Here’s an interesting article by Joseph Racioppi.
Posted by Joseph Racioppi February 07, 2008 8:24PM
I can see it now. Whoever is Governor of New Jersey five-ten years from now will say:
“Gee folks, although I promised to cut taxes, things are far worse than I originally thought. I mean, my predecessors really screwed up. No, I mean it, they spent our state into oblivion. Even a huge tax increase and massive toll hikes can’t get us out of this hole.”
An individual or business who declares bankruptcy reaches a point where they realize the situation is hopeless and no amount of borrowing or creative accounting can avoid the inevitable. I don’t recall a State going bankrupt but I do remember in the 90’s that Orange County California declared bankruptcy. They seem to have come out of it OK.
Yes, it would be embarrassing and shameful but we Jerseyans are used to that. The politicians who got us to this point should certainly be embarrassed and ashamed of what they have done with our money, with their reckless, irresponsible, out of control spending.
Bankruptcy of course has its purpose. Very simply, it gives the debtor a fresh start. The financial state of our state appears very close to “the point of no return”. How many billions of unfunded liabilities are there? And the plan is to borrow more to pay down the debt?
Filed under: bankruptcy
