The Essential State
Two hundred and thirty years after the Declaration of Independence was issued in Philadelphia, a declaration of a different sort was made just across the state line in Trenton, New Jersey. Governor Jon Corzine called his state’s legislature into special session to settle a budget impasse that provoked the first-year governor into ordering a “shutdown� of “nonessential� state services five days ago.
Jefferson’s Declaration listed the offences committed by George III against the rights of the people. Corzine’s declaration listed the government services that would be withheld from the people if the legislature refused to increase taxes to balance the state’s budget:
The shutdown of state government is much more than a mere inconvenience to the citizens of New Jersey. It is more serious than an interruption of a night at the track or a cancelled visit to Atlantic City.It would be easy to cast Corzine as the bad guy here, particularly because his “solution� to the budget problem is a 16% increase in the state sales tax. But Corzine isn’t responsible for decades of fiscal mismanagement and state largess. The people of New Jersey have only their collective selves to blame. Democracy (both small and large ‘L’) hasn’t simply failed in New Jersey, it has crippled the people’s ability to live their lives free of government interference. Let this be a warning to the other 49 states and the nation as a whole.It means the loss of a paycheck to tens of thousands of construction workers, casino workers and public employees. It means real hardship to small business owners who will lose income because they can’t sell lottery tickets. Make no mistake, people are being hurt and more will be hurt in the days ahead.
Beginning next week, the state will not have the ability to refund pharmacies for the medicine they are providing to our seniors. New home warranty certifications will be delayed – meaning families will not be able to move into homes they have purchased. Our summer educational camp for the blind and developmentally disabled children will have to be postponed. Each of us knows this situation has gone from unfortunate to unacceptable.
A typical libertarian response to the shutdown of “nonessential� services is to quip, “If they’re nonessential, why have them at all?� But this somewhat misses the mark. Every service provided, whether casino regulation or day care for crippled children, is “essential� to those who consume the service. The problem is that when the state usurps the market’s role in providing services, everything becomes “essential� and “nonessential� according to the whims of government authorities.
Governments are bad at prioritization. Witness the aftermath of September 11, when the government deemed fighting terrorism a top priority while simultaneously prioritizing providing prescription drugs to seniors and mandatory testing to schoolchildren. Not one federal department was eliminated, but several new agencies were created.
New Jersey is simply a microcosm of the federal problem. The state has tried to provide more services without the discipline of a market mechanism. The result is that more resources are consumed in a much less efficient manner, and ultimately fewer consumers obtain those services that they deem “essential�.
Comments (16)
Shut it down. Shut it all down! I hope this lasts for a few weeks so Garden Staters will realize they can get along just fine without the state and then Corzine et al can go on a permanent vacation. I am sure the Casinos and all other entrepreneurial endeavours can get along just fine without them.
Published: July 5, 2006 11:08 PM
The thuggery of this statement; "Make no mistake, people are being hurt and more will be hurt in the days ahead."-- is truly telling.
Published: July 5, 2006 11:16 PM
It would be really interesting if suddenly a casino decided to operate ANYWAY, and hire some independent company who would declare that it would follow whatever rules the state had imposed on the casinos.
Also, what's the deal with the beaches? Surely there are many qualified lifeguards out there.
Come on New Jersey, keep fighting for another year and let your residents live in peace.
Published: July 5, 2006 11:45 PM
"Democracy (both small and large ‘L’)..."
I don't get it.
Published: July 6, 2006 8:46 AM
Corzine is resisting a proposal from fellow Democrats Steve Sweeney and Paul Moriarty to rationalize public employee compensation to plug the budget hole. Basically they proposed making employees work a full 40-hour week (currently 32), and pay into their health and retirement plans. They also propose cutting the POLITICIANS salaries 15%.
Oh, and Sweeney is a senior official for the Ironworkers Union, so he cannot be accused of being a corporate shill.
Basically, Corzine wants to force through a 16% sales tax hike so the politicians and the state employess can continue working cushy jobs with gold-plated benefits that are long-gone from the private sector.
Published: July 6, 2006 9:38 AM
However, the problem with siding with the casinos in all of this is that they enjoy the benefits of a government-provided monopoly. They would not bite the hand that feeds them.
Published: July 6, 2006 9:41 AM
"Democracy (both small and large ‘L’)..."
I don't get it.
Democracy as a form of government and "Demoracy" as in the Democratic Party that controls the New Jersey legislature and governor's mansion.
Published: July 6, 2006 9:49 AM
Manuel Lora,
I believe there is only one beach closed because of the shut down.
The local media coverage on this is basically, "Oh, my God! This Crisis is horrible! People can't gamble at the casinos."
The reality, of course, is that no one's life is affected at all, other than the poor aren't being fleeced via the state lottery.
Published: July 6, 2006 11:11 AM
>>>"Basically, Corzine wants to force through a 16% sales tax hike so the politicians and the state employess can continue working cushy jobs with gold-plated benefits that are long-gone from the private sector."
Precisely. Increasingly, "retirees" are former public sector employees enjoying defined benefit pensions and wondering what the hell everyone else is complaining about.
Published: July 6, 2006 11:43 AM
So much of New Jersey taxpayer's money dissapears down ratholes...under former governor (ha) James "I am a gay American" McGreevy, the state formed a School Construction Corporation to try to ameliorate the funding disparity between 'wealthy' and 'poor' school districts - the fund was filled with $8.6 billion in taxpayer money, supposed to last it 10 years. It was broke inside of 3 years.
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17794
http://www.state.nj.us/oig/pdf/njscc_preliminary_report.pdf
The Division Of Youth And Family Services (DYFS) famously lost track of a group of foster children, subsequently discovered in an extreme state of malnutrition at the hands of their foster 'parents';
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/news/ledger/stories/20040213_childabuse_collingswood_report.html
I could go on.
And this corrupt, incompetent bunch of morons deserves even more tax money?
Published: July 6, 2006 12:13 PM
Vince,
In my home county, the budget one year included a line item for miscellaneous expenses totalling $15 million. After public outcry, the expenses were itemized to the point that "only" $5 million was attributable to miscellaneous expenses.
I'm sure there are a lot of local government employees living in houses that don't look like they're owned by people on a $50K/year salary. And think of the billions that have gone missing at the federal level. No wonder the homes in northern Virginia are so nice.
Published: July 6, 2006 12:22 PM
Vince,
The state just gets worse & worse. Corzine makes McGreevy look good who makes Jim Florio look good (Whitman was no great shakes, but she's not in the same league as these guys).
I'm hoping this standoff lasts a long time. The hope is that people will realize that they were unaffected by the shutdown, and will demand smaller government.
Published: July 6, 2006 1:00 PM
I agree Nat - until the dimwit-serioso Corzine shuts down the NJTPK, I will not give a fig over whether the government ever resumes 'services'.
Published: July 6, 2006 1:08 PM
You guys are forgetting where the real blame lies--with the voters. They worship the state. The bureacrats are just altar boys. If the state shuts down, the voters will resurrect it.
Published: July 6, 2006 1:32 PM
Oddly, the only people who seem to be worried about it are the media and the politicians. Everybody else seems content to wait it out.
Published: July 6, 2006 1:59 PM
Are the casinos' employees only contracted govt. employess? the casinos are private enterprises, right? why did they have to shutter the doors?
Published: July 9, 2006 4:41 PM