Method authors piece about state fiscal crunch in APP

The APP's Jason Method has put together a nice article about state taxation and the fiscal crunch the government is under. I think something that is missing out of the discussion is that government, especially government in New Jersey, has simply over-stepped its bounds in many areas that government, in the United States anyway, was never supposed to do. Consequently, it costs too much, doesn't deliver enough and is barely competent, in general.

Especially in New Jersey, many see government as having some universal role in the lives of business and people -- it doesn't. Government has grown large on the fears, laziness, misunderstanding and apathy of the electorate.

The residents of the state of New Jersey have been overtaxed and overburdened for too long. Any solution to the current fiscal crisis does not include increased taxes. The tipping point was some time ago, in my opinion. The state needs to make do, get smaller and be less present -- not more. And the notion of taxpayers feeding into this nonsense is patently out of line. Governments in the U.S. are supposed to exist to support the citizenry, and catering to the idea that government is some large child needing more time and energy than it is already consuming is out of line, in my view.

Time for mass lay-offs in Trenton and around the state. Time for belt tightening to politicians (maybe a reduction in paychecks for every state office holder, since this is their failure), time for a lot of things -- but not increased taxes.

That's my take on it anyway. But, click on the headline to go to the story. It's a good one.