How much does your state get from the federal government?

TM2,

New Jersey gets back 61 cents for every dollar it sends to the Fed

It's pathetic. It's as though our governor wants to remain in a depression, given the fact that Christie's DoE screwed up what little we were getting back - by losing $400M in the Race to the Top federal education grant application. Then! his recent decision to reject the ARC tunnel.

He's gonna have a tough row to hoe, as the only state ballot referendum passed that further restricts Trenton pols from juggling the books. Christie will be forced to raise taxes. Nice work, governor.

(As though Trenton needed to be told not to borrow from the unemployment/disability fund. Only in New Jersey- good grief.)

caltha

You can't blame Christie for this. Who have been the senators from NJ? I'd start by blaming guys with the names of Bradley, Torricelli, Corzine, Lautenberg, Williams, and Menendez. Not to mention a bunch of congressmen with D's after their names..

Also, NY doesn't fall too far behind in the race for the cash. We were fine with Moynihan and D'Amato working together. But when Schumer and Hillarity took office we were screwed. Both had a personal agenda and not a NY agenda.

As a Garden Stater you should not have a problem with the tunnel being dumped. That project would have been paid for by the citizens of NJ to transport their citizens to work in NY. Jeez, your state should just keep bribing NY companies with sweetheart deals to move their offices to Jersey City and Hoboken. That way you get to keep the working slobs on your side of the Hudson and collect all the taxes and boost the surrounding areas.

Philipe,

No. I blame Whitman for being the first administration to stop funding the employee benefit fund and for thinking homestead property rebate checks were ever a good idea. And that ridiculous motto of hers: "Work smarter, not harder." {rolling my eyes}

Between 1992 and 2007, governors and legislators from both parties have diverted $5.4 billion from the Unemployment Compensation Fund, State Disability Benefits Fund and others.

Yes, there's blame to be had on both sides. Especially, for the mental giant (his name is Corzine) who borrowed from the unemployment fund to reimburse hospitals for charity care.

What I blame Christie for is his obstinance in thinking he won't need to raise taxes, my friend. There's no way around it.

His blunders on the federal education grant and the ARC tunnel only make him more of a fool. Your reasoning is the same as saying Mahattan and Brooklyn do not have local economies that depend on the other. Okay, whatever you say philipe. /sarcasm.

caltha

Your reasoning is the same as saying Mahattan and Brooklyn do not have local economies that depend on the other.

There are two problems with your example: Brooklyn and Manhattan are located in the same city and same state.

Philipe,

Separating the economies of Bergen County, and Jersey City and Hoboken from Manhattan is just absolutely ludicrous.

Dollars earned at firms across the Hudson are spent in Hoboken's and Jersey City's local economies. Why should New Yorkers have to pay for transit from which New Jersey riders, (and taxpayers) benefit the most.

In addition, the ARC tunnel helps NYers taking the train across the Hudson who benefit from lower sales tax in Jersey, especially urban special sales tax districts.

The project has been 50 years in the making, so to pull the plug now is flushing how much more money down the toilet. There really isn't much that can be done about cost overruns. The unions rule, and are corrupt. It's no different (probably worse for projects across the Hudson and East rivers. Big f'n deal.

Postponing it only makes it more expensive, because it's needed.

Like I said, the fault for all our fiscal woes leads directly back to Whitman for rolling back Florio's 7% sales tax, and just about every other fiscal decision that followed in her administration. Both democrats and republicans legislators were in charge as acting governors (Di Francesco (sp?) and Cody who stood as interim governors for Whitman AND McGreevy). Come to think of it, New Jersey seems a great deal like Belgium. /sarcasm

Christie is being penny wise and pound foolish. All for the cause of having more money for potholes elsewhere in the state. Good luck with that.

It's just so typical. Not only is he hurting the local unions, meanwhile he's also making public workers feel demoralized. Well, there's a solution to our fiscal woes. Just piss everyone off. What an ass. Race to the bottom. As though NJ could get any lower. Christie on a crutch.

TM2, sorry for veering off topic.