2-in-3 middle-aged New Jerseyans are satisfied with their life to date.
Most prefer to use ‘prime of life’ vs ‘middle-aged’.
Infographic showing perceived middle-ages across America.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, ‘Middle age’, ‘Midlife Renewal’, ‘Second Adulthood’. Reaching the middle of your life can be viewed as a time of celebration or dread, depending on your perspective. Now, as a wave of millennials embarks on this journey into middle age, many are recognizing it as a period of empowerment, enriched with personal development, wisdom, and self-realization. This stage of life often brings increased financial security, a sharper understanding of one’s identity, and a stronger sense of purpose. However, not everyone greets middle age with such optimism. Indeed, this phase can also usher in its own set of challenges — it can be a time of significant life transitions, which can cause some to view middle age with apprehension rather than anticipation.
Colts Neck NJ, Governor Phil Murphy continues to demonstrate a blatant disregard for the day-to-day financial burdens New Jerseyans face with his recent decision to spend nearly $500,000 of taxpayer money on lavish, antique furnishings for his state house office, and a separate gubernatorial office being used by his wife, according to State Senate Candidate Steve Dnistrian and Assemblywomen Marilyn Piperno & Kim Eulner from Legislative District 11 in Monmouth County.
Elizabeth NJ, Governor Phil Murphy marked the historic opening day of adult-use recreational cannabis sales in New Jersey at Zen Leaf in Elizabeth one of several facilities across the state now selling cannabis to adults 21 years and older. The commencement of the adult-use recreational cannabis market represents another step forward in “New Jersey’s ongoing efforts to create a new cannabis industry that continues to prioritize medical marijuana patients and advance social justice initiatives”.
Chester NJ, Phil Rizzo, Congressional candidate in New Jersey’s 7th District, has outraised every non-establishment primary opponents combined. Rizzo hauled in over $215,000 in just 90 days of campaigning in contrast with the combined $80,000 raised by his opponents in Q1.
West Long Branch NJ, Most New Jerseyans are aware that a ban on single-use plastic bags will go into effect next month, but the word “ban” may mean different things to different people. There is majority support for a “plastic bag ban,” but many backers would still prefer to have access to plastic bags for a small fee. At the same time, the Monmouth (“Mon-muth”) University Poll finds that many New Jerseyans are likely to be caught off guard if they expect to be able to get a paper bag. Few are aware that a ban on paper at large supermarkets is included in the new rules. Overall, most state residents say it will be easy for them to adjust to bringing their own bags when they shop, but those at the lower end of the income scale are more likely than others to say they will have a very hard time adjusting.
Ridgewood NJ, almost exactly two years ago, New Jerseyans in towns and cities across the state hunkered down, unaware that a global pandemic would render them largely homebound for such a long period of time. Like so many other Americans, New Jerseyans were affected by anxiety – worry about the coronavirus itself, the economic repercussions and what the future may look like in a post-pandemic world. As is the case in more normal times, when people feel stressed or depressed, they reach for the bottle in what they perceive to be a short-term solution.
The most recent attack by the NJ Democrat Committee on New Jersey’s next Governor, Jack Ciattarelli, reads like the same-old chicken-little sky-is-falling caricature of every GOP opponent they have ever faced. Jack is anti-science they say because he believes in the philosophical exemption from vaccines that exists in some shape or form in every state (at least until Covid-19). Jack is anti-gay they scream because he is against the out of touch sex “education” Democrats have pushed into every public school which mandates teaching middle school children about anal sex and the controversial notion that they can change their biology.
Bloomfield NJ, Survey research shows that many young New Jerseyans have strong reservations about the current job market in a COVID-19 economy, with the reported 140,000 job losses across the U.S. in December only reinforcing their concerns.
In his April 21 op-ed, published in Spotlight NJ, Jack Ciattarelli aptly points out that after the health crisis is defeated, New Jersey will be left with an economic crisis unless a non-partisan approach to rebuilding the New Jersey state economy is adopted. The status quo proposal coming out of the Trenton goof troop – State Senate leader Sweeney and his super partisans, as well as failed Governor Phil Murphy, offer the already economically suffering residents of our state higher increased cost of living and greater unaffordability. This leads New Jersey residents to ask, why is there no non or bi-partisan commission to identify cuts to state spending when all across the state New Jerseyans are in danger of a depression? Why has none in Trenton proposed a pay cut for politicians and the politically connected when the regular Jane and Joe who support them are facing a potentially tough economic time? Why is the lessening of the tax burden on working and middle-class families not on the agenda for after the health crisis ends but before the financial one ramps up?
NEW BRUNSWICK NJ, this poll and others continue to inadvertently report on voter disconnect . While New Jerseyans worried most about taxes and economic issues , they voted for Phil Murphy who campaigned specifically on raising taxes .
2018 RUTGERS-EAGLETON POLL STATE OF THE GARDEN STATE REPORT:
New Jerseyans are in a malaise these days when it comes to the Garden State: they are angry about the state’s economic climate, and even though they still rate the state positively as a place to live, they are mostly pessimistic about the direction the state is headed. While the vast majority love the neighborhood they are living in, a sizeable number of residents – more than in the past – say they would like to move somewhere else. These are some of the main findings from a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll late last year, as detailed in the newly released “2018 State of the Garden State” report.
Nothing upsets New Jerseyans more than the way their state government has handled taxes: 82 percent of residents say they are dissatisfied – 60 percent, alone, are “very” dissatisfied – with how the government has managed the issue. Three quarters say the same about cost of living and government spending.
“In a state that ranks near the top when it comes to outbound migration and taxation, it’s no surprise that New Jerseyans are upset with how state government is handling important financial matters – most of all, taxes,” said Dr. Ashley Koning, assistant research professor and director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling (ECPIP) at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. “It will be a challenge for Governor Murphy to balance fulfilling those of his campaign promises that require new resources with citizens’ current dissatisfaction with taxes and the high cost of living in the state.”
Yet despite grave financial concerns, New Jerseyans clearly like living here. A majority of residents continue to rate the state as an “excellent” or “good” place to live – though these ratings are down from where they once were prior to 2004.
However, in homage to the long-standing tradition of home rule in the state, the closer one looks, the better home looks. Residents rate the neighborhoods they live in better than their towns or cities, and they rate their municipalities ahead of the state as a whole. But when asked to compare New Jersey to most other states, residents are once again lukewarm: three in 10 say New Jersey is a “better” place to live, with about the same number each saying it is “worse” or the “same” as other states.
Results are from a statewide poll of 1,203 adults contacted by live callers on both landlines and cell phones from Nov. 15-27, 2017. The sample has a margin of error of +/-3.0 percentage points. Some questions reported in this release were asked of a sub-sample, resulting in approximately 600 respondents and a margin of error of 4.3 percentage points. Interviews were done in English and, when requested, Spanish. To read the full report, click here.
Life in the Garden State not so great?
Residents’ itch to move out of New Jersey has grown in the past decade – from 22 percent in March 2010 to now 30 percent. Forty-six percent want to stay exactly where they are and continue living in their current neighborhood, a double-digit drop from when the question was last asked almost eight years ago. Six percent now say they want to move somewhere else in their current town, and 15 percent want to move elsewhere within the Garden State. Millennials are one of the biggest flight risks for New Jersey, with more than a third wanting to move out of the state entirely.
Yet despite an increase in those who want to leave the state, residents continue a longtime pattern of being more positive than negative about New Jersey as a place to live – 61 percent (“excellent”/”good”) to 39 percent (“only fair”/”poor”). Yet this is a notable drop-off from how residents rated quality of life at the turn of the century and for decades before that, with ratings frequently surpassing the 70-percent mark for most of the poll’s history.
Residents are much more positive when it comes to their towns and especially their neighborhoods, however: 70 percent say the former is an “excellent” (26 percent) or “good” (44 percent) place to live, while 79 percent (38 percent “excellent,” 41 percent “good”) say the same about the latter. These patterns have remained steady throughout the past several decades.
But even though a majority of New Jerseyans like where they live, they don’t necessarily think the Garden State is the best around. Twenty-nine percent say New Jersey is a better place to live than any other state, 28 percent say it is worse, and 31 percent think it is the same as everywhere else. Residents have been increasingly more likely to say New Jersey is worse than other states in the last decade and a half, with the number who say so today almost triple what it was back in 2001.
Widespread dissatisfaction with state on finances; residents most positive on environment, education
Dissatisfaction pervades other financial areas of government beyond taxes: three quarters are “very” or “somewhat” dissatisfied with how the state has handled cost of living and affordability, as well as government spending and the state budget. Almost two thirds are dissatisfied with what the state government has done for New Jersey’s cities and urban areas.
Satisfaction with how the government is handling taxes does not pass 30 percent for any demographic, with most groups rating their satisfaction as somewhere in the teens or single digits. Not a single demographic reaches the 50-percent mark on satisfaction with New Jersey’s cities and urban areas, cost of living and affordability, and government spending and the state budget.
In contrast, residents are most satisfied with how the government is dealing with air and water quality in the state, as well both higher education and K-12 public education: about six in 10 are “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with each of these items. Over half of residents are also at least “somewhat” satisfied about the job the state government is doing with public safety and crime, as well as business and employment opportunities.
Residents are more split, however, when it comes to transportation and infrastructure. They are also mixed when it comes to how the government is managing issues like senior citizen services, Superstorm Sandy recovery, programs for the poor, and mental health and addiction.
A new report gives New Jersey a grade of “F” for having the worst finances of any state in the nation.
According to Sheila Weinberg, the CEO of Truth in Accounting, a think tank that analyzes government financial reporting, New Jersey’s finances have been in a free-fall for the past three years.
“If you divide the amount of money needed to pay all of New Jersey’s outstanding bills by the number of state residents, each taxpayer’s burden is $67,200,” she said.
“This represents the amount that each taxpayer would have to send to the state capital just to bring the state’s finances back into a balance.”
She pointed out another way to look at it is this is the amount of money New Jerseyans will have to pay in the future in taxes, but they won’t receive any benefits or services.
BY NICHOLAS PUGLIESE AND ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD
As she waited for a flight out of Brussels, Wyckoff native Ashley Bruggemann saw people suddenly rushing toward her on Tuesday morning, and thought they were trying to catch a plane.
“Then a whole lot of people started running,” Bruggemann, 25, said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon. “They were panicked. A few people were crying.”
Another New Jersey native live-tweeted his evacuation from a Brussels subway train and wrote that there was smoke in the tunnel as he and others walked in darkness to the nearest safe station, with a child heard crying on a video he posted.
New Jersey residents with Belgian roots received text messages from relatives letting them know they were safe, and expressed shock at the terrorist attacks in Brussels at the airport and a train station that left at least 34 people dead and scores injured.
“People cannot get their minds around something like this,” said Wim Vanraes, a Hillsborough resident who grew up in Belgium and was an editor of a Belgian-American newspaper based in Michigan. He said some people in his native country have been expecting a terrorist attack for “a long time” but that others have been “in denial.”
Valerie Blouin-Hunter of Oakland, whose mother came from Belgium, said she received text messages from aunts and cousins Tuesday morning letting her know they were safe. She said she thought about the possibility of a terrorist attack in her mother’s homeland after the Paris attacks last year but put it out of her mind. After Tuesday, she said, “I am very concerned for my family.”
This map shows where N.J. residents are jobless, out of benefits
September 4, 2015
Colleen O’Dea
Tens of thousands, many formerly employed by casinos, have maxed out on their unemployment payments
New Jersey’s 4 million workers may celebrate Labor Day on Monday, but those who are unemployed — particularly those who have exhausted their unemployment benefits — have less to cheer about.
According to data from the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development, nearly 79,000 unemployed New Jerseyans had maxed out of their benefits this year through August 15. The greatest proportion — more than 14,000 — stopped collecting unemployment in March, with a good number of those being former casino employees who lost their jobs when three casinos shut their doors last September.
The largest number of the unemployed who have lost their benefits, 7,619, live in Essex County. But the greatest impact of the losses is in Atlantic and Cape May counties, where the number of people who can no longer collect unemployment amounts to almost 5 percent of the total work force. Again, the casino closures are largely to blame.
Typically, New Jerseyans who lose their jobs can collect unemployment benefits for up to 26 weeks, depending on several factors, including how long they had worked prior to being laid off.
Beginning in the midst of the last recession, Congress approved and the president signed payment extensions for the long-term unemployed for five years. That enabled some unemployed people to collect a portion of their former salary for as long as 99 weeks.
Warning: Undefined array key "sfsi_riaIcon_order" in /home/eagle1522/public_html/theridgewoodblog.net/wp-content/plugins/ultimate-social-media-icons/libs/controllers/sfsi_frontpopUp.php on line 165
Warning: Undefined array key "sfsi_inhaIcon_order" in /home/eagle1522/public_html/theridgewoodblog.net/wp-content/plugins/ultimate-social-media-icons/libs/controllers/sfsi_frontpopUp.php on line 166
Warning: Undefined array key "sfsi_mastodonIcon_order" in /home/eagle1522/public_html/theridgewoodblog.net/wp-content/plugins/ultimate-social-media-icons/libs/controllers/sfsi_frontpopUp.php on line 177
