If NJ laid off all their state workers they would not be able to close the $ 4.5 Billion dollar deficit (thanks to Kean, Whitman, Florio, McGreevey, Codey admin of taxcut and borrow or spend and borrow). The best way is to keep the budget growth to inflation or lower and hope the booming economy will generate revenue growths above the inflation rate, thus over time the deficit will gradually shrink. Problem is not tax cuts nor tax increases, but spending that exceeds the revenue and revenue growths.
Well I don't for a moment presume to now what the budget is in NJ.
But I do know that when I am faced with increased pricing, I have to cut something somewhere to make ends meet.
I can't simply walk into the bosses office and tell him that I'm charging him 15.00 an hour instead of 13.25.
Seems to me that governments need to do the same thing.