Mr. Michael Halkitis, (PLP) Minister of State for Finance tells us that the "Christie administration was “still committed” to improvements in this area."
He goes on…
“We don’t want people to say we just don’t want to do it,” he added of greater fiscal responsibility. “We’re still committed to it, and we’ll have to do this in time for the next Budget.
“We’ll have to get it moving. We haven’t abandoned it; we don’t want to abandon it…… We must address it. We’ll need to revisit that again by the time the next Budget comes.”
Having met Mr. Halkitis on a couple occasions he is certainly a nice man and I believe he is honest. However, to suggest that the country has to wait until the next budget cycle after explicit promises of being accountable is, well disingenuous.
If this wasn't all so serious it would be laughable. Besides they can submit legislation at any point in time.
As I keep repeating, Politician's spend their careers making laws to keep everyone else accountable and make the average citizen and business play "fair", yet, they refuse to hold themselves to the same standards.
The irony is, when contrasted with the market process, politics stinks. Doug Bandow says it better than I can:
"Moreover, accountability in the marketplace is continuous. Once elected, a president has four years to mess up before voters have a chance to pass judgment on his or her performance. A federal employee isn’t easy to fire regardless of his performance, and public disapproval matters little. In contrast, if you are dissatisfied with your soap or cereal, car mechanic or chiropractor, university or trade school, you can change tomorrow. What could be more democratic than that?"
The old adage that actions speak louder than words seems most appropriate in the circumstances.
