By Matt Rooney
Apparently Donald Trump is president of New Jersey, Save Jerseyans, but someone else is running Kentucky.
That’s the impression you’d get from Governor Mikie Sherrill’s latest lazy economic blame-a-thon, which pins struggling families’ problems on Washington while awarding her own administration a gold star for affordability.
Meanwhile? Dr. Praeger’s is closing its Elmwood Park manufacturing facility, eliminating 168 jobs and shifting production to a manufacturing partner in Kentucky. The company says it will retain a corporate office in the Elmwood Park area. So this isn’t a complete departure, but it’s a very real loss of manufacturing jobs.
Kentucky has the same president as New Jersey, Governor.
And Dr. Praeger’s isn’t the only announcement worth discussing.
Burlington Stores announced plans to move its headquarters from Burlington Township to Philadelphia, with the move expected in late 2028 or early 2029. Its CEO cited outgrowing the existing headquarters; Pennsylvania and Philadelphia offered incentives to land the company.
Samsung Electronics America’s planned headquarters move to Texas affected 739 New Jersey roles, according to Reuters. Most affected employees received relocation offers; others were let go. That distinction matters: jobs relocating elsewhere in America demand an explanation beyond “Trump’s economy.”
There’s more. Novo Nordisk recently announced 108 Plainsboro layoffs, while two Kings Food Markets closures prompted a notice covering 122 jobs, with the company hoping to transfer some employees to other stores.
Different companies. Different circumstances. These announcements don’t prove Trenton caused every lost job. They do make the governor’s sweeping Washington blame game look awfully convenient.
New Jersey’s competitive problems were old news before Trump ever took the oath.
In October 2014, the Tax Foundation ranked New Jersey dead last in its State Business Tax Climate Index. Its 2017 edition, measuring tax systems as of July 2016, also placed us 50th. These problems persisted under Republican Governor Chris Christie, too. Nobody gets a pass.
The foundation’s 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index puts New Jersey 49th, citing punishing property taxes, the nation’s highest corporate income tax rate and one of its highest individual income tax rates. That measures tax competitiveness, not every feature of the business climate, but taxes are hardly incidental to an employer’s decision to stay or grow.
Sherrill’s statement deserves scrutiny on its own terms, too. The September jobs report was weak: just 29,000 additional payroll jobs. But the report she links shows average hourly earnings **increased 3% over the year**. If her claim that wage growth is negative means *after inflation*, she should say so and provide that calculation.
As for clearing permit backlogs? Good. Keep going. Processing applications is part of running a government. It doesn’t erase a structurally uncompetitive tax system.
And declaring $1 billion in energy savings invites an obvious question: savings compared with what? Families measure affordability against the bills they actually pay.
Federal policy is fair game. So is the president.
But New Jersey elected a governor to address the disadvantages Trenton controls.
“Trump did it” won’t keep a single factory open. And it certainly doesn’t explain why that factory’s next chapter is being written in another American state.
