and property taxes are sheer murder.

New York's rebirth has probably sucked all the remaining air out of the room.

There's only so long you can pull $32 BILLION out of a local state's economy - EACH AND EVERY YEAR - before that economy collapses.

NO other state sends anywhere near their state's annual budget to the Feds for redistribution.

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While there is a lot of wealth in NJ, there is a highly disproportionate level of income inequality. Most of the wealthy are excluded from heavy taxes, causing this financial burden to fall on the middle class and lower-middle class. There are sporadic pockets in NJ that almost rival sections Mississippi.

The other problem is those with pensions, especially state pensions, are now forced to leave the state... taking their NJ pension money with them.

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This either leaves people who are wealthy, those staying for employment, home state reasons, or those too poor to move left behind.

For all of the ribbing that NJ suffers, much like the benevolent relative who is mocked by those who enjoy his wealth, we are good sports about it. NJ has a lot to offer, but it's slowly sliding down into the abyss of poverty by this income disparity. Sections of this state, where the wealthy live, are isolated from the poorest areas. You have land barons who use farmland preservation (placing a few animals on the property or growing crops and then just tilling them under) as a means to pay $32 an acre property tax on a 200 acre estate. Meanwhile, the senior citizen on fixed income pays $8,000-12,000 a year in property tax for a small dilapidated cape cod in a run-down town, offering limited amenities or supportive services.

People in South Jersey see almost 80-90% of their state's tax dollars being sent out of the area to fund projects in North Jersey, leading to sections of South Jersey that will never escape a Second World status. That is why several decades ago, South Jersey narrowly lost a succession bid--most every governor hails from North Jersey and they treat SoJo as just an income source.

one of the biggest public projects that would have been almost all Fed money adds to the imbalance and adds to the job loss.

Heck of a job Chrissy.

Those two tunnels are the choke point for the entire northeast corridor. Without those tunnels no through trains go to NYC. Commuting would suck but there's ferries, cars and buses and PATH (unless Christie manages to sell it off). It would be a nightmare but some travel would continue. Take those tunnels out and passenger rail traffic between D.C. and Boston becomes non-existent. All so Christie could avoid paying for the Transportation Trust Fund. He builds a phoney image to run for president, we all suffer.

and head to D.C.! N.J. has always been a tough place to live. It's expensive and crowded. But there were always a lot of great things that tipped the balance to make it a good place to live. Christie has directly targeted the environment, education and transportation. Some of the real quality of life elements that made the state great. Once you diminish these things, its just expensive and crowded. Idiots like Christie just don't understand what makes a good place to live. I've got a hint-it's not a low corporate tax rate.

As a NYer I can attest to the flood of Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvanians that commute to NYC for work.

When enough voters understand this, it will begin to change.

He cares about himself first and you... well, you might come 45th if your lucky.