Welcome

I have contemplated for some time starting my own blog. I have many interests, and it was not easy identifying the subject matter. However, given my status as one of five elected officials in a Township with over 65,000 residents, I felt obliged to launch a blog that focused on the issues confronting Middletown and, beyond that, our State and our Country. I believe we stand at an important moment in the history of our nation, and we cannot afford to make poor decisions. We face a financial disaster the consequences of which have still not been fully appreciated. Internationally, failing foreign economies will increase the likelihood of regional conflicts as resources become scarcer. Our national security may be threatened as our enemies view our weakened economic situation as presenting an opportunity to maximize the impact and costs to us of a terrorist action or a move to control valuable natural resources such as oil or gas. We must all accept some blame for our circumstances. Instead of using the relatively peaceful decades of the 1980s and 1990s to decrease our dependency on foreign oil and reinvest in our infrastructure, we became voracious consumers, who believed that somehow our real estate holdings and other assets would appreciate at phenomenal growth rates. As values soared, so did our spending. Wall Street profited from the steady asset growth creating imaginative investments that, in one way or another, piggybacked on the growth in asset value. The events of the last few months should have dashed such optimism.

The events of 2008 offer several lessons for us to heed. First, nothing comes from nothing. Most of us have taken basic Economics courses. Somewhere amidst the charts and demand curves was the idea that assets or products or services became more valuable when they were produced better or cheaper or faster. From 2000 to 2008, the value of my house more than doubled. Like many others, I tapped into that equity to buy other assets or improve my house. But somewhere about two years ago, I started asking myself why a piece of real estate would double in value in 8 years. It seemed too good to be true. And it was. Assets become more valuable when the demand outstrips the supply or when the asset improves and then delivers more value to the end user. The increase in asset values over the last two decades cannot be explained by supply and demand or by a dramatic jump in productivity or efficiency. Perhaps we had moved far enough away from the Great Depression to believe that the mistakes of the past could not be repeated in a world where the science of economics had evolved and technology allowed us to measure more closely the crucial bellwethers of economic stability. Regardless of how such a monumental lapse unfolded, we must now return to a simpler calculus. Hard work, creativity and a strategic vision for the future must be the guiding principles of our economy moving forward. There are no free lunches. There will be no quick economic rebound that returns us to where we were when 2008 opened for business. By the end of 2009 our Government will likely have spent between $1.5 and $2.0 trillion to stave off a complete financial collapse. Let's not use the lenses worn over the last decade to analyze the ramifications of this unprecedented spending. This expense will cost us . . . for a long time. We need to start planning for the impact of this spending. Let's make sure we spend it on projects that have a multiplying effect. Let's invest in the technologies and industries that will allow us to grow new segments of our economy and revitalize those that are moribund.

The second lesson relates to the first and involves pain. It involves sacrifice. If we are to avoid being overrun by the economies of China and India and break the grip of foreign oil we must tighten our belts. No more McMansions; we need smaller cars, fewer gadgets and gameboys and old fashioned hard work. We need less about "me" and more about "us". Our financial resources must be reserved for investing in ourselves and not just consuming. As an example, our mass transit system, as a whole, needs an overhaul. The benefits of investing in these transportation systems are myriad. Less spending on fuel, less work time lost sitting in traffic, less pollution, etc. Public employees cannot realistically expect 3 to 4% raises in an environment where inflation is non-existent. Lifetime health benefits with no contribution cannot be sustained if we are to recover from the financial body blow received in the second half of 2008. Wall Street executives who oversaw and profited from the asset bubbles that have now burst should expect paychecks that more closely resemble the rest of society. Someone managing assets at a desk in downtown NYC should not make ten times what the owner of local business employing 10 employees makes. We let the investment banks and financial houses operate in an unregulated environment that allowed for enormous profits to reward activities that added little value to a business or industry. They must now also feel pain.

The third lesson is one of responsibility. We are all partners in a larger enterprise. I am responsible for my family, my neighbors, my countrymen and my world. If I am to honor their right to live freely, and to have reasonable access to the world's resources, then I must be reasonable in my use of the resources available to me. I think in recent years we have had a hard time understanding that we can't always get what we want. The commercial media tells us and our children that it is acceptable to focus on you and "just do it". Life's greatest rewards occur when we extend ourselves for others. I think at home, in our community and especially abroad, we need to offer ourselves to those who need us. I am not interested in bashing this country and its policies, but we must speak truthfully about our place in the world. We have for too long consumed more than our fair share of the world's resources. This has had devastating consequences. Our conduct has stoked a resentment whose fervor has accelerated during this past decade. Our consumption has made us dependent on the resources of others. It has also diminished our stature thus making it more difficult to influence world opinion on the issues that matter most to us.

Lastly, the internet and advances in communication technology offer profound opportunities for citizens to inform themselves on the issues facing us and get involved. My taxes will be $1,000 per month in Middletown next year. Many households will hand over a significant portion of their hard-earned money to their local Government. You should ensure that it is spent well. You should insist that your local Government is organized well, responsive and spending your money wisely. You should ensure that your locally elected officials provide transparent access to the activities of local government, especially spending. There is no excuse for having unanswered questions about how your tax dollars are spent. There is a wealth of local talent in the community. Offer your services to local government and local non-profit organizations. In Middletown, we have numerous Boards and Committees focused on improving the lives of our citizens. Ambitious, energetic citizens can take a leadership role and organize these committees around specific issues. Typically, the issues confronting your elected officials can be extremely time-consuming, and the ability to lean on our fellow citizens to provide input and recommendations on specific issues is crucial to addressing our weaknesses and improving the way we do business.

Similarly, our State Government must be repaired. Make your voice heard through your locally elected representative. Find out what legislation he or she is working on. If you have a specific issue that concerns you, check out the websites for the State and for your elected representative. I believe there is a general feeling among citizens that the problems facing the State are too big and too remote for one person to make a difference. Not true. There are already groups and non-profits organized around specific issues. Find them. Join them. Make your voice heard. I do not make these suggestions glibly or rhetorically. The current circumstances are dire. If we continue down the current path, we will be leaving our children and grandchildren a society in decline.

But the news is not all bad. Our form of Government, our belief in capitalism, and our commitment to individual freedom remain a unique and proven foundation for success. The American people are industrious and productive. We love a challenge; we like to compete. We now face enormous challenges, and we will need to bring to bear all of our fortitude to meet them. We must consult history and understand that if we continue the slide that I believe has now begun, we will find ourselves embroiled in skirmishes and conflicts as new powers in the World seek to possess a greater share of the world's resources. I hope that Barack Obama asks us to sacrifice. I wish John Corzine had asked us to sacrifice and to join him in a massive re-organization of State Government involving across the board consolidation of local government services and education administration and re-negotiation of compensation and benefits for public employees. If Barack Obama's solution involves nothing more than large-scale spending to jump start this economy, then I believe that we will have missed an opportunity to re-orient society and will simply be accelerating a decline from greatness.