EDITORIAL
BY DHIREN SHAH
Hello Readers,
President Trump’s “big beautiful bill” narrowly passed in the Senate on July 1st. This bill will increase the debt by 5 trillion dollars as some economists say. Tesla boss Elon Musk said many times that he was against this bill.
Trump and Musk used to be very close and worked to reduce expenses and find out problems with different departments. It was not easy, but Musk got it rolling in the right direction. As soon as the new budget was introduced by Trump and his team, Musk opposed it and departed from Trump’s circle.
With this new bill, it may make the 2017 tax break permanent. Also, this new bill gives a break on the overtime pay, tip income and auto loans. The new bill will impact Medicaid, but it is not yet clear how it will do so. The Democratic Party came out against the bill, especially the Medicaid cuts, which will impact poor people. Even the definition of who is qualified for Medicaid might change, but nothing is clear. Anything concerning Medicaid will likely be challenged in the courts.
In other big money news, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy introduced his last budget as governor, due to term limits. His budget was opposed by some in his administration and many elected officials, including Democrats and Republicans. Most of the budgets are about politicians helping themselves and some of their buddies.
Steve Tully, an executive director of AFSCME New Jersey Council 63 union said about Murphy, “He remains a Wall Street banker at heart and has put the interests of the insurance companies and CEOs above the interests of everyday working people.”
The budget has a revenue expected of $57.311 billion and expenditures projected at 58.8 billion dollars. The deficit is expected to be about $1.5 billion. He is an outgoing governor. Why hurt the working class and leave a huge deficit at the end of his term for the new governor? His biggest supporters will gain exorbitant money as expected.
NJ Transit has gone up on fares July 1st. Everything seems to be going up: health care, transportation, rent, utilities, insurance, fees, groceries, and gas in some places. And that is some things off the top of my mind. When does it stop?
Newark appointed six new principals for this year. Newark School District Superintendent Roger Leon said that new principals will bring a deep commitment with academic excellence for student success. How come the superintendent is depending on new principals, rather than changing things and bringing a top quality education in Newark with old and new principals and teachers?
LeBron James will enter his 24th NBA season next year after exercising his $52.6 million player option for the 2025-26 season. His wish to win one more NBA title may or may not be fulfilled. For years, the Knicks hoped to get LeBron, but it did not happen.
Have a wonderful week. I’ll talk to you next week.
