Chris Christie Caught Stealing $1 Billion From Pensions

a reply to: Willtell

This is best illustrated by Mrs. Whitman's decision to withhold billions of dollars that should be going into the public employee pension funds over the next few years, and using the bulk of that money to balance the state budget.

And why was the New Jersey capital budget not balanced? From all the previous administrations that spent more than we took in. This problem goes even further back than Whitman.

originally posted by: Swills
a reply to: Bilk22

Nice try? I don't think so. I'm not changing the title so if you want it changed then press the alert button and see what happens.

That would be such a liberal thing to do. No thanks. I don't play that way.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

The increase in fees since he took office is the stolen loot. Why such a gross increase that produced no results? Why are the receivers of the pension being short changed when so much money was wasted on high fees? Not only are the state workers screwed but so are the NJ residents, which are also the state workers, by having their taxes increased. Are the high fees being lowered? Are taxes going up?

That's the stolen money and everyone in NJ is paying for it. Now you may not like the pension system, which is fine, but for now it is what it is and it's being robbed as we speak.

a reply to: Swills
Christie stole a billion dollars..............What's he going to do with all that money? It takes most politicians years to steal that much money from the tax payers. I read the links .......and yes the title is very misleading.

a reply to: Bilk22

What? Do what you want, but stop telling me what to do.

a reply to: Tarzan the apeman.

Because of him he is a direct result of billions being stolen from the people. I'm sorry a few of you think he actually funneled the money out of the state budget and into his Chase bank account. Did you really read the links or watch the video?

originally posted by: Swills
The increase in fees since he took office is the stolen loot.

Stolen implies missing or ill gotten. Increased fees are only that, increased fees which once again show the inefficiency of government.

Now you may not like the pension system, which is fine, but for now it is what it is and it's being robbed as we speak.

A good deal of residents do not like the state and local pension systems and are voting with their feet.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus
So it is the fault of the previous admin that Christie just had to do this?

originally posted by: Sremmos80
So it is the fault of the previous admin that Christie just had to do this?

He is not the first to underfund the pension obligations. The pensions have been out of control for decades and now we are at the tipping point.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Oh it's stolen under the guise of fees and other such legal loophole nonsense. TYT showed ya a graph of the extremely high fees since he took office compared to previous years. What is the excuse for a 5x increase in fees? What is the pay off? No pay off, just higher taxes, lawsuits, and cut pension payments. Is this an example of an inefficient government? That it is to say the least.

I'm sure there are a lot of residents who hate paying for peoples pensions and by all means vote and make some changes but for right now it's what it is and state workers who pay into this fund are being royally screwed along with residents. Perhaps a new system, a private system, needs to go into place asap so that politicians can't control one's retirement fund.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

and this justifies diverting the cash to wall street how???
I mean if he felt that the taxation was so outrageous why didn't he just divert the cash back to the taxpayer? It isn't like wall street isn't in any need for more extra cash compliments of the US taxpayer and citizen!!

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Hey by all means I have no issues with bringing up former admins and what they caused and how current admins have to deal with them. That is really the only comparison we have to hold the current admin to.

Just seems funny where some choose to do that and where some choose to not allow that line of thought.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: Willtell

This is best illustrated by Mrs. Whitman's decision to withhold billions of dollars that should be going into the public employee pension funds over the next few years, and using the bulk of that money to balance the state budget.

And why was the New Jersey capital budget not balanced? From all the previous administrations that spent more than we took in. This problem goes even further back than Whitman.

The unions didn’t hold a gun to the heads of the politicians who made these contracts.

This is all GOP hate union dogma like in Wisconsin where that other corrupt governor got elected twice by the very stupid people of Wisconsin

The article says cleary in 1995 they had a balanced budget and Whitman went ahead anyway and started the gutting of the pension

The GOP always wants to blame the government workers and this despicable and deceptive nonsense works with ignorant people who are the vast majority of voting Americans.


ALL STARTED IN 1995 BY A GOP GOVERNOR!

www.nytimes.com...
Mrs. Whitman's pension maneuvers have not gotten a lot of publicity -- in part because the eyes of reporters and readers alike tend to glaze over when confronted with complex budget details. The changes that she has made have been drastic. According to the New Jersey Education Association, which has filed suit against the state, the employer contributions to the pension system this year will be as much as 96 percent below the amounts contributed in the early 1990's. By all accounts, the employer contributions have been reduced by nearly $1 billion a year. The Whitman administration insists that this is not a problem. Needless to say, others disagree. "There is no question but that this is creating future debt," said Richard C. Leone, a former New Jersey State Treasurer who is now the president of the Twentieth Century Fund. "This is just another way of getting around the balanced-budget requirement, a kind of deficit spending. It is the sort of thing that comes back to haunt you." Until the changes adopted by Mrs. Whitman, New Jersey had been very conservative in its approach to its pension obligations. For example, the state had started to pre-fund the health care benefits of its retirees, building up reserves against post-retirement liabilities. As one state official said: "That was prudent. Health-care costs are a big problem." Prudent or not, Mrs. Whitman scrapped the pre-funding. She used the reserves that had already built up to help balance her budget. For Christine Todd Whitman, the pension funds have become a budget-balancing machine. Mrs. Whitman and the long-term interests of New Jersey appear to be at odds. The Governor won election by promising tax cuts, and any further advances in her career will be powered by her ability to "deliver" on that promise. Like most politicians, her eyes are on the short term: today's budget, tomorrow's election. It requires courage to look beyond Election Day to the long-term interests of constituents.

a reply to: Swills

Christie becomes more qualified to be POTUS every time you see him in the news.

YOU GO BOY !!

originally posted by: Swills

Oh it's stolen under the guise of fees and other such legal loophole nonsense.

You keep saying it was 'stolen', it was never funded.

TYT showed ya a graph of the extremely high fees since he took office compared to previous years.

Please provide the graph, I did not see one in the links from the Original Post.

I'm sure there are a lot of residents who hate paying for peoples pensions and by all means vote and make some changes but for right now it's what it is and state workers who pay into this fund are being royally screwed along with residents. Perhaps a new system, a private system, needs to go into place asap so that politicians can't control one's retirement fund.

The number of government employees in New Jersey is close to 700,000. Do you think they are going to vote to cut their pensions?

originally posted by: dawnstar
and this justifies diverting the cash to wall street how???
I mean if he felt that the taxation was so outrageous why didn't he just divert the cash back to the taxpayer? It isn't like wall street isn't in any need for more extra cash compliments of the US taxpayer and citizen!!

Can you show me how the pension obligation was diverted to Wall Street?

originally posted by: Willtell

The unions didn’t hold a gun to the heads of the politicians who made these contracts.

No, but they do lobby and support candidates who will continue to make pledges to fund their public pensions at the cost of the taxpayer.

This is all GOP hate union dogma like in Wisconsin where that other corrupt governor got elected twice by the very stupid people of Wisconsin

This is not partisan political situation that we have arrived at in New Jersey, it was screwed up by both parties.

The article says cleary in 1995 they had a balanced budget and Whitman went ahead anyway and started the gutting of the pension

It clearly says she used the funds to balance the budget; so how could it already be balanced if it needed balancing?

The GOP always wants to blame the government workers and this despicable and deceptive nonsense works with ignorant people who are the vast majority of voting Americans.


ALL STARTED IN 1995 BY A GOP GOVERNOR!

New Jersey's budgetary problems go much further back than the 1990's.

Is this the same guy that told some one to shut up at a press meeting? Well I hope the judge treats hum the same way when he tries to bs his way out of it. Politicians the world over are just a bunch of crooks.

a reply to: Swills
Yes I will show it to a conservative. Would like to know more though about who all really has there fingers in the cookie jar. My guess is both parties are skimming off the top. Typical politicians. I need to go school to become an accountant.

Christie will just launch another investigation into Christie's theft of Pension funds, which will no doubt declare Christie free of any wrongdoing, just like Christie's investigation into Bridge-gate.