NJ. Closed.

Today's rant-
   So New Jersey is currently shut down with only "essential" state employees on the clock. The reason is a budget deficit. Again (surprise!). Governor Corzine's proposed 1% sales tax increase is being stonewalled by his own party and things be gettin' ugly. Republicans, seeing a chance to bolster their position, are lashing out at whomever's in range. If NJ's leaders were any more inept they'd be declaring war on Iraq. Zing! Bottom line: no budget = no pay for state workers. Thus beaches, parks, casinos, etc. shut down and folks are bitching & moaning about their ruined summers. Obviously these are 'big picture' people.
   NJ loves taking out 30 year loans, borrowing from the future for a quick fix. If it's actually used to stop that sort of behavior, a 7% sales tax vs. 6% won't kill me. $.99 hamburgers will either drop to $.98 or increase to $1.03 so no one will have to deal with stupid pennies and my mental math will need to adjust; not so bad. There's actually a pretty easy solution to this entire crisis. SPEND LESS FUCKING MONEY!!!! I don't want to hear "300 schools get olympic size swimming pools and new laptops for every student". Nor "union employees retire at 55 with lifetime benefits for them & their families". Ditto "state gives (pro sports franchise) $500 mil. for new rent-free arena".
   If the pols try their best and yet, inconceivably, still can't pay for essential programs then raise the carbon/gas/fuel tax. It's not like people will stop driving. But they might ditch the behemoths in favor of fuel-efficient cars. This reads like a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales doesn't it? Those always were gruesome stories.

Next week's rant- Aging multibillion dollar scoundrels who suddenly donate a sizeable portion of their wealth to philanthropic organizations in hopes of spit-polishing the shit off of their legacy and buying their way into heaven. It won't work, you jerkoffs!
Actually, there's not much more to say about it.