Blue Jersey - Recommended Diaries

March 18 - Make Wall Street Pay! Good Jobs Now Rally in Jersey City

Hudson County AFL-CIO — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:12:19 GMT

***UPDATE: Due to logistical complications, the rally site will be moved to an area near Exchange Place in Jersey City. Please check back frequently for updates.***

On Thursday, March 18, 2010, union members and community allies will join together in Jersey City to demand good jobs now. America needs 11 million jobs and big Wall Street banks should pay to rebuild jobs and the economy they helped destroy.

The rally will be held from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm near Exchange Place in Jersey City, NJ. (Due to logistical complications, the rally site will be moved to an area near Exchange Place in Jersey City. Please check back frequently for updates.)

Let us know you'll be there to fight for good jobs. Register here.

Help spread the word. Download a flyer for the rally.

This rally is only one of hundreds being held across the country from March 15 to 26 to hold Wall Street accountable in our fight for good jobs.

Big Wall Street banks helped cause the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, homes and retirement savings. But in 2009, the biggest Wall Street banks gave their execs $145 billion in pay and bonuses.

We are calling on Wall Street to

Stop refusing to pay their fair share to restore jobs
Stop fighting financial reform
Start lending to our communities, small businesses and others starved for credit

Join the Hudson County Central Labor Council on March 18 in our fight for good jobs. The time has come for Goldman Sachs and Wall Street to pay for repairing the economy they helped destroy.

Read more at laborcouncil.org.

NJSAEA: Doing the Same Thing And Expecting a Different Outcome

BillOrr — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:42:00 GMT

Promoted from the diaries by Rosi

Our government should start getting rid of the NJ Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSAEA) albatross.

Someone said, "Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome." For years the NJSAEA has expanded its investments into the Meadowlands complex, Monmouth Park Racetrack, and the AC and Wildwoods Convention Centers. The result: NJSAEA currently holds $830 million in debt, faces a deficit this year of $38 million, and is requesting from the state $30 million to meet its shortfall. NJSAEA is now pleading for slots machines at its racetracks and hopes for gambling at Xanadu.

During Senate hearings the NJS&EA President Dennis Robinson said that its "debt load reflects poor choices by past governors and lawmakers." Actually our current governor recently appointed his former colleague Ralph Marra as Senior Vice President for Legal and Governmental Affairs with a 25% salary increase to $190,000. Marra has been criticized on several counts for improperly having used the federal prosecutor's office to further Christie's campaign.

Indeed past governors and lawmakers have treated the authority as their toy box. Political interference has including a bloated staff of political appointees, free tickets and catered meals to favored politicians, poorly negotiated contracts with football, basketball, and hockey franchises, bad decisions regarding Xanadu, and insistence on perpetuating the money-losing race track business.

Robinson also says there is a long-term future for the agency. Really? With accounting statements "in such disarray they could not be trusted," their race tracks bleeding huge sums, their infusion of capital from Xanadu nearing an end, ongoing debt on the former Giants stadium and Izod Arena, the NJ Devils long gone to Newark, the NJ Nets soon to follow, and questions raised about their contract with concert promoter Live Nation - where is the long-term future we can believe in?

Sports economists "have shown time and time again that the rosy estimates of economic benefits put forward by sports boosters are at odds with actual economic data." We like our professional sports and we want to keep them, but other states have their own teams and have not pandered as much to team owners nor allowed their government to so mismanage the business.

As with companies that have a failed business model, the government should begin to find other operators, sell off its assets, close down facilities where necessary, and disengage from the sports, exposition and entertainment business. Other non-governmental operators could run these facilities and be more successful. If some were to lose money it would not be a drain on our state's treasury. There are other far more pressing needs in NJ. It's time to stop. "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig."

Quote of the day "He who controls redistricting can control Congress"

tabbycat31 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:27:12 GMT

This is coming from a man who has some qualities I admire (like his ability to change the political landscape of a state or country) but is still a sleaze ball who should be behind bars. This man is none other than Bush's "brain" Karl Rove.

New Jersey is one of just a handful of states that have a bipartisan redistricting plan. Currently New Jersey (like so many other states) is so gerrymandered (in both the Congressional and Legislative districts) that they set up incumbent victories. (I plan on working to re-elect 2/3 of Monmouth County's Congressional incumbents because I like their voting record and what they stand for). This has implications beyond New Jersey though, and I think the quote needs to be read by many.