Stamp of approval

Standard and Poors, Fitch Ratings and Moody Investor Services have all given Corzine's budget a thumbs-up as proposed. Hearings begin on the budget next week, and it will certainly undergo changes before it is adopted. But since these groups have the power to raise or lower our state's bond rating, the very thing that determines how much money we pay when we borrow, I'd say those are good endorsements indeed.

While many groups faced with cuts or flat funding have objected to the budget, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services yesterday issued a preliminary report that said Corzine's revenue projections are "realistic" and gave him credit for not leaning on stop-gap revenue-raisers to close a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall.
"Although marked by significant spending, the recommended budget offers a greater amount of permanent revenues to support the increased spending, unlike prior budgets where large spending increases were undertaken and funded with nonrecurring revenues," said the report.

Not everyone's happy, not everyone's gonna be. But a realistic budget is something this state hasn't seen in a long time- let's hope it stays that way through the revision process.