Author: hankkalet

The Record writes that the budget crafted after a long, unnecessary standoff is only the first in what promises to be a series of difficult battles facing Trenton. the statea already faces a structural deficit next year (the Record puts it at $2 bill, though I’ve read higher) and there is a screaming need to change the way we raise and spend money in the state.

The current property tax system is badly flawed and unfair; the sales tax, unless better targeted than our current tax, is regressive; and the income tax can be too dependent on the economy. A mix of all three will needed, with a heavier reliance on income taxes than we currently have, to address our problems.

And we need to change our spending habits. We need a serious discussion about municipal and school district consolidation and the elimination of extraneous levels of government — not just talk about shared services. The reality is that the more boards, commissions and panels we have that can ask for money and spend money, the more they’ll ask for and spend.

We need pension reform, changes in public employee contracts, an end to patronage and pay-to-play — I could go on.

Unless we make changes, every new budget will result in some sort of crisis.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press

I’ve avoided saying much about this up to now, because I don’t want to prejudge what happened. But as with the Haditha probe, there is far too much detail in all of this to ignore it. Obviously, there is no excuse for such a venal and depraved act, but given the number of soldiers now allegedly involved, it is time for the military to take a hard look at itself and ask what role it plays institutionally in these kinds of abuses. War is an ugly, horrid thing that distorts minds and makes men believe they have license to do things they otherwise would not do.

I don’t want to tar all soldiers with this, but that is one of the lessons history teaches us — read Chris Hedges’ important book on war — War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning — to get a better sense of what I’m saying.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press

This comes by way of Josh Marshall and Talking Points Memo, from a Nexus database search. It is from a 2000 AP story on Tom Kean’s unsuccessful Congresional race that year and sshould offer some light on the current Senate candidate’s position on Social Security (see Dispatches for what got this all started):

Morrisey and Weingarten support a flat-tax system, while Kean and Ferguson say they support something “flatter” than the current code. All favor school vouchers, at least experimentally in areas where public schools are failing. All support the idea of letting people invest part of their Social Security payroll taxes into a private investment account they would manage.

Thanks Josh.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press

Plenty of pain, plenty of pork. But that was bound to happen.

This budget process of ours desperately needs to be reformed.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press

I offer this post as a warning to say I am likely to be a bit inconsistent with my blog postings for the next week. I’ll be out of the office, probably hanging in the backyard by the pool as the contractor begins tearing up the kitchen. I’ll make an effort to post some dispatches, but I figured I’d just put it out there ahead of time and apologize now.

Basically, check back on a regular basis, but don’t expect it to be as regularly updated as it’s been.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press