I just watched an unbelievable clip from the Star Ledger's Brian Donahue detailing Chris Christie's most outrageous moments. I can't say enough about how awful it makes him look... not Christie, Donahue. At the moment NJ.Com isn't making the clip available to link, but I'll post it here when I can. In the meantime if you want to see it you can go here.
Here's the actual video now:
Let me say a little about the points Donahue is 'horrified' by:
First: Governor Christie Called NJ's teachers among the "most privileged" people in in our society. Donahue is shocked by this yet after just 3 years and 1 day teachers have guaranteed employment for life and even make jokes to journalists about how they can't get fired. They get guaranteed free medical care forever from the same date. They work for 9 months but are paid for 12. They have no real accountability of any kind and a union that not only owns outright one of our two political parties, but would sooner see the state government in ruins than give up even a single pay raise. As a guy whose never made a penny without earning someone else two, and having never been given any kind of a guarantee of anything - that sounds pretty priviledged to me.
Second: Governor Christie says that if you don't like the way things are being done in Sayreville, move. For this one, Donahue includes a spit take and implies that Sayreville is a prison that can't be escaped from because Westfield has a higher average income. There are literally dozens of NJ towns with similar cost of living and similar demographics to Sayreville, several of them right in Middlesex county. Many even border on Sayreville. Any high school kid probably already knows this but Brian Donahue doesn't. (if you want to know their names Donahue look them up yourself...if you know how to read you stupid fu3k).
The fact is, we in the real world are always forced to make choices where there is both a cost and a benefit. Moving is a big hassle, but if the sports program is that important to you and you can't convince your school system to cut something else, then moving is an option. Grow up Donahue you A-hole.
Third: Donahue is upset that Christie is claiming to have 'solved the 2010 state budget crisis' without making the (optional) payment to the state's civil service union pension plan. He compares it to solving your household budget while failing to pay the mortgage, but it's really like doing so while failing to give your kid his allowance. (Or at least it would be if your kid's allowance was 3 Billion dollars a year).
I don't know if Donahue is just trying to be cute, or clever, or maybe the editors demanded that he put together a 'video hit piece' and this was the best he could do. Maybe he's thinking that there is no such thing as bad publicity and any criticism of Christie will earn him points in the progressive journalism business no matter how thin they are. I know I certainly didn't know who the hell he was yesterday.
But if he actually believes this is controversial stuff then I now know that he's an imbecile. And I know that as is typical of the NJ Star Ledger he's hyperbolically partisan. And I know not to take him seriously as a journalist at all anymore.
Used to be a journalist could pop out a spit take laden piece of refuse like this and get nothing but kudos if the target was right. Thankfully at least those days are gone. Spread this one around guys - it's illustrative of our 'objective' media.
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6 comments:
In regards to the pension funding: Why bother? The pension system in in NJ is doomed. The only hope in my opinion, is to default, and dedicate whatever funds are left to paying those who are already in the system and too old and frail to work. NJ should look to the Federal Thrift Savings Plan as a model for moving to a defined contribution plan.
Further funding of the pension system is just throwing money down a black hole. Christie's previous reforms, while a good step in the right direction, are not nearly enough. The police / fire pension plan alone is less than 40% funded (as of March 2010).
Expect more attacks against Christie. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, "there are too many piglets for the tits". The thousands who are depended on the largess of the public treasury will not go down without a fight.
The public pension problem isn't just NJ, and because it isn't, we can't really afford to just 'let them fail'. At least we can't anymore. When they start to liquidate they'll all do it at once. That will decimate the bond market - the fed will step in to support it and if congress doesn't put together some kind of support system soon after that, the dollar will collapse and we're finished.
You think what happened to the markets when Lehman went belly up was bad? That'll be a picnic compared to CALPERS.
but that's off topic.
You're right of course - it's in deep trouble, and Christie's moves aren't nearly enough. But try and tell that to a 'progressive'. They just don't get it yet.
Tom,
What can the Fed do? QE0X? Printing your way out of debt has been tried since Emperor Marcus Aurelius replaced gold with copper in the coinage. It never ends good. Inflating your currency is just default by other means.
I am no financial professional. I take an interest in the history of money, finance as an amateur. I don't see any way out besides default. The sooner and worse it is the better, because the sooner it will be over with.
As for explaining to our progressive public servants. You are right, they just don't get it. I am involved in local politics (budget issues). Arguing with these people is hopeless. They respond with denial or blame the "Bush-war-on-terror-corporation-not-paying-there-fair-share" screed. The only way they will understand if the checks stop coming.
Oh.. your cascade of default prediction might happen sooner than later. From Bloomberg:
Illinois lawmakers will try this week to accomplish in a few days what they have been unable to do in the past two years -- resolve the state’s worst financial crisis.
The legislative session that began today as the House convened will take aim at a budget deficit of at least $13 billion, including a backlog of more than $6 billion in unpaid bills and almost $4 billion in missed payments to underfunded state pensions.
The fiscal mess is largely of the lawmakers’ own making, and failure to address the shortages threatens public schools, local governments and other public services, said Dan Hynes, the state’s outgoing comptroller.
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The state had $64 billion of assets to pay estimated liabilities of $126.4 billion as of June, or less than half the amount needed for almost 723,000 workers, retirees and other beneficiaries, according to bond documents.
Well the Fed will absolutely let their balance sheet expand to support the market in a run on treasuries. Call that QE-X if you like but they already have that authority and don't need to get permission.
The question for the dollar though isn't whether we 'devalue' or print money. As I said, that can be quantified so it won't cause an out and out crisis by itself. But if the world believes that our political system is incapable of addressing the problem in any grown up way, then the lack of confidence in the political system can create a REAL problem.
A negotiated haircut for the bond holders may be a part of a solution, but simply 'not paying' as a ‘default’ isn't realistic. It would be genuine anarchy after that. You don't really want it. The real trick will be to negotiate the unwinding of the pension. The pensioners take a hit, the debtors will take a hit, and the pension will somehow continue in a much reduced way. But it needs to be organized – in a case like this the simpler solution of ‘sell it all and give whatever is left out to whoever is left’ would be catastrophic.
More than likely a radical reduction in entitlements is in the cards. In the meantime the governments will have to enact other spending cuts along with a restructuring of the tax code to generate greater economic growth - things like that will do the trick. But it needs to be handled reasonably and without all the ‘blame the rich’ rhetoric. That was all fallacious anyway, and we can no longer afford it.
First cut up the credit card and start acting like a grown up, then the debtors for the states will negotiate something.
Check the guy's list - Under the headline ".. list of Fat Cats", he has Anesthesiologists, Dentists and Surgeons ahead of people who caused credit crisis and politicians. I hope local surgeons, dentists and anesthesiologists remember this when this guy needs a service from them. Too bad most of them keep their oath, while operating on this guy.
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