CNN:
As of July, New Jersey's unemployment rate stands at 9.8%: higher than the national average, fourth worst among the 50 states and the highest level in 35 years. The rate is higher than on the day Christie took office in 2010 and nearly a full percentage point higher than earlier this year, when Christie's State of the State address exultantly and repeatedly claimed that a "New Jersey Comeback" was under way.My thing is this: the GOP has no real solutions to the problem. As for the Dems, they could actually spur economic growth. But, really, why do we need more growth? I only agree with the Dems because their policies would be less painful to the working class than the policies of the GOP. Yet, both parties are talking about the same thing: economic growth. Speaking of Christie, what we need instead is to see negative growth in the same positive light we see weight loss.
And despite Christie's boasts about trimming the cost of government in the Garden State — the keynote speech repeated his frequent claim of balancing three state budgets — some fiscal watchdogs attribute the budgets to creative accounting, not true cost containment.
"A hard truth Christie absolutely will not tell is that every one of his budgets has been unbalanced by more than $2.5 billion," notes Bloomberg news blogger Josh Barro, citing Christie's bad habit — started by previous governors — of skimping on payments into the state's pension fund.
This year, for example, Christie paid just over $1 billion into the fund, a record amount but far less than the $3.74 billion that actuaries said was needed, according to Barro. Those unpaid billions are, in effect, a loan that will have to be repaid by taxpayers someday.
