NJ Government shut down - Rant inside

akshatp

Diamond Member
Oct 15, 1999
8,350
0
76
What a disgrace that these politicians could not come together on a budget before the deadline passed.

50,000 workers being furloughed, that means they dont get paid. Im sure more than half are sole breadwinners and rely on the income to survive.

Only "essential" employees remain working. However, up until about 6 am today, they were trying to decide whether the people that watch over the casinos were "essential" or not. Real reason behind this: The state collects roughly $2m a day in tax revenue from casinos. What a crock. They ended up shutting down the casinos at 8 am today. First time in 30 yrs (since they opened) that the casinos have closed. Way to make history Corzine, you a$$!!!

Corzine wants to raise the sales tax to 7% and the legislators dont want to let him.

God damn politicians.

Story
 

akshatp

Diamond Member
Oct 15, 1999
8,350
0
76
Originally posted by: Phoenix15
I bet there are a lot of pissed off tourists! :p

That really sucks.

Well at least its raining so the beaches and parks being shut down wont affect too many people.. Not for today anyway.

 

Extelleron

Diamond Member
Dec 26, 2005
3,127
0
71
:thumbsdown:

Politicians could care less about anything, they don't understand or care about how it is to live "paycheck to paycheck."
 

Linflas

Lifer
Jan 30, 2001
15,395
78
91
Originally posted by: Extelleron
:thumbsdown:

Politicians could care less about anything, they don't understand or care about how it is to live "paycheck to paycheck."

Actually they do and generally do everything they can to stay in office so they never have to return to living like the ignorant masses that vote them into office seemingly thinking that there is some magic money tree that will allow big nanny government to fulfill every dream they have without taxing them.
 

mattlear

Senior member
Jun 2, 2000
349
0
76
Are the courts open or closed?

I would hope the judicial system is considered "essential".

My biggest problem with NJ politics is that they would rather tax people more money instead of wiser budget spending. There is a LOT of waste and fat in the corrupt NJ political arena - better spending of the monies received from existing taxes would go a long way towards alleviating these problems.
 

GasX

Lifer
Feb 8, 2001
29,033
6
81
I give Corzine a big thumbs up for having the Cojones to do this.
 

PlatinumGold

Lifer
Aug 11, 2000
23,168
0
71
Originally posted by: Linflas
Originally posted by: Extelleron
:thumbsdown:

Politicians could care less about anything, they don't understand or care about how it is to live "paycheck to paycheck."

Actually they do and generally do everything they can to stay in office so they never have to return to living like the ignorant masses that vote them into office seemingly thinking that there is some magic money tree that will allow big nanny government to fulfill every dream they have without taxing them.

this doesn't exactly apply to Corzine as the guy is independently wealthy, i believe his net worth was in the 100's of millions.

 

RedCOMET

Platinum Member
Jul 8, 2002
2,837
0
0
I'm really glad that NJ is saying that casino monitors are not essential. Just b/c it brings in almost 2 million dollars in tax revenue a day doesn't mean that the state should acquiesce to "big business" that is the casinos.
 

sao123

Lifer
May 27, 2002
12,648
201
106
Almost Happened to PA...
Rendell signed his 26 Million dollar budget sunday morning....
We were all waiting to see if we should go to work money or not.
 

Doboji

Diamond Member
May 18, 2001
7,912
0
76
Atlantic city sucks... they should burn the city down and start over anyway.
 

Queasy

Moderator<br>Console Gaming
Aug 24, 2001
31,796
2
0
Very dumb thing for Corzine to do. It makes for nice political grandstanding but the casinos are a major source of revenue for the state. They're arguing about the best way to raise taxes on the citizens of NJ to cover a budget shortfall and he decides to shut down 8% of the state's revenue exacerbating the budget shortfall.

Would be nice if governments would find ways to spend less when they encounter these shortfalls instead of finding ways to tax us more.
 

Linflas

Lifer
Jan 30, 2001
15,395
78
91
Originally posted by: Queasy
Very dumb thing for Corzine to do. It makes for nice political grandstanding but the casinos are a major source of revenue for the state. They're arguing about the best way to raise taxes on the citizens of NJ to cover a budget shortfall and he decides to shut down 8% of the state's revenue exacerbating the budget shortfall.

Would be nice if governments would find ways to spend less when they encounter these shortfalls instead of finding ways to tax us more.

But that would require them to nut up and actually stand up to 10 person interest groups with letterhead that squeal like stuck pigs to the media whenever spending on whatever pet project they back is reduced. The media goes along with this even though they know that there is a difference between actually cutting spending on a program and cutting the rate of growth in spending on a program.
 

krunchykrome

Lifer
Dec 28, 2003
13,413
1
0
Originally posted by: akshatp
What a disgrace that these politicians could not come together on a budget before the deadline passed.

50,000 workers being furloughed, that means they dont get paid. Im sure more than half are sole breadwinners and rely on the income to survive.

Only "essential" employees remain working. However, up until about 6 am today, they were trying to decide whether the people that watch over the casinos were "essential" or not. Real reason behind this: The state collects roughly $2m a day in tax revenue from casinos. What a crock. They ended up shutting down the casinos at 8 am today. First time in 30 yrs (since they opened) that the casinos have closed. Way to make history Corzine, you a$$!!!

Corzine wants to raise the sales tax to 7% and the legislators dont want to let him.

God damn politicians.

Story


Oh no, not Jersey. :roll:
 

Connoisseur

Platinum Member
Sep 14, 2002
2,471
1
81
Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
Originally posted by: Linflas
Originally posted by: Extelleron
:thumbsdown:

Politicians could care less about anything, they don't understand or care about how it is to live "paycheck to paycheck."

Actually they do and generally do everything they can to stay in office so they never have to return to living like the ignorant masses that vote them into office seemingly thinking that there is some magic money tree that will allow big nanny government to fulfill every dream they have without taxing them.

this doesn't exactly apply to Corzine as the guy is independently wealthy, i believe his net worth was in the 100's of millions.

Depends. A man who successfully built his own personal fortune could be just the right person to run the government. That is assuming:
A) He started with nothing and got all his money by himself
B) He can get the lawmakers to agree with him
 

Connoisseur

Platinum Member
Sep 14, 2002
2,471
1
81
Originally posted by: Doboji
Atlantic city sucks... they should burn the city down and start over anyway.

Aww don't make this a Jersey bashing thread. Atlantic City is good for what people want... gambling. It's no Vegas but then again AC is not exactly blessed with a dearth of real estate, good weather or low taxes. I go there to make money, not sightsee.
 

Doboji

Diamond Member
May 18, 2001
7,912
0
76
Originally posted by: Connoisseur
Originally posted by: Doboji
Atlantic city sucks... they should burn the city down and start over anyway.

Aww don't make this a Jersey bashing thread. Atlantic City is good for what people want... gambling. It's no Vegas but then again AC is not exactly blessed with a dearth of real estate, good weather or low taxes. I go there to make the casinos money, not sightsee.

fixed
 

Greenman

Lifer
Oct 15, 1999
20,284
5,057
136
Originally posted by: akshatp
50,000 workers being furloughed, that means they dont get paid. Im sure more than half are sole breadwinners and rely on the income to survive.

Story

When they approve the new budget there will be a line item to give them their back pay.
 

Doboji

Diamond Member
May 18, 2001
7,912
0
76
Originally posted by: Connoisseur
Originally posted by: Doboji
Atlantic city sucks... they should burn the city down and start over anyway.

Aww don't make this a Jersey bashing thread. Atlantic City is good for what people want... gambling. It's no Vegas but then again AC is not exactly blessed with a dearth of real estate, good weather or low taxes. I go there to make money, not sightsee.

AC does have one redeeming quality though....

Whitehouse Subs....
 

GagHalfrunt

Lifer
Apr 19, 2001
25,297
2,000
126
The way New Jersey is run on a day-to-day basis they're probably going to be better off with no official government.
 

Scarpozzi

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
26,389
1,777
126
This happened around here a few years ago... Basically hourly employees weren't allowed to work, but us salaried folks were required to come in because they were paying us a flat rate....etc.

I believe the delay caused the government officials to build a 1 time bonus into the pay plan to compensate for the lost wages.

 

CrazyShiz

Member
Aug 27, 2002
191
0
0
Originally posted by: Queasy
Very dumb thing for Corzine to do. It makes for nice political grandstanding but the casinos are a major source of revenue for the state. They're arguing about the best way to raise taxes on the citizens of NJ to cover a budget shortfall and he decides to shut down 8% of the state's revenue exacerbating the budget shortfall.

Would be nice if governments would find ways to spend less when they encounter these shortfalls instead of finding ways to tax us more.


Its not Corzine doing anything. The state constitution REQUIRES all non essenciil government services to be shut down and the CCC is considered non essencial.
 

Queasy

Moderator<br>Console Gaming
Aug 24, 2001
31,796
2
0
Originally posted by: CrazyShiz
Originally posted by: Queasy
Very dumb thing for Corzine to do. It makes for nice political grandstanding but the casinos are a major source of revenue for the state. They're arguing about the best way to raise taxes on the citizens of NJ to cover a budget shortfall and he decides to shut down 8% of the state's revenue exacerbating the budget shortfall.

Would be nice if governments would find ways to spend less when they encounter these shortfalls instead of finding ways to tax us more.


Its not Corzine doing anything. The state constitution REQUIRES all non essenciil government services to be shut down and the CCC is considered non essencial.

But how did it get to this point? Because Corzine and the state legislature can't agree on the best way to raise taxes.
 

chickadee

Senior member
May 3, 2004
752
0
0
heh this government thing bites ;x and its only going to end up giving more leverage to people and their whining of "ohhh new jersey sucks"

it sucks for all those people who are being out a job now. honestly, raise the tax to 7%/ its one penny more and wouldnt be terrible. or go to some wacky number like 6.25%. Its till lower than a good number of places and some pennies wont hurt consumers all too much but could end up being a huge help to the state and putting 50k+ people back in work.


as for the casinos :( booo. they better reopen by my 21st birthday next week