Fiscal cuts should come from top down
Mr. Bean, in his column in your last issue, seems to have found the solution to New Jersey's budget problems. If we take away 8,440 jobs from our state workers and cut down on programs and services, we might solve our problem. Many of us remember [former Gov.] Christie Whitman's solution. She took money from the pensions of our state workers and solved nothing. I doubt if Mr. Bean is a neighbor of any of these state workers whom he would choose to put out of work. He probably does not have a problem paying even the high taxes of New Jersey.

Benjamin Franklin said a long time ago, "United we stand, divided we fall." This should apply to all workers in this country. We have been pitted against one another. State workers and private-sector workers are seen now as different. But we are all workers. Instead of condemning those who have pensions and benefits, we should be fighting for all to have them. It seems that benefits are something that we enjoyed in the past. In the past, employers in the private sector made a better, but not outrageous, living and respected the fact that families needed a roof over their heads and were entitled to benefits and a good vacation. Today, we work harder and put in more hours than most countries in this world. Executives today make salaries sometimes in the millions while their employees do not even have health coverage.

Mr. Bean can quote salaries of state workers, but I don't think he is aware of how hard they actually work. They have been given a bad name, and it is not deserved. When they fire a worker, be it in the private sector or the government, the job still gets done, but it gets done by someone else filling in and working harder and longer hours. Americans sometimes put in as much as 70 hours a week and no longer have time for their families. Mr. Bean's solution in my estimation is upside down. We need to start from the top. If cuts were made more equitable, we might have a solution to all our tax problems.

Loretta Lord

Edison