2/8/09 - Big government isn't the answer to get the economy moving
President Barack Obama has thrown his call for bipartisanship to the wind and is now blaming Republicans for lack of action on his spending bill a/k/a stimulus package.
He reminds us that the Democrats won the election last year. And that implies in it that Republicans should abandon all of their principles --- belief in entrepreneurship, empowering working families and inherent distrust of government bureaucracy --- and sign-on to the Obama spending free for all.
But the President's Democratic Party controls the House and the Senate. If he wants action, he should get it. Its not necessary to make Republicans complicit in his expansion of the size of the federal government --- particularly when its not even clear that the Obama spending bill will actually create new jobs and there's a significant amount of waste.
“We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work.”
That's what FDR's Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr. said after eight years of the New Deal. That greatest of social experiments failed to reduce unemployment --- in fact unemployment increased through the 1930s.
Two professors recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the New Deal may very well have prolonged the Great Depression, rather than ended it.
Let's not make that same mistake again by spending billions in tax dollars, saddling our children with deeper debt and having nothing to show for it.
2/3/09 - Me me meeeeee!
You have to wonder if Senator Jeff Van Drew wakes up in the morning and sings "me me me" to get his vocal chords warmed up.
Yesterday, Senator Van Drew tried to get legislation through the State Government Affairs Committee to have four different state odes to New Jersey approved as the official state songs.
In his constant attempt to be everything to everyone, this time the Senator's legislative maneuvering fell flat.
Fellow Democrat Senator Loretta Weinberg said: "We have a lot of other issues to deal with, so can we just put this aside until we can get our economic problems taken care of?"
For some reason Senator Van Drew wasn't available for comment in today's Press of Atlantic City story.
Maybe he was too busy auditioning for the new season of American Idol.
1/27/09 - Key Democrat rips stimulus package
A key Democrat on the House Capital Markets, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee, today said that the Democrats' stimulus package is moving too quickly through Congress and will do nothing to stimulate the economy in the short term.
Details here on The Hill.
1/11/09 - Obama uses recession as pretext to grow the size of government
The national recession we now find ourselves in is being used by the incoming Obama Administration as a pretext to grow the size of government.
President-elect Obama is proposing over $700 billion in government spending and incentives to help mitigate the economic downturn.
But the question is whether this injection of government dollars will actually help the economy or just add to the federal deficit and grow the size of the federal government.
The conclusion of N. Gregory Mankiw in the New York Times today is that Obama's stimulus package will not have that great of an effect on the economy and that those in Washington pushing the plan are still hung up on a by-gone Great Depression/Keynesian mindset to spend record amounts of money on government programs -- leaving trails of deficits and higher taxes to pay for it.
If you thought the federal bailout of Wall Street was an outrage, wait until you see this sausage being made.
It appears the tax-spend-borrow mindset of Jon Corzine is coming to Washington, even though Corzine was passed over as President-elect Obama's Treasury Secretary.
The only saving grace is that Obama may opt for more tax cuts than originally anticipated. The questions is whether Obama can resist liberal Democrats in Congress who are skeptical of tax cuts when they can spend, spend, spend.
1/7/09 - Let's stick to the facts
I've attended quite a few reorganization meetings this week and there are many bright spots in the grassroots for our party here in Atlantic County, where Republicans won 62% of the contested local seats in last year's election.
In Atlantic County, Freeholder Frank Sutton was sworn in to a second term by Senator and Mayor Sonny McCullough. And Freeholder Jim Curcio was elected as chairman of the Freeholder Board. In his comments to the public, Curcio noted that Atlantic County is well positioned to weather the economic downturn because of solid planning, that county employees were participating in the furlough program to minimize layoffs and that the county's safety net would be protected.
When it comes to party loyalty and a strong sense of compassion and integrity, there's no one better than Jim Curcio. We're fortunate to have him leading the helm at the Freeholder Board.
In Galloway Township, Keith Hartman was elected Deputy Mayor last night. A true entrepreneur, Keith has established a successful chain of pharmacies in our region. He's brought that business acumen to council and is a tremendous asset to our party there.
In Hamilton Township on Monday night, Nelson Gaskill was elected as that town's new mayor. A former letter carrier and baseball coach, Nelson brings a strong commitment to public service and "can-do spirit" in the face of naysayers.
In Northfied, Republicans were swept back into the majority with the reelection of Tim Carew and Cindy Kern last fall. Newcomer Brian Smith was elected with a handful a votes. A teacher at Mainland High School, Brian teaches history and civics and is an up-and-comer in our party.
And tonight in Somers Point, two new faces --- Ralph Triboletti and Maureen Kern --- were sworn in, increasing Republican ranks to 3 out of 7 Council seats. Both will hit the ground running.
I also ran into Senator Jim Whelan at several of these reorganization meetings. And when called upon to give comments, Whelan is always reminding us how bad things are financially with government. And he's quick to point out that its not just the state that's in trouble, but also local government.
Senator Whelan's comments suggest to me that the Democrats' gameplan in 2009 is to pin their budget woes in Trenton on the economic downturn exclusively and hope the public forgets what has occurred in this state under Jon Corzine for the last 3 years and Democrat control for the past 7 years.
What Senator Whelan is saying is just plain disingenous.
During the last six years, state spending has increased by $11 billion and state debt has more than doubled to $38 billion. Senator Whelan has supported no less than three of Jon Corzine's budgets which contained out-of-control spending that New Jersey just could not afford.
To pay for this free-wheeling spending, the Democrats have increased 101 taxes and fees while freezing state aid to municipalities and school districts. This freeze in local aid resulted in dramatic property tax increases in excess of 42 percent over the past six years.
And herein lies the problem. Counties, municipalities and school districts are admittedly struggling in part because of the economic downturn. But a prime reason for their difficulties is more troublesome; it is that the state is asking local government to do more, while giving them less.
If the Democratic Party governed from a position of fiscal responsibility for the past 7 years and planned for the kind of inevitable economic downturn we're now experiencing, the State of New Jersey wouldn't be in such dire straights. But instead, Whelan and his cohorts spent and spent and bonded and bonded and now we're all paying the price.
Fortunately in this new year, we have the ability to change the direction of this state.
And change is coming.
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