That sounds great. Then Van Drew softens the effect of the bill by stating that law enforcement and public works be exempt. He further contends that “leniency would be encouraged for employees who need state vehicles to do their jobs.”
What vehicles are left? Why does the state own any vehicle that is not needed for an employee to do his job?
What is really happening is that Van Drew is tossing more legislation onto the pile. He sponsors more bills than any legislator. His name is always in the paper. It sounds great to sponsor a bill that generates the headline NJ Senate panel: slash state car fleet. The impression is that Van Drew is fighting for us; the reality is that he’s re-shuffling the paperwork to garner a headline.
In the polling booth, Van Drew is banking on that you remember his name, not that he didn’t do anything.
Harry Peek was appointed to the Cumberland County Board of Elections in 1969 by the governor of New Jersey.
For the part-time post, the nephew of former Millville Mayor Rulon Peek was given a salary and was offered a health benefits package.
Forty years later, Peek still serves on the county board of elections as chairman.
He receives a $15,287 salary and continues to receive health benefits paid for by the county, which the over 70-year-old man relies on to help pay for his prostate cancer treatment.
A part-timer for 40 years, Mr. Peek is one of those who Freeholder Director Lou Magazzu claims has a $20,000 health benefits package. It’s not like running the Board of Elections is a full-time job. Joe DeMarco, also a paid Board of Elections official and the proprietor of the DeMarco-Luisi Funeral Home, spends quite a bit of time in Florida at his home in The Villages.
Why does DeMarco receive health benefits? His wife was a longtime employee of a school district. Her benefits should have covered her husband. Is this a double-dipping affair?
How well served are the voters of Cumberland County served by Mr. Peek? He is pulling down ~$35,000 of county money. I believe that is higher than the median income in the county. Obviously, these guys are only working a little bit as each election comes up.
And shoot, even then, voters are not served by Mr. Peek’s reign since he wants to stifle enthusiasm in the electoral process.
Why do we pay citizens to sit on this board? I will gladly volunteer to serve for no salary and no health benefits. Is anyone else willing to pledge his service to the county gratis?
One of the things I have written about over the years is the size of government. To me, all levels of government I witness are too large. The federal government has so overstepped its purview, folks cannot even conceive it not having a role in areas it shouldn’t be in. State government is so stocked with political appointees to keep the establishment’s status quo, it appears there is no way to break it. And more locally, the haves build government, it seems, for personal gain long before the public’s interests.
What all government has in common is the need for money. We are in an interesting time as the populace has begun to clamor over the taking of their money. It seems to me that we have reached, or approached anyhow, the limit of what regular folks are going to give up without severe consequences.
But the machine still needs to be fed. Government has long ago raided the Social Security account. Seemingly, every trick has been employed to get our money (sin taxes, gasoline taxes, tolls, registrations, fees, utilities, etc.). A year ago in order to “stimulate” the economy, the government had to borrow the cash. While the tax-cheating head of Treasury has declared the rating of US bonds will never slip, the fact of the matter is that the vig on the national debt is overwhelming.
So where is government going to get the necessary cash to fund itself?
Well, the federal government has its eyes set on your retirement, dear reader. Recognizing just how much taxes can actually be raised before they suffer consequences, new “revenue” sources are sought. That is where your 401(k) and other retirement investments come in.
BusinessWeek reports that the Treasury and Labor departments are asking for public comment on “the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams.”
In plain English, the idea is for the government to take your retirement savings in return for a promise to pay you some monthly benefit in your retirement years.
They will tell you that you are “investing” your money in U.S. Treasury bonds. But they will use your money immediately to pay for their unprecedented trillion-dollar budget deficits, leaving nothing to back up their political promises, just as they have raided the Social Security trust funds.
If you think about it, it’s pure genius. There’s this huge pot of cash sitting there doing nothing. It is not being taxed. That has to wait until folks are ready to spend it and for most of that pile, that is some time off in the future. The way the feds see it, it’s a pile of cash it can put to better use than you can.
It wants it and pretty soon it is going to make a play for it. The idea is that they take your cash to fund the machine today and promise you more later. Government will tell you they are investing your cash. Investing . . . like in healthcare, education, and other clogs in their machine. They invested our Social Security funds too. We’ll get more of that at retirement too. Government is such a slimy business.
Now is the time to contract government, not expand it. “Investing” in our futures is not government’s role, it’s ours. Keep your hands off of my stack.
Politicians love to tax sins. Few people smoke these days so if a budget needs to raise some more money, pass another tobacco tax. Or you could go after the booze. It’s an age-old game. Folks don’t get their knickers in a twist when taxes on a sub-set of the population gets hammered as long as it isn’t them paying the way.
I tried a tanning bed once when I was in college. I had a membership to a neat gym that had all sorts of facilities. In addition to the tanning bed there were sensory deprivation tanks and a Eucalyptus room. I really liked the Eucalyptus room. Anyhow, lying down in a tube with lights shining on me while I crisp is not my idea of fun or recreation.
Some folks like to tan themselves, however. That’s fine with me. Obviously, in order to tan, someone needs to be in business providing the equipment. That’s good for the economy. It is also a source for the politicos.
Here in New Jersey, we tax tanning salons seven-percent. Yup, to tan oneself indoors, Trenton grabs 7% of the deal. Why? Who cares? Few of us use tanning salons, right? They’re usually those little stores wedged into a strip mall with the “big hairs” running in and out. It doesn’t affect me, why should I care?
Since that tax was instituted, businesses have closed up. Sure, a poor economy contributed too. The tanning salon industry is fading in the Garden State. Soon it will be gone altogether.
Some will say the tax will discourage tanning use and that is a good thing. If government wants to discourage indoor tanning it can either outlaw it or put a 97% tax on the industry. Both would be far more efficient in reducing use. Just like tobacco taxes, it’s about the money, not the social ill.
So tanning salons have to absorb this tax . . . or pass it off to its customers. Cha-ching!
Customers will pay 17% to the government for the privilege to sit inside under heat lamps. Precious.
