Read up on the Danish daydream, and the Norwegian nonsense
Econotrix has two posts on what welfare societies look like: The first one, on Norway, is a reprint of the NYT Bruce Bawer article Perspective; We're Rich, You're Not. End of Story.
The second post, on the Danish model (which is talked of with great reverence in South American universities), looks at The myths and fairy-tales behind the Danish welfare society, namely

• "We must protect the weak"
• "The Danish economy is booming because of the welfare society"
• "Fair play"

Econotrix links to a study by the Belgian think tank Work For All titled CAUSES OF GROWTH DIFFERENTIALS IN EUROPE. Tax policies for growth and job creation which shows that found that reducing the tax burden stimulates wealth creation and growth in the economy. One surprising result of the study was that low interests do not help to stimulate growth: while lowering rates has a positive effect on consumer spending and potential investment, the study found that "low interests causes savers' income to go down, and also the external balance of payments suffers". Lower taxes along with reduced goverment spending and decreasing the size of government have made the economy in Ireland outpace all the other European countries' economies, and also,

One notices this wealth explosion when one visits Ireland in all aspects of daily life; one notices the unequaled optimism. Around Dublin, a forest of tower cranes limits the skyline. In the countryside new houses everywhere, the newest car models, modern factories and offices. One also notices it in the reorganization of people’s neighborhoods, and in the care they spend at the environment. The wealth is visible in the absence of criminality and in the view of unclosed cars. One reads also luck in the ey [sic] now climbes of people, in the birth rate, and in the welfare-ranking. In this ranking Ireland hased to number one as the most pleasant country in the world to live in.

It'd be nice if NJ politicians were to listen.