Gov compares cash-poor NJ to Greece
New Jersey's governor sees Greek pay and pension cuts as a model for his high-spending, cash-poor state
New Jersey is "careening our way toward becoming Greece," Gov. Chris Christie told members of the conservative Manhattan Institute today, according to Bloomberg. Story here. Excerpts:
"New Jersey's tax revenue will fall $767 million short of targets over the next 13 months, the state Legislature's chief budget analyst told lawmakers today." That's after $10 billion of proposed spending cuts left the budget at $29 billion.
"Greece agreed this month to cut wages for government workers, raise sales, fuel and alcohol taxes and overhaul the state-run pension system in return for 110 billion euros ($136 billion) in emergency loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
"New Jersey, like Greece, has a high proportion of public workers who have been entitled to benefits such as free health insurance that outstrip taxpayers' ability to pay for them, Christie said. In the past decade the state added 11,000 public- sector jobs as it lost more than 120,000 private positions, he said."