New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is being puffed up by many conservatives as the refreshing, straight-talking principled budget slasher that could lead a nationwide right-wing resurgence. This week, conservatives drooled as Christie gave a trademark performance at the American Enterprise Institute conservative think tank.
"Performance" is the operative word. There is nothing straight about Christie's talk.
Far from refreshing, Christie's main brand of politics is the well-worn practice of scapegoating, under the guise of, in his words, "doing the big things and being courageous."
Public employees are Christie's favorite whipping posts. He regaled AEI with the tale of when he visited a firefighters convention the day he proposed to raise their retirement age, eliminate cost-of-living increases, increase employee pension contributions and scrap a previously approved 9% increase in benefits.
As I walked into the room and was introduced I was booed lustily. I made my way up to the stage they booed some more. I got to the microphone they booed some more. So I said come on you can do better than that and they did! They did!
Refreshing straight-talk!
But Christie assured, he doesn't hate the firefighters and other union employees. He only hates the union leaders:
See one of things that the public sector unions don't understand about my approach in New Jersey is that they think I'm attacking them. I'm attacking the leadership of the union. Because they're greedy and they're selfish and self-interested. The members of that union are being ill-served by the leadership of that union.
Christie did not bother to explain how the greedy union leaders are to blame for the state not making annual payments to the pension fund, for private health insurers jacking up health care costs which squeezes pensions, and for a deregulated Wall Street plunging the economy into a deep recession and damaging pension investments.
Nor did he explain how slashing pension benefits across the board -- hitting both union and nonunion civil servants -- only penalizes those greedy union leaders.
Nor did he acknowledge that these pension issues can be solved without sputtering contempt for union members, but with calm discussions with union members, as Vermont recently accomplished with its teachers union -- trading increased employee contributions now for additional pension benefits later.
But as Chris Christie will tell you, he only speaks the "truth." Watch the truthiness as he explains why we must slash Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Let me tell you what the truth is. What's the truth that no one is talking about ... You're going to have to raise the retirement age for Social Security. Oh I just said it, and I'm still standing here! I did not vaporize into the carpeting and I said it!
We have to reform Medicare because it costs too much and it is going to bankrupt us. Once again, lightning did not come through the windows and strike me dead.And we have to fix Medicaid because it's not only bankrupting the federal government, it's bankrupting every state government.
So very "courageous" of him to tell us we "have to" cut retirement benefits of everyone. That is far braver that noting you can strengthen Social Security's long-term solvency without cutting benefits, by lifting the payroll tax cap on high-incomes.
But that would require the courage to tell the wealthiest to accept a tax increase.
And it was so brave of him to embrace saving money in Medicare, since the President's health reform law does just that without harming benefits, even though Republicans cravenly attacked the cost-savings as "$500 billion cut."
Oh right, Christie didn't have the "courage" to tell his party that the President of the other party already tackled Medicare reform.
And Medicaid is simply not bankrupting anything. The expansion of Medicaid to cover more Americans in the health reform law will lower the states' overall costs. The federal government is largely paying for it -- within an overall health reform plan which cuts the deficit -- and because the expansion brings in more younger, healthier people into the system.
Of course, if you wanted to save even more money, you could propose a public health insurance option and courageously fight the health insurance industry. Or propose empowering Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and courageously fight the drug industry.
But Chris Christie's idea of "courage" is to propose having retirees survive on less, and allowing fewer people to have access to health insurance.
This sort of dishonesty and false machismo is nothing new. But what particularly struck me in Christie's speech was his deep disdain for the bedrock public investments America needs to create jobs, revitalize our infrastructure and avert a climate crisis.
[President Obama] says the big things are high-speed rail. Tthe big things are high speed internet access for almost 80% of America, or something, by some date. One million electric cars on the road by some date. Ladies and gentlemen, that is the candy of American politics. Those are not the big things.
More jobs + safe environment + vibrant economy = Candy.
Instead, Christie literally says the "big things" are weakening retirement security and providing less health care. And he wraps up this dark vision of austerity as what will "lead America to another century of exceptionalism."
He cleverly dismisses the President's big goals for the future by glibly fumbling the goals themselves, "80 percent or something by some date." As if having a goal, a target, a plan is more governmental nonsense.
But that is the sort of tic, showing his lack of seriousness towards governing, that reveals the sham Christie is.
He's the one weakening the pension system by not funding it. He's the one driving up health insurance premiums by cutting Medicaid.
And he's the one failing have an honest conversation about these big issues by claiming the answer that harms the most people is the only answer.
Originally posted at OurFuture.org
Follow Bill Scher on Twitter: www.twitter.com/billscher
He is a backroom dealer and standard issue NJ politician. No different than the governors who came before him. Well, maybe a little worse because he comes wrapped in the cloak of a reformer. I disdain crooked politicians, but in NJ they're like the smell of methane in the Meadowlands, its a fact of life you just have to deal with. I really hate hypocrites. Christie is both.
My husband spent 36 years setting brick in a refractory. Every day, for eight hours he did deep knee bends, squats and weight lifting. Great exercise. He never drank or smoked. He retired at 62 with his knees and hips in such bad shape he can barely climb in and out of his truck!
Governor Christie says every worker should be able to make it to 69 or 70. He needs to know there are still jobs in this country that require real work - let him try setting brick for a day, or working concrete, or roofing a house, or even cooking all day in a hot restaurant kitchen - then tell us we should be able to happily work to age 70!
Number One Rule: Pay yourself first. Take 10% of every pay check and stick it away in savings and forget its there.
Today's workers will be wise to pay themselves first - and to destroy their credit cards and pay down their debts. Budget and live within your income. Save for what you want instead of instant gratification. If you can't pay cash, you can't afford it.
Hopefully young people are learning some hard lessons these days and doing what the previous generation did not do - save money. I doubt it, though - too much socialized thinking will keep them as poor as the rest of us. So many government programs = so much taxation to pay for them. Time to decide what is REALLY necessary and ditch the rest.
Tough times creates tough people.
If you are going to talk about spewing fear then please stop doing it yourself.
Your typed words make you smaller and smaller each day .
Unfortunately, your concept that government should cater to your ideology made the government coffers smaller and smaller each day - until we are now at this point where government has borrowed far in excess of what the American people will EVER be able to pay back. Borrowing and living beyond our means has created massive interest that just adds to the original amount borrowed - to pay for social fluffies that people should be paying for themselves or saving up for - not whining at government to provide it for them.
I highly recommend Economics 101 - borrowing = debt+interest.
The only people getting benefits from the state should be the elderly, the infirm, the disabled and the mentally ill. The rest of you - get a job and live within your income. You created this problem - and now you're crying boohoo because the government can't afford to bail you out of it.
Go plant a garden, downsize everything, learn some basic first aid and quit your bellyaching. THERE IS NO MONEY!!! You'll have to stand on your own two feet.
Is there some part of "We're broke; we have no money to pay for anything" that people are not understanding?
How morally right is it to expect your government to go so deeply in debt for your irresponsible requests for funding that future generations are burdened with deb? Do you honestly not care that your grandchildren and great grandchildren will owe the government $130,000 (at last count) as they draw their first breath on earth? How ticked would you be if you not only owed for your grandparents' greed but also had to pay your own taxes? That's one massively gigantic hit you're inflicting on our future generations.
Public funding MUST be cut. It's tough decision time, folks.
Get out of government diapers and put on yer big people's panties.
He needs to practice what he preaches and pay his bills....
Can't pay your mortgage? Perhaps you have too much house for your budget. Perhaps you bought into the foolishness of sub-prime and then had it all crash around your ears. Who forced you to buy a house if you could not afford it? Nobody did. People got greedy and went into too much debt. Who is to blame for that? Not Christie.
Economics 101 - Shelter costs should not exceed 1/3 of your take-home pay.