Phil Murphy: To Grow New Jersey, Strengthen the Middle Class

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Shoring up the middle class, says Phil Murphy, is the single best way to strengthen and stabilize New Jersey’s economy.
Murphy, of Middletown, a former U.S. Ambassador to Germany and Goldman Sachs executive, was one of 25 featured speakers at the TEDxNavesink conference, hosted at Monmouth University on Saturday, April 12.
Murphy used his time on stage to explain why putting the middle class first will give the state economy the boost it needs. His philosophy is at the core of his non-profit, launched six months ago, called New Start New Jersey.
“If we can find ways to get wages into the middle class, and therefore increase confidence, which will therefore increase consumption – everybody does well,” Murphy told the audience of about 700 people. That includes the people “at the top of the food chain,” he said.
Murphy, a Democrat, is exploring a potential run for governor. “If that happens, there’s no question, it’s going to be a ‘middle class first’ agenda,” he said in an interview after his speech.
In his TEDx talk, Murphy challenged beliefs that the existence of affordable housing depresses real estate values, and that raising the minimum wage increases unemployment. Both are “myths” he said, that are not proven, he said.
He advocates for a comprehensive statewide plan for affordable housing, and raising the minimum wage statewide to see what will happen.
Another “myth” he said, is that earned sick leave leads to low worker morale. “This one is not true; its been proven to be not true,” he said. “Think about it for a minute. If you’re in a job and you’ve got no sick leave, and are thinking, ‘Gosh, if I don’t get to work I’m going to lose my job’ – compared to the better state of ‘you know what, I know if I’m sick, I’m okay’ – that gives you a level of confidence, security, a whole new attitude. So I’d argue let’s find a way not to just get this notion enacted in seven or eight communities, let’s find a way to get it enacted across the state.”
Murphy said he also wanted to dispel the notion that unionization in the workplace leads to lower production.
In Germany, he said, “The board of directors of each company is split evenly, between representatives of management, and representatives of the union. How’s Germany doing? What ruin has Germany come to, based on this model? How about the percentage of their economy that is represented by manufacturing is double what it is in the United States?”
He added, “Germany has as many billionaires per capita as we do. So the proof is in the pudding.”
In closing, Murphy called the strategy to strengthen the middle class an “instant game changer” that would turn the New Jersey economy around “on a dime.”
To those who remained skeptical, he asked them to take a hard look at the facts and understand them.
“Keep in mind as your North Star, the late, great Patrick Daniel Moynihan, who said famously ‘Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.’”
 — By Christina Johnson