Dear Editor:

One of the most specious arguments that is allowed to stand as fact is Governor Christie's, as well as other Republican governors', insistence that "We're broke; we don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem." Now, on the surface, this statement sounds good to former members of the middle class, whose jobs have been outsourced, and who are struggling and angry. However, on closer examination, I'm not sure it is completely true. Something about it rings hollow, especially when one considers there are more millionaires in New Jersey than teachers, and THEY got a tax break. As a teacher, I tried to simplify the proposition in the form of an analogy. See if it makes sense to you. Ready? Here goes:1. Let us assume that the state is comparable to a ship at sea; we'll call ours the SS New Jersey.2. The Captain of our ship is the Governor; public employees represent the crew; and the taxpayers are the passengers. Some of the passengers are First Class, some are Second Class, and some are way down in the cargo hold, below the water line. With me so far?3. The Captain gets on the intercom and announces there is a crisis: "We are low on fuel ($) and taking on water (debt).4. The passengers begin to figure out a possible solution to their crisis:The Democrats on board think we should collect more money from those in First Class so the Captain can fix the leaks and take on more fuel at the nearest port.The Republicans on board think we should slow down so we don't use as much fuel. The crew should go below with the passengers in the cargo hold and start bailing water, and on deck we should pass out the life preservers and man the life boats: "First Class Passengers, first."The Captain, (pick your favorite) announces: "We're going down fast, folks. We need to lose weight!" He tells the passengers in Second Class to round up the crew and those way down in the cargo hold and throw them overboard. "Anyone who has a problem with this will be thrown overboard as well (call it "shared sacrifice"), and you can take your chances with the sharks! Now, drill some holes on the other side of the ship so we level out, and Full Speed Ahead!!!"Question: "Which of the groups on board came up with the most reasonable solution and why?"Bottom line, we have a spending problem AND a revenue problem. Forgive me folks, but I just don't believe people are thinking with their heads these days. There's a lot of anger out there that is being manipulated for political purposes. We're being set neighbor against neighbor. I believe public employees are being unfairly used as scapegoats to accomplish a much broader agenda than merely balancing state budgets. I hope my attempt at simplifying things can help some people see things more clearly.Thanks for listening.Mark TrusaHamburg, N.J.and Lake Hauto