Here is a very interesting Inside of State and Local Policy podcast on whether or not the state of New Jersey could be saved from itself. Jim Musser interviews Eileen Norcross of the Mercatus Center on her new study, co-authored with Frederic Sautet, called “Institutions Matter: Can New Jersey Reverse Course?” A few weeks away from the New Jersey gubernatorial elections, she offers specific reform ideas “to help the state right its fiscal ship, including legislating better constitutional rules to constrain spending, simplifying and flattening the tax system, and reducing budget gimmickry.”
Maybe Mr. Christie would want to listen to what she has to say. According to the Wall Street Journal this morning, Christie could use some good ideas to campaign in the Garden State:
As a former U.S. Attorney who made a name putting away crooked public officials, Mr. Christie is running as the anticorruption candidate. Given that we’re talking about New Jersey, this has merit. But it’s not enough, and other than his record as a prosecutor, the Christie campaign has been largely content-free. His campaign’s idea of a brilliant campaign idea is to tell the press that he’s attended 120 concerts of Mr. Springsteen, who may end up endorsing Mr. Corzine.
Mr. Christie’s reluctance to run on more than his personal virtues is even more curious when you consider how vocal Garden State voters have been about the issue that matters most to them: taxes.
And here is one about the economic trends — both obvious and less obvious — in the different states right now by Clemson University’s Bruce Yandle. It’s a good look into what’s happening around the country.