You know you're getting old when...

...you hear yourself repeating phrases your grandparents used to say that you swore to yourself that you would never use.

Lately I've been catching myself saying "When I was a kid...." and "When I was in school.." The difference between my grandparents and me, I suppose, is that I am not using those phrases in a lecture to a youngster.

I've been saying these phrases to other adults. "When I was a kid in public school we didn't have class sizes of 15. We often had over 30 kids in a class." Some of the commenters in CD 12 threads will disagree, but I think I got a pretty good education in those large classes. From reconnecting with my classmates on facebook, it seems most of them did too. I read that one of my classmates retired today. I would say he got a better education than I did, in hindsight.

And what about all these six figure superintendents, assistant superintendents and assistant deputy associate business administrators with paid vacations, pensions and car allowances? I was educated in a good size school district in Bergen County. A high school of with 2000 students, a middle school and 5 elementary schools. A superintendent and business administrator ran the system. I never met a vice principal until I got to high school.

When I was a kid, my parents worried more about their federal income taxes than they did about their property taxes.

While I've been paying attention to the congressional races, I've heard something about Governor Christie proposing severe budget cuts and then suggesting a solution to the NJEA and other unions that if they fore go pay raises and contribute a measly 1.5% of their salaries to their health insurance premiums there doesn't need to be any job cuts.

I love Christie, in a Rush Limbaugh kind of way. But I was disappointed that he figured a way to cut spending without eliminating jobs. I appreciate the politics of his solution, but we don't need those large classes and fat cat administrators really.

For once I'm on the side of the unions. Stick to your contracts and cut the jobs. Then we'll find out that we can get by without such small classes. There will be less teachers to administrate which will lead to less dead management weight.

Go Dave Rible! Keeping those administrator salaries $5K below the commissioner of education's salary is a good start. Now we just have to make sure that each superintendent as less assistant deputy associates than Bret Schundler has.

While catching up, I read over at InTheLobby that Senate President Sweeney has drawn a line in the sand and said there will be no state budget passed unless Christie agrees to increase taxes on people earning over $400K. This year is only 3 months old, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to make $400K this year, unless I cash in that lottery ticket.

Just as I'm on the side of the unions to hold to their contract and cut the jobs, I'm with Sweeney on this one. There is no way Christie will raise those taxes. Let's shut the government down. Christie already arranged for Atlantic City to stay open. He should do the same for MVC, if he hasn't already. Let's shut the rest of it down and find out what we really can't live without. Just don't pay everyone for their time off like Corzine did the last time it was shut down.

After the state government has been shut down for a month or two, pass a budget that funds only what we found we can't do without.

If I don't post for the next day or two, someone come looking for me. My business is located next door to the Middletown teachers union office.