This was published in 1995, but the writing was on the wall. Nobody ever wants to do the right thing. With politicians its always about what they need to do to get elected or re-elected; never about doing whats best for New Jerseys citizens. The stealing from, and underfunding of our pension fund has been done with no regard how future generations will have to deal with the shortfalls. In America; Whitman Steals the Future By BOB HERBERT Published: February 22, 1995 EMAIL PRINT Over the past 25 years the State of New Jersey has struggled, under a succession of Democratic and Republican governors, to reverse a social and economic decline that, by the 1960s, had hit many Northeastern industrial areas. Difficult budget decisions were made, often at significant political cost. But the benefits for New Jersey residents were many. A vastly improved higher education system was developed and state aid to local public schools surged. The environment was cleaned up. Mass transit was improved. The states budget was balanced without gimmicks and its credit rating was triple-A. There is a strong link between those developments and the fact that New Jersey residents today are among the best educated in the country, and rank near the top in per-capita income. Now many of the gains made over a quarter of a century are in danger of slipping away because the current Governor, Christine Todd Whitman, has chosen to finance her political ambitions with a popular buy-now, pay-later economic policy that will place a financial stranglehold on future generations of New Jerseyans. This is best illustrated by Mrs. Whitmans decision to withhold billions of dollars that should be going into the public employee pension funds over the next few years, and using the bulk of that money to balance the state budget. Then, with an audacity that dazzles her supporters and even draws grudging admiration from opponents, Mrs. Whitman smiles and characterizes the withheld funds as savings. Of course, they are not savings -- not in any sense of the word. The pension obligations at some point will come due and future generations will have to meet them. Not only will the money have to be made up, but future taxpayers will be deprived of the income that the money -- if properly invested now -- would be expected to generate. Mrs. Whitmans pension maneuvers have not gotten a lot of publicity -- in part because the eyes of reporters and readers alike tend to glaze over when confronted with complex budget details. The changes that she has made have been drastic. According to the New Jersey Education Association, which has filed suit against the state, the employer contributions to the pension system this year will be as much as 96 percent below the amounts contributed in the early 1990s. By all accounts, the employer contributions have been reduced by nearly $1 billion a year. The Whitman administration insists that this is not a problem. Needless to say, others disagree. There is no question but that this is creating future debt, said Richard C. Leone, a former New Jersey State Treasurer who is now the president of the Twentieth Century Fund. This is just another way of getting around the balanced-budget requirement, a kind of deficit spending. It is the sort of thing that comes back to haunt you. Until the changes adopted by Mrs. Whitman, New Jersey had been very conservative in its approach to its pension obligations. For example, the state had started to pre-fund the health care benefits of its retirees, building up reserves against post-retirement liabilities. As one state official said: That was prudent. Health-care costs are a big problem. Prudent or not, Mrs. Whitman scrapped the pre-funding. She used the reserves that had already built up to help balance her budget. For Christine Todd Whitman, the pension funds have become a budget-balancing machine. Mrs. Whitman and the long-term interests of New Jersey appear to be at odds. The Governor won election by promising tax cuts, and any further advances in her career will be powered by her ability to deliver on that promise. Like most politicians, her eyes are on the short term: todays budget, tomorrows election. It requires courage to look beyond Election Day to the long-term interests of constituents. Young men and women who were children in New Jersey 20 or 25 years ago are benefiting from the vision and courage of the politicians in power then, politicians who were not afraid to lead. They werent perfect but they had a sense of responsibility toward the generations growing up behind them. Its a quality that nowadays is in extremely short supply. And not just in New Jersey.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 20:46:15 +0000
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