The New Jersey pension system is underfunded by tens of billions of dollars. Previous administrations–both Democratic and Republican–with the consent of the Legislature did not fulfill their fiduciary obligation to adequately fund the retirement benefits of state workers and public school teachers. Pension reform is on the way. There is no other choice for the Christie administration and the Legislature; they have to reduce pension benefits for new hires (raise the retirement age to 65, for example), make adjustments in current benefits (increase the retirement age over the next ten years) and make the appropriate contributions to shore up the pension system (reduce spending in parts of the state budget in order to contribute to the pension system). Read the rest of this entry »
Archive for the ‘New Jersey’ Category
Is Chris Christie New Jersey’s Jefferson?
11
Feb
In his address to a joint session of the legislature today Governor Chris Christie threw down the gauntlet. He said in no uncertain terms the state government is broke, and demanded that everyone in the chamber work with him to put state government on a path to fiscal solvency. While Democrats who were caught by NJN’s cameras applauded, their heart is not in to reducing the size of state government based on their statements after the governor’s address. Read the rest of this entry »