Dem Gov. Murphy: We Need 19, 20% Surplus Because I’m ‘Certain’ U.S. Economy Will ‘Soften’

On Friday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) stated that running a 19%-20% budget surplus is the right approach because he is “certain” that the U.S. economy is going to “soften.”

Host David Westin asked, “[D]o you think that running something like a 19%-20% surplus is the right place to be for here, or down the road, do you expect to invest it?”

Murphy responded, “I think for now at least, David, it’s the right place. And part of the reason is not just to get our fiscal responsibility reputation back and to hopefully earn more upgrades, I worry still about what’s around the corner in the economy. I’m off of the deep concern about a real cliff like we had in ’08 and ’09, but we’re going to soften. I’m certain of that, as a country, probably as a world, but certainly, New Jersey won’t be immune. And that rainy day money is there for a reason, so we don’t have to cut programs like property tax relief or all-time record high funding of schools, to pick two uses of our revenues. So, that’s another reason why I want to make sure, at least for now, we’ve got a good anchor.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett