SOFT SOCIALISM: N.J. Assembly votes to let EDA buy stakes in private companies

Soft socialism? It’s hard to read it any other way, Save Jerseyans..

On Monday, the Assembly passed A-4330. The Senate hasn’t yet acted on the proposal which, if ultimately signed into law, will permit the state to purchase equity stakes in private companies.

According to the bill’s statement, “the [Economic Development Authority] may enter into a ‘matching investment agreement’ with a qualified business to invest between $100,000 and $1,000,000 in the business during a major economic emergency, and six months after the end of the major economic emergency.”

The EDA would then be instructed, “12 months following the end of the major economic emergency, to start selling its equity investments under the bill, and to credit and deposit the proceeds therefrom to the ‘Economic Recovery Fund.’”

Like I said… it looks and sounds like soft Socialism.

The measure passed 62 to 10 with only a handful of Republicans voting “no.” GOP Minority Leader Jon Bramnick led a large Republican contingent who voted with the Democrat majority.

What makes the Orwellian-sounding “Economic Emergency Investment Stabilization Act” all the more absurd is that the EDA remains one of the state’s most controversial and ethically suspect institutions.

Matt Rooney
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MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.