Reference is made to the list of state aid cuts to municipalities and school districts across New Jersey as recommended by Gov. Christie.
You don’t need a six-figure college diploma from any of our institutions of higher education to realize that taxpayers will undoubtedly be hit once again with elevated property taxes. It is how the machine works.
But the bigger picture that has been ignored in this budget conversation is the amount of money we are spending on endless wars of aggression. Now entering our eighth year of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, Americans have paid over $1 trillion. New Jersey’s share is $44 billion and Monmouth County $3 billion.
Additionally, although the White House and most of Congress have refused to recognize the enormous cost benefits of Universal Single Payer Health Care (HR-676), if by some miracle, the United States was blessed with its implementation; the savings in New Jersey would be in excess of $2.2 billion.
Maybe with increases in property taxes once again on the horizon, New Jersey’s citizens will get off their collective butts and stop the mindless opening of their wallets and start mindfully opening their mouths and consciences to the realization that endless wars and the private corporate health conglomerates are costing us not just our lives and our livelihoods but those of the next generations for decades to come and then some.
Lynn M. Petrovich
Oakhurst section
of Ocean Township