Franklin Twp Council 3-9-2010

Delivered To: Township of Franklin, Township Committee

By: Nora Craig, resident

March 9, 2010

I am here tonight to warn this Committee and the residents of Franklin of the looming crisis on our horizon. In the USA there are 74 million baby boomer's. The 1945 babies are 65 this year. The tsunami of that generation is about to devastate our economic and health care systems.

It is my opinion neither the Federal Government nor the State Government of New Jersey are ever going to develop working solutions to prevent economic collapse. Our current way of life will not stand against the onslaught of elderly to come. For the first time, in the history of mankind, there will be more nonproductive elderly than productive working members of society.

Baby Boomers alter the landscape as they change status within the population. In the 1950's we blew up the school system. We had 30-50 bodies in each class room and the schools still had to hold split sessions to house us all until more schools could be built. When the boomers entered the working population the economic boom resulted from their energy and productivity.

Now, the boomers are leaving the productive marketplace at a rate of 7,000 per day. The economy will react in direct proportion to the activities of this generation, the largest demographic spike in history. Here is the impact based upon how the elderly act.

1) They withdrawal their capital from investment markets, shifting to more secure areas. This dries up the capital available to businesses for start-up or expansion operations.

2) They drastically reduce their purchases of consumer products as they enter a fixed income state. This will have a severe negative impact on all retail markets, and supporting industrys.

3) They move in with adult children, consolidate households, or leave the state. This will further depress the housing market. When 74 million households collapse over the next 10 years there is no avoiding the impact.

4) The taxes boomers currently pay, that support all government functions, inclusive of social security, medicare, and medicade, will be significantly reduced, placing a further burden on the smaller, younger generations still working.

5) They will consume more social services, and health care services, to the extent they overwhelm those systems as they overwhelmed the schools in the 50's.

We have had 40 years of prosperity, while the baby boomers were productive active citizens, now we face 40 years of hardship as this aging population's demands exceed resources available to support them. Our State and Federal government have failed us. Anyone with the least knowledge of economics could predict this imminent "Perfect Storm". Many economists have been screaming from the mountain tops "The Flood is Coming" and they are treated like Noah by the townspeople.

Our town needs to begin to address the needs of the future, very seriously, as we must assume the higher levels of government will fail us, again. To do otherwise is foolish. We must begin to focus on developing the solutions to make our community as self reliant as possible, in the face of this oncoming crisis. Some things we can do locally are;

1) Review all ordinances that place barriers on multiple family occupanciey of one property. We can no longer afford to have the zoning restrictions associated with "single family dwelling". We need to remove all red tape that would require variances, that increase the overhead costs of goverment, for families that want to build "granny houses" on their property. This includes such things as rules saying the structure must be "attached", or that a kitchen cannot be present, or that a second electric meter is disallowed.

2) We need to establish a local farm market where all residents can bring their home created products, and locally grown food to sell. Boomers will need a source of additional income if social security fails us. The Columbus market is a nice model, with pavilions and one indoor hall. Developing methods by which we, as residents, can exchange our goods with other residents to promote keeping money in circulation in the community verses being sucked out by big box stores.

3) We need to develop an energy self sufficiency plan, encouraging our larger farmers to begin to install renewable energy technology. A large number of barriers exist on the state level that need to be addressed to allow such energy farms to link and sell power directly to residents, bypassing the grid. "The Grid" delivers less than 30% of all power generated, the rest is waste. The grid has also aged to the edge of dysfunction with predictions of failures should money not be allocated to it's repair and upgrading. There is no money.

4) We need to motivate our residents to grow food products, and to establish a food bank within the community. As money dries up, many of our residents will need assistance to keep their families fed. We are blessed to have the natural resources at hand by which we could feed our entire community, and that of neighbors. Retired boomers turned farmers. Community gardens can be established providing social networking opportunities for seniors, and practical education opportunities for children.

5) We need to review our emergency management plans, to take into consideration the potential risk of power grid failure. For humans to survive we need food, water, and shelter. We need to insure we have sufficient generators located in appropriate places to pump water for residents should an extended power failure occur. History's recent lessons in hurricane, tsunami, and earthquake have shown us in the event of a catastrophic disaster, we are on our own for at least 5-7 days. Have we a plan to take care of our own, or neighbors in distress?

On the state level, my little Tea Party is recommending the following to the Governor.

1) The establishment of a Civil Service System so there will be one set of rules for all public employees to end the 1,700 different union negotiations, to provide stability for employees and the public, and to eliminate the costs associated with so many different bargaining processes. All public employees work for the same company, The Body Public, and should all function under one set of fair rules.

2) An Open Contacts Act that would eliminate the union-only contract rules and prevailing wage laws that municipalities are required to follow. The union-only stranglehold on all labor and construction at least doubles the cost to tax payers, and can no longer be tolerated by the
public.

3) The immediate establishment of a true Educational Voucher System to be 100% funded by income tax. This will cut our property taxes in half. This is a essential element in keeping our elderly in their own homes as long as possible. Should we drive them out with high taxes we further depress housing markets and accelerate the out flight that removes assets from our communities.

Vouchers will encourage the proliferation of small private schools. This will further reduce the burden on the public school system by reducing the head count of both students and teachers.
With the parents choosing which school is right for their child, public, private, or parochial, we will have true Home Rule, the decision being made in the home.

We shall also break the monopoly the NJEA has over the education system. By breaking the union hold over schools we free our innovative teachers to excel in the private sector. We cap school budgets to the sum of the enrollees vouchers ending runaway spending. We end poor-town rich-town disparity by putting in place the only fair education funding formula, an equal voucher value for each child by age and need. (special ed voucher valued higher > high school > than K-8).

No more will we pump good money after bad into failing systems. Parents will remove their children from bad schools. Schools will improve under this motivation or fail and close their doors, all without needing government intervention as the parents control the budgets with their vouchers.

I am asking you all tonight to begin discussion on what I have presented. We face challenging times ahead of us. But, if we can face those challenges NOW, when the flood is upon us we will be ready with our life boats.

My daughter is a Boy Scout. The Scout motto is "Be Prepared". My career was in strategic planning, risk assessment, and contingency planning. "Be Prepared" was my job description. The world changed dramatically in the wake of the Boomers, the schools, the 60's, civil rights, and economic prosperity. The world will change just as dramatically in the decline of this generation raised in war. Everyone now needs to reassess the future without rose colored glasses on. The sooner we do, the sooner we can begin to build farm markets, food banks, nursing facilities, and medical clinics, and prepare for our future needs, today.

Thank you
Nora J Craig