Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.

Big bad budget voodoo

Gov. Chris Christie is serious about balancing the state’s budget. The only question is whether, in doing so, he removes what few reasons remain for living in New Jersey.

New Jersey is an expensive state in which to live. Taxes are relatively high, as is the cost of living.

But New Jersey has at least had some solid public services to offer — among them a top-of-the-heep educational system and one of the more expansive children’s healthcare safety nets around.

But all of that could change beginning with tomorrow’s budget address by Gov. Christie. In it, he is expected to reduce school aid by a collective $800 million, an astronomical amount that comes on the heels of last month’s cuts. The result is likely to be local layoffs, larger class sizes, delayed upgrades and repairs to older buildings, fewer afterschool opportunities, new fees and a host of other changes unlikely to be popular with parents. Add to this the anticipated municipal aid cut — about half a billion — and we are looking at $1.25 billion in lost local aid that will result in huge service cuts and potential tax increases.

The troubling thing about what we have heard so far is that the governor is prepared to balance the books on the backs of people who really can’t afford it (the unemployed also are looking at benefit cuts), while offering a tax cut to the upper end of the income strata.

From a fairness standpoint, it makes little sense. From an economic standpoint, it makes even less — at a time of high unemployment the governor is creating conditions that will add public employees to the unemployment rolls, even as he is cutting their lifelines.

This is what the state’s voters get for supporting a candidate who refused to explain how he would cure the state’s fiscal ill-health.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Runner’s diary, Monday

I got in a good run this morning on the treadmill, a slow three miles (28:50) and followed it up with an upper-body circuit.

I’m actually a little surprised I managed such a hardcore workout given the power outage last night and the 4 a.m. wake-up call we got from the power company. That’s when the electricity returned — announced by blaring televisons, bright lights and beeping appliances. I need a nap.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Stranded in the darkness

The dogs are wondering why we're sitting in the dark, no television, no music, nothing but the flicker of the candles.

We'd made it through the weekend without too many problems — aside from trying to get from Kendall Park to Sayreville for a not-so-surprise 40th party for my brother.

Then, at about 10:50 p.m., as we were getting ready to go to bed, the lights went out. The TV went dark. And now we're sitting in the near dark, with candles and flashlights and no idea when we'll have everything back up and running.

It is kind of eerie, no sound aside from the plane passing overhead and the beep of our phones, our connection to the outside world.

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Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.