Thursday, April 16, 2009

The Dirty Little Secret about NJ, Heavy Industry and Wages

Last week the BCT reported that Colorite Specialty Resins located next door in Burlington Twp will be closing. 



Recently the C.E. Glass, Ltd. glass plant was closed and demolished in Cinnaminson, as well as several chemical plants in Burlington Twp/Florence.
Have you noticed a trend that has taken place in our state? Can you name any heavy industry/manufacturing plants left in Burlington County?

The jobs that were lost with the closing of these plants, were higher paying then the warehouse  jobs recently created with the new warehouses that have been built.

Why does this business/job loss matter to you and what is the cause?

The towns  that these business were located, are going to receive far less in property taxes, causing the residential taxpayer to make up the difference. The same goes for the County. So all of the taxpayers in Burlington County suffer. The loss of jobs means that your neighbors who worked for those companies that have closed or moved, had to move or take lower paying jobs in order to remain. This effects the stability of our neighborhoods and our property values.

The politicians are always ready to take credit for the new jobs being created with the building of all the new warehouses, but not for the loss of manufacturing jobs due to the closing of the factories because of the laws and taxes they (politicians) placed on those industries that provided the high paying jobs that used to exist in NJ.

The results of this loss in high paying jobs has impacted the Income Tax receipts received by NJ and is one of the reasons the state is broke.

If this state doesn't work to make it easier for companies to do business here, then we will see a continuing exodus of good jobs from NJ. The new unskilled jobs created by the numerous new warehouse industrial parks, might be good for all of the new immigrants, both legal and illegal, but not for the skilled labor force that currently live here. Could this be why NJ is losing population? 

When the politicians passed the 'millionaires tax' several years ago what happened, the millionaires moved out of the state and the state received less taxes from that group then they (state) did before the tax was passed.

Do you think all the Federal Stimulus Money to be received by NJ, is going to change the actions of our Trenton Politicians? This reporter doesn't think so. All of the new taxes adopted during the past five years hasn't changed the financial situation in Trenton and the politicians will continue to do the same things that has caused our state to lose businesses and well paying jobs. 

You would think that the results of their past decisions would cause them to change their ways, but don't hold your breath., it looks like they will continue to pass laws and taxes that will chase the remaining companies and jobs elsewhere. 

I hope you checked yesterday (April 15 Tax Day), the amount paid in NJ taxes last year, but know this, what shows on your income tax doesn't reflect the sales taxes and user fees that you paid to the state last year. 

To see the loss and damage done to our state by NJ politicians, just ride around the old industrial areas of Trenton, Camden, Newark and our own county. You will be amazed and should get the scope of the loss our state has experienced over the past decade. It is of epic proportions.

The Edgewater Park Reporter
      

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello EPR,

Nice reporting (as usual).
If you look back to my past comments about the economic future that I posted last fall, you will find that they were 100% accurate.
Large industry has been leaving the country since Clinton put through NAFTA. Bush continued the trend, & Obama will do the same by not giving tax credits to companies that produce products in the US. NOT the kind of credits the Burlington Coat Factory received from EP, lol. All of the companies you mentioned will relocate their production where they can pay employees little or nothing,and they can pollute the environment without fear of being fined.
NJ has long been an unfriendly state for business, and has relied on individual property taxes to sustain itself. As you can see in CA, when the middle class is unable to pay that state tax bill, the state loses it's ability to generate income. The result is failure.
Right now, the Federal government is using "credit cards" in the form of Federal debt to keep the country running. After this economic mess is cleaned-up,the US will be strapped with debt for decades that it has never seen before.This will greatly weaken us as a country moving forward for decades to come.
The Obama adinistration has told us that economic conditions may begin to start getting better towards the end of this year. I am here to tell you it is NOT TRUE.
The second wave of forclosures is just starting, and it will be worse than the first wave, as these will be from people that used to have good credit & good jobs. They were NOT subprime borrowers. They are the people living next door to you.
As I had posted months ago, the economic trend will continue to get worse until the middle of 2010, when it has finally reached the bottom. In case you haven't figured it out yet, we are in a depression, not a recession, and it is quickly becoming a world-wide depression (if it hasn't already).
Enjoy every day you can with your family & friends, because next year may look a lot different.

JB

Anonymous said...

Industry has been leaving the US since the early 70s. This hasn't happened over night or in the past 5-10 years. Anyone with any kind of awareness of current events knows this. US Steel in Fairless closed in the 90s. Roebling Mill closed in the 70s. Burlington used to have many factories but most closed in the 70s and 80s. Yeah the US is in debt. We were in debt in the 1980s when we outspent the USSR to win the Cold War. We went in debt in the past 8 years when George W. forgot to cut spending after he cut taxes. OOOPPPS!!! Anyway this transcends political affliation and affects everyone and has been caused by BOTH parties. Its time that WE started to do something about it instead of whine! Suggest ways to cut government spending. Recycle to reduce solid waste disposal costs. Use water saving devices to save money on water bills and sewer bills. Pick up the trash, yes the stuff that you didn't put there but your neighbors did, rather than pay Public Works to do it. Shop at places that benefit the American workers. Bet most of the readers here own foreign cars too! These things can help out. Its small but you have to start somewhere.

Anonymous said...

I hope you noticed but doubt you did that the buisnesses you metion were for the most part unskilled labor. Sure there were some engeneers etc. too. But mostly floor workers that with their union wage made it impossible for the company to show profit. These companies just the the garmet industry follow cheap labor and lack of envirmental laws. New Jersey is still full of large companies of which the workforce is highly skilled and highly paid. The reason there are so many people in this state. Of coarse the reporter thinks we can't think for ourselves. He only tells what he wants you to belive. Never are all the facts presented.

Anonymous said...

Hoeganes, AFG (CE GLASS), CFI (Roebling), US Pipe, Griffin Pipe, et al are just the "Last of the Mohicans" of industry in New Jersey. Until the 1960's the Delaware River was a major industrial pipeline offering nearly a million jobs. The the tree huggers, greenies, etc. got involved and traded those millions of jobs to protect tree frogs, rattlesnakes, and bats.

I remember the time when Cumberland County was an industrial hotbed. Today it has the highest unemployment in New Jersey. Literally dozens of firms making glass and plastic bottles have disappeared. Less than three years ago Trenton and Atlantic County were the homes to the most prestigious china manufacturers in the world. Now that china, Lenox, is being made in China.

Beverly City had three major manufacturing companies, Wall Rope (actually in Edgewater), Beauknit Mills, and Cosden Chemicals. All are gone. Roebling, US Steel, American Bridge, etc. made much of the wire rope and structural steel used in bridges in Burlington, Mercer, and Fairless Hills, PA. These jobs didn't go overseas, they went to areas of the US where labor costs were reasonable, where energy costs were reasonable, where willing workers lived and were grateful for good jobs. US Pipe and Griffin still make pipe. They just do it in Alabama, Texas, etc. rather than pay the exhorbitant taxes levied by New Jersey.

The list goes on and on. The combination of greedy politicians prostituting the public for the votes of the tree huggers, corrupt union officials imposing assinine work rules which prevent companies from modernizing, and nimbys who oppose every new industrial plant have made NJ an economic wasteland. I am no millionaire, but when property values rebound, I likely will move out of the state to somewhere where jobs are appreciated, where taxes are reasonable, where men and women are proud to work to make their company succeed.