If you google Art Laffer (The Laffer Curve) Lowering Taxes drives up revenues.
To open a business in NJ is horrid. The Business taxes are way to high and we are losing businesses to North Carolina, Delaware and PA. Economic growth is the only way to do it and you need business and put money back in the pockets for people to spend. The "Homestead Rebate" is a Sham why do I have to send my Money to Trenton only for them to cut me back a check. How about a State Cap on Property Taxes? This way instead of the money goes to the actual homeowner instead of the wealth redistribution it actually is? It gives the rebate to non Property owners?

Arthur Laffer is laughable. We have been stuffing money into the pockets of those who already have more than they can spend in 1000 lifetimes for thirty years, and where has it gotten us? Those whose greed is so great have holes in their souls that no amount of money or mansions or sports cars can fill. These are not people who will "create jobs" out of the goodness of their hearts.

Jobs are created through demand. When people buy stuff, there's demand and more people are needed to produce the good or service for which there's demand. The more you concentrate wealth into the hands of fewer and fewer people, the less an economy can be sustained.

Arthuf Laffer is not God. He's just another guy with an economic theory, only his theory has been soundly debunked.

In addition to J Galt's comments, I must ask, when expenses are higher than income in your own family cash flow and your income gets cut, do you stand around wondering how to "pay" for it. I don't, I just cut spending to bring things back into balance. The state must do the same.

Julia, you have it all wrong. Tax revenues are supposed to be offset by expenses. Unfortunately we have the same problem in NJ that Greece, Spain, Ireland and the federal government is having. Spending more than they have or more correctly, promising to spend more than there is coming in. Tax cuts should lead to increased tax revenues as the people and businesses producing those taxes have more money to spend. As they spend they generate taxes and boost the economy.

B@B is similarly misinformed. Laffer's economic theories have NOT been debunked and are simple as expained above. Lower taxes results in more tax revenues. Same thing with businesses.

I have a question for the guy who goes by John Galt. Does it bother you that Ayn Rand would have disagreed with an enormous portion of the Republican platform? Basically all of the anti-homosexual, religious conservatives trying to push Christian morality on everyone would have been the exact opposite of what those writings were all about.

Or do conservatives just ignore the anti-religion aspects of Ayn Rand's work?

And another thing...it isnt that the Laffer Curve is wrong (and I am a liberal). Its that conservatives think that the Laffer Curve lets us know that reducing taxes raises revenues. Ummm...not even Laffer would agree with that. Its a Curve, not a straight line. Reducing taxes ONLY raises revenue when you are on the right side of the curve (to the right of the curve's highest point). Otherwise, the Laffer Curve shows that reducing taxes reduces revenue, all the way down to zero revenue at a zero tax rate.

If you are going to cite an economic theory, it is usually helpful to understand it.

Julia, let me tell you Tom Keane was no ball of wax either. He was as crooked as Corzine is.

Business open and stay because there is demand for their goods/services sufficient to enable them to make enough profit to make it worth the effort. How many businesses can be uprooted, moved to Nevada or some other state, with no effect on profits? Something Internet-based, maybe, or something that's easy to ship to customers anywhere. But if the customer base is local, do you really want to go somewhere with half the per-capita income of this area?

Say you were going to open a restaurant in a NJ location that had sufficient demand to make it worth your while. And say that profit is $100,000 (I'll ignore the details of whether you take a salary or it's a flow-through entity). Is ten grand one way or another enough to make you close and sell the business (good luck in this economy), uproot, move your family, find a new place to live, and launch anew? Really?

@John Gait: If Laffer is so correct then the states with no personal income or corporate income taxes should be burning money to stay warm in the winter. The Laffer curve is a myth.

Two degrees in "the Environment" (whatever that means) and you still don't know that Earth is *farthest* from the sun during summer in the northern hemisphere? BTW, our solar panels paid our entire electric bills in April and May. And in case you're still confused about that whole "Earth's orbit" thing, April and May are not summer months.

Why doesn't the PATCH carry this series for all to read as they do with articles from NJ Spotlight and North Jersey Media Group at times?

I am sure the editor would love for others to debate his research that he obviously put a lot of effort in to compiling. Most importantly it touches every Patch reader in New Jersey.

http://conservativenewjersey.com/the-great-solar-panel-rip-off-part-1

Half a Billion Dollars given on a no bid contract given to a start up company with no experience in the industry? This is no small sum of our tax dollars. Investigate it.

Static solar panels on random telephone poles in front of your bay window. Some placed over the bus stop where your children stand, and others not even pointed in the right direction is not our energy solution in NJ.
Tidal and wind energy are much more efficient, Germany and elsewhere have done these studies.
The sun is always at the same distance from the earth. One part can’t be farther than another. The difference though is the angle of the sun to us and to the south at any given time. Panels on a telephone pole are inefficient.

When it is summer here, any place above the Arctic Circle has light 24 hours the day. During the winter, it is dark 24 hours a day. It is the angle of the sun that dictates winter and summer.
When it is winter the sun is a little further from us than from the southern hemisphere. That combined with the shorter day means it will be colder.

Panels are not the solution.

Hey Copernicus, did you sleep through high school science? Earth's orbit is elliptical, not perfectly round. At its nearest point (perihelion), which occurs on January 3, it is about 3% closer to the sun than at its farthest point (aphelion), which occurs on July 4 (this year). Oh, and debating whoever that was in "conservativenewjersey" (fair and balanced?) would be easy. That person doesn't know the relationship between kilowatts and kilowatt-hours, nor does he know what a transformer does.

Keith – For a long time now, I thought I was the only one in all of New Jersey that wondered that! The entire project is ridiculous, and not only did the New Jersey taxpayers have to pay for it; they had to pay for it twice. Once in their general taxes, then again on their electric bill.
You are right Keith – the entire mess should be looked into and at the very least if no criminal actions have occurred, the story as to how we the NJ taxpayer/rate payers got ripped off should come out.
One more point. It should bother the heck out of any rational American to look up at those panels and see the radio antenna on them. Why is that there? Oh, I know the political and PSE&G answer, But why don’t these people come forth and admit. Somewhere down the road, they’ll be used to set and control the temperature in your house. You think I’m NUTS saying that!!!! Join PSE&G’s cool customer program and ask them just how they “talk” the new thermostat they put in your house for “free?”

I called PSE&G to get information on these ugly solar panels. The consumer is paying forthem through their electric bill. I asked if they would pay for themselves and their response was " they will probably never pay for themselves because the solar panel power is SO minute. I conclude it was for PR only. Solar energy is a Boondoggle.

@ Ed Horch: You really should brush up on your earth science. First off, the earth tilts on its axis. When the northern hempshere is tilted towards the sun, it is summer time. You can learn more about it here: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/Seasons.shtml

You mention your solar panels paying your entier April and May electric bills. Well, unless you are Amish, that is really a silly statement. Many "green" articles on solar panels say that 1 megawatt of solar power will provide enough electricity for 107 homes. You can check this source for the reference: http://news.yahoo.com/spg-solar-completes-1-megawatt-solar-system-solar-130327151.html

This means that each home would require 9345 watts. Since a square foot of solar panel will generate an average of 12.5 watts it would take 748 square feet to generate the neccessary wattage for a typical non-Amish household. You can find the wattage output for a solar panel here: http://solarbythewatt.com/2009/04/19/physical-area-efficiency-of-solar-photovoltaic-panels-or-watt-per-square-foot/

@ Ed Horch: Part 2 The average home in the United States is 2,521 square feet. Since most homes have a vaulted roof, each side would be 1,269 square feet. So the home owners could put all of the panels on one side or the other of the roof. No matter what, they would only be able to generate electricity for part of day, and at maximum efficent for a very small time. But no way could the solar panels generate enough electricity for a lengthly period of time. So unless you are Amish, I really do find it difficult to believe you generate all of your households electricity needs. Here is a reference on house sizes. http://www.ehow.com/facts_7268682_average-american-house-size.html

Now to give you an idea of how much it costs to generate the electricity needs of an average non-Amish household using "Telephone Solar Panels" here are a few more facts. Each telephone pole solar panel generates about 200 watts. It would take 46 panels for a house. Each panel costs over $1,000, so one house would cost $46,000 for part time electricity. I hope this clears everything up for you.

First, go back and read what I wrote about summer. I never said axial tilt had nothing to do with it. I was pointing out that is it simply not true that the earth is closer to the sun during summer in the northern hemisphere.

As far as my solar array goes, what do you mean "clears everything up" for me? What makes you more of an expert on my really existing, operational solar array that I am?

Our solar array puts out about 40kWh on its best days. Our house's electricity consumption is about 20kWh/day. Obviously, it's higher in the summer due to the A/C, so even at max output, it can't keep up. In the winter, our usage is much lower (gas hot-water heat with electric pumps), but because of limited sunlight, it still can't keep up. In the spring and fall, output is close to peak, and we use the least electricity (no heat or A/C, lights on less of the time, etc.), so we really do generate as much as we produce.

You can create as complicated a made-up hypothetical as you want, but this is really what's happening. Whether you believe it or not is irrelevant; PSE&G's is the only opinion that matters, and they're the ones sending us electric bills of next to zero (there are constant fees we still have to pay, even when there's zero or net-negative usage).

There's nothing "silly" about it, and no, we're not Amish. And BTW, modeling solar panel production and household consumption works much better in kilowatt-hours than in kilowatts.

@ Ed Horch: First off, you rate solar panels in watts, not kilowatts, just like you rate normal electric production in megawatts. Only at the household level do they use kilowatts. Second, you said "Earth's orbit is elliptical, not perfectly round" which has nothing to do with winter and summer. It is the tilt of the axis of the earth that determines summer and winter. You said it, not me.

You say that your "system" produces 40kWh. If this was true, it would require 3,200 square feet of panels, which is 25% more area than the average roof of a two story home. The system would also only be able to produce that power when the panels had direct line of sight with the sun. Anything other than that would produce less electricity since the conversion is done by having a photon push an electron out of the silicon matix. The efficent falls off as the sun moves off a perpendicular exposure to the cells.

Truth be told, your figures are nothing but nonsense. You can offer no facts or sources for any of your statements. It is simple, you know nothing about solar panel electric generation.

Someone who's just demonstrated that he doesn't know the difference between a kilowatt and a kilowatt-hour is telling me I don't understand basic math and physics. I'll bet you're a hit at parties.

I could scan my electric bill and put it up on my Flickr page, but you'd just accuse me of faking it. So believe whatever you want. The earth is flat, the universe is 6000 years old, heavy things fall faster than light things, Obama was born in Kenya, whatever.

Like I said before, PSE&G's is the only opinion that matters. Go tell *them* that they know nothing about solar panel electric generation. Tell *them* that the bills they're sending me can't possibly be right. But here's a better idea: Put up solar panels of your own, then use the savings to pay for a remedial basic science course at your nearest community college.

Zuendt, I didn't realize until I dug some more that you were the one who wrote that bit that Jensen referred to. What's it like being so far out there that even the teabaggers won't have you?

@ Ed Horch: What a panel can produce is called a watt, a kilowatt, a megawatt. What you deliver for a period of time is a watt/hour, kilowatt/hour or a megawatt/hour. Do you understand now? It seems that you are the one that does not understand the difference, so I hope you do now.

I don't care if you scan your bill or not. Why not produce something better, like real life references or sources for what you say.

Considering the fact that I have spoken to people at PSE&G about solar, since they are customers of mine, I think I know more about what is going on at PSE&G than you do. But, here is a quick lesson, have you ever heard of a consent decree? PSE&G was required to sign one in order to get the NJDEP off of their case involving the company's coal fired plants in Jersey City and Mercer County. Part of that decree was to help promote solar power, no matter what the cost is. This was further fostered on them by the state Board of Public Utilites (BPU) and the state legislature. Think about it, why would PSE&G want to build solar farms at a capitial cost that is ten times that of a conventional generation method? And why would they want to build a solar farm when they would have to have conventional generation backup for those times the sun didn't shine? The PSE&G happy smile on solar is being forced by state legal actions.

I think it is about time you went back and got your GED.

@ Ed Horch: To continue your education on the Solar Panel scam in New Jersey I would suggest you read: http://conservativenewjersey.com/what-a-deal-part-1
http://conservativenewjersey.com/the-great-solar-panel-rip-off-part-1 and http://conservativenewjersey.com/new-jersey%e2%80%99s-solar-panel-disaster-part-1 Like they say, a mind is a terrible thing to waste and in your case, it looks like it is terminal.

According to the National Association of Home Builders, average home size in the US was 2,700 ft^2 in 2009, up from 1,400 ft^2 in 1970. That computes to a roof of (minimum) 700 ft^2; up to 2700 ft^2. In 2010, the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 11,496 kWh, an average of 958 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month, or an average of 12kWh/per day on an average 30 day month (rounding up). {source: US Energy Information Administration) On average (as a general "rule of thumb") Modern photovoltaics (PV) solar panels will produce 8 - 10 watts per square foot of solar panel area. For example, a roof area of 20 feet by 20 feet is 400 square-feet (20 ft x 20 ft). This would produce, roughly, 5 watts per sq-foot (in NJ), or 400 ft^2 x 5 watts/ft^2 = 2000 watts (2 kW) of electric power. OR- 20 kWh/day if the day has 10 hours of sunlight. {source: http://www.solar-estimate.org) That meets AND exceeds the average Americans consumption consumption rate. By the by, this is simple math. PS Your link to solar panel production has a Java loader on it! The Solar Panels you mention invested in by your utility, not taxpayers. "Big Government" is the oversight on utilities. The programs 37,026,000 ft^2 generates 80 mW of electricity, enough to power 6,500 homes {source: NY Times 04/28/2011} This isn't about cost, but your aesthetics: don't you want your energy bills reduced and cleaner air? Need to beautify Jersey? Start with your Governor!

I only have about 2/3rds of my roof covered - and none on the attached garage. This generates 8200 kWh AC in a year, which is my annual consumption. The system is rated at 6300 Watts DC.
Today it produced 36 kWh.

So that's real life for those who like to hypothesize about it.

Andy Schmidt:

Since your panels are fixed on you roof and cannot be reangled for maximum exposure to the sun I find you claims to be very questionable. Here is a little information on sun exposure angles and efficiency. http://www.macslab.com/optsolar.html

Stephen Trapp:

A solar panel only produces electricity when it faces the sun. It only produces 100% rated output when the panel is at 90 degrees to the sun. Here is some information on solar angles for panels that might be of interest to you. http://www.macslab.com/optsolar.html
Roofs are fixed and the panels don't move to face the sun. All of your calculations are not based on the real world. 10 hours of solar production in New Jersey per day is not possible on a home installation, or any other fixed installation.

Please explain 'new revenues'. Wouldn't cutting expenses justify tax cuts? Additionally Christie has been cleaning house of all the so called 'employee's' or 'consultants' on the books in several cities like Newark and Paterson where these paid people really were on the books as a result of nepotism or some other favor. I am not counting out Christie but I do agree that the governors in between Keane and Christie were horrid. McGreevey and Corzine both signed in so many new taxes on businesses, particularly small businesses(I know of this personally!) that owners here are barely getting by. I don't blame businesses for leaving NJ when expenses caused by nuisance taxes are out of control.

Julia: you don't pay for tax cuts with new revenues. You pay for them in the short term with spending reductions. Revenues into the government's coffers will then rise organically when (and only when) the economy grows as a result of the tax cuts. Governments should never be generating revenues by raising taxes - it should seek revenue growth only through creating an environment that's conducive to business investment and job creation. NJ has taxed its citizens and businesses to death. Businesses are leaving, the "weatthy" are leaving, and noone I know plans on retiring in NJ, as retirees will seek to get out before NJ taxes their 401(k) distributions. New revenues in the form of new taxes is never the answer.

He's still busy cleaning up the "Corslime" mess that was left behind...

Icecream Man...I thought Conservatives didnt like it when people blamed the last guy who created the mess. Or can Obama still blame everything on Dubya?

"If nobody pays, there shouldn't be any giveaway."

So I assume you detest freeloaders and support the Affordable Care Act. Correct?

Face it! The only tough decisions Governor Girth makes is to decide between two dozen Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kremes.

Wayne P - Obama Care makes us all into freeloaders, just like medicare and medicaid - none of us pay our fair share, we are shifting it to our kids. I'm sure that makes you feel real proud!! People with pre-existing conditions who don't pay insurance and then need medical care should not be treated. If they've been paying their insurance premiums already, then no insurance company can legally kick them out. If they switch jobs, then the new insurance company of the new company should have to take them in (although this is problematic, it is better than obamacare). the problem with medical care/insurance is that we 'buy' it through our company, not individually. fix that and the system will fix itself.

right on brother!!

Reverend -- Seem people who talk to Christie, in the same manner he address us, are escorted out from wherever they are by the State Police. Any red blooded American seeing that occurring should be SHOCKED, and demand Christie's recall, but you'd probably get tossed in jail if you did.

Christie's actions should scare the daylights out of most people. Why are we so blind to what this man does?

Well Rev, if thats what you really are, you are a disgrace to the cloth and if your embarrassed to be from NJ, then get OUT because who really needs your stupidity here anyway.

Reverend, why do you care about the sound of the message from Christie... what should bother you is the mess that DEMOCRATS have left untouched using poor people, and the middle class to get elected just to hold on to power. Do you ever actually sit there and think about this instead of worrying about someone's feelings. He is echo'ing years of frustration with the ruling party in this state. From Whitman to McGreevy to Corzine what did you get ? Political Correctness, and deals for who? Has one poor person or has the middle class improved under their leadership - or did we fall like a stone from the class of the Pharma industry to a slovenly mess begging for companies to stay. Did every major city fail its children. This governor has tried to do things differently and you and yours follow the media around like lap dogs eating up their populist message. Well , doing the same things over and over expecting a different result is lunacy and a fine definition of mental disease. Go Chris!!!!!!!

on second thought after reading your post again... pound salt. Equals? are you kidding ? the democrats have taken you and the rest of us for a ride for years; placing judges on the supreme court who saddle us with higher taxes, govt waste with 100's of tax increases over the years and no changes in our schools!!! That is the disgrace , that is the choke around neck , and that sir IS THE RUDE TREATMENT we have tolerated for way too long.

As juvenile as that may sound, I think in his case, it's deserved.

What did you expect from a lib ? .... civility !

Yes idiot we do!!!!!! We are tired of paying from the democraps increases eveytime they need a raise or want to spend more money. You probably believe just like the rest, the way out of debt is increase your spending. Yea, that'll get you out of debt real fast, or it'll sink you real quick. Keep talking to Danny boy, give me some more money Grant.

Yea by the democraps!!!!

Dan - the huge property tax increases occurred in our town when all the schools were enlarged. Some years it was 10% or more. I remember this quite clearly because that's when my oldest entered the school system. I believe McGreevey was in office at the time and then Corzine. From 1997 to 2007 my property taxes MORE than doubled.

Tina, You need to understand the property tax system. Capital improvements on Schools are a local choice and voted on ( at least until this year) by your community. The effect of State Government comes in the form of aid to School districts and municipalities. Christie has cut both forcing towns to increase property taxes. Whitman in order to allow for her state income tax cuts capped a thing called the Gross receipts and franchise taxes which were a tax on utilities going to municipalities so while everyones property taxes went up the State took those taxes from them. There is only one thing that will help property tax payers and that is for the State to take over the cost of education now funded almost entirely by property tax payers.

Gee, why not, the city and state of NY, NYC keep any tax refunds new yorkers get because they need the money so bad. I once said, you can take all the money in the world and give it to NY, and they still say, " We need more".

Hell, when you're wearing a 600 lb. clown fat suit on a 90' day, it's bound to take a terrible toll on your judgement! I wish he'd take it off, it's just not funny anymore!

It is hard to imagine either Tom Kean or Dick Cody (to be bi-partisan) acting like Christie. He is much more like Huey Long but he supports the hogs at the table and no one wears a crown but him.

Yes, Fat Elvis has left the building. Thousands without water, maybe it's time for another trip to Wally World! Remember that? Where the heck is the Lieutenant Govenor we're paying for????? Do you even know her name??? What a deplorable waste of our money! OTC= One Term Christie

Hey Kelly? Are you on drugs? Unions are why you dont have some 12 year old kid working at that airbus factory. JackA**

36 Reasons Why You Should Thank a Union
Weekends
All Breaks at Work, including your Lunch Breaks
Paid Vacation
FMLA
Sick Leave
Social Security
Minimum Wage
Civil Rights Act/Title VII (Prohibits Employer Discrimination)
8-Hour Work Day
Overtime Pay
Child Labor Laws
Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
40 Hour Work Week
Worker's Compensation (Worker's Comp)
Unemployment Insurance
Pensions
Workplace Safety Standards and Regulations
Employer Health Care Insurance
Collective Bargaining Rights for Employees
Wrongful Termination Laws
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
Whistleblower Protection Laws
Employee Polygraph Protect Act (Prohibits Employer from using a lie detector test on an employee)
Veteran's Employment and Training Services (VETS)
Compensation increases and Evaluations (Raises)
Sexual Harassment Laws
Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
Holiday Pay
Employer Dental, Life, and Vision Insurance
Privacy Rights
Pregnancy and Parental Leave
Military Leave
The Right to Strike
Public Education for Children
Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 (Requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work)
Laws Ending Sweatshops in the United States

The steel industry was lost because unions failed to make concessions to keep America competitive in the international community....a documented fact. Now we have no steel industry.
Last year Newark police unions failed to make concessions to keep all cops employed, the union balked and they ate themselves.......
How are all those union annuity funds doing?
Unions are nothing more than politcal machines that line the pockets of those who control them.......the workers/members are just mindless sheep....

The unions are always looking to increase members wages, which in it self is not bad except when the companies have to raise prices so high to make a profit, that they then price themselves right out of business. Then who is making money? No Body. I once worked for a company many years back, where the boss told us to go ahead bring in the unions, I'll close the doors tomorrow, and open up the next day under a new name with all new employees, and he meant it. I knew this man for a long time, he didn't care.

i was a 28 year member of the teamsters union-locals1034-813...totally corrupt, i have to fight for my rightful pension..it's a david vs. goliath situation..i don't want to hear your B.S. about how wonderful they are...selfish,corrupt,arrogant a**holes

"Your corporation is only as successful as the union people that work to make it that way." Typical rhetoric from the union sheep that have never signed the front of a paycheck....only the back....show up for your job with only your hands...watch the clock then go home...tomorrow's another day....when is my next off....the company owes me...

Yes, NC is a right to work state, and those who teach do it for the love of the job..not for the money. Tell me how a state with such a dismal secondary school reputation has one of the finest state university systems in the country? The bulk of the student bodies at the schools are from NC..and they don't all go to private schools. RIdgewood, and many other towns, have excellent public school systems...isn't it a shame NJ doesn't have more to offer at the University level?

I believe ALL unions that are PUBLIC should be abolished. I worked for a union and I can tell you not all employees work as well as those who worry about losing their job. . I also know that because I was taught not to ask my neighbor to pay my bills. Our neighbors are the taxpayers. How much is enough for you? Education should NOT be unionized because competition in schools is GREAT, it fosters ALL schools to be the best. The schools in Westwood/ Washington township suffer greatly, our school scored a 62 on NJask reading. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Well wayne has anyone ever told you that you have no idea what your saying, because they would be right. I belonged to a large union and the first day I met the union president and he wanted to shake my hand, Iwould not do it and I told him he was the head thief in the union, because he was on the take and looking out more for the company than the members, they are all thieves. You are just to blind to see it.

And nobody puts a gun to their head forcing them to work at Airbus. Unions killed the steel industry, and nearly killed the auto industry. Fortunately, right to work shops opened up in the south and saved the industry. Unions had their place, about a 100 years ago. Time to move on, lest they kill whatever remains of American productivity.

Another fool.

Nose Wayne, Unless the courts overturn it our higher education system is about to be turned on its ear. Norcorss gets his medical school, Newark's is decimated and God only knows what will happen to Rutgers. Nobody can say what the cost will be to taxpayers or to student tuition. If ARC was a collision course from the start for cost overruns THIS project will be a financial disaster. Hold onto your pockets because they about to be picked yet again. I repeat, nothing you and I care about matters. All that matters is the political agenda that benefits the politicians. Democrats talked tough but Christy will get his tax cut even though there is no money to pay for it.

My client Billy Mays will comment on this later this evening after he turns in his rowboat that he rented for a 4th of July river and dinner cruise.

Nose, stop looking at the forest from the trees, the unions are running out of places to hide......
PSE&G is a huge haven for union waste, if homeowners ever woke up and demanded to know what employing all these IBEW workers cost them in their monthly energy statement there would be blood in the streets, I guarantee.............

As opposed to the left parroting the talking points of the unions, Democrats, CBS, NBC, ABC, NPR, PBS, CNN, MSBNC, etc, etc?

B@B,

You are not perfect.

Not a valid argument B@B. I'm not a Trump fan but first off his Dad left him 30-40 mil, not 400 million. Guys like Trump actually do create jobs and all the others you mention. You are biting the hand that feeds. Unions destroyed manufacturing in this country. When I was a kid coming out of college or HS we worked for whatever we could get and worked our way up the system. The people today want to be compensated with NO experience.....alas if you get hungry enough you will work for whatever is offered. America is slowly getting back to that and it is only normal to show resistance when the people are spoiled rotten. Free enterprise built this country and it will again. Eventually municipalities will either drastically cut back or be forced to go bankrupt (I suggest you keep an eye on California) Taxes can no longer rise enough to keep pace with the debts accrued by our past representatives....soon the bough will break. All the bloated debt ridden pension funds will dry up and there will be a bunch of old lazy people looking for work at Costco and Wallmart for minimum wage.............

wayne parent...don't even go there...auto workers so overpaid and underworked...why do you think no one buys Detroit made s**t double dipping,pension fund mismanagement,come out of the 19th century. unions have outlived their usefulness. at least i use my full name..unlike some people on this blog

Stupid you wish you could be half as good an honest as Sarah Palin. She is an honorable woman who has only wanted the best for this nation, but morons like you have done nothing but bash her every step of the way, if she were a democrap she would never had been treated the way she has. You people and the media has attacked her on evey issue and tried to make fun of her because they just couldn't bare the thought of the first woman in the White House being a republican, and doing the job better than a dumb democrap. They are so affraid that a republican woman showing them up, it had nothing to do with her or her polices for this country. It was not about who was going to do the best job for the people, just because of her party. Thats all the democraps care about id party not who is going to do the best job for the American people. Get real and stop believing the lies this idiots have been spewing out for years, because you got this idiot, are we any better off than we were four years ago, or has he created so many jobs. NO!!!!! Whe he was campaigning he said that if he couldn't put people back to work and get the economy back on track, he didn't deserve another term { his words, not mine} well he lied about that as well, didn't he!

You, Dead Hoffa, are incapable of intelligent debate, so I will make it simple for you...

Why in the world would anyone want to come here when our quality of life is way worse than where they came from? Have fun turning our country into the land of the extremely wealthy minority and mass poverty. Congrats...you can compete with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka for menial jobs. On the plus side, you won't have to worry about illegal immigrants since they can find better work back home.

And no...I am not a Communist. I am a proud believer in Democracy. And I am not a Socialist either...I am a proud Capitalist who works for a major financial institution.

It's just that I have a brain, a higher education (including a law degree from a top 10 law school) and a Ford in the driveway of the house I own..

So keep hurling insults. But I read. And study the issues. And have more than an elementary knowledge of economics. I tried above to see if anyone wanted to engage in actual economic policy debate...nobody responded. I guess it's easier for know-nothing's to lash out like their bully of a governor.

If only you knew that when you look at the 20 wealthiest people in America (counting one person per family)...there are more liberals than conservatives.

Correct!
Actually it's my toughness that's enabled me to prosper in this great country!
It's America's toughness that's enabled us to rule the world for so long......as long as citizens like me out number citizens like you we will continue to do so.

Thankfully citizens like you don't outnumber us. You are a dying breed.

But be proud of your lack of intelligence and stick with brute force.

We are dumb and we know it. Don't confuse us with facts or your silly edumacashun. It's the GOP way. At least you acknowledge it. Good for you.

Wayne your are an idiot if you really believe that the republicans caused this financial mess that your stupid idiotic moron muslim candidate caused. The truth, in this case, is that the current occupent of the White House lies about virtually everything of importance to Americans. Odumbo has lied about his birth, his childhood, his education, his influences and associations, his religion, his accomplishments, his polices, his true beliefs, and his plans for America's future. In fact, after more than three years as the president, Odumbo's lying has become embarrassing and its undeniable that the only defense his supporters have is to change the subject or to claim, " Republicans do it too" .......America has never seen a chief executive misrepresent the truth as deliberatly and effortlessly as this one.

They wont answer with anything fact based. They will use phrases like "Odumba" and "Democraps" and then spout made up garbage.

Just above...we have this gem from Mr. Brown..."Wayne your are an idiot if you really believe that the republicans caused this financial mess that your stupid idiotic moron muslim candidate caused." OK...not even your own party believes this one. If they did, they wouldnt be avoiding Bush and Cheney like the plague. I wouldnt want to confuse you with facts like private sector jobs growing every month under this president while reducing public sector jobs. I wouldnt want to bog you down with the fact Obama has the lowest rate of spending increase since Eisenhower.

Because you Mr. Brown are content putting your faith in Sarah Palin. If a fact or logical thought jumped out at her...she would shoot it like an Alaskan moose. Enough said.

Metoo, if you leave things in the hands of the dim wit above {Wayne Parent} who thinks he or she is an authority on Odumbo and this country there never will be a patriotic person anymore. Besides it's not politically correct to be patriotic about our country anylonger. Its against the school rules and the law to even sing a patriotic song at school any more because they don't want to affend the muslims, or the latino communities in this country, who cares anymore if we are the ones being affended as this is {or was} our country first. Wayne the idiot thinks that dumbo created so many jobs, where are they all people are asking, not around here, maybe it was China or India he is talking about, even the black people are asking the same thing, and said they made a mistake voting for him, but they won't do that again.

Four years ago this idiot campaigned and said, " The problem is, is the way Bush has done it over the last 8 years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $ 5 trillion for the first 42 presidents.....#43 added $ 4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have to pay back-$ 30,000 for every man, woman and child. Thats irresponsible. Its Unpatriotic!!! He has put us at least $ 5 trillion deeper in debt, capsized the american healthcare industry, continues to put a greater burden on the middle income tax payers and threw away nearly a trillion in stimulus his first year in office. This is all in just his first 4 years, can we afford another 4? I don't think so!!!! He also said if he couldn't get the economy back on track and put the american people back to work in this country, That he didn't deserve another term, we he didn't and he doesn't!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When do we as Americans wake up and see what this Admin. has done to our country and our rights and freedoms? Is this not the land of the FREE and the Home of the BRAVE!!!!!

That last post of his is a very accurate quote, here is the clip of Obama saying those exact words.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kuTG19Cu_Q

You're right, Dan, it's VERY scary. I recommend a book to you that explores how people like Paul Brown have been co-opted to support right-wing political candidates who will actually work against their interests. It's called "Deer Hunting With Jesus," and was recommended to me by a judge in Virginia, where it is set.

What's amazing to me is how anyone supporting Romney can even KNOW what he stands for or believes in, he's so all over the map.

What he said isn't the issue, the issue is you accused a man of making up facts and the only thing that seems to be made up is you made up facts. Fact is, Obama said those things and no amount of pretending otherwise by people like you will ever change that video clip.

You want to stick to a campaign promise that is known to have been made and ignore every fact that Brown has wrong. It is the same as going back to the Romney/Kennedy campaign and siting every flip-flop he has made since. The "Facts that Brown gives are just plain wrong and you know it. That is why you want to talk about a campaiging Candidate that had yet to get into office. Since he has been in office we have stopped losing 750,000 jobs a month, increased job growth however marginally, the market is back close to pre collapse levels. Detroit has turned a very important corner and we have an increase in the number of people that can join the Healthcare system. What we don't have is Governors that make sense in trying to increase employment in their own state.

The market is up because of quantitative easing, not because the economy is doing better. If the economy were doing better, we wouldn't have such a pathetically low labor participation rate. But you go ahead and keep pretending this chart is good news if you wish to continue to drink the Kool-Aid.
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000
The man has no plan, he never had a plan for the economy. We just hit a bottom and have been bouncing along that bottom ever since. No amount of quantitative easing is going to change that fact or the fact that Obama's #1 priority has always been social engineering.

And you don't get it, you accused a man of lying and clearly as I pointed out not everything he said was untrue. It is an indisputable fact Obama said what he said, made the claims he made and now if he is to be judged based on his on comments. Furthermore, it is perfectly fair to point out that Obama more unpatriotic and more irresponsible than Bush based on the benchmarks Obama himself used when judging Bush. You just don't like the fact that Obama's own arguments work against him when he is the one being judged using the exact same arguments Obama used when judging his predecessor.

You guys love that word lying. I never said he lied. I said his facts were wrong which they are. That might well make him stupid or uninformed but it doesn't make him a liar unless he really knows what he is saying isn't true.

Much of what he says is wrong but that lengthy quote from Obama is one fact that is indisuptably correct and I somehow think Obama wishes he never uttered any of those words b/c that clip may just end up in a TV commercial somewhere.

So candidate Obama made a statement based on the fact that the true horror of the bush Administration had not yet be revealed. So what. All Candidates do that and if Romney wins he will say things are much worse than he knew as well. Just as Christie and everyother Governor has done. Romney can say that things would have been better under him but given his abandonment of the Auto Industry, I doubt it. The head winds that Obama faced with the Republican party almost made it impossible and their desire to see America suffer so that they could gain power is reprehensible.

Bankruptcy didn't kill Delphi, Visteon or any of the dozens of other large companies that were in bankruptcy at the same time Obama gave GM and Chrysler to the UAW to bail out the UAW pension plans at the expense of all the other creditors he completely screwed over. And letting the various creditors hammer out a deal that treats every single creditor equally in a bankruptcy in full compliance of the law w/o someone like Obama dictating the results ahead of time is not what I would call abandoning the Auto Industry. Like Romney, I call it following the letter and spirit of the bankruptcy code. But Obama didn't like the results of what would happen in a real bankruptcy b/c it would mean all creditors would be created equal including his labor union supporters so he decided to use what leverage he could to screw over all the creditors except the UAW as thanks for their support during his election campaign. Of course I wouldn't expect you to quite understand any of that b/c I doubt you know jack about the law, finance, economics or just about anything more complicated than you can glean from the crap they put on the nightly news.

BTW - I applaud you for now becoming one of those posters who just completely makes stuff up like the guy you were blasting up above. You are as full of nonsense as he is, and like him you are just too ignorant to even realize it. I bet you never even read Romney's op-ed on the auto bailout back in 2008.

I meant "treated" and not "created"

What this ignorent moron said doesn't matter when seeking office, sorry Dan but thats what you people want everybody to forget, but many of us are still patriotic Americans. Thats something else you want people to forget. This jerk is a pathological lier and you want us to forget that as well, and that he has no VALID social security number, these are things you want us to forget to, we not so fast Danny boy, he still hasn't shown a valid birth certificate {As every othe candidate for the WH had to}, the one he did show they admitted latter that it was a fraud, but still haven't shown us a valid one and his soch is NOT his, this one is from the seventies when he was just a little kid supposedly in Hawaii, so where did he get it. If I did something that crooked you pigs would be all over me trying to hang me out to dry, but this jerk you want America to just excuse that stuff. Why are they trying to cover everything up so much. You forget Danny boy, I served this country and I wouldn't trust our Gov. for any damn thing. Look at the things they have tried to cover up over the years and hide. We already know we can't trust this country and how they have tried to slience people even our own officers in Viet Nam, when orders came down to take out our own officers. I know you think I'm crazy or paranoid, but remember I was there and seen it pal.

Well, he was raised as a muslim in Indonesia and attended a Muslim school there. It's not like the Muslim claim isn't based in some reality. I converted to Judaism but was raised Roman Catholic. it would not be absurd to claim that I am a Roman Catholic.

T, it shows that you really don't have any brains when they were handed out. What I am saying you idiot is he is not a U.S. citizen, he has no VALID birth certificate or a VALID social security number, the one issue in Conn. is from the mid seventies when he was still a little kid yet, so where did the soch come from. This has been a cover up by the democraps from the begining, everytime something comes out bad about him, the news media cover that up as well. Why is it everytime something was mentioned about Sarah Palin they did everything they could to make fun of her and her family{ Not right in my book, family is off limits} they even went so far as calling her a whore, you think that is right? I'm sorry but thats going to far, I'm glad she didn't stoop that low to do the same. They are pigs and a disgrace to the human race. What are they so afraid of that they have to do something that low, and attack her on the clothes she wore and if she gave it back or paid for it. If she was a dem they would have said she was entitled to keep the clothes and any monies from the campaign as well, but no they couldn't leave it at that they even went to Alaska and filed one frivolus lawsuit after another until she resigned as Gov. and that still wasn't enough they continue. Why were they so hard, what were they afraid might come out. He is a fraud and the dems are low class pigs, explain these or maybe you can't because your as bad as they are.

I agree with you here, the other countries are screwing us over by taxing our cars more. We should do the same with theirs. American cars are much nicer than their Japanese competitors anyway, in design and functionality. American car companies shouldn't worry about Japanese cars, they need to compete with German cars.

It is a cop out, and you're dead, so let the living decide what good or bad. Sheesh!

How about a little reality, The Japanese Government is in partnership with their auto manufacturers and that gave them a competative advantage to begin with. We want a totally free market approach. Compound that with the fact that American bean Counters and Management cheapened their products and made bad products through the 80s and 90s while the Japanese made better products. It wasn't American labor that was at fault for that. GM made bad motors, transmissions and steering racks for a decade without fixing the problem. Management did that. I am in the auto business at the wholesale and retail level and I saw what happened. Cadillac, the premium American Car made bad cars from 1980 to 1989. Chrysler was a joke and Ford made a car that would pop out of Park and run you over if you were getting something out of the truck. It was all in the name of quick free market profits not building a better mouse trap and it ruined them.

So what are you suggesting? GM, Chrysler & Ford would have been better off making cars of the same quality level as Toyota, then slapping on the couple thousand or so in pension and retiree costs per car they had to absorb on to the price and selling their cars at a substantial premium to Toyota? News flash for you Mr. Car Salesman, pricing yourself out of the market doesn't sell a ton of cars.

The only way in hell they could sell any cars at all and still afford to pay billions a year in pension & health costs to retirees was to cut corners, try to stay price competitive and sell a ton of cars. You as a car salesman should know that. But I forget, you also are a spokesman for the labor union wholly owned subsidiary, the NJ State Democratic Party Aparatus.

Even dummies are entitled to my guidance and protection.

I don't understand; aren't you too "impersonating" someone too?

I like that you use "biblical proportions". God knows there are many in the bibble.

Danny, the rants and raves about Christy only shows how hurt the dems are by not winning the Gov. seat. Its over, get over it and stop the crying about things. Corzine was a thief and a loser from the word GO!!!! We couldn't afford another 4 years of his thievery and crooked deals the dems are very well know for.

Maybe it was lactose free. Who knows.

How much do you weight? Let he (or she) who is without sin cast the first stone.

The number of people with government jobs should be kept to an absolute minimum - military, police, fire, prosecutors & judges. Everything else - Outsourced.

We have too many people drawing outsized salaries and benefits that will, over time, bankrupt every local, county & state government. They also have a perverse incentive to support and vote for politicians who use our money to feed the beast. It isn't good public policy.

Your taxes haven't been raised from the state level have they? Can't say that about the city or the school or county though, can you. The town just don't care the same as the BoE.

If a state tax cut results in a[n offsetting] local tax hike, does that count? Does suspension of property tax rebates count as a tax hike? How many services are you willing to give up for real tax reduction? There are all valid questions to consider.