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The Jaffe Briefing - June 10, 2021

TRENTON – And yet more money is flowing into state coffers. Taxpayers are throwing more and more money at the State House, as piles of cash are now being used as doorstops and disposable towels in the restrooms. Yesterday, NJ.com reported that the state had an extra $4 billion sitting around. By this morning, that number has jumped to $5.2 billion more in tax revenue in the current and upcoming fiscal years. Get this: downright giddy treasury folks say there is now $7.3 billion more in revenue than what Gov. Phil Murphy projected in the fall. And, get this too: The state will now end the fiscal year with $10.1 billion sitting in its bank account. And it all keeps coming from in via gross income, corporate and sales taxes. Could we be at the point of – gulp – a tax cut?

OFF THE RAILS – Maybe, finally, we can address NJ Transit? That is the request of Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, who has complained for years that governors raid the transit agency’s construction budget for money. But now that the state has more money than most third-world countries, with $6.2 billion in federal pandemic aid, perhaps we can finally get the trains to run on time? The retiring senator, in her swan song, wants cash for NJ Transit’s annual operations to come from the state’s general fund, rather than its capital budget or an unrelated Clean Energy Fund, Politico reports. That, hopefully, will give NJ Transit the cash it needs to make all those improvements that commuters keep hearing about, as they wait on the platform for the train that never seems to arrive.

STATEWIDE – People who hate vaccines will be quick to pounce on the state, which is reporting that the life-saving COVID vaccine is “only” 99% effective. “AH-HAH!,” they will scream. “There is no way I am going to put crap in my body that is ONLY more than 99% effective!” Logic and sense aside, state officials are reporting that 1,319 people were infected with COVID-19 after receiving the vaccine, resulting in 30 hospitalizations. YET, nearly 2.5 million others were perfectly fine after taking the vaccine and are now enjoying their normal lives, once again, with aplomb. AH-HAH! COVID vaccine: Clearly bad. Be afraid. Run. Hide. Or, at least, don’t take the vaccine until someone offers you a free beer.

BRIEFING BREATHER

Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb, was afraid of the dark.

STATEWIDE – Want to destroy something beautiful? Add money into the mix. That is what we are seeing with NCAA sports, as college athletics now comprise super-beings, groomed since birth to throw a ball and poised to make millions on the professional national stage. Of course, these college players have been a boon for some mega-schools and their sports conferences who reap all that TV revenue. Sen. Cory Booker has been banging the drum that college athletes – on full scholarship – need a slice of that pie. The NCAA agrees these athletes need some form of extra compensation, beyond a priceless education, and is calling for Congress to develop a single standard, rather than the current patchwork of state laws. Sure, let’s be fair here. But may we also recognize the glorious spotlight the NCAA provides these young players to showcase their talents?

AT WORK – The abandoned office cubicle, which still has its calendar fixed on March 2020, may have another layer of dust by the end of summer. A survey from New Jersey Focus say 45% of participants are still working from home, while 55% reported that everyone has gloriously returned to the office. The study was done in April, as the vaccine was rolling out, so one would assume that the stats are now half and half, as everyone looks to September as the official return to “normal.” That same poll says 65% of employers are considering some work-from-home options, as the pandemic has proven that the world can still turn – even if people don’t drag themselves into the office each day. The message here: We all have no choice but to earn money, in whatever form or location that needs to be.

IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS

PLYMOUTH, MASS. – Just checking (again.) Before a historical park is built to commemorate the Pilgrims and the Indigenous people who once called Plymouth Rock home, archaeologists are giving a grassy hilltop one last look. A team of about 20 graduate students at UMASS are excavating an undeveloped lot on Cole’s Hill through July 1. There’s sure plenty to look at, as the site contains the first cemetery used by the Pilgrims after they arrived from England in 1620 and was a Wampanoag village for thousands of years. Yes, the land has sure been poked and prodded numerous times since. But before a permanent memorial is built, archeologists just want to make sure – again – there are absolutely no Native or colonial artifacts. There’s already been a couple of goodies discovered, like bones of cows and pigs, which, let’s assume, were leftovers from the earliest colonists' dinner. Hey, prove us wrong.

LAW TALK

Attorney: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?

Witness: Are you qualified to ask that question?

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

It was this day in 1990 that Burger King begins using Newman’s Own dressing, yet the salads still suck.

WORD OF THE DAY

Uroborus – [yo͝orəˈbôrəs] – noun

Definition: A circular symbol depicting a snake, or less commonly a dragon, swallowing its tail, as an emblem of wholeness or infinity.

Example: That sure is a neat uroborus depicted on your T-shirt.

WIT OF THE DAY

“Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.”

—Jack Handey

BIDEN BLURB

“I guess every single word I've ever said is going to be dissected now."

-Joe Biden 

WEATHER IN A WORD

Pleasant