It's the one-year anniversary of the stimulus bill, aka American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which every New Jersey Republican Congressman opposed and every Democrat supported. Rush Holt says "Everyone in Central New Jersey, whether they realize it or not, knows someone who would be out of job without the investments made in the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act." Frank Pallone says "The Recovery Act is putting New Jerseyans to work who have lost their jobs and continued to employ those, who without it, would have lost their jobs." The New York Times talked to independent economists and concludes "the stimulus package, flaws and all, deserves a big heaping of credit."
But to me, we can see how a recovery has started -- and how far we have to go -- in this graph of job losses put out by Organizing for America:
On the one hand, you can see how the jobs losses stabilized and then improved under the Obama Administration. The problem is that to bring unemployment back down, we need years of positive job growth.
So when our Representatives follow through on their promises to continue fighting for us, they should look at this conclusion from the Times article:
The last year has shown - just as economists have long said - that aid to states and cities may be the single most effective form of stimulus.
It's too bad so much of the stimulus went to tax cuts that most people don't even realize they got. Still, all in all, the stimulus is a success and we have averted an even worse disaster.
It is obvious to anyone who has paid the slightest bit of attention that Governor Christie has come out of the gate swinging. What may be a bit less obvious is that he is swinging right for the heads and hearts of the middle class - while keeping the fat cats who need help the least nice and happy.
Make no mistake - Christie ran on a promise (part explicit and part implicit) to exploit the class and income disparity, and now New Jerseyans who thought that he would being "change" to the Governor's office and were all too eager to get rid of Governor Corzine will see it clearly, hear it loudly and taste it with a solid kick in the teeth.
Let's look at a few examples in the short time Christie has been in office:
He is aggressively courting mega-corporations like Wal-Mart, promising big tax breaks if they come to or expand in New Jersey. Never mind that Wal-Mart has horrific employment practices, pays its employees incredibly low wages with little benefits - Wal-Mart is the epitome of anti-business. Time after time, Wal-Mart has pushed small businesses and entrepreneurs out of business, decimated local employment and Main Street in a goal to "crush all competition". This leads to lower wages, less consumer choice and desolate town economies - and not necessarily even a net gain in employment.
He has gone straight for the teachers' union - regardless of the merits of certain individual arguments or policies - corporatizing and privatizing education lowers the quality of our public education system, demonizing teachers will lower the morale and number of quality educators - things that will no doubt hurt the state overall and into the future as lower levels of education won't lead to better opportunities for better jobs.
And he has gone after those who need to take public transportation with higher fees and service cuts to NJ Transit - nothing more than an additional tax on those who have to rely on public transportation to get to work.
If he keeps this up - there won't be much of an income disparity anymore as everyone other than the upper upper class will be taxed right out of the state.
Thanks for this perspective, tabby. It's dead-on. And it makes me want to recommend Barbara Ehrenreich's remarkable Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America to get much more than a snapshot of how some people who work for Wal-Mart have to live. Ehrenreich spent a year working anonymously in low-wage jobs all over the country - one per month - and lived on only what she earned, and not her own personal resources, writing about her daily work life and the conditions her wages had her living in, both Ehrenreich and the people she worked alongside. The most famous chapter is her month at a Minnesota Wal-Mart. Eye-opening. Heckuva job, Christie - - Promoted by Rosi
Today Governor Christie revealed that his office has been making phone calls to the CEOs of companies like Wal-Mart offering tax breaks and letting them know that “it’s a new day in New Jersey with less regulations and lower taxes.” Although the article does not mention it, one would assume that Governor Christie is encouraging companies like Wal-Mart to expand even more in New Jersey and therefore “create jobs” in the governor’s eyes.
I will not disagree with the governor here that opening more Wal-Marts in New Jersey will create jobs. However are they the kinds of jobs New Jersey needs? I think not. According to Wake Up Wal-Mart, as of 2008, the average full-time associate at the store earned $10.84 an hour, or an annual income of $19, 865. Most employees at Wal-Mart are not full-time and earn less and have fewer benefits. In some states, Wal-Mart actually encourages their employees to apply for public assistance. For an employee raising a family, this income qualifies the employee for the earned income tax credit both from the federal government and the state of New Jersey, actually costing the state money for each job created at Wal-Mart.
Before any penny of tax breaks are applied, low-wage service jobs already cost the state money. They also hurt the local economies as well as the state’s economy. When a customer spends a dollar at Wal-Mart, most of that dollar spent goes to Bentonville and some will eventually go to China, where most of the products sold at Wal-Mart are made. If the customer instead chose to spend his/her dollar at a local Mom and Pop business in town, the money will stay in the community.
Throughout the United States there is a populist movement going because both liberals and conservatives are rightfully concerned about jobs and the economy. Americans and New Jerseyans want jobs that will pay them enough to be able to raise a family on. Governor Christie’s plan to create low-wage service jobs through companies like Wal-Mart is ultimately short-sighted. If he really wanted to focus on the economy and put New Jerseyans back to work, then he would focus on small businesses like the Mom and Pop store that worries about whether a Wal-Mart coming to town will mean going out of business.
By no means are we in great shape, but for the 2nd straight month tax revenues have exeeded estimates and expectations:
Better-than-expected income tax collections in December helped New Jersey make up for sagging sales and business taxes, leaving the state's monthly revenue 1.4 percent above expectations, according to a report the Treasury Department released yesterday.
Overall, New Jersey pulled in nearly $2.76 billion in December, up from the $2.72 billion budgeted, according to the report. That gives the state a small reprieve after several months of missed targets prompted outgoing Gov. Jon Corzine to make several emergency spending cuts and readjustments.
The sagging sales tax revenues point to some of the additional difficulties facing the economy as it recovers. Here is a breakdown of the tax revenues:
Image courtesy of screenshot during NJN News
These numbers are exceeding already lower projections and we are still far off last year:
Total revenue in December was down 1 percent from a year ago. Sales tax during the holiday shopping season was down 3.3 percent from a year ago -- which had been the worst holiday sales season in decades -- and 6.4 percent under budget for the month.
The state stands 2.9 percent -- or nearly $373 million -- below budget. The biggest revenue sources are income and sales taxes.
So while this is good news in the short term, the long range concerns still continue to persist. At this point, people will probably settle for any good news they can get. They also released some good news on the pension fund front:
The state also said after a bad 2008, pension funds finished 2009 up 19.8 percent.
Someone recently told me that Scott Garrett spends more on mailers to his district than any other Congressman or Congresswoman. And while I'd love to find out if that is actually true, I tend to ignore (probably foolishly) his 3 or 4 page glossy "newsletter" that I receive a few times each year. My reasoning is that I know his schtick - he routinely votes against bills that 400 other members of the House vote for because of some "technicality" and then tells his constituents that he is really in favor of the bill but couldn't have it 100% his way so he has to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
So when I got his latest mailer, I tossed it in with the rest of my recyclables (of course), but then had the fortune to come across this post by a former Goldwater conservative who hits fat cat CEO's favorite Congressman right between the eyes with a brilliant takedown of the fluff, misdirection and outright twisting of the facts contained in Garrett's latest mailer.
I won't repeat all of Michael Fremer's arguments, especially since we have made them here and at Retire Garrett issue by issue, and there really is nothing new. He rails against the stimulus (which presumably would include the vote he cast against the largest middle class tax cut in history and scary teabagger talk about healthcare. That being said, it is refreshing to see someone say it so plainly when it comes to Garrett's hypocrisy regarding unemployment:
"You offer no job creation plans in your email other than more tax cuts.
"A job creation engine" was the supposed purpose of the Bush tax cuts for the rich back in 2001 that produced the weakest job growth out of a mild recession in recent history. All it produced was a deficit from what had been a projected surplus.
Had we allowed G.M. and other businesses to fail, the unemployment rate would now be catastrophic, yet that would have been your "solution."
So I find your carping about unemployment churlish and dishonest.
Lest we forget that Garrett's proposed solutions include his very own stimulus bill that he introducedconsisting entirely of corporate tax breaks. When Wall Street needs more tax breaks, they call on their "Hero" to champion a bill for them. And when AIG executives want to keep the bonuses they paid out from Government money, they call on "Wall Street Hero" Scott Garrett. But when families in his district are struggling, they get smacked in the face by his votes and his disingenuous rhetoric.
Governor Corzine is tired of Chris Christie discounting the role of the larger economic difficulties facing our country that are having an impact on our state and was very candid in this recent interview:
When I ask him about Christie's complaints that businesses are fleeing New Jersey for lower taxes elsewhere, Corzine flashes anger. "That's complete bullshit!" he snaps. "There is a recession. This guy's description of New Jersey is a caricature of what it actually is. He's the most negative human being of what the status of New Jersey is." Corzine brings up Christie's May 18 interview with Sean Hannity, when he said he might refuse Obama's stimulus funds. "He was buying into the Sanford-Jindal-Palin view," Corzine says, almost incredulously. "Now you don't hear any talk about it."
Silly Governor, Chris Christie can't be held responsible for things he said in the primary. He was just trying to get votes. That's why in the general, he has lost his shared values, is no longer identified as a conservative Republican, is willing to take more stimulus funding and is missing his mandate-free insurance on his website now too.
Sometimes reading these stories is like playing hide and seek with my niece or nephew. You have to really look to find the news. The Star Ledger put up a piece last night talking about how more people are losing their work sponsored health insurance coverage, but that the state is still lower than the national average. While it's good news we're below the national average and bad news that more people are losing coverage, the better news is buried deep in paragraph nine of the story:
New Jersey was in a statistical tie with Maryland for the No. 1 spot in median income with an average of $70,378, and was only one of five states that saw an increase in real median household income between 2007 and 2008. (The other states were: Kansas, Louisiana, New York and Texas.)
So we are number 1, as in highest median income average in the country. And we're 1 of only 5 states that saw an increase in that median income. Yet the Star Ledger glosses over it as if it were some throw away line in their story. Oh wait, it was.
The thing about the Governor's race is that one side is actually talking about issues and accomplishments (other than prosecuting Democrats um, "corruption wherever it is" unless they can make me and my friends profit or unless they are my friends or family), and the other side is only talking about not talking about issues.
And the more that Chris Christie talks about not talking enough about issues, Governor Corzine has been talking about issues and accomplishments. It would be nice if anyone actually listened.
But that isn't all. Corzine not only reversed the policy of raiding the unemployment reserve fund (something going on since the Whitman administration), but actually beefed up the fund - which would save ALL employers hundreds of millions of dollars collectively.
What has Christie offered up over this time to help employers, workers and the unemployed?
Nothing.
Actually, that isn't true.
While Corzine was creating his own stimulus plan, helping reduce the pain to NJ's economy, and working with President Obama on the federal stimulus bill to expand unemployment benefits in families' time of need, pushing green jobs and calling for extension of unemployment benefits, Christie was doing the following:
Costing NJ employers hundreds of millions in increased state unemployment tax costs with no plan to beef up the unemployment reserve fund while talking about policies that would increase unemployment around the state; and
Once again, the contrast is clear. Corzine is trying to help working and struggling families. Christie talks about how nobody is talking about helping working and struggling families while he quietly lets leak how he would crush them, all while hurting businesses and the state deficit in the process.
Last week we got new job numbers and the Corzine campaign pointed to the creation of 13,000 private sector jobs as a sign that we are starting to emerge from some of the economic difficulties that have faced the state. They put out this video focussing on the people that are behind those job numbers:
NJ needs to build Electric Cars. (.) We can do it. We have every thing that we need - including demand - right here. What we do not have is people who want NJ business to prosper - will capital find its way to a state so blue?
Building an Electric car here in NJ - be it ford, gm, honda (or our own company) can, and must be done. We need to get every one on the same page here.
We need to force this issue to the front. We need the Gov to appoint a Car Czar to get it rolling.
UPDATE: This is LIVE with Corzine now, and Adam and I are live-blogging the panel here at Daily Kos. If you have an account there, please recommend the post so it stays up on the front page.
Here at Netroots Nation, Valerie Jarrett is in the big convention hall being interviewed right now by one of my favorite people, Baratunde Thurston. In less than two hours, it will be Gov. Corzine on that stage, headlining a panel: Building a 21st Century Economy.
It's a big deal here. There are 2000 progressive political bloggers here in Pittsburgh and every one of them knows that there are only two governors races in the country in 2009; two chances for a moribund Republican Party to try and generate some momentum for 2010. Virginia's an open seat. And Jon Corzine is the only incumbent governor in the US up this year. We already know - and so do colleagues here - the GOP's going to pour in resources in the Garden State.
That's why Jon Corzine is such a featured player here, headling on of only 6 plenary sessions: Bill Clinton, Howard Dean, PA Senate candidates Joe Sestak & Arlen Specter, Valerie Jarrett from the White House, and Darcy Burner, and Corzine.
Adam and I will be interviewing the Governor in a few minutes along with a handful of bloggers including Chris Bowers, Duncan Black, Marcy Wheeler, Amanda Terkel and Joe Sudbay. And - big news - we'll be bringing you Gov. Corzine on Blue Jersey Radio Tuesday.
Want to watch Corzine's session LIVE? Here's the live stream, Corzine will be on at noon.
Twittering? Use the hashtag #NN09. If there's a hashtag for you to lob questions in to the panel, I'll post it when I know it.
The problem, according to Moody's, is that "Through several administrations, the state has utilized non-recurring solutions to resolve budgetary gaps, leaving the state with a sizeable structural imbalance, one of the highest debt burdens, one of the lowest-funded pension ratios, and one of the highest post-retirement health insurance liabilities in the country."
After singling out that section of the report, they continued:
Among those "several" administrations is the last one controlled by the Republicans, the
Whitman/DiFrancesco administration. The Republicans in that era created most of the "structural imbalance" cited by the investors' service. Standard & Poor's will also cite the state's "above average" debt burden and pension problems as a credit weaknesses in a report due this week.
Christine Todd Whitman greatly expanded the debt burden, borrowing more than $11 billion in so-called "contract" debt, bonds that were sold without voter approval. Part of that went into the pension fund and part for school construction, but all of it should have gone before the voters. That would have set a precedent that might have precluded later Democratic governors from trying the same trick, which they did with glee.
And it would have saved hundreds of millions in interest payments. Moody rates the state's "general obligation debt" -- the type approved by the voters -- at Aa3, which is a high-quality rating. But because it is not secured by the state's assets, contract debt is rated a notch lower, at A1. The lower the rating, the higher the interest rate. This is a good reason for borrowing only with voter approval. That's what the state Constitution seems to require, but both parties have been adept at exploiting loopholes.
We've written many times on this blog about the games that have been played by all parties involved, but this is a clear accounting of the groundwork laid by the GOP, which our own party capitalized on. But that's not all the GOP holds a share of the blame for:
As for that big pension deficit, again the Republicans laid the groundwork back in 2001 when they raised pensions 9 percent even after the internet bubble was beginning to rapidly deflate and the value of the pension fund was dropping. Again, the Democrats supported this move and have since moved to add more unfunded liabilities to the system.
More bi-partisan responsibility, when all we get is partisan blame. But wait, there's more:
As for that question of unfunded post-retirement health benefits, the blame falls entirely on the GOP. Back in 1995, Whitman ended the practice of setting aside money for future retiree health-care commitments and switched to a pay-as-you-go basis. The problem with that approach is, the further you go, the more you pay. The cost of retiree health benefits rise by hundreds of millions every year. With no fund, that all has to come out of current expenses.
And while the GOP criticizes Corzine and the Democrats, the Ledger reminds them of the void that is their own candidate and his ideas:
But the standard-bearer for Kean's party, gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie, also refuses to come up with any ideas for addressing the deficit.
Well, he's come up with one: He's going to cut the income tax. That's a nice idea, but that just makes the so-called "structural" deficit worse unless he has a plan for reversing the Republican moves that created that structure. If Christie has such a plan, he's not sharing it with the voters.
So far the savior from the party that helped create this mess has offered solutions that will help exacerbate the problem. But people have short memories and the GOP is counting on that, because if history is a prelude of things to come, they're far from the saints they would have the voters believe.
AFL-CIO takes on the role of putting some of Chris Christie's campaign propaganda in proper focus. - - promoted by Rosi
As the critical governor's race approaches this fall, the New Jersey State AFL-CIO has launched a new website, The Real Chris Christie, to take a closer look at the Republican challenger and where he stands on key issues.
Chris Christie, who got a political appointment as a U.S. attorney after raising more than $350,000 for George W. Bush, is running as "reformer," but voters need to know what Christie would do as governor. Where does he stand on the critical issues facing New Jersey?
Christie wants to cut corporate tax rates at the expense of critical health, education and housing programs for working families.
Christie is proposing changes to health care that would allow insurance companies to deny claims and refuse to cover preventative care like mammograms.
Christie opposes funding for pre-K programs for young children.
Christie opposes paid medical leave for workers, project labor agreements and collective bargaining.
Christie has awarded no-bid contracts to friends and political allies.
Visit The Real Chris Christie to find out more. It's an important resource as we approach the Nov. 3 election.
The Corzine campaign put out this video featuring elected officials from across the state talking about the Governor's leadership working to combat the economic crisis. It has comments from Rush Holt, Cory Booker, Steve Sweeney, Bill Pascrell, Ray Lesniak, Theresa Ruiz and more:
Promoted up top again by Rosi - Who's going to Netroots Nation, besides me, clammyc and the Govy?Promoted up top again by Rosi - - Okay, who's going to Netroots Nation besides me, clammyc and the Govy?
From an email sent out by Netroots Nation:
Shortly after President Obama took office, he remarked, "We need new rules of the road for the 21st century economy, together with the means and willingness to enforce them." But in today's world, economic solutions must include more than just bailouts and regulations.
As our leaders push to solve our country's financial crisis, how can we maintain confidence in the economy while protecting the interests of the middle class? What are some of the pivotal policy decisions that are being made now, and what will a "21st century economy" look like? And how can we as progressives help for progressive change in areas such as health care and workers' rights?
On August 15, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, Change to Win Chair Anna Burger and economist Dean Baker will join us in Pittsburgh for a discussion about the economy and how it affects working Americans.
Building a 21st Century Economy, scheduled for Saturday at noon, will give you and your fellow attendees an opportunity to hear from leaders who are on the front lines of some of these policy battles. The panel will be moderated by Kevin Drum of Mother Jones.
We'll have Rosi and ClammyC at Netroots Nation sharing the wealth with the rest of us. Are any of our readers headed to Pittsburgh? If you haven't already, you can register here.
Congressman Albio Sires took to the House floor yesterday for a short speech talking about while some states have refused stimulus funding, New Jersey has used it to create jobs:The Democrats have repeatedly hammered Chris Christie for his comments saying he would refuse stimulus funds pointing out the cost in each area of those actions:
Earlier this month, the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services' reported that New Jersey would lose $5 billion in federal economic recovery money if the state refused to accept funds with conditions set forth by the federal government, a position held by Christie. A rejection of these funds would include over $1 billion in transportation funding, which would have gone toward funding projects like the Plauderville Station High Level Platform Construction and creating good jobs across New Jersey.
?Since the beginning of his campaign, Christie has made a lot of promises about improving New Jersey?s economy, but offered little in the way of details for how he?d do it,? Weinberg said. ?In times like these, New Jersey needs leaders who will stick to their core values and have the courage to do the right thing for New Jersey. Having worked closely with Governor Corzine to lead our state through this global economic recession, I know that he will provide the leadership we need to create jobs and get our economy back on track.?
Under Governor Corzine?s leadership, New Jersey was the first state in the nation to launch a comprehensive economic recovery plan in October 2008, which is expected to create over 16,000 private sector jobs over the next two years and provide tax relief for New Jersey businesses large and small. In partnering with President Obama on the federal economic recovery plan, Corzine also leveraged $17 billion in benefits for new jobs, individual and business tax relief, and infrastructure investment.
Christie is hoping the headlines stay as they are. It allows him to continue failing to offer specifics while speaking in vague platitudes. He'll continue to take shots at Corzine, but his statements show that the problem he would need to solve would be bigger as Governor because of his rejection of federal stimulus dollars. He doesn't give details of a plan to deal with the problem we have, much less what will come from his rejection of help. It may be smart politics, but isn't enough to govern in tough times.
At a ribbon cutting ceremony for Bausch & Lomb's global pharmaceutical division headquarters last week, Governor Corzine said that the opening boosts New Jersey's reputation as "the medicine chest of America." The company estimates the opening will bring about 70 full-time, high-paying sales, marketing and management jobs. The Governor's campaign posted the story along with this photo on their Close to the Vest blog:
The FDIC is proposing new rules that would require buyers to be well-capitalized for three years, maintain a Tier 1 capital ratio of at least 15 percent and own the bank for a minimum of three years. I know that hearing those details make many people's eyes glaze over, but those rules have the chief of the NJ Investment voicing some concerns:
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s proposed rules for bank takeovers may derail investors' plans to inject capital into lenders facing crippling losses, said Orin Kramer, chairman of New Jersey's State Investment Council.
"The proposed policies would have a chilling effect on numerous capitalizations currently being contemplated," Kramer said, declining to provide examples. "Given the level of credit losses not yet recognized, notably in commercial real estate, there could be concerns about the safety and soundness implications of constraining new capital flows."
But he's not opposed to doing something, just questions what is proposed:
"There are legitimate issues about private equity which have been identified, for example by the Federal Reserve, but it is critically important to encourage a continued recapitalization effort," said Kramer, whose council oversees a retirement fund valued at $62.9 billion. "Public pension funds, along with all Americans, have a significant interest in sustaining the recapitalization of the banking industry."
This is all pretty complicated. The question doesn't seem to be should there be reform, but how much. It's hard to tell how much of this reaction is resistance to what the new normal may be. The Wall Street Journal even talks about three reasons why the rules are getting a big chill:
1) The FDIC would require a bank bought by private-equity investors to maintain a 15% Tier One leverage ratio, a measure of a bank?s ability to withstand loan losses, for three years. That seems high considering that a newly constituted bank is required to keep a ratio of just 8%, according Chip MacDonald, a partner at Jones Day. The FDIC wants to ensure that a recapitalized bank has adequate capital in case it runs into problems, but private investors might find that the 15% ratio would cut too deeply into their expected returns.
2) A private-equity owner cannot sell a bank for at least three years after the purchase. By comparison, the holding period for the investment team that recently bought BankUnited was 18 months, said Jeff Berman, a partner in the M&A practice at Clifford Chance. Private investors are likely to chafe at this requirement because it would prevent them from ?flipping? their stake in the bank were the market to recover before the three years were up.
3) A so-called Cross Guarantee requirement will be another likely source of tension, though banking lawyers say it isn?t entirely clear how the proposed rule will be applied. It appears that if a recapitalized bank should fail, a private investor would be required to backstop the losses at one bank with his investments in another bank (that is the cross in the cross guarantee). Bank-holding companies are required to provide cross guarantees between different banks owned by the holding company. Private-equity investors are likely to balk if the FDIC rule requires them to put up their individual stakes in one bank as a guarantee for another bank.
Kramer acknowledges there are legitimate issues about private equity. The push back seems to be about whether addressing those issues does more damage in the long run and I'm not near qualified to determine those answers. We'll see whether the FDIC is just basically putting up a trial balloon with these proposed rule changes to see what the response will be.
