Looks like the New Jersey State Senate has averted a government shutdown by working out a balanced budget and killing some of Governor McGreevey's proposed tax hikes.
I've been silently rooting for a government shutdown, just so that people could see that life goes on, and pretty well at that, without government bureaucrats running the details of our lives every day. The essential services would still be there, police would still be making arrests for crimes committed. I believe criminal courts would still be in session. Civil trials might be delayed.
I heard a commercial on the radio going into work this morning, about how McGreevey had proposed a balanced budget without raising the income tax. Half-truth! He raised taxes on corporations, which is in effect a higher tax for everyone in this state as higher prices are passed on to consumers, and raises to workers are not given, due to all the wealth being sucked out of the economy and fed to the government beast.
One item I heard today is that a law is being proposed to prohibit school boards from a negotiating strategy known as a "last and final offer" (I'm not sure I'm using the right technical term for this, I'm having trouble finding a link to it - I'm just writing what I remember hearing on the radio this morning). The commentary I heard said that it is a valuable tool to use in averting strikes, and to hold down frequent and large pay increases which would result in large tax hikes. The bottom line is that a lot of commentators are saying that if this negotiating tool is lost, property taxes in New Jersey will go a lot higher real soon. No wonder one of Governor McGreevey's proposed tax hikes is a real estate fee on people selling their homes (thankfully, killed by the State Senate Republicans) -- he wants to make a bundle of money on all the people fleeing the state when they cannot afford to keep their homes.