FM radio station 101.5 is a powerhouse in New Jersey and its morning drive host, Jim Gearhart (sp? no spell check on my BlackBerry) is well-known with a large audience. Jim constantly wraps himself in the cloak of populist reformer. Fine. Every media personality needs a hook to attract and bring back audience members. But today, Jim went too far.

The radio host's rabid desire to cut the size of NJ state government is on display every morning. But when budget cuts turned to employee layoffs Jim went over the edge stating, "people will be hurt and I don't care."

Of course, on the surface Jim is referring to state employees who he believes are under-worked and over-paid, but his lack of concern also extends to private sector workers, small busunreas owners and the entire state. If Jim's wishes came true, thousands of state employees would be out of jobs, and their families out on the street.

What Jim and others of his ilk repeatedly fail to realize is that when you fire thousands of state employees, you damage NJ's economy since out of work state employees don't spend as much at the shore, the movies or anywhere else people spend money. Small business owners hurt by falling revenues may pull back spending on things like radio ads on NJ101.5, ads that are an economic lifeline to Jim and his radio station. That's one thing Jim should care about.

When Jim Gearhart states that people will get hurt and he doesn't care, he's absolutely right.

And he's gone too far.