Garden State Blues
City Journal Audio
Manhattan Institute
4.7 • 656 Ratings
🗓️ 25 July 2018
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Steven Malanga joins Seth Barron to discuss the dismal economic and fiscal health of New Jersey, where individual and corporate taxes are among the highest in the country and business confidence ranks among the lowest of the 50 states. Jersey also has one of America's worst-funded government-worker pension systems, which led its leaders in 2017 to divert state-lottery proceeds intended for K-12 and higher education to its pension system.
When Governor Phil Murphy wanted to boost taxes on individuals earning more than $1 million, he claimed that they needed to pay their "fair share." Murphy signed a budget hiking taxes by about $440 million. But as the recent controversy surrounding a soccer team owned by the governor reminds us, it's easy to show compassion when youre using other people's money.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi everyone. Welcome back to another edition of Ten Blocks. This is your host, Seth Barron, |
| 0:22.1 | Associate Editor of City Journal. Now, not everyone follows women's professional soccer as avidly as |
| 0:27.8 | others, but some recent news about New Jersey's sky blue football club caught our attention. |
| 0:34.0 | It turns out that the players on this team work under some pretty miserable conditions, |
| 0:39.1 | including team housing with plastic bags covering the windows, |
| 0:43.3 | and a training facility with no showers or even toilets. |
| 0:47.1 | The owner of this team is none other than New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, |
| 0:51.8 | the latest Goldman Sachs Democrat to occupy Drumthwaket. I'm joined now by |
| 0:57.5 | Steve Malanga, the Yeager Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and a senior editor at City Journal. |
| 1:03.1 | Steve is the former executive editor of Crane's New York business, and his most recent book is |
| 1:08.9 | Shakedown, the continuingacy Against the American Taxpayer. |
| 1:14.4 | His most recent piece for City Journal is Murphy's Clouded Sky Blue. |
| 1:19.0 | Steve, thanks for joining us. |
| 1:20.6 | Oh, well, it's my pleasure. |
| 1:22.4 | So it sounds like Governor Murphy is just a hard-driven, skin-flint businessman who practices what he preaches. |
| 1:28.8 | What's wrong with being a penny-pincher? |
| 1:31.5 | Well, a couple of things. |
| 1:33.6 | You know, first of all, the conditions at this place are apparently so terrible that they've attracted a lot of media attention recently. |
| 1:43.9 | And frankly, I'll tell you that although I'm aware of the team, that they've attracted a lot of media attention recently. |
| 1:50.7 | And frankly, I'll tell you that although I'm aware of the team and follow soccer, |
| 1:55.5 | I wasn't aware that he was the owner, but he is the principal owner of the team. |
| 1:57.4 | I think there are a couple of issues here. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Manhattan Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Manhattan Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.