From: Justin Escher Alpert <justinalpertesq@escheralpert.

com>
To: "asmschaer@njleg.org" <asmschaer@njleg.org>; "asmsingleton@njleg.org" <asmsingleton@njleg.org>;
"asmmukherji@njleg.org" <asmmukherji@njleg.org>
Bcc: asm McKeon, Asm. D. O. Prieto, asmbramnick@njleg.org, senkean@njleg.org, Andrew.Sidamon-Eristoff,
ang@econ.rutgers.edu jdifiglia@njeconomics.org cotterellf@mail.montclair.edu, SenBeck@njleg.org,
senRuiz@njleg.org, sencodey, senWeinberg@njleg.org, senLesniak@njleg.org, asmbucco@njleg.org,
sensweeney@njleg.org, senRice@njleg.org, AswOliver@njleg.org, aswangelini@njleg.org, senAllen@njleg.org,
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paghion@fas.harvard.edu, andyegan@philosophy.rutgers.edu SenOToole@njleg.org, SenOroho@njleg.org,
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Silva
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2014 6:27 AM
Subject: The Budget, The Pension, and Investment in The Garden State - Part II - Perspective
Dear Assemblyman Schaer, Assemblyman Singleton, and Assemblyman Mukherji:
There is no Plan B? Ridiculous
(http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/06/christie_there_is_no_plan_b_if_courts_rule_against_pension_p
lan.html)!!! We suffer this world in which we live as fools. The Governor is limited by the confines of his own
reality.
Here is an exercise that I did in perspective:
In this first image below, the pyramid on the right is the original puzzle from the Rubik's Cube craze of the early
1980s, while the pyramid on the left is nothing more than a two dimensional drawing cut-out and laying flat on
the paper overhanging the edge. From the perspective of the camera, they are one in the same.

It is not until you walk around to the other side of the table in the image below that you can clearly see what
you thought was a three-dimensional construct, is, in reality, nothing more that a two-dimensional optical
illusion.

Economic policy, like any other theory, works much in the same way. For the Governor to state that his solution
is the only solution is a failure of leadership. It fails to recognize what may be perfectly legitimate alternative
perspectives which would give us a greater grasp on reality. What would you do if you were the Governor?
Well, you would ask the people around the table to describe what they see. You would walk around the table
for different perspectives. And then if you came across what you thought was a three-dimensional economic
policy of, say, austerity, you might find that it was in reality nothing more than a two-dimensional mock-up of a
sound, pro-growth economic policy. And then you would work together with your partners around the table to
build a new model that actually stands up to the new reality.
After the Governor had continually refused to listen to the Will of The People for four-and-a-half years... after he
led us into his social, political, environmental, and educational theories like Stork leading a marching band into a
brick wall, over and over and over again... it is with good reason that we may doubt his perspective on sound
economic policy.
The time to invest in ourselves is NOW. It is real work to build consensus. We need to build a vibrant multidimensional economic policy that we can all agree upon as a real construct. We have an Economics Department
at Rutgers that might be able to help with additional vantage points. Maybe we have a Nobel laureate in
economics in the State who can help. But to break into perspectives around the same old partisan ideological
fault lines makes no sense once you have perceived a greater sense of reality.
All Political Power is inherent in The People. It is up to The People's Legislature to properly exercise that Power.
The decisions that we make now, we all make in good faith together. Not to get all Chauncey Gardener on you,
but The Garden State is fertile for growth. Let's bet on ourselves for a change. We are all in this together as we
set out to define and construct The Promised Land of The Garden State.
Thank you for your Strong Leadership.
Warm regards,
Justin Escher Alpert
Livingston, New Jersey