When It Comes to Sneaky - These Guys Never Disappoint

Mr. Christie (I really can't call him Governor Christie because he is never here acting as New Jersey's governor) should be privatized as soon as possible. I can't understand why an absentee public employee, involved with multiple, underhanded sleazy dealings by both him and his cronies has not been subjected to recall? 

I suppose the only answer is, having been a Federal Prosecutor, he has a pile of dirt on numerous politicians and others, tucked away in a file cabinet somewhere (J. Edgar style).

The only other possibility is the citizens and politicians of New Jersey are too stupid or lazy to "throw the bum out".

P.S.

Want a list of "The Governor's" shenanigans. Here's a bunch I can think of right off the bat.

Bridgegate (of course)

Harrison Train Station (his brother's company benefited handsomely)

Hunterdon  County Sheriff's Office Investigation (he squashed it)

Exxon Mobile "Settlement?"

RU President on Boards of Trustees of companies doing business with RU (okay by Christie)

Pension "Reform" renege

PA Appointments (Samson et al)

Loss of $400M Fed Ed Funds (and put it all on Schindler) 

Canceled ARC Tunnel (cost jobs & money during the height of the recession)

Trips and Entertainment from "Friends" - Jones, Adelson, etc.

Held Special Elections ($24M) for his personal political advantage

Screwed up the Sandy Aid program and paid $30M to company that did it

Used Sandy Funds for political advertising

And The Beat Goes On! (Our beating that is)

When you read the article below - don't be shocked! It's business as usual. I wrote about this very thing (http://teachersdontsuck.blogspot.com/2012/05/if-this-doesnt-piss-you-off-check-your.html) in 2012 and I guess nobody read it or nobody cared.
This was just after the much ballyhooed "Pension Reform Bill"(which "The Governor" reneged on and I think probably planned to right from the get go) was passed. Interestingly, not one word about the double dipping of cronies and the connected was in that bill. None of these inequities were even tangentially addressed.
During the time this bill was being discussed our "governor?" (I think he's still the governor in spite of the fact he's been out of the State over half of the time) was already campaigning for reelection. During this time he garnered support from numerous prominent New Jersey Democrats. If you would like to know who those Dems are and why they would jump ship and stand behind a loud mouthed, bullying oaf, the attached article and my post cited above may help to provide some of the answer.
Additionally, in 2011 there were 420,000 public employees in New Jersey. In the 2012 election Christie received 1,278,932 votes against Buono's 809,978. It's hard to understand how Buono could receive only 810K with 420K public workers with their friends and families voting with them for her?
The only conclusions that can be drawn is that few public employees actually voted or that they were actually stupid enough to vote against their own best interests and voted for Governor Porkchop. Either one of these explanations is disheartening to say the least. 

Chris Christie - "Telling It Like It Isn't"

Ms. Sizmore's analysis leaves much to be desired. Does she think the first dollar that was contributed to the pension by teachers 30 years ago was the same dollar of today? Over $3 today is needed to buy what $1 bought in 1980! Additionally what happened to the 72 rule? Shouldn't have the $186,000 dollars grown substantially over a 30 year period? (That is of course assuming it wasn't stolen or mismanaged by the State).

Also where does that $2.5 M come from for the "average" member? Over how many years is that paid? Must I live to be 100 in order to claim that amount in retirement?? I personally know of numerous members that never collected a dime! They died on the job!!

And to continue, our Supreme Leader called pension members "greedy and selfish". Well just read on and you decide if the pot is calling the kettle black? (Keep in mind that his wife was employed by one to the NJ Pension Fund managing corporations with a salary of $400K+) 

A Man of the People (His People)

Just Wondering??

After the put down of the pension issue by the NJ Supreme Court I  looked up the following:

"Lawmakers still have never succeeded in overriding a Christie veto. The governor has issued 350 vetoes since he took office in 2010, with lawmakers failing in all 48 attempts to override him."

"While Democrats have majorities in both the Assembly and Senate, it would take a two-thirds majority in both houses to override Christie. Republicans, including on some bills they originally supported, have not provided enough votes for the overrides."

Then I looked up this:

"By 2002, Christie had campaigned for Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush; the latter appointed him as United States Attorney for New Jersey, a position he held from 2002 to 2008. In that position, he emphasized prosecutions of political corruption."

Now I am sure that the Governor's continued success cannot be attributed to his charming personality so what could it be? Could it be a reincarnation of J Edgar ? Please keep in mind that I am certainly not accusing anyone I am merely musing!

When the Deck is Stacked Don't Expect to Get a Good Hand

A Race to the Bottom for NJ Retirees

I noticed both of these articles in the same Ledger addition last week. I wonder how many of the households led by persons 65 and older are in the State Pension Plan? Will "The Governor's" attacks on the pension fund reduce that $45,092 to even lower levels in coming years? 

How about the second article, the map of real estate values. How could all the rich be fleeing the state (as "The Gov." suggests) and still have property values in the state remain at the magnitudes shown? Does anyone really think that a millionaires tax would drive people from these lavish abodes?

I don't think "The Gov." actually believes that it would either. He just wants to make sure that his rich buds and donors don't have to contribute any more support to those that help them to maintain their opulent life style in New Jersey.

God forbid one of them might have to down grade from the Rolls Phantom Coupe ($476K) to the lowly old Phantom Sedan ($410K) next year!

Please Don't Tell Me That You're Surprised - (repost with addendum)

I just happened to read this in a column by Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report and have decided to add it to my most recent post because of its relevance.

"Al Sharpton, the MSNBC host and presidential pit bull, reciprocated the University of Phoenix’s sponsorship of his TV special Advancing the Dream with a puff piece on the for-profit giant’s online offerings, featuring the NFL’s Larry Fitzgerald, a Phoenix student and booster. Phoenix University excels all others in funneling Black people’s educational dollars directly to Wall Street via the Apollo Group, a $5.36 billion corporation with ties to the super-predatory Carlyle Group."

The Carlyle Group is one of the hedge funds in which NJ pensions are invested and to which Robert Gardy (the Christie appointed  manager of NJ pension funds)  has long standing ties.

******************

Additionally, Mr. Ford reports -

"The Obama administration may abhor the chaos in which players like the University of Phoenix and Ashford University have become the top producers of baccalaureate degrees among Blacks. But the administration – and the Democratic Party, as an institution – also worships at the alter of privatization. Rather than eliminate the felonious educational enterprises root and branch – and spend the money on a nationalized system of free education – Obama will continue to provide tens of billions to nourish the poisoned tree."

Every year we spend $32 billion on these for-profit institutions. Why not use that money for tuition-free colleges for students who need higher education--and bypass Wall Street?"

*****************

Ain't that sweet? It appears that every politician and government official - left, right and center - is intent on stealing taxpayer and retiree monies in whatever ways possible.

Monkeys and Dartboards

 What the graphs below show is that a monkey with a dartboard could have done better than our fund managers over the past few years.
BTW - the monkey would not work for peanuts but I'm sure bananas would do and certainly not $400M worth! 

Conservative - Not With Our Money He Ain't !

This article speaks for itself. There is nothing more that I can add!
Oh! Wait a minute!
Let me add this - The man is definitely a scumbag!!

A Little Good News - Finally!

At least there is a little good news interspersed amongst all the bad (the recent Supreme Court decisions).

Have a Nice Trip!

Kiss DB Pensions Goodbye!

Christie has two major objectives. 

(1) privatize public education to benefit his well connected cronies and friends and 

(2) privatize the pension system to benefit his well connected cronies and friends.

And it's beginning to look like both may work!

BTW -

This 'Hybrid' Pension Plan is just a foot in the door!

Find Me a Millstone and a Pit !

         The lack of integrity on the part of “The Governor” is astonishing!!But his deceitfulness isn’t!
 He signs a bill to “reform” the pension plan and praises it far and wide as a major accomplishment and now wants to renege on its primary component – funding the pension!
       I can’t believe that this wasn’t his intent right from the get go. By agreeing to fund the pension as he did he was merely using it to get “his foot in the door” on his way to eliminating tenure and privatizing public education. And believe me folks tenure has not been “reformed” it has been eliminated! If teachers can now be fired without tenure charges being filed and a hearing but merely on the basis of two consecutive “poor evaluations”; how can this be considered a tenure system?

        Now we see “The Governor” decrying his $10M cut to cancer research and blaming it on pension costs to which he himself agreed! He not only agreed he extolled himself as being the first governor in years who pledged to make full payments. 

In order to get public sympathy for his reneging on his promise (and now a law) he is citing it to be the causative factor for cuts to cancer research. The whole thing is kind of like drowning a puppy and then saying ‘It really wasn’t my fault– the Devil made me do it!’

      If he wanted to point the finger at factors that forced him to make those cuts might he have chosen some of these instead?

- Special election costs of $12M designed to serve his political aspirations

- A botched Fed Ed grant of  $400M which he then blamed on Schindler and then fired him as a sacrificial lamb for his own poor oversight

- Bridgegate legal expenses $1M+ paid to his pal Mistro to write him an excuse.

- Nineteen directors at charter schools who were paid the maximum allowed salary — $225,734 — to oversee schools with anywhere from 30 to 327 students a day. And 52 people at these schools took home more than $175,000, the most superintendents are allowed to earn in public schools with up to 10,000 students.

- Corporations which (or should I say ‘who’ because as we all now know – corporations are people!) received over $2.6 billion in wasteful corporate tax breaks.

- Pension double dipping by cronies

- Politicians collecting pensions while still working the same job

- The myriad of companies supplying testing services to the State (about $23M worth last year)

- The companies supplying teaching programs and schemes to public schools

     But then again why should I expect “The Governor” to suggest any of these reasons as a basis for cutting cancer research? Any of them might help to expose the man behind the curtain as the hypocrite he is!

P.S.

Since we have just celebrated Easter let me add that which Christ said about hypocrites-

“It better be that  millstones be tied around their necks and they be thrown into a pit where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”

Can anybody tell me where can I get a millstone and pit?

The Great "Reformer" Helps to Rob the Pension Again!

What happened to all Christie's talk about pension "abuse" and public employees getting rich in retirement on their "undeserved"pension payments?
What does this  say about the "Pension Reform" proposed by Christie and passed by Assembly Democrats? What does it say about his veracity in trying to "re-reform" the pension again this year?
Did he already have a plan in mind to "re-reform" it while he was agreeing to the original "reform"?
Was he planning to renege on future pension payments when he signed the original "reform" law?
Maybe he should hire Mr. Mastro (his personal lawyer) to investigate these possibilities (for another $1,000,000 fee paid by the taxpayers). I'm sure the investigation would find him guiltless once again?
P.S.
The Dems aren't completely blameless in pension theft either. Far from it!
Take a look at Joe D's pension deal!

Shafting The "Select Few"

Admittedly, the past can’t always accurately predict the future but unfortunately it’s all we have got to work with.

An average teacher at the top of the salary guide in 1990 was making about $55,000 per year. Let us assume that he/she retired in 1990 at the age of sixty. If he/she started immediately after being graduated from college his/her years of teaching would be about 35. Doing some rough calculations his pension would be $35,000 (assuming the full benefits were taken without survivor benefits).

In 2014 this person would be 84. During his/her retirement inflation (as seen by the accompanying charts) has risen by an accumulated 81.64%. This means if the COLA was not in effect during this period,  the real value of the pension would have  been reduced to $18,900 (more than cut in half).

Now, it appears that “The Governor” wants to renege on his pension reform agreement which eliminated the COLA and raised contribution rates and retirement age requirements. I am sure that more tinkering will result in further loss of pension benefits even beyond what inflation will cost.

His statement “we will miss the opportunity to improve the lives of every New Jersey citizen, not just a select few” is infuriating.

Does he mean the “select few” that have faithfully made pension payments during their entire working lives while the State reneged on its part?

Does he mean the “select few” who have educated New Jersey children (including him) year after year and decade after decade?

Does he mean the “select few” that relied on the integrity of the State to fulfill its contract with them?

Does he mean the “select few” that he has chosen to demonize, bully and degrade because they failed to support his political campaigns?

PS - Speaking of a “select few” read my preceding article “George Orwell Again? - Sunday, February 23, 2014 ” and you decide who the “select few” really are!!

George Orwell - Again?

Why is it that every time I pick up the newspaper I find an article that reminds me of George Orwell's - Animal Farm?
You might logically think that it is because the physical appearance of  New Jersey's highest official reminds me of the book's main character, but that's not it.
The real reason is because these articles continually bring to mind the book's major quote which I've recited over and over and over and is apt in most every situation.
"All pigs are equal but some pigs are more equal than others" is a perfect description of my feelings about these Trenton politicians and their ceaseless shenanigans designed to steal the public's money for themselves and their pals.

PS
It appears that judges will be getting special treatment. I suppose that will include Judge Hurd. Could it kind of be a "quid pro quo"? Probably not but the way things go in Trenton, anything is possible!
(See my blog -

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

The Man with Two Faces

NJ. Sen. Steve Sweeney: I'll shut down government if Chris Christie reneges on pension payment

There's Gold in Them There Schools - And Wall Street Comin' to Stake Its Claim !

If you think all the "education reform" stuff in really about improving education, think again !
"Education Reform" is just a back door approach to privatization. The claims of inferior teachers and failing schools are used as wedges to crack the door open wide enough for Wall Street carpetbaggers and cronies of connected politicians to sneak in and grab the billions of education dollars just waiting to be scooped up. 
Tenure "reform" (elimination) is a prelude to the takeover by private interests. Teachers who have worked for years to arrive at decent pay levels will be easy to fire and replaced with low cost people thus insuring even greater profits when corporations finally gain full control of the system. 
The elimination of seniority under the guise of keeping "the best" teachers when layoffs occur really means keeping "the lowest paid" teachers, again to increase corporate profits once schools are privatized. (And it isn't that far off!)
How about bargaining rights? 
Kiss them goodbye!
After years of fighting to establish a fair and equitable system for determining teacher rights and compensation future "negotiations" will be "hat in hand". 
The only rights that will remain for teachers will be the right to be continually bullied, defamed and blamed ! 

I

Congrats Mr. Braun!

Congrats Mr. Braun!
I could never have said it as well as you have. You have covered all the based and hit a home run.Unfortunately, in a country that elected George Bush TWICE, there are few who will listen to you. 

They have proven that they appreciate sideshow antics much more than their own best interests !

***********
Interesting info from a reader
I am a retired hedge fund trader who worked for Dean Witter Reynolds/Morgan Stanley from 1982-2009. I am writing this in response to Mr. Tom Moran’s comment….apparently he is hard to contact during normal business hours. I take exception to his statement that David Tepper* is “trying to help” the education process. David’s main focus in professional life was to make money for his customers, and make even more for himself. He is not in it “to help”. As a portfolio manager from 1987-2009, I was responsible for the managment of emerging companies and industries. Both Kaplan and Apollo Group were companies that were part of David’s spectrum. Apollo is the owner of the University of Phoenix, the world’s largest for-profit university. Kaplan is the naiton’s largest test prep company. Both companies are extremely profitable…and David has shared in that profit. Whatever plans David has for “education” has only one goal in mind….to make David even more wealthy. You failed to mention another former hedge fund director from FL who is now the state’s Superintendent of Schools…Christopher Cerf. Mr Cerf made quite a pretty penny when he was managing the Edison Group, the owners of the Edison Schools. Because Cerf’s name and background were brought up during a criminal indictment in Central Florida, he is no longer able to hold a Securities license in either FL or NY State. I do not know if there is a reciprocity agreement in NJ…apparently so, since his name does not turn up on the SEC list.

*Tepper is a prime sponsor of Better Education for Kids - B4Kids - An education "reform" organization. 

Pre Election Current Events Quiz

                 Who said this and when did he said it ?