New Jersey said in response to the report. "Those numbers are probably higher now."

Maybe a tax on businesses - to pay for a tissue for every kid that has a cold on top of the healthcare for their own employees - would help solve the problem!
And maybe New Jersey businesses know this - hence their dismal outlook and reluctance to hire. Greedy bastards!

(Incidentally, the article above slams Bush for not expanding SCHIP, then notes the following - The Families USA report notes that the number of uninsured children nationally actually declined by 521,000 between 2006 and 2007, saying it could be an indication that some transferred to private insurance. So Bush was right! Somebody alert the Star-Ledger...)

Corzine and the state Democrats are pathetic, not a man amongst the lot of them. Pander and sweep under the rug, they'll do anything to hold onto power for a few more years, no matter how much pain and suffering it will cause New Jersey residents down the road. But we ain't changing - Republicans Suck! -and we'd rather go down with the leaky ship we love than ride one of cold steel - less forgiving, less pretty, but much more likely to keep us alive and vibrant.

Guess it's that attitude that makes New Jersey Progressives so much damn smarter than the rest of us...