We need to hear more of this kind of honesty from politicians.

http://njn.net/television/webcast/ontherecord.html

Or his speech on the NJ Budget - amazing speech

http://www.njn.net/news/coverage/2010/budgetspeech.html

too bad we seem to be the only ones listening...

Yeah he cut the NJ School System's budget drastically! This will be made up by an increase in everyone's property taxes!

Raising taxes to balance the budget. Guess New Jersey elected a Democrat after all.

My mother in law is a teacher in New Jersey and she said everyone is stunned at what is happening and most of them are furious with themselves for voting for Christie. Luckily, she can retire at any time and avoid the whole mess if she wants.

You could cut the school budget in half across the country and once you got rid of the dead weight on the upper levels, the schools would run just fine.

Schools are the most overpaid under-performing wastes that this government is responsible for.

Probably worse percentage-wise than the military.

Well, maybe not the military

The New Jersey Public School System is actually quite good.

You are from California and I am from Florida. We can't relate to that.

I will have to grant you this.


But I suspect that it is still top heavy.

I suspect that every organization in America (unions, large corporations, government, etc) is top heavy.

Except Apple. Steve Jobs is a one man band so to speak.

Yes, this is even better. If anyone only has time to watch one of his speeches this is the one to watch first.




I bet she can. It is the ridiculous pension plan which has helped in a big way to break the state. If the local school boards raise property taxes, then that is on the school boards not on the governer. I am sure many, like you, will try to make this argument, but he has already destroyed that notion in his budget speech.

it's no different than cap and trade. It's not Gov. Christie raising property taxes; it's just the inevitable result of his decision to slash the budget of something most people think is important.

Obama is not proposing an energy tax. He is just proposing a cap and trade system....the inevitable result of which is an increase in energy costs to the consumer.

Consistency, one time!

You will lose this argument against him. The 'inevitable result' argument is what helped get them in the mess they are in.

They already pay an extrodinairy amount in taxes compared to the rest of the country. It is the reason so much wealth has been leaving the state.

A school teacher that pays in 64K to pension plan will recieve 1.4 million in benefits and that does not include the fact that they pay $0 in health care premiums throughout their career and retirement. I am not an econ guy, but that seems unsustainable to me in the long run.

That's why they have good teachers who stay there for a long time and consequently a great school system. Florida has bad teachers that get lousy benefits and the school system blows and STILL has money problems.

I lived in three states, and saw their school systems up close. New Jersey has a terrible, just terrible, school system. They serve the rich suburbs well, everyone else may as well just stay home. And it is more expensive than many other states.

There is a problem with cutting school funding, in New Jersey, though. The rich suburbs can raise their taxes and continue to have good schools. The poor suburbs will continue to suffer.

Unless they re-imagine their entire system, with vouchers or charter schools or something, they will continue to suck and be very expensive.

All the charter schools in Miami are D or F schools. Just throwing that out there.

OK, finished this one, pretty amazing. A politician who is doing what he said, and is doing the right thing, no matter what the political cost. A politician who believes adults can be treated like adults.

All the charter schools in Minnesota outperform their public school equivalent and have long waiting lists to get in.

It all depends on how much the unions run the reforms. If the charter schools are handcuffed, they will perform as badly as the schools they replace.

This pisses me off, because when I lived there I met way too many people like this. The state is filled with them. They didn't care about costs, they didn't care about the harm of policies, they just wanted to know if it would personally benefit them in some way, as if the state government was some sort of personal valet for them. The teachers in NJ are parasites. Not that some of them aren't good teachers, too, but they have no concept of where money comes from or how the real world works. Any attempt to explain reality to them was met with "well, we'll have to cut out math and reading" -- as if the 14 levels of overpaid bureaucracy didn't exist.

I live in PA close to the jersey line (about 20 miles) I do about 35 percent of my business in Jersey. The newspapers cover both states, I have multiple friends and business associates that live in jersey...so while not an expert I do know a little bit about it.

Jersey has been very blue for quite some time. The cuts to schools are only being made now because the democrats that controled the state for the last 10 years or more have spent money nonstop. Corzine was a fool and and he may not have been the bigest problem. They have added layers of fat so deep they don't even know where to begin...Christie ran for office under the tag of fiscal conservatism. he spoke everywhere and anywhere to anyone who would listen that his primary goal was cutting the state budget...period. Cain you are very wrong on this one.

If anyone in Jersey says they didn't realize what he was going to do they are lying...or living in a box. I forget which paper posted here ran a story on the schools and the 15 percent cut they are getting but it was sick all the stuff they have done in jersey.

There also were some quotes from local school supers about now needing to reduce staff to below the pre stimulus levels...LOL they used the stimulus monies to hire more staff for a year and now that BHO money is gone it is the states job to keep them.

bottom line, if you don't have the money you don't spend it...i don't care if you are a person, a business or a government. The only shame here is our government keeps bailing out people and business that don't get it. cutting school expenses 15 percent won't be a problem for the schools and still put out a quality product.

If LOCALS want to raise their LOCAL taxes to fund the school more, have at it. It is much easier to replace a local school board then the state offices.

stop - u are making too much sense

Love this guy
Chris Christie rides again

Tell me when the last time you have seen ANY elected figure be this candid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICIa-KJeUtM...player_embedded

This guy is quickly becoming a political hero of mine. My favorite video of him:

Chris Christie calls report thin-skinned

HB - another great video...

Let him fix New Jersey, then fix the US....

I watched a couple videos of this guy, and I really like him as well.

I don't know anything about him other than a quick scan of his Wiki page. Does anyone know if he has aspirations to run for President?

I 100% vote for this guy for president of everything. His one problem would be his accent, but hey, if america can handle a texas accent, they can handle a jersey one.

I just saw Jersey Boys in Vegas last night.

I would vote for him if he breaks out in song every time something happens in the world

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHnvkG6LbtU...feature=related

Schools should get their budgets cut in half. $10,000+ a year per child is a joke. Most of it funds the bureaucracy, not the actual teaching of students. Any politician who steps up and shuts down the teacher's union would get my support for life.

We had a woman principle at our local school that my kids attended. She was cheating on her husband with the vice principle's husband. The principle's husband took a gun and killed the vice principle's husband, the VP and their 6 year old son.

The principle was placed on paid administrative leave for 4 years, with a 6 figure salary.

She later was given another school to principle over.



Unions in the schools have destroyed the US education system, it cannot be fixed

heart Christie.


I could not help but notice the older woman in the background (with the white hair and glasses in the lower left) of that video. was she talking to someone, an invisible friend, spazzing out??? (at about 2:40 in)

I'm a little surprised at his answer here, but he does have a point: it would be an empty symbolic move. Even if he cut his salary to $0, that's still doesn't even make a dent in NJ's budget, whereas a tiny cut for teachers leads to millions in savings. Having said that, he should've said, yeah, I'll take the same cut teachers take.

Also, I don't think he's a saint; there is word that his latest budget, while filled with cuts, has several large million-dollar deals for some friends.

Even with that though, he's still in the top 1% of politicians -- just because he says what he's going to do in clear, plain English, then does it.

Let's not fall for the trap we fell for in the last election.

We elected a guy from Chicago, then act surprised when he acts like a Chicago politician.

This guys from Jersey...

Touche.


I don't know much about the guy, but I'm certainly for a politician who is willing to speak his mind. Now, if he were intelligent and had good ideas, that'd be nice too.

Of course, the reason that politicians can't every say anything real anymore is because of us. It's a product of having a 24 hour news media cycle where the slightest blip or "gotcha" moment instantly goes on Youtube and then the Daily Show and then Fox News etc etc

I mean, Presidents always had intense scrutiny, but never before did congressmen, senators, governors and the like have this much attention.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for watching our politicians intently and making sure they follow the law, their jobs, and the will of the people. But what I'm not for is attacking people for soundbites, for personal issues, and the like. This is what leads politicians to preferring to keep their mouths shut.

The ENTIRE reason we have freedom of the press in the first amendment is to watchdog these scumbags.


They have been failing at their job for too long.

First of all, no, that's not the entire reason. The reason is that it would be insane for a government to take such a right away, and the founders were trying to make a good government when they designed the constitution, not a crazy one.

And don't get me wrong, I'm all for watching our politicians intently and making sure they follow the law, their jobs, and the will of the people. But what I'm not for is attacking people for soundbites, for personal issues, and the like. This is what leads politicians to preferring to keep their mouths shut.

1st, politicians can't keep their mouth shut. Period.

2nd, Why not have them get torn apart with soundbites, they do it every election cycle

An article describing the Governor's bold idea to have his government take over the struggling Atlantic City casino business while relinquishing control of sports arenas in the Meadowlands.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/22/nyregion/22casino.html?hp


This is either crazy or crazy like a fox. I guess eventually we'll find out which one.

Well, he just pissed off everyone who lives in north central jersey. And he already pissed off the extremely powerful teachers' union. Making powerful enemies this guy. I kinda like the takeover of AC idea though. AC should be awesome and yet outside of the Borgata it sucks.

This is such a bad idea, and it makes no sense in the context of everything else he's done. Why does he think state bureaucrats would be able to run a casino?

Because private industry (including the Donald!) has not been able to......how much worse could it get? On paper, AC should work and yet it has not forever.

Why do you think state bureaucrats can't? They run the lottery well. The government is great at taking people's money. Not sure you thought this through.

Run Lottery:
1.Hire company to print tickets
2.Then send to private businesses to sell, giving them small percentage.
3.Have computer pick winner, pay winner 1/2 now or 30 payments, pocketing 30% for yourself
4.Profit!

Run AC:

1. Pay off employee unions
2. Pay off government inspectors
3. Deal with massive paperwork due to government bureaucracy and employee unions
4. Market your property with no control of surrounding environment
5. Adjust with ebbs and flows of economy in your hiring
6. profit?

Look, I am just saying......if you were looking for a group of people to slowly bleed the populace dry of money, wouldn't the government make sense?

That makes much more sense.

But do you really want a cocktail waitress that can't be fired without 10 official warnings, can't be hired/fired based on her looks, and who's pay will no longer be based on her performance?

Hmmmm. That's a pretty good point.

Then there's the new payout plan.

Dealer: Hit or stay?

Customer: Hit

Dealer: 21, dealer has 17 you win $25

Customer: Why did you only give me $19?

Dealer: New management has decided that school reconstruction fees are taken out immediately now.

Customer: But I don't have kids and don't even live in this state.

Dealer: I do.

Customer: Can I at least get a beer?

Dealer: Sure. Hank? When you get off break can you come over here and take a drink order?

Hank: Okay, in ten minutes.

I think the plan is pretty simple. He should take some of the government's money and buy New York Avenue, St. James' Place and Tennessee Avenue. He should build a few houses on each one, spacing them out evenly. Then he should buy some utilities, like the waterworks, and a few railroads. Once he starts raking in the money, he can put up a few hotels, and maybe try to buy Park Place and the boardwalk.

(Seriously, though, someone needs to photoshop Christie's face over the Monopoly guy. This joke has legs, dammit!)


Seriously, though, I'm not sure they should be running the casinos directly. Instead, they really should be cleaning that place up. They should get Rudy Giuliani to go around murdering all the homeless people in AC like he did in Times Square. They should renovate the boardwalk and the beaches, keep them clean, repaint things, eliminate graffiti. In general, they should make it less of a cesspool, and people from NYC would be more willing to go there over Foxwoods.

Foxwoods has the advantage that it's not in the middle of a city, so it doesn't have drunks and vagrants wondering around the Casino. It's pine trees for miles and an oasis Casino, making it essentially a resort island in the middle of CT.

The reason Atlantic City is a dump is because property rights are not secure. Basically, your ownership of anything in the entire city is about as secure as the next election. The casinos are beautiful, it's the surrounding area that is a dump. The problem is that anybody who makes their land desirable is punished to the full extent of the law through whatever means the latest round of politicians feels like using to take your stuff.

The lottery is a bit easier to run than a casino, and their payout rate is a tiny fraction of what a typical casino offers. I think only about 50% of Powerball and Megamillions goes back to players. In casinos it's over 90%. Also, casinos have competitors; the state does not allow competing lotteries.

All true except the 'casinos are beautiful' part. Ballys and Caesars are decent, Borgata is wonderful, everything else is really dumpy (although I hear Harrahs is not bad at all these days).

Without objection, I will submit this article on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to the official record here in Daniel's Poker Blog

http://article.nationalreview.com/438955/c...l-foster?page=8

great read - thanks for posting