Sherrill's economic struggle

Good morning!

New Jersey’s business climate is becoming a bit of a problem for Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s administration.

July saw the worst jobs report since the start of the pandemic. New Jersey mainstay Burlington announced last month it is fleeing New Jersey after 50 years thanks to generous tax subsidies offered by Pennsylvania. Companies have issued layoff notices to about 13K New Jersey workers this year.

Sherrill’s tactic has been to push the blame for any business woes onto the Trump administration. On Friday, she did so again, after a national jobs report showed a large dip in U.S. jobs gained in September and a downward change in the number of jobs created in July and August.

"This morning’s jobs report is yet another example of how Donald Trump’s economy is a bust, with New Jersey families paying the price. As the corrupt President and his family makes billions from crypto and foreign governments, jobs growth for working families has been stunningly bad, falling by almost 80% since Trump took office, while wage growth is now negative. Not only that, his policies are costing New Jerseyans an extra $4,000 from his illegal tariffs, another $4,000 on their mortgages, and $1,500 at the gas pump each year,” Sherrill said Friday.

The message elicited complaints from New Jersey Republicans who say it’s Sherrill, not Trump, who is costing New Jersey by not making the state more hospitable for businesses.

“The federal jobs number includes data from all 50 states. Some states added jobs, some states lost jobs. You know who pulled this number down? New Jersey, which just had its worst monthly jobs report since the height of the pandemic,” said Assemblyman Mike Inganamort (R).

More on this later today.

Health benefits: Billionaire Mark Cuban, the former owner of the Dallas Mavericks and co-founder of online pharmacy Cost Plus Drugs, says he wants to help Sherrill shore up the state’s health benefits program for public workers. “I’ll volunteer to be on the committee that cuts your health benefits cost.  You need someone from the outside that is objective, and can stand up to the big healthcare conglomerates,” Cuban wrote on social media Saturday. The state’s program is in a big fiscal mess because rising costs have driven some towns and school districts to flee to private options, raising costs further for the state. Cuban thinks he has the answers, though I’m not sure if he’s ever had to tangle with our public sector unions.

Trenton: Dale Caldwell, who said he stepped down last month as lieutenant governor because he didn’t want to be a distraction to Sherrill, has been on what feels like a nonstop media tour since then. Speaking to NJ PBS, Caldwell said he ran the report that led to his resignation — it accused him of various ethical lapses, including making a crass comment to a woman subordinate after trying to get a date with her friend — through multiple AI platforms and asked what their findings would be. “There was no instance in any of the AIs that said there would be a finding of sexual harassment,” Caldwell said. Case closed?

Rutgers: I don’t keep up with Rutgers football, but apparently they stink? So much so that Brian Fonseca and Keith Sargeant at NJ Advance Media are revealing what it would cost New Jersey taxpayers if Rutgers decided to ax the coach, Greg Schiano. Per the genius contracts Rutgers signed, firing Schiano now would cost the university $18 million — not counting how much it would cost to fire his coaching staff and to hire replacements.

Health: Products containing a potentially dangerous derivative of kratom — kratom is a psychoactive compound sold as an herbal supplement — known as concentrated 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH, are prompting state lawmakers and federal regulators to reconsider how the substances should be regulated.

Economy: More on that U.S. jobs report, the final one before November’s elections: the nation gained 29K jobs in September, while August jobs were revised down from 162K to 133K and July’s were dropped from 21K to 10K. “This is a textbook weak jobs report,” economist Kathryn Anne Edwards said on a live chat on Substack after the release.