"We Are Going Up In Flames": New Jersey In "Worse Shape Than Any Other State" Senate President Admits

[Sniper 6,372]

Note, this is coming from Sweeney, not some low level lacky... I hope you guys don't have your retirement plans tied to a State paid pension....  Do you have a Plan B?

"We are in worse shape than Illinois," Sweeney said. "We are not investing in education, we are not investing in the areas that we want because all the money is going to pensions and health care."

However, according to New Jersey’s Senate president, conventional wisdom is wrong. In an interview with Bloomberg, Senator Stephen Sweeney, a Democrat, said that that credit-rating companies may be underestimating the severity of the state’s financial strains by giving it the second-lowest grade after Illinois.

"Why am I yelling fire in a crowded theater and everyone else is saying that we’re fine,” Sweeney said. “We’re not. And it’s going to go up in flames. I would rather not go down in memory as the guy that told everyone the pension system was going to collapse and be found that I was correct."

Well, maybe Sweeney won't be "that" guy, but someone else will unfortunately have to deliver the very bad news to what will soon be a lot of furious retirees who learn that their retirement eggs has been suddenly cut in half... or worse.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-28/we-are-going-flames-new-jersey-worse-shape-any-other-state-senate-president-admits

[DirtyDigz 1,812]

Original source article without the added ZeroHedge hyperbole and includes some comments from Murphy (outline.com link so bloomberg.com doesn’t get any ad revenue, FU Bloomie):
 

https://outline.com/CCEnG4

 

[CAL. .30 M1 2,101]

1 hour ago, Sniper said:

Note, this is coming from Sweeney, not some low level lacky... I hope you guys don't have your retirement plans tied to a State paid pension....  Do you have a Plan B?

"We are in worse shape than Illinois," Sweeney said. "We are not investing in education, we are not investing in the areas that we want because all the money is going to pensions and health care."

However, according to New Jersey’s Senate president, conventional wisdom is wrong. In an interview with Bloomberg, Senator Stephen Sweeney, a Democrat, said that that credit-rating companies may be underestimating the severity of the state’s financial strains by giving it the second-lowest grade after Illinois.

"Why am I yelling fire in a crowded theater and everyone else is saying that we’re fine,” Sweeney said. “We’re not. And it’s going to go up in flames. I would rather not go down in memory as the guy that told everyone the pension system was going to collapse and be found that I was correct."

Well, maybe Sweeney won't be "that" guy, but someone else will unfortunately have to deliver the very bad news to what will soon be a lot of furious retirees who learn that their retirement eggs has been suddenly cut in half... or worse.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-28/we-are-going-flames-new-jersey-worse-shape-any-other-state-senate-president-admits

All smoke and mirrors - no better than a ponzi scheme............................

 

Eff NJ cannot wait to be out of here - and better yet - the kids dont want to be either.

 

 

[silverado427 10,715]

Don't worry the taxpayers will be taxed to death to pay for your pensions

[Underdog 1,593]

No wonder the incompetent, ineffectual and corrupt state wants to disarm the citizenry that have been robbed and cheated and wants to implement universal healthcare to bridge the one that cannot be provided.   Now it's all coming together...

I know, lets collect more taxes from the underpaid and overworked and already overtaxed people.  Oh, and lets implement a costly "all children left behind" program, and oh, lets continue to give government employees yearly raises as those paying for them take pay cuts due to continued tax theft.  And, all while that is going on, lets work our political and corruption angles and line our own pockets to prepare for the coming collapse and make sure our legal lawyerly buddies are well-paid and give away free shit to everyone entering this nation at the expense of the citizens. 

 

Life isn't a box of chocolates?  Sounds like the progressive, Democrat platform?

[45Doll 5,877]

Hey guys, don't forget all the poor huddled indigent illegal alien masses yearning to live for free.

We're a sanctuary, you know.

[1LtCAP 4,262]

IF we're not investing in education, then where the fuck is the 40%+ of my property taxes that're labeled for schools going??

[Sniper 6,372]

18 minutes ago, 1LtCAP said:

IF we're not investing in education, then where the fuck is the 40%+ of my property taxes that're labeled for schools going??

It's going to illegal immigrants to pay for their college... Murphy is going to need a bit more from you!

NJ gave more than $3.8 million in financial aid to undocumented college students last year

New Jersey has awarded more than $3.8 million in college aid to immigrants living in the country illegally under the first year of a program authorizing the grants, a new report says.

The figure was reported Monday by the North Jersey Record. It said 749 students had received the aid in the fall and spring semesters of the 2018-2019 school year — mostly through the New Jersey Tuition Aid Grant program.

The report also said Rutgers students received the most aid — $1.3 million.

https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2019/08/19/nj-awarded-3-8-million-financial-aid-undocumented-college-students/2049343001/

This is a priority, you know, NOT pensions!

 

[Sniper 6,372]

1 hour ago, silverado427 said:

Don't worry the taxpayers will be taxed to death to pay for your pensions

Probably so... it's a really deep hole they've dug:

....."The comments underscore the persistent fiscal pressure on New Jersey, a high-tax state contending with massive debts to employee pension funds after years of failing to set aside enough to cover the $212 billion of benefits that have been promised.

New Jersey’s retirement system had about $82 billion of assets in 2018, only 38% of what it needs to cover checks that are owed in the decades ahead. That’s lower than any other state system in the U.S., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The state’s obligation for retirees’ health care benefits adds another $90.5 billion."

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-28/n-j-is-in-worse-shape-than-any-other-state-senate-chief-says

[WP22 1,558]

Honestly, it couldn't happen to a nicer state.

 

"The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire
The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire
The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire
We don't need no water, let the m*******r burn
Burn m******r, burn"

29 minutes ago, 1LtCAP said:

IF we're not investing in education, then where the fuck is the 40%+ of my property taxes that're labeled for schools going??

Try like 60%.

[PK90 3,570]

1 hour ago, silverado427 said:

Don't worry the taxpayers will be taxed to death to pay for your pensions

Thank goodness.

ETA: 

[silverado427 10,715]

Here's another link.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/n-j-worse-shape-other-144104527.html

[silverado427 10,715]

Oh look Mr Ed Philllll   Murphy says he's not going to raise the gas tax this year.

 

https://www.nj.com/politics/2019/08/surprise-njs-gas-tax-is-not-going-up.html

[Zeke 5,504]

17 minutes ago, silverado427 said:

Oh look Mr Ed Philllll   Murphy says he's not going to raise the gas tax this year.

 

https://www.nj.com/politics/2019/08/surprise-njs-gas-tax-is-not-going-up.html

Isn’t it built in automatic based on revenue raised in the previous fiscal year?

[ChrisJM981 924]

2 hours ago, WP22 said:

Honestly, it couldn't happen to a nicer state.

 

"The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire
The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire
The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire
We don't need no water, let the m*******r burn
Burn m******r, burn"

Try like 60%.

Umm 70% because state aid goes to the 31 Abbott districts. It might only be 40% if you live in one of those districts in which case, Stop complaining! 

[Greenday 323]

So apparently now the fact that are taxes aren't going up is good news.

[ChrisJM981 924]

2 minutes ago, Greenday said:

So apparently now the fact that are taxes aren't going up is good news.

Would you expect them to go down with Progressive Phil and Co.?

[Sniper 6,372]

8 minutes ago, Greenday said:

So apparently now the fact that are taxes aren't going up is good news.

Your boy, Phil, isn't trying hard enough. NJ is only 4th highest in fuel taxes in the country. Give him a call and tell him to try harder to become Number one!

[Handyman 5,682]

Can't speak strongly about this outside of the 1A Lounge. 

But seriously, they are still hiring new people into the pension system? They need to kill that ASAP. Why load more people onto a sinking ship? Isn't it enough benefit to have a state job where you can be a lazy slob and it's practically impossible to get fired?

[voyager9 3,434]

5 hours ago, 1LtCAP said:

IF we're not investing in education, then where the fuck is the 40%+ of my property taxes that're labeled for schools going??

Only 40%!  I’m being robbed at close to 70%. 

[Sniper 6,372]

1 hour ago, voyager9 said:

Only 40%!  I’m being robbed at close to 70%. 

Me too... I'm moving to where he is at 40%.

[WP22 1,558]

2 hours ago, Handyman said:

But seriously, they are still hiring new people into the pension system?

They are reliable dem voters. That's why.

Ask the corrections boys how they like Murphy after getting a retroactive pay raise. And then listen to them bitch because instead of a lump sum, it got split in two checks.

[diamondd817 826]

How can this happen when only half the people in the State are on the States payroll?

[CMJeepster 2,778]

11.5 years in office.  I'd say that he's got to take the blame for a lot of this state's problems.

[raz-0 1,259]

16 hours ago, 1LtCAP said:

IF we're not investing in education, then where the fuck is the 40%+ of my property taxes that're labeled for schools going??

Hey don't forget about where your income taxes are going, as they are all required to be used for property tax relief. 

[father-of-three 243]

17 hours ago, 1LtCAP said:

IF we're not investing in education, then where the fuck is the 40%+ of my property taxes that're labeled for schools going??

Is it also true that a portion of property taxes goes to other school districts in New Jersey?  I know Philadelphia is always begging for $$$ in Pennsylvania for their schools, but that is through the state tax system not the local tax system.

[siderman 1,137]

Warning- I am planning on putting my house up for sale early next year so plan on the real estate market collapsing just prior to that. Just another part of this states impending implosion....

[SW9racer 262]

18 minutes ago, siderman said:

Warning- I am planning on putting my house up for sale early next year so plan on the real estate market collapsing just prior to that. Just another part of this states impending implosion....

Since I moved out 3 years ago, my old neighborhood values have dropped ~$40k (older area in southern somerset county).  A lot of the big pharma players have been moving out, the jobs are not there to sustain the prices. 

[silverado427 10,715]

They just built a 155 million $ high school in trenton..   They should have built a new prison instead. JMHO.

 

https://expo.nj.com/news/g66l-2019/01/fdb3acb4d45682/trenton-new-155m-high-school-opens-later-this-year-heres-another-peek-inside-video-photos.html

[raz-0 1,259]

1 hour ago, siderman said:

Warning- I am planning on putting my house up for sale early next year so plan on the real estate market collapsing just prior to that. Just another part of this states impending implosion....

Thanks for the warning

 

Really there's no way around it, the boomers are going to die soon enough, and they are going to put ~26 million homes on the market in the US.  To put that in perspective, the government decided they needed to intervene in 2008, and at that point there were less than a million surplus homes. The great recession saw ~7 million homes go into foreclosure and hit the market. 

So... yeah. There will be some serious downward pressure.