#2

by Thomas Greco, Publisher

A recent study by something called Wallethub (described as a free personal finance website and mobile app that provides daily credit scores, credit reports and credit monitoring) listed the best states to live in.

Can you guess what place our beloved Garden State came in? (I’m almost positive you are wrong.) Believe it or not, it came in at #2! Right behind the wonderland of Idaho! LOL!

According to the study, states were evaluated across five main distinctions: affordability, economy, education and health, quality of life and safety.

First of all, I have never lived anywhere else so I don’t know anything better or worse, but after 65 years I can confidently say I love living in Jersey. But it’s getting harder and harder.

Now that you have stopped laughing about the results, let’s take a closer look. You might laugh more as you read on.

Affordability? I’m sorry, but there isn’t one thing I can think of that you can say is affordable in New Jersey. Housing? Ha! Groceries? LOL! Taxes? GTFO! You can’t get a slice of pizza for under $3, for godsakes. The last thing anyone would say about NJ is that it’s affordable.

Economy? Maybe if it was 1988. Everyone I know is working harder and making less money these days. Except of course, the insurance companies and the utility companies.

Education? The more I delve into this study, the more I keep checking to see if it was actually done by Mad Magazine. School systems are cutting teachers, activities and classes across the state. Teachers are overworked, underpaid and constantly have to take their own money out of their pockets for supplies. Taxes are being raised to make up for the ineptitude and overspending of the boards of education. It seems almost every week you read about towns merging their school systems to save costs. Yet, all of a sudden NJ has one of the best school systems in the country? I think it’s more likely the NJ Department of Education is one of the best at cooking the statistics.

Health? Apparently New Jersey ranks sixth in healthcare and overall health. I don’t know about you, but almost everyone I know is either on a prescription or going to a doctor’s appointment. All that makes me wonder is, how bad are the other states?

Quality of life? Well, this I can’t really argue. Quality of life is why you stay somewhere, right? And I ain’t leaving yet.

Safety? If you want to be a stathead, almost every state has gotten safer under this administration. Is NJ safer than the 48 other states? I don’t know about that. I mean, I know my town is safe. That’s the number one reason I don’t mind the high taxes. But we have four major cities in Jersey. I find it hard to believe we are safer than states such as Utah, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana, where there are fewer big cities and a lot less people.

The one glaring dimension this study ignores is a very important one – one that I think where NJ would definitely not be #2, as it would be #1. And that would be bullshit.

Here are the latest bullshit adventures in the life of Tom Greco.

We took our annual vacation down to Wildwood this past July. I have written of my daily Wildwood routine before. Sleep until 2pm. Head out to get lunch. Jump in the hot tub and pool for a couple hours (never, ever set foot on the beach or in the ocean), shower, dinner, play family games, read and watch my iPad until 6am. Rinse and repeat. You’d think I would know the tricks of the trade down there.

For example, I know that once I head over the bridge, I better not drive over 25 miles per hour or I will get pulled over faster than you can say, “cheesesteak.”

I know that I will see at least 10 obnoxious families at the pool blasting their waterproof boom boxes and talking even louder than the music.

I know I will see 20 kids under the age of 10 in the adults-only hot tub, with the jets OFF. (I never understand this. You basically have to tie your kids down to take a bath at home, but the minute they see a hot tub, they set up camp like it’s the womb.)

I know I will see sights of men and women who look like the before photo in a weight loss ad, wearing thongs and banana hammocks.

I know there is no decent hot dog to be found on the entire island.

I know the best pizza is at Mack’s.

I know where to park at the boardwalk so I won’t get a ticket.

No, wait. Check that last one.

Wildwood has one of those virtual parking apps. You know the ones – you go online, choose the number/location of your parking space and pay with your credit card. This year, I found a nice space close to the boardwalk. Paid my $4 for an hour (as opposed to the $20 the parking lots wanted) and ran up to the boardwalk to get my favorite French fries at Curly Fries.

I was gone for maybe 20 minutes. When I returned, there was a ticket on my car.

WTF?

Long story short, I went online and contested it. I emailed the court the copy of the parking receipt, the photo of the car and the time, etc. A couple of weeks later, I received an email from the court saying the judge found me guilty but waived my fine. I just owed $20 in court fees.

WTF??

I called the court and a nice lady explained that there was nothing I could do. I asked if the judge saw the evidence I supplied. She insisted he did and still found me guilty. I looked up the judge’s name. He is a local attorney down there. Before I called him and told him what he could do with his guilty verdict AND his $20, I calmed down and called my attorney, who also happens to be a township judge. He laughed at me and said, “That’s the way it goes.”

Let’s recap. I paid for the parking. I proved I paid for the parking. I still got a ticket, was still found guilty and had to pay an additional $20? That’s corrupt – and it’s BULLSHIT.

The second adventure is really more my wife’s than mine, but it still doesn’t justify the bullshit that we take here in #2 ranked New Jersey. Last month, her elderly aunt (who lived in an assisted living facility with her sister) passed away after we had to sell their house and relocate them. As anyone knows who has gone through something like this, to put someone in a nice assisted living facility (never mind two people) is literally UNAFFORDABLE. So we put the money from the house sale into my wife’s aunt’s bank account and used it to pay the assisted living fees. Well, unfortunately that is the aunt who passed, so guess what happens to the money? Not only does this wonderful state freeze it until they “probate” the will (which can take months), but they then ALSO take an “inheritance” tax out of it! We’re talking over 15 grand!

WTF???

So, here’s the picture. Two sickly elderly women in their mid 80s have to sell their house because they can no longer take care of themselves. The money they make off the sale has to be used to pay the “affordable” rates of a decent assisted living facility. A year later, the eldest sister dies and the state comes in and cuts off all access to their funds until THEY decide it’s all kosher and THEY get their cut. Not only is it BULLSHIT, it’s evil. How the hell can ANYONE justify taking an inheritance tax from these women? It’s criminal and despicable!!!

Let’s return to the numbers game. Do you realize that our great state, the one that Webasshub says is #2 in the country, is one of ONLY FIVE states that has an inheritance tax? FIVE! That alone should drop us to the bottom of the rankings. And yet, we just go along and vote these people into office. Republicans, Democrats, it doesn’t matter. It is sickening.

Stuff like this definitely makes New Jersey #2, alright. But I’m not talking about a number.

Want more? Check out the September 2026 issue of New Jersey Automotive!