Here’s an example of why New Jersey never makes any progress. As part of an effort supposedly to create jobs, Assembly members John Wisniewski, L. Grace Spencer, Jack Conners, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Annette Quijano sponsored legislation to encourage banking institutions to open branches in underserved communities. It was approved 75-3 by the Assembly and was recently advanced by the Senate budget committee as part of the Legislature’s Back to Work NJ job creation and economic development initiative, according to the Assembly’s press releases. We’d all like to see everybody employed. But these people can’t buy a clue. In some places there is a bank on every corner. If there isn’t a bank on the corner these legislators want to see one on it is because the bank doesn’t see the chance to be successful there.
Successful people sometimes get into politics. But more often it is the people who couldn’t possibly make it in business because they don’t understand basic principles like supply and demand and profit and loss. All they understand is influence peddling. If they’re successful it’s because they’ve used their position in politics to get work for their law firm or whatever business they’re in.
If these folks really understood business they wouldn’t have made New Jersey one of the least business-friendly states in the union. If creating jobs is dependent on this crowd doing something productive, the unemployment rate will be high for a long time.