Jon Corzine Budget Quotes

"Today we fulfill an important obligation to our children by making a down payment on the future of their education"

"Make no mistake, the spending cuts are painful and bring no pleasure or applause"

"We're spending less and we're not increasing taxes," Corzine told reporters today. "While it is filled with a lot of really some of the most heartbreaking choices, it's got a lot of constructive elements."

"The budget calls for paying off $500 million in debt and would extend a $60 million energy tax originally set to expire this year"

"The goal is to constantly be pushing to pay down debt"

"That is truly historic — using surplus to pay down debt," Corzine said. "I think it is a pattern that should be followed on a consistent basis going forward."

"We're paying down debt before we start"

"We're taking the moral action that I think is irrefutable if you go to Phillipsburg and see the 30 some odd trailers that the kids are going to school in"

"Yes … our citizens are challenged with heavy costs for everyday life, …but our people’s earnings are among the highest on the globe."

"It is up to those of us in this room to change the “credit card” culture of New Jersey’s finances"

"The only difference now is that the crisis has morphed into a financial emergency and poses a direct threat to New Jersey’s quality of life."

"For nearly 20 years both parties bonded, begged, and borrowed money from every pot we could find to fund a growing appetite for spending."

"With $32 billion in bonded debt, New Jersey’s citizens have a higher debt burden than virtually all other States."

"Every man, woman and child in New Jersey personally owes $3,700 of that debt … about three times higher than the national average."

"Growth in state spending has regularly surpassed the expected growth in revenue."

"For over a decade, base revenues have been increasing on average 2-3% a year, but spending has increased 6-7% – leaving us with a compounding deficit which today approaches 3 billion dollars."

"Even when we’ve raised new revenues, it has rarely been used to close the gap."

"Whatever reforms are required, we have to put an end to the financial culture that allowed the proliferation of spending, borrowing and mismanagement to take hold of our State finances."

"For nearly 200 years, our State Constitutions have explicitly barred borrowing without voter approval."

"Somewhere along the line, the meaning of that requirement got totally lost."

"The State, under both Democratic and Republican leadership, has made an end run around the voter approval requirement by issuing billions in contract debt without that approval."

"Since 1990, approximately $24 billion in contract debt has been issued, while "voter approved" debt has stayed flat at $3 billion – a timeframe that coincides precisely with the sharp deterioration in our State’s finances."

"To return to constitutional intent, I am proposing an amendment that ends this easy access to borrowing."